MODULE 5: MANAGING ORGANIZATIONAL
TRANSFORMATION
Topic 10. Managing the processes of Organizational Behavior
Readings
 Chapter 7: Organizing for Technology
 Roepke, R., Agarwal, R., Ferratt, T.W. 2000. "Aligning the IT human resource with
business vision: The leadership initiative at 3M." MIS Quarterly, 24(2), pp. 327-353.
Learning Objectives: At the end of the topic, you will be able to
1. Define four processes of organizational behavior power, empowerment, politic,
leadership, and communication
2. Compare position and personal power
3. Describe the relationship among power, authority, and obedience
4. Recommend how position and personal power can be enhanced
5. Explain how to transform power into influence and how to implement
empowerment
6. Explain why an organization has politics
7. Identify success factors for leading high-performance teams
8. Describe the communication process and its components and different types of
noise
9. Compare effective and efficient communication
10. Recommend how to minimize noise in communication
Lecture Outline
Power
Position Power
Personal Power
Power, Authority, and Obedience
Guidelines for Enhancing Power
Transforming Power Into Influence
Empowerment
Politics
Leadership
Communication
Effective and Efficient Communication
Summary
Vignette
A decade ago, most CIOs had to beg or negotiate their way into the organization's strategic planning
process. Things are different now. In most sophisticated corporations, it is simply assumed that CIOs
will be involved in strategic planning. Frequent reassessment is also the coin of the realm in IT, and
CIOs are therefore accustomed to making quick judgments about new technologies. As a result, CIOs
are uniquely suited among their colleagues to take a leading position in the ongoing development of
the strategic plan.
What role do CIOs play in strategic planning? Two roles of CIOs today are technology scout and
technology interpreter.
First, as a technology scout, CIOs face a challenge of synchronizing the company's vision with the
pace of technological change. Once, organizations could fashion mid- and long-range plans,
confident in the relative stability of their underlying assumptions. Today, that same five-, three- or
even one-year window may represent an entire generation in business-critical technologies. Which
begs a question: Is it even possible to plan strategically—that is, with a view to the long term—in
such an environment?
"Yes, it is possible to [develop a] vision and plan out three years in advance," declares Carl Wilson,
executive vice president and CIO of Marriott International in Washington, D.C. "Although when
technology was more static, one did have a clearer view of a few years out." The trick is gauging how
soon new technologies will be assimilated by society at large, he says. This is where the CIO's role as
technology scout is most valuable to his partners in the executive suite.
Second, being an authoritative technology interpreter is a requirement for CIOs who want to be
effective in strategic planning. For Wilson, this means being fully conversant in two, often distinct
vocabularies. "The common language of business is still accounting and finance," he says. "You need
someone who understands technology and can interpret it in business terms for others."
Effective CIO involvement in the strategic planning process is not only good for the company, it also
yields great benefits for IT departments and executives themselves. Marriott's Wilson views his role
in strategic planning as insurance against poor decision making. "For instance, if I hadn't been
involved in strategic planning for CRM, I might have been inclined to go out and implement
something without knowing how our heads of marketing, finance and operations were looking at it.
And I might have messed it up," he says.
In the end, strategic planning is about success in the marketplace. Since IT is an essential component
in the recipe for success in most organizations today, it's imperative that CIOs perform their role
well. Nortel Networks' Ricks, with 23 years of IT experience, including 12 years of strategic planning
practice, offers this advice to fellow CIOs: "Don't be a wallflower. The nature of a CIO is to see the
total business process end-to-end.... CIOs can bring tremendous value to the strategic planning
table—so insist upon it."
Source: Gordon, M. "How to Succeed in Strategic planning CIOs have two important roles.
They're not easily performed" CIO Magazine, March 15, 2002.
Every CIO and information systems (IS) manager need to have the interpersonal skills
needed to deal effectively with the basic processes of organizational behavior. As read in
the opening vignette, CIOs play a significant role in a strategic planning process. To
manage the process of organizational behavior effectively, CIOs need to possess effective
skills such as leadership, interpersonal, and communications. Issues discussed include
power and politics, leadership, and communication. Note that materials in this topic are
mostly summarized from Schermerhorn et al. (1994) with additional comments and
examples related to the IS organization.
POWER
Power is “the ability to get someone else to do something you want done, or the ability to
make things happen or get things done the way you want.” Schermerhorn et al. (1994) A
manager can influence their subordinates to do whatever he/she wants done; a senior
employee can influence junior employees to do things the way he/she wants. In this
topic, we will address the managerial power that is stemmed from two sources:
organizations (Position Power) and individuals (Personal Power).
Position Power
A manager gains position power through his/her position in an organization. Three bases
of position power are reward, coercive, and legitimate.
Reward Power is “the extent to which a manager can use extrinsic and intrinsic rewards
to control other people.” Schermerhorn et al. (1994). As we’ve learned from the
Herzberg's theory of hygiene and motivation in M2.A1 (Managing Individuals) that
money is not always an effective incentive, a manager who gives out bonus to employees
may not necessary have influence over them.
Coercive power is “the extent to which a manager can deny desired rewards or administer
punishment to control other people.” Schermerhorn et al. (1994). Power doesn’t have to
be always positive. One may use a negative power to impose a negative influence on the
others. For example, a manager may threaten to withhold a pay raise or to demote an
employee who doesn’t do what the manager wants. Organizational policies and unions
can undermine this coercive power.
Legitimate power is “the extent to which a manager can use the internalized values of a
subordinate that the ‘boss’ has a ‘right of command’ to control other people.”
Schermerhorn et al. (1994) A manager can use his/her legitimate power to approve or
deny employee requests such as time off, transfer, go back to school, and purchase a new
computer. This legitimate power is so called “formal authority”. More often, it is
difficult to separate legitimate power, or authority, from coercive power because
managers have access to rewards and punishments and can thereby approve or disapprove
them.
Personal Power
Personal power comes from inside an individual and has nothing to do with his/her
position in an organization. Two bases of personal power are expert and referent.
Expert Power is “the ability to control another’s behavior due to the possession of
knowledge, experience, or judgment that the other person does not have but needs.”
Schermerhorn et al. (1994) A boss can influence his/her subordinates because they
respect his/her rank and assume that the boss knows more than they do. The degree of
expert power depends on the level of access to or control over information and/or the
level of access to key people. Managers influence their subordinates by possessing
information and knowing the key person who helps them got work done. For example, a
manager would typically listen to consultants because they are perceived as experts.
Referent Power is “the ability to control another’s behavior because of the individual’s
wanting to identify with the power source.” Schermerhorn et al. (1994) There might be
some employees who like to associate themselves with a powerful person in the
organization because they want to be recognized or they like that person personally.
POWER, AUTHORITY, AND OBEDIENCE
Power, authority, and obedience are interconnected. Power has an influence on the
behavior of others, and formal authority can exert such influence thorough the legitimacy
of a managerial position. Obedience occurs when an individual responds to the request
or directive of another individual. Research shown that people tend to obey directives
that are from people who seem to be powerful and authoritative, although the directives
appear contrary to what they believe or consider to be “right.” Examples have been seen
in a number of information systems (IS) projects that are delayed or fail. In many
projects, the choice technology has already been decided (more often by top
management) before the project even begins. Some IS staff may see that choice of
technology as inappropriate; however, they don’t want to cause any conflicts with
managers even though they know that the project will be likely to fail.
GUIDELINES FOR ENHANCING POWER
Whetten and Cameron (1984) suggest guidelines for enhancing both position power and
personal power as follow.
As mentioned earlier, position power is based on formal authority and legitimacy of a
manager’s position. This power can be enhanced when a manager can demonstrate to
others that their work units are highly relevant to organizational goals and can respond to
urgent organizational needs. Whetten and Cameron (1984, 250-9) suggest five guidelines
for enhancing position power.
1. Increase your central and critical position in the organization by acquiring a more
central role in the work flow, having information filtered through you, making at least
part of your job responsibilities unique, expanding your network of communication
contact, and occupying an office convenient to main traffic flows.
2. Increase the personal discretion and flexibility of your job by getting rid of routine
activities, expanding task variety and novelty, initiating new ideas, getting involved in
new projects, participating in the early stages of the decision-making process, and
avoiding “reliable performance criteria” for judging your success on the job.
3. Build tasks that are difficult to evaluate into your job by creating an ambiguous job
description, developing a unique language or set of labels about your job, obtaining
advanced training, becoming more involved in professional associations, and exercising
your own judgment.
4. Increase the visibility of your job performance by expanding the number of contacts
you have with senior employees, making presentations of your development,
participating in problem-solving task forces, sending out notices of accomplishment that
are of interest to the organization, and seeking additional opportunities to increase
recognition.
5. Increase the relevance of your tasks to the organization by becoming an internal
coordinator or external representative, providing services and information to other units,
monitoring and evaluating activities within your own unit, expanding the domain of your
work activities, becoming involved in decisions central to the organization’s top-priority
goals, and becoming a trainer or mentor for new members.
Personal power emerges from personal characteristics of an individual rather than from
his/her position. Whetten and Cameron (1984, p. 260-6) suggest three characteristics that
can enhance personal power in an individual.
Knowledge and information. Personal power is perceived to be increased by possessing
knowledge through education, training, attending conferences and accessing to
information through special privilege or people.
Personal attractiveness. A manager gains personal power by building charisma or
personal attractiveness such as kindness, sympathy, agreeable behavior or just simply
dressing nicely.
Effort. When a manager demonstrates hard working, that could increase both expertise
and referent power on his/her side. A person who works hard and tries hard will more
often be respected and may even become depended by others to maintain the same level
of effort.
TRANSFORMING POWER INTO INFLUENCE
Having power such as legitimate and coercive power doesn’t mean that managers can
have an influence on other people’s behavior. They need to know how to turn power
into influence. Several useful ways suggested by Kipinis et al. (1984) are
Reason. Using facts and data to logically support your argument.
Friendliness. Using flattery, goodwill, and favorable impressions.
Coalition. Using relationships with other people for support.
Bargaining. Using the exchange of benefits as a basis for negotiation.
Assertiveness. Using a direct and forceful personal approach.
Higher authority. Gaining higher-level support for one’s requests.
Sanctions. Using organizationally derived rewards and punishments.
Kipinis et al. (1984) suggest that reason is the most popular strategy that a manager uses
for achieving managerial influence. Furthermore, friendliness, assertiveness, bargaining,
and higher authority are used more often to influence subordinates than supervisors.
EMPOWERMENT
Empowerment is “the process by which managers help others acquire and use the power
needed to make decisions affecting themselves and their work.” Schermerhorn et al.
(1994) The term “empowerment” has been used widely when most organizations
become increasingly decentralized. Delegation of authority, integrated planning, and the
involvement of senior management are important to implement empowerment. The
development of decision support systems (DSS) has made the concept of empowerment
become reality. By having information right at the employees’ fingertips, they can make
decision without having approval from their boss. For example1, an airline ticket agent
can look up a passenger's information on the amount frequent flier miles, the price paid
for the ticket, available seats on that flight, and other relevant information. Then, the
agent may use his/her own discretion to grant the passenger an upgrade or to waive a
change fee, etc. This is an example of how IT can be used to empower employees who
face unique or ambiguous situations that call for personal judgment. Without IT, it would
be difficult for the agent to have access to all the information needed.
The key to success of empowerment is to redefine power so that everyone can gain. The
redefinition focuses on power as the ability to get things done rather than to get others to
do what you want. To implement empowerment, a manager should
Delegate clear and unambiguous authority to lower levels. It is important that your
subordinates know what they are empowered to do and what they are held accountable
for.
Require integration and participation in planning at all levels. Everyone must be
involved in planning so that they understand plans and goals and commit to make it
successful.
Exercise strong communication skills. Managers at all levels, especially senior
executives need to communicate and educate people to understand the goals and benefits
from empowerment.
1
This example was provided by Roger Zucchet who took this class in Spring 2003.
POLITICS
Organizational politics is “the management of influence to obtain ends not sanctioned by
the organization or to obtain sanctioned ends through nonsanctioned means of influence.”
Schermerhorn et al. (1994) Politics can be found in every organization. Managers
encounter politics in everyday of their life, thus they need to become comfortable with
political behavior in their organization and use that to good advantage. Organizational
politics is the double-edged sword, which by itself is not good or bad, only when people
start to use it. Several uses of organizational politics include
Overcome personnel inadequacies. Every organization has mismatches between
employees and positions in organizations. Some lack needed skills; while, some are
overqualified. Politics provides a mechanism for circumventing these inadequacies and
getting the task done.
Cope with change. An organization needs to change over time to cope with changes in
turbulent business environment and technology. Even large organizations that have
established a formal planning process, unexpected situations may occur. To respond to
those situations quickly, resources (time, money, people, technology) must be allocated
to the right place at the right time. Politics helps an organization deal with those
unexpected situations by assigning competent managers to solve the problem.
Substitute for formal authority. When an individual’s formal authority doesn’t work or
fails to apply to a particular situation, political actions can be used to prevent a loss of
influence. Managers may make a political move when their formal authority fails to
influence their people so that work can continue.
Politics usually occurs in decision situations where the interests of another manager or
individual must be reconciled with one’s own. In such a situation, “trust” is the key.
With mutual trust, a “win-win” situation would be resulted. Politics also involves
subunits that jockey for power and advantageous positions vis-à-vis one another. For
senior executives, politics come into play as resource dependencies with external
environmental elements must be strategically managed and as organizational governance
is transacted among the members of a “dominant coalition.”
LEADERSHIP
A good question to address here is, “how does leadership differ from management?”
While management is designed to promote stability or to make an organization run
smoothly, leadership attempts to promote adaptive change. We can look at a leadership
function corresponding to each of the management functions (planning, organization,
leading, and controlling) but carried out very differently. Unlike the traditional view of
leadership that focuses on trait and behavior affecting leadership outcomes, the
contemporary role of leadership emphasizes vision and change, as well as focuses on
characteristics that can help facilitate the change. The tradition view also assumes that
leadership and its effects can be easily identified and measured. This is not always the
case. The new perspective on leadership argues that attributes such as charisma,
inspiration, intellectual stimulation, and individual consideration are required
Moving to something close to what we do in this class, you may ask what is required for
effective leadership in leading a team. Seven factors are identified as the key for
successfully leading high-performance teams.
Encourage self-reinforcement. A leader must encourage his/her members to be selfreinforcing of high group performance.
Encourages self-criticism. A leader encourages his/her members to be self-critical of
low group performance.
Encourages self-observation/evaluation. A leader encourages his/her members to
monitor, be aware of, and evaluate level of performance. The result can be used to for
continuous improvement.
Encourages rehearsal. A leader encourages his/her members to go over an activity and
“think it through” before actually performing the activity.
Facilitates equipment supplies. A leader facilitates obtaining equipment and supplies for
the team.
Communicates between groups. A leader communicates group views to and from other
groups.
Truthfulness. A leader communicates in a way that is truthful and believable to group
members.
COMMUNICATION
Communication is the key word for successful management of the process of
organizational behavior. In a workplace, interpersonal communication is taken place all
the time in both verbal and nonverbal forms. Interpersonal communication is a process
of sending and receiving a message from one person to another.
Figure 1. Communication process and Noise (Schermerhorn et al. 1994)
Source
Receiver
Messages
Encodes
Decodes
Noise
Physical distractions
Semantic problems
Cultural differences
Absence of feedback
Status effects
Figure 1 shows the communication process that consists of a sender who sends a message
with a intended meaning, a receiver who receives the message and tries to interpret it
(perceived meaning), feedback that is a reaction or response from a receiver after
receiving a message, and noise is anything that interferes with effective communication.
From the figure, noise include physical distractions (e.g., phone ring, email, someone
stepping in your office), semantic problems (e.g., mixed or unclear messages,
contradiction between verbal and non-verbal messages sent), cultural differences (e.g.,
using different languages, having different values), absence of feedback (e.g., quiet
receiver, lack of acknowledgement) or status effect (e.g., managers tend to talk a lot;
while, subordinates tend to listen a lot). Let's look at the example of noise below (try to
guess what type of noise occurs in this case. See the answers at the end of this example.
Jimmy, CIO, runs into Cynthia, salesperson, when he walks into the building.
Jimmy: "Hi, Cindy. How do you like our new intranet site? My staff and I were thinking
adding streaming video for product demonstration. Also, we just finish testing our
wireless network, which is terrific. We will be happy to give you a PCI card for your
PDA and your notebook if you are interested. In the executive meeting the other day, we
also talked about replacing the old EDI system with this new ERP product. I think this
will enhance our BPR and CRM efforts significantly." (a)
Cynthia: “I saw the memo about the new intranet the other day. Nice talking to you. I
have to go to a meeting now. Have a nice day.” (b)
Jimmy: "Let me know what you think about that site."
Cynthia left. Jimmy arrives his office, and then Ragu, an intern who is originally from
Chile, walks in.
Jimmy: “Hi, Ragu. What do you need?”
Ragu: “I want to work on something more challenging. Right now I am just doing a data
entry, which doesn’t require much skills…… (then a phone rings) (c)
Jimmy: “Just a second, Ragu.” Jimmy answers the phone, talks briefly, and hangs up.
Jimmy: “Where are we, Ragu? Did you say you don’t like what you are doing?” Jimmy’s
finger is pointing to Ragu, who doesn’t like anyone to point a finger at him. (d)
Ragu: “No..no..I didn’t say that I don’t like it. I just want something more challenging.”
Jimmy’s secretary walks in and hands him something that needs to be signed
immediately. (e)
Jimmy: “Sorry again for the interruption, Ragu. I can let you work with Diana who is
working on upgrading the old EDI systems.”
While Jimmy is talking, Ragu just shakes his head left and right. (f)
Jimmy: “Why are you shaking your head? Don’t you like to work on a new project?”
Ragu: “Of course, I would like very much to work with Diana. In my culture, shaking
my head means that I agree with you.”
Jimmy: "Okay, good. You can start today. I will let Diana know."
Answers:
(a) = semantic problems
(b) = absence of feedback or status effect
(c) = Physical distraction
(d) = Cultural difference
(e) = Physical distraction
(f) = Cultural difference
Effective and Efficient Communication
Effective communication is "communication in which the intended meaning of the source
and the perceived meaning of the receiver are one and the same"; while, efficient
communication refers to "communication at minimum cost in terms of resource
expended." Schermerhorn et al. (1994) Effective communication is critical for a manager
because he/she wants to make sure that everyone has the same understanding. For
example, when thinking about changes, managers must communicate the idea of changes
to their subordinates and make sure that they understand and commit to the future
changes. Efficient communication is necessary since it is impossible to communicate
with each and every employee individually. Managers rely on memo, corporate-wide
email, and a bulletin board to communicate to their employees.
Effective communication requires not only minimum amount of noise but also another
two factors: active listening and feedback.
First, active listening is a skill or ability to hear and let the message sender articulate
what he/she really means. Cramm (2002) points out that the new CIO mantra is "to shut
up and listen." It seems that upper managers today tend to talk more than listen to their
subordinates. Failure to listen could cause problems such as miscommunication, making
a wrong business decision, and poor boss-subordinate relationship. Schilit and Locke
(1982) suggest guidelines for achieving effective organization communication.
Listen for message content: Try to hear exactly what is being said in the message.
Listen for feelings: Try to identify how the sender feels in terms of message content. Is
the sender happy or unhappy while he/she is talking? Why?
Respond to feelings: Let the send know that his/her feelings, as well as a message
content, are recognized.
Note all verbal and non-verbal cues: Be sensitive to both verbal and nonverbal
communication cues. Try to identify mixed messages and have them clarified.
Reflect back to the sender, in your own word, what you think you are hearing. For
example, says "let me understand what you just said….."
The second important factor for effective communication is feedback. Without feedback
from a receiver, it will seem like a sender is talking to a wall. Feedback is "the process
by which the receiver acknowledges the communication and returns a message
concerning how he/she feels about the original message." Schermerhorn et al. (1994)
Feedback is useful for a sender only when it is constructive or useful (doesn't matter
whether it is positive or negative). As the instructor always emphasizes in this class that
simply saying "I agree" or "I disagree" doesn't mean anything to anyone. It is a good
professional manner that whenever we criticize someone's idea or review a paper written
by our peer, we should always be constructive in our comments. For example, if we tell
someone that the direction he/she takes is incorrect, we should also give that person an
alternative. Failure to provide an alternative may cause that person to think that we don't
like him/her or try to prevent him/her from success.
Characteristics of constructive feedback include (Stewart 1989)
- Given directly and with real feeling, ideally based on a foundation of trust
- Specific rather than general, with good clear examples
- Given at a time when the receiver appear most ready to accept it
- Checked with others to support its validity
- In respect to things that the receiver c an really do something about
- Not more than the receiver can handle at any particular time
A difficult job for managers is to give criticism. They need to try to be very polite and
constructive as much as possible, otherwise it can create a unpleasant and hostile feeling.
(Although from my experience, I've seen a very few people --- both managers and
employees ---provide constructive feedback. People tend to criticize everything around
them without scrutiny.) In fact, destructive criticism is not healthy behavior because it
doesn't require critical thinking or careful consideration, and it won't change anything
since no alternative or idea is given to the one who is criticized.
SUMMARY
This topic focuses on managing the process of organizational behavior. Managers today
require the interpersonal skills needed to deal effectively with the basic process of
organizational behavior. Issues introduced in this topic include power, politic,
leadership, and communication, all of which are processes that a manager has to deal
with on a daily basis. The two articles that you will read this week will address IS
leadership and IT professionals. If you have working experience in the IT area, you can
test where you stand in the IT career by filling out the personal alignment questionnaire
at the end of Prager (1998)'s article.
To conclude, management challenges in managing the processes of organizational
behavior include:
•Utilize power positively to achieve the organization’s goal
•Open mind, allow subordinates to speak up and listen to them
•Empower employees to make a decision
•Become familiar with organizational politics and use it to good advantage (not for a
personal agenda)
•Facilitate change, be polite, inspire people, emphasize vision and change, stimulate and
encourage intellectual contribution, and care about people
•Communicate efficiently and effectively
•Listen and provide constructive feedback
References
Cramm, S., 2002. "The New CIO Mantra: Shut Up and Listen" CIO Magazine. March 15,
http://www.cio.com/archive/031502/hs_leadership.html
Kippinis, D. Schmidt, S.M., Swaffin-Smith, C., and Wilkinson, I. 1984. “Patterns of
managerial influence: shotgun managers, tacticians, and bystanders.” Organizational
Dynamics, Vol. 12, 60-61.
Schermerhorn, J.R. Jr., Hunt, J.G., and Osborn, R.N. 1994. Managing organizational
behavior, 5th edition, New York: John Wiley & Sons.
Schilit, W.K. and Locke, E.A. 1982. A study of upward influence in organization."
Administrative Science Quarterly, Vol. 27, pp. 304-16.
Stewart, T.A. 1989. "New ways to exercise power." Fortune. November 6, p. 52-64.
Whetten, D.A. and Cameron, K.S. 1984. Developing managerial skills. Glenview, IL:
Scott, Foreman, pp. 250-9, 260-6.