8th edition
Steven P. Robbins
Mary Coulter
The Manager: Omnipotent or Symbolic?
• Omnipotent (all-powerful) View of Management
 Managers are directly responsible for an
organization’s success or failure.
 The quality of the organization is determined by the
quality of its managers.
 Managers are held most accountable (considered
responsible) for an organization’s
performance yet it is difficult to
attribute (to connect) good or poor
performance directly to their influence
on the organization.
Page 49
3–2
The Manager: Omnipotent or Symbolic?
• Symbolic (representative) View of Management
 Much of an organization’s success or failure is due to
external forces outside of managers’ control.
 The ability of managers to affect outcomes is
influenced and constrained (limited) by external factors.
 The
economy, customers, governmental policies,
competitors, industry conditions,
technology, and the actions of
previous managers
 Managers symbolize (represent) control
and influence through their action.
3–3
The Manager: Omnipotent or Symbolic?
• Actions of managers according to the omnipotent
and symbolic views:
 Omnipotent view: Actions include anticipating change;
exploiting opportunities; correcting poor performance;
leading organizations toward their goals.
 Symbolic view: Actions include developing plans; making
decisions; engaging in activities for the benefit of
stockholders, customers, employees and the public.
Managerial discretion (freedom to act independently):
 Managers are neither powerless nor all-powerful. Although
they operate within constraints imposed by the
organization’s culture (internal constraints) and the
environment (external constraints), they can still influence the
organization’s performance.
Page 50
3–4
Parameters of Managerial Discretion
Exhibit 3.1
3–5
The Organization’s Culture (character)
• Organizational Culture
 A system of shared meanings and common beliefs held by
organizational members that determines, in a large degree, how
they act towards each other.
 “The way we do things around here.”
 Values, symbols, rituals (usual behavior), myths (beliefs), and
practices.
 Implications (meanings):
 Culture is a perception (based on what
is seen, heard or experienced)

Culture is shared (described by all
in similar terms)

Culture is descriptive (it describes
rather than evaluates)
Page 51
3–6
Dimensions of Organizational Culture
• Seven dimensions (principles, components) capture the
essential meanings of an organization’s culture. One
or more of these dimensions may be emphasized in various
degrees of importance, which gives the organization its
distinctive personality (character).
 Attention to Detail
 Outcome Orientation
 People Orientation
 Team Orientation
 Aggressiveness (being fearless and enterprising)
 Stability (being free from change)

Status quo = maintaining the
existing situation
 Innovation and Risk Taking
Page 51
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Dimensions of Organizational Culture
Exhibit 3.2
3–8
Strong versus Weak Cultures
• Strong Cultures
 Are cultures in which key values are deeply held (strongly committed to)
and widely shared (accepted and applied by everyone).
 They Have a greater influence on employees than do weak cultures
 Employees are more committed than those in organizations with weak
cultures
 Strong cultures promote high performance.
• Factors Influencing the Strength of Culture





Size of the organization
Age of the organization
Rate of employee turnover (that have to be replaced)
Strength of the original culture
Clarity (easy to understand) of cultural values and beliefs
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Organizational Culture
• Sources of Organizational Culture
 The organization’s founders (those who started the business)
 Their
vision or mission and the image they project of what
the organization should be.
 Past practices of the organization
 The
way things have been done before
 The behavior of top management
 E.g.
Their focus on aggressiveness or treating employees as
family.
• How the Organizational Culture Continues
 Recruitment of like-minded employees who “fit”
 Socialization of new employees to help them adapt to the
culture.
Page 53
3–10
How an Organization’s Culture Is Established
and Maintained
Exhibit 3.4
3–11
How Employees Learn Culture
• Stories
 Telling stories of significant events or actions and people that show the
spirit of the organization, presented in print or videos.
• Rituals
 Repetitive sequences of activities that express and reinforce the values
of the organization. E.g. Morning physical exercises or singing as it is
done in Japan.
• Material Symbols
 Physical assets distinguishing the organization. E.g. Type of
automobiles, of furniture, the size of offices, dress code.
• Language
 Acronyms (word forms), characteristic language, use of terms, phrases,
and word meanings specific to an organization.
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How Culture Affects Managers
• Cultural Constraints that affect Managers
 Managerial actions that the organizational culture
recognizes as proper or improper (right or wrong)
 Organizational activities that the culture values and
encourages
 The strength or weakness of the organizational
culture
Simple rule for getting ahead in an organization:
Find out what the organization rewards and do those things.
3–13
Managerial Decisions Affected by Culture
• Planning
• The degree of risk that plans should contain
• Whether plans should be developed by individuals or teams
• The degree of environmental scanning in which management
will engage
• Organizing
• How much autonomy (independence) should be designed into
employees’ jobs
• Whether tasks should be done by individuals or in teams
• The extent of interaction (acting together) between department
managers
Exhibit 3.5a
Page 58
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Managerial Decisions Affected by Culture
• Leading
• The degree to which managers are concerned with increasing
employee job satisfaction
• What styles of leadership are appropriate
• Whether all disagreements—even constructive ones—should
be eliminated
• Controlling
• Whether to impose external controls or to allow employees to
control their own actions
• What criteria (basis for comparison) should be used when
evaluating employee performance
• What consequences will occur from exceeding one’s budget
Exhibit 3.5b
3–15
Suggestions for Managers: Creating a More
Ethical Culture
• Be a visible role model.
• Communicate ethical expectations (tell what is right and
wrong).
• Provide ethics training.
• Visibly reward ethical (honorable) acts and punish
unethical ones.
• Provide protective mechanisms so employees can
discuss ethical dilemmas (problems) and report
unethical behavior without fear.
Exhibit 3.6
Page 59
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Organization Culture Issues
• Creating an Ethical
Culture
 High in risk tolerance
 Low to moderate
aggressiveness
 Focus on means as
well as outcomes
• Creating an Innovative
Culture
 Challenge and
involvement
 Freedom
 Trust and openness
 Idea time
 Playfulness/humor
 Conflict resolution
 Debates
 Risk-taking
3–17
Organization Culture Issues (cont’d)
• Creating a Customer-Responsive Culture
 Hiring the right type of employees (ones with a strong
interest in serving customers)
 Having few rigid rules, procedures, and regulations
 Using widespread (general) empowerment of employees
 Having good listening skills in relating to customers’
messages
 Providing role clarity to employees to reduce ambiguity
(lack of clarity) and conflict and increase job satisfaction (clearly
define responsibilities so as to eliminate confusion)
 Having conscientious, caring employees willing to take
initiative
Page 60
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Spirituality and Organizational Culture
•Workplace Spirituality
 The recognition that people have an inner life (deep feelings and
emotional states) that nourishes (provides) and is nourished by
meaningful work that takes place in the context of community.
 Employees are looking for ways to cope with stress and
pressures in their lives.
•Characteristics of a Spiritual Organization
 Strong sense of purpose (important role)
 Focus on individual development
 Trust and openness
 Employee empowerment (authorizing decision making)
 Toleration (acceptance) of employees’ expression (allowing people
to express feelings and be themselves)
Page 61
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Benefits of Spirituality
• Improved employee productivity
• Reduction of employee turnover
• Stronger organizational performance
• Increased creativity
• Increased employee satisfaction
• Increased team performance
• Increased organizational performance
3–20
Defining the External Environment
• External Environment
 The forces and institutions outside the organization
that potentially can affect the organization’s
performance.
• Components of the External Environment
 Specific environment: external forces that have a
direct and immediate impact on the organization (e.g.
customers, suppliers, competitors).
 General environment: broad economic, sociocultural (e.g. religion, lifestyles, technology), political/legal,
demographic (e.g. gender, age, education, income),
technological, and global conditions that may affect
the organization.
Page 63
3–21
The External
Environment
Exhibit 3.8
3–22
How the Environment Affects Managers
• Environmental Uncertainty
 The extent to which managers have knowledge of and
are able to predict change in their organization’s external
environment is affected by:
Dimensions in Environmental Uncertainty
 Complexity
of the environment: the number of
components in an organization’s external
environment.
 Degree
of change in environmental components:
how dynamic or stable the external environment is.
Page 68
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Environmental Uncertainty Matrix
Exhibit 3.10
3–24
Stakeholder Relationships
• Stakeholders
 Any constituencies in the organization’s external
environment that are affected by the organization’s
decisions and actions
• Why Manage Stakeholder Relationships?
 It can lead to improved organizational performance.
 It’s the “right” thing to do given the interdependence of
the organization and its external stakeholders.
Page 70
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Organizational Stakeholders
Exhibit 3.11
3–26
Managing Stakeholder Relationships
1. Identify the organization’s external stakeholders (which
groups might be affected by decisions?).
2. Determine the particular interests and concerns of the
external stakeholders (e.g. product quality, financial issues).
3. Decide how critical each external stakeholder is to the
organization (some are more critical than others).
4. Determine how to manage each individual external
stakeholder relationship (depending on how critical the
stakeholder and how uncertain the environment are).
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C H A P T E R R E V I E W 1/3
The Manager: Omnipotent or Symbolic (slide 4)
• Contrast the actions of managers according to the
omnipotent and symbolic views.
• Explain the parameters of managerial discretion.
The Organization’s Culture (slides 8, 9, 10, 12)
• Describe the seven dimensions of organizational culture.
• Discuss the impact of a strong culture on organizations
and managers.
• Explain the source of an organization’s culture and how
that culture continues.
• Describe how culture is transmitted to employees.
3–28
C H A P T E R R E V I E W 2/3
Current Organizational Issues Facing Managers (slides 17, 18,
19)
• Describe the characteristics of an ethical culture, an innovative
culture, and a customer-responsive culture.
• Discuss why workplace spirituality seems to be an important
concern.
• Describe the characteristics of a spiritual organization.
3–29
C H A P T E R R E V I E W 3/3
•The Environment (slides 21, 23, 26, 27)
• Describe the components of the specific and general
environments.
• Discuss the two dimensions of environmental uncertainty.
• Identify the most common organizational stakeholders.
• Explain the four steps in managing external stakeholder
relationships.
3–30