Module 1
Unit 1
INTRODUCTION TO MANAGEMENT
Structure:
1.1 Objectives
1.2 Introduction
1.3 Scope of Management
1.4 Importance of Management
1.5 Principles of Management
1.6 Levels of Management
1.7 Organizational Environment
1.8 Summary
1.9 Keywords
1.10
Exercise
1.1 Objectives
After learning this unit you will be able to
a) Understand the concept of management
b) Know the scope of management
c) Know the characteristics of management
d) Know the importance of management
e) Understand the various principles of management
f) know the levels of management
g) Understand the importance of organizational environment
h) Know the skills of an effective manager.
1.2 Introduction
Management is as old as man himself. As civilization grew, human life became more and more
organized. Business activity increased globally by leaps and bounds. Everyone who is in to
business is not always successful and those who were on the top once, are finding difficult to
maintain the status quo.
On the one hand those who were novices once upon a time may be scaling the pinnacles of
success today. Many industrial and business houses, even those that are over a century old
continue to be successful irrespective of the challenges in their business environment. How could
they ensure success and constantly achieved their aims through building teams and leading and
coordinating these teams effectively. In other words, they managed their enterprises better. Their
management skills and practices lead their success. It is not just management alone, the
understanding the human and human behaviour at both personal, team and organizational level
makes a difference.
Management is the process of designing and maintaining an environment in which individuals,
work together in groups, accomplish their aims effectively and efficiently.
The definition implies the following:
(a) Management is a process. It is a process of carrying out the essential functions of
planning organizing, staffing, leading and controlling.
(b) Management applies to every kind of organization, whether it is government, profit
making or not profit making organizations.
(c) It applies to managers at all levels in the organization. (d) The aim of all managers is the
same: to create surplus.
(e) Managing is concerned with productivity: this implies effectiveness and efficiency.
Scope of management
1.3
The scope of management is very wide. Basically, it refers to three distinct ideas. According to
Herbsion and Myers, management may be understood as
(i)
an economic resource
(ii)
a system of authority and
(iii)
a class or elite.
Management as an economic resource
Management is one of the factors of production along with land, labour and capital. In modern
organizations, the effective use of the five M’s of management (money, materials, manpower,
machinery and methods or ways of doing things) depends to a great extent on the quality of
management. Often information is also referred as fifth M in an organization. In other words,
how effectively and economically the five M’s are combined together to produce desired results.
According to Newman, management is required to convert the disorganized resources of men,
materials, money and machines into a productive, useful on-going concern.
Management as a system of authority
According to Herbison and Myers management is the rule making and rule enforcing body. It is
bound together by a web of relationships between superiors and subordinates that are people are
bound by authority relationships. Managers working at top level enjoy more authority than
people working at lower levels. Top management determines objectives and provides direction to
enterprise activities. Middle management (departmental heads like work manager, finance
manager, personnel manager etc.) interprets and explains the policies framed by the top
management. If the orders instructions and decisions flow downward, the problems and
suggestions flow upward. Lower management (first line supervisors) is concerned with routine,
day-to-day matters.
Management as a class or elite
Sociologists view management as a distinct class in society having its own value system. The
managerial class has become very important in modern organizations owing to its contribution to
business success. As a separate group, the term management refers to the group of individuals
occupying managerial positions. All the managers from the chief executive to the first line
supervisors are collectively addressed as ‘Management’, which refers to the group.
Characteristics of Management
The various interpretations of management emphasize three things
(i)
management is a process and involves series of continuing and related activities
(ii)
it tries to concentrate on reaching organizational goals
(iii)
And it reaches these goals by working with and through other people and other
organizational resources.
The important features which reveal the nature of management may be stated thus.
1. Management is intangible: As pointed out by Terry, management is intangible. It cannot
be seen. It is an unseen force. However, its presence can be felt by the results of its
efforts in the form of production, sales and profits.
2. Management is goal-oriented: Management seeks to achieve goals. These goals may be
economic or non-economic. In a business organization, the primary goal is to produce
distribute goods with a view to earn profit. In a service organization, the goal might be
customer service (hospitals, educational institutions, etc).
3. Management is universal: Management is an all – pervasive activity. It is needed in all
types of organizations, eg., university, club, army, government, business. The basic
principles of management are applicable in business as well as in other organizations.
These principles, however, need careful application depending on situational demands.
4. Management is a social process: According to Newman, management is a social process
because it deals with people. To make the best use of human efforts, managers have to
create close cooperation among employees in an organization. They have to use resources
for the benefit of society as a whole. They have to look after the interests of employees,
shareholders, customers’ investors and community.
5. Management is a group activity: Management is concerned with getting things done
through people. People join groups in order to achieve results collectively. Management
helps people in realizing individual as well as group goals in a coordinated way.
6. Management is a system of authority: A manager is supposed to get things done, rather
than doing things himself, by using authority. Authority is the right to give orders and the
power to obtain obedience from subordinates. In this sense management may be
understood as a rule-making and rule-enforcing body in an organization. According to
Drucker, “Management is a work”. Managers operating at higher levels, of course,
possess more authority than those working at the lower levels.
7. Management is an activity: Management is a distinct activity (like playing, teaching,
studying). It can be studied, knowledge about it obtained and skill in its applications
acquired. Further, management is not a one shot deal. In the face of continual changes in
environment, technology, competition, new problems crop up displacing old ones.
Management must, therefore, address itself to problems on a continuous basis. The cycle
of management is never-ending process and its continues as long as the organization
continues to operate.
8. Management is dynamic: Management is a dynamic and growth-oriented function. It tries
to visualize problems before they turn into emergencies and takes suitable steps. It tries to
adapt itself to the environmental changes quickly. It proposes to take actions to make the
desired results to come to pass. According to Drucker, ‘managers do not wait for the
future; they make the future.
9. Management is a science as well as an art: Management is a systematized body of
knowledge based on certain principles capables of general application. The principles
underlying time and motion studies, morale, motivation, leadership can be applied by
persons working in various capacities. Art is the application of knowledge and skills to
achieve results. Management is an art because it involves the use of know how and skills
like any other art such as music painting etc. In recent years management has developed
into a separate, distinct discipline, receiving vital inputs from subjects such as
psychology, sociology, anthropology, economics, etc. Management degrees are the
hottest selling products in the corporate world now. In the days ahead, the status of
management as a discipline is bound to increase. In fact, management becomes essential,
whenever and wherever people come together to achieve some common objectives.
10. Management is multidisciplinary: Management has received rich contributions from
various disciplines like psychology, sociology, anthropology etc. The insights obtained
from these disciplines greatly help managers in understanding the ‘black-box’ (human
mind) much better. More importantly, management is a creative activity. Managers
utilize the scarce resources at their disposal in a rational way. They make things happen
in a desired manner. “They convert the disorganized resources of men, materials and
machines into a useful, productive enterprise.” They create a whole that is greater than
the sum of its parts. They achieve results in an efficient and effective manner.
1.4Importance of management
According to Drucker, management is the dynamic life-giving element in every organization. It
is the activating force that gets things done through people. Without management, an
organization is merely collection of men, machines, money and materials. In its absence, the
resources of production remain resources and never become production. The importance of
management can be understood from the following points.
1. Optimum use of resources : Management ensures optimum utilization of resources by
attempting to avoid wastage of all kinds. It helps in putting the resources to the best
advantage within the limitations set by the organization and its environment. A right
climate is created for workers to put in their best and show superior performance.
2. Effective leadership and motivation : In the absence of management, the working of an
enterprise will become random and haphazard in nature. Employees feels a sense of
security when they find a body of individuals working day and night for the continued
growth of an organization. Management makes group effort more effective. It enables
employees to move co-operatively and achieve goals in a co-ordinated manner.
Management crated teamwork and motivates employees to work harder and better by
providing necessary guidance, counseling and effective leadership.
3. Establishes sound industrial relations : management minimizes industrial disputes and
contributes to sound industrial relations in an undertaking. Industrial peace is an essential
requirement for increasing productivity. To this end, managers try to strike a happy
balance between the demands of employees and organizational requirements. They
initiate prompt actions whenever workers express dissatisfaction over organizational
rules methods, procedures and reward systems.
4. Achievement of goals: management plays an important role in the achievement of
objectives of an organization. Objectives can be achieved only when the human and nonhuman resources are combined in a proper way. Management is goal-oriented. With a
view to realize the predetermined goals, managers plan carefully, organize the resources
properly, hire competent people and provide necessary guidance. They try to put
everything on the right track. Thus unnecessary deviations, overlapping efforts and waste
motions are avoided. In the final analysis, all these help in realizing goals with maximum
efficiency.
5. Change and growth: A business concern operates in a constantly changing environment.
Changes in technology, government policy competitions etc., often threaten the survival
of a firm. Failure to take note of customer’s needs regarding fuel efficiency has spelt
doom for ‘Ideal Java’ in the two-wheeler market in India. An enterprises has to take note
of these changes (careful planning, forecasting combined with efficient use of resources)
and taking appropriate steps. Successful mangers are the ones who anticipate and adjust
to changing circumstances rather than being passively swept along or caught unprepared.
Employers today are hiring managers who can take unfamiliar situations in their stride.
At AT&T, people remark, “If you are hiring people who do not like surprises, you are
probably not hiring the right people.”
6. Improves standard of living : Management improves the standard of living of people by
(a) using scarce resources efficiently and turning out profits (b) ensuring the survival of
the firm in the face of continued changes (c) exploiting new ideas for the benefit of
society as a whole and (d) developing employee talents and capabilities while at work
and prompting them to show peak performance.
1.5: Principles of Management
A principle is a basic statement or a fundamental truth that provides understanding and
guidance to thinking and practice. A principle represents a basic element of knowledge in
that it explains the relationship and helps in predicting what would happen if the principles
were applied. Over the years, a number of principles have been developed by experience and
responsible executive thinking and action. A group of concepts have been developed by
experience and responsible research. These principles, as pointed out by J.L. Massie, are only
approximations of gneeralisations from experience. As such, they should not be treated as
rigid and inflexible rules to administrative action. If they become rules, they lose their utility.
According to Terry, ‘Principles of management are to a manager as a table of strengths of
materials is to a civil engineer’. The utility of principles lies in the foundation they provide
for this efficient conduct by making out the basic features that must characterize the practice
of management, irrespective of where it is occurring. By means of principles of management
a manager can avoid fundamental mistakes in his job and foretell the results of his actions
with confidence. According to Koontz, principles help in the following ways:
1. To increase efficiency: Principles aid thinking and action. The need for guesswork,
haphazard activities is reduced. The problems brought out by rapid changes in the
environment can be solved easily. For example, the principle of span of control tells a
manager that he can manage only a limited number of subordinates say 8 to 10 and
thereby helps him predict the results if the principle is not applied.
2. To crystallize the nature of management: Principles crystallize the ever-increasing
knowledge and thinking in the filed of management. Without principles it is not possible
to impart knowledge and provide training to managers.
3. To improve research in management: Management deals with human beings whose
behaviour is highly unpredictable. Principles provide a canopy of broad generalizations
which help in testing behaviour, understanding it and predicting the outcomes for future.
They help in improving the fund of tested knowledge and promoting further research in
human behaviour.
4. To attain social goals: management principles play an important role in improving the
quality of life of people and the standard of living. They bring order out of chaos.
Managers are able to commit resources to the best possible advantage and employ them
in judicious fashion.
The Fayols principles of Management are described as below. It was Henry Fayol who stated a
set of 14 principles of management based on his practical experience as a manager. According to
Fayol, these principles can be applied in all types, functions, levels and sizes of organizations.
For a long time, Fayol’s list was accepted as complete and comprehensive. A description of these
principles is given below:
Fayol’s fourteen universal principles of management
1. Division of work: Specialization of labour is necessary for organizational success.
2. Authority : They right to give orders must accompany run smoothly
3. Discipline: Obedience and respect help an organization run smoothly.
4. Unity of command. Each employee should receive orders from only one superior
5. Unity of Direction: The efforts of everyone in the organization should be coordinated and
focused in the same direction.
6. Subordination of individual interests to the general interest. Resolving the tug of war
between personal and organizational interests in favour of the organization is one of
management’s greatest difficulties.
7. Remuneration: employees should be paid fairly in accordance with their contribution.
8. Centralization: The relationship between centralization and decentralization is a matter of
proportion the optimum balance must be found for the organization.
9. Scalar chain. Subordinates should observe the formal chain of command unless expressly
authorized by their response superiors to communicate with each other.
10. Order. Both material things and people should be in their proper places.
11. Equity. Fairness that results from a combination of kindliness and justice will lead to
devoted and loyal service.
12. Stability and tenure of personnel. People need time to learn their jobs.
13. Initiative. One of the greatest satisfactions is formulating and carrying out a plan.
14. Esprit de corps. Harmonious effort among individuals is the key to organsational success.
Mooney and Reiley’s staff principle:
1. According to this principle staff units must be created in order to provide service and
expert advice to the line managers.
2. Taylor’s principle of management by exception: Routine work, according to this
principle, must be handled by subordinates and management must concentrate on
strategic, key and important issues.
3. Weber’s principles: Organization work must be performed according to rules. All
administrative actions must be recorded in writing so as to have a ready reference in
future: a hierarchy of positions should provide for supervision of each unit by a higher
official etc.
4. Likert’s principle of supportive relationship: According to this principle, managers
should provide social psychological and moral support to sub-ordinates. The basic
purpose should be to improve the subordinate’s sense of personal usefulness and dignity
and secure commitment to organizational goals.
5. Human relations : Human relatitionists (Mayo and Roethliberger)
and behavioural
scientists (McGregor, Bennis Argyris) have avoided providing prescriptions and have
suggested ideas and concepts to describe some fundamental guides to managerial thought
and action. These concepts are largely aimed at improving the ‘quality of life’ rather than
achieving organizational goals. The importance of human element is recognized and
efforts are made to make human life more interesting meaningful and challenging in an
organization.
6. Modern organization theories and principles of management : Systems and contingency
theorists advocate that, manager should know and understand the existence of certain
fundamental concepts advanced by theorists from time to time and use them judiciously.
Managers should understand that there is a way to apply these concepts. The principles
must be applied in a flexible way keeping the changing circumstances in mind.
1.6:Levels of Management
All manager’s positions involve performance of management functions (planning, organizing,
directing, staffing and controlling). But there are differences among managerial jobs. The
differences arise because of the existence of various levels of management in a typical
organization. The term ‘levels of management’ refers to a line of management’ refers to a line of
demarcation between various managerial positions. In a large organization, three levels of
management are usually identified.
i)
Top level management
ii)
Middle level management
iii)
Lower level management. The functions performed by top managers, middle
managers and lower level managers respectively may be briefly stated as
below:
Top Management

Determines objectives and policies

Designs the basis operating and financial structure of an organizations

Provides guidance and direction

Lays down standards of performance

Maintains good public relations.
Middle Management

Interprets and explains the policies framed by the top

Issues detailed instructions.

Participates in operating decisions

Trains other managers
Lower Management

Plans day-to-day operations

Assigns jobs to workers

Provides supervision and control over work

Arranges material tools and equipment

Maintain discipline
Levels of Management: Differences
Point of Distinction
Action focus
top level
middle level
Lower level
Management
Management
Management
a small group
Act as connecting
Of policy makers
link between top
Deciding the fate
and lower level
Of an organization
these managers are in
direct contact with
employees
people and manage
activities of other
Managers
Representation
Chief executive
Functional Heads
Officer, President
(marketing Manager Supervisor, First-Line
Chairman Managing Personnel manager
Director etc.
Section Head,
manager etc
etc) and immediate
Subordinates
Nature of work
They generally spend Middle managers,
Generally physically
Most of their time
active, experience
compared to
With peers, outsiders supervisors, are far
frequent interruption,
And to a lesser extent less physically active often shift back and
Subordinates. A top
and far more involved and forth between \
Manager’s schedule in paper work and
tasks and spend most
Is typically hectic.
Meetings. Their job
of their time with sub-
Is less hectic more
-ordinates and peers
Reflective and more caring for monetary
Frustrating
problems.
1.7:Organizational Environment
Think about an experience you have had in an organization (e.g. club, school, sports, and work).
What did your manager do? What skills did the manager have that made him/her effective? If
you have no experience in this area, think of your household. Who is the manager at home?
What skills did s/he need more of? Management is a set of functions directed at the efficient and
effective utilization of resources in the pursuit of organizational goals considering the constraints
of environment in which the organization is working.
The Organization and Its Environments
Internatio
dimensi
nal
on
Regulato
rs
Politic
al-leg
dimensi
al
on
General environment
Owne
Employe
rs
Physical
es
Board of
environment
Cultu
directors
re
Strateg
partne
ic
rs
Internal environment
Task environment
Competito
rs
External
environment
Technologi
dimensi
cal
on
Custome
rs
Supplie
rs
Econom
dimensi
ic
on
Sociocultu
dimensi
ral
on
FIGURE: MANAGEMENT ENVIRONMENT
To understand the concept of environment, let’s use McDonald’s as an example. What is the
INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENT?
The work of all managers is affected by External Environment (general and task) and the Internal
Environment. The external environment constitutes everything outside the organization that
might affect the ability of the business to attain goals. The external environment is subdivided
into two components, i.e., general environmental issues and task issues. The task environment is
embedded in the general environment. When managers analyze the external environment they
typically look for opportunities and threats.
The internal environment constitutes everything inside the firm that might affect the abilities of a
manager to pursue certain actions or strategies.
When managers analyze the internal
environment of their own business, the often do so by identifying its strengths and weaknesses.
The organizational environment can be understood under the following framework.
I.
External Environment
A. General Environment

Economic dimension

Technological dimension

Political-Legal dimension
B. Task Environment

Competitors

Customers

Suppliers

Regulators

Strategic Partners
II. Internal Environment

Owners

Board of Directors

Employees

Physical environment
Skills of an effective manager
An effective manager must possess certain skills in the areas of planning, organizing, leading,
controlling and decision-making in order to process activities that are presented to him from time
to time. In order to be effective, a manager must possess and continuously develop several
essential skills. Robert. L Katz has identified three basic types of skills – technical, human and
conceptual – which he says are need by all managers.
a. Technical skill is the ability to use the tools, procedures or techniques of a
specialized field. Technical skill is considered to be very crucial to the
effectiveness of lower level managers because they are in direct contact with
employees performing work activities within the firm. For instance, the success of
a drilling supervisor of an oil rig depends a great deal on his technical knowledge
of drilling. However, as one moves to higher levels of management within the
organization, the importance of technical skill diminishes because the managers
has less direct contact with day-to-day problems and activities. Thus, the
president of an oil company does not need to know much of the technical details
of drilling for oil or how to refine it.
b. Human skill is the ability to work with, understand and motivate other people.
This skill is essential at every level of management within the organization, but it
is particularly important at lower levels of management where the supervisor has
frequent contact with operating personnel
c. Conceptual skill is the mental ability to coordinate and integrate the
organisation’s interests and activities. It refers to the ability to see the ‘big picture’
to understand how a change in any given part can affect the whole organization.
The relationship between management levels and managerial skills is shown in
Figure 2.5
d. Design skill : koontz and Weihrich added one more skill to the above list. Design
skill is the ability to solve problems in ways that will help the organization. At
higher levels, managers should be able to do more than see a problem, to design a
workable solution to a problem in the light of realities they face. If managers
merely see a problem and become problem watches they will fail.
To be managers at higher levels in the organization must be capable of doing more than just
seeing a problem. If they merely confine to the problem, they become 'problem watchers' and
they will fail. The relative importance of these skills may differ at different levels in the
organizations.
Technical skills are of greatest importance at the supervisory level. Human skills is also helpful
in the frequent interactions with subordinates. Conceptual skills, on the other usually not critical
for lower level supervisors At the middle management level the need for technical skills
decreases at this level. Human skills are still essential; conceptual skills gain in importance. At
the top management level the conceptual and design abilities and human skills are especially
valuable, but there is relatively little need for technical abilities. It is enough if the chief
executives are capable of utilizing the technical capabilities of their subordinates. In smaller
firms, however, for chief executives, technical experience may still be quite important.
In the last decade or so, women have made significant progress in obtaining responsible
positions in organizations. Among the reasons for this development are laws governing fair
employment practices, changing societal attitudes toward women in the workplace, and the
desire of companies to project a favorable image by placing qualified women in managerial
positions.
 Mrs Ranjana Kumar is the present Chairperson of Chennai-based Indian Bank, one of the
ailing public sector banks. She has the distinction of turning it around during 2002.
 Two of four executive directors of ICICI Bank were women in the year 2002-03 and
presently the CEO of ICICI is a woman.
 The state-of-the-art Hyderabad-based manufacturing facility of the Vicks range of
products, belonging to Richardson Hindustan Limited (an affiliate of The Procter &
Gamble Company, USA), is totally managed by a team of 40 women, all experts at
multiple tasks on the shop floor.
 Women have been occupying strategic positions in the political front also. Some of the
women who made a mark in politics include Smt Indira Gandhi, Ms Jayalalitha, Mrs
Shiela Dixit and many others, at different levels of hierarchy in varied political parties.
 Today, we have many Women Entrepreneur Associations in different parts of the country
and the number of women entrepreneurs is on the rise.
These examples illustrate that women are significant forces to be reckoned with at all levels of
management. In organizations, increasingly tasks are being assigned on the basis of factors such
as ability to perform, commitment to work and team spirit, rather than gender. On the job front, a
majority of employers consider women relatively more hardworking, upright, unbiased and
efficient than their counterparts.
All managers must establish an environment in which people can accomplish group goals with
the least amount of time, money, material and personal dissatisfaction or achieve as much as
possible of a desired goal utilizing the available resources. In non-business enterprises, such as a
police department, as well as in units of a business such as an accounting department, the focus
is on accomplishing the goals with minimal resources or to accomplish as much as possible with
the available resources.
1.8
Summary
In this unit we have introduced the concept of management, scope of management, importance of
management, principles of management and levels of management. Management is as old as man himself.
Management is a process and it applies to people at all levels in the organization. The scope of
management is very wide. Management is intangible: As pointed out by Terry, management is intangible.
Management is goal-oriented: Management seeks to achieve goals. Management is universal:
Management is an all – pervasive activity. The basic principles of management are applicable in business
as well as in other organizations. Management is a social process: According to Newman, management is
a social process because it deals with people. Management is a group activity: Management is concerned
with getting things done through people. According to Drucker, “Management is a work”. Management is
an activity: Management is a distinct activity (like playing, teaching, studying). Management is dynamic:
Management is a dynamic and growth-oriented function. Management is multidisciplinary: Management
has received rich contributions from various disciplines like psychology, sociology, anthropology etc.
More importantly, management is a creative activity
Management makes group effort more effective. Management is goal-oriented. To crystallize the
nature of management: Principles crystallize the ever-increasing knowledge and thinking in the
filed of management. To improve research in management : Management deals with human
beings whose behaviour is highly unpredictable. The Fayol has elaborated fourteen principles of
management.
All manager’s positions involve performance of management functions ( planning, organizing,
directing, staffing and controlling). In a large organization, three levels of management are
usually identified viz top management, Middle Management, and lower management.
Any organization is influenced by the environment. The environment in which it functions are
called external and internal environment. To be effective manager one must possess human
skills, conceptual skills apart from managerial.
1.9Keywords
Intangible, Multidisciplinary, Crystallize, Equity, Relatitionists, Sociologists.
1.10 Exercise
1. Define Management.
2. Explain the characteristics of management.
3. Explain the different properties of Management.
4. What are the management principles stated by Fayol?
5. What do you mean by organizational environment? Explain each with example.
6. What skills make a manager an effective manager?
Module 1
Unit 2
Functions of Management
Structure:
2.1 Objectives
2.2 Introduction
2.3 Planning
2.3.1 Planning Terminology
2.12 Performance Appraisal
2.4 Organizational Structure
2.4.1 Division of Labor
2.4.2 Delegation of Authority
2.4.3 Departmentation
2.4.4 Informal Structure
2.5 Staffing Success -- More Than Luck
2.6 Effective Communication
2.7 Compensation
2.8 Training
2.8.1 Content of Training
2.9 Directing
2.10 Motivation
2.11 Communication Model
2.11.1 Barriers to Communication
2.11.2 Facilitating Communication
2.12 Performance Appraisal
2.13 Controlling
2.13.1 Characteristics of the Control Process
2.13.2 Management Control Strategies
2.13.3 Dysfunctional Consequences of Control
2.13.4 Various Administrative Controls
2.14 Delegation
2.15 Evaluations
2.15.1 Financial Statements (particularly budget management)
2.15.2 Performance Management (particularly observation and feedback phases)
2.15.3 Policies and Procedures (to guide behaviors in the workplace)
2.15.4 Quality Control and Operations Management
2.15.5 Risk, Safety and Liabilities
2.16 Summary
2.17 Keyword
2.18 Exercise
2.1
Objectives
After learning this unit you will be able to learn/know
a) Various functions of management like planning, organizing, steps for leading, controlling
etc
b) The purpose for strategic planning
c) Different organizational structure
d) Staffing process
e) Organizational employment – advantage and disadvantage
f) Importance of training
g) Importance of communications and barriers to communicating
2.2:
Introduction
The process of management can be better understood by breaking it down into the five basic
functions like planning, organizing, staffing, leading and controlling. All the management
concepts, principles, theory and techniques can be grouped under these five essential functions.
This framework of management functions is time-tested, though occasionally some
management experts prefer to intent them slightly differently. Some scholars have organized
managerial knowledge around the roles of managers. Indeed, this approach has made some
valuable contributions to the study of management focuses on what managers do. It provides
evidence of planning, organizing, staffing, leading and controlling. This emphasizes on the
need for designing an internal environment for performance within organization and how the
manager's tasks should be related to it. This does not mean that the managers overlook the
external environment. In fact, managers cannot perform well unless they understand (respond
to the many elements of the external environment-economic, technological, social, political
ethical factors affecting their areas of operations.
Managers are responsible for taking actions so that individuals can contribute their best to
group activities. Thus, management applies to every organization-whether it is large or small,
profit making or non profit making and a manufacturing or service enterprise, such as church,
defense, sports, universities or hospitals. Effective management is the concern of every person
in the organization particularly the top level management cadre.
Management Functions at Different Organizational Levels
All managers carry out managerial functions. However, the time spent for each function may
differ. Top level managers spend more time on planning and organizing than do lower level
managers. Leading, on the other hand, takes a great deal of time for first-line supervisors. The
difference in the amount of time spent on controlling varies only slightly for managers at various
levels. Organizational Hierarchy Administrators require four kinds of skills like technical skill,
human skill, conceptual skill and design skill. The Functions of managers provide a useful
framework for organizing management knowledge. The functions of management include
planning, organizing, staffing, leading and controlling.
Planning: Planning involves selecting missions and objectives and the actions to achieve them. It
requires decision making that is, choosing future courses of action from among alternatives.
There are various types of plans, ranging from overall purposes and objectives to the most
detailed actions to be taken, such as ordering a special stainless steel bolt for an instrument or
hiring and training workers for an assembly line. No real plan exists until a decision-a
commitment of human or material resources or reputation-has has been made. Before a decision
is made, there is no real plan; all that exists is a planning study, an analysis, or a proposal.
Organizing: People working together in groups to achieve some goal must have roles to play.
The roles are similar to that of actors in a drama; each role is well-defined and structured.
Normally the chief executive in the organization decides what people at different levels should
perform as a part of their role and ensures that people contribute in a specific way to the group
effort. The concept of a "role" implies that what people do has a definite purpose or objective;
they know how their job objectives fits into group effort, and they have the necessary authority,
tools and information to accomplish the task.
This can be seen in as simple a group effort as setting up camp on a cycle expedition. Eyeryone
could do anything he or she wanted to do, but activity would almost certainly be more effective
and certain tasks would be less likely to be left undone if one or two persons were given the job
of gathering firewood others the assignment of getting water, some the task of starting a fire,
after the job of cooking and so on.
Organizing involves establishing a structure of roles for people to fill in an organization and
ensuring that all the tasks necessary to accomplish goals are assigned to people who can do them
best. Imagine what would have happened if such assignments had not been made in the program
of flying the special aircraft Voyager around the globe without stopping or refueling. The
purpose of an organization structure is to help in creating an environment for human
performance. It is, then, a management tool and not an end in and of itself. Although the
structure must define the tasks to be done, the roles so established must also be designed in the
light of the abilities and motivations of the people available.
Designing an effective organization structure is not an easy managerial task. Many problems are
encountered in making structures fit situations, including both defining the kind of jobs that
must be done and finding the people to do them. These problems and the essential theory,
principles and techniques handling them are discussed in Part 3 of this book.
Staffing involves the process of filling positions in the organization structure. This is done by
identifying work force requirements; inventorying the people available; and recruiting,
selecting, placing. promoting appraising, planning the careers of, compensating and training or
otherwise developing both candidates and current jobholders to accomplish their tasks
effectively and efficiently.
Leading is the influencing of people so that they will contribute to the organization and group
goals. Predominantly, it is concerned with the interpersonal aspect of managing. All managers
would agree that their most important problems arise from people-their desires and attitudes,
their behavior as individuals and in groups-and those effective managers also need to be
effective leaders. People tend to follow only such leaders who offer a means of satisfying their
own needs, wishes and desires. In other words leading involves motivation, leadership styles
and approaches, and communication.
Controlling is the measuring and correcting of activities of subordinates to ensure that events
conform to plans. It measures performance against goals and plans, shows where negative
deviations exist and by putting in motion actions to correct deviations, helps ensure
accomplishment of plans. Although planning must precede controlling, plans are not selfachieving. Plans guide managers in the use of resources to accomplish specific goals; then
activities are checked to determine whether they conform to the plans. Control activities
generally relate to the measurement of achievement. Some means of controlling, like the
budget for expense, inspection records and the record of labor-hours lost, are generally familiar.
Detailed explanation of the above five functions are as below.
2.3 Planning:
Planning is concerned with the future impact of today's decisions. It is the fundamental function
of management from which the other four stem. The need for planning is often apparent after the
fact. However, planning is easy to postpone in the short-run. Postponement of planning
especially plagues labor oriented, hands on managers. The organizing, staffing, leading and
controlling functions stem from the planning function The manager is ready to organize and staff
only after goals and plans to reach the goals are in place. Likewise, the leading function,
influencing the behavior of people in the organization, depends on the goals to be achieved.
Finally, in the controlling function, the determination of whether or not goals are being
accomplished and standards met is based on the planning function. The planning function
provides the goals and standards that drive the controlling function. Planning is important at all
levels of management. However, its characteristics vary by level of management.
2.3.1 Planning Terminology
Vision: Nonspecific directional and motivational guidance for the entire organization. Top
managers normally provide a vision for the business. It is the most emotional of the four levels in
the hierarchy of purposes.
Mission: An organization's reason for being. It is concerned with scope of the business and what
distinguishes this business from similar businesses. Mission reflects the culture and values of top
management.
Objectives: Objectives refine the mission and address key issues within the organization such as
market standing, innovation, productivity, physical and financial resources, profitability,
management and worker performance and efficiency. They are expected to be general,
observable, and challenging.
Goals: Goals are specific statements of anticipated results that further define the organization's
objectives. They are expected to be SMART: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Rewarding, and
Timed.
Development of tactics is a fifth level of planning. Tactics, the most specific and narrow plans,
describe who, what, when, where and how activities will take place to accomplish a goal.
2.3.2 Strategic Planning
Strategic planning is one specific type of planning. Strategies are the outcome of strategic
planning. An organization's strategies define the business the firm is in, the criteria for entering
the business, and the basic actions the organization will follow in conducting its business.
Strategies are major plans that commit large amounts of the organization's resources to proposed
actions, designed to achieve its major objectives and goals. Strategic planning is the process by
which the organization's strategies are determined. In the process, three basic questions are
answered:
1. Where are we now?
2. Where do we want to be?
3. How do we get there?
The "where are we now?" question is answered through the first three steps of the strategy
formulation process:
(1) Perform internal and external environmental analyses,
(2) Review vision, mission and objectives, and
(3) Determine SWOT: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. SWOT analysis
requires managers to be honest, self-disciplined and thorough. Going on to strategy choices
without a comprehensive SWOT analysis is risky.
Strengths and weaknesses come from the internal environment of the firm. Strengths can be
exploited, built upon and made key to accomplishment of mission and objectives. Strengths
reflect past accomplishments in production, financial, marketing and human resource
management. Weaknesses are internal characteristics that have the potential to limit
accomplishment of mission and objectives. Weaknesses may be so important that they need to be
addressed before any further strategic planning steps are taken.
Opportunities and threats are uncontrollable by management because they are external to the
firm. Opportunities provide the firm the possibility of a major improvement. Threats may stand
in the way of a firm reaching its mission and objectives.
Organizing is establishing the internal organizational structure of the business. The focus is on
division, coordination, and control of tasks and the flow of information within the organization.
Managers distribute responsibility and authority to job holders in this function of management.
2.4 Organizational Structure
Each organization has an organizational structure. By action and/or inaction, managers structure
businesses. Ideally, in developing an organizational structure and distributing authority,
managers' decisions reflect the mission, objectives, goals and tactics that grew out of the
planning function. Specifically, they decide:
1. Division of labor
2. Delegation of authority
3. Departmentation
4. Span of control
5. Coordination
Management must make these decisions in any organization that has more than two people.
Small may not be simple. Organizational structure is particularly important in family businesses
where each family member has three hats (multiple roles): family, business and personal.
Confusion among these hats complicates organizational structure decisions.
2.4.1 Division of Labor
Division of labor is captured in an organization chart, a pictorial representation of an
organization's formal structure. An organization chart is concerned with relationships among
tasks and the authority to do the tasks. Eight kinds of relationships can be captured in an
organization chart:
1. The division/specialization of labor
2. Relative authority
3. Departmentation
4. Span of control
5. The levels of management
6. Coordination centers
7. Formal communication channels
8. Decision responsibility
Organization charts have important weaknesses that should be of concern to managers
developing and using them:
1.
They may imply a formality that doesn't exist.
2.
They may be inconsistent with reality.
3.
Their usual top down perspective often minimizes the role of customers, front-line
managers and employees without management responsibilities.
4.
They fail to capture the informal structure and informal communication.
5.
They often imply that a pyramidal structure is the best or only way to organize.
6.
They fail to address the potential power and authority of staff positions compared with
line positions.
2.4.2 Delegation of Authority
Authority is legitimized power. Power is the ability to influence others. Delegation is distribution
of authority. Delegation frees the manager from the tyranny of urgency. Delegation frees the
manager to use his or her time on high priority activities. Note that delegation of authority does
not free the manager from accountability for the actions and decisions of subordinates.
Delegation of authority is guided by several key principles and concepts:
Exception principle - Someone must be in charge. A person higher in the organization handles
exceptions to the usual. The most exceptional, rare, or unusual decisions end up at the top
management level because no one lower in the organization has the authority to handle them.
Scalar chain of command - The exception principle functions in concert with the concept of
scalar chain of command - formal distribution of organizational authority is in a hierarchial
fashion. The higher one is in an organization, the more authority one has.
Decentralization - Decisions are to be pushed down to the lowest feasible level in the
organization. The organizational structure goal is to have working managers rather than managed
workers.
Parity principle - Delegated authority must equal responsibility. With responsibility for a job
must go the authority to accomplish the job.
Span of control - The span of control is the number of people a manager supervises. The
organizational structure decision to be made is the number of subordinates a manager can
effectively lead. The typical guideline is a span of control of no more than 5-6 people. However,
a larger span of control is possible depending on the complexity, variety and proximity of jobs.
Unity principle - Ideally, no one in an organization reports to more than one supervisor.
Employees should not have to decide which of their supervisors to make unhappy because of the
impossibility of following all the instructions given them.
Line and staff authority - Line authority is authority within an organization's or unit's chain of
command. Staff authority is advisory to line authority. Assume a crew leader reports to the
garden store manager who in turn reports to the president. Further assume that the crew leader
and store manager can hire and fire, and give raises to the people they supervise. Both the crew
leader and store manager have line authority. To contrast, assume that the president has an
accountant who prepares monthly financial summaries with recommendations for corrective
action. The accountant has staff authority but not line authority.
2.4.3 Departmentation
Departmentation is the grouping of jobs under the authority of a single manager, according to
some rational basis, for the purposes of planning, coordination and control. The number of
departments in an organization depends on the number of different jobs, i.e., the size and
complexity of the business. Organization businesses are most likely to have departments
reflecting commodities and services. For example, a large IT organization might be organized
into marketing, HR, finance and office departments. The marketing department might be further
divided into sales, advertisement, PRO etc as sub department.
2.4.4 Informal Structure
The formal structure in each organization that has been put in place by management has an
accompanying informal structure. Management does not and cannot control the informal
structure. The informal structure has no written rules, is fluid in form and scope, is not easy to
identify, and has vague or unknown membership guidelines.
For management, the informal structure may be positive or negative. Positive qualities include
the ability to quickly spread information and provide feedback to the information. The informal
structure gives people a sense of being in the know. Management can feed information into the
informal structure at very low cost. The informal structure can also help satisfy employees' social
needs.
The negative qualities of the informal structure mirror the positive qualities in several ways. The
more juicy a rumor, the more likely is the informal structure to repeat it, expand it and make it
into the "truth." Management may not know what information is flowing through the informal
structure. Employees can waste a great deal of time nurturing and participating in the informal
structure. Finally, the informal structure can fence out new employees, "rate breakers," and
change agents no matter the extent to which the formal structure makes them a part of the
organization.
Management teams on successful organizations excel at many human resource management
skills. Staffing (including recruiting, selecting, hiring and training of employees) is among the
skills that become more important as the complexity and overall level of performance of a
organization business increases. With increasing size and improving performance comes people
complexity: more things accomplished through employees, more delegation to key employees
and more reliance on employees to maintain a routine that assures superiority. Any cynical
attitudes managers have about employees need to be replaced with positive attitudes.
The organizing function of management defines each position or category of positions on the
organization. Staffing follows with the filling and keeping filled all positions on the organization.
Recruiting a pool of applicants for a position, selecting new employees from among the pool of
applicants, training new employees and retraining experienced employees are the key elements
of the staffing function. Managing resignations and discharges is also part of staffing. Staffing
may be mistakenly limited to regular employees. Instead, staffing includes all personnel
categories: managers, working managers and laborers; family and non-family; paid and unpaid;
and full-time and part-time.
Practically all organizations function without a personnel department. This means that
management generalists rather than personnel specialists handle staffing. The organization
human resource managers must deal with factors external to the organization such as labor laws
and regulations, labor markets, practices of other employers and stereotypes of organization
employment. Internal factors such as policies regarding family members’ entry into the business,
conflict between family and business goals and limited opportunities for promotion because of
flat organization charts must be dealt with. Staffing has both short-run and long-run
ramifications. In the short-run, positions must be kept filled with qualified people who can get
the work done. In the long run, development of top and middle level management personnel for
business continuity into the next generation tops the list of staffing challenges.
Staffing success depends heavily on the planning and organizing functions of management. In
planning, both organization goals and employees' goals are considered. A business functions best
when business and employee goals are compatible. Job analysis leads to job specifications and
job descriptions. In developing job specifications, the necessary knowledge, skills and abilities
for each position are determined. Job descriptions identify specific tasks for each position. Full
success in staffing rarely comes without analyzing the jobs on the organization, determining
what is needed for success in each job and writing a description of the job.
Regardless of size, each organization has an organizational structure. The structure may be the
result of careful planning. It may be highly formal with an organization chart well known and
understood. On the other hand, structure may be the result of tradition and happenstance. In may
be so informal that employees and family members are unsure of their roles, to whom they report
and how they are to relate to other people on the organization. Ideally, the organizational
structure provides a guide to the roles that people perform to help the organization business
achieve its goals. An effective organizational structure results in everyone on the organization
working together as a team.
Work is directed to accomplishing both the organization's goals and the personal goals of
employees. Organizing must result in tasks being done as a means to an end rather than an end.
Structuring the business to create a positive environment for people and ultimately a high quality
of work life is equally important to getting the tasks done. Staffing is best done with attention to
recruiting, selecting and training employees to help them satisfy their goals and the goals of the
business.
The following assumptions provide the context for our discussion of staffing:
1. The mission for the organization has been given careful attention by top management and
distributed to the management team and all employees, i.e., the reasons the organization is in
business are known.
2. A management team is in place and able to divide up responsibilities. Top management is
willing and able as needed to delegate responsibilities and authority.
3. Key positions, e.g., production manager, project manager, or a full-time office person are
being filled. The process for filling key positions can be modified for part-time and temporary
positions.
4. The person hired will be trained to carry out the responsibilities of the position, i.e., it is not
necessary to hire a person who already knows how to do the job.
5. No selection process can guarantee selection success. Even if the "right" person was hired
based on all the information available to the employer at the time the decision was made, six
months, a year or three years later, it may seem that the "wrong" person was hired.
2.5 Staffing Success -- More Than Luck
Staffing success is having the "right person" in a position, rather than simply filling a position.
Too often there is an assumption that luck is a key element in staffing. Consequently, a labor
manager may place too little emphasis on what can be accomplished through improved
recruitment, interviewing, selection and training. Hiring a full-time organization employee or a
key part-time employee should be considered a major decision, ranking in importance with
decisions on purchase of machinery and land, and construction of facilities. This suggests that a
organization manager should carefully plan a staffing strategy following some specific
guidelines rather than simply "hoping for the best."
Starting With A Self-Assessment
The following guidelines can help a organization manager evaluate his or her recent staffing
efforts and improve in the future:
(1) Know yourself,
(2) Know your business, and
(3) Know the strengths and weaknesses of organization employment.
Know Yourself
Knowing oneself can be an important self-improvement aid. Self-analysis is difficult and fraught
with error. No simple written tests exist to provide easy improvement in staffing effectiveness.
Nevertheless, an honest agree or disagree reaction to each of the following ten statements should
provide some assistance in self-analysis:
1. I am the kind of person I would like as a "boss."
2. I don't like to be thought of as the "boss."
3. I am highly respected by the people I supervise.
4. I enjoy conversation.
5. I am a good teacher.
6. I am a good listener.
7. I have little trouble being understood by others.
8. I trust the people I supervise.
9. I believe most of the people I supervise like having some responsibility.
10. I believe organization workers regularly need a pat on the back.
The first three statements are concerned with self-image. Statements four through seven focus on
communication. The last three statements are concerned with a labor manager's attitude toward
employees. Statements with which a labor manager disagrees may suggest areas for
improvement. Analyzing and altering the personal characteristics associated with each of the
statements could be helpful. Understanding his or her strengths and weaknesses can change what
the labor manager considers desirable and undesirable characteristics of employees.
Total success in staffing escapes even those labor managers who can "agree" with all ten
statements. The best "people" persons, best communicators, and those with the most positive
attitudes toward their employees still have disappointments in getting and keeping their
organizations staffed with the "right people". Working to know one self better simply provides
part of the foundation for improvement in staffing.
Comparison to other managers also helps a manager better understand himself or herself. Two
hypothetical employers, Mizer and Max, provide a standard for employer self-evaluation.
Mizer – HR Manager wants to minimize the time spent in filling a position. The position is
vacant because an employee resigned unexpectedly and left the next day. Mizer heard that Joe, a
person reputed to be an outstanding employee, is unhappy with his job on a neighboring
organization. Mizer called Joe and asked if there was anything to the rumor that he is unhappy.
Joe said he was unhappy but the problem has been resolved. Mizer replied that that was too bad
because he would have offered him a good job. The same day, one of Mizer's employees told
him that his brother-in-law needs a job. Mizer responded with enthusiasm, "Bring him by tonight
so I can talk to him." Before Mizer finished eating lunch that same day, the phone rang. The
person introduced himself as Kevin, a friend of Joe from the neighboring organization. Kevin
asked if Mizer's position was still open. Mizer replied that it was. Kevin asked if he could come
by for an interview that afternoon. Mizer smiled as he suggested 2:00 p.m. By 3:00 p.m. that day,
Mizer was thinking that this was one of his truly lucky days. Kevin was hired and started
working the following day.
Max – HR Manager wants to maximize the chances of filling each position with the "right
person." He will have a position open in 30 days. The position will be vacant because one of the
current employees has an opportunity to become "orchard manager" on a nearby organization.
Max has placed a help wanted ad in two newspapers. He has heard that Joe, an outstanding
employee working on a neighboring organization is unhappy. He called Joe and asked if he was
interested in submitting an application for the position. Max also talked to his four employees
about the upcoming opening and encouraged them to think about people who might be interested
in applying. Within three weeks, Max had 12 applicants. Based on applications and references,
he selected seven to be invited for interviews. Four were no longer interested in the position.
Three were interviewed. The two most promising were invited back for a second interview that
included the other four employees. After extensive discussion with the people who had done the
interviewing, Max selected a person who is working in a small factory nearby. The new
employee will not start for two weeks. He wants to be fair to his current employer by giving her
two weeks notice of his leaving. Max and his four employees look forward to having an
outstanding person join them to learn the new job.
Know Your Business
An understanding of the goals for the organization business and its current and long run
constraints to progress will help in identifying desirable characteristics for employees. Goals and
performance standards for the enterprises with which the employee will have direct contact
should be specifically addressed before the search for a new employee is started or a training
program implemented. This helps identify those specific things expected to be accomplished
through hired organization employees in general and new employees in particular. For example,
if an objective is to decrease machinery repair costs, one alternative is to look for a person who
has excellent mechanical skills from a previous position. An alternative is to hire an
inexperienced person who has a willingness and desire to master the needed mechanical skills. A
follow up training program for such a person can result in a high quality employee. Clearly, the
organization management team has the responsibility for addressing the organization's key
problems. These responsibilities cannot be delegated to labor. However, a organization can
benefit a great deal from emphasizing complementarity of knowledge, skills and abilities in the
labor force rather than settling for duplication and competition.
Know the Advantages and Disadvantages of Organization Employment
Organization employment has advantages and disadvantages. No one position has all the
advantages or disadvantages. Positions on some organizations may have few of the typical
disadvantages. Nevertheless, the organization manager is likely to encounter the following kinds
of preconceived notions about the disadvantages of organization employees as positions are
discussed with potential and current employees.
Typical advantages of organization employment are:
1. Work with plants and modern machinery.
2. Work varies during the year.
3. Both indoor and outdoor work are included.
4. Sense of accomplishment through observing the organization's progress.
5. Little chance of unemployment.
6. Little or no time spent commuting to work.
7. Easy to find a different organization job.
Typical disadvantages are:
1. Low income relative to non-organization employment.
2. Length of work day and work week.
3. Different benefits than non-organization workers receive.
4. Greater likelihood of injurious accidents.
5. Difficult to advance without changing jobs.
6. Low prestige.
7. Social isolation.
Good labor management involves trying to overcome as many of the disadvantages of
organization employment as is feasible while capitalizing on the advantages. For example, one
may be able to rotate work schedules so that all employees have at least one day off each week.
One may also be able to offer an employee the choice of higher cash wages and the opportunity
to rent a house from the employer rather than making the house and lower cash wages a required
part of the compensation package. Job titles, trips out of the county for production and seminars,
and employee's names printed on their work shirts increase the prestige of organization
employment.
Steps for Filling a Position
Following some proven guidelines increases the chances of finding and keeping desirable
employees. However, no process can guarantee selection success. Even if the seemingly "right"
person was hired six months, a year or three years ago, now it may seem that the "wrong" person
was hired. The following eight-step process increases the chances of hiring success:
1. Determine the business' labor and management needs
2. Develop a current job description
3. Build a pool of applicants
4. Review applications and select those to be interviewed
5. Interview
6. Check references
7. Make a selection
8. Hire
Preliminaries to Implementing the Eight Steps
The process for filling a position varies from organization to organization. Previous experiences,
nature of the positions being filled, expertise of the selection team, budget for the selection
process and time made available for selection are examples of the kinds of factors that affect the
design of the selection process. Top management answering the following questions should
result in a workable process:
1. To whom, if anyone, is responsibility and authority for filling positions being delegated?
Top management, e.g., the owner/operator of the organization, may retain responsibility and
authority for filling positions. On the other hand, it can be delegated to a herdsperson, an
assistant organization manager or some other key management person. Someone must have the
explicit responsibility and authority. Everyone being responsible often means the task is treated
as if not one were responsible.
2. When and how are the persons responsible for selection and hiring to be trained?
One can not expect to do well in selection and hiring of employees without training in how to do
it. "Learning by doing" can result in many potentially valuable employees being lost to other
employers who do selection and hiring in a more professional manner. "Learning by doing" can
also result in being fooled by unqualified applicants who are expert in talking about their many
organization skills and experiences.
Step 1: Determine the Business' Labor and Management Needs
The labor and management needs of the business should guide its hiring decisions. An
understanding of the goals for the organization business and its current and long run constraints
to progress helps identify desirable employee characteristics. Goals and performance standards
should be specifically addressed before the search for a new employee begins. This helps
identify those specific things expected to be accomplished through hired organization workers in
general and new employees in particular.
Clearly, the management team has the responsibility for addressing the organization's key
problems. These responsibilities cannot be delegated to labor. However, a organization can
benefit a great deal from emphasizing complementarity of knowledge, skills and abilities in the
labor force. It makes little sense to hire new people with unneeded strengths and interests that
will cause unproductive competition for favored tasks.
Step 2: Develop a Current Job Description
Job descriptions help both the employer and employees by answering three questions: What does
the jobholder do? How is it done? Under what conditions is it done? The job description has at
least four parts:
1. Job title,
2. A brief one or two sentence summary of the job,
3. A detailed listing of the major tasks involved in the job summarized under three to
seven general headings, and
4. A listing of the knowledge, skills and abilities necessary to do the job.
Job descriptions are typically one page long. The brevity requires a terse, direct writing style.
Simple words with single meanings should be used. Action verbs in the present tense should be
used in defining the job duties, e.g., task completion in seven days completes a performance
evaluation at least annually for each employee supervised. The specifics of the job should be
clear from the job description. The job title, job summary and description of duties should be
completely consistent. Managers working closely with employees should update job descriptions
at least annually. The important tie between job descriptions, performance evaluation and merit
pay increases is lost when job descriptions are hid away in a forgotten file.
Step 3: Build a Pool of Applicants
Although there are many methods of getting job applicants, word of mouth and help wanted ads
are likely to generate the most applicants. Word of mouth involves current employees, neighbors,
contacts, and others who come in contact with potential employees. Word of mouth is fast and
low cost. However, it limits the scope of the job search because qualified applicants may not hear
about the position. Current employees enthusiastic about their jobs can become highly effective
recruiters.
Help wanted ads can be placed in newspapers and magazines known to be read by potential
employees. Help wanted ads have the potential of expanding the applicant pool beyond the local
community. The ads may increase the pool of applicants to the point that screening based on
their application forms will be necessary. Only well prepared help wanted ads are likely to be
effective. Following a seven-step process should result in an effective want ad:
1. Lead with a positive statement or job characteristic that attracts attention
2. Give the job title
3. Say something positive about the organization
4. Describe the job
5. Explain qualifications necessary for success in the position
6. Provide information on wages and benefits, as appropriate
7. Indicate how to apply for the job
The following creative ads are much more likely to catch the attention of qualified applicants:
Looking for a change? Like organization work and animals but not the extra long hours? We are
a modern IT organization looking for an ambitious individual. You can start at 9:00 a.m. and be
home with your family by 4:00. Good wages, benefits and five work days per week.
Want to supplement your family income? We are looking for ambitious people who like animals.
We will provide training to help you become a competent network technician. We are a modern
and expanding IT organization that provides excellent working conditions for part-time
employees. We will schedule your 20-30 hour work week around your family commitments.
Excellent wages and four work days per week. Submit application at itfirm@gmail.com.
Want to advance your career in the IT industry? An assistant organization manager position for a
modern and expanding IT organization will be available in two months. Current assistant
manager is moving to a highly attractive IT organization manager position. Submit application at
Sunrise Organizations, Mon-Fri 4pm-6pm.
Each applicant should fill out an application form. Taking time to develop an application form or
modify one used previously forces identification of important characteristics to look for in
applicants. An application form provides a common base of information about all employees
being considered. It also provides an important source of questions to be followed up on during
the interview.
Step 4: Review Applications and Select those to Be Interviewed
Some applicants will be excluded from further consideration based on the application form. A
pre-interview can also be used to help identify applicants to be invited for a formal interview.
Having interested people visit the organization to fill out an application form can provide
opportunity for a few general questions about experience and interest in the job. Promising
candidates can be given a mini-tour of the organization providing opportunity for general
conversation about the IT industry, organization work and machinery. The objective of the preselection step is to reduce the applicant pool to the most promising candidates. However, the
applicant pool should not be reduced to fewer than three people. You may not be successful in
hiring the best person in the pool of applicants. Interviewing may dramatically change the preranking of applicants you have made. Also, some applicants will withdraw. Most important, the
person hired should know that he or she is a winner having been selected over other qualified
people.
Step 5: Interview
Organization employers use applicant interviews more than any other selection tool in deciding
whom to hire. Employers can lose outstanding applicants through poor interviewing. On the
other hand, they can use excellent interviewing skills to help sell a job opportunity to applicants.
Use these questions to guide preparation for interviewing:
1. Who will be on the interview team?
2. How will we divide time between the formal interview and informal discussion including a
organization tour?
3. What questions will we ask in the interview?
4. How will we record our evaluations of each interviewee?
5. Where will we conduct the interview?
Use open-ended questions that encourage applicants to explain experiences, characteristics and
ideas in their own words. The open-ended questions should be geared toward the following
general areas: previous job accomplishments and achievement; non-job accomplishments and
achievements; motivation and ambition; hobbies and use of leisure time; and "what if" Some
examples are:
What has been your most important accomplishment in your current position?
What are you looking for in an ideal job?
When you are working on a project, how do you know you are doing a good job?
Outside your work, what has been your most important accomplishment thus far in your life?
How could this accomplishment help you help our organization?
What hobbies and spare time activities do you have that would help you help our organization?
What is your most important strength that would help our organization?
"What if" questions should also be included? They present the applicant a practical problem
situation for solution.
Do not ask questions about: race, color, religion, national origin, marital status, number and care
of dependents, height, weight, education unrelated to the job, friends or relatives who have
previously worked on your organization, age, arrest or conviction records, credit ratings,
handicaps or disabilities, person to notify in case of emergency, sexual orientation, non businessrelated references, social clubs and organizations, and military experience in the armed forces of
another country. A general guideline is to ask only about those things that are unquestionably
related to the job and any applicant's ability to do the job. It is legitimate to ask about availability
for work on weekends and staying late during planting and harvest seasons. However, these
questions should not be asked in terms of family responsibilities, children or religious practice.
The interview can be divided into the following nine steps:
1. Relax the applicant and build rapport. (2-3 minutes)
2. Give the applicant a copy of the job description and describe the job in considerable detail. (35 minutes)
3. Determine the accuracy of the information on the application form. (4-7 minutes)
4. Ask a series of open-ended questions previously prepared. (10-15 minutes)
5. Encourage the applicant to ask questions. (2-5 minutes)
6. Summarize your organization's mission, objectives, and business philosophy. (2-4 minutes)
7. Summarize the opportunities provided to the person in the position. (2-4 minutes)
8. Encourage the applicant to ask questions. (2-10 minutes)
9. Close with information about plans for making a decision. (2-4 minutes)
The total time for the interview should range from about thirty minutes to about sixty minutes.
A thorough understanding of each step is important:
1. Relax the applicant and build rapport. (2-3 minutes)
Although this step should take no more than 2-3 minutes, it is important to all the steps that will
follow in the interview. The objective is to set the stage for a friendly and open exchange of
information. Your smile and warm welcome are important. Maintain a casual and non-interview
atmosphere during this step.
2. Give the applicant a copy of the job description and describe the job in considerable detail. (35 minutes)
It is essential that the applicant understand the job you are filling. Be specific about the duties
and responsibilities.
3. Determine the accuracy of the information on the application form. (4-7 minutes)
Review the applicant's training directly required for performance of the job, job experience
directly related to the position you are filling, and gaps of time between jobs. Pay particular
attention to vague reasons for leaving previous positions.
4. Ask a series of open-ended questions previously prepared. (10-15 minutes)
Your careful preparation for the interview should be apparent to the applicant. Avoid groping for
the next question to ask. Impress the applicant with your ability to ask questions that are fun to
answer. Keep reminding yourself that you are conducting an interview not an interrogation.
5. Encourage the applicant to ask questions. (2-5 minutes)
Note that thus far in the interview, the applicant has been responding. At this point, the applicant
is given explicit encouragement to ask questions. You should answer the questions in a
straightforward manner. Note carefully the content of the applicant's questions, the insight
shown, and the follow up questions when pursuing a particular point. Pay careful attention to
hints about the needs the applicant hopes to satisfy through the job.
6. Summarize your organization's mission, objectives, and business philosophy. (2-4
minutes)
This is a "selling" step. You want the applicant to have a positive impression of your business
even if an offer will not be forthcoming. Take time to explain the uniqueness of your business,
the importance of people in accomplishing your goals and your vision of the opportunities in the
IT industry. Also explain the pride you have in former employees who have moved up in the
industry.
7. Summarize the opportunities provided to the person in the position. (2-4 minutes)
You now turn from the general summary about the organization business to a specific summary
about the position you are filling. This is also a "selling" step. It is appropriate to again explain
the importance of the position to the success of your business, the opportunities there will be to
learn the necessary skills for success, and the satisfaction that can be gained through the position.
8. Encourage the applicant to ask questions. (2-10 minutes)
This second opportunity for the applicant to ask questions should be used to emphasize your
desire to be an open and effective communicator. Show your caring attitude. The applicant may
have thought of additional questions or now has the courage to ask questions that earlier seemed
too daring. This second opportunity for the applicant to ask questions further encourages the
applicant to interview you instead of just being interviewed by you.
9. Close with information about plans for making a decision. (2-4 minutes)
Be specific about what happens next, when you will complete interviews and when you plan to
be back in touch with the applicant. Be sure the applicant does not leave guessing about what the
next step is. Be careful not to raise the applicant's expectations. Simply express appreciation for
the applicant's time, provide your name and telephone number, and welcome personal contacts
should the applicant have any questions.
Interviewing is difficult. Knowing how to do it well makes it enjoyable. Some do's and don'ts
can serve as reminders on how to improve your interviewing skills.
Do:
1. Make sure the applicant does most of the talking.
2. Make the interview fun for you and the applicant.
3. Listen!!!
4. Be attentive.
5. Concentrate on the interview and what the applicant is saying
6. Show enthusiasm throughout the interview.
7. "Read" nonverbal messages.
8. Show appreciation for the person being interested in the position.
9. Show pride in your business and the IT industry.
10. Stay in control of the interview.
Immediately after the interview and certainly before interviewing another candidate, you should
complete an interview form and summarize your impressions of the applicant. Relying on
memory to recall key points about applicants will lead to confusion among the applicants and
vagueness about strengths and weaknesses.
The written summary should include job experiences; notable knowledge, skills and abilities;
motivation and energy; overall strengths; and overall weaknesses. The summary should conclude
with an overall score for the applicant. This summary should be prepared before discussion with
the other interviewers.
After completion of all interviews, the interview team should discuss each applicant and come to
a consensus evaluation.
Step 6: Check references
References can confirm information gathered through the application form and the interview.
References can provide additional information about those applicants to whom you are still
giving serious consideration. Some employers skip this step because of previous employers'
reluctance to share any useful information out of fear of defamation litigation. Reference checks
can still be productive. Personal visits or telephone conversations will be more productive than
asking for written comments. Getting references from your personal acquaintances or from
people well known in organization circles will be more productive than asking strangers. Asking
about the most important contribution the employee has made is likely to be more helpful than
asking if the reference knows of any reason you should not hire the person. A reference's tone of
voice may express more than the words being said. Asking references provided by the applicant
to suggest other people to contact can result in additional useful information.
Keep in mind that some references have reason to give less than candid information. Some
employers may praise a problem employee in hope that an offer from another organization will
solve a messy problem. On the other hand, some employers may hint at some problems in hopes
of preventing you from making an offer to an outstanding employee.
Asking the same carefully prepared questions of each reference will be helpful. Using a
structured form can greatly simplify recording information received from references.
Step 7: Make a selection
The objective in making a selection is to be as objective as possible given the job description;
knowledge, skills and abilities necessary to do the job; and the information available concerning
each applicant. Selection biases can easily creep into the selection process. Five potentially
important selection biases are:
1. Stereotyping: Attributing certain characteristics to a particular group of people.
2. Halo effect: Regarding highly an individual who has characteristics you particularly like. "A
person, like me, who drives a Ford, prefers Jerseys and is a Chicago Cubs fan will be a good
employee."
3. First impressions: Judging prematurely based on appearance, handshake or voice. "He has a
good firm handshake, a friendly smile, no ear rings, and short hair. I knew before the interview
started that he would be a good employee."
4. Contrast: Measuring against the last person interviewed. "After that last person we
interviewed, I had begun to think we would never find an acceptable person."
5. Staleness: Discounting individuals who were interviewed early in the process by giving
preference to the individuals interviewed just before they make the selection.
If no satisfactory applicant is found, start the process over rather than deciding to take a chance
on a doubtful applicant. Successful use of this guideline requires that backup labor be available
so that they can avoid crisis hiring.
Step 8: Hire a person
Make an oral offer in person or by telephone to your first choice followed by a written offer that
summarizes the key conditions of employment. In making the offer, emphasize that the applicant
is the first choice among several qualified people. Show enthusiasm and make obvious your hope
that this person will soon be joining your organization team.
The written employment agreement can be a letter of explanation or a form with blanks filled in
as appropriate. Whatever the form, the agreement should include a description of the job, a
statement that the employment is "at will," compensation, benefits, work schedules and the other
important details.
Other applicants interviewed will want to know the outcome of your job search. Every person
interviewed should have a follow up message from you. A form letter should be sent to all
applicants interviewed saying that the position has been filled and thanking them for their
interest in the job. The follow up letter should have a positive tone rather than be a "I reject you"
letter. You can comment on the strong field of candidates, express appreciation for the
applicant's interest in the job and perhaps say that his or her application will remain on file in
case another position opens up. Such a follow up letter should not give specifics about why
another person was selected.
Keeping Employees
Following careful recruitment, selection, hiring, and training, an employee is expected to become
an important part of the business. Much has been invested in the employee and much is expected.
Taking specific steps to keep the person employed on the organization is likely to be cost
effective. Of course, some employees will "outgrow" their current positions and can advance
their careers by changing employers. Nevertheless, excellent labor managers are typically
recognized as having low rates of labor turnover. Creating opportunities for employees, effective
communication and fair compensation are likely to contribute to the retention of employees.
Creating Opportunities for Employees
Good labor managers are creative. They are regularly challenged to find new ways to keep
employees motivated and interested in their work. Creating new opportunities for growth and
progress within the organization business is difficult in most situations because of the relatively
small number of employees and the lack of variation in job responsibilities within the
organization. Therefore, a organization labor manager generally must give special attention to
creating opportunities. Among the possibilities are increased involvement in extension meetings
and seminars, increased decision making responsibility, partial responsibility for training new
employees and supervising other employees, more freedom to work without close or daily
supervision, some choice of working hours, and part ownership.
Another aspect of the creative challenge facing a organization employer is development of
desirable working conditions. The equipment, machinery, and buildings on the organization
directly affect working conditions. Substituting equipment and machinery for labor to make the
job physically less demanding may help make a job more attractive. Training programs to help
equip an employee for the job responsibilities also are important to creating desirable working
conditions.
2.6 Effective Communication
Because labor management involves getting things done through people, the labor manager must
communicate with employees. The effectiveness of the communication will directly influence
labor management success and labor turnover. A labor manager's communication with
employees involves much more than just "telling them" what they need to know. Furthermore,
communication is not limited to verbal exchanges between two or more people. Communication
may occur through writing, pictures, charts, and posters. Communication may also be nonverbal,
i.e., not involving verbal or written actions. A smile, frown, handshake, shrug, grunt, nod,
gesture and even silence are also means of communication.
Not all communication is effective. Effective communication involves being understood and
getting desired results. Part of a labor manager's communication success involves being sensitive
to communication barriers. This sensitivity includes using words employees understand, being a
good listener, encouraging them to ask questions, and avoiding harsh criticism of those who do
not understand.
2.7 Compensation
Worker compensation or payment may be divided into two parts: dollars and benefits.
Organization workers are generally paid less than non-organization workers with comparable
skills and job responsibilities. However, the problems associated with compensation are not
limited to increasing dollar incomes of workers. In fact, employers who depend solely on pay
increases to keep key employees are likely to be disappointed with the results. Clearly, workers'
incomes need to be analyzed in terms of what they could earn in other organization and nonorganization positions. However, more than the dollar amounts need to be considered in these
evaluations. An employee is likely to be particularly sensitive to the benefits received in the
organization job compared with the benefits received in non-organization jobs. Examples of such
benefits are paid vacation, sick leave, overtime pay, and life and health insurance.
It is important to view benefits from both the employee standpoint and the employer standpoint.
For example, a organization employer providing a house to an employee may view the benefit as
a way of getting some return from a house that could not otherwise be rented. However, an
employee may view the benefit as a negative characteristic of the job because of the employee's
family living in an undesirable house or living too close to the "job."
Employers often consider wage incentive plans attractive because they tie a worker's earnings to
how well a job is done. An assured reward for an employee's high quality performance is seen as
a way of reducing labor turnover. However, these wage incentive plans are not a cure all for
labor turnover and other labor management problems. Wage incentive plans cannot replace
effective recruiting and training of workers. But a wage incentive plan may help keep an
outstanding employee. Employers can expect an increased level of productivity and a decreased
rate of employee turnover if an employee feels rewarded for efforts to improve production levels.
If a worker is dissatisfied by factors other than the rate of pay or working conditions, a wage
incentive plan will not reduce labor problems.
If an employer and employee should agree that a wage incentive plan would be desirable, the
following steps may be helpful in developing and starting the plan:
1. Specify what is expected to be accomplished with the plan.
2. Identify the employee's concerns, aspirations and abilities.
3. Develop a specific plan.
4. Start the plan.
5. Evaluate the plan.
The recipe for organization success is complex. Machines, materials, equipment, financing, land
and buildings matter a great deal. People also matter. To a great extent, organization managers
reach their goals through people. Getting things done through people requires competent
employees. Mediocrity in the process used to fill positions can make a huge difference over time.
To have competent employees, people who have the potential of being competent need to be
hired. The question is: Do I maximize my chances of hiring the "right" people or do I leave my
success to chance? Each organization manager must answer this question.
No matter how carefully a organization employer recruits and selects employees, they will lack
some necessary knowledge and skills. Training is essential if employees are to reach their
potential. Training should help them feel like they are creating better opportunities for
themselves and at the same helping the organization accomplish its goals.
2.8 Training
Training is anything an employer does to help employees learn to do their work the way the
employer wants them to do it. Training is an investment in people benefiting both the employer
and employee. In an ideal employer-employee situation, the investment in teaching allows an
employee to do the job better. Doing the job better benefits both the employee and the
organization. Trainers (teachers) are challenged to understand what the employees (learners)
know from previous training and experience. Trainers need to see the job through the eyes of the
employees. Good training makes complicated and complex tasks seem simple. Note how
complicated riding a bicycle seems until one knows how. All experienced computer users know
there is not an "any key" on a computer keyboard. Yet many inexperienced users have searched
in vain for such a key to be able to follow the direction in the computer manual that says, "Press
any key and continue." The importance of training programs on organizations will increase
dramatically. Margins of acceptable error will grow smaller and smaller. Equipment will become
more complicated. The work will be more complex. People with all the necessary skills and
experience for success on a organization cannot be hired. A decreasing percentage of new
employees will have been raised on a organization or will have had previous work experience on
a organization. In this environment, labor can easily become the weakest link in the plans for
success of the business.
2.8.1 Content of Training
Training of organization workers involves four kinds of learning: knowing, doing, combination
of what is known or can be done, and combinations of knowing and doing. Learning infers:
1. Knowing something intellectually or conceptually one never knew before, e.g., visitors can
carry disease onto a organization.
2. Being able to do something one could not do before, e.g., train a new employee to clean
equipment.
3. Combining two known into a new understanding of a skill, piece of knowledge, concept, or
behavior, e.g., knowledge about the causes of pneumonia in pigs and knowledge about air
movement in closed buildings combined to understand the importance of ventilation.
4. Being able to use or apply a new combination of skills, knowledge, concepts, or behaviors,
e.g., combining mechanical skill, attention to detail, knowing what to listen for, and superior
hearing to recognize when a belt needs tightening.
All four kinds of learning should be part of a training program as appropriate. Training must be
more than teaching employees how to do things. Helping them understand the importance of the
job, the principles behind the job, and how they can use what they already know are important.
Conditions that Facilitate Learning
Each organization should have a plan for training. The plan should include creation of a positive
environment for learning. Reinforcing the following assumptions in each trainer and employee
helps create an ideal learning situation:
All employees can learn.
Learning should be made an active process.
Learners need and want guidance and direction.
Learning should be sequential.
Learners need time to practice.
Learning should be varied to avoid boredom.
Learners gain satisfaction from their learning.
Correct learner behavior should be reinforced.
Learning does not occur at a steady rate.
Training Objectives
An employee training program should have three distinct phases:
1. Orientation,
2. Learning to do the first job,
3. Preparation for future tasks and responsibilities.
Orientation
An organization employer has only one opportunity to make a good first impression on new
employees. The first day that a new person is on the job provides many "teachable moments."
Nearly all employees want to get off to a good start. The good start depends more on orientation
than on how much work the person does the first few hours on the job.
Help every new person get off to a good start. Orientation is as important for the part-time high
school worker as for the new full-time employee. Even a relative or nearby neighbor known for
years will benefit from careful orientation.
Most employers anticipate some obvious questions. "Where should I park?" "What time do you
want me here tomorrow?" "What do you want me to do?" Orientation should go beyond
answering these first questions. Here is the opportunity to convince each new person that he or
she is important to you and to the organization.
Planning the Orientation - Orientation actually starts with the advertisement of the position, the
interview, and the job description given the new employee. Being businesslike in the hiring
process is important. A written job description and written offer with the conditions of
employment help set a positive tone.
After a person is hired and before the first day of work, several questions need to be answered:
1. Who will be in charge of orienting the new person?
2. What will be the content of the orientation?
3. How will the orientation mesh with job training?
One person should be charged with planning and conducting the orientation. Other people,
including employees, can be involved even though responsibility is centered in one person.
Orientation should lead smoothly to the start of job training.
Content of Orientation - The specific content of the orientation depends on the size and
complexity of the organization. Sensitivity to immediate information needs and postponing the
nonessential information to the second phase of training are the keys to successful orientation.
Where to park the car, what to wear to work, location of the bathroom, names of co-workers and
to whom to go with questions are examples of content essential to orientation. Procedures for
arranging which week to take vacation are not.
Following is a list of items to be considered in planning the details of the orientation:
Organization Characteristics
History of the organization
Mission statement and goals for the organization
Management team
Layout of facilities, buildings and land
Overview of what the organization produces and production processes
Role of employees
Personnel Policies
Policies and rules about such things as attendance,
breaks, scheduling work, use of equipment and tools, and courtesy to other employees
Probationary period
Disciplinary practices
Safety procedures
Employee Benefits
Pay and paydays
Vacation
Sick leave
Insurance benefits
Rest breaks
Retirement program
Note: The details of some of these benefits are best left for discussion at a later date.
Introductions
To owner/operator
To supervisor
To co workers
Job Duties
Where the work will be done
Specific tasks
Safety precautions
Relationship of the job to other work on the organization
Key Point - Your reaction to these suggestions may be, "It would be nice but.... I don't have time
for this stuff because we've got work to do," or "Only big organizations need to worry about
these things," or "I hire people to work not learn the history of my organization." Key point -- An
employer will do better with happy, positive and enthusiastic people than with people who are
just there to do a job and go home. Well planned and conducted orientation helps people get off
to a good start. It increases their chances of being happy with their jobs and positive about the
employer and the business.
Learning to Do the First Job
Training the employee to handle the first tasks logically follows from the orientation. As with
orientation, employees are generally anxious to learn how to do the first job. The tone and level
of expectations set in the orientation should be carried into this phase of training. As with
orientation, the emphasis should be on what the person is learning, not on how much work is
being done. If a good foundation is laid during orientation and early training, the amount of work
being done will be a minor consideration.
Preparation for Future Tasks and Responsibilities
Preparation for future tasks and responsibilities is a continuous process based on the employee's
skills and aspirations, and changes in the organization. This phase of training should be well
planned for each employee. Performance evaluations can stimulate interest in additional training
to be ready for future opportunities.
The relative amount of time devoted to orientation, training for the first job and preparation for
future responsibilities vary with the type of employee. Temporary workers may receive only
orientation and training focused on the seasonal job, e.g., tractor driving during planting season.
Long-term key employees may continue to receive training for both immediate and future tasks
and responsibilities for as long as the employment lasts.
Principles of Job Instruction
Job instruction can be divided into getting ready to train and training. Trainers on organizations
are often so experienced in what they are teaching that taking time to prepare for training seems
like a waste of time. "I don't have time to prepare" or "I know this job so well I don't need to
think about how to teach it" may be foolish attitudes. Muddled and confused instruction
increases the time spent on training and causes frustration for both trainer and employee.
Two important questions guide preparation for training. (1) What is the objective of the training?
Define specifically what the learners are to know or be able to do at the conclusion of the
training. An acceptable level of performance and timetable for the training should be established.
(2) What are the principal steps in the task and in what sequence should they be done? Analyzing
each task can be helpful. Develop tips on how the job can be made easier, done more quickly or
done with less frustration for the employee.
Having answered these two questions, the trainer is ready to prepare equipment, materials,
learning aids and the work place for the actual training. Looking for equipment or supplies
during training leaves the learner suspicious that the teacher is careless or incompetent or both.
The actual instruction can be aided by a five-step teaching method:
1. PREPARE the learner. Learners are prepared when they
are at ease, understand why they need to learn the task, are interested in learning, have the
confidence that they can learn and the trainer can teach. The most important part of learner
preparation is creating a need to know or desire to learn on the part of the trainee. It helps to
show enthusiasm for the task, relate the task to what the learner already knows, help the learner
envision being an expert in the task, have the learner explain how the task will relate to success
on a organization, add fun and prestige to the task when possible and associate the task with
respected co-workers.
2. TELL the learner about each step or part of the task.
3. SHOW the learner how to do each step or part of the task. In
demonstrating the task, explain each step emphasizing the key points and more difficult steps.
Remember the little and seemingly simple parts of the task. Get the learner involved by asking
questions about what is being shown.
4. Have the learner DO each step of the task while being observed by the
trainer and then without the trainer observing. Ask the learner to explain each step as it is
performed. If steps or parts of the task are omitted, re-explain the steps and have the learner
repeat them.
5. REVIEW each step or part of the task with the learner, offering
encouragement, constructive criticism and additional pointers on how to do the job. Be frank in
the appraisal. Encourage the learner toward self-appraisal.
Getting Started
Improved training for both new and experienced employees offers organization employers a way
to increase employee success. Training programs rarely change quickly and easily. Deciding
what can be accomplished through better training is a good starting point. Create a good
environment for learning. Prepare before jumping into changes in training. Learn and use a fivestep method, Prepare-Tell-Show-Do-Review, to steer both trainers and employees toward greater
success.
2.9 Directing
Directing is influencing people's behavior through motivation, communication, group dynamics,
leadership and discipline. The purpose of directing is to channel the behavior of all personnel to
accomplish the organization's mission and objectives while simultaneously helping them
accomplish their own career objectives.
Managers give this function a variety of names. Higgins calls it leading. Other labels are:
influencing, coaching, motivating, interpersonal relations, and human relations.
The directing function gives the manager an active rather than a passive role in employee
performance, conduct and accomplishments. Managers accomplish their objectives through
people. In blaming others for her or his human resource problems, a manager is denying the
management responsibilities inherent in the directing function.
The directing function gives managers a second responsibility: helping people in the organization
accomplish their individual career goals. Organizations do not succeed while their people are
failing. Helping people in the organization with career planning and professional development is
an integral part of the directing function.
The directing function in Managing for Success has include: motivation, communication,
performance appraisal, discipline and conflict management.
2.10 Motivation
Selection, training, evaluation and discipline cannot guarantee a high level of employee
performance. Motivation, the inner force that directs employee behavior, also plays an important
role. Highly motivated people perform better than unmotivated people. Motivation covers up
ability and skill deficiencies in employees. Such truisms about motivation leave employers
wanting to be surrounded by highly motivated people but unequipped to motivate their
employees. Employers and supervisors want easily applied motivation models but such models
are unavailable.
Motivation probably tops the list of complex activities with which labor managers deal. Their
intuition suggests an easy answer, "I want everyone around here to be motivated." They often
blame employees for their lack of motivation and performance problems. Employees on the other
hand often blame any performance problems they may have on external factors - their
supervisors, equipment, training, co-workers, weather, unrealistic demands made on them,
pressures at home, lack of recognition etc., etc. Despite the conflicting perceptions held by
employers and employees, employers must deal with employee motivation.
Three ways of looking at motivation are: needs, rewards and effort. The needs approach stems
from the notion that peoples' unsatisfied needs drive their behavior. Figure out a person's needs,
satisfy the needs and the person will be motivated. For example, a person with a high need to
satisfy goals is motivated by production targets. The rewards approach is based on the
expectation that rewarded behavior is repeated. Giving a person a bonus for excellent
performance during a difficult harvest period encourages the person to make a special effort
during the next difficult harvest. The effort approach to motivation is based on the expectation
that effort brings the worker what he or she wants. The thought that working hard leads to
advancement and new career opportunities is consistent with the effort approach. The effort
approach includes a presumption that the employer is fair, i.e., effort is recognized and rewarded.
Managers cannot reduce motivation to a simple choice of one of these approaches. Each of the
three approaches contributes to an understanding of motivation and how motivation varies
person to person and over time.
The most effective motivation for employees comes from within each employee, i.e., selfmotivation. Possible indicators of self-motivation include: past accomplishments in school,
sports, organizations and work; stated career goals and other kinds of goals; expertise in one or
more areas that shows evidence of craftsmanship, pride in knowledge and abilities, and selfconfidence; an evident desire to continue to learn; and a general enthusiasm for life.
Threats, bribery, manipulation and coercion have only limited usefulness beyond the very shortrun in changing behavior in the organization environment. More effective employer action
responds to employee needs, making their work useful to satisfying their needs, helping
employees understand the relationship between their contribution to success of the organization
and rewards received, and creating an atmosphere of equity and fairness.
2.11 Communication Model
The major components in the communication process are provided below.
The process starts with a sender who has a message for a receiver. Two or more people are
always involved in communication. The sender has the responsibility for the message.
The sender's message travels to the receiver through one or more channels chosen by the sender.
The channels may be verbal or nonverbal. They may involve only one of the senses, hearing for
example, or they may involve all five of the senses: hearing, sight, touch, smell, and taste.
Nonverbal communication, popularly referred to as body language, relies primarily on seeing
rather than hearing.
The sending of a message by an appropriate channel to a receiver appears to have completed the
communication process or at least the sender's responsibility. Not so! After sending the message,
the sender becomes a receiver and the receiver becomes a sender through the process of
feedback. Feedback is the receiver's response to the attempt by the sender to send the message.
Feedback is the key to determination by the sender of whether or not the message has been
received in the intended form. Feedback involves choice of channel by the receiver of the
original message. The channel for feedback may be quite different from the original channel
chosen by the sender. A puzzled look may be the feedback to what the sender considered a
perfectly clear oral instruction.
Effect on the receiver completes the communication process. Effective communication is the
original sender having the desired effect on the receiver. Communication at its best minimizes
misunderstanding between sender and receiver. The sender cannot transplant a message or idea.
Ineffective communication means there was no effect on the receiver or the effect was
unexpected, undesired and/or unknown to the sender.
This simplified version of a complex process can be a powerful tool for thinking about one's
communication skills, diagnosing communication problems and developing plans for
improvement of communication. The good news about communication is that improvement is
almost always possible. The bad news is that perfection in communication escapes everyone.
2.11.1 Barriers to Communication
Problems with any one of the components of the communication model can become a barrier to
communication. These barriers suggest opportunities for improving communication.
1. Muddled messages - Effective communication starts with a clear message. Contrast these two
messages: "Please be here about 7:00 tomorrow morning." "Please be here at 7:00 tomorrow
morning." The one word difference makes the first message muddled and the second message
clear.
Feedback from the receiver is the best way for a sender to be sure that the message is clear rather
than muddled. Clarifying muddled messages is the responsibility of the sender. The sender
hoping the receiver will figure out what was really meant does little to remove this barrier to
communication.
2. Stereotyping - Stereotyping causes us to typify a person, a group, an event or a thing on
oversimplified conceptions, beliefs, or opinions. Thus, basketball players can be typed as tall,
green equipment as better than red equipment, football linemen as dumb, Ford as better than
Chevrolet, Vikings as handsome, and people raised on swine organizations as interested in
animals. Stereotyping can substitute for thinking, analysis and open mindedness to a new
situation.
Stereotyping is a barrier to communication when it causes people to act as if they already know
the message that is coming from the sender or worse, as if no message is necessary because
"everybody already knows." Both senders and listeners should continuously look for and address
thinking, conclusions and actions based on stereotypes.
3. Wrong channel - "Good morning." An oral channel for this message is highly appropriate.
Writing "GOOD MORNING!" on a chalk board in the machine shed is less effective than a
warm oral greeting. On the other hand, a detailed request to a contractor for construction of a
farrowing house should be in writing, i.e., non-oral. A long conversation between a pork
producer and a contractor about the farrowing house construction, with neither taking notes,
surely will result in confusion and misunderstanding. Similarly, several conversations between a
father and son concerning a partnership and long-term plans for the business, with neither taking
notes, surely will result in confusion and misunderstanding. It will also likely result in other
family members not understanding what father and son have agreed to. These simple examples
illustrate how the wrong channel can be a barrier to communication.
Variation of channels helps the receiver understand the nature and importance of a message.
Using a training video on cleaning practices helps new employees grasp the importance placed
on herd health. A written disciplinary warning for tardiness emphasizes to the employee that the
problem is serious. A birthday card to a daughter-in-law is more sincere than a request to a son to
say "Happy Birthday" to his wife.
Simple rules for selection of a channel cause more problems than they solve. In choosing a
channel, the sender needs to be sensitive to such things as the complexity of the message (good
morning versus a construction contract); the consequences of a misunderstanding (medication for
a sick animal versus a guess about tomorrow's weather); knowledge, skills and abilities of the
receiver (a new employee versus a partner in the business); and immediacy of action to be taken
from the message (instructions for this morning's work versus a plan of work for next year).
4. Language - Words are not reality. Words as the sender understands them are combined with
the perceptions of those words by the receiver. Language represents only part of the whole. We
fill in the rest with perceptions. Trying to understand a foreign language easily demonstrates
words not being reality. Being "foreign" is not limited to the language of another country. It can
be the language of another organization. The Gerken house may be where the Browns now live.
The green goose may be a trailer painted red long after it was given the name green goose. A
brassy day may say much about temperature and little about color.
Each new family member and employee needs to be taught the language of the organization.
Until the organization's language is learned, it can be as much a barrier to communication as a
foreign language.
5. Lack of feedback - Feedback is the mirror of communication. Feedback mirrors what the
sender has sent. Feedback is the receiver sending back to the sender the message as perceived.
Without feedback, communication is one-way.
Feedback happens in a variety of ways. Asking a person to repeat what has been said, e.g., repeat
instructions, is a very direct way of getting feedback. Feedback may be as subtle as a stare, a
puzzled look, a nod, or failure to ask any questions after complicated instructions have been
given. Both sender and receiver can play an active role in using feedback to make
communication truly two-way.
Feedback should be helpful rather than hurtful. Prompt feedback is more effective that feedback
saved up until the "right" moment. Feedback should deal in specifics rather than generalities.
Approach feedback as a problem in perception rather than a problem of discovering the facts.
6. Poor listening skills - Listening is difficult. A typical speaker says about 125 words per
minute. The typical listener can receive 400-600 words per minute. Thus, about 75 percent of
listening time is free time. The free time often sidetracks the listener. The solution is to be an
active rather than passive listener.
One important listening skill is to be prepared to listen. Tune out thoughts about other people and
other problems. Search for meaning in what the person is saying. A mental outline or summary
of key thoughts can be very helpful. Avoid interrupting the speaker. "Shut up" is a useful
listening guideline. "Shut up some more" is a useful extension of this guideline. Withhold
evaluation and judgement until the other person has finished with the message. A listener's
premature frown, shaking of the head, or bored look can easily convince the other person there is
no reason to elaborate or try again to communicate his or her excellent idea.
Providing feedback is the most important active listening skill. Ask questions. Nod in agreement.
Look the person straight in the eye. Lean forward. Be an animated listener. Focus on what is
being said. Repeat key points.
Active listening is particularly important in dealing with an angry person. Encouraging the
person to speak, i.e., to vent feelings, is essential to establishing communication with an angry
person. Repeat what the person has said. Ask questions to encourage the person to say again
what he or she seemed most anxious to say in the first place. An angry person will not start
listening until they have "cooled" down. Telling an angry person to "cool" down often has the
opposite effect. Getting angry with an angry person only assures that there are now two people
not listening to what the other is saying.
7. Interruptions - A organization is a lively place. Few days are routine. Long periods of calm
and quiet rarely interrupt the usual hectic pace. In this environment, conversations, meetings,
instructions and even casual talk about last night's game are likely to be interrupted. The
interruptions may be due to something more pressing, rudeness, lack of privacy for discussion, a
drop-in visitor, an emergency or even the curiosity of someone else wanting to know what two
other people are talking about.
No matter the cause, interruptions are a barrier to communication. In the extreme, there is a
reluctance of employees and family members even to attempt discussion with a manager because
of the near certainty that the conversation will be interrupted. Less extreme but nevertheless
serious is the problem of incomplete instructions because someone came by with a pressing
question.
8. Physical distractions - Physical distractions are the physical things that get in the way of
communication. Examples of such things include the telephone, a pick-up truck door, a desk, an
uncomfortable meeting place, and noise.
These physical distractions are common on organizations. If the phone rings, the tendency is to
answer it even if the caller is interrupting a very important or even delicate conversation. A
supervisor may give instructions from the driver's seat of a pick-up truck. Talking through an
open window and down to an employee makes the truck door a barrier. A person sitting behind a
desk, especially if sitting in a large chair, talking across the desk is talking from behind a
physical barrier. Two people talking facing each other without a desk or truck-door between
them have a much more open and personal sense of communication. Uncomfortable meeting
places may include a place on the organization that is too hot or too cold. Another example is a
meeting room with uncomfortable chairs that soon cause people to want to stand even if it means
cutting short the discussion. Noise is a physical distraction simply because it is hard to
concentrate on a conversation if hearing is difficult.
2.11.2 Facilitating Communication
Beyond removal of specific barriers to communication, the following general guidelines may
also help communication.
1. Have a positive attitude about communication. Defensiveness interferes with communication.
2. Work at improving communication skills. It takes knowledge and work. The communication
model and discussion of barriers to communication provide the necessary knowledge. This
increased awareness of the potential for improving communication is the first step to better
communication.
3. Include communication as a skill to be evaluated along with all the other skills in each
person's job description. Help other people improve their communication skills by helping them
understand their communication problems.
4. Make communication goal oriented. Relational goals come first and pave the way for other
goals. When the sender and receiver have a good relationship, they are much more likely to
accomplish their communication goals.
5. Approach communication as a creative process rather than simply part of the chore of working
with people. Experiment with communication alternatives. What works with one person may not
work well with another person. Vary channels, listening techniques and feedback techniques.
6. Accept the reality of miscommunication. The best communicators fail to have perfect
communication. They accept miscommunication and work to minimize its negative impacts.
Communication is at the heart of many interpersonal problems in family businesses.
Understanding the communication process and then working at improvement provide managers a
recipe for becoming more effective communicators. Knowing the common barriers to
communication is the first step to minimizing their impact. Managers can reflect on how they are
doing and use the ideas presented in this paper. When taking stock of how well you are doing as
a manager and family member, first ask yourself and others how well you are doing as a
communicator.
2.12 Performance Appraisal
No employee escapes performance appraisal. As a minimum, each employee receives informal
messages from his or her supervisor and co-workers. The messages may be carefully calculated
or emotional outbursts, frequent or infrequent, helpful or hurtful, understood or misunderstood,
consistent or inconsistent, fair or unfair. They may improve performance or cause additional
performance problems. They may motivate an employee or leave the employee discouraged and
disgruntled.
Turning performance appraisal into a positive force challenges even the best organization
personnel manager. Three steps are necessary:
1.
Establish
written
standards
for
employee
performance
2.
Develop both supervisor and employee understanding of these standards
3.
Regularly inform employees of how they are performing relative to the
established standards
Effective performance appraisal moves beyond informal communication but does not exclude it.
Planned and formal performance evaluation interviews complement spontaneous informal
employee-employee interaction about performance.
Few organizations have formal employee performance programs. Spontaneous and informal
comments about performance are the norm. Too often, employees are left guessing about the
quality of their performance or underrate their performance because of the sharing of negative
but not positive evaluations.
Performance evaluation is a complex activity. A formal performance evaluation system can be a
realistic long-term goal to work toward. In the short-run, organization employers can take helpful
steps toward the long-run ideal. The first step is to develop job descriptions for everyone with
everyone's help. These job descriptions evolve continuously rather than being done once and for
all. Job descriptions have value only if they are current, in writing, and used regularly to clarify
job content, the organizational structure of the business and as a basis for evaluation.
In the short-run, the following statements and questions can guide performance evaluation,
counseling and planning discussions with each employee:
1. I see the following three things as your most important strengths.
2. I see the following two things for us to work on improving during the next six months.
3. What do you see as your most important strengths?
4. What would you like to learn or work on improving?
5. How should I work on improving?
Intermediate steps could include clear communication of expectations for employees, regular
feedback to employees about their performance, providing employees opportunity to respond to
their supervisor's comments and additional training for employees based on needs identified
through performance appraisal. The notion of catching people doing things right should be an
important part of employee evaluation and improving performance appraisal.
Discipline
High quality organization worker performance requires implementation of carefully made
tactical plans. Deviations from the plans by employees results in standards not being met and
goals not being accomplished. Managers must deal with employees' deviation from rules,
procedures and expected behaviors. Employees coming late to work, not following safety
procedures when working alone, not properly cleaning equipment in their rush to get home, and
using wrong or wrong amounts of medication are examples of unacceptable behavior that should
be addressed rather than ignored. A cautionary note is in order. Employers can easily confuse
discipline problems with selection, training and communication problems. This discussion of
discipline applies to those cases in which the employee can reasonably be expected to perform or
behave according to established standards, norms or rules, i.e., they have been carefully selected,
well trained and are regularly evaluated.
A disciplined person exhibits the self-control, dedication and orderly conduct consistent with
successful performance of job responsibilities. This discipline may come through self-discipline,
co-workers or the supervisor/employer. Self-discipline is best and most likely to come from well
selected, trained, and motivated people who regularly have feedback on their performance.
An employee not performing up to the agreed upon standards or not following the understood
rules is subject to punishment, i.e., disciplinary action. Punishing or disciplining employees falls
among the least pleasant activities in human resource management. In the short-run, doing
nothing or ignoring errant actions and behavior almost always comes easier than taking the
needed action. Not disciplining when needed sends confusing messages to the errant employee,
other employees and other managers in the organization business. If starting work at 6:30 a.m.
rather than 6:00 a.m. draws no reaction from the employer, does this mean the starting time has
been changed to 6:30?
Several guidelines help reduce the compounding of discipline problems with problems in
disciplining. Both employers and employees need to know the rules and performance
expectations. An employee handbook or other form of written statement provided each employee
is basic. Rules should be uniformly enforced among all employees. If special rules apply to a
certain employee, e.g., use of the pickup truck without asking permission, other employees need
to be so informed. Punishment should be based on facts. All parties should be heard rather than
depending on one person only for facts. Action should be taken promptly. "Saving up" a series of
minor problems and infractions for a grand explosion is poor disciplinary practice. All discipline
other than discharge should have the objective of helping the employee. Permit the employee to
maintain self-respect by disciplining the employee's behavior or act. Do not berate the person.
Keeping punishment consistent with the severity of an offense challenges all labor managers.
Being thirty minutes tardy for work the fourth time in two weeks has to be handled differently
from being thirty minutes tardy for the first time in two years. Theft of tools has to be handled
differently than tardiness for work. Progressive discipline provides a formal structure within
which errant employees can be handled. In progressive discipline, the severity of punishment
increases in relation to the seriousness of the offense or the number of times an offense is
repeated. Typical levels in progressive discipline are: informal talk and counseling, oral warning
or reprimand, written warning, disciplinary layoff and discharge.
Both employers and employees usually react negatively to the atmosphere of conflict and parent
disciplining child inherent to progressive discipline. High priority placed on selection, training,
informal communication and performance appraisal reduces the need for punishment of
employees. Treating employees as adults, expecting them to rely on self-assessment for
correcting problems and relying on informal counseling rather than formal reprimands provide
an atmosphere of positive discipline.
2.13 Controlling
Controlling is a four-step process of establishing performance standards based on the firm's
objectives, measuring and reporting actual performance, comparing the two, and taking
corrective or preventive action as necessary.
Performance standards come from the planning function. No matter how difficult, standards
should be established for every important task. Although the temptation may be great, lowering
standards to what has been attained is not a solution to performance problems. On the other hand,
a manager does need to lower standards when they are found to be unattainable due to resource
limitations and factors external to the business.
Corrective action is necessary when performance is below standards. If performance is
anticipated to be below standards, preventive action must be taken to ensure that the problem
does not recur. If performance is greater than or equal to standards, it is useful to reinforce
behaviors that led to the acceptable performance.
2.13.1 Characteristics of the Control Process
The control process is cyclical which means it is never finished. Controlling leads to
identification of new problems that in turn need to be addressed through establishment of
performance standards, measuring performance etc.
Employees often view controlling negatively. By its very nature, controlling often leads to
management expecting employee behavior to change. No matter how positive the changes may
be for the organization, employees may still view them negatively.
Control is both anticipatory and retrospective. The process anticipates problems and takes
preventive action. With corrective action, the process also follows up on problems.
Ideally, each person in the business views control as his or her responsibility. The organizational
culture should prevent a person walking away from a small, easily solvable problem because
"that isn't my responsibility." In customer driven businesses, each employee cares about each
customer. In quality driven IT organizations, for example, each employee cares about the
welfare of each employee and the wear and tear on each piece of equipment. Controlling is
related to each of the other functions of management. Controlling builds on planning, organizing
and leading.
2.13.2 Management Control Strategies
Managers can use one or a combination of three control strategies or styles: market, bureaucracy
and clan. Each serves a different purpose. External forces make up market control. Without
external forces to bring about needed control, managers can turn to internal bureaucratic or clan
control. The first relies primarily on budgets and rules. The second relies on employees wanting
to satisfy their social needs through feeling a valued part of the business.
Self-control, sometimes called adhocracy control, is complementary to market, bureaucratic and
clan control. By training and encouraging individuals to take initiative in addressing problems on
their own, there can be a resulting sense of individual empowerment. This empowerment plays
out as self-control. The self-control then benefits the organization and increases the sense of
worth to the business in the individual.
Designing Effective Control Systems
Effective control systems have the following characteristics:
1. Control at all levels in the business
2. Acceptability to those who will enforce decisions
3. Flexibility
4. Accuracy
5. Timeliness
6. Cost effectiveness
7. Understandability
8. Balance between objectivity and subjectivity
9. Coordinated with planning, organizing and leading
2.13.3 Dysfunctional Consequences of Control
Managers expect people in an organization to change their behavior in response to control.
However, employee resistance can easily make control efforts dysfunctional. The following
behaviors demonstrate means by which the manager's control efforts can be frustrated:
1. Game playing: control is something to be beaten, a game between the "boss and me and I want
to win."
2. Resisting control--> a "blue flu" reaction to too much control
3. Providing inaccurate information --> a lack of understanding of why the information is needed
and important leading to "you want numbers, we will give you numbers."
4. Following rules to the letter--> people following dumb and unprofitable rules in reaction to
"do as I say."
5. Sabotaging --> stealing, discrediting other workers, chasing customers away, gossiping about
the firm to people in the community
6. Playing one manager off against another --> exploiting lack of communication among
managers, asking a second manager if don't like the answer from the first manager.
Basically, organizational coordination and control is taking a systematic approach to figuring out
if you're doing what you wanted to be doing or not. It's the part of planning after you've decided
what you wanted to be doing. Below are some of the major approaches to organizational control
and coordination.
Neworganizations (self-organizing organizations, self-managed teams, network organizations,
etc.) allow organizations to be more responsive and adaptable in today's rapidly changing world.
These forms also cultivate empowerment among employees, much more than the hierarchical,
rigidly structured organizations of the past.
Many people assert that as the nature of organizations has changed, so must the nature of
management control. Some people go so far as to claim that management shouldn't exercise any
form of control whatsoever. They claim that management should exist to support employee's
efforts to be fully productive members of organizations and communities -- therefore, any form
of control is completely counterproductive to management and employees.
Some people even react strongly against the phrase "management control". The word itself can
have a negative connotation, e.g., it can sound dominating, coercive and heavy-handed. It seems
that writers of management literature now prefer use of the term "coordinating" rather than
"controlling".
Regardless of the negative connotation of the word "control", it must exist or there is no
organization at all. In its most basic form, an organization is two or more people working
together to reach a goal. Whether an organization is highly bureaucratic or changing and selforganizing, the organization must exist for some reason, some purpose, some mission (implicit or
explicit) -- or it isn't an organization at all. The organization must have some goal. Identifying
this goal requires some form of planning, informal or formal. Reaching the goal means
identifying some strategies, formal or informal. These strategies are agreed upon by members of
the organization through some form of communication, formal or informal. Then members set
about to act in accordance with what they agreed to do. They may change their minds, fine. But
they need to recognize and acknowledge that they're changing their minds.
This form of ongoing communication to reach a goal, tracking activities toward the goal and then
subsequent decisions about what to do is the essence of management coordination. It needs to
exist in some manner -- formal or informal.
The following are rather typical methods of coordination in organizations. They are used as
means to communicate direction and guide behaviors in that direction. The function of the
following methods is not to "control", but rather to guide. If, from ongoing communications
among management and employees, the direction changes, then fine. The following methods are
changed accordingly.
2.13.4 Various Administrative Controls
Organizations often use standardized documents to ensure complete and consistent information
is gathered. Documents include titles and dates to detect different versions of the document.
Computers have revolutionized administrative controls through use of integrated management
information systems, project management software, human resource information systems, office
automation software, etc. Organizations typically require a wide range of reports, e.g., financial
reports, status reports, project reports, etc. to monitor what's being done, by when and how.
2.14 Delegation
Delegation is an approach to get things done, in conjunction with other employees. Delegation is
often viewed as a major means of influence and therefore is categorized as an activity in leading
(rather than controlling/coordinating). Delegation generally includes assigning responsibility to
an employee to complete a task, granting the employee sufficient authority to gain the resources
to do the task and letting the employee decide how that task will be carried out. Typically, the
person assigning the task shares accountability with the employee for ensuring the task is
completed.
2.15 Evaluations
Evaluation is carefully collecting and analyzing information in order to make decisions. There
are many types of evaluations in organizations, for example, evaluation of marketing efforts,
evaluation of employee performance, program evaluations, etc. Evaluations can focus on many
aspects of an organization and its processes, for example, its goals, processes, outcomes, etc.
2.15.1 Financial Statements (particularly budget management)
Once the organization has establish goals and associated strategies (or ways to reach the goals),
funds are set aside for the resources and labor to the accomplish goals and tasks. As the money is
spent, statements are changed to reflect what was spent, how it was spent and what it obtained.
Review of financial statements is one of the more common methods to monitor the progress of
programs and plans. The most common financial statements include the balance sheet, income
statement and cash flow statement. Financial audits are regularly conducted to ensure that
financial management practices follow generally accepted standards, as well.
2.15.2 Performance Management (particularly observation and feedback phases)
Performance management focuses on the performance of the total organization, including its
processes, critical subsystems (departments, programs, projects, etc.) and employees. Most of us
have some basic impression of employee performance management, including the role of
performance reviews. Performance reviews provide an opportunity for supervisors and their
employees to regularly communicate about goals, how well those goals should be met, how well
the goals are being met and what must be done to continue to meet (or change) those goals. The
employee is rewarded in some form for meeting performance standards, or embarks on a
development plan with the supervisor in order to improve performance.
2.15.3 Policies and Procedures (to guide behaviors in the workplace)
Policies help ensure that behaviors in the workplace conform to federal and state laws, and also
to expectations of the organization. Often, policies are applied to specified situations in the form
of procedures. Personnel policies and procedures help ensure that employee laws are followed
(e.g., laws such as the Americans with Disabilities Act, Occupational Health and Safety Act,
etc.) and minimize the likelihood of costly litigation. A procedure is a step-by-step list of
activities required to conduct a certain task. Procedures ensure that routine tasks are carried out
in an effective and efficient fashion.
2.15.4 Quality Control and Operations Management
The concept of quality control has received a great deal of attention over the past twenty years.
Many people recognize phrases such as "do it right the first time, "zero defects", "Total Quality
Management", etc. Very broadly, quality includes specifying a performance standard (often by
benchmarking, or comparing to a well-accepted standard), monitoring and measuring results,
comparing the results to the standard and then making adjusts as necessary. Recently, the
concept of quality management has expanded to include organization-wide programs, such as
Total Quality Management, ISO9000, Balanced Scorecard, etc. Operations management includes
the overall activities involved in developing, producing and distributing products and services.
2.15.5 Risk, Safety and Liabilities
For a variety of reasons (including the increasing number of lawsuits), organizations are focusing
a great deal of attention to activities that minimize risk, avoid liabilities and ensure safety of
employees. Several decades ago, it was rare to hear of an organization undertaking contingency
planning, disaster recovery planning or critical incident analysis. Now those activities are
becoming commonplace.
2.16 Summary
In this unit we have dealt with the various functions of management in detail. Top level managers
spend more time on planning and organizing than do lower level managers. The functions of management
include planning, organizing, staffing, leading and controlling. Designing an effective organization
structure is not an easy managerial task. Staffing involves the process of filling positions in the
organization structure. Although planning must precede controlling, plans are not self-achieving.
Planning includes defining mission and goals for the organization. Mission is an organization's
reason for being. Goals are specific statements of anticipated results that further define the
organization's objectives. Strategic planning is the process by which the organization's strategies
are determined. Managers distribute responsibility and authority to job holders in this function of
management.
Each organization has an organizational structure. By action and/or inaction, managers structure
businesses. The organizing function of management defines each position or category of
positions on the organization. Recruiting a pool of applicants for a position, selecting new
employees from among the pool of applicants, training new employees and retraining
experienced employees are the key elements of the staffing function.
To a great extent, organization managers reach their goals through people. Getting things done
through people requires competent employees. The most effective motivation for employees
comes from within each employee, i.e., self-motivation.
Performance standards come from the planning function. Employees often view controlling
negatively. By its very nature, controlling often leads to management expecting employee
behavior to change. Controlling builds on planning, organizing and leading. Managers expect
people in an organization to change their behavior in response to control. However, employee
resistance can easily make control efforts dysfunctional. New organizations (self-organizing
organizations, self-managed teams, network organizations, etc.) allow organizations to be more
responsive and adaptable in today's rapidly changing world. The organization must have some
goal.
2.17 Keyword
Planning, Organizing, Staffing, Leading, Controlling, Planning Terminology, Strategic Planning,
Evaluations, Delegations.
2.18 Exercise
1. Explain the various functions of management.
2. What is strategic planning? How this different planning?
3. What are the steps involved in research process?
4. Why communication is important? What communication barriers one might find in an
organization? How a manager can facilitate effective communication in an organization?
5. What is motivation?
6. Explain the four steps process of controlling.
7. What are the consequences of control?
Module 1
Unit 3
ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR: AN OVERVIEW
Structure:
3.1 Objectives
3.2 Introduction
3.3 Organization and its elements
3.4 Elements of organization
3.5 What is organizational behavior
3.6 Four fields of organizational behavior
3.7 Summary
3.8 Keywords
3.9 Exercise
3.1 Objectives
After learning this unit you will be able to
a) Understand the concept of organization behavior
b) Know the elements of organization
c) Know the four components of organization behavior
d) Understand the historical perspectives of organizational behavior
e) Understand the approaches of different experts towards organizational behavior
3.2: Introduction
To begin with one has to understand why we study Organizational Behavior and what is the best
way to manage an organization? Both these questions are inter-linked. We study the science of
organization behavior because it helps us manage an organization in the best possible manner.
The body of knowledge (i.e., science) that represents organizational behavior comes from different
disciplines (hence interdisciplinary) and applied in nature, i.e., if the knowledge and skills are used, it
would improve organizational performance. The concept of Organization behaviour is emerged as an
independent field of study is essentially in a 20th century phenomenon. Organization is the body and
behaviour is the soul. Behaviour is seen in the form of emotion, attitude towards individual, organization
and work, and interactive bonding between the people and among the people etc. The field of
organizational behavior, as it is unfolding today, is, therefore, the result of systematic and scientific
studies over many decades.
3.3: Organization and Its Elements
A common term, yet difficult to define. Having heard, seen, experienced, still one would find it
difficult to understand and state just what constitutes an organization.
Schien (1983), defines “An organization as ‘organization is the planned coordination of the activities of a
number of people for the achievement of some common, explicit purpose or goal, through division of
labor and function, and through an hierarchy of authority and responsibility”. However, this definition
represents a formal organization where every thing is known but not really an informal organization
where one would find lot of informal process. The difference between formal and informal organization
and process makes an organization a more complex entity than the way an organization is defined.
Etzioni offers a similar though considerably longer definition. According to him, Organizations are
social units (or human groupings) deliberately constructed and reconstructed to seek specific goals.
Organizations are characterized by:
Divisions of labor, power, and communication responsibilities, divisions that are not random or
traditionally patterned, but deliberately planned to enhance the realization of specific goals.
The presence of one or more power centers, which control the concerted efforts of the organization and
direct them toward its goals. These power centers also must review continuously the
organization’s performance and re-pattern its structure, where necessary, to increase its
efficiency.
Substitution of personnel such that unsatisfactory persons can be removed and others assigned their
tasks. The organization can also recombine its personnel through transfer and promotion.
Other social units such as a family will also satisfy these characteristics. Organizations and other social
units (example, family) differ in terms of the degree to which these characteristics could be observed.
Hence, organizations are much more in control of their nature and destiny than any other social
grouping. To Mintzberg an organization means collective action in the pursuit of a common mission, a
fancy way of saying that a bunch of people has come together under an identifiable label (“ General
Motors”., “MicroSoft”, “Infosys” ) to produce some product or service.
3.4 Elements of Organization
There are obvious common elements in the above definitions. Four such key elements are:
1. purpose/goals/tasks
2. people
3. technology and
4. structure
Goals: Goals are the centerpiece of any organization. Without goals, an organization is nothing
more than a crowd. Most organizations involve a combination of goals rather than a singular
goal such as profit or market share. Some goals are keyed to organizational output while others
are of supportive nature. Obviously, the specific goal mix will vary from one organization to the
next. It is equally important to note that the specific goal-mix for any organization may change
with the change of the environment within which the organization operates.
People: People in the organization constitute the human resource. Most organizations face dynamic and
complex situations, which suggests that progress toward goals be continuously controlled, monitored
and adjustments in their human resources be systematically made.
Technology: The third element is technology. Technology comprises a wider concept of equipments and
machineries used. It is defined as the types and patterns of activity, equipment and material; and
knowledge or experience used to perform tasks. Apart from influencing the tasks, technology also
influences the nature of coordination, control and responsibilities among the organizational members
(organizational design and structure).
Structure: The fourth element is the structure of the organization.
The structure of an
organization helps you achieve the goals of the organization. The organizational structure
describes the organization’s formal framework or system of communication, responsibilities and
authority.
These four elements are interrelated and interdependent, which indicates that a change in one
element may induce changes in the other element(s) as well
3.5:What is organizational behavior
Organizational Behavior is a field of study that investigates the impact that individuals, groups and
structure have on behavior within organizations, for the purpose of applying such knowledge toward
improving an organization’s effectiveness. It studies four determinants of behavior in organizations:
individuals, groups, technology and structure. In addition, OB applies the knowledge gained about
individuals, groups and the effects of technology and structure on behavior in order to make
organizations more effective. In short, OB represents a relatively new field of inquiry concerned with the
scientific study of the behavioral processes that occur in work settings, i.e., organizations. It emphasizes
behaviour as related to jobs, work, absenteeism, employment turnover, productivity, human
performance and management. This in turn emphasize the importance of developing interpersonal skills
of the managers in order to get and keep the high performing employees. While giving importance to
the interpersonal skills, we understand that it is difficult to achieve success in an organization just by
possessing the technical skills because it is ultimately the people who make the organization and
contribute to its success. Today the workplace demands competition. To enable the employees to be
motivated and self initiative, it is essential to deal with the soft skills of the people and not the technical
skills. There is increasing agreement as to the components or topics that constitute the subject area of
OB. The four components are:
a. Inter personal behaviour (OB)
b. Organization theory (OT)
c. Human resources management and development (HRM/HRD)
d. Organization development (OD)
There is also a general agreement that OB includes the core topics of motivation, leadership and power.
Interpersonal communication, group structure and processes, attitude development and perception,
conflict management, work design and work stress, and change processes are also a part of OB. This
may be termed a micro-level perspective. The focus or unit of analysis is primarily the individual and
small groups within the organization.
Organizational Theory (OT), another part of OB, focuses on the organization as the unit of
analysis. Organizational attributes, such as goals, technology and culture are the objects of study.
Organizational theory often uses an “across-organization” approach or macro-level perspectives
in gathering new knowledge.
Human Resource Management/Development was often referred to as personnel management.
However, today Human Resource Development (HRD) or Human Resource Management (HRM) in itself
is an independent field of study and not a part of OB. It attempts to apply the principles of the
knowledge of human behavior (behavioral science) in the workplace. While OB is somewhat more
concept oriented, HRM is more concerned with applied techniques and behavioral technology. HRM
provide a link between the individual and the organization. It does so by designing and implementing
systems for attracting (recruiting), developing (training), and motivating (introducing rewards system)
individuals within an organization.
The fourth component of OB is Organizational Development (OD). OD is concerned with the
introduction of successful changes in organizations. Its primary focus is on the dynamics of
change management and to enhance the effectiveness of an organization.
3.6:Four Fields of OB (Organizational Sciences)
The extended view of OB with its four areas of concern is termed as “Organizational Sciences”.
To understand this in a simplified way, the four fields/components are distinguished among two
dimensions. The two dimensions are the micro level and macro level of analysis. A consideration
of the combinations that result from crossing these dimensions suggests that:
 Micro/theory oriented field of study is OB with primary emphasis on the scientific study of
behavioral phenomena at the individual and group levels
 Micro/application oriented field is represented by HRM, which focuses on the application of
behavioral knowledge in selecting, placing and related functions of personnel management
 Macro/theory oriented area is OT which focuses largely on organizational and environmental
phenomena
 Macro/application oriented field is OD which focuses on enhancing organization performance
through effective management of change
However, we find that this way of distinguishing four fields as “independent” areas of study is artificial.
Instead, all these fields are logically considered as parts of OB with a central theme of studying human
dimensions of an organization. This will enhance the productivity of the organization in terms of better
performance of the people, better results due to self initiation and motivation etc.
Historical Perspectives of Organizational Behaviour
The following table presents the different view and perspectives of experts in the OB domain.
We see a variety of interesting trends. For example, Machiavelli saw humanity as basically evil but
capable of being manipulated toward the desired ends of rulers. The English philosophers adopted
essentially the same view but placed more emphasis on the interests of the state (or organization) and
less emphasis on the personal aspirations of the individuals in power. Weber avoided moralistic
assumptions about the inherent good or evil of human nature and chose to view people as irrational and
emotional. Taylor looked upon human beings as lazy and motivated by self-interest. Reasoning from any
of these premises, one comes to the conclusion that control of human behavior is necessary, as
evidenced by the concern for authority in early administrative and political thought.
With Mayo and the Hawthorne Studies, however, we see the assumption of the cooperative social
human being. Thus, it is not surprising that the emphasis moved away from the control philosophy.
Behavioral scientists today assume that human beings are neither good nor evil. For this reason, there
has been more emphasis placed on describing behavior as it exists under different conditions. The result
has been no clear-cut prescription for any specific type of authority orientation that can be applied to all
cases.
With regard to the methods employed in understanding in behavior, Machiavelli relied on historical
analogy and observation. The English philosophers advocated inductive logic, while Weber approached
the subject deductively. Taylor was extremely experimental and scientific; Mayo mixed experiments
with philosophy. Behavioral scientists today are almost completely experimental in their orientation.
Machiavelli sought a practical theory of power, while the philosophers sought order, Weber’s quest was
for rationality, and Taylor championed justice. Mayo’s preoccupation was with the mental and
emotional health of workers. Today’s behavioral scientists are concerned primarily with understanding
behavior for its own sake.
The person in power, or aspiring to be in power, would be the benefactor of Machiavellianism, while
society with a stable system of government would benefit from the guidelines proposed by the English
philosophers. Weber’s bureaucracy was designed to add rationality to decision making. Both managers
and workers conceivably could benefit from the systems proposed by Taylor and Mayo, although the
benefits derived would be different. Modern science would be served best by the actions of
contemporary behavioral scientists, as would workers and managers through the application of scientific
knowledge.
Finally, Machiavelli’s practical-objective approach to reality constitutes his appeal. The philosophers are
appealing because of their ideal of order. Weber and Taylor find support from business people because
their ideas contain a promise of rationality and economic efficiency. Mayo is attractive because he
enhances our image as unique beings unlike all others. Behavioral science today is compelling because
of its objectivity and systematic structure.
In the next unit we will discuss the various domains that contribute or affect the organizational
behaviour. We also present the various views of experts on organizational behaviour.
3.7 Summary:
In this unit we have introduced the concept of organizational beaviour. We study the science of
organization behavior because it helps us manage an organization in the best possible manner.
The difference between formal and informal organization and process makes an organization a
more complex entity than the way an organization is defined. Organizations are characterized by
purpose/goals/tasks, people, and structure.
Organizational Behavior is a field of study that investigates the impact that individuals, groups and
structure have on behavior within organizations, for the purpose of applying such knowledge toward
improving an organization’s effectiveness. It studies four determinants of behavior in organizations:
individuals, groups, technology and structure. Inter personal behaviour (OB), Organization theory (OT),
Human resources management and development (HRM/HRD), and Organization development (OD).
3.8 Keywords
Goals, Micro, Macro, Technology, Structure,
3.9 Exercise
1. Define organizational behavior
2. What are different perspectives of organizational behavior?
3. Explain the four elements of organizational behavior.
4. Explain the four key elements of organization.
5. What are the challenges and opportunities in organizational behavior?
6. Explain the conceptual frame work in organizational behavior.
7. Explain the organizational behavior models.
Module 1
Unit 4
Variables in Organizational Behaviour
Stricture:
4.1 Objectives
4.2 Introduction
4.3 Challenges and Opportunities for Organizational behavior
4.4 Improving Quality and Productivity
4.5 Improving People Skills
4.6 Summary
4.7 Keywords
4.8 Exercise
4.1: Objectives
After learning this unit you will be able to know:
a) variables in organizational behavior
b) importance of individual and groups
c) various disciplines contributing to organizational behavior
4.2: Introduction
As we know and understand that organization along with other factors machine, material, money,
man is the most prominent factors in making the organization a complete organization. The inter
relationship of human behaviour and machine, material and money plays a vital role in the
growth of the organization. These are also referred as variables of organizational behaviour
which are individuals and groups in the organization, different physical structures, technology or
machines, external environment and the organization itself. The interrelated dimensions can be
seen among these variables.
1.
Individuals and Groups:
Organizations are made of individuals and individuals form the groups. Individual is a central
part of any behavioural situation as an individual and in a group also in response to the
expectations of the organization and the environment. However, one may not find group in a
small organization but it may exist in informal and unofficial way. This makes one to think that
organizations do exist for people and the people exist for organization.
2.
Structure:
Individuals and groups work with in the structure of the formal organization. The structure
establishes the relationship between the individual and groups in the organization. The type of
relationship would be determined by the type of the structure the organization possesses. The
structure is formed based on the responsibility the individual is expected to hold. In the following
chapter we will discuss about the different types of organizational structure and its implications
on the organizational behaviour.
3.
Technology
Here technology is not just confined information technology what we know as on date. It
includes small hand tools to sophisticated machineries which include computers and
communication technology and other gadgets the industry requires to function. The nature of
technology too influences the organizational behaviour.
4.
Environment
The existence of the organization is in relation to the environment. Hence organizations are part
of the environment or visa versa. The environment affects the organization through various
factors like competition, technology environment, social and cultural environment, economic
environment, and regulatory environment. Envrionment creates opportunities and threats for the
organization. Accordingly, organization develops strengths and posses weakness. A
comprehensive analysis of all these factors enables an organization to know what the
organization has to do to perform in a better way. Detailed discussions are made in the
Organizational environment chapter.
4.3: Disciplines Contributing to OB
The predominant disciplines that contribute to organizational behaviour are anthropology,
economics, political science, psychology, quantitative disciplines (such as mathematics,
operations research and statistics), sociology and social psychology. The inter relationship
among these disciplines to frame the concept of organizational behaviour is shown in the Figure
1
The Figure 1 presents a complex picture of OB. OB is presented on the right-hand side as an
output of three units of analysis. They are the individual, group and the organization.
1.
FIGURE 1
4.4: Challenges and Opportunities for OB
Today, understanding organizational behavior has become increasingly important for managers.
A cursory glance, at some of the factors that tend to bring dramatic changes are as below and
these require careful attention in the organization in order to cope with rapid changes:
 Globalization
 Diversified work environment and work culture
 Global competition
 More and more women in the workplace
 Corporate downsizing
 Use of ‘outsourcing’ for jobs outside the core activities of the organization
 Working at different timings
 Flexible work environment
 Adoption of technology in the organization
With the rapid changes, one can not think of working with in the National Borders. Globalization
has shaped the concept of global village. We have to deal with the people from different culture
irrespective of where we are working. To work effectively with these people, it is necessary to
understand the culture and behaviour of the people and accordingly adopt the management style.
In this context, OB however, may not provide a ready made tool to understand these aspects, but
certainly helps one to develop an insight on how cultural differences require managers to modify
their practices. This has led to another issue of workforce diversity.
Workforce diversity is understood as adapting to different kinds of people. While globalization
focuses on differences among people from different countries, workforce diversity addresses
differences among people within a country. With work force diversity organizations are
becoming more heterogeneous in terms of gender, race and ethnicity. For example, countries like
Australia, Canada, Japan and Europe, USA have to adjust to a large influx of Asian workers.
Similarly, creation of the European Union opened up borders throughout much of Western
Europe, increasing workforce diversity in organizations that operate in countries such as
Germany, Portugal, Italy and France. Diversity, if positively managed can increase creativity and
innovation in organizations as well as improve decision-making by providing different
perspectives on problems. When diversity is not managed properly, there is potential for higher
turnover, more difficulty in communication and interpersonal conflicts. In India, the workforce
diversity may be characterized by gender, language, ‘sons of the soil’, caste, etc.
Globalization has led cut throat competition among the organizations and at the same time to
reduce the manpower cost many organizations are opting for downsizing. Both these situations
make the manger to deal with the people to motivate them to be more productive. While
downsizing is becoming a common practice, many organization in order to make use of the
resources to the optimal level, are moving towards outsourcing the non core business activities.
Another factor is today large chunk of women are getting into work. To take the maximum
benefit, organizations are forced to flexible work environment. Further, the technology has made
its own impact on the working patter of the organization. All these factors call for a thorough
understanding for effective management of the people in the organization to improve the quality
and productivity.
4.5:Improving Quality and Productivity
With the changing scenario of business environment one need to understand that it is not
possible to improve productivity and quality in the organization just by implementing Total
Quality Management (TQM), 5S principle, ISO certification and re-engineering etc but it is only
possible by putting effort in enabling people to participate in the above mentioned prorgammes.
OB offers important insights in helping managers work through those changes. In the Indian
context, improvement in productivity and quality remain the greatest challenge for managers to
make the organization more competitive. The challenges an organization face to improve the
productivity is better knowledge of improving the people skills, employee empowerment, coping
with Temporariness, stimulating innovation and change, and improving ethical behavior.
4.6: Improving People Skills
With the change of technology, customers’ preferences for products and services and other facets
of work, managers are facing a sea change in the required skills of employees. Old methods of
work are not yielding the same level of efficiency any more. Change of technology requires
change in the technical skills as well as human relations skills. For instance, managers need to
develop the skill to be a better communicator, how to create more effective teams, and in many
other areas. Further, to deal effectively at inter personal and intra personal level, one also has to
improve the soft skills.
Empowering People
Empowerment is a buzzword today. Empowerment in organizations means that managers are
putting employees in charge of what they do. And in so doing, managers have to learn how to
give up control and employees have to learn how to take responsibility for their work and make
appropriate decisions. In the later part of this course, we will discuss how empowerment is
changing leadership styles, power, relationships, the way work is designed and the way
organizations are structured.
Coping with “Temporariness”
Managers have always been concerned with change. What is different nowadays is the time-gap
between changes. Today, change is an on-going continuous activity for most managers. The
concept of continuous improvement, for example, implies constant change. Today, managing
would be more accurately described as long periods of on-going change, interrupted occasionally
by short periods of stability. Many organizations especially the public sector organizations face
an unqiue problem of permanent temporariness. The actual jobs that workers perform are in a
permanent state of flux. Managers and employees need therefore, to continually update their
knowledge and skills to perform new job requirements. The need of the hour in an organization
is each employee should be skilled enough to work in any department of the organization. Gone
are the days where employees were assigned to a specific work group/department and that
assignment was relatively permanent. There was a considerable amount of security in working
with the same people day-in and day-out. But today with the new technology coming into the
organization irrespective of production oriented or service oriented, managers and others need to
know the upgraded production system along with all other managerial functions, from raw
materials purchase to the delivery of final product. The work force include employee teams that
include members from different departments and whose members change all the time, and the
increased use of employee rotation to fill constantly changing work assignments. This process
has made an impact on the working culture and in turn the people management process.
Stimulating Innovation and Change
To be successful organizations must foster innovation and master the art of change. Success
comes to those organizations that maintain their flexibility, continually improve their quality and
beat their competition to the market place with a constant stream of innovative products and
services. In an Organization employees are the impetus for innovation and change and at the
same time they can be a major stumbling block. A challenge for managers is to stimulate
employee creativity and tolerance for change. The field of OB provides a wealth of ideas and
techniques to aid in realizing these goals.
Improving Ethical Behavior
Due to work pressure, competition with in the organization and outside the organization, high
expectation from the management, and tough market, it is not altogether surprising that many
employees are increasingly finding themselves facing ethical dilemmas, situations in which they
are required to define the right and wrong conduct. Whistle blowing, organizational politics etc
needs to be given importance. This is a critical issue because it is simply difficult to define What
constitutes good ethical behavior? It is the need of the hour to create an ethically healthy climate
for his or her employees, where they confront a minimal degree of ambiguity regarding what
constitutes right and wrong behavior.
Organizational behaviour can be better understood by understanding the three levels of
organizational behaviour.

The individual level consists of Manager’s assumptions, beliefs, and values, leadership
styles, decision styles, etc.

The group level consists of issues like with in the group and between the group issues, (i.e.,
intra and inter group), conflict and conflict management, negotiation, etc. Group concepts
grow out of the foundation laid in the individual section.

The organization level include Structural and other constraints on the individual and group
levels influencing organizational behavior.
Conceptual Frame work for understanding Organizational Behaviour
Organizational behaviour is an inter disciplinary subject hence it is permeable in nature. A J
Dubrin has explained a conceptual framework for organizational behaviour consisting of four
core propositions. They are:
organizational behaviour follows the principles of human behaviour:
It is quite natural that people are governed by the same physiological mechanism both on and
off the job. The physiological and metabolic mechanisms in the human body provide people
an extra spurt of appropriate hormone under time of stress. Similarly, the stress may be or
may not be related to work. Similarly, people are governed by the same psychological
principles both inside and outside the organization.
organizational behaviour is situational
Interaction between personal characteristics of the individual and the environment in which the
individual is leads to change in the individual behaviour. To understand the individual behaviour,
one has to first understand the pressure placed on him in a given situation. We might observe a
calm and cool person may some time be very aggressive. This happens when the individual is
forced into constant and close physical proximity with other people. Pigors and Myers have
developed the concept of ‘situational thinking’ which is influenced by four situational variables
which are:
a. Human element which include inter personal differences, relationships and other social
aspects of life
b. Technical factors such as process and procedures, technology adopted and specialized
skills that are required to perform a job / function.
c. Space – time dimensions and relationships as size and location of a plant, office or work
place.
d. Organization wide policies that are designed to achieve the organizational goals and
objectives.
The environmental factors that influence are individual characteristics, organizational structure,
technological influence, peer group pressure, leadership style, organizational climate and culture
etc. (chapter 2 deals with organizational environment).
organizational behaviour is systematic
Systematic thinking and approach is the integral part of organization theory. Organization is
viewed as a complex system consisting of interrelated sub systems. Changes in any sub system
will have both known and unknown consequences in other parts of the sub system. (System
approach to managing a complex organization is detailed in chapter 3).
Organizational behaviour represents a constant interaction between structures and process
variables in an organization.
Organizational structure refers to physical entities like buildings and positions in the
organizations like chairman, president, manager etc. Process refers to what happens in an
organization with or with out the structures. For example, an organization has ‘advertising’ as a
process for building the image of the organization. But it is also necessary that many a time
‘word of mouth’ also plays a major role in building the image of the organization. Hence
understanding the difference between the structure and process is vital to understand the
organizational behaviour.
Organizations differ due to the existence of different people in the organization and their
behaviour. It is a fact that success achieved in one organization can not be repeated while the
failure can be repeated. This is rightly said in the context of people in the organization differ. If
one individual is very successful in one organization in achieving the set goal, he may not be
really successful in another organization. Because the people differ from one organization, one
may not adopt the similar method to deal with the situations.
This has tended to frame different models of organizational behaviour. Four such models are
derived since the dawn of industrial revolution. The four models that are seen and observed in
various organizations are:
1.
autocratic organizational behaviour model
2.
custodial organizational behaviour model
3.
supportive organizational behaviour model
4.
collegial organizational behaviour model
The factors that determine the type of model is presented below in the Table 1.1
Model
Autocratic
custodial
supportive
Collegial
Basis of model
Power
Economic
resources
Leadership
Partnership
Managerial
orientation
Authority
Money
support
Team work
Employee
orientation
obedience
Security
benefits
and Job
performance
Responsible
behaviour
Employee
psychological
result
Dependence on Dependence on participation
boss
organization
Employees
need met
Subsistence
security
Status
and Self
recognition
actualization
Performance
result
Minimum
Passive
cooperation
Awakened
drives
Self discipline
Moderate
enthusiasm
The above table illustrates the features of the four models.
A proper understanding of organization and its people is necessary to think in a orderly fashion
and to provide (a) For diagnosing the complex management problems and (b) For working on
improvement at one stage without losing sight of other stages. The framework must have
systems and procedures, infrastructure for future expansions and the documentation or
connectivity thro network must help the employees to carryout the work without any problems.
This has to be planned and designed at the top level. Organizations differ due to the existence of
different people in the organization and their behaviour. It is a fact that success achieved in one
organization can not be repeated while the failure can be repeated. This is rightly said in the
context of people in the organization differ. If one individual is very successful in one
organization in achieving the set goal, he may not be really successful in another organization.
Because the people differ from one organization, one may not adopt the similar method to deal
with the situations.
4.7 Conclusion
In this unit we have introduced the concept of organizational behaviour. The various disciplines
contributing to the OB domain, challenges of OB etc. As we know and understand that
organization along with other factors machine, material, money, man is the most prominent
factors in making the organization a complete organization. Organizations are made of
individuals and individuals form the groups. This makes one to think that organizations do exist
for people and the people exist for organization. Individuals and groups work with in the
structure of the formal organization. The structure establishes the relationship between the
individual and groups in the organization. Environment creates opportunities and threats for the
organization. Accordingly, organization develops strengths and posses weakness. Diversified
work environment and work culture
To take the maximum benefit, organizations are forced to flexible work environment. Many
organizations especially the public sector organizations face an unique problem of permanent
temporariness. The organization level includes Structural and other constraints on the individual
and group levels influencing organizational behavior.
Organizational behaviour follows the principles of human behaviour. Organizational behaviour
represents a constant interaction between structures and process variables in an organization.
Organizations differ due to the existence of different people in the organization and their
behaviour. Organizations differ due to the existence of different people in the organization and
their behaviour.
4.8 Keywords
Globalization, Diversified, Autocratic, Custodial, Collegial.
4.9 Exercise
1. What are the various disciplines that form the domain of organizational behavior?
2. What are the challenges in organizational encounter?
3. What opportunities you find in organizational behavior field?
4. What are the three levels of organizational behavior?
5. What are the different types of organizational behavior model?
Module 2
Unit 1
ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE
Structure:
1.1 Objectives
1.2 Introduction
1.3 Foundations of organizational structure
1.4 Dimensions of structure
1.4.1 Work specialization
1.4.2 Departmentalization
1.4.3 Chain of command
1.4.4 Span of control
1.4.5 Centralization and decentralization
1.5 Common organizational designs
1.5.1 The simple structure
1.5.2 The Bureaucracy
1.6 Conclusion
1.7 Keywords
1.8 Exercise
1.1 Objectives
After learning this unit you will be able to understand/know/learn
a) Different types of organizational structures
b) Dimensions of organization structure
c) Strengths and weaknesses of different types of organizational structures.
1.2 Introduction
In the first chapter we have discussed about what constitutes an organization and what fields together
frame the concept of organizational behaviour. We also have seen that organizational behaviour is an
interdisciplinary subject and hence is complex in nature. A change in any one element may influence
changes in the other elements. The behavioural aspects depend on organization structure leading to
organization models, design and environment. The changing scenario demands for different structure,
design and environment. The ideal model should be Customer focused, Team based, Networked in
alliances with customers, suppliers, and even competitors, Flat, Flexible and innovative, Diverse, Global,
Committed workforce, Managers as facilitators and not as boss, Continuous strive for improvement and
innovation, Lead to learning organization, Responsive, and Flexible
In this chapter we will gain an improved understanding of the organization structure, design
environment relationship. We will examine why emerging organizational models are so different from
the old and traditional models and the key components that make up an organization's structure, and
contingency factors like technology and strategy that make certain structural designs preferable in
varying situations. We will also understand the nature of the environment and how does the same affect
the organization in many important ways. Given the potential of the environment affecting the
organizational health and well being, managers must consider this fact to plan and operate their
organizations.
1.3 Foundations of organizational structure
The organizational structure provides a map of how organizational activities and processes are arranged
and linked to one another. One of the common representations of structure is the organization chart
itself. Organizations are manifestations of the management process. As managers manage, they create
organization structures, which respond to environmental opportunities, threats and uncertainty. More
specifically, one can argue from the viewpoint of the design process that organization structure is
created as managers group jobs and assign responsibility for coordination and decision making. Most
managers are guided in making the grouping decisions by criteria they deem to be appropriate which
would include functions, products, locations any permutation and combination of these in the
organization.
1.4 Dimensions of structure
What do we understand by the term ‘structure’. Structures as defined by Childs as "The formal
allocation of work roles and the administrative mechanisms to control and integrate work activities
including those which cross formal organizational boundaries". The three dimensions which are
highlighted by Child (1974) are horizontal differentiation or division of work, vertical differentiation, and
Organization environment differentiation
In horizontal differentiation, the allocation of work to units is done considering the equivalent
hierarchical levels (examples, sales, manufacturing, and engineering). It essentially identifies operative
work that is involved in mainstream transformation of the organization's product or service. Vertical
differentiation means divisions of administrative functions. Vertical differentiation identifies managerial
and coordinative work. Lastly, Organization environment differentiation distinguishes the organization
from its environment by defining its boundaries. These three dimensions of structure could be expanded
into six factors or structural variables that shape an organization's structure. These are:

Work specialization

Departmentalization

Chain of command

Span of control

Centralization and decentralization

Formalization
1.4.1 Work specialization or division of labor refers to the degree to which tasks in an organization are
subdivided into separate jobs. An entire job is broken down into a number of steps, each step being
completed by a separate individual. Essentially, individuals specialize in doing a part of an activity rather
than the entire activity. For much of the first half of the twentieth century, managers viewed work
specialization as an unending source of increased productivity. Work specialization is neither as obsolete
nor as an unending source of increased productivity. Rather, with work specialization we can recognize
the economies it provides in certain type of jobs and the problems it creates in other situations. Hence
work specialization needs to be reconsidered with the perspective of changing business scenario and
environment.
1.4.2 Departmentalization is the basis by which jobs are grouped together. Generally the jobs are
grouped by way of functions performed. This leads to the formation of functional departments such as
accounting, marketing, and production. If we observe, these phenomena is quite commonly adopted in
many organizational structuring. Functional departmentalization seeks to achieve economies of the
scale by placing people with common skills and orientations in common units.
Another approach for departmentalization would be by the type of products the organization produces.
If an organization's activities are services rather than product related, each service would be
autonomously grouped. The major advantage to this type of grouping is increased accountability for
product performance, since all activities related to a specific product or services are under the direction
of a single manager.
Third approach of departmentalization is on the basis of geography or territory. If an organization's
customers over a large geographic area and have similar needs based on their location, then this form of
departmentalization can be valuable.
Fourthly, departmentalization can be made based on the process when each department specializes in
one specific phase in production. Since each process requires different skills. The advantage of this
method is that it offers a basis for the homogeneous categorizing of activities.
A final category of departmentalization is to use the particular type of customer the organization seeks
to reach, say large corporations and small business. The assumption underlying customer
departmentalization is that customers serviced by each department have a common set of problems
and needs that can best be met by having specialists for each.
The advantage of departmentalization for a large organization is that it can
adopt all types of departmentalization. However, in the present scenario of
business, groups which
cross over traditional departmental lines are
increasingly complementing rigid, functional departmentalization. The main
reason one can attribute for this the demand for more complex and more
diverse skills that are needed to accomplish the tasks. This has forced the
management to turn to develop cross functional teams in the organization.
1.4.3 Chain of command - It is the unbroken line of authority that extends from the top of the
organization to the lowest echelon and clarifies who reports to whom. The chain of command concept is
associated with two other concepts: authority and unity of command. Authority refers to the rights of a
managerial position to give orders and expect the orders to be obeyed. To facilitate coordination, each
managerial position is given a place in the chain of command, and each manager is given a degree of
authority in order to meet his responsibilities. The unity of command principle states that a person
should have one and only one superior to whom he is directly responsible. If the unity of command is
broken, there is a chance that an employee might have to cope with conflicting demands or priorities
from several superiors.
However, the concepts of authority and maintaining the chain of command are increasingly less relevant
as operating employees are being empowered to make decisions. While the management realizes that
by emphasizing unit of command the activity become dysfunctional and leads to blocked growth,
organizations and lose their competitiveness. This has led to the adoption of self-managed, autonomous
and cross-functional teams and the creation of new structural designs that include multiple bosses have
made the unity of command concept less relevant.
1.4.4 Span of control means the number of subordinates a manager can efficiently and effectively
direct. By keeping the span of control narrow and small (5 or 6 employees), a manager can maintain
close control. A narrow span of control makes an organization multi-layered and pyramidal with many
levels of management. In the process, the structure becomes inflexible and expensive. The trend in
recent years has been toward wider span of control. They are consistent with recent efforts by
companies to reduce costs, cut overheads, speed up decision making, increase flexibility, get closure to
customers, and empower employees.
However, to ensure that performance does not suffer because of these wider spans, organizations have
been investing heavily in employee training. Managers recognize that they can handle a wider span of
control when employees know their jobs inside and out or can turn to their co-workers when they have
questions.
1.4.5 Centralization and decentralization
The term centralization refers to the degree to which decision making is concentrated at a single point in
the organization. The concept includes only formal authority; rights associated with the position.
Typically, it is said that if top management makes the organization's key decisions with little or no input
from lower level personnel, then the organization is centralized. In contrast, the more that lower level
personnel provide input or are actually given the discretion to make decisions greater is the
decentralization. In large companies, lower level managers are closer to "the action" and typically have
more knowledge about problems than do top managers. Now organizations are trying to create units,
teams, cross- functional teams and other entities than can drive themselves.
Formalization: Formalization refers to the degree to which jobs within the organization are
standardized. If a job is highly formalized, then the job incumbent has a minimum amount of discretion
over what is to be done, when it is to be done, and how he should do it. However, organizations that
goes for formalization also tend to lose the human contribution to the development of the organization
leading to a consistent and uniform output, it implies less input from the employee into how his work is
to be done, eliminates the possibility of employees engaging in alternative behaviors, and also removes
the need for employees to consider alternatives. When formalization is low, job behaviors are relatively
non- programmed and employees have a great deal of freedom to exercise discretion in their work.
1.5 Common organizational designs
The six variables (work specialization, departmentalization, chain of command, span of control,
centralization and decentralization, and formalization), managers design the structure of an
organization. The organizational structure, in turn, determines the effectiveness of an organization.
Three common designs found in use are:

The simple structure

The bureaucracy
-functional structure
Owner - Manager
-divisional structure

The matrix structure
Employee
1
Employee
2
Employee
3
Employee K
1.5.1 The simple structure
The simple structure has a low degree of departmentalization, wide span of control, low formalization,
the decision making authority centralized in one individual or a small group of people. The simple
structure is widely practiced in small businesses in which the manager and the owner are one and the
same. Here a retail store, a restaurant, or a machine shop for repairs and services could be cited as an
example.
The strength of the simple structure is in its simplicity. It is fast, flexible and customer focused, with
inexpensive maintenance and clear accountability. One major weakness is that it is difficult to maintain
in anything other than small organizations. It becomes increasingly inadequate as an organization grows
and becomes complex. The simple structure is not strictly limited to small organizations; it is just harder
to make it work effectively in larger firms.
1.5.2 The Bureaucracy
Max Weber (1864-1920) was the first to identify systematically a set of features shared by modern
large-scale organizations in both the private and the public sectors. The bureaucratic form dominated
the organizational landscape of the twentieth century. It provided the base for the expansion in scale
and the predictability of the large industrial enterprise as well as the administrative apparatus of the
nation states.
The bureaucratic form refers to as the classic model of formal organization. In the 1950s and the 1960s,
it was defined as a "modern" organization. The classic model of the organization had many virtues. Its
strengths includes:
1. Predictability and reliability:
Its heavy reliance on rules and procedures provide customers with reliable, standard, and
predictable products and services.
2. Impartiality
Emphasis on "impersonal" that contrasted with family based enterprise and the
personalized state system of feudalism was long seen as one of the strengths of
bureaucracy.
3. Expertise
Specialization of jobs and positions allowed individuals and departments to acquire their
expertise in a particular task, making for levels of experience and knowledge based
capabilities that exceeded those of less specialized systems.
4. Clear lines of control
Hierarchies of offices made it clear who had the authority to make decisions and to receive
information. In the classic model, information flows up and decisions flow down.
As we know that the bureaucratic model cannot satisfy the organizational needs of flexibility in a fast
changing uncertain environment. Its very strengths become its major weaknesses. In response to market
changes in the 1980s and 1990s, a new model of organization emerged. The features of this “new”
model significantly contrasted with those long regarded as central.
1.5.2.1 Functional structure
The following figure shows a functional grouping of a manufacturing organization.
President
Assistant to
::President
Engineering
Personnel
Finance
Marketing
Engineering
Design
Financial
Planning
Market
Researc
h
Electrical
Engineering
Budgets
Advertising
Mechanical
Engineering
Accounting
Sales
Production
Productio
n
Planning
Industrial
Engineeri
ng
Purchasing
Tooling
Quality
Control
Data
Processing
Production
Operation
Strengths and Weaknesses of functional grouping
Functional grouping or structure is essentially a bureaucratic structure. Its obvious advantage is
functional specialization, the fact that each manager below the chief executive is concerned with only
one kind of work. This means that each manager will be able to devote full attention to the
development of personnel with important skills and specialties and to see that they are efficiently used.
Across the total organization, assuming careful choice of functions, major functions of the organization
will be emphasized.
A second major strength of functional departmentalization is that it avoids duplication of resources and
permits economies of the scale in the use of various specialties. If all the engineers are grouped
together, then the department is in a position to manage their assignments and schedules with a view to
full utilization. It should be noted that the same economies of scale are available where functional units
such as those based on equipment or materials or process are used.
Finally, as all phases of one kind of work are grouped, the manager will be able to effectively coordinate
these phases. Using production as an example, the production manager can give full attention to
coordinating all inputs that are relevant to the production process.
Generally, the functional format requires that decisions affecting the overall well being of the company
must be made at the chief executive’s level. Such centralization is required to give an adequate
perspective of the effects of decisions across all functions.
The major weaknesses of functional grouping are this tends to create barriers to coordination and
communication between functional units. With the increase in the size of the organization and/or by the
diversification of the product line, the communication chain between centralized decision making and
the specialists who implement it is substantially lengthened. Any change in technology and/or additional
product diversification will overload the functional structure’s coordinating capacity and product output
will suffer.
1.5.2.2 Divisional grouping: Strengths and Weaknesses
A divisional grouping is a variant of the functional structure. It is a bureaucratic structure where the
grouping is based on products. Each division represents one product or product group. Following figure
illustrates partial divisional grouping of a manufacturing organization.
Industrial
Instrument
Division
Industrial
Tool
Division
Sales
Plastic
Products
Division
Production
Metal
Products
Division
Engineering
Personnel
Accounting
Marketing
Sales
Manufacturing
Production
Finance
Engineering
Accounting
President
FIGURE DIVISIONAL GROUPING OF A MANUFACURING ORGANIZATION
Strengths and Weaknesses
A major strength of the divisional format is its emphasis on a single product, which permits the
organization to enjoy the benefits of a functional format while minimizing its disadvantages. As you can
see in the above figure, each product division has its own functional specialists, but they need only give
attention to a single product. However, it should be noted that specialized people and equipment could
only be used more efficiently where there is sufficient production volume to satisfy the full capacity
utilization. In contrast, where the straight functional grouping is used, each function must tend to all the
company’s products, which achieves reduced risk of idle capacity.
A second and related strength centers on the use of a product manager who controls and coordinates
the division with reference to its macro concern, the product. Product managers are accountable for the
profitability of their divisions. Thus, they are driven to integrate the efforts of its functional units toward
product output. In making decisions that have cross functional impact, the product manager should be
in a good position to determine what is best from the standpoint of overall divisional well being.
Grouping into product divisions is not without its faults. Divisional format is more expensive to initiate
and maintain. Generally one can anticipate increases in operating, administrative, and capital costs. You
can see that these increases result from duplication of production specialists, facilities and capital needs.
If volumes of sales and production are too low than anticipated, the cost of a divisional format may be
lost economies of scale. By considering the advantages and disadvantages of functional and divisional
formats we can say that growth in size, increased product diversity, and breakdowns in output may
force managers to move away from the functional form and insufficient use of resources, scarcity of
resources, low sales or production volumes may move managers away from the divisional format. The
figure below highlights the positive and negative effects of the organizational design if it is grouped by
function or input, and by product, area, or output.
Group by function or input
Group by product or area, or
output
Positive
Effect
of
Choice
Enhance the specialized inputs and
Enhance coordination among
their development
specialists to achieve budget and
Permits time sharing of specialists
schedule
Disrupt integration of effort and
Negative
time in achieving a given product
Poor utilization of specialized
talents and no one responsible for
development of technical skills
The detailed explanation of matrix structure of organization is dealt in next unit.
1.6 Conclusion
In this unit we have introduced the concept of organizational structure which we would like to design
and implement. Some examples of structures would be, functional and hierarchical. Based on structure
we develop a strategy to start organizing your business, company, or group. If we choose the options
that best fit your organization then we are more likely to succeed in your market. By having the right
people in the right place, it can lead to better networking opportunities, higher sales, increased interest
in your organization, and overall success.
1.7 Keywords
Organizational structure, Dimensions of structure, Bureaucracy.
1.8 Exercise
1. What are the various dimensions of organizational structure? Explain.
2. Differentiate chain of command and utility of command.
3. Explain and compare the various types of organization design.
4. Differentiate functional and divisional organization structure.
Module 2
Unit 2
Organization Design Models
Matrix Structure: Hybrid Form
Structure:
2.1 Objectives
2.2 Introduction
2.3 Dual Authority
2.4 Balanced Power
2.5 New design options
2.5.1 Networked Model
2.5.2 Flat Model
2.5.3 Flexible Model
2.5.4 Diverse Model
2.5.5 Global Model
2.6 New structural options
2.6.1 Virtual organization
2.6.2 The boundary less organization
2.7 Determinants of structure
2.7.1 Environment
2.7.2 Strategy
2.7.3 Technology
2.7.4 Organization Size
2.8 The Nature of Organizational Environment
2.9 Summary
2.10 Keywords
2.11 Exercise
2.1 Objectives
After learning this unit you will be able to learn/understand/know
a) Organization design model
b) Matrix structure
c) Hybrid form
d) New design options of open systems
e) Other models like network, flat, flexible, diverse and global etc
f)
Virtual Organizations/boundary less
g) Determinants of structure
h) Environmental characteristics of organization
i)
Key dimensions of environment
2.2 Introduction
Managers are concerned about how to design an organization so that the organization can fulfill its twin
goals: survival and growth. The matrix is another structural format that has emerged out of this concern.
It deals with the coordination gaps of functional and divisional structures. The matrix is an attempt to
blend aspects of both functional and divisional forms in order to enjoy the advantages of each. Thus,
matrix is a hybrid of the functional and divisional forms. But the matrix is substantially complex and it is
by no means a structural panacea. It is also an ambiguous structural format, and for that reason, it is a
structural extreme. It should be used under extreme but appropriate circumstances. The two
distinguished features of matrix structure are dual authority and balanced power.
2.3 Dual Authority: By dual authority it is meant that individuals may actually have two bosses. An
engineer, for example, is assigned to the engineering manger and also to a product or project group
manager. This is an obvious violation of the principle of unity of command, but it can be beneficial under
the proper circumstances. It should be noted that not everyone in the matrix organization has two
bosses, but the dual reporting relationship does exist somewhere in the organization.
2.4 Balanced Power: The second feature of the matrix is balanced power. The notion here is that the
relative power of functional and product managers should be almost equal. Such a balance is difficult to
achieve, but without it, dual authority has little meaning. The power balance aims to achieve the
desirable cooperation between the functional and product bosses. With dual authority but with
unbalanced power, the more powerful manager will dominate. With severely unbalanced power
relationships between functional and product managers, one has a matrix in name only.
Under the best of circumstances, matrix relationships can be laden with ambiguity, conflict, and
frustration. However, with right kind of people, the matrix provides the type of coordination,
information exchange, integration and lateral contact that the divisional and functional forms are unable
to match. One must keep in mind that the ambiguity of matrix structures means they are likely to
involve power and politics and, therefore, these concepts discussed earlier are applicable in matrix
organizations.
A typical matrix organization is presented in the following figure.
Corporate level
Division A
Division B
Planners and
Planners and
analysts
Production
Engineering
Personnel
Production
Project C
Project D
Project
manager
Project
manager
Production
Group
Engineering
Group
Production
Group
Engineering
Group
analysts
Finance
Engineering
Personnel
Finance
Personnel
Accounting
Group
Group
Personnel
Accounting
Group
Group
This particular example illustrates that the organization can involve functional, divisional, and
matrix elements. Division A can be assumed to be manufacturing some widely used product,
perhaps the mass production of a consumer durable. Division B, for purpose of illustration, is
performing a number of specific projects for the government.
Overall, Division A is geared to deliver a standard product in volume, on schedule, and at a
known cost. The problems involved in doing so can be effectively dealt with by functional
managers under the coordinative guidance of the divisional manager. The most common
problem will be concerned with integration and coordination of functional inputs. Division A is
facing a more certain circumstance and there is no reason to think that the divisional/functional
design will be unable to perform.
However, the situation that confronts Division B is substantially more
complex and uncertain. Division B must contend with the needs of two
research and development projects, D and C. These projects are
concerned with the design, development, testing, and production of
major equipment items for the department of defense (say). The contract
for projects D and C will probably identify specific completion dates,
desired technical performance specifications, financial and cost data, and
substantial
managerial
and
engineering
requirements.
But
these
requirements are all likely to be quite different for each project; further,
the hardware associated with projects D and C does not yet exist. It must
be created and it is difficult to anticipate problems that may arise.
The implication of all of these is that the problems to be solved will
change as the project is carried forward. This means that combination of
resources – human; materials and equipment that can best jointly
pursue project goals changes from time to time in each of Division B’s
projects. Hence, the project manager is empowered to draw on various
functional resources as needed to meet the needs of a particular phase.
Matrix structure permits a focus on project efficiency (output focus),
while maintaining the functional structure (input focus), which ensures
that functional resources are available when needed.
In this situation, the structural needs of the two divisions are quite
different. A true matrix is a genuine departure from traditional
hierarchical forms (Division A). The essence of the difference and what
defines a matrix organization (Division B’s projects D and C) is a
“multiple command system” in which people have two or even more
bosses to whom they are equally accountable (project head and the
functional head in this case). Such an organizational form permits higher
information processing capacity without duplication of people, but on the
other hand forces people into new behavior patterns. A matrix
organization can only function if both bosses and subordinates learn how
to manage in a multiple command structure.
2.5 New design options
The new design option is based on the concept of ‘open system., which
means that it is in constant interaction with all its environments, taking
in raw materials, people, energy, and information, and transforming or
converting them into products and services that are then exported to
these various environments. Organization as an open system is
understood as:
1. The organization must be conceived of as a system with multiple
purposes or functions that involve multiple interactions between
the organization and its various environments. Many of the
activities of subsystems within the organization cannot be
understood without considering these multiple interactions and
functions.
2. The organization consists of many subsystems that are in dynamic
interaction with one another. Instead of analyzing organizational
phenomena in terms of individual behavior, it is more profitable to
analyze the behavior of such subsystems, whether they are
conceived in terms of coalitions, groups, roles, or some other
conceptual elements.
3. As the subsystems are to varying degrees interdependent, changes
in one subsystem are likely to affect the behavior of other
subsystems.
4. The organization exists in a set of dynamic environments
comprised of a number of other systems, some larger, some
smaller than the organization. Environments place demands upon
and constrain the organization and its subsystem in various ways.
Total functioning of the organization cannot be understood,
therefore, without explicit consideration of these environmental
demands
and
constraints,
and
the
manner
in
which
the
organization copes with them in the short, medium and long term.
5. The multiple links between the organization and its environments
make it difficult to specify clearly the boundaries of any given
organization. Ultimately, the concept of organization is perhaps
better conceived in terms of the stable processes of imports,
conversion, and export rather than in terms of such structural
variables as size, shape, function, or design.
The key features of new model organization encompass the following mentioned complex
interacting features. These are:

Networked

Flat

Flexible

Diverse

Global
2.5.1 Networked Model
The “new” model visualizes the organization as based on interdependence across individuals,
groups and sub units within the organization, and the key elements of its environment.
Boundaries of the “new” model are “permeable” or “semi permeable”, allowing the much more
frequent movement of people and information across them. The networked organization
creates the following specific features.

Emphasizing teams as fundamental units of activity, specifically using crossfunctional teams with members drawn from different complimentary functions and
areas.

Creating systems of sharing information widely in the organization, horizontally and
vertically in both directions.
In the context of organizational environment this model builds close relationships with
suppliers. The “Just-in-time” delivery systems popularized ‘quality movement’ during 1980s. For
example, JIT ensured that vendors and suppliers made to be closely integrated into the
manufacturing process, delivering small lots of parts as they are needed for production. This led
to sharing much more information with suppliers and vendors, and developing much higher
levels of interdependence with them. Further this model would also facilitate to building
coalitions to work together with key stakeholders, such as environmental groups, local
community, or government agencies over issues of common interests, or labor unions over the
organization of work, rather than adopting a confrontational or defensive posture. It will also
foster building alliances and cooperative networks with other companies, so that another firm
may be a “3C” company – one that is simultaneously a competitor, a customer, and a
collaborator or partner.
At this juncture it is essential that we should know the complex factors
that are influencing this recognition of the network model. Some of these
factors are as follows:

Connectivity: The revolution of telecommunication and information technologies has vastly
increased the range of possibilities for connecting people and organizational units across
distance and formal organizational boundaries.

Value for customers: The competitive need for rapid response to customer needs, changing
environments, and demands for innovation means that specialized individual jobs and
“islands” of expertise can no longer provide the integration of knowledge needed to create
value for customers.

Effective knowledge management: In an open and competitive market, an organization
needs to develop and deliver value to its customers. It means that companies can no longer
hope to rely wholly on internally generated resources and capabilities, but must draw on
external sources as efficiently and effectively as possible.

Focus on change: The “old” model acts as a closed system since it keeps itself insulated
through formal process of rules and procedures. Successful organizations today find that it is
more effective and efficient to deal with the rapid shifts in the environment by building
networks, between the source of that rapid change (the customer, the supplier, the
regulator) and the part of the organization most directly affected by it. For example, product
development engineers may be in direct contact with key customers, or suppliers directly
linked into the production process with just-in-time inventory systems.
2.5.2 Flat Model
The broadest consensus on the 21st century organization is that the organization should be a
learning organization with less management levels. The “new flat” organization has
“empowered” the operating levels of the organization, thus pushing down the decision making
process to the “front line” of the company. This makes the unit of the organization responsible
for implementing any decision as also the power to make it, or at least participate in it.
Flattening of the hierarchy has been both possible and necessary because of the following
factors:

The “old” model is characterized by its tall and control oriented hierarchy. It is a “dinosaur”,
which is powerful but unable to be flexible where there is a need to do so. Organizations of
today need to respond more rapidly and more flexibly to changes in their markets and
technology and to engage their people in continuous improvement of operations. A flat
structure aims to eliminate the delays caused by the “old” structure.

Changes in information technology remove the need for layers of middle managers whose
main tasks have centered on organizing and transmitting information, and this allows
organizations to monitor activities more quickly and adjust accordingly.

Organizations face intense competitive pressure to cut costs. Fewer managers means a
smaller payroll – and firms have found that getting rid of a manager cuts costs more
significantly than getting rid of a low level employee.
2.5.3 Flexible Model
The strength of “going by rule” encompasses predictability, controllability, and fairness.
However, in an uncertain and changing environment, these predictability and controllability are
found to be seemingly impossible tasks. The need of the hour is to adopt flexibility to respond to
the diverse needs of employees, customers, and other stakeholders in ways that allow a variety
of responses without being restrained by formal procedures or rules. Many manufacturing firms,
for example, are moving to “flexible production” or “customized mass production” that enable a
factory to adjust quickly to a wide variety of changing market demands. Many service firms are
emphasizing tailoring their services to the specific needs of customers or groups of customers,
rather than emphasizing a “one-size-fits-all” approach.
Part of this flexibility is the growing use of temporary structures such as projects and task forces
that do not affect an individual’s formal position or the formal organizational structure. These
“temporary” structures allow the speedy reconfiguration of people and resources to address
certain problems or play a key linking function. The need for flexibility is driven by intensifying
competition and an increasingly complex and unpredictable external environment.
2.5.4 Diverse Model
The “new” model aims to fulfill the need to accommodate a diversity of perspectives and
approaches, career paths and incentive systems, people and policies within its boundaries, and
to respond to an increasingly diverse array of external constituencies and stakeholders. The
“new” model presents different alternatives of employment, including part time work, home
base “tele-working” (where employees are linked to the office through home computers),
different “tracks” that people can choose depending on their interests and family situations, and
flexi-times. It includes an array of people who are in the firm but has a non-traditional
relationships to it: full time contract employees, for example, or former employees hired as
independent consultants. The reasons for the diversification are diversified workforce including
women, ethnic diversity, attrition etc, demand for innovation and creativity, growing volatility
which encompass unpatterned and unpredictable change in the business environment, changing
environment, and Customer satisfaction.
2.5.5 Global Model
Many companies in the past were international but not global. That is, they operated in many
countries, but they kept operations in each country quite distinct, with little interdependence or
interaction across the organizations in different countries. To be “global” means to be involved
in interactions across boarders. Some of the key factors that underlie the growing importance of
the global dimension of the new organization are:

Greatly reduced costs of international transportation and communications, such
that products and parts can be made in one location and sold at competitive prices
in many locations.

The growing equalization across advanced industrial and newly industrializing
societies of what Michael Porter calls “advanced factor endowments”. This
equalization process includes workforce education levels, technological and
managerial capabilities, telecommunications, and transportation infrastructure.
Companies based in countries all round the world, for example, make components
for consumer electronics or telecommunication equipments. This intensifies
international competition and also increases the range of strategic options that any
firm has in purchasing components or finding markets for its products.

With the “globalization” of markets, urban consumers’ preferences and their living
standards become more and more similar across countries. Many MNCs of
consumer durables offer their products in an attempt to expand their markets only
after modest tailoring of their product to suit the local taste and suitability.

Continuing differences in cost structures across countries,
The potential for expanding the capabilities of the firm by cross border learning,
especially by building networks into leading markets or centers of technology, increases
the importance of the global dimension of the new organization. Organizations in the real
world do not completely embody all the features of the model. The model is “ideal type”
not in an “ideal” of the popular sense of intrinsically good and desirable. The “new”
organizational model is an “ideal type” that is useful in analyzing the present trends of
change in organizations.
2.6 New structural options
Over the last decade or two, senior managers in a number of
organizations have been working to develop new structural forms that
can help their firms compete effectively. Two such structural designs
include Virtual organization and Boundaryless organization
2.6.1 Virtual organization
The virtual organization is a variant of the networked organization. It is
also called the modular organization or hollow organization. The virtual
organizations create networks of relationships that allow them to contract
out manufacturing, distribution, marketing, or any other business
function when management feels that others can do it better or more
cheaply.
The virtual organization stands in contrast to the typical bureaucracy
that has many vertical levels of management and where control is sought
through ownership. In a bureaucracy, research and development are
done in-house, production occurs in company owned plants, and sales
and marketing are performed by the company’s own employees. To
support this, management has to employ extra personnel including
accountants, human resource specialists, and lawyers. The virtual
organization, however, out-sources many of these functions and
concentrates on what it does best. In most U.S. firms this refers to
focusing on design and marketing.
The figure below illustrates a hypothetical virtual organization, in which
management out-sources all the primary functions of the business. The
core of the organization is a small group of executives whose job is to
oversee directly any activities that are done in-house and to coordinate
relationships with the other organizations that manufacture, distribute,
and perform other critical functions for the virtual organization.
The dotted lines in the figure represents those relationships typically
maintained under contracts. In essence, managers in virtual structures
spend most of their time coordinating and controlling external relations
typically by way of computer – network links.
VIRTUAL ORGANIZATION
Commissioned
sales
representatives
Manufacturing
plant in Mexico
Core
Executive
Group
Advertising
Agency
Independe
nt R & D
Firm
Virtual organization
The major advantage to the virtual organization is its flexibility. The
primary drawback to this structure is that it reduces management’s
control over key parts of its business.
2.6.2 The boundaryless organization
The boundaryless organization seeks to eliminate the chain of command,
has limitless spans of control, and replaces departments with empowered
teams. It relies so heavily on information technology, some have turned
to calling this structure the T-Form (or technology based) organization.
By
removing
the
vertical
boundaries,
management
flattened
the
hierarchy. Status and rank are minimized. Functional departments
create horizontal boundaries, which stifle interaction between functions,
product lines, and units. The way to reduce these barriers is to replace
functional departments with cross-functional teams and to organize
activities around processes. Another way management can cut through
horizontal barriers is to use lateral transfers and rotate people into and
out of different functional areas. This approach turns specialists into
generalists.
When fully operational, the boundaryless organization also breaks down
barriers to external constituencies (examples, suppliers, customers, and
regulators) and barriers created by geography.
Globalization, strategic alliances, customer-organization linkages, and telecommuting are all
examples of practices that reduce external boundaries. These practices make the organization
more networked and diverse as you have read in the "new model".
The one common technological thread that makes the boundaryless organization possible is a
networked computer. It allows people to communicate across intra-organizational and interorganizational boundaries. Electronic mail, for instance, enables hundreds of employees to
share the information simultaneously and allow rank-and-file workers to communicate directly
with senior executives. Additionally, many large companies are developing private nets or
"intranets". Using the infrastructure and standards of the Internet and World Wide Web, these
private nets are internal communication systems, protected from the public Internet by special
software. Boundaryless structure aims to increase the competitiveness of the organization.
2.7 Determinants of structure
There are many factors that influence the design of an organization. The major factors that are
identified as causes or determinants of an organization's structure are:

Environment

Strategy

Technology

Organizational size
An organization's strategy and technology are largely determined by the environmental factors
(example, the market) under which the organization operates. In this sense, the organization's
strategy, technology and the structure are all market - driven.
2.7.1 Environment
An organization's environment is composed of those institutions or forces that are outside the
organization and potentially affect the organization's performance. These typically include
suppliers, customers, competitors, government regulatory agencies, public pressure groups, and
the like. Later part of this chapter deals with environment in detail.
2.7.2 Strategy
Strategy is the response an organization makes to its environment. In other words, strategy is
the means by which the organization can deal with the contingencies posed by its external
environment. A complex strategy for the organization indicates a complex uncertain
environment. At the very basic level, strategy is the determination of the long-term goals and
objectives of an organization. It is the course of action that the organization adopts and the
allocation of resources by the organization necessary for carrying out these goals. For example,
decisions to expand the volume of activities, to set up distant plants and offices, to move into
new economic functions, or become diversified along many lines of business involve the
defining of new basic goals.
Strategy is (or should be) one unifying concept, which links the structure and processes of
organization in a meaningful way to its environment. Ultimately, of course, a good fit between
environment, strategy, and structure will produce good performance. If management makes a
significant change in its organizational strategy, the structure will need to be modified to
accommodate and support this change.
2.7.3 Technology
The term technology refers to how an organization transforms its inputs into outputs. Numerous
studies have been carried out on the technology-structure relationship. The common theme
that differentiates technologies is their degree of routineness. Technologies tend toward either
routine or non-routine activities. Routine activities are characterized by automated and
standardized operations. Non-routine activities are customized. Routine tasks are associated
with taller and more departmentalized structures, with the presence of rule manuals, job
descriptions, and other formalized documentation. The structure is essentially mechanistic and
the control is with the management. The classical example is the Ford's assembly line
production process. Its aim is to achieve volume at a lower cost. This system of management is
called as Fordim, which you have already studied. Non-routine tasks require more flat, flexible,
and networked structure. The environment-strategy-technology- structure linkage is shown in
the diagram below.
Strategy
Structure
Environment
Technology
2.7.4 Organization Size
A factor other than environment – strategy – technology that influences the structure is the size
of the organization. For instance, large organizations tend to have more vertical levels, more
specialization and departmentalization, centralization and formalization with more rules and
regulations than do small organizations. In short, large organizations tend to become
bureaucratic or mechanistic. The challenge for the management in the large bureaucratic
organization is how to change toward a more efficient and effective structure - networked, flat,
flexible with cross-functional teams empowered to take decisions that matter to them.
2.8 The Nature of Organizational Environment
The definition of an organization implied that organizations exist because they are a means to
the fulfillment of some social needs. When one examines this point, it becomes apparent that
organizational survival is not solely determined by actions and events within the organization
itself (as determined by its owners, managers, and operators). The success and survival of an
organization are also determined to some degree by events and persons outside the
organization. This reality must be recognized and dealt with on a continuous basis as the
organization is planned and operated. An organization’s environment is composed of those
institutions or forces that are outside the organization and can potentially affect the
organization’s performance is represented in the following Figure.
FIGURE : ENVRIONEMNTAL FACTORS THAT AFFECT THE PERFROMACE OF THE ORGANIZATION
CENTRAL, STATE AND LOCAL GOVRNMENT, POLITICAL PARTIES
SUPPLIERS CUSTOMERS,
ORGANIZATION
COMPETITIORS,
JUDICIARY
EMPLOYEE UNIONS
DEMOGRAPHY
EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS, SOCIETAL NORMS AND CULTURE
FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS MARKETS
Any organization must transact with other entities in its environment, and in doing so, it may be
changed from its original state. Though such effects can be quite specific and tangible, the
organization – environment connection itself is not always so obvious. Given the uncertainty of
environmental change, such linkages to the environment can be quite ambiguous. These
circumstances can make it very difficult for the manager to clearly identify the cause and effect
relationships and in turn, result in poor organizational performance.
Environmental Typology: Two types of Environment
An organization’s environment is not a homogeneous undifferentiated concept. We can identify
broadly two types of environment. They are:

The general environment

The task or specific environment
Figure 2.2 illustrates the two types of environment, which are linked to one another as well as to
the organization is shown below. Variations in any one element of the three linked systems
affect others.
Organization
Task
Environment
General
Environment
General Environment:
General Environment in its broadest sense refers to the general economic, political, cultural and
technical context in which all the organizations are embedded. There are nine important
characteristics of the general environment that constrain the activities of all the organizations.
Each characteristic affects all types of organizations, may be somewhat differently.
General Environmental Characteristics for Organizations
Culture:
It includes the historical background, beliefs and values, ideologies and norms of
the society. Views on authority relationships, leadership patterns, interpersonal
relationships, rationalism, science, and technology define the nature of social
institutions.
For example, attempts to incorporate Japanese management and
organizational techniques in India may not fully succeed because of the
differences in their cultures.
Demographic: The nature of human resources available to the society; their number,
distribution, age, and sex; rural-urban distribution and the nature and level of
urbanization.
For example, the increasing proportion of women employees has an
impact on personnel policies and practices.
Economic:
General economic framework, including the type of economic organization –
private versus public ownership; the centralization or decentralization of
economic planning; the banking system; and fiscal policies; the level of the
investment in physical resources and consumption characteristics.
For example, since 1991, the continuing impacts of economic
liberalization in India.
Education:
The general literary level of the population; the degree of sophistication and
specialization in the educational system; the proportion of the people with a
high level of professional and/or specialized training.
For example, India is believed to enjoy competitive advantage over China
in software, call-center or medical transcription businesses primarily due
to its English based education.
Legal:
Constitutional considerations, nature of legal and juridical system, jurisdictions
of various governmental agencies or units, specific laws concerning formation,
taxation, and control of organizations.
For example, carpet and garment exporters in south Asia are getting
squeezed because of regulation against child-labor.
Natural
Resources:
The nature, quality, and availability of minerals and other natural resources.
For example, poor quality of domestic coal has adversely affected the
generation efficiency of thermal power plants in India.
Political:
The general political climate of society; the degree of concentration of political
power;
the
nature
of
political
organization
(examples,
degrees
of
decentralization and diversity of functions); the political and party system.
For example, the militant unionism is one of the reasons cited for the
decline in industrial growth in West Bengal and Kerala since 1960s.
Sociological:
Class structure and mobility; definition of social roles; nature of social
organization and development of social institutions.
For example, currently, public sector units have to follow the reservation
policy of the government in recruitment and promotion. The private sector
cannot hope to be immune for long.
Technological:
The
level
of
scientific
and
technological
advancement in society including the physical base (examples,
plant, equipment, facilities such as infrastructure facilities,
availability of power and energy, roads and communication, and
services) and the knowledge base of technology. The degree to
which the scientific and technological community is able to
generate new knowledge and apply is also an important attribute
For example, the development of computer technology and arrival
of information age (examples, IT, Internet and e-commerce) have
had dramatic impacts.
The number of middle management
positions is declining and the nature of middle management work
is
changing
changing
rather
rapidly.
But,
how
do
these
environmental factors affect organizational performance in India;
and how does globalization or “borderless global village” make
these factors insignificant?
In addition to the general environment, organizations are also confronted by a task or specific
environment. The specific or task environment is composed of the organizations and individuals
with which an organization is in direct interaction. So, the task environment is assumed to
include all individuals or organizations providing direct input into an organization or, receiving
directly the outputs from the organization.
The Task or Specific Environment
The task environment is different for each organization, whereas the general environment is
essentially the same for all organizations in a given industry or society. Therefore, the task
environment can also be described in terms of the same nine characteristics as discussed above.
You can also assume that an organization and its task environment are linked together within
the context of the general environment. The organization interacts with the units of its task
environment, and each affects the other. But, both are affected by the general environment and
vice versa.
According to you, should a manager be concerned with the organization’s task environment and
can he influence the organization’s task environment?
Three Key Dimensions of Environment
The three dimensions of organizational environment and interactions between then determine
the organization’s performance. These dimensions determine the nature of environmental
uncertainty and therefore, the organization’s response to environmental uncertainty. These
dimensions include:
capacity: The capacity of an environment refers to the degree to which it can support growth.
The capacity could be dichotomized into high capacity i.e abundant capacity and low capacity i.e
scarce capacity.
Volatility: The degree of instability in an environment is captured in the volatility dimension.
There could be less or no volatility such as in stable environment or high volatility such as in
dynamic environment. The environment is dynamic where there is high degree of unpredictable
change. This makes it difficult for management to predict the consequences associated with
various decision alternatives which is not the case with stable environment.
For example, the petro-chemical industry in India is operating in a stable environment under
control through APM (referred to as the administrative price mechanism). However, if the
market opens up more, the industry will face a dynamic volatile environment.
complexity : Rich and growing environments generate excess resources, which can buffer the
organization in times of relative scarcity. But abundant capacity, unlike scarce capacity leaves
room for an organization to make mistakes. For Example: In the year 2000, firms operating in
the multimedia software business have relatively abundant environments, whereas those in the
fertilizer industry face relative scarcity.
Finally, the environment needs to be understood in terms of complexity.
Simple environments are homogeneous and concentrated. Tobacco industry, for example faces
relatively simple environment due to comparatively few players. It is easy for firms in this
industry to keep a close eye on the competition.
In contrast, environments characterized by heterogeneity and dispersion are referred as
complex environments. This is essentially the current environment for firms competing in
electronic business environment. Every day there seems to be another “new kid on the block”
with whom current Internet access providers have to deal with.
The accompanying figure summarizes the discussion of the environment along with its three
dimensions. The arrow shown in this figure indicates the movement toward higher uncertainty.
So, organizations that operate in environments characterized as scarce, dynamic, and complex,
face greater degree of uncertainty. This implies that they have little room for error, high
dynamic
unpredictability, and a diverse set of elements in the environment to be monitored constantly.
srable
Stable
Complex
Abundant
Scarce
Simple
Increasing uncertainty
An organization structure defines how job tasks are formally divided, grouped, and
coordinated. There are six key elements that managers need to address when they design their
organization's structure. These are work specialization, departmentalization, chain of
command, span of control, centralization, and formalization. Some common organizational
designs you learned in this module are simple structure, functional and divisional structures
and their strengths and weaknesses. Matrix structures are hybrid of the functional and
divisional structures. Matrix structures are the most complex and ambiguous of all in that they
involve both dual authority and a need for balanced power. They are extreme structures and
should be used only for extreme circumstances.
To summarize, in this chapter we have redefined the organization as an open, complex system
in dynamic interaction with multiple environments. In essence, it suggests that the "old" formal
structure needs to change in order to deal with competitive environment. The "new" form of
organization structure is networked, flat, flexible, diverse, and global. We have also discussed
about the virtual organization and the boundary-less organization the variants of the "new"
model of networked, flat, flexible, diverse, and global organizations.
2.9 Summary
In this unit, we have understood that the factors such as environment, strategy, technology and
organization size that influence the structure. Organizations need to change from the "old" to
the "new" form of networked, flat, flexible, diverse, and global in order to be competitive in an
uncertain changing environment. Lastly the environment as those factors external to the
organization that influence the effectiveness of the firm’s daily operations and its long term
growth. We have discussed general and the task environments of the organization. We also
discussed about the nine characteristics of the environment and its three key dimensions.
2.10 Keywords
Dual Authority, Balanced Power, Connectivity, Strategy, Culture, Demographic, Economic,
Sociological, capacity, Volatility, complexity.
2.11 Exercise
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
What do you understand by the term dual authority – balanced power
What are the advantages of matrix organizational structure?
Define an open system and its characteristics.
Explain the characteristics of networked structure and a flat structure.
Differentiate flexible structure and networked structure.
What is the importance of virtual organization?
Module 2
Unit 3
Organizational Culture
Structures:
3.1 Objectives
3.2 Introduction
3.3 The concept of organizational culture
3.4 Transformation of organizational culture to the employees:
3.5 Levels of culture analysis
3.6 Characteristics of organizational culture
3.7 Subcultures and Countercultures
3.8 Typologies of organizational cultures
3.9 Summary
3.10 Keywords
3.11 Exercise
3.1 Objectives
After learning this unit you will be able to understand/learn/know
a)
b)
c)
d)
e)
f)
g)
h)
i)
j)
The concept of organizational culture.
Importance of organizational culture.
Differentiate organizational culture and corporate culture.
Cultural roles and rules
Levels of cultural analysis
Organizational culture
Subculture and counterculture
Typologies of organizational culture.
Values of organizational culture.
Methods of transferring the organizational culture to employee.
3.2 Introduction
We have understood that organizational behaviour can be studied macro analysis and
micro analysis levels. The macro level perspectives provide the Knowledge and
understanding of the organization and its environment, and the way these two are
interrelated and the historical foundations of organizational behaviour, as it is known
today. In this chapter we shall understand how organizational culture influences
individual’s behavior in an organization.
In the current fast changing business environment, we observe lot of transformation
taking place in the organization irrespective of the type, size and location of the
organization. At all levels of operation, people are striving for productivity. The drive
towards short-term efficiency is being replaced by a focus on quality, innovation and
value of products or services a customer gets for the money that he pays. The old
methods of command and control are being replaced by new methods of participation and
involvement. Managers are becoming facilitators, guides, helpers and mentors. The
transformation has led to conceive the collegial organizational behavioural model. In fact,
today managers are beginning to change the very essence of what it means to work in the
modern organization. In fact they are changing their organizational culture.
3.3 The concept of organizational culture
Basically, organizational culture is the personality of the organization. Culture is
comprised of the assumptions, values, norms and tangible signs (artifacts) of
organization members and their behaviors. Members of an organization soon come to
sense the particular culture of an organization. Culture is one of those terms that's
difficult to express distinctly, but everyone knows it when they sense it. For example,
the culture of a large, for-profit corporation is quite different than that of a hospital
which is quite different that that of a university. You can tell the culture of an
organization by looking at the arrangement of furniture, what they brag about, what
members wear, etc. -- similar to what you can use to get a feeling about someone's
personality.
Corporate culture can be looked at as a system. Inputs include feedback from, e.g.,
society, professions, laws, stories, heroes, values on competition or service, etc. The
process is based on our assumptions, values and norms, e.g., our values on money, time,
facilities, space and people. Outputs or effects of our culture are, e.g., organizational
behaviors, technologies, strategies, image, products, services, appearance, etc.
The concept of culture is particularly important when attempting to manage
organization-wide change. Practitioners are coming to realize that, despite the best-laid
plans, organizational change must include not only changing structures and processes,
but also changing the corporate culture as well.
There's been a great deal of literature generated over the past decade about the
concept of organizational culture -- particularly in regard to learning how to change
organizational culture. Organizational change efforts are rumored to fail the vast
majority of the time. Usually, this failure is credited to lack of understanding about the
strong role of culture and the role it plays in organizations. That's one of the reasons
that many strategic planners now place as much emphasis on identifying strategic
values as they do mission and vision.
The two terms “organizational culture” and “corporate culture” are often used
synonymously in business settings. In real life, no two organizational cultures are same. It
is becoming increasingly evident that cultural differences can have a major impact on the
performance of organizations and the quality of work life experienced by members.
Organizational Culture or Corporate Culture refers to a system of shared meanings,
beliefs, and values that develop within an organization and influences the behavior of its
members. Garreth R Jones defines organizational culture as ‘ the set of shared values
and norms that control organizational members’ interaction with each other and with
suppliers, customers and other people outside the organization. The way the
organizational structure can be used to achieve success, organizational culture can also
be used to achieve competitive advantage.
Organizational values are of two types viz: terminal value and instrumental value. A
terminal value is desired end state or outcome that people seek to achieve. For
example, excellence, stability, predictability, profitability, innovation, economy,
morality, quality etc., An insurance company may value excellence, but the terminal
value is predictability because the company has to pay off the claims of policy holders.
The instrumental value is desired mode of behaviour. Modes of behaviour that
organization advocate include working hard, respecting traditions and authority, being
conservative and cautious, being frugal, being creative and courageous, being honest,
taking risk, and maintaining high standards. Hence an organization culture consists of
two end states that the organization seeks to achieve (terminal value), and the modes of
behaviour the organization encourages (instrumental value). In every organization,
there are patterns of beliefs, symbols, rituals, myths and practices that have evolved
over time. These, in turn, create common understandings among members as to what
the organization is and how its members should behave. It may be stated here that any
definable group with a shared history can have a culture and that within an organization
there can be several such definable groups and therefore, many subcultures. If the
organization as a whole has had shared experiences, there will also be a total
organizational culture.
Organizational Value
FIGURE: VALUES OF AN ORGANIZATION
3.4 Transformation of organizational culture to the employees:
Important parts of an organization’s culture come from the collective experience of its
members. The emergent aspects of this collectivity give the culture its uniqueness and
may well provide a competitive advantage for the organization. We can understand the
uniqueness of an organization’s culture through prevailing descriptions of specific events,
listening to stories, observing employee behavior, asking knowledgeable members to
interpret what is going on,.
The ability of an organization to transform its value to its people and increase the
productivity and performance is directly related to the way in which the employees
learn and adopt the organizational values. The methods quite often practiced to
transform the organizational culture are:
Shared meaning
Employees infuse a larger shared meaning or sense of broader purpose into their tasks
through interactions with one another and as reinforced by the rest of the organization. In
this sense, organizational culture is a “shared set of meanings and perceptions that are
created and learned by organizational members in the course of interactions”.
Cultural rules and roles
Organizational culture often specifies when various types of actions are appropriate and
accepted. These cultural rules and roles are part of normative controls of the organization
and emerge from its daily routines. These rules and roles also indicate where individual
members stand in the social system.
Cultural rules and roles can become deeply ingrained in organizational behavior as they
influence “the way things are done around here”. Many times, these rules and roles must
be revised for the organization as a whole to accomplish planned change.
1.
Socialization and Role Orientation: Employees who make an entry to an
organization for their career and also to ensure that they too contribute to
the growth of the organization must understand the values and norms that
guide them in decision making. From the organizational perspective the most
effective way is socialization. The socialization model developed by Van
Mannen and Schein suggests the structurization of socialization practice.
They have identified twelve tactics that would influence the newcomers. The
use of different sets lead to two types of role orientation called
institutionalized role orientation and individualized role orientation.
Institutionalized role orientation results when individuals are taught to
respond to a new context in the same way that existing organization
members respond to it. This orientation encourages obedience and
conformity to rules and norms. An individualized role orientation results
when individuals are allowed and encouraged to be creative and to
experiment with changing norms and values so that an organization better
achieve its results. The tactics derived for institutional and individual
socialization are:
a. collective vs individual- common learning experience : individual and
situational
b. formal vs informal- separate the newcomers from the existing members:
newcomers become one among the existing members
c. sequential vs random- explicit information provision: implicit information
provision
d. fixed vs variable- precise knowledge: no precise information and
information is provided as and when required.
e. serial vs disjunctive- existing members act as a role model: figure out and
develop their own way of behaving and the members are not told what
to do.
f. divestitute vs investitute- newcomers receive negative social support,
ignored, taunted: positive social support and encouraged.
In today’s business environment to encourage people to be more responsive and
inculcate belongingness, individual approach would fetch a better result.
Further, it would also enable the organization to reduce the people attrition rate
phenomena which the industry is facing as a big challenge.
2.
Stories, ceremonies and organizational language – The organizational
culture can also be transformed through stories, ceremonies and
organizational language.
Perhaps, among many stories that may be current at any point of time in an
organization, the most important would be that concerning the founding of the
organization. The founding story often contains the lessons learnt from the
heroic efforts of an embattled entrepreneur whose vision may still guide the
firm. The story may be so embellished that it becomes a saga. Sagas are heroic
accounts of accomplishments. They are important because it is from these
sagas that new members may learn a great deal about the organization, its
mission, its goals, and uniqueness. Finally, sagas can help members to fit into
the organization.
Often stories may contain valuable hidden information like who is more equal
than others, whether jobs are secure, how things are really controlled, and who
are the “eyes and ears” of top management. The stories are not necessarily
true but evolve into myths. Organizational myths are expressed, unproven
beliefs that are accepted uncritically and used to justify current actions.
Some of the most obvious aspects of organizational culture are rites, rituals, and
symbols. Rites are the standardized and recurring activities used at special times
to influence the behaviors and understanding of organizational members; and
rituals are systems of rites.
Organizations use several types of organizational rites to communicate cultural
norms and values. Some of them are:
a. Rite of passage:
The purpose of this rite is to learn and internalize the norms and values.
Ex. Induction and basic training.
b. Rite of integration:
The purpose of this rite is to build common norms and values. Ex. Office
Deepavali party
c. Rite of enhancement:
With this rite the organization ensures to motivate the people for
commitment to norms and values. Ex. Presentation of annual award.
d. Rite of degradation:
The objective of this rite is to change or reaffirm norms and values. Ex.
Firing of top executive.
Stories of past experience enable the people to understand the successful and
unsuccessful people in the organization and what made them to be successful or
unsuccessful. The concept of organizational language encompass not only
spoken language but how people dress, the offices one occupies, the vehicle
they drive, how formally they address each other etc.
A cultural symbol, on the other hand, is any object, act, or event that serves to
transmit cultural meaning to the people both inside and outside. A good example
is the corporate dress code or uniform. Although many such symbols are quite
visible, their functional value may not be so. The colour used, design, building etc
convey the cultural values the organization possess.
Organizational culture develops from the interaction of personal and
professional characteristics of people with in the organization, organizational
ethics, the property rights the organization gives to its employees and the
structure of the organization. It is the fact that if we have to understand the
organizational culture, we have to look at the people. It is the people make the
place.
3.5 Levels of culture analysis
There are three important levels of cultural analysis in organizations. These include:

Observable culture

Shared values

Common assumptions
The first level concerns observable culture or “the way we do things around here”.
These are the methods that the group has developed and teaches to its new members.
The observable culture often results from the unique stories, ceremonies, and corporate
rituals that make up the history of a successful group.
The second level of analysis recognizes that shared values play a critical part in linking
people together and provide a powerful motivational mechanism for members of the
culture. In cultural analysis, the term shared refers to the group as a whole. Although
individually all members may not agree with all these values, each member knows the
importance of and has been exposed to these shared values.
At the deepest level of cultural analysis are common assumptions, or the ‘taken for
granted’ truths that members share as a result of their collective experience. It is rather
difficult to isolate these patterns, and helps explain the pervasive nature of cultural
influence on members. The more we go deeper, we find it difficult to understand and
analyse the culture.
FIGURE :LEVELS OF CULTURAL ANALAYSIS
Observed culture
Shared culture
Assumed culture
3.6 Characteristics of organizational culture
Though there are differences across organizations, one can find the following
characteristics in an organization. By matching and mixing, we can measure the essence
of an organization’s culture. Each of these characteristics represents a continuum,
depending on the degree of its presence.
1. Individual initiative: responsibility, freedom, and independence that
individuals possess.
2. Risk tolerance: Whether employees are encouraged to be aggressive,
innovative, and risk seeking?
3. Direction: Does the organization create clear objectives and performance
expectations?
4. Integration: Are the units within the organization encouraged to operate in a
coordinated manner?
5. Management support: Do managers provide clear communication,
assistance, and support to their subordinates?
6. Control: Number of rules and regulations, and the amount of direct
supervision that are used to oversee and control employee behavior.
7. Identity:
Do members identify with the organization as a whole rather than
their particular work group or field of professional expertise?
8. Reward system:
Are reward allocations (examples, salary increases and
promotions) based on employee performance criteria, in contrast to
seniority, favoritism, and so on?
9. Conflict tolerance: Are employees encouraged to air conflicts and criticisms
openly?
10. Communication patterns: Are communications restricted to the formal
hierarchy of authority?
These ten characteristics include both structural and behavioral dimensions. For
example, management support is a measure of leadership behavior. Similarly, the
reward system is a structural dimension. Most of these characteristics, however, are
closely intertwined with an organization’s design. For instance, more routine is an
organization’s technology and more centralized its decision-making process; less will be
the employees’ individual initiative. This means that a large part of an organization’s
culture can be directly traced to structurally related variables.
3.7 Subcultures and Countercultures
It is often important to recognize distinct groups within an organizational culture.
Subcultures are groups of individuals within an organization with their own pattern of
values and philosophy, which are unique but not inconsistent with the dominant values
and philosophy of an organization. Interestingly, strong subcultures are often found in
high performance task forces, teams, and special project groups in organizations. The
culture emerges to unite individuals working intensely together to accomplish a specific
task.
Countercultures, on the other hand, have a pattern of values and a philosophy that
rejects the surrounding or dominant culture. Within an organization, mergers and
acquisitions may produce such countercultures. Employees and managers of an
acquired firm may hold values and assumptions that are quite inconsistent with those of
the acquiring firm. This is known as the “clash of corporate cultures”.
3.8 Typologies of organizational cultures
Several methods have been used to classify organizational culture. Some are described
below:
Geert Hofstede demonstrated that there are national and regional cultural groupings that
affect the behavior of organizations.
Hofstede looked for national differences between over 100,000 of IBM's employees in
different parts of the world, in an attempt to find aspects of culture that might influence
business behavior.
Hofstede identified five dimensions of culture in his study of national influences:

Power distance - The degree to which a society expects there to be differences in
the levels of power. A high score suggests that there is an expectation that some
individuals wield larger amounts of power than others. A low score reflects the
view that all people should have equal rights.

Uncertainty avoidance reflects the extent to which a society accepts uncertainty
and risk.

Individualism vs. collectivism - individualism is contrasted with collectivism, and
refers to the extent to which people are expected to stand up for themselves, or
alternatively act predominantly as a member of the group or organization.
However, recent researches have shown that high individualism may not
necessarily mean low collectivism, and vice versa. Research indicates that the
two concepts are actually unrelated. Some people and cultures might have both
high individualism and high collectivism, for example. Someone who highly
values duty to his or her group does not necessarily give a low priority to
personal freedom and self-sufficiency

Masculinity vs. femininity - refers to the value placed on traditionally male or
female values. Male values for example include competitiveness, assertiveness,
ambition, and the accumulation of wealth and material possessions.

Long vs. short term orientation - describes a society's "time horizon," or the
importance attached to the future versus the past and present. In long term
oriented societies, thrift and perseverance are valued more; in short term
oriented societies, respect for tradition and reciprocation of gifts and favors are
valued more. Eastern nations tend to score especially high here, with Western
nations scoring low and the less developed nations very low; China scored
highest and Pakistan lowest.
Deal and Kennedy defined organizational culture as the way things get done around here.
They measured organizations in respect of:

Feedback - quick feedback means an instant response. This could be in monetary
terms, but could also be seen in other ways, such as the impact of a great save in
a soccer match.

Risk - represents the degree of uncertainty in the organization’s activities.
Using these parameters, they were able to suggest four classifications of organizational
culture:

The Tough-Guy Macho Culture. Feedback is quick and the rewards are high. This
often applies to fast moving financial activities such as brokerage, but could also
apply to a police force, or athletes competing in team sports. This can be a very
stressful culture in which to operate.

The Work Hard/Play Hard Culture is characterized by few risks being taken, all
with rapid feedback. This is typical in large organizations, which strive for high
quality customer service. It is often characterized by team meetings, jargon and
buzzwords.

The Bet your Company Culture, where big stakes decisions are taken, but it may
be years before the results are known. Typically, these might involve
development or exploration projects, which take years to come to fruition, such
as oil prospecting or military aviation.

The Process Culture occurs in organizations where there is little or no feedback.
People become bogged down with how things are done not with what is to be
achieved. This is often associated with bureaucracies. While it is easy to criticize
these cultures for being overly cautious or bogged down in red tape, they do
produce consistent results, which is ideal in, for example, public services.
Charles Handy popularized the 1972 work of Roger Harrison of looking at culture which
some scholars have used to link organizational structure to organizational culture. He
describes Harrison's four types thus:

a Power Culture which concentrates power among a few. Control radiates from
the center like a web. Power Cultures have few rules and little bureaucracy; swift
decisions can ensue.

In a Role Culture, people have clearly delegated authorities within a highly
defined structure. Typically, these organizations form hierarchical bureaucracies.
Power derives from a person's position and little scope exists for expert power.

By contrast, in a Task Culture, teams are formed to solve particular problems.
Power derives from expertise as long as a team requires expertise. These
cultures often feature the multiple reporting lines of a matrix structure.

A Person Culture exists where all individuals believe themselves superior to the
organization. Survival can become difficult for such organizations, since the
concept of an organization suggests that a group of like-minded individuals
pursue the organizational goals. Some professional partnerships can operate as
person cultures, because each partner brings a particular expertise and clientele
to the firm.
Edgar Schein an MIT Sloan School of Management professor, defines organizational
culture as:
"A pattern of shared basic assumptions that the group learned as it solved its problems of
external adaptation and internal integration, that has worked well enough to be
considered valid and, therefore, to be taught to new members as the correct way you
perceive, think, and feel in relation to those problems".
According to Schein, culture is the most difficult organizational attribute to change,
outlasting organizational products, services, founders and leadership and all other
physical attributes of the organization. His organizational model illuminates culture from
the standpoint of the observer, described by three cognitive levels of organizational
culture.
At the first and most cursory level of Schein's model is organizational attributes that can
be seen, felt and heard by the uninitiated observer. Included are the facilities, offices,
furnishings, visible awards and recognition, the way that its members dress, and how
each person visibly interacts with each other and with organizational outsiders.
The next level deals with the professed culture of an organization's members. At this
level, company slogans, mission statements and other operational creeds are often
expressed, and local and personal values are widely expressed within the organization.
Organizational behavior at this level usually can be studied by interviewing the
organization's membership and using questionnaires to gather attitudes about
organizational membership.
At the third and deepest level, the organization's tacit assumptions are found. These are
the elements of culture that are unseen and not cognitively identified in everyday
interactions between organizational members. Additionally, these are the elements of
culture which are often taboo to discuss inside the organization. Many of these 'unspoken
rules' exist without the conscious knowledge of the membership. Those with sufficient
experience to understand this deepest level of organizational culture usually become
acclimatized to its attributes over time, thus reinforcing the invisibility of their existence.
Surveys and casual interviews with organizational members cannot draw out these
attributes--rather much more in-depth means is required to first identify then understand
organizational culture at this level. Notably, culture at this level is the underlying and
driving element often missed by organizational behaviorists.
Using Schein's model, understanding paradoxical organizational behaviors becomes more
apparent. For instance, an organization can profess highly aesthetic and moral standards
at the second level of Schein's model while simultaneously displaying curiously opposing
behavior at the third and deepest level of culture. Superficially, organizational rewards
can imply one organizational norm but at the deepest level imply something completely
different. This insight offers an understanding of the difficulty that organizational
newcomers have in assimilating organizational culture and why it takes time to become
acclimatized. It also explains why organizational change agents usually fail to achieve
their goals: underlying tacit cultural norms are generally not understood before would-be
change agents begin their actions. Merely understanding culture at the deepest level may
be insufficient to institute cultural change because the dynamics of interpersonal
relationships (often under threatening conditions) are added to the dynamics of
organizational culture while attempts are made to institute desired change.
The Blame culture This culture cultivates distrust and fear, people blame each other to
avoid being reprimanded or put down, this results in no new ideas or personal initiative
because people don’t want to risk being wrong.
Multi-directional
culture
This
culture
cultivates
minimized
cross-department
communication and cooperation. Loyalty is only to specific groups (departments). Each
department becomes a clique and is often critical of other departments which in turn
creates lots of gossip. The lack of cooperation and Multi-Direction is manifested in the
organization's inefficiency.
Live and let live culture This culture is Complacency, it manifests Mental Stagnation
and Low Creativity. People here have little future vision and have given up their passion.
There is average cooperation and communication, and things do work, but they do not
grow. People have developed their personal relationships and decided who to stay away
from, there is not much left to learn.
Brand congruent culture People in this culture believe in the product or service of the
organization, they feel good about what their company is trying to achieve and cooperate
to achieve it. People here are passionate and seem to have similar goals in the
organisation. They use personal resources to actively solve problems and while they
don’t always accept the actions of management or others around them, they see their job
as important. Most everyone in this culture is operating at the level of Group.
Leadership enriched culture People view the organization as an extension of
themselves, they feel good about what they personally achieve through the organization
and have exceptional Cooperation. Individual goals are aligned with the goals of the
organization and people will do what it takes to make things happen. As a group, the
organization is more like family providing personal fulfillment which often transcends
ego so people are consistently bringing out the best in each other. In this culture, Leaders
do not develop followers, but develop other leaders. Most everyone in this culture is
operating at the level of Organization.
Carmazzi's model requires application of his Directive Communication psychology to
evolve the culture. While the idea of having a Leadership Enriched organization is
inspirational, it would require substantial Leadership resources to develop. The concept
of Evolving the culture assumes that "Every Individual in the organization wants to do a
good job", and the behaviours that result in poor performance are manifestations of
psychology the group or organization has created through policies, leadership and poor
communication (Source: Wikipedia.com and other sources from internet)
3.9 Summary
In this unit we have introduced the concept of organizational culture, how to transform
organizational culture to employees, characteristics of organizational culture, and
typologies of organizational culture. We have also discussed organizational culture types
like power culture, role culture, person culture, balance culture, multidirectional culture
like live and let live culture, brand congruent culture and leadership enriched culture.
3.10 Keywords
Individual initiative, Risk tolerance, Direction, Integration, Control, Identity.
3.11 Exercise
1. Define Organizational culture and explain its characteristics.
2. What are the two values of organizational culture?
3. What approach you would adopt to transfer the organizational culture into its people?
4. Differentiate cultural rule and role.
5. Explain the different typologies of organizational culture.
Module 2
Unit 4
Importance of Organizational culture
Structures:
4.1 Objectives
4.2 Introduction:
4.3 Functions of organizational cultures
4.4 Values and organizational culture
4.5 Values and national culture
4.6 Values as a competitive advantage
4.7 Levels of Organizational Culture
4.8 Managing organizational cultures
4.9 Nature of business and culture
4.10 Careers and organizational culture
4.11 Ethics and organizational culture
4.12 Summary
4.13 Keywords
4.14 Exercise
4.1 Objectives
After learning this unit you will be able to learn/know
a) Importance of organizational culture
b) Functions of organizational culture
c) Values of organizational culture
d) Values as a competitive advantage
e) Levels of organizational culture
f) Managing organizational culture
g) Careers and organizational culture
h) Managing corporate organizational culture
i) Ethics and organizational culture
4.2 Introduction:
Organizational Culture (OC) is a system of shared values, beliefs and norms of members
of an organization, including valuing creativity and tolerance of creative people,
believing that innovating and seizing market opportunities are appropriate behaviors to
deal with problems of survival and prosperity, environmental uncertainty, and
competitors’ threats, and expecting organizational members to behave accordingly. In
this context OC has a vial role to play in the growth of the company and as well as its
people ‘human asset’. Some of the elements of organizational culture are People and
empowerment focused, Value creation through innovation and change, Attention to the
basics, Hands-on management, Doing the right thing, Freedom to grow and to fail,
Commitment and personal responsibility, Emphasis on the future etc. In this unit we
shall discuss about the importance of OC and its impact.
4.3 Functions of organizational cultures
The culture of an organization can help deal with problems of:

external adaptation

internal integration
Problems of external adaptation involve organizational (or work group) dealings with
outside forces. A strong and positive culture helps develop the consensus needed for
organizations to cope well with the changing environments. Specifically, organizational
culture can help develop shared understanding of:

basic core mission and strategy

specific goals relevant for the mission to be accomplished

best means for achieving goals

standards and measures used to determine the progress toward goals

corrective actions needed if and when goals are not accomplished
Problems of internal integration deal with the creation of “togetherness”, the internal
force that makes members of organizations and/or work groups capable of achieving
truly collective results. Organizational culture can facilitate internal integration by
clarifying how members can be expected to work together.
The organizational culture can help build a sense of “togetherness” through:

Developing an open and free communication channel

Laying the criteria for organizational/group membership and facilitating the
easy entry of new members

Clarifying power and status differentials

Establishing the standards for intimacy and friendship

Identifying the standards for rewards and punishment

Establishing collective norms to explain uncontrollable events rather than
passing the buck or blaming others
The internal integration of organizational culture helps organizations to maintain its
edge over the competitors. Some of the other functions that OC performs are
Behavioral control, Encourages stability and Provides source of identity.
Organizational culture is built with the different components that are usually seen in an
organization. Here we provide a framework of the different components that enables to
define the culture of the organization and also facilitates the managing the organization.
The following table presents the formal components of OC
4.4 Values and organizational culture
The components of OC influences the way process and functions needs to be performed
and executed. The perception of the methods adopted to perform the process and
functions is seen as culture of the organization. Shared values enable to perform better.
Shared common values lie at the very heart of organizational culture. Shared values help:

Turn routine activities into important actions

Tie the corporation to the important values of society

Provide a very distinctive source of competitive advantage
4.5 Values and national culture
One may trace corporate values to important national cultural values. In a broader sense,
the national culture may provide guidelines on how organizations should:

Allocate power up and across the organization

Deal with uncertainty

Reduce caste/gender/ language/ region specific discrimination

Encourage individuals to interact with one another

Balance individual and collective interests
Organizations operating internationally can easily find that the complications of national
cultures can have an important impact on their performance. The background influence
of national cultures must be considered, and appropriate adjustments incorporated in
the operating styles.
4.6 Values as a competitive advantage
Organizations with “strong cultures” are increasingly adopting value statements that
express their commitments to such matters as customer service, product and service
quality, creativity and innovation, and social responsibility. Often, such organizations
will possess a broadly shared value system. Characteristics or elements of strong
corporate cultures include:
1. A widely shared philosophy- This philosophy is a real understanding of
what the organization stands for, often embodied in slogans – “… believe
in the best”, “let’s make things better”.
2. A concern for individual-
This often places individual concerns over
rules, procedures, policies, and adherence to job duties.
3. A recognition of heroes-
Heroes are individuals whose actions
illustrate the shared philosophy and concerns of the company.
4. A belief in rituals and ceremony-
Management
understands
the
importance of rituals and ceremonies to members and to building a
common identity.
5. A well understood sense of the informal rules and expectationsExpectations from employees are clear and understood.
6. A belief that what employees do is important to others-
Networking
to share ideas and information is supported and encouraged.
A strong culture can, however, be a double-edged weapon. Unique, shared values
can provide a strong identity, enhance collective commitment, provide a stable
social system, and reduce the need for bureaucratic procedural controls.
Conversely, a strong culture and value system can reinforce a singular view of an
organization and its environment. If changes conflicting with values are required,
it is likely that such changes meet with resistance and implementation would be
difficult. Many mergers and acquisitions fail because of this type of conflict
between the two strong organizational cultures.
4.7 Levels of Organizational Culture
One comes across a number of elements in the organization which depict its culture.
Organizational culture can be viewed at three levels based on manifestations of the culture
in tangible and intangible forms.
1.
At Level One the organisational culture can be observed in the form of physical
objects, technology and other visible forms of behaviour like ceremonies and
rituals. Though the culture would be visible in various forms, it would be only at
the superficial level. For example, people may interact with one another but what
the underlying feelings are or whether there is understanding among them would
require probing.
2.
At Level Two there is greater awareness and internalisation of cultural values.
People in the organisation try solutions of a problem in ways which have been
tried and tested earlier. If the group is successful there will be shared perception
of that ‘success’, leading to cognitive changes turning perception into values and
beliefs.
3. Level Three represents a process of conversion. When the group repeatedly
observes that the method that was tried earlier works most of the time, it becomes
the ‘preferred solution’ and gets converted into underlying assumptions or
dominant value orientation. The conversion process has both advantages. The
advantages are that the dominant value orientation guides behaviour, however at
the same time it may influence objective and rational thinking.
These three levels range on a scale of superficial to deeply embedded. As cultural symbols
get converted to shared assumptions, they move from a superficial level to a real
internationalized level
4.8 Managing organizational cultures
In organizations with strong cultures, shared values and beliefs characterize a setting in
which people are committed to one another and an overriding sense of mission. This is
likely to be a source of competitive advantage.
Managing organizational culture is a pressing issue for the top managers in situations where,

Organization has a mix of subcultures where rivalries and value
differences produce “harmful” conflicts within the organization

Strong organizational culture exists but it is not one that meets the
needs of a challenging environment

Resembling a behemoth, the organization is a collection of separate
units, where people do not seem to share much in common
Managing culture should be considered as critical as structure and strategy in
establishing the organizational foundations of high performance. Good managers
are able to reinforce and support an existing strong culture; good managers are
also able to help build resilient cultures in situations where they are absent.
Top managers can set the tone for a culture and cultural change. Senior managers
can interpret situations in new ways and adjust the meanings attached to important
corporate events. They can create new rites and rituals. This takes time and
energy, but in the long-run benefits can also be great.
4.9 Nature of business and culture
Organizational culture is influenced by the nature of the business of the organization, its
environment and strategy. What the business does, and the competitive environment
under which it operates profoundly affect culture; “the business environment is the
single greatest influence on culture”. The range of factors can be identified, namely:

Competitive pressures in the industry or the dominant competitive issue,
or the critical success factor will influence what combination of efficiency,
flexibility, quality, service or innovation will be necessary

Technology used by the organization, and its implications for
management, group behavior, and industrial relations

Characteristics and importance of the stakeholders- customers,
shareholders, suppliers, the state and of course members and their
relationship with the organization. The culture of large Japanese
manufacturing firms can be partly explained by the distinctive relations
they have with their stakeholders

The product market diversity of the organization, and the extent to which
diversification is related or unrelated

Degree of success of the organization, and its rates of growth or
contraction
It is important not to oversimplify the relations between strategy, culture and
leadership.
Strategy influences and is influenced by culture, in the sense that the culture of
the organization affects its strategic perspective and managerial imagination.
Yet, equally, a change in strategy, induced perhaps by a crisis, requires a change
in organization culture. Further, leaders with strong “vision” can redefine the
strategy of the organization and indeed transform its competitive advantage. For
example, with the dawn of the new millenium, India offers an exciting challenge
to firms on how to replace the culture engendered by the nexus between
politicians, bureaucrats and businessmen and adapt to a market economy.
4.10 Careers and organizational culture
It is suggested that individual careers may be affected by the degree to which one’s
personality matches the culture of the employing organization.
Comparing corporate cultures
Consider the following four types of “corporate cultures”.
1. Academies-
New hires are carefully moved through a series of
training programs and a series of well-defined specialized jobs. IBM is
an academy that invites all managers to attend management training
each year and carefully grooms fast trackers to become functional
experts.
2. Baseball teams-
These are entrepreneurial, attach a high premium
on talent and performance, and reward people very well financially
when they produce results. Commitment is not as important as
performance, and today job-hopping from one “baseball team” to the
next is becoming prevalent. They are common in such areas as
advertising, software development, and consulting.
3. Clubs-
These are driven by seniority, loyalty, commitment and
working for the betterment of the group. Moving quickly up the
ladder does not happen; in the “club” you are supposed to work your
way up. People are more concerned about “fitting in”. Career
progress often means becoming more of a generalist by working
across functions in different jobs.
4. Fortresses- Corporate survival is an overriding concern. These firms
are struggling in competitive markets and cannot promise job
security. They simply offer the chance to participate in a “turnaround” and experience the sense of really making a difference.
Matching individuals and corporate cultures
Achieving career success may be somewhat dependent on a good fit with the
organizational culture. Whereas, people who like to take risks in the prospect of
large gains, may thrive in a “baseball team”. They would be out of place in a
“club” where those who like being part of a group are more likely to do well.
“Academy” is a good fit for someone who would like to settle in and develop
systematically with one employer; the person who likes to move around and
achieve a high-impact reputation may be better off in a “fortress”.
Management’s responsibility is to achieve a good fit between individual desires
and capabilities and what the culture may expect of the newcomer. It must be also
remembered that cultures could and do change with time. Cultural transitions are
not uncommon. Moreover, cultural diversity may be found within one large
organization.
4.11 Ethics and organizational culture
The ethical climate of an organization is the shared set of understandings about what the
correct behavior is and how ethical issues will be handled. This climate sets the tone for
decision-making at all levels and in all circumstances. Some of the factors that may be
emphasized in different ethical climates of organizations are:

Personal self-interest

Company profit

Operating efficiency

Individual friendship

Team interests

Social responsibility

Rules and standard procedures

Laws and professional codes
The ethical climate of different organizations can emphasize different things. Along with
other aspects of organizational culture, the ethical climate will be an important influence
on the behavior of individual members and the organization as a whole. When the ethical
climate is clear and positive, everyone knows what is expected of him or her when the
inevitable ethical dilemmas occur. Then, they can act with confidence knowing fully well
that top management and the entire organization will support them. Therefore, the top
management should establish the ethical climate.
The ultimate source of an organization's culture is its founder(s). Founders have a vision
of what the organization should be and they are unconstrained by previous customs or
ideologies. The new organization's small size facilitates the founder’s imposition of his
or her vision on all organizational members. Founders create culture in three ways:
1. Employees Selection. Founders hire and keep only those employees who think and
feel the same way the founders do.
2. Socialization. Founders indoctrinate and socialize their employees toward the
founders’ way of thinking and feeling.
3. Modeling. The founder acts as a role model and encourages to employees identify
with him or her and to internalize the founder’s beliefs, values, and assumptions. Any
organizational success is attributed to the founder’s vision, attitudes, and behavior. In a
sense, the organization becomes an extension of the founder’s personality.
Sustaining Culture. Once a culture exists, OB practices within the organization serve to
maintain it by giving employees a similar set of experiences. These practices include the
selection process, performance evaluation criteria, training and development activities,
and promotional procedures: those who support the culture are rewarded and those
who do not are penalized.
1. Employee Selection. The selection process needs to identify potential employees with
relevant skill sets; one of the more critical facets of this process is ensuring that those
selected have values that are consistent with those of the organization. Employees
whose values and beliefs are misaligned with those of the organization tend to not be
hired, or self-select out of the applicant pool.
2. Actions of Top Management. The verbal messages and actions of top management
establish norms of behavior throughout the organization. These norms include the
desirability of risk taking, level of employee empowerment, appropriate attire, and
outlining successful career paths.
3. Employee Socialization. New employees must adapt to the organizational culture in a
process called socialization.
While socialization continues throughout an employee's career, the initial socialization is
the most critical. There are three stages in this initial socialization. The success of this
socialization will affect employee productivity, commitment, and turnover.
a. Pre-arrival. This encompasses all the learning that occurs before a new member joins
the organization. Each individual arrives with his or her own unique set of values,
attitudes, and expectations both surrounding the work and the organization. That
knowledge, plus how proactive their personality is, are the two critical predictors of how
well the new employees will adjust to the new culture.
b. Encounter. This is when the new employee sees what the organization is really like
and confronts the possibility that expectations and reality may diverge. If the
employee's expectations prove to be reasonably accurate, the encounter stage merely
provides a reaffirmation of the perceptions gained earlier. But when expectations and
reality differ, new employees must undergo socialization that will detach them from
their previous assumptions and replace them with another set the organization deems
desirable. At the extreme, a new member may become disillusioned with the actualities
of the job and resign: an indication of the failure of the selection process. The greater
the number of friendship ties a newcomer has in the organization, the more likely he or
she is to be committed.
c. Metamorphosis. In this final stage, relatively long- lasting changes take place as the
employee has adjusted to the work itself and internalized the workgroup’s values and
norms. The more management relies on socialization programs that are formal,
collective, fixed, serial, emphasize divestiture, the greater the likelihood that the
newcomer’s differences and perspectives will be stripped away and replaced by
standardized and predictable behaviors. Successful metamorphosis should have a
positive effect on new employee productivity, organizational commitment, and
turnover.
4.12 Summary
In this unit we describe the importance of organizational culture in value creation and
growth of the company. We also have explained values of organizational culture and
how organizational culture is associated with various aspects of organizational and
individual growth.
Keywords
Academies, Baseball teams, Clubs, Fortresses, Modeling, Pre-arrival, Encounter,
Metamorphosis.
4.14 Exercise
1. How organizational culture can be used to build and transparent team oriented
organization.
2. What are the components of organization culture?
3. How values can be used as a competitive advantage by an organization?
4. Explain the different levels of organization culture.
5. Explain the various issues that are relevant in the context of managing organization
culture.
6. What are the four types of corporate culture?
Module 3
UNIT 1
INDIVIDUAL BEHAVIOR
Structures:
1.1 Objectives
1.2 Introduction
1.3 Managerial Assumptions about Human Nature
1.4 Factors Influencing Perception
1.5 Common Perceptual Distortions
1.6 Principles of Attribution Theory
1.7 Summary
1.8 Keywords
1.9 Exercise
1.1 Objectives
After reading this unit you will be able to
a)
b)
c)
d)
e)
Understand the managerial properties of human nature
Know the different assumptions about human nature
Know the concept of perception
Know the factors that influence the perception
Know the common perceptual distortions like stereotypes, halotypes, selective
perception, expectancy
f) know the theory of attribution
g) Know the theory of attribution error
1.2 Introduction
We all have good knowledge of human behaviour through our experience and dealing with
various people in different places for various reasons. By observing and experiencing we
interpret what we see and understand. It is quite common that even the child observes and acts
accordingly. This has led to many assumptions especially in organizations. The managerial
people with the assumptions and experience derive many facts which may be true or false. This
is due to the reason that organization is a social system comprising of people as its backbone,
hence the importance of understanding organizational behaviour at micro level. The micro-level
concepts of Organizational behaviour include individuals and teams in organizations. In this
chapter we will focus on three aspects of individual behavior. They are Managerial assumptions
about human nature, perceptions and attitudes, and personality. The other such aspects of
individual behavior are motivation, team processes, leadership, power and politics, conflict
management.
1.3 Managerial Assumptions about Human Nature
The human nature is complex. One of the persistent problems of organizational behaviour has
been to understand and predict human behavior. Managers, therefore, search for clues that
would help them recruit, select, and manage people in order to obtain productivity for
organization and satisfaction for employees.
Human behavior is a complex result of our perceptions of the immediate situation and our
assumptions or beliefs about the situation and the people involved in it. These assumptions, in
turn, are based upon our past experience, cultural norms, and what others have taught us to
expect. In order to understand how organizations function, it is important to study how the
people in those organizations, especially the managers who make organizational decisions,
policies and rules, function.
Here the focus is on the kinds of assumptions managers have made about human nature. Such
assumptions determine to a large extent organizational policies with regard to incentives,
rewards, and other personnel matters. ‘Assumptions are untested beliefs’. Assumptions about
human nature can be classified under these sets to facilitate better understanding. These are:

Rational-economic assumptions

Social assumptions

Self-actualization assumptions
Rational-economic Assumptions
The doctrine that human nature is rational-economic is ultimately derived from the philosophy
of hedonism. The philosophy of hedonism argues that people act to maximize their self-interest.
The rational-economic assumptions receive strong support from the economic doctrines of the
eighteenth century British economist Adams Smith (1732 – 90). Adams Smith’s doctrine led to
the theory that relationships in the marketplace between organizations and between customers
and buyers should remain unregulated because the separate pursuits of self-interest would
result in a self-balancing system. In terms of employee behavior, this general line of thought led
to the following assumptions:

employees are primarily motivated by economic incentives and will do
whatever affords them the greatest economic gain

since the organization controls the economic incentives, the employee will be a
passive unit to be manipulated, motivated, and controlled by the organization

feelings are, by definition, irrational and therefore, must be prevented from
influencing a person’s rational calculation of self-interest

organizations can and must be designed in such a way as to neutralize and
control employee’s feelings and, therefore, their unpredictable behavior
Douglas McGregor (1906-64), analysis also supports the above mentioned facts. McGregor
(1960) added four more assumptions and labeled these additional assumptions as Theory X, in
contrast to an opposite set of assumptions labeled as Theory Y, which will be discussed later.
Theory X Assumptions

People are inherently lazy and must, therefore, be motivated by outside
incentives.

People’s natural goals run counter to those of the organization, hence they
must be controlled by external forces to ensure that they work toward
organizational goals.

Irrational feelings of people make them basically incapable of self-discipline and
self-control.

People can, however, be divided roughly into two groups
 Persons who fit the assumptions outlined above.
 Persons who are self-motivated, self-controlled, and less dominated by
feelings. This group must assume the management responsibilities for
all the others.
The rational-economic assumptions classified people into two groups - the untrustworthy, the
money-motivated, calculative mass, and the trustworthy, more broadly motivated, moral elite
who must organize and manage the mass. In many organizations, workers were stereotyped as
fitting Theory X assumptions. These assumptions are also close to the concepts of Taylorism and
Fordism.
The kinds of assumptions managers make about the nature of people will determine their
managerial strategy of how to deal with workers’ performance. Primary emphasis is on efficient
task performance. Management’s responsibility for feelings of workers is secondary unless
those feelings relate directly to task performance. If employees are not producing, the solution
tends to be sought in redesigning the jobs and organizational relationships, or in changing the
incentive and control systems to ensure adequate motivation and production levels. Thus, an
industrial organization operating by these assumptions will seek to improve things like: Who
reports to whom; who does what job; are jobs designed properly in terms of efficiency and
economy; and many others. Its second alternative will be to reexamine its incentive plans, the
system by which it tries to motivate and reward performance.
If productivity is low, a company may well try an individual bonus scheme to reward the high
producer, or it may stimulate competition among workers and give special rewards to the
winners. At the end, it will reexamine its control structure; are supervisors putting enough
pressure on workers, or does the system identify and punish that part of the organization, which
is failing to carry its proper share of the load?
The burden for organizational performance falls entirely on management. Workers are expected
to do just what the incentive systems and control procedures would encourage and allow. If the
employees are expected to be indifferent, hostile, motivated only by economic incentives, and
the like, the managerial strategies used to deal with them are very likely to train them to behave
in precisely this fashion. Ultimately it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy for an organization
operating by these assumptions.
Social Assumptions
Human beings are social animals. In work, employees express their social needs in informal
groupings. Such groupings create feelings and norms, which actually influence how the work is
performed. These observations of Hawthorne studies and many other studies led to a new set of
assumptions that can be classified as social assumptions. These assumptions can be stated as
follows:

Social needs are the prime motivation of human behavior, and interpersonal
relationships the prime shaper of a sense of identity

As a result of the mechanization entailed in the industrial revolution, work has
lost much of its intrinsic meaning, which now must be sought in social
relationships on the job

Employees are more responsive to the social forces of the peer group than to the
incentives and controls of management

Employees are responsive to management to the extent that a supervisor can
meet a subordinate’s need for belonging, acceptance, and sense of identity
These assumptions have different implications for management strategy compared to those
under the rational-economic assumptions already discussed. The management strategy under
the social assumptions include:

Managers should give attention to the needs of the people who are working for
them and should not limit their attention to the task to be performed.

Instead of being concerned with directing and controlling subordinates, managers
should be concerned with employees’ feelings in regard to acceptance and sense of
belonging and identity.

Managers should accept work groups as a reality and think about group incentives
rather than individual incentives.

Managers’ roles shift from planning, organizing, controlling, evaluating/reviewing to
acting as intermediary between employees and higher management, listening and
attempting to understand the needs and feelings of subordinates. Instead of being
the work giver, motivator, and controller, the manager becomes the facilitator of
work, and a mentor.
Self-Actualization Assumptions
Many jobs in modern industry has become so fragmented and specialized that employees do
not find opportunities to use their skills and capabilities in a mature and productive way.
Employees also are not in a position to see the relationship between what they are doing and
the total organizational mission. A more complex set of assumptions about human nature
emerged in early 60s and best expressed in terms of what McGregor (1960) came to call Theory
Y. Theory Y Assumptions are:

Employees can view work as natural as rest and play.

Human beings will exercise self-direction and self-control if they are committed to their
objectives.

The average person can learn to accept and even seek responsibility.

The ability to make innovative decisions is widely dispersed throughout the population and
is not necessarily the sole province of those in management positions.
While Theory X is essentially a negative view of human nature, Theory Y is clearly a more
idealistic view.
The implications for authority, which derive from these assumptions, are profound. Authority no
longer resides in a particular person or in a given role but in the task itself. The challenge of
working on a problem; in a sense, controlling and developing oneself is the heart of selfactualization. Thus, the basis of motivation shifts from being extrinsic, implying that the
organization must do something to arouse motivation, to being intrinsic, implying that the
organization provides an opportunity for the employee’s existing motivation to be harnessed to
organizational goals.
If employees have much greater influence in doing their job (empowerment), it means that
managers must give up some of their traditional prerogatives, particularly in the area of control.
The whole concept of “participative management”, “autonomous group” and “project group”
revolves around the idea that employees should be involved in those decisions, which directly
affect them. It flows most clearly from the assumption that employees want to influence
decisions and want to use their capacities in the service of organizational goals.
To sum up, the three major competing sets of assumptions that have been historically used to
explain human nature have been discussed Implied managerial strategies for organizations
based on each set of assumptions have also been suggested. Each perspective on human nature
is to some degree correct, and each, therefore, provides some important insights into how
organizations work and how they should be managed. Each perspective in a sense is an
oversimplification and overgeneralization of complex human behavior in organizations. The
more you study human behavior, the more you discover its complexities and the need to adopt
a ‘situation perspective’ towards human behavior in the organization.
Perceptions – A Complex Process
Perception is one of important cognitive behaviour of human being. People’s behavior is based
on their perception of what reality is, and not on reality itself. The world as a person perceives it
is the world that is behaviorally important to that person. Perception can be defined as a
process by which individuals organize and interpret their sensory impressions in order to
understand and give meaning to their environment. Through perceptual processes, people
receive, organize, select, and interpret information from their environment. Perception,
therefore, involves:

Sensory receptors (eyes, ears, tongue, nose and skin) receive signals of external stimulus

Sensory impressions get transferred to the brain through the neural system(s)

Brain receives the sensory impression(s) and interprets, and thus gives meaning to sensory
impression
Perception is then an outcome or end-result of a series of sequential steps that involve three
factors viz:

The perceiver – Person who perceives the object

The percept – Stimulus object that is perceived

Context or situation – Situation or circumstance in which the object is
perceived
The significance of perception lies because the organization is built by the people. People differ
with their age, education and background etc. Any developmental activity depends on people’s
perception. Hence their perception to any new thing also would differ. People act as they
perceive. With out proper understanding of this perception phenomena, achieving success in
organizational development would be a challenging task.
1.4 Factors Influencing Perception
Generally one can categorize the factors that influence the perception into two types viz:
internal and external. The internal factors are the needs and desires of an individual, individual
personality and his/her experience. The external factors constitute size ( bigger the size of the
stimulus, higher the probability of perception), intensity ( intensity attracts to increase the
selective perception), frequency (repeatedness attracts attention of the person), status (status
of the perceiver also influence the perception), and contrast ( stimuli that contrast with the
surrounding environment are like to attract the attention of the person).
The process through which we perceive things, objects, other persons, and our environment is,
therefore, a complex process. It involves three factors as stated above. These factors explain
why different people perceive the same reality differently.
1. Characteristics of the perceiver
A person’s needs, background and past experience, habits, personality, values and attitudes may all influence the
perception process. These and other personal factors will influence what a person gives attention to in a situation and
how these cues are interpreted as a basis for perception and action response.
2.
Characteristics of the percept or object
Characteristics of the object or stimulus can affect what is perceived. Objects that are close to each other will tend to
be perceived together rather than separately. As a result of physical or time proximity, we often put together objects
or events that are unrelated. Persons, objects, or events that are similar to each other also tend to be grouped together.
Greater the similarity, greater will be the probability that we will tend to perceive them as a common group. Caste,
ethnic community, women, blacks, and members of any other group that has clearly distinguishable characteristics in
terms of features or color will tend to be perceived as alike in other, unrelated characteristics as well.
3.
Characteristics of the situation
The physical, social, and organizational settings of the situation or event in question can also influence perceptions. A
conversation with the “boss” may be perceived differently when taking place in a casual reception area than when
held within his cabin. Such background characteristics of the situation context are additional factors that can affect
how a situation is perceived by different persons involved.
1.5 Common Perceptual Distortions
Perception influences a manager’s view of people and events, and it influences the manager’s responses to them. Other people, in turn,
draw their impressions of the manager from their perceptions of how the manager behaves in these situations. It is a fact that if an
employee is asked to talk about the people with whom they work, he/she would talk about boss than their colleagues because of their
worry to please the boss. It is, therefore, important to understand the common perceptual distortions and recognize their potential
impact on workplace affairs. These are stereotypes, halo-effects, selective perception, projection, and expectancy.
Stereotypes
A stereotype occurs when an individual is assigned to a group or category and then the attributes commonly associated with the group
or category, are assigned to the person in question (example, “young (group/category) people dislike authority”). Stereotypes obscure
individual differences. Stereotype is a fixed, distorted generalization about the members of a group. A person’s race and ethnicity are
often the source of negative stereotypes, as are one’s gender, age, and religion. All such stereotypes are unfortunate at a time when fair
treatment in the workplace and equal opportunities are cherished human rights. Progressive managers and employees are more aware
of the effect of these stereotypes, and recognize that an increasingly diverse work force can truly be a competitive advantage. Hence,
stereotyping is not generalization.
Halo-effects
A halo-effect occurs when one attribute of a person or situation is used to develop an overall impression of the individual or situation.
For example, if a manager is punctual, he is considered a competent manager. However, he may not be effective or in any way
productive in the organization. In daily life, halo-effects are common. For example, depending upon the source, we decide the
authenticity of the information. The result of a halo-effect, however, is the same as with a stereotype, individual differences are
obscured. Halo-effects are very significant in the performance appraisal process since they can influence a manager’s evaluation of the
subordinates’ work performance. Hence halo effect refers to the tendency of perceiving people in terms of good and bad. We find
similar such cases in many situations.
Selective perception
Selective perception is the tendency to single out those aspects of a situation or person that are consistent with one’s beliefs, values,
and needs. It is another device to influence perception. Managers should test whether situations and individuals are being selectively
perceived. The easiest way to do this is to gather additional opinions from other people. When these opinions are contradictory, an
effort should be made to check the original impression. This tendency towards selectivity in perception is one that a manager must be
able to control in terms of his behavior especially emotional distress and recognize it in others’ behavior.
Projection
Projection is the assignment of personal attributes like motives, attitudes, and beliefs etc to
other individuals. A classic projection error is the manager who assumes that the needs of
subordinates are the same as his own. Projection can be controlled through a high degree of
self-awareness and empathy (the ability to view a situation as others see it). The negative
projection could also possible in the organization. For example, a dishonest employee may
always suspect the other employee in the organization.
Expectancy
Another perceptual distortion is expectancy. This is the tendency to create or find in another
situation or individual, which you expected to find in the first place. Expectancy is sometimes
referred to as the “Pygmalion effect”. Pygmalion was a mythical Greek sculptor who created a
statue of his ideal mate and then made her come to life. His expectations came true! Through
expectancy, you may also create a situation, which you expected to find.
Expectancy can have both positive and negative results for the manager. Suppose a manager
assumes that his subordinates basically prefer to seek guidance and direction, and want minimal
involvement with their jobs (very close to Theory X assumptions). This manager is likely to
provide simple and highly structured jobs to require little involvement. In this situation, the
subordinate’s behavior most likely will show lack of commitment that the manager assumed in
the first place. Thus, the manager’s initial expectations are confirmed as a self-fulfilling
prophecy.
Positive expectancy results in positive outcomes. The expectancy effects found in many studies
argue strongly for managers to adopt positive and optimistic approaches to people at work
(close to Theory Y assumptions). Positive self-fulfilling prophecies may occur as managers:

Create a warmer interpersonal climate between themselves and
subordinates.

Give more performance feedback to subordinates.

Spend more time helping subordinates to learn job skills.

Give subordinates more opportunities to ask questions.
Perceptual process is complex. Many factors influence the perception of an individual. The
reality is not “what meets the eye”. If managers were aware of the factors that distort their
perception and take corrective actions, then they would improve the effectiveness in their jobs.
1.6 Principles of Attribution Theory
The most relevant application of perception concepts in OB is the issue of person
perception.
Attribution theory
Perceptions of people differ from our perceptions of inanimate objects because we make
inferences about the actions of people that we do not make about inanimate objects. When we
observe people, we attempt to develop explanations of why they behave in certain way. An
attribution is an attempted explanation of why something happened the way it did. Attribution
theory is the study of how people attempt to:

Comprehend the causes of a certain event

Assess responsibility for outcomes of the event

Evaluate the personal qualities of people involved in it
Attribution theory suggests that when we observe an individual’s behavior, we attempt to
determine the cause of the individual’s behavior. The individual’s behavior can be attributed to
internal or external causes.

Internally caused behavior are those that are believed to be under the
personal control of the individual.

Externally caused behavior is seen as resulting from outside causes. So, the
person is understood as having been forced into that behavior by the
situation.
If one of your employees is not performing well, you may attribute that the poor performance is
due to lack of effort on the part of the employee. This would be an internal attribution. But if
you attribute that this is due to lack of equipment or support, then you would be making an
external attribution.
The determination of the internal or the external attribution (example, causation) depends
largely on three factors:

Distinctiveness

Consensus

Consistency
Distinctiveness. Refers to whether an individual displays a different behavior in a different
situation. What we want to know is whether this behavior (poor performance) is unusual. If it is,
the observer is likely to give the behavior an external attribution. Else, it will probably be judged
as internal attribution.
Consensus.
way, we can say
If everyone who is faced with a similar situation responds in the same
the behavior shows consensus. If all employees in the unit are poor
performers, from an attribution perspective, the consensus is high, and you would be expected
to give an external attribution for poor performance of the employee. If, on the other hand,
other employees in the unit were not poor performers like the present employee, your
conclusion as to causation would be internal. Hence, if the consensus were low, the causal
attribute would be internal.
Consistency.
Finally, an observer looks for consistency in a person’s actions. Does the person
respond the same way over time? The employee is “consistently” found to be a poor performer.
More consistent the behavior (high consistency), the more the observer (perceiver) is inclined to
attribute it to internal cause. Conversely, if the behavior (example, poor performance) were not
consistent with the earlier performance (hence, less consistency), the perceiver would attribute
it to external cause.
Attribution error and self-serving bias
One of the interesting issues of the attribution theory is that there are biases or errors that
distort the attribution process. These two types of errors are attribution error and self-serving
bias.
Attribution error
The attribution process involves determining a cause-effect relationship between the behavior
of a person (the effect) and the cause of this behavior. In reality, the cause could be internal or
external or both.
In the attribution process, when there is a tendency to underestimate the influence of the
situational factors and overestimate the influence of personal factors in evaluating someone
else’s behavior, it is known as the attribution error.
On the other hand, when there is a tendency to attribute one’s own success to internal factors
(examples, ability or effort) while putting the blame for failure on external factors (example,
luck), it is known as the self-serving bias.
There is common tendency among managers to attribute some internal cause for poor
performance of their subordinates, while for themselves they attribute some external cause for
poor performance.
The managerial implications of attribution theory trace back to the fact that perceptions
influence behavior. A manager, who feels subordinates are not performing well and perceives
the reason to be lack of effort, is likely to respond with attempts to “motivate” them to work
harder. The possibility of changing situational factors (if any) to remove job constraints and
provide better organizational support may be largely ignored. This oversight (if it happens) can
sacrifice major performance gains.
One may guess that such types of attribution errors are likely to happen more with persons
operating on Theory X assumptions rather then Theory Y assumptions.
Managing the Perceptions and Attribution Process
Successful managers recognize that differences are likely to exist among people in any given
situation, and they are aware of the common perceptual distortions. When explaining
performance situations, they understand the attribution process and individual tendencies
towards a self-serving bias. A manager who is skilled in perception process will:

Possess a high level of self-awareness

Seek information from various sources to confirm or disconfirm personal
impressions of a decision situation

Be empathetic; be capable to perceive a situation as it is perceived by other
people

Avoid common perceptual distortions that bias our views of people and
situations

Avoid inappropriate attributions

Influence the perceptions of other people
1.7 Summary
This unit illustrates the various facets of individual behaviour in an organization. The human
nature is complex. Human behavior is a complex result of our perceptions of the immediate
situation and our assumptions or beliefs about the situation and the people involved in it.
‘Assumptions are untested beliefs’. The different assumptions about human nature are Rationaleconomic assumptions, Social assumptions, Self-actualization assumptions.
A perception is a Complex Process and it involves Context or situation – Situation or
circumstance in which the object is perceived. The significance of perception lies because the
organization is built by the people. Any developmental activity depends on people’s perception.
People act as they perceive. Perception influences a manager’s view of people and events, and
it influences the manager’s responses to them. Other people, in turn, draw their impressions of
the manager from their perceptions of how the manager behaves in these situations.
Further, we have elaborated the concept of attribution theory. Attribution theory is the study of
how people attempt to comprehend the cause of a certain event, assess responsibility for
outcomes of the event, and evaluate the personal qualities of people involved in it. Attribution
theory suggests that when we observe an individual’s behavior, we attempt to determine the
cause of the individual’s behavior. The individual’s behavior can be attributed to internal or
external causes. The managerial implications of attribution theory trace back to the fact that
perceptions influence behavior. When explaining performance situations, they understand the
attribution process and individual tendencies towards a self-serving bias. A manager who is
skilled in perception process will avoid inappropriate attributions and influence the perceptions
of other people.
1.8 Keywords
Social Assumptions, Self-Actualization Assumptions, Stereotypes, Halo-effects, Projection, Expectancy, Distinctiveness, Consensus,
Consistency.
1.9 Exercise
1. How do you define human nature? Explain the different assumptions about the human
nature.
2. Differentiate rational economic assumptions and social assumptions
3. What is perception? How perception is an important factor in knowing individual behavior?
4. What are the different perceptual distortions?
5. Explain attribution theory.
Module 3
Unit 2
Individual Attitude and concept of Personality
Structures:
2.1 Objectives
2.2 Introduction
2.3 Components of attitude
2.4 Attitude and Behavior
2.5 Functions of attitudes
2.6 Concept of Personality
2.7 Locus of control
2.8 Summary
2.9 Keywords
2.10 Exercise
2.1 Objectives
After learning this unit you will be able to know
a) The concept of attitude and personality
b) Components of attitude
c) Functions of attitude
d) About attitude change factors
e) Steps in attitude change
f)
Personality theory
g) Dimensions of personality
2.2 Introduction
Attitudes constitute another psychological variable that influence individual behavior in
organizational settings. You have learned how such psychological variables as assumptions
about human nature and perception can influence the organization. You will now learn about
‘attitude’ as a psychological factor and how it influences individual behavior. Formally defined,
an attitude is a predisposition to respond in a positive or negative way to something, an idea, an
object, or someone in one’s environment.
2.3 Components of attitude
The different components of attitude include:
a.
Cognitive componentKnowledge, beliefs and values representing information and observations regarding an
object, constitute a part of the attitude towards the object. Knowledge, belief, or value
itself do not constitute the attitude. They form a part of the specific attitude towards
the object. These are antecedent conditions to the actual attitude itself.
b.
Affective componentIt is a specific feeling regarding the personal impact of the antecedent conditions.
Affective component is the emotional (or feeling) component of an attitude. Feeling
could be positive or it could be negative
c.
Behavioral component
An intention or a predisposition to behave in a certain way in response to the feelings
constitutes the behavioral component. There is a tendency to act towards the attitudeobject either favorably or unfavorably depending on the positive or the negative feeling
towards the object. Behavior towards the object is influenced or determined by the
feeling towards the object. For example, “if I like mathematics, I shall take subjects that
mostly deal with mathematics; if I don’t like mathematics, I shall avoid mathematics
related subjects”.
2.4 Attitude and Behavior
Attitude and behavior is not simply a one to one relationship. The link between attitudes and
behavior is tentative. An attitude results in intended behavior. This intention may or may not be
carried out in any given circumstance. It is a common experience to observe this kind of
discrepancy between attitude and external behavior.
Even though attitudes do not always predict behavior, the link between attitudes and potential
or intended behavior is important for managers. One of the responsibilities of a manager is to
recognize attitudes and understand both their antecedents and potential implications.
Generally, it can be stated that attitudes often do affect behavior. Available evidence suggests
that attitudes that are very specific in nature and that are developed from direct experience
with a person or an object do affect many forms of behaviour.
Attitude Formation
Attitudes are formed or acquired through learning. These sources of learning, for simplicity, can
be grouped into Direct experience, Social interactions, and Emotional conditioning
a.
Direct experienceOur direct experience or personal involvement with the objects in our environment
create both positive and our attitudes towards the objects, both positive and negative.
This explains why in many sales promotional drives of consumer products; free samples
are distributed to potential customers.
B
Social interactions We also develop attitudes from social interactions and communication. For example,
parents and other family members influence children’s attitudes toward people of other
races and ethnic origins, minority communities, gender and religions. Politicians and
managers of the mass media can also control the information we receive, which in turn
influence attitudes.
Peer groups can also greatly influence an employee’s attitudes towards a job. This process
occurs when employees attempt to influence a coworker to their views (positive, negative or
indifferent) on many features of their work setting. This is one of the reasons for development
of unionism in a work place through influencing coworkers to form attitudes favorable to the
union’s cause.
Emotional conditioning
Attitudes can be formed through emotional conditioning. Attitudes can be formed for reasons,
which are neither rational nor derived from knowledge. For instance, you may develop a
positive attitude or a particular point of view because the source of the information is highly
attractive or entertaining. Advertisement managers or marketers use this method of developing
a positive attitude towards the products by associating the products with popular silver screen
personalities and luminaries. It would be interesting to note that once the media reported about
the match-fixing scandals (around mid 2000), the cricket-icons with “tinted” images were
dropped from the advertisements of the branded products lest a negative attitude was
associated with the products.
2.5 Functions of attitudes
Though attitudes may arise from irrational sources, they nevertheless fulfill some psychological
functions such as:

Instrumentality

Value satisfaction

Need satisfaction
Instrumentality
Instrumentality or instrumental value means that the attitude must serve some purpose. A
favorable attitude towards a political party may become instrumental in getting a membership,
which in turn, becomes a potential source of receiving benefits and spoils from the party.
Value satisfaction
Values represent basic convictions that a specific mode of conduct or end-state existence is
personally satisfying and preferable to an opposite or converse mode of conduct or end-state of
existence. They contain a judgmental element in that they carry an individual’s ideas as to what
is right, good, or desirable. Values have both content and intensity attributes. The content
attribute says whether a mode of conduct or end-state of existence is desired. The intensity
attribute specifies the strength of that desire. When we arrange an individual’s values in terms
of their intensity, the person’s value system is obtained. Everybody has a hierarchy of values
that form our value system. The system is identified by the relative importance assigned to
values such as honesty, integrity, freedom, self-respect, obedience and many more. Values can
be classified into two sets for clarity. These include:

Terminal values (also known as ‘ends’)

Instrumental values (also known as ‘means’)
Terminal values are those that refer to end-states of existence. These are the goals that a person
would like to achieve during his lifetime (example, a comfortable life or a prosperous life, a
sense of accomplishment or a lasting contribution, self-respect or self-existence).
An instrumental value refers to preferable modes of behavior, or means of achieving the
terminal values (example, ambitions, hardworking, aspiring, open-minded, broad-minded,
helpful, honest, truthful, sincere, logical, rational, obedient, dutiful and self-disciplined).
Needs satisfaction
Attitudes may satisfy some needs. A positive attitude towards a group or a club helps an
individual to become a member and thus satisfy several needs comprising affiliation needs,
social needs, needs for security and identity. Depending on the type of group or club, these
attitudes may fulfill the needs of social status and prestige. Attitudes, which fulfill more needs
and functions, tend to become dominant and enduring.
Attitude Change
People are trying to change each other’s attitude. Marketers want to change the consumers’
attitude towards their products. Equally, many firms endeavor to change the customers’
favorable attitude towards their products although competing firms are trying to retain or
change the present attitudes of consumers according to their business interests. The factors
that are involved in change of attitude are The source, The message, The medium, and The
audience
Source factors
The source factors refer to aspects of the presenter of an attempt to change attitudes (examples,
persuasion and attractiveness). The source of an attempt at attitude change can have a
significant influence on the magnitude and direction of the change. People are more likely to be
influenced by sources that seem more expert and attractive. People also respond better to
sources, which are similar to them. For example, we trust doctor and go to him for medication.
We approach the teacher for the reason that we believe that he does not speak or teach wrong.
Message factors
These are the specific structure and content of what is transmitted in a persuasive appeal.
Consider the following situation.
“Fun and enjoy” is the common content of cold drinks,
“freshness” is the appeal of a bath soap when a young girl comes out from
cascades of water,
“kills harmful germs”, claims another bath soap advertisement, appealing to
the fear amongst consumers regarding ill health.
Another message factor that makes a persuasive appeal refers to the more explicit presentation
of the conclusion to the intended audience (example, “ luxury suiting – bond with the best”). An
appeal with implicit conclusions (unstated but derivable from the arguments made in the
appeal) is also often used (example, “Only Vimal”; “the complete man”). The explicit approach is
generally more effective than the implicit approach, perhaps because the explicit approach
improves message receptivity (audience comprehension).
Medium factors
Medium factors involve the effects of the channel that is employed (examples, printed material
and a face-to-face appeal). Usually, the more immediate and personalized is the attempt to
change attitude, greater is the degree of audience compliance.
People find direct spoken appeals to be more influential than indirect written appeals. Greater
effectiveness of face-to-face appeals may be due to the social pressure that a listener feels to
avoid being rude and comply with a speaker’s explicit or implied request (example, a door-to-
door sales campaign). The mass media appears to be relatively ineffective in significantly
altering attitudes. This media can, however, instruct and inform the public about the existence
and the availability of objects and issues. Public’s resistance to the influence of mass media
appears to stem from a lack of strong involvement in media presentations.
Audience factors
These factors deal with the influence of individual characteristics. Individual differences have
been examined in connection with the magnitude of attitude change. Some commonly studied
audience factors include age, gender, self-esteem and prior beliefs.
There is a fairly consistent relationship between chronological age and persuability. Younger
generation is more suggestible and persuaded to change than older people (An apt saying,
“habits die hard”). The decline in suggestibility with age may be steeper, however, for males
than females. It appears that intelligence is generally related to a greater degree of attention
and comprehension, but inversely related to degree of yielding. Sex and persuability have long
been assumed to be related; females are generally regarded as being more easily influenced by
attitude change attempts. Typically, this effect has been attributed to greater cultural pressure
on females to be conforming and compliant. The sex of the influencer and influencee may affect
the level of influence. Also, female compliance with attitude change attempts may be
diminishing as the societal norm of accepting and encouraging female noncompliance becomes
more widely endorsed.
Steps in attitude change
A change in the attitude of a target person does not happen in one go. Five steps have been
identified in attitude change, which are described below.
1.
Attention
Whether the target person is attentive and
receives the persuasive appeal
2.
Comprehension
Whether the appeal is understood as it was
intended to be
3.
Yielding
Whether the individual truly surrenders to
the persuasion
4.
Retention
Whether the individual’s attitude change is
more than mere transitory
5.
Action
Whether the attitude change attempt alters
subsequent behavior
Attitude and consistency
People seek consistency among their attitudes and, between their attitudes and their behavior.
It implies that individuals seek to reconcile divergent attitudes and align their attitudes and
behavior, so they appear rational and consistent. When there is inconsistency, forces are
initiated to return the individual to an equilibrium state in which attitudes and behavior are
again consistent. This can be done by altering either the attitudes or the behavior or by
developing a rationalization for the discrepancy. For example, smokers receive conflicting
messages from tobacco firms highlighting pleasures in smoking and from medical evidences
exhibiting health hazards of cigarette smoking. The smoker is usually seen constantly
rationalizing his smoking to bring consistency in his attitudes and behavior.
2.6 Concept of Personality
Just as with assumptions about human nature- perception, attitudes and values- attempts to
describe or classify personalities are important to OB because of the expectation that there is a
predictable interplay between personality and behavior. A common understanding, for example,
is that a taciturn person tends not to be sociable. Conversely, a loquacious individual is likely to
seek company. Sometimes attempts are made to measure personality with different
instruments, eliciting very useful “diagnostic” data about the nature of a person. Frequently,
personality is inferred from behavior such as with the “toughest” bosses. Either way (whether
measured or inferred), personality is an important individual attribute for managers to
understand.
“Personality” is a frequently used term when sketching an individual’s characteristics.
Personality as used here represents the overall profile or combination of traits that characterize
the unique nature of a person. A little more academic definition of personality is “the dynamic
organization within the individual of those psychological systems that determine his unique
adjustments to his environment”. Personality can be considered as the sum total of ways in
which an individual reacts to and interacts with others. It is often described in terms of
measurable traits that a person exhibits.
Personality theories
The concepts of personality can be understood in specific terms if presented with the supporting
theoretical frameworks (It may sound a bit academic, but it helps). One need not be allergic or
skeptical to the word “theory”. Four personality theories of interest in OB are:
1. Psychoanalytic theory: Based on the work of Sigmund Freud and Carl Gustav Jung, in
the early twentieth century, emphasizing the contribution of the “unconscious” as a
component of personality.
2. Trait Theory: Proposed by Gordon W. Allport and Raymond Cattell, using observable
traits such as values, abilities and temperament to describe personalities.
3. Humanistic theory: Represented in the work of Abraham H. Maslow and Carl Rogers,
emphasizing the importance of individual growth, improvement, and self-concept to
personality.
4. Social learning theory: Well described by Albert Bandura, recognizing the
importance to personality of learning from other people and person-situation
interactions.
In addition to studying these theories of personality, experts also investigate personality
development and its implications. One approach is to view an individual’s personality as
developing in a series of “stages” over time. Freud, for example, viewed the important stages as
a progression of one’s psychosexual development; Erik Erikson, a child psychologist, viewed
them as a progression of psychosocial development. Both these personality development
approaches suggest that one’s personality develops in the early years of life between birth and
up to 8 years of age. The way you behave in your adult life is only a manifestation of the
development of your personality in early childhood. Therefore, your childhood experience, the
way you were treated by your parents and other adult members of your family, your experience
in schools in early childhood, all contribute to your personality development. Any psychiatric or
psychopathological problem that may be exhibited in your adult life is essentially an external
manifestation of the internal psychological problem(s) arising out of some probable aberrations
in the early developmental stage(s). Therefore, this clinical school of personality gives
importance to your childhood experiences, which lay the foundation of “what I would be” in
your adult life.
Chris Argyris offered another developmental view, in mid-twentieth century. His approach
suggests the possible conflicts between individuals and organizations. Argyris notes that people
develop in a continuum of dimensions from immaturity to maturity.
A person progresses during life as shown below.
From Immaturity
To Maturity
Passivity
Activity
Dependence
Independence
Limited Behavior
Diverse Behavior
Shallow Interests
Deep Interests
Short-term Perspective
Long-term Perspective
Subordinate Position
Super-ordinate Position
Little self-awareness
Much self-awareness
Argyris believes that the nature of the mature adult personality can sometimes be inconsistent
with work opportunities. Organizations and their managers may neglect the “adult” sides of
people.
Dimensions of Personality Relevant to OB
Research in personality type relevant to OB has tended to focus on specific personality traits (or
“styles”). These traits are considered important in the workplace. Five traits or dimensions of
special relevance to managers are:

Locus of control

Authoritarianism/dogmatism

Problem-solving style/cognitive style

Machiavellianism

Type A – Type B personality
As you read on, think where you or others might fit regarding each of these dimensions. Also
consider how that aspect of personality may affect what you and they do in response to events
that happen at work.
2.7 Locus of control
Locus of control refers to the extent to which individuals believe that events in their lives lie
within their own control or in environmental forces beyond their control. Individuals who have
the general orientation that events that happen to them are controlled primarily by themselves,
show high internal locus of control (internals). In contrast, individuals who believe that events
that happen to them are controlled and determined by outside forces, show high external locus
of control (externals). In terms of attribution theory, it can be said that persons with internal
locus of control attribute causes for events primarily to themselves, whereas persons with
external locus of control attribute causes to things outside their control.
Consider these items from a much longer questionnaire that has been used to separate internals
from externals.
1 a. In the long-run, people get the respect they deserve in this world.
b. Unfortunately, an individual’s worth often passes unrecognized, no matter how
hard he tries.
2 a. In my case, getting what I want has little or nothing to do with luck.
b. Many times, I feel that I have little influence over the things that happen to
me.
We can see that 1a and 2a are indicative of internal locus of control and 1b and 2b of external
locus of control. Differences between internals and externals in some aspects of behavior are
summarized below.
Information processing
Internals make more attempts to acquire information; are less
satisfied with the amount of information they possess, and are better
at utilizing information.
Job satisfaction
Internals are generally more satisfied, less alienated, less rootless,
and there is a strong job satisfaction/performance relationship for
them.
Motivation, expectancies and Internals show more work motivation, expect that working hard leads
results
to good performance, feel more in control over time
Performance
Internals perform better on learning and problem solving tasks, when
performance leads to valued rewards.
Response to others
Internals are more independent, more reliant on their own judgment,
and less susceptible to the influence of others, they are more likely to
accept information on merit.
Self-control, risk, and anxiety
Internals display greater self-control, are more cautious, engage in
less risky behavior, and are less anxious.
Problem-solving or cognitive styles
Another personality characteristic is problem solving or cognitive styles. The phrase “cognitive
style” refers to the way person approaches and attempts to solve problems encountered in the
world at large, including the problems faced at work.
While managerial work is a set of complicated activities, there are four major things that
everyone has to do each day in connection with work. These four activities are Meeting with
others, Generating information, Making decisions, and choosing priorities. All these activities
have two opposite dimensions.
Meeting with others
In essence, this is the way we prefer to relate and the sort of relationships we like to have. This
is known as establishing or managing relationships. According to Jung’s theory, there are two
major ways of establishing such relationships; one approach is called extroverted and the other
approach is termed introverted. These two approaches are polar opposites of how to manage
relationships with others. Although a person who is exclusively extroverted or introverted is
seldom found in a workplace, we all have preferences on how we wish to relate with others.
Generating information
Generating information is crucial in all aspects of life, particularly so at work. In order to make a
contribution, you have to find out a lot of information or explore a range of ideas. It has two
major aspects; one dimension is called sensing and the other intuition.
Making decisions
Once the information has been gathered, there is usually a requirement to do something with it.
There are two major options, one of which Jung called thinking, the other feeling.
Choosing priorities
Finally, you need to make a choice in how to allocate your time. The priorities referred here are
those of either Getting more: facts (sensing) or ideas (intuition) or Making decisions: (thinking)
or (feeling). The more you are oriented towards generating ideas, higher you will be on what the
theory calls perceiving. The higher you are on making decisions, the more likely you are to be
judgmental. The table below provides the options from the factors mentioned above.
Establishing Relations
E Extrovert Preference
Prefers to live in contact with others and
I Introvert Preference
or
things
Prefers to be more self-contained work things
out personally
Generating information
S Sensing Preference
or
N Intuition Preference
Puts emphasis on possibilities, imagination,
Puts emphasis on facts, details, and concrete
creativity, and seeing things as a whole
knowledge
Making decisions
T Thinking Preference
or
F Feeling Preference
Puts emphasis on human values, establishing
Puts emphasis on analysis using logic and
personal friendships; decisions mainly on
rationality
beliefs and dislikes
Choosing Priorities
J Judgment Preference
or
Puts emphasis on order through reaching
decisions
P Perceiving Preference
Puts emphasis on gathering information and
obtaining as much data as possible
The initial letter of each preference provides shorthand reference to the factor for
understanding and discussion. Each one carries the initial letter of the factor except for intuition,
which is coded N so that it does not conflict with I for introvert.
A basis for self-understanding
We have generated four sets of polar opposite preferences for a better understanding of a
person’s cognitive style. Although individual descriptions are valuable, they appear to be
insufficient. It is the combination of the various preferences that gives a better indication of how
a person will manage.
There are 16 combinations possible from the alternatives described. For instance, one
combination could be ESTJ (Extrovert, Sensing, Thinking and Judgment) or INFP (Introvert,
Intuitive, Feeling and Perceiving) or ESFJ and so on.
Isabel Myers and Katheryn Briggs in 1940s and 1950s designed and developed an inventory to
measure these 16 types of cognitive styles. Their questionnaire is a rigorous instrument and
referred to as Myers – Briggs Type Indicator – MBTI for short.
Each combination has detailed explanations of its views and values in Myers-Briggs Handbook.
The resulting descriptions make fascinating reading. For example, INTJs (Introvert, Intuitive,
Thinking, Judgment) are visionaries. They usually have original needs and great drive for their
ideas and purposes. They are characterized as critical, skeptical, independent, determined and
often stubborn.
ESTJs (Extrovert, Sensing, Thinking and Judgment) are organizers. They are realistic, logical,
analytical, decisive, and have a natural head for business or mechanics. They like to organize and
run activities.
ENTPs (Extrovert, Intuitive, Thinking and Perceiving) are those organizers who conceptualize.
They are innovative, individualistic, versatile, and attracted to entrepreneurial ideas. They tend
to be resourceful in challenging problems but may neglect routine assignment.
Details of each type are out of scope. MBTI is currently used in USA for selection and
recruitment, training and development. There are strong criticisms of MBTI about its usefulness.
Machiavellianism
Niccolo Machiavelli, the sixteenth century statesman of Italy, wrote his famous book “The
Prince” – a book on statecraft. ‘Arthashasthra” by Chanakya, around 350 B.C. during the
Mauryan period, would be the Indian parallel.
Psychologists have developed a series of instruments (called Mach scales) to measure a person’s
Machiavellian orientation. A high-Mach personality-type will tend to manipulate others for
personal gains. Additional predispositions of the high-mach personality are:
Tendencies to approach situations logically and thoughtfully; capability of lying to achieve
personal goals; they are not easily swayed by loyalty, friendships, past promises, or opinions of
others; they are skilled at influencing others.
Research using the Mach-scales has led to a number of predictions regarding the way high and
low Mach behaves in various situations. A “cool” and “detached” high-Mach personality can be
expected to take control and try to exploit loosely structured situations, but will perform in a
perfunctory and even in a detached manner in highly structured situations. Low Machs tend to
accept direction imposed by others in loosely structured situations; they work hard to do well in
highly structured ones.
Type A and Type B Orientation
Consider the following QUIZ. It is not an examination. It will help you to judge whether you are
a Type A or Type B oriented person. There is no right or wrong answer. Just circle the number
that best characterizes you on each of the following pairs of characteristics. Please do not skip
any scale-pair.
Casual about appointments
1 2
3
4
5
6
7 8 Never late
Not competitive
1 2
3
4
5
6
7 8 Very competitive
Never feel rushed
1 2
3
4
5
6
7 8 Always feel rushed
Take one thing at a time
1 2
3
4
5
6
7 8 Try to do many things
Do things slowly
1 2
3
4
5
6
7 8 Do things fast
Express my feelings
1 2
3
4
5
6
7 8 Hold in my feelings
Many outside interests
1 2
3
4
5
6
7 8 Few outside interests
The scale aims to determine your orientation towards Type A or type B behavior. This
personality dimension has attracted a lot of interest from medical and organizational
researchers alike.
Scoring and interpretation
Total the points you have circled for the seven scales. Multiply this total by 3 to arrive at a final
score (your score will lie between 21 and 168). Use this total to locate your Type A/Type B
orientation on the following list.
Final Points
A/B Orientation
Below 90
B
90 – 99
B+
100 – 105
A-
106 – 119
A
120 or more
A+
Think about your Type A/Type B Orientation – considering both your work and non-work
behaviors, and your personal health. ( A rule of thumb, B+ or A- is preferable)
Type A tends to work fast and is impatient, uncomfortable, irritable, and aggressive. Such
tendencies indicate “obsessive” behavior, a commonly observed – but not always helpful –
personality among managers. Many are hard driving, detail-oriented people who have highperformance standards and thrive on routine. But when such work obsessions (workaholics) are
carried to the extreme, they may lead to greater concerns for details than the results, resistance
to change, an over control of subordinates (Theory X assumptions), and interpersonal
difficulties. Type A personality is likely to get support and encouragement from organizations
competing in the open market and these types of people are potential victims of health
problems.
The Big Five Model
In recent years, an impressive body of research supports that five basic dimensions underlie all
others and encompass most of the significant variation in human personality. The big five
factors are:

Extroversion: This dimension captures one’s comfort level with relationships. Extroverts
tend to be gregarious, assertive, and sociable. Introverts tend to be reserved, timid (shy),
and quite.

Agreeableness: This dimension refers to an individual’s propensity to defer to others. Such
people are warm and trusting. People who score low on agreeableness are cold,
disagreeable, and antagonistic.

Conscientiousness: This dimension is a measure of reliability. A highly conscientious person
is responsible, organized, dependable, and persistent. Those who score low on this
dimension are easily distracted, disorganized, and unreliable.

Emotional stability: This dimension taps a person’s ability to withstand stress. People with
positive emotional stability tend to be calm, self-confident, and secure. Those with highly
negative scores tend to be nervous, anxious, depressed, and insecure.

Openness to experience: The final dimension addresses an individual’s range of interests and
fascination with novelty. Extremely open people are creative, curious, and artistically
sensitive. Those at the other end of the openness category are conventional and find
comfort in the familiar.
In addition to providing a unifying personality framework, research on the Big Five also found
important relationships between these personality dimensions and job performance.
Individuals differ in their behaviors in many ways. Personality dimension is one of factors that
influences individual differences. Managing individual differences involves attempts to get a
good fit between individual factors and job requirements. The achievement of this fit, in
combination with work effort and organizational support aspects, is critical to the managerial
implications of the individual performance equation.
2.8 Summary
In this unit we emphasize the importance of attitude of an individual and its implications on
behaviors. Attitudes constitute another psychological variable that influence individual behavior
in organizational settings. The different components of attitude include: Knowledge, belief, or
value itself do not constitute the attitude. They form a part of the specific attitude towards the
object. Affective component is the emotional (or feeling) component of an attitude. Attitude
and behavior is not simply a one to one relationship. The link between attitudes and behavior is
tentative. An attitude results in intended behavior. Even though attitudes do not always predict
behavior, the link between attitudes and potential or intended behavior is important for
managers. Generally, it can be stated that attitudes often do affect behavior.
Attitudes are formed or acquired through learning. We also develop attitudes from social interactions and
communication. Peer groups can also greatly influence an employee’s attitudes towards a job. Attitudes can
be formed through emotional conditioning. The two major functions of attitudes are Value satisfaction and
Need satisfaction.
People are trying to change each other’s attitude. Marketers want to change the consumers’ attitude towards
their products. The factors used for the same include message factors, source factors, medium factors,
audience factors. These factors deal with the influence of individual characteristics. Individual differences
have been examined in connection with the magnitude of attitude change.
People seek consistency among their attitudes and, between their attitudes and their behavior.
It implies that individuals seek to reconcile divergent attitudes and align their attitudes and
behavior, so they appear rational and consistent. Either way (whether measured or inferred),
personality is an important individual attribute for managers to understand. “Personality” is a
frequently used term when sketching an individual’s characteristics.
Four personality theories of interest in OB are psychological theory, trait theory, humanistic
theory, social learning theory.
Research in personality type relevant to OB has tended to focus on specific personality traits (or
“styles”). Locus of control, Problem-solving style/cognitive style, Type A – Type B personality,
dogmatism and Machiavellianism.
2.9 Keywords
Cognitive component, Affective component, Behavioral component, Direct experience, Social
interactions,
Instrumentality,
Psychoanalytic
theory,
Extroversion,
Conscientiousness, Emotional stability.
2.10 Exercise
1. Explain the concept of personality and culture
2. Differentiate personality and attitude
3. Explain the different components of attitude.
4. What are the various formations of attitude?
5. Explain the steps you would adopt for attitude change.
6. Explain the different personality theory.
7. What are the dimensions of personality?
MODULE 3
UNIT 3
TEAM AND GROUP BEHAVIOUR
Agreeableness,
Structures:
3.1 Objectives
3.2 Introduction
3.3 Definition of group and team
3.4 Factors that influence team’s performance
3.5 Members’ Skills
3.6 Types of teams
3.8 Keywords
3.9 Exercise
3.7 Summary
3.1 Objectives
After learning this unit you will be able to know:
a) The concept of team/group, importance of team
b) Team behavior
c) Factor that influence team’s performance
d) Team member skills
e) Types of teams
3.2 Introduction
In this unit, you will learn the “team processes in organizations”. The concept of team is a
micro-level concept in organizational behaviour. Employees of an organization interact
among themselves to achieve their tasks. In the process, they work together in small
groups. Traditionally, in any organization, the groups are formally divided into structural
units (examples: departments, sections, or shops) and assigned specific tasks to perform.
Such formal groups are coordinated and supervised by the authority. In addition to these
formal groups, employees form themselves into informal groups not recognized by the
organization. The informal groups wield considerable influence on member’s behavior
and at the end on organization’s performance. Hawthorne studies, you have already read,
first demonstrated the effects of the informal group on productivity in the “Bank wiring
experiments” studies. Subsequently, research into groups by the human relations school
demonstrated their influence on organizational effectiveness.
It is predicted that the understanding and management of team processes will be
important skills in the organization of the future. As the works of teams becomes more
complex, cross functional and varied, there are more demands put on the members of
those teams. As organizations become more diverse and global, team membership
becomes more heterogeneous, and the possibilities for conflict and poor communication
increase. This occurs in a competitive setting in which demands for high performance are
ever increasing. To succeed, managers need to create team processes to face these
challenges.
3.3 Definition of group and team
In OB, however, these two concepts have been more specifically defined. The
simplest of definitions of a group is “a group is any collection of individuals who
perceive themselves to be a group”
Schein (1983) is rather more sophisticated in his definition: “any number of
people who (1) interact with one another, (2) are psychologically aware of one
another and (3) perceive themselves to be a group”.
Robbins (2000), on the other hand, loosely defined a “workgroup” as “a group
that interacts primarily to share information and to make decisions to help each
group member perform within his or her area of responsibility”.
There are some common elements among the definitions. These are:
1. A group is formed by a number of people or members. The smallest number
will obviously be two – a dyad, next a three member group- triad and so on.
2. Interaction –The members of the group act and react towards one another so
that their behavior becomes mutually influencing,
3. Perception – the members of the group will develop a perception of the group
as “real” and themselves as members,
4. Goals – Members have a common purpose or goal(s) to achieve,
5. Norms – the members develop a standard of behavior and expect that all
members should follow the same.
6. Affiliations – Members develop a “fellow-feeling” among themselves, which
acts as human bondage among the members.
A team is a particular type of a group. Specifically defined:
A team is a small number of people with complimentary skills who
are committed to common purpose, set of performance goals and
approach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable.
The essence of a team is common commitment. Without it, groups perform as
individuals. With it, they become a powerful unit of collective performance. This
kind of commitment requires a purpose in which team members can believe.
Teams develop direction, momentum and commitment by working to shape a
meaningful purpose. The best team invests a tremendous amount of time and
effort exploring, shaping and agreeing on a purpose that belongs to them both
collectively and individually.
The “purposing” activity continues throughout the life of the team. In contrast,
failed teams rarely develop a common purpose. For reasons such as an
insufficient focus on performance, lack of effort and/or poor leadership, they do
not coalesce around a challenging aspiration.
The way management experts differentiated between a team and a working group
on the basis of four criteria are tabled below.
Team
Working Group
1. Purpose/Objectives
The purpose is specific to each team.
The group’s purpose is the same as the
broader organizational mission.
2. Leadership function
Shared leadership goals
Strong and clearly focused leader
3. Task function
Collective work-products
Individual work-products
Encourages open-ended discussion and Runs efficient meetings
active problem-solving meetings
Measures
performance
directly
assessing collective work-products
by Measures its effectiveness indirectly by its
influence
on
others
(e.g.,
financial
performance of the business)
4. Membership roles
Individual and mutual accountability
Individual accountability
Discuss, decide and do real work Discuss, decide and delegate
together
One may find that the central theme of a team is an emphasis on collectivity.
3.4 Factors that influence team’s performance

Specific and measurable goals
The best team translates the common purpose into specific performance goals.
Combined with team commitment, they become a powerful engine of
performance.
Transforming broad directives into specific and measurable performance goals
is the necessary condition for a team trying to shape a purpose meaningful to
its members. Specific goals, such as getting a new product to market in less
than half the normal time, responding to all customers within 24 hours or
achieving a zero-defect rate while simultaneously cutting costs by X%, all
provide firm footholds for teams.
Specific team performance goals help to define set of work-products that are
different from an organization-wide mission and from individual job
objectives. As a result, such work-products require the collective effort of
team members. By contrast, simply gathering from time to time to make
decisions will not sustain team performance.
The specificity of performance objectives facilitates clear communication and
constructive conflict within the team. Secondly, the attainability of specific
goals help teams maintains their focus on getting results. When a shopfloorlevel team, for example, sets a goal of reducing average machine changeover
time to two hours, clarity of the goal forces the team either to achieve or to
reconsider the goal. When such goals are clear and attainable, discussion can
focus on how to pursue or whether to change them. When goals are
ambiguous or non-existent, such discussions are less productive.
Specific goals are compelling and represent symbols of accomplishment that
motivate and energize. They challenge the team members to commit
themselves, as a team, to make a difference. Drama, urgency, and a healthy
fear of failure combine to drive teams who have their collective eye on
attainable but challenging goals. Nobody but the team can make it happen. It
is their challenge.
To sum up, the combination of purpose and specific goals is essential to
performance. Each depends on the other to remain relevant and vital. Clear
performance goals help a team keep tract of progress and hold itself
accountable; the broader and even nobler aspirations in a team’s purpose
supply both meaning and emotional energy.
Size
What should be the size of a team? Small size, say 8-12, is admittedly more of
a pragmatic guide than an absolute necessity for success. A large number of
people, say 50 or more, can theoretically become a team. But groups of such
size are more likely to break into sub-teams rather than function as a single
unit.
Many people have trouble interacting constructively as a group, much less
doing real work together. Ten persons are far more likely than 50 to work
through their individual, functional, and hierarchical differences toward a
common plan and hold themselves jointly accountable for the results.
Large groups also face logistic issues, such as finding enough physical space
and time to meet. Further, coordination and monitoring, maintenance of an
effective communication network, infrastructure, and backup service, all may
hinder a smooth flow of task and maintenance roles. This kind of failure tends
to foster cynicism, which gets in the way of future team efforts.
3.5 Members’ Skills
Members’ skills constitute another important factor for effective team work.
Teams must develop the right mix of complementary skills necessary to do the
team’s job. Often, it is a common failing. Skill requirements fall into three
fairly self-evident categories of:

Technical or functional expertise

Problem-solving and decision-making skills

Interpersonal skills
Technical or functional expertise
A product development group that includes only marketers or engineers is less
likely to succeed than those with the complementary skills of both.
Problem-solving and decision making skills
Teams must able to identify the problems and opportunities they face, evaluate
the options they have for moving forward and then make necessary trade-offs and
decisions about how to proceed. Most teams need some members with these skills
to begin with, although many will develop them on the job.
Interpersonal skills
Common
understanding
and
purpose
cannot
arise
without
effective
communication and constructive conflict, which in turn depends on interpersonal
skills. These include risk taking, helpful criticism, objectivity, active listening,
giving the benefit of doubt and recognizing the interests and achievement of
others.
Obviously, a team cannot get started without some minimum complement of
skills, specially technical and functional ones. Therefore, team-building programs
are generally organized to build complementary skills.
A team generates synergy. This means that a team is more than a sum of the
contributions of individual members. Management in many organizations is
restructuring work processes around teams. It is expected that teams’ positive
synergy will allow these organizations to improve performance.
Merely referring a group as a team does not automatically improve its
performance. Effective teams have certain common characteristics. If
management hopes to gain improvement in organizational performance through
the use of teams, it will need to ensure that its teams possess these characteristics.
An organization’s HRM efforts are sometimes centered on helping team members
to learn how to become a more effective team.
3.6 Types of teams
Most teams can be classified according to their primary objectives or purpose. For
instance, the primary objective could be recommendation, implementation
(examples, doing things or running the system). Each type faces a characteristic
set of challenges.
Teams that recommend things
These teams include task forces, project groups and audit, quality or safety groups
asked to study and solve particular problems. These types of teams are also
termed as problem-solving teams. Teams that recommend things almost always
have predetermined completion dates. Two critical issues are unique to such
teams. These are:

Getting off to a fast and constructive start

Dealing with the ultimate hand-off required to get recommendations
implemented
It is important that the team includes people with the skills and influence
necessary for crafting practical recommendations that will carry weight
throughout the organization.
Secondly, it is critical that people who would be responsible for implementation
are involved in the process early itself, certainly well before recommendations are
finalized. Such involvement may take many forms, including participating and
critiquing ideas and conducting experiments and trials. At a minimum, any one
responsible for implementation should receive a briefing on the task force’s
purpose, approach and objectives at the beginning of the effort as well as regular
reviews of progress.
Teams that deliver specific projects, designs and improved methods
These teams include people at or near the front lines who are responsible for
doing the basic manufacturing, development, operations, marketing, sales, service
and other value adding activities of a business. With some exceptions like new
product development or process design teams, teams that make or do things tend
to have no set completion dates because their activities are on-going.
In such places of the organization where the cost and value of the company’s
products and services are most directly determined, the team’s performance will
have a greater impact. These places, which may be termed as the company’s
“critical delivery points”, might include where accounts get managed, customer
service performed, products designed and productivity determined.
If performance at critical delivery points depends on combining multiple skills,
perspectives and judgments in real time, then the team option is the smartest one.
Teams that run things
The group that
oversees some business, ongoing program or significant
functional activity, is a team that runs things.
The key choice between using a group or a team depends on whether the sum of
individual efforts will suffice for the work at hand or whether the group must
deliver substantial incremental performance requiring real, joint work-products.
Although the team option promises greater performance, it also brings more risks
and managers must be brutally honest in assessing the trade-offs.
The extra level of performance that teams can achieve is becoming critical for a
growing number of companies, especially as they move through major changes
requiring broad-based behavioral changes. When top management uses teams to
run things, it should make sure the team succeeds in identifying specific purpose
and goals.
Self-managed autonomous work teams
Self-managed teams are truly autonomous teams that could not only solve
problems but implement solutions and take full responsibility for outcomes.
Self-managed autonomous teams perform interrelated jobs and take on many of
the responsibilities of their former supervisors. Typically, the jobs include
planning and scheduling of work, assigning tasks to members, collective control
over the pace of work, making operating decisions, and taking action on
problems. Fully self-managed teams even select their own members and have the
members evaluate each other’s performance. As a result, supervisory positions
decrease in importance and may even be eliminated.
Cross-functional teams (CFT)
These teams are made up of employees from about the same hierarchical level,
but from different work areas, who come together to accomplish a task. A task
force is really nothing other than a temporary cross-functional team.
Cross functional teams are an effective means for allowing people from diverse
areas within an organization (or even between organizations) to exchange
information, develop new ideas and solve problems and coordinate complex
projects. The early stages of development of CFTs are often very time consuming
as members learn to work with diversity and complexity. It takes time to build
trust and teamwork, especially among people from different backgrounds, with
different experiences and perspectives.
Virtual teams
The previous types of teams do their work face-to-face. Virtual teams use IT to tie
together physically dispersed members in order to achieve a common goal. They
allow people to collaborate online - using communication links such as wide area
networks, video conferencing, or email – whether they are only a room away or
continents apart.
Virtual teams share information, make decisions, complete tasks, in fact, can do
all things that other teams do except physically meeting for any purpose. Virtual
teams can exist only for a few days to solve a problem, a few months to complete
a project, or exist permanently. Membership can be from the same organization or
link an organization’s members with employees from other organizations
(examples, suppliers, partners and customers).
Three primary factors that differentiate virtual teams from face-to-face teams
include:

The absence of para-verbal or non-verbal cues

Limited social context, and

The ability to overcome time and space constraints
Virtual teams often suffer from less social relationships that develop in face-toface interactions. Virtual teams often tend to be more task oriented and exchange
less social-emotional information. Virtual teams, however, are able to do their
work even when members are miles apart and separated by a couple of time
zones. It allows people to work together who might otherwise never be able to
collaborate.
3.7 Summary
In this unit we have illustrated the concept of team and group behaviour, types of teams
and factors that influence team and group behaviuor.
3.8 Keywords
Interaction, Perception, Goals, Norms, Affiliations.
3.9 Exercise
1. Define the term team/group.
2. What factors influence team performance?
3. What are the different skills team/group members must possess?
4. Explain the advantages of
a) Virtual team
b) Cross functional team
c) Self managed team
MODULE 3
UNIT 4
TEAM MANAGEMENT
Structures:
4.1 Objectives
4.2 Introduction
4.3 Team
4.4 Types Of Team
4.5 Characteristics Of A Team
4.6 Team Building
4.7 Strategies For Building More Effective Teamwork
4.8 The Team Effectiveness Critique
4.9 Factors Contributing To Team Development And Effectiveness
4.10 Quality In Team
4.11 Informal Team
4.12 Team Development Model
4.13
Summary
4.14
Keywords
4.15
Exercise
4.1 Objectives:
After learning this unit you will be able to:
a.
understand the concept of team
b.
to know the importance of team management
c.
to know the process team bridling
d.
strategies of team building
e.
team development model
4.2 Introduction
People in every workplace talk about building the team, working as a team, and my team,
but few understand how to create the experience of team work or how to develop an
effective team. Belonging to a team, in the broadest sense, is a result of feeling part of
something larger than yourself. It has a lot to do with your understanding of the mission
or objectives of your organization.
In a team-oriented environment, you contribute to the overall success of the organization.
You work with fellow members of the organization to produce these results. Even though
you have a specific job function and you belong to a specific department, you are unified
with other organization members to accomplish the overall objectives. The bigger picture
drives your actions; your function exists to serve the bigger picture.
You need to differentiate this overall sense of teamwork from the task of developing an
effective intact team that is formed to accomplish a specific goal. People confuse the two
team building objectives. This is why so many team building seminars, meetings, retreats
and activities are deemed failures by their participants. Leaders failed to define the team
they wanted to build. Developing an overall sense of team work is different from building
an effective, focused work team when you consider team building approaches.
Team Management is recognized as the foremost integrated system of work-based, researchproven assessments and feedback instruments worldwide - supporting individuals, teams and
organizations to effect positive and lasting change and achieve higher performance in the
workplace
4.3
Team
Group of people with a full set of complementary skills required to complete a task, job,
or project. Team members (1) operate with a high degree of interdependence, (2) share
authority and responsibility for self-management, (3) are accountable for the collective
performance, and (4) work toward a common goal and shared rewards(s).
A team becomes more than just a collection of people when a strong sense of mutual
commitment creates synergy, thus generating performance greater than the sum of the
performance of its individual members.
A team is any group of people organized to work together interdependently and
cooperatively to meet the needs of their customers by accomplishing a purpose and goals.
Teams are created for both long term and short term interaction. A product development
team, an executive leadership team, and a departmental team are long lasting planning
and operational groups. Short term teams might include a team to develop an employee
on boarding process, a team to plan the annual company party, or a team to respond to a
specific customer problem or complaint.
4.4
Types Of Team
Three common types of teams include functional or departmental, cross-functional, and
self-managing.

Functional or departmental teams: Groups of people from the same work area or
department, who meet on a regular basis to analyze customer needs, solve problems,
provide members with support, promote continuous improvement, and share
information.

Cross-functional teams: Groups of people who are pulled together from across
departments or job functions to deal with a specific product, issue, customer, problem,
or to improve a particular process.

Group of people with different functional specialties or multidisciplinary skills,
responsible for carrying out all phases of a program or project from start to finish.

Self-managing teams: Groups of people who gradually assume responsibility for selfdirection in all aspects of work.
4.5
Characteristics Of A Team

There must be an awareness of unity on the part of all its members.

There must be interpersonal relationship. Members must have a chance to contribute,
learn from and work with others.

The member must have the ability to act together toward a common goal.
Ten characteristics of well-functioning teams:

Purpose: Members proudly share a sense of why the team exists and are invested in
accomplishing its mission and goals.

Priorities: Members know what needs to be done next, by whom, and by when to
achieve team goals.

Roles: Members know their roles in getting tasks done and when to allow a more skillful
member to do a certain task.

Decisions: Authority and decision-making lines are clearly understood.

Conflict: Conflict is dealt with openly and is considered important to decision-making
and personal growth.

Personal traits: members feel their unique personalities are appreciated and well
utilized.

Norms: Group norms for working together are set and seen as standards for every one
in the groups.

Effectiveness: Members find team meetings efficient and productive and look forward
to this time together.

Success: Members know clearly when the team has met with success and share in this
equally and proudly.

Training: Opportunities for feedback and updating skills are provided and taken
advantage of by team members.
Characteristics of a high-performance team:

Participative leadership - creating interdependence by empowering, freeing up and
serving others.

Shared responsibility - establishing an environment in which all team members feel
responsibility as the manager for the performance team.

Aligned on purpose - having a sense of common purpose about why the team exists and
the function it serves.

High communication - creating a climate of trust and open, honest communication.

Future focused - seeing change as an opportunity for growth.

Focused on task - keeping meetings and interactions focused on results.

Creative talents - applying individual talents and creativity.

Rapid response - identifying and acting on opportunities.
Who is Part of Your Team and What Does The Team Do?

Management Team (Superintendent and Administration) plus Governance Team (School
Board)

Vision (Planning)

School Board - creates, reviews and approves

Administration - recommends process, develop and plans (decides what), and
implements plans (decides how)



Structure (policy)

School Board - creates reviews and adopts

Administration - recommends and implements
Advocacy (communication)

School Board - represents public interest, seeks public input

Administration - acts in public interest, seeks and provides public information
Accountability (Evaluation)

School Board - monitors progress toward goals, evaluates the board standards
and personnel in accordance

4.6
Administration - implements evaluation of programs
Team Building
Team Building is the process of improving collective performance. A simple but
effective methodology involves:

Establishing ownership of shared goals

Removing inhibitors/blockages to achievement of those goals

Introducing enablers (awareness, resources, information, processes, etc.) to help
achieve those goals

Using team building processes (e.g.: health checks, performance management, 360
feedback) in the correct sequence to gradually raise performance, akin to climbing a
ladder one rung at a time
Team Building is often ineffective because:

In many cases, advanced techniques are used whilst there is a lack of buy in to the
shared objectives
(commitment to team building activities is predicated on commitment to the overall
direction/goals)

Interventions are made out of sequence
(e.g.: a poorly defined structure, roles and responsibilities will undermine attempts to
improve interpersonal relationships)

Many offsite events fail to add any real, lasting value because the approach taken to
team building is too generic
(any offsite event should be designed to meet specific goals and outcomes)

There is often a lack of understanding of the difference between a group and a team
(team building with a group can be counter-productive, detracting from individual
performance without any compensatory collective benefit)

There is a lack of assessment of the team
(diagnosis is required in order to develop effective intervention strategies)
Start with Your Ability to Relate
Every possibility, from landing the contract to the romantic evening hinges on your ability to
relate. But neither profit nor pleasure are the primary motivation for teamwork. Productive
teamwork moves you toward challenge, through change, with more confidence. Working well
on
any
team
generates
energy
and
enthusiasm
for
life.
Some are More Skilled than Others
This ability is learned. You do not need complex interaction formulas. You don't have to be easygoing, well-educated, hard-nosed, or even especially intelligent to build a team. You don't have
to be anything other than yourself. You can be effective with people using common sense and a
few fundamental principles.
1. Vision
Vision
means
being
able
to
excite
the
team
with
large,
desired
outcomes.
Large outcomes mean devising goals that attract missionaries. The first step in vision is to
project such a goal. This goal must be bigger than a pay check. It must contain challenge, appeal
to personal pride, and provide an opportunity to make a difference and know it. Then the goal
can become a powerful vision.
Next, team leaders position the goal by picturing success. Initial questions might be, "What will
it look like when we get there?", "What will success be like, feel like?," "How will others know?"
When a large, missionary-friendly goal has been pictured and clearly communicated, the vision
is complete.
2. Commitment
Commitment can be a dangerous concept because of its attendant assumptions. Some may
assume, for example, that commitment means long hours, while to others it may mean
productivity. When expectations are defined, success rates soar. When leaders assume that
everyone "should" be committed, as a matter of course, we overlook the difficulties many have
with certain commitments.
If people cannot initially commit, it doesn't mean they don't care. More often, it means they do
care, and they are caught up in a process of doubt. This process precedes every meaningful
commitment. Effective leaders catalyze this process, so that the critical mass of people can pass
through this stage efficiently on their way to genuine commitment and innovative strategies.
This pre-commitment process is the same for team leaders and members. When we ponder a
new commitment, we climb up to a kind of mental diving board. Commitments contain
unknowns, and some warn of possible failure. It is common for people to neither jump nor climb
back down the "ladder," but rather to stay stuck at the end of the board, immobilized in pros,
cons, obstacles, and worries. In this state of mind, the obstacles begin to rule, obscuring the
vision, blunting motivation.
When leaders do not understand the commitment process they tend to seek accountability
without providing support. Without a means to process doubts and fears, people often feel
pressured to commit, but can't. One option, often unconscious, is to pretend to commit, to say
"yes" and mean "maybe" at best. The pretended commitment is a form of wholly unnecessary
corporate madness.
The solution to this set of problems is two fold: establish an atmosphere of trust, and within that
atmosphere encourage inclusion.
3. Trust
Trust is the antidote to the fears and risks attendant to meaningful commitment. Trust means
confidence in team leadership and vision. When trust prevails, team members are more willing
to go through a difficult process, supported through ups, downs, risk and potential loss.
Trust is most efficiently established when leadership commits to vision first, and everyone
knows those commitments are genuine. The process for leaders to commit is the same as for
everyone else: assess pre-commitment doubts, questions, unknowns and fears. This involves
three simple steps:
• List the unknowns.
• Assess worst case scenarios and their survivability.
• Research the unknowns
The list of unknowns reveals some answers and further questions. Some of these questions lend
themselves to research (others' experience, a small pilot plan), and some have no apparent
answers from our pre-commitment position. These latter comprise the bottom line or
irreducible risk. We learn the outcome only after commitment. Every major commitment
contains some irreducible risk, some lingering unknowns. We therefore make every major
commitment in at least partial ignorance.
Leadership now understands the potential loss and gain involved in the new vision. At this point,
leadership can commit itself, and prepare to include other team members. That preparation
must include a plan for leadership to share visibly both risk and reward with the other team
members who will be coming on board.
With leadership's commitment to a clear vision, and a genuine plan to share risks and rewards,
the atmosphere for trust is in place. We are now ready to include others in our team effort.
4. Inclusion
Inclusion means getting others to commit to the team effort, helping others through their
"diving board doubts" to genuine commitment. Since leaders now understand this process first
hand, we need only communicate with the potential team members to complete inclusion.
The best setting to obtain buy-in and build trust is in small groups that facilitate thorough give
and take. The basic tasks are to communicate the vision, make sure it is understood,
communicate leadership's commitment (including sharing risk and reward, and how), and elicit
and address peoples' doubts.
Leaders will need three communication skills to achieve inclusion. These are the non-assumptive
question, good listening, and directed response.
1. Non-assumptive questions ("What do you think?", "Can you tell me what is happening with
this report?") invite real answers because they are inclusive, not intrusive. Questions containing
assumptions ("Why are you skeptical?", "Why is this report so incomplete?") invite
defensiveness. When converting an atmosphere of change and possibly skepticism to trust,
added defensiveness is counter-productive.
2. Listening means separating the process of taking in information from the process of judging it.
Kept separate, both processes are valuable. Mixed, especially when the receiver is a designated
leader, the sender is invited to stop communicating or to change the message midstream.
3. Directed response. Effective team leaders demonstrate responsiveness. Since leaders have
already processed their own pre-commitment doubts, many questions can be answered on the
spot. Some require research and a time line for response. And some, which relate to the bottom
line, irreducible risk, require a truthful "I don't know. I'm in the same soup as you."
5. Help Exchange
The final step in creating the team is to establish a corroborative, balanced strategy for reaching
the committed vision. This plan will consist of all of the tasks and help exchange necessary to
realize the overall vision. Your teammates themselves are in the best position to supply this
information. Since by this time you have laid the groundwork for trust, and established good
buy-in,
your
teammates
are
likely
to
be
enthusiastically
cooperative.
At this point, the leadership role is to catalyze consensus, not to issue orders. Consensus means
that team members agree to, whether they necessarily agree with, a particular approach.
Consensus occurs easily when most feel their ideas were heard and considered, whether or not
the team ultimately chooses those ideas. Obtaining consensus again requires use of leadership
communication skills: non-assumptive questions, good listening, and directed response.
4.7
Strategies For Building More Effective Teamwork
Building an effective team is a Hercules task. However, one can follow the following approach to
form an effective team. The key characteristics of team building include the following.
1. Have definite session and longer-term goals and know how the session goals lead to the
longer term ones.
2. Use an engaging and varied base activity that involves each participant in something
that he or she enjoys doing.
3. Use an activity that achieves that engagement while having genuine parallels to the
workplace and has relevance with the session goals.
4. Select an activity that requires the same kind of skill sets and team approaches that are
needed at work - albeit one that is removed from the work itself.
5. Consider using an independent (internal or external) facilitator - to allow all levels to join
in as equals and to avoid it feeling like a "sermon from above".
6. Debrief using a predefined process that highlights the workplace parallels and allows the
participants to extract their own learning rather than be preached to.
7. Use a proven mechanism to transfer the learning back to the workplace, ideally
integrated within the debriefing process itself.
The first step is to identify the goals, roles, procedures for the process to be adopted etc.
Goals….
clarify purpose or objectives
link purpose to organizational vision, mission, and values
Roles…
Clarify roles and responsibilities (e.g. what do I do?, what do you do?, what do I
need from others to do my job?)
Procedures…
Change, modify, update procedures and systems, or develop ways to do so
Improve meetings including: purpose, agendas, minute taking, timing or roles
Agree on a process for managing conflict
Agree on how you will solve problems
Clarify decision making methods and responsibilities (e.g. team vs. small group
vs. individual vs. executive decision)
Agree on some processes/tools for increasing ability to innovate and
experiment
Develop/clarify processes for measuring success
Relationships…
Enhance skills in:
ssertive communication
Agree on ground rules for working together in order to modify some of our
behaviours as agreed
Take time out to improve relationships, value differences and discover ways to
use personal style differences for the good of the team
Once the above factors are set in place, conduct an interview with the team members to
understand them in a better way. Following questions can be considered for the same.
Initial Interview
When you first begin as a new supervisor, manger, chair, dean or director it is helpful to spend
some time getting to know the staff in your area. Pick 4 or 5 questions below (depending on
what you are interested in knowing) and interview each of the staff members in your unit.
1.
Tell me about yourself – your education, other places you have worked,
what you like to do?
2.
Tell me what your job is – what do you do?
3.
How do you know if you are successful every day?
4.
What does a good (or successful) day look like for you?
5.
Where do you see yourself in 5 years – what do you see yourself doing? (or what are
your career plans or aspirations?)
6.
What is your dream job?
7.
What are your top 3 to 5 strengths?
8.
What are your top three successes for achievements from the past year or two?
9.
What are your learning and development needs? Or what training would you most like
to attend this year?
10.
If you could change one thing about this office (faculty, department, unit) what would it
be?
11.
What could I do (or we do in this unit/department/faculty) that would help you do your
job better?
12.
If I came to you a year from now and I asked you how are things going and you said –
“never been better” can you describe for me what would be happening/what that
would look like?
13.
If you had a concern about me being your chair/director/supervisor what would it be
14.
Looking at the faculty/department/unit as a whole, what do you think we could do
differently that would make us more effective and/or make this a better workplace?
4.8
The Team Effectiveness Critique
Most groups exist and persist because (a) the purpose of the group cannot be accomplished by
individuals working on their own, and (b) certain needs of individual members can be satisfied
by belonging to the group. Of course, the mere existence of a group does not ensure that it will
operate effectively; a group is effective only to the degree to which it is able to use its individual
and collective resources. The measure of the group’s effectiveness is its ability to achieve its
objectives and satisfy the needs of the individuals in the group.
An organization is a collection of groups. The success of an organization depends on the ability
of the groups within it to work together to attain commonly held objectives. Because
organizations are becoming increasingly more complex, their leaders must be concerned with
developing more cohesive and cooperative relationships between individuals and groups.
Similarly, the development of effective groups or teams within the organization will determine,
to a large extent, the ability of the organization to attain its goals.
4.9
Factors Contributing To Team Development And Effectiveness
Team development is based on the assumption that any group is able to work more effectively if
its members are prepared to confront questions such as:
-
How can this collection of individuals work together more effectively as a team?
-
How can we better use the resources we represent? How can we communicate with one
another more effectively to make better decisions? What is impeding our performance?
The answers to these questions may be found by examining the factors that lead to team
development and effectiveness. These factors can be measured, or inventoried, by team
members with the use of the Team Effectiveness Critique. Before the critique form is
administered, however, all team members should understand the terminology used to describe
the nine factors. The following descriptions can be presented to the team members prior to
completion of the critique.
1. Shared Goals and Objectives
In order for a team to operate effectively, it must have stated goals and objectives. These goals
are not a simple understanding of the immediate task, but an overall understanding of the role
of the group in the total organization, its responsibilities, and the things the team wants to
accomplish. In addition, the members of the team must be committed to the goals. Such
commitment comes from involving all team members in defining the goals and relating the goals
to specific problems that are relevant to team members. The time spent on goal definition in the
initial stages of a team’s life results in less time needed later to resolve problems and
misunderstandings.
2. Utilization of Resources
The ultimate purpose of a team is to do things effectively. In order to accomplish this, the team
must use effectively all the resources at its disposal. This means establishing an environment
that allows individual resources to be used. Team effectiveness is enhanced when every
member has the opportunity to contribute and when all opinions are heard and considered. It is
the team’s responsibility to create an atmosphere in which individuals can state their opinions
without fear of ridicule or reprisal. It is each individual’s responsibility to contribute information
and ideas and to be prepared to support them with rational arguments.
Maximum utilization of team members requires full participation and self regulation.
3. Trust and Conflict Resolution
In any team situation, disagreement is likely to occur. The ability to openly recognize conflict and
seek to resolve it through discussion is critical to the team’s success. People do not
automatically work well together just because they happen to belong to the same work group or
share the same job function.
For a team to become effective, it must deal with the emotional problems and needs of its
members and the interpersonal problems that arise in order to build working relationships that
are characterized by openness and trust. The creation of a feeling of mutual trust, respect, and
understanding and the ability of the team
to deal with the inevitable conflicts that occur in any group situation are key factors in team
development.
4. Shared Leadership
Individuals will not function as a team if they are brought together simply to “rubber stamp”
decisions made by their leader or others not in the group. The development and cohesion of a
team occurs only when there is a feeling of shared leadership among all team members. This
means that all members accept some responsibility for task functions – those things necessary
to do the job – and maintenance functions – those things necessary to keep the group together
and interacting effectively. Task functions include: initiating discussions or actions, clarifying
issues and goals, summarizing points, testing for consensus or agreement, and seeking or giving
information. Task leadership helps the group to establish its direction and assists the group in
moving toward its goals.
Maintenance functions include encouraging involvement and participation, sensing and
expressing group feelings, harmonizing and facilitating reconciliation of disagreements, setting
standards for the group, and “gate keeping” or bringing people into discussions. No one person
can be expected to perform all these required leadership functions effectively all the time.
Groups perform better when all members perform both task and maintenance functions.
5. Control and Procedures
A group needs to establish procedures that can be use to guide or regulate its activities. For
example, a meeting agenda serves to guide group activities during a meeting. Schedules or
when specific actions will be taken also regulate team activities. Team development and teammember commitment is facilitated through maximum involvement in the establishment of
agendas, schedules, and other procedures. Of course, the team should determine how it wishes
to maintain control. In meeting situations, control most often is achieved through the
appointment of a chairperson whose responsibility is to facilitate the procedure established by
the team. Some teams find that they do not need a formal leader; each member regulates his or
her own contributions and behavior as well as those of others.
6. Effective Interpersonal Communications
Effective team development depends on the ability of team members to communicate with one
another in an open and honest manner. Effective interpersonal communications are apparent
when team members listen to one another and attempt to build on one another’s contributions.
Team members achieve effective interpersonal communications through self-regulation, so that
everyone in the group has an equal opportunity to participate in discussions.
7. Approach to Problem Solving and Decision Making
Solving problems and making decisions are two critical team functions. If a group is going to
improve its ability to function as a team, recognized methods for solving problems and making
decisions should be studied and adopted. The lack of agreed-on approaches to problem solving
and decision-making can result in wasted time, misunderstandings, frustration, and – more
importantly – “bad” decisions.
A generally accepted, step-by-step procedure for problem solving and decision making is as
follows:
1.
Identify the problem (being careful to differentiate between the real problem and
symptoms of the problem).
2.
Develop criteria (or goals).
3.
Gather relevant data.
4.
Identify all feasible, alternative solutions or courses of action.
5.
Evaluate the alternatives in light of the data and the objectives of action.
6.
Reach a decision.
7.
Implement the decision.
Needless to say, there are variations of this procedure. However, whatever method is used, an
effective team will have an agreed-on approach to problem solving and decision-making that is
shared and supported by all members.
8. Experimentation/Creativity
Just as it is important for a team to have certain structured procedures, it also is important that
the team be prepared occasionally to move beyond the boundaries of established procedures
and processes in order to experiment with new ways of doing things. Techniques such as
“brainstorming” as a means of increasing creativity should be tried periodically to generate new
ways to increase the team’s effectiveness. An experimental attitude should be adopted in order
to allow the team greater flexibility in dealing with problems and decision-making situations.
9. Evaluation
The team periodically should examine its group processes from both task and maintenance
aspects. This examination or “critique” requires the team to stop and look at how well it is doing
and what, if anything may be hindering its operation. Problems may result from procedures or
methods, or may be caused by individual team members. Such problems should be resolved
through discussion before the team attempts further task accomplishment. Effective self
evaluation is probably one of the most critical factors leading to team development.
Building Accountability
What: Effective teams demonstrate a high level of leadership and accountability among the
individual team members. The Ladder of Accountability describes eight levels of accountability.
The top four describe a stance focused on movement toward the future. The bottom four
describe a stance generally focused on the past or avoiding discomfort in the present. Choices
higher on the ladder tend to increase anxiety in the short-term and decrease it in the long-term.
Why: This tool provides staff members and groups with an effective way to look objectively at
an issue(s) that they are dealing with and make some deliberate choices about how they want to
handle it. The further up the ladder the team can move, typically the more choices they will
make available to themselves. The greater the percentage of team members who choose
stances in the top portion of the Ladder, the greater the chance the team has of collaborating
and successfully attaining its goals.
When: When the work group, team or individuals on the team are:
_
dealing with an issue
_
wanting to build more effective relationships both internal and externally to the team
_
blaming others for their circumstances
How:
1.
Give staff members a copy of the Ladder of Accountability and explain what it is and
why you want them to use it.
2.
Have the staff group identify an issue or challenge that they are currently
dealing with.
3.
Have the staff group evaluate their current stance by applying the descriptions of the
various levels to their own behavior in the issue or situation. Where are they?
4.
Have the staff group choose where they want to be.
5.
Ask the staff group to identify what they need to do differently if they want to take a
stance on a different rung of the Ladder of Accountability.
Think:
…of an issue or challenge you are currently dealing with.
Evaluate:
Identify your current stance. Apply the descriptions of the various levels toyour own behaviour in
a given situation. Where are you?
Choose:
Where do you want to be? Practice making distinctions between why youwould choose one level
over another.
Act:
What do you need to do differently if you want to take a stance on a different rung of the Ladder
of Accountability? Talk to your partner about the actions needed to be consistent with your
choices.
4.10
Quality In Team
Quality is primarily viewed in terms of corporate culture, multi-departmental ad-hoc task
forces and the salvation of entire companies. This article, instead, will view these ideas
as they might be applied by a Team Leader with a small permanent staff.
Quality has become the philosophers' stone of management practice with consultants and
gurus vying to charm lead-laden corporations into gold-winning champions. Stories
abound of base companies with morose workers and mounting debts being transformed
into happy teams and healthy profits; never a day goes by without a significant
improvement, a pounds-saving suggestion or a quantum leap in efficiency. With this
professed success of "Quality" programmes, there has evolved a proscriptive mythology
of correct practice which has several draw backs:

the edicts call for nothing less than a company wide, senior-management led
programme

the adherence to a single formula has a limited effect, precludes innovation outside
these boundaries, and reduces the differentiation which such programmes profess to
engender

the emphasis on single-task, specially formed groups shifts the focus away from the
ordinary, daily bread-and-butter
Of course, these criticisms do not invalidate the ideas of Quality but are simply to suggest
that the principles might well be viewed from a new angle - and applied at a different
level. This article attempts to provide a new perspective by re-examining some of the
tenets of Quality in the context of a small, established team: simply, what could a Team
Leader do with his/her staff.
What is "Quality"?
In current management writings "Quality" has come to refer to a whole gambit of
practices which themselves have resulted in beneficial side-effects; as a Team Leader,
you will want to take advantage of these benefits also.
The Customer
In simple terms, attaining Quality has something to do with satisfying the expectations of
the customer. Concern for the wishes and needs of customers becomes the focus for
every decision. What the customer wants, the company provides. This is not
philanthropy, this is basic survival. Through careful education by competitors, the
customer has begun to exercise spending power in favour of quality goods and services;
and while quality is not the sole criterion in selecting a particular supplier, it has become
an important differentiator.
If one ten-pence ball-point runs dry in one month and another ten-pence ball-point lasts
for three then the second ball-point is the make which the customer will buy again and
which he/she recommends to others - even if it costs a little more. The makers of the first
ball-point may have higher profit margins, but eventually no sales; without quality in the
product, a company sacrifices customers, revenue and ultimately its own existence. In
practical terms, Quality is that something extra which will be perceived by the customer
as a valid reason for either paying more or for buying again.
In the case where the product is a service, Quality is equated with how well the job is
done and especially with whether the customer is made to feel good about the whole
operation. In this respect Quality often does cost more, but the loss is recouped in the
price customers are prepared to pay and in the increase of business.
Reliability
The clearest manifestation of Quality is in a product's reliability: that the product simply
works. To prevent problems from arising after the product is shipped, the quality must be
checked before-hand - and the best time to check quality is throughout the whole design
and manufacturing cycle. The old method of quality control was to test the completed
product and then to rework to remove the problems. Thus while the original production
time was short, the rework time was long. The new approach to quality simply asserts
that if testing becomes an integral part of each stage of production, the production time
may increase but the rework time will disappear. Further, you will catch and solve many
problems which the final "big-bang" quality-check would miss but which the customer
will find on the first day.
To achieve this requires an environment where the identification of errors is considered
to be "a good thing", where the only bad bugs are the ones which got away. One of the
most hallowed doctrines of Quality is that of zero defects. "Zero defects" is a focus, it a
glorious objective, it is the assertion that nothing less will suffice and that no matter how
high the quality of a product, it can still be improved. It is a paradox in that it is an aim
which is contrary to reason, and like the paradoxes of many other religions it holds an
inner truth. This is why the advocates of Quality often seem a little crazy: they are
zealots.
People as Resource
While Quality has its own reward in terms of increased long-term sales, the methods used
to achieve this Quality also have other benefits. In seeking to improve the quality of the
product, manufacturers have found that the people best placed to make substantial
contributions are the workforce: people are the most valuable resource. It is this shift in
perspective from the management to the workforce which is the most significant
consequence of the search for quality. From it has arisen a new managerial philosophy
aimed at the empowerment of the workforce, decision-making by the front line, active
worker involvement in the company's advancement; and from this new perspective, new
organizational structures have evolved, exemplified in "Quality Circles".
Without digressing too much, it is important to examine the benefits of this approach. For
such delegation to be safely and effectively undertaken, the management has to train the
workforce; not necessarily directly, and not all at once, but often within the Quality
Circles themselves using a single "facilitator" or simply peer-coaching. The workforce
had to learn how to hold meetings, how to analyse problems, how to take decisions, how
to present solutions, how to implement and evaluate change. These traditionally highlevel managerial prerogatives are devolved to the whole staff. Not only does this develop
talent, it also stimulates interest. Staff begin to look not only for problems but also for
solutions. Simple ideas become simply implemented: the secretary finally gets the filing
cabinet moved closer to the desk, the sales meetings follow an agenda, and the software
division creates a new bulletin board for the sports club. The environment is created
where people see problems and fix them.
Larger problems have more complex solutions. One outcome of the search for Quality in
Japan is the system of Just-In-Time flow control. In this system, goods arrive at each
stage of the manufacturing process just before they are needed and are not made until
they are needed by the next stage. This reduces storage requirements and inventory costs
of surplus stock. Another outcome has been the increased flexibility of the production
line. Time to change from one product run to the next was identified as a major obstacle
in providing the customer with the desired range of products and quantities, and so the
whole workforce became engaged in changing existent practices and even in redesigning
the machinery.
The Long Term
However, I believe that the most significant shift in perspective which accompanies the
introduction of Quality is that long term success is given precedence over short term
gains. The repeat-sale and recommendation are more important than this month's sales
figures; staff training and development remain in place despite immediate schedule
problems; the product's reliability is paramount even over time-to-market. Time is
devoted today to saving time in the future and in making products which work first and
every time.
Team Quality
While the salvation of an entire corporation may rest primarily with Senior Management,
the fate of a team rests with the Team Leader. The Team Leader has the authority, the
power to define the micro-culture of the work team. It is by the deliberate application of
the principles of Quality that the Team Leader can gain for the team the same benefits
which Quality can provide for a corporation.
The best ideas for any particular team are likely to come from them - the aim of the Team
Leader must be to act as a catalyst through prompts and by example; the following are
possible suggestions.
Getting Started
There will be no overnight success. To be lasting, Quality must become a habit and a
habit is accustomed practice. This takes time and training - although not necessarily
formal training but possibly the sort of reinforcement you might give to any aspect of
good practice. To habituate your staff to Quality, you must first make it an issue. Here are
two suggestions.
The first idea is to become enthusiastic about one aspect at a time, and initially look for a
quick kill. Find a problem and start to talk about it with the whole team; do not delegate it
to an individual but make it an issue for everybody. Choose some work-related problem
like "how to get the right information in time" and solicit everybody's views and
suggestions - and get the problem solved. Demand urgency against a clear target. There is
no need to allocate large amounts of resource or time to this, simply raise the problem
and make a fuss. When a solution comes, praise it by rewarding the whole team, and
ensure that the aspects of increased efficiency/productivity/calm are highlighted since this
will establish the criteria for "success". Next, find another problem and repeat.
The second idea is the regular weekly meeting to discuss Quality. Of course meetings can
be complete time wasters, so this strategy requires care. The benefits are that regularity
will lead to habit, the formality will provide a simple opportunity for the expression of
ideas, and the inclusion of the whole group at the meeting will emphasize the collective
responsibility. By using the regular meeting, you can establish the "ground rules" of
accepted behaviour and at the same time train the team in effective techniques.
One problem is that the focus on any one particular issue may quickly loose its efficacy.
A solution is to have frequent shifts in focus so that you maintain the freshness and
enthusiasm (and the scope for innovative solutions). Further benefits are that continual
shifts in emphasis will train your team to be flexible, and provide the opportunity for
them to raise new issues. The sooner the team takes over the definition of the "next
problem", the better.
Initial Phases
The initial phases are delicate. The team will be feeling greater responsibility without
extra confidence. Thus you must concentrate on supporting their development.
Essentially you will be their trainer in management skills. You could get outside help
with this but by undertaking the job yourself, you retain control: you mould the team so
that they will reflect your own approach and use your own criteria. Later they will
develop themselves, but even then they will understand your thinking and so your
decisions.
One trap to avoid is that the team may focus upon the wrong type of problem. You must
make it clear any problem which they tackle should be:

related to their own work or environment

something which they can change
This precludes gripe sessions about wages and holidays.
As with all group work, the main problem is clarity. You should provide the team with a
notice board and flip-charts specifically for Quality problems. These can then be left on
display as a permanent record of what was agreed.
If you can, steer the group first to some problem which has a simple solution and with
obvious (measurable) benefits. A quick, sharp success will motivate.
Team Building
To succeed, a Quality push must engage the enthusiasm of the entire team; as Team
Leader, you must create the right atmosphere for this to happen. Many aspects of team
building can be addressed while Quality remains the focus.
You must create the environment where each team member feels totally free to express
an idea or concern and this can only be done if there is no stigma attached to being
incorrect. No idea is wrong - merely non-optimal. In each suggestion there is at least a
thread of gold and someone should point it out and, if possible, build upon it. Any
behaviour which seeks laughter at the expense of others must be swiftly reprimanded.
One crude but effective method is to write down agreed ground rules and to display them
as a constant reminder for everyone, something like:

all criticism must be kind and constructive

all our-problems are all-our problems

BUGS WANTED: DEAD OR ALIVE (but not for long)

if it saves time later, do it now
Another method is to constantly talk about the group as the plural pronoun: "we decided",
"we can do this", "we'll get back to you". This is especially effective if it is used in
conversation with outsiders (especially management) within ear-shot of the team. Praise
and reward the whole team; get the team wider fame by a success story in an internal
newspaper.
Most importantly, you must enable failure. If the team is unable to try out ideas without
rebuke for errors, then the scope of their solutions will be severely limited. Instead, a
failure should be an opportunity to gain knowledge and to praise any safe-guards which
were included in the plan.
Mutual Coaching
An important aspect of team interaction is the idea of mutual support. If you can instill
the idea that all problems are owned by the entire team then each member will be able to
seek help and advice when needed from every other team member. One promoter of this
is to encourage mutual coaching. If one team member knows techniques or information
which would be useful to the rest, then encourage him/her to share it. Specifically this
will raise the profile, confidence and self-esteem of the instructor at the same time as
benefiting the entire group. And if there is one member who might never have anything
useful to impart - send him/her to a conference or training session to find something.
Statistics
One of the central tenets of Quality programmes is the idea of monitoring the problem
being addressed: Statistical Quality Control. Quite simply, if you can't measure an
improvement, it probably isn't there. Gathering statistics has several benefits in applying
Quality:

it identifies (the extent of) the problem

it allows progress to be monitored

it provides an objective criterion for the abandonment of an idea

it can justify perceived expense in terms of observed savings/improvements

it motivates staff by providing a display of achievement
and, of course, some problems simply disappear when you try to watch them.
The statistics must be gathered in an objective and empirical manner, the outcome should
be a simple table or graph regularly updated to indicate progress, and these results must
be displayed where all the team can watch. For example, if your team provides product
support, then you might monitor and graph the number of repeat enquiries or the average
response time. Or if you are in product development, you might want to monitor the
number of bugs discovered (i.e. improvement opportunities).
In the long term, it may be suitable to implement the automatic gathering of statistics on a
wide range of issues such as complaints, bug reports, machine down-time, etc. Eventually
these may either provide early warning of unexpected problems, or comparative data for
new quality improvement projects. It is vital, however, that they focus upon an agreed
problem and not upon an individual's performance or else all the positive motivation of
staff involvement will be lost.
Projects
Clarity of purpose - this is the key to success. You need a simple, stated objective which
everybody understands and which everybody can see achieved.
Any plan to improve the quality or effectiveness of the group must contain:

the objective

the method

the statistical display for monitoring the outcome

the agreed criteria for completion or curtailment
By insisting on this format, you provide the plan-owners with a simple mechanism for
peer recognition (through the displayed notice board) and yet enable them to manage
their own failure with grace.
For a small established team, the "customer" includes any other part of the company with
which the team interacts. Thus any themes regarding customer satisfaction can be
developed with respect to these so called internal customers. In the end, the effectiveness
of your team will be judged by the reports of how well they provide products for others.
A simple innovation might be for a member of your team to actually talk to someone
from each of these internal customer groups and to ask about problems. The interfaces
are usually the best place to look for simply solved problems. The immediate benefit may
be to the customer, but in the long run better communications will lead to fewer
misunderstandings and so less rework.
Building Quality
Quality costs less than its lack; look after the pennies and the profits will take care of
themselves. To build a quality product, you must do two things:

worry the design and the procedures

include features to aid quality checking
It is a question of attitude. If one of the team spots a modification in the design or the
procedures which will have a long term benefit, then that must be given priority over the
immediate schedule. The design is never quite right; you should allocate time specifically
to discussing improvement. In this you should not aim at actual enhancements in the
sense of added features or faster performance, but towards simplicity or predicting
problem areas. This is an adjunct to the normal design or production operations - the
extra mile which lesser teams would not go.
Many products and services do not lend themselves to quality monitoring. These should
be enhanced so that the quality becomes easily tracked. This may be a simple invitation
for the "customer" to comment, or it could be a full design modification to provide selfchecking or an easy testing routine. Any product whose quality can not be tracked should
naturally become a source of deep anxiety to the whole team - until a mechanism is
devised.
One of the least-used sources of quality in design and production in the engineering
world is documentation. This is frequently seen as the final inconvenience at product
release, sometimes even delegated to another (non-technical) group - yet the writing of
such documentation can be used as an important vehicle for the clarification of ideas. It
also protects the group from the loss of any single individual; the No.7 bus, or the headhunter, could strike at any time.
In devising a mechanism for monitoring quality, many teams will produce a set of test
procedures. As bugs emerge, new procedures should be added which specifically identify
this problem and so check the solution. Even when the problem is solved the new
procedures should remain in the test set; the problem may return (perhaps as a side effect
of a subsequent modification) or the procedure may catch another. Essentially the test set
should grow to cover all known possibilities of error and its application should, where
possible, be automated.
Role Change
As your team develops, your role as leader changes subtly. You become a cross between
a priest and a rugby captain, providing the vision and the values while shouting like crazy
from the centre of the field. Although you retain the final say (that is your responsibility),
the team begins to make decisions. The hardest part, as with all delegation, is in accepting
the group decision even though you disagree. You must never countermand a marginal
decision. If you have to over-rule the team, it is imperative that you explain your reasons
very clearly so that they understand the criteria; this will both justify your intervention
and couch the team in (hopefully) good decision-making practices.
Another role which you assume is that of both buffer and interface between the team and
the rest of the company: a buffer in that you protect the team from the vagaries of less
enlightened managers; an interface in that you keep the team informed about factors
relevant to their decisions. Ultimately, the team will be delegating to you (!) tasks which
only you, acting as manager, can perform on its behalf.
Quality for Profit
By applying the principles of Quality to an established team, the Team Leader can enjoy
the benefits so actively sought by large corporations. The key is the attitude - and the
insistence on the primacy of Quality. As a Team Leader, you have the power to define the
ethos of your staff; by using Quality as the focus, you also can accrue its riches.
4.11
Informal Team
An informal team exists out of the paper and not documented. It is also referred as
grapevine. Grapevine is nothing but a communication network that exists between the
group members. The informal group has communications processes that are
smoother and less cumbersome than those of the formal organization.
Thus its procedures are easily changed to meet the communication needs of the group. In
the informal group, a person who possesses information vital to the group's functioning
or well-being is frequently afforded leadership status by its members.
Also, the centrally located person in the group is in the best position to facilitate the
smooth flow of information among group members.
Knowing about informal group communication the supervisor can provide a strategically
placed individual with information needed by the group. This not only enhances the
stature of this individual perhaps elevating him or her to a leadership position but also
provides an efficient means of distributing information.
Providing relevant information to the group will also help foster harmony between the
supervisor and the informal group.
By winning the cooperation of informal group leaders the supervisor will most likely
experience fewer grievances and better relationships.
Group cohesiveness
A third characteristic of informal groups is group cohesiveness-the force that holds a
group together. Group cohesiveness varies widely based on numerous factors-including
the;

size of the group

dependence of members upon the group

achievement of goals

status of the group and

Management demands and pressures.
For example group cohesiveness increases strongly whenever the membership perceives
a threat from the outside. This threat produces the high anxiety that strong group
cohesiveness can help reduce.
If the supervisor presses the group to conform to a new organizational norm that Is
viewed as a threat to the security needs of group members The group will become more
unified in order to withstand the perceived threat. Thus management can limit its own
effectiveness by helping to increase the group's cohesiveness. With the passing of the
threat the group tends to lose its cohesiveness.
Perhaps paradoxically the most dangerous time for group cohesion is when things are
going well. Supervisors can use the factors that affect group cohesiveness to increase
their own effectiveness.
Decision making process involvement
For instance a supervisor can involve the informal group members in the decision-making
process. Input from group members will not only reduce their feeling of alienation but
also improve communication between the supervisor and subordinates thereby reducing
potential conflict.
Where group participation in decision making is not practical the supervisor should
carefully explain the reasons to play down what might be seen as a threat to the group. In
some cases the supervisor may want to increase the groups cohesiveness deliberately
devising situations that put one group into competition with another. If this gambit is
carefully controlled the solidarity that results may bring a higher level of performance.
The danger of this strategy is that the supervisor may be unable to control the reaction of
the group. The ploy could backfire bringing competition and dissension within the group.
Unspoken rules
The final characteristic of informal groups is the establishment of the groups norms
(values). As we discussed earlier, norms keep a group functioning as a system instead of
a collection of individuals.
Norms are of great importance to the informal group in controlling behavior and
measuring the performance of members. Because norm (values) violations threaten a
group's existence, departures from the norm usually carry severe sanctions. The members
must either conform or sever their group affiliation.
The latter action is unlikely, especially if the individual values group membership to
satisfy certain needs.
Two points are important to note about the norms of informal groups.

First, where both formal and informal norms exist, the informal norms transcend the
formal. At moments when norms conflict with organizational objectives, organizational
effectiveness suffers.

Second, members of an informal group may be unaware that the norms of the group
influence their behavior. Norms are particularly potent because without knowing it
members would not even think of acting otherwise-norms are that ingrained into their
behavior pattern.
Changing group norms
A supervisor should attempt to encourage norms that positively affect the formal
organization's goals, and to alter those that are negative. If this is accomplished, the
informal group/ team will direct its energies toward desired goals.
How can a supervisor bring about a positive change in a group / team's norms?
Once a group / team has developed its norms, they are strictly enforced until changed.
But norms change frequently because the group / team must be responsive to changes in
its environment for self-protection.
When a perceived change occurs in the environment that affects the group / team, it
tightens, eases, or changes its norms.
There are three stages to fostering group / team / team norms that are congenial to the
organization.
First Stage
The first stage involves determining what the group/ team/ norms are, and then getting
group/ team members to recognize their existence and influence.
This can often be accomplished by observing the behavior patterns of the group / team,
interviewing group / team members, or asking the group/ team to identify its own norms.
As noted earlier, people frequently respect and follow norms unconsciously.

Organizational / Personal Pride. Satisfaction or pleasure taken in attaining personal or
organizational achievements.

Performance / Excellence. Manner or quality of functioning when striving to meet or
beat standards of performance. This includes setting personal standards when none are
set/ defined.

Teamwork / Communication. The perception that organizational goals and objectives
are communicated to and shared by members of the group. The organization has
effectively shared its' vision or sense of purpose so that all employees can articulate and
subscribe to.

Leadership / Supervision. The style of management / supervision in engaging
employees to deliver willingly their best efforts towards organizational goals.

Profitability / Cost Effectiveness. Awareness of employees of their roles and actions to
the organizations 'bottom line'.

Colleague / Associate Relations. Personal connections or dealings between or among
individuals and groups.

Customer / Client Relations. Personal and group attitude towards clients, both internal
(i.e. other departments in the case of service departments) and external suppliers and
customers.

Innovation / Creativity. To be aware of, appreciate the need for and strive for new ways
of performing a function, process, procedure or the organization's business model in
terms of the need flowing from constant changes in the external environment, the need
to be competitive and the need to retain customer loyalty and confidence.

Training / Development. The opportunities within the organization and the climate set
that promote personal growth and development.

Candor / Openness. The willingness to promote open, honest and direct dialog by all
employees at all levels on issues that affect individuals, groups and the organization as a
whole. This includes the sharing of information, respect for the diverse backgrounds and
experiences of members, the absence of 'competition over territory' and the agreement
of goals and levels of performance/ quality.
Helping define norms is useful because it assists the group / team in clarifying its
thinking and frees members from behavior patterns that they may not really wish to
follow in the first place.
When group / team members actually become aware of negative norms, they commonly
reject them and seek alternative modes of behavior. And the supervisor can't begin to
change negative norms to positive ones until group / team members first become aware of
their existence.
Second Stage
Having identified the team's norms, the next stage is to measure the norms and establish a
norm profile. Using the Team Building - Informal Group Organizational Norms
Employee Survey instrument, each team member is posed a set of questions, related to the
10 dimensions. As shown in the 'Group Norms Profile' graphic, the responses can be
averaged and plotted in order to obtain a norm profile for the group under review.
The difference between where the group / team is versus where the desired norms of the
group should be, denotes the normative "gap." These gaps provide the starting point for
determining where changes should occur.
Third Stage
The final stage is to bring about normative change. A systematic change process consists
of six steps:

Demonstrate the importance of norms in achieving organizational and group/ team
effectiveness.

Create positive norm goals through cooperative effort.

Establish normative change priorities.

Determine a plan of action to bring about change.

Implement and monitor the change strategy.

Review the effectiveness of the strategy periodically and modify where necessary.
This process emphasizes the creation of positive norms through cooperative effort that
benefits both the supervisor and the group/ team. Positive group/ team norms -increase
the effectiveness of the supervisor while providing an environment in which group/ team
members can satisfy their own needs.
The process also improves team communications and trust, reducing the anxiety
sometimes created by perceived threats from management.
If the informal group / team's norms are negative, they can negate the interests of an
organization many times the group / team's size. The process of change is a tool by which
a supervisor can deal with the informal group/ team stresses that exist within the
organization and that tend to de-motivate employees.
By fostering positive group norms, a supervisor can harness the power of informal groups
and release the energies of such groups to work together as a team to achieve desired
goals.
The Self-fulfilling Prophecy or Pygmalion Effect
In 1911 two researchers with the unlikely names of Stumpt and Pfungst began an
investigation of an even more unlikely horse named Clever Hans.
The unlikely thing about Hans was that he could add, subtract, multiply, divide, spell and
solve problems involving musical harmony. Any number of animals had been taught to
perform such tricks before, but they all had to be cued by their trainers.
The really clever thing about Clever Hans was that he could run through his repertoire
even when his owner a German mathematician named Von Osten, was not present. The
horse would answer questions for anyone. Von Osten swore he was mystified by the
whole thing.
In 'Teachers and the Learning Process', Robert Strom describes what Stumpt and Pfungst
learned. "Among the first discoveries made was that if the horse could not see the
questioner, Hans was not clever at all. Similarly, if the questioner did not himself know
the answer to the question, Hans could not answer it either... A forward inclination of the
head of the questioner would start Hans tapping, Pfungst observed... as the experimenter
straightened up, Hans would stop tapping he found that even the raising of his eyebrows
was sufficient. Even the dilation of the questioner's nostrils was a cue for Hans to stop
tapping."
In other words, unwittingly, people were giving the horse the correct answers by
communicating their expectations to him via physical signals. Hans was able to pick up
on those signals even subtle ones. He was clever only when people expected him to be!
A management concept
As it is known and taught today in management and education circles, the notion of the
self-fulfilling prophecy was conceptualized by Robert Merton a professor of sociology at
Columbia University. In a 1957 work called 'Social Theory and Social Structure', Merton
said the phenomenon occurs when "a false definition of the situation evokes a new
behavior which makes the original false conception come true."
In other words, once an expectation is set, even if it isn't accurate, we tend to act in ways
that are consistent with that expectation. Surprisingly often, the result is that the
expectation, as if by magic, comes true.
An ancient myth
Magic certainly was involved in the ancient myth from which the idea of the selffulfilling prophecy takes its other common name. As Ovid told the story in the tenth book
of Metamorphoses, the sculptor Pygmalion, a prince of Cyprus, sought to create an ivory
statue of the ideal woman.
The result which he named Galatea, was so beautiful that Pygmalion fell desperately in
love with his own creation. He prayed to the goddess Venus to bring Galatea to life.
Venus granted his prayer and the couple lived happily ever after.
A modern update
That's where the name originated but a better illustration of the "Pygmalion Effect" is
George Bernard Shaw's play Pygmalion, in which Professor Henry Higgins insists that he
can take a Cockney flower girl and, with some vigorous training, pass her off as a
duchess. He succeeds. But a key point lies in a comment by the trainee, Eliza Doolittle, to
Higgins' friend Pickering:
"You see, really and truly, apart from the things anyone can pick up (the dressing and the
proper way of speaking and so on), the difference between a lady and a flower girl is not
how she behaves, but how she's treated. I shall always be a flower girl to Professor
Higgins, because he always treats me as a flower girl, and always will, but I know I can
be a lady to you because you always treat me as a lady, and always will."
The bottom line?
Consciously or not we tip people off as to what our expectations are. We exhibit
thousands of cues, some as subtle as the tilting of heads, the raising of eye brows or the
dilation of nostrils, but most are much more obvious. And people pick up on those cues.
4.12
Team Development Model
The Forming – Storming – Norming – Performing is a model of group development, first
proposed by Bruce Tuckman in 1965, who maintained that these phases are all necessary and
inevitable in order for the team to grow, to face up to challenges, to tackle problems, to find
solutions, to plan work, and to deliver results. This model has become the basis for subsequent
models.
Forming
In the first stages of team building, the forming of the team takes place. The team meets
and learns about the opportunity and challenges, and then agrees on goals and begins to
tackle the tasks. Team members tend to behave quite independently. They may be
motivated but are usually relatively uninformed of the issues and objectives of the team.
Team members are usually on their best behavior but very focused on themselves. Mature
team members begin to model appropriate behavior even at this early phase. Sharing the
knowledge of the concept of "Teams - Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing" is
extremely helpful to the team.
Supervisors of the team tend to need to be directive during this phase.
The forming stage of any team is important because in this stage the members of the team
get to know one another, exchange some personal information, and make new friends.
This is also a good opportunity to see how each member of the team works as an
individual and how they respond to pressure.
Storming
Every group will then enter the storming stage in which different ideas compete for
consideration. The team addresses issues such as what problems they are really supposed
to solve, how they will function independently and together and what leadership model
they will accept. Team members open up to each other and confront each other's ideas
and perspectives. In some cases storming can be resolved quickly. In others, the team
never leaves this stage. The maturity of some team members usually determines whether
the team will ever move out of this stage. Some team members will focus on minutiae to
evade real issues.
The storming stage is necessary to the growth of the team. It can be contentious,
unpleasant and even painful to members of the team who are averse to conflict. Tolerance
of each team member and their differences needs to be emphasized. Without tolerance
and patience the team will fail. This phase can become destructive to the team and will
lower motivation if allowed to get out of control.
Supervisors of the team during this phase may be more accessible but tend to still need to
be directive in their guidance of decision-making and professional behavior. The groups
will therefore resolve their differences and group members will be able to participate with
one another more comfortably and they won't feel that they are being judged in any way
and will therefore share their own opinions and views.
Norming
At some point, the team may enter the norming stage. Team members adjust their
behavior to each other as they develop work habits that make teamwork seem more
natural and fluid. Team members often work through this stage by agreeing on rules,
values, professional behavior, shared methods, working tools and even taboos. During
this phase, team members begin to trust each other. Motivation increases as the team gets
more acquainted with the project.
Teams in this phase may lose their creativity if the norming behaviors become too strong
and begin to stifle healthy dissent and the team begins to exhibit groupthink.
Supervisors of the team during this phase tend to be participative more than in the earlier
stages. The team members can be expected to take more responsibility for making
decisions and for their professional behavior.
As team members get to know each other better, their views of each other begin to
change. The team feels a sense of achievement for getting so far, however some members
can begin to feel threatened by the amount of responsibility they have been given. They
would try to resist the pressure and revert to storming again.
Performing
Some teams will reach the performing stage. These high-performing teams are able to
function as a unit as they find ways to get the job done smoothly and effectively without
inappropriate conflict or the need for external supervision. Team members have become
interdependent. By this time they are motivated and knowledgeable. The team members
are now competent, autonomous and able to handle the decision-making process without
supervision. Dissent is expected and allowed as long as it is channeled through means
acceptable to the team.
Supervisors of the team during this phase are almost always participative. The team will
make most of the necessary decisions. Even the most high-performing teams will revert
to earlier stages in certain circumstances. Many long-standing teams will go through
these cycles many times as they react to changing circumstances. For example, a change
in leadership may cause the team to revert to storming as the new people challenge the
existing norms and dynamics of the team.
Further developments
Adjourning and transforming
Tuckman later added a fifth phase, adjourning, that involves completing the task and
breaking up the team. Others call it the phase for mourning.
A team that lasts may transcend to a transforming phase of achievement.
Transformational management can produce major changes in performance through
synergy and is considered to be more far-reaching than transactional management.
Norming and re-norming
Timothy Biggs suggested that an additional stage be added of Norming after Forming and
renaming the traditional Norming stage Re-Norming. This addition is designed to reflect
that there is a period after Forming where the performance of a team gradually improves
and the interference of a leader content with that level of performance will prevent a team
progressing through the Storming stage to true performance. This puts the emphasis back
on the team and leader as the Storming stage must be actively engaged in to succeed –
too many 'diplomats' or 'peacemakers' especially in a leadership role may prevent the
team from reaching their full potential.
Rickards and Moger propose a similar extension to the Tuckman model when a group
breaks out of its norms through a process of creative problem-solving
4.16
Summary
In this unit we have discussed about the concept of team, team management, types of team,
informal team as a separate factor. People in every workplace talk about building the team,
working as a team, and my team, but few understand how to create the experience of team
work or how to develop an effective team. We have learnt the characteristics of a team and high
performing team. We also have understood the team building process and team building model.
Lastly we have discussed the quality issue in team and team management.
4.14:
Keywords
Team
Team management
Informal team
Functional team
Self managing team
Cross functional team
Team building process
Team building model
4.17
Exercise
1.
Explain the characteristics of a team
2.
differentiate the characteristics of a team and high performing team
3.
differentiate cross functional and high performing team
4.
Explain the importance of team in an organization
5.
Explain the process of team building.
6.
Define quality. Explain the importance of quality in team.
4.15: Reference
1.
Topchik, Gary S.; The First-Time Manager's Guide To Team Building, 2007
2.
Newstrom, J.W., Scannell E.E., (1998). The big book of team building games: Trust
building activities, team spirit exercises, and other fun things to do. Two Penn Plaza, NY:
McGraw-Hill
MODULE 4
UNIT 1
STRESS MANAGEMENT
Structure:
1.1 Objectives:
1.2 Introduction
1.3 Sources Of Stress
1.4 Types Of Stress
1.5 The Response To Stress
1.6 Organizational Stress And Organizational Stress Management
1.6.1. Bad Bosses
1.6.2. Overload, Frequent Reorganization and the Pace of Change
1.6.3. Job Designs That Do Not Make Sense
1.6.4. Lousy Feedback
1.6.5. Money
1.6.6. Unpleasant Co-Workers
1.6.7. The Work Itself
1.6.8. Technostress
1.6.9. Work/Life/Family Balance
1.7
The Future of Stress
1.8 Employers Role In Relieving Stress
1.9 Relieving stress...what employees can do
1.10
Stress Management Models
1.11
Summary
1.12
Keywords
1.13
Exercise
1.1 Objectives:
After reading this unit you will be able to know
a) What is stress
b) Sources of stress
c) Types of stress
d) Organizational stress and organizational stress management
e) Future of stress
f)
Employers role in stress management
g) Employees role in stress management
1.2
Introduction
It is generally understood that stress can be both good and bad. Positive or good stress can help
make life interesting and helps us do a good job. Stress can be a source of positive motivation
to succeed or it can be a dark cloud that hinders morale, relationships and performance in the
organization. The latter is what I call bad stress. Bad stress can ultimately be destructive to a
person’s body, career, and professional growth and as well to the growth of the organization.
1.3 Sources Of Stress
There are many sources. Here we have made an attempt to understand the different methods
to categorize the stress in an individual.
Sources of Stress
Stressors can be categorized as follows:
1. Significant Life Adjustments
Any critical life changes, both pleasant and unpleasant.
2. Daily Routines
Daily routines such as fighting the rush hour traffic or meeting the deadline on an
important project zap your energy. You become accustomed to your daily activities and
easily overlook their cumulative effect on you.
3. Unrealistic Self-Expectations
While positive self-expectations motivate you to realize your goals, unrealistic
expectations can lead to setting yourself up for failure and a lowering of self-esteem.
4. Interpersonal Relationships
Both personal and professional relationships require a significant amount of effort to
maintain. Poor communication leads to conflicts that can escalate into increased
frustration and open hostility.
Common stressors have been identified as:

Family problems

Mental Illness

Elder Care Issues

Child Care Issues

Financial Issues

Legal Issues

Grief & Loss

Communication Difficulties

Work

Addictions

Health Concerns

Balancing work & family

Time management

Change management

Anger management

Other
One can also categorize the sources as below:
Acute Sources of Stress
-Accidents : Accidents are common sources of stress... anyone who has been in a minor car
accident can attest to this. Our bodies experience a stress reaction... our heart rate goes up and
we feel the adrenaline surging through us.There are a wide range of accidents... situations
where they can occur, levels of severity, people who can be involved. These sources of stress
have
one
thing
in
common:
they
evoke
an
acute
stress
response.
-Sudden illnesses: Diagnoses of serious illness are always acute sources of stress. Fears of death
and dying, financial pressure involved with medical care, worry about loved ones, pain and the
fear
of
pain
are
all
contributors
to
the
acute
stress
of
sudden
illness.
- Job losses: Sudden or unexpected job loss, or even the threat of a possible job loss, has
brought acute stress to many people. Besides the obvious loss of steady income, job loss brings
up a whole set of stressors involved with finding a new job, lifestyle changes, altering
comfortable routines, finding ones way in a new organizational culture... and on, and on.
- Economic Crisis: Sometimes economic crisis is a direct contributor to job loss, but it is one of
the acute sources of stress for a variety of reasons. A comfortably retired couple may find their
life savings threatened because of falling investment value... A small business owner may see a
huge drop in sales as consumers reduce their spending. Economic issues may be a chronic
stressor for many, but when the issues reach crisis level, the impact is often acute and farreaching.
Relationship Crisis: Marriage is often the first thing that comes to mind with acute relationshipsources of stress. Around half of marriages fail at some point... commonly; one party in the
relationship is very surprised and hurt. Crisis is possible in any relationship where one or both
parties have made a significant contribution of time, money and emotional energy.
Chronic Sources of Stress
-
Economic burdens: As mentioned above, constant economic pressures are a significant
source of stress for many people. Poverty, or the threat of poverty are high on the list,
but we also experience stress when our lifestyle is threatened. Also, if our income
cannot support our lifestyle, we come under additional pressures from creditors.
- Family conflicts: Family conflicts are often chronic stressors because family members
are stuck with one another! When conflict goes unresolved in the family setting, when
little irritations fester, when tempers are always simmering just below the boiling point,
the
chronic
stress
can
take
a
real
toll
on
relationships
and
health.
- Toxic relationships: Many of my readers, clients and friends can relate to this one!
Toxic relationships are the ones that drain you. Never mind who it is. Never mind how
they drain you. If you give and give to the relationship getting nothing in return, it could
be a toxic one. If you regularly get battered emotionally, intellectually or physically, you
may be in a toxic relationship. Toxic relationships often have strong social or familial
ties,
and
cause
significant
long-term
stress.
- Chronic illness: Just as the unexpected, rapid-onset of acute illness causes acute stress,
chronic illness is a major chronic stressor. Chronic illness is a drain on emotional energy,
a strain on close relationships, disruptive to lifestyles and often psychologically
damaging.
Sources of Stress at Work
-
High Demands; Demands are shifting in the working world. Rather than long experience
with one company, business leaders are looking for innovation and flexibility. This is
extremely stressful to many older professionals and working people, who feel that their
seniority is no longer valued or appreciated. Young people entering the workforce also
get pressure to perform, prove themselves and demonstrate their worth. While
coaching can turn this stress into positive energy, it is overwhelming for many
individuals who feel unsupported.
- Ethical Dilemmas: For a morally upstanding person who values his or her job, pressure to
make unethical business decisions or transactions can be very stressful. Even if a person has
willingly acted unethically in the past, the continued stress of covering ones tracks and
betraying ones conscience can build over time. Just working in a morally bankrupt
environment
can
cause
significant
stress.
- Uncertain Employment : Of course, there is always some stress when our job or business is
threatened. Whether this is a corporate memo warning of impending layoffs, or a string of
customers backing out of their sales agreements, the implications reach into every area of
our lives. Some entrepreneurs enjoy life on the edge, and feed off of the stress caused by
competition and uncertainty. For most of us, an unstable employment position is one of the
major
sources
of
stress.
- Role Ambiguities: Role ambiguity results when we do not know what the boss really
expects of us. If our job description and evaluation criterion are unclear, it can make going
to work very stressful. As emphasis on flexibility, innovation and teamwork increases,
people who are used to the very structured working environment of traditional
organizations are under increasing pressure. Moody supervisors, corporate takeovers and a
host of other factors make role ambiguity one of the increasingly common sources of stress
in
the
workplace.
- Career Pace : Whether it is too fast or too slow, the pace of our career can be a significant
stressor. When responsibilities and decisions pile up on us faster than we can cope, it can
feel like the career train is careening out of control. When we are sitting stagnant in a deadend job that is not making use of our skills, strengths or challenging us enough, we can feel
like the career train is broken down and going nowhere fast. In either case, we can feel
overwhelmed by the present situation and unable to see our way to a solution.
Physical Working Environment: Renovation/construction, lighting conditions, building design,
noise, the outdoor elements, constant danger, hazardous materials and other physical
contributors can add stress to the working person. Even hostile co-workers, abusive bosses, or
depressing
rows
of
drab
cubicles
can
add
to
the
stress.
There are many legal protections for the working person these days, but little below-the-radar
annoyances
can
add
up
if
our
coping
mechanisms
are
rusty
or
absent.
- Toxic Relationships: We touched on this in chronic stress, but toxic relationships in the
working world are so common that it is worth mentioning again. Some people just rub one
another the wrong way or cannot see their way through a difference of opinions.
1.4
Types Of Stress
Every one of us would probably experience different types of stress at one time or another. It
could be some personal stress arising in the work place, strained family relationships with
teenage children, emotional stress caused by financial problems, post traumatic disorders after
an unhappy event like an accident or even feeling stress when you are on holiday.
While there are many subcategories of stress that are being treated today, the major types of
stress can be broken down into four different categories: Eustress, Hyperstress, Hypostress, and
Distress.
Eustress
Eustress is one of the helpful types of stress. What is the definition for eustress? It is the type of
stress you experience right before you have the need to exert physical force. Eustress prepares
the muscles, heart, and mind for the strength needed for whatever is about to occur.
Eustress can also apply to creative endeavors. When a person needs to have some extra energy
or creativity, eustress kicks in to bring them the inspiration they need. An athlete will experience
the strength that comes form eustress right before they play a big game or enter a big
competition. Because of the eustress, they immediately receive the strength that they need to
perform.
When the body enters the fight or flight response, it will experience eustress. The eustress
prepares the body to fight with or flee from an imposing danger. This type of stress will cause
the blood to pump to the major muscle groups, and will increase the heart rate and blood
pressure to increase. If the event or danger passes, the body will eventually return to its normal
state. Eustress is also often called the curative stress because it gives a person the ability to
generate the best performance or maximum output
Distress
Distress is one of the negative types of stress. This is one of the types of stress that the mind and
body undergoes when the normal routine is constantly adjusted and altered. The mind is not
comfortable with this routine, and craves the familiarity of a common routine. There are actually
two types of distress: acute stress and chronic stress.
Acute Stress
Acute stress is the type of stress that comes immediately with a change of routine. It is an
intense type of stress, but it passes quickly. Acute stress is the body's way of getting a person to
stand up and take inventory of what is going on, to make sure that everything is OK.
Chronic Stress
Chronic stress will occur if there is a constant change of routine for week after week. Chronic
stress affects the body for a long period of time. This is the type of stress experienced by
someone who constantly faces moves or job changes.
Hyperstress
Hyperstress is the type of negative stress that comes when a person is forced to undertake or
undergo more than he or she can take. A stressful job that overworks an individual will cause
that individual to face hyperstress. A person who is experiencing hyperstress will often respond
to even little stressors with huge emotional outbreaks. It is important for a person who thinks
they might be experiencing hyperstress to take measures to reduce the stress in their lives,
because hyperstress can lead to serious emotional and physical repercussions.
Hypostress
The final of the four types of stress is hypostress. Hypostress stands in direct opposite to
hyperstress. Hypostress is basically insufficient amount of stress. That is because hypostress is
the type of stress experienced by a person who is constantly bored. Someone in an
unchallenging job, such as a factory worker performing the same task over and over, will often
experience hypostress. The effect of hypostress is feelings of restlessness and a lack of
inspiration.
1.5
The Response To Stress
What do we mean when we say we are "stressed out"? We may just be having a bad day, or
feeling pressured by too many things to do and too little time to do them. Or we may have had a
fight with a friend or family member. Or our job may be getting to us - feeling that it is just a rat
race without a purpose, or feeling too much pressure and a lack of support and camaraderie. In
any case, we are "bummed out" and "frazzled" and tend to think about how we feel at the
moment and how to make it better right away. Rarely do we give much thought to the longer
time frame and how our body is handling or not handling the pressure. Yet, it is the longer time
frame of months and even years that is important for understanding the bad side of stress.
Stress activates adaptive responses. The body marshals its forces to confront a threat and,
generally, does a good job of protecting us in the short run. So why can stress also be so bad for
our bodies and brains?
Stress can prematurely age us and leave us chronically fatigued or depressed. When exposure to
stress -- whether from a traumatic event to just the daily hassle of rush hour traffic or too much
email -- disrupts the body's internal balance ("homeostasis"), it can go one of three general
ways: the body can regain its normal equilibrium once the stress has passed or it can become
stuck in an over- or under-aroused state. How a person copes with stress -- by reaching for a
beer or cigarette as opposed to heading to the gym -- also plays a big role in the impact stress
will have on our bodies.
How the Body Handles Acute Stress
When the body is challenged by almost anything that happens to us, from getting out of bed in
the morning or running up a flight of stairs or having to stand up and give a talk, the brain
activates the autonomic nervous system (ANS), the involuntary system of nerves which controls
and stimulates the output of two hormones, cortisol from the adrenal cortex and adrenalin from
the adrenal medulla. These two hormones and the activity of the ANS help us cope: the ANS and
the adrenalin keep us alert by increasing our heart rate and blood pressure and quickly
mobilizing energy reserves. In contrast, cortisol works more slowly, helps replenish energy
supplies and, at the same time, helps us to remember important things. For example, cortisol
readies our immune system to handle any threat -- bacterial/viral or injury.
Another aspect of cortisol action is called "containment." Many physiological systems are pitted
against one another so that neither system can get out of control. The initial, first line response
to many noxious or pathogenic agents is normally "contained" by circulating levels of cortisol.
This is why we take corticoids for an inflammation or skin irritation. Cortisol also contains
acquired immune responses, and this is particularly useful when those responses are harmful,
such
as
in
an
allergy
or
an
autoimmune
disorder.
All of these adaptive responses are described by the term "allostasis" which means "maintaining
stability, or homeostasis, through change."1 The body actively copes with a challenge by
expending energy and attempting to put things right. Most of the time it succeeds but the real
problems arise when the systems involved in allostasis don't shut off when not needed or don't
become
active
when
they
are
needed.
Chronic Stress Response - Too Much of a Good Thing!
The way our bodies work presents us with a paradox: what can protect can also damage. This is
called "allostatic load." It's the price the body has to pay for either doing its job less efficiently or
simply
being
overwhelmed
by
too
many
challenges.1
For our metabolism, the overactivity of the ANS and increased cortisol secretion produce
elevated levels of sugar in the blood ("hyperglycemia"). As little as a week of inadequate sleep,
say 75% of normal, can raise evening levels of blood sugar. If prolonged, what can result is a rise
of insulin, the hormone manufactured by the pancreas to control sugar metabolism. If this
situation goes on for a long time, continued hyperactivity of the ANS and elevated cortisol will
lead the body down the path to type 2 diabetes. Elevated levels of cortisol, as in depressive
illness,
are
also
linked
to
gradual
demineralization
of
bone.
For the cardiovascular system, the elevation of ANS activity, combined with hyperglycemia and
too much insulin ("hyperinsulinemia") promote both hypertension and harmful metabolic
conditions, as blood cholesterol rises and HDL, the so-called good cholesterol drops. This onetwo punch accelerates hardening of the arteries ("arteriosclerosis"). Blood pressure surges
seem particularly important. Among monkeys living in social hierarchies, the dominant males
show accelerated atherosclerosis when the hierarchy is unstable and they have to continuously
fight for their position. Treating these animals with beta blockers, pharmaceuticals used to
control blood pressure, prevented the increased atherosclerosis.
While acute stress actually improves our brain's attention and increases our capacity to store
important and life-protecting information, for example, a source of danger, chronic stress
dampens our ability to keep track of information and places. Chronic stress does this by
impairing excitability of nerve cells and by promoting atrophy of nerve cells in the hippocampus,
a
region
of
the
brain
that
is
important
for
spatial
and
verbal
memory.
For the immune system, which is controlled by the nervous system and by circulating hormones,
chronic stress suppresses the ability of the immune system to do its job. This, once again, is in
contrast to acute stress. Acute stress actually helps the immune system handle a pathogen by
causing immune cells to move out of the bloodstream and into tissues where they are needed.
Chronic stress, however, impairs not only the ability of the immune system to relocate immune
cells but also the ability of those cells to do their job of recognizing and responding to the
pathogenic agent.
Too Little of a Good Thing
But what happens when the body cannot mount an adequate response to an acute stress?
Clearly, many of the good things that stress hormones do will not occur, like enhancing memory,
replenishing energy reserves or moving immune cells to where they are needed. One other
consequence, seen most clearly in the immune system, is that systems that are normally
"contained" by cortisol become hyperactive. In the immune system, we find inflammatory
agents (cytokines) and self-generated responses ("autoimmune") are no longer contained by
circulating cortisol. As a result, disorders like arthritis and autoimmune diseases, for example,
lupus, become worse. One treatment for such disorders, as we will discuss later on, is to treat
the patient with cortisone or another glucocorticoid steroid.
How Our Behavior Can Help or Hurt Us
Besides regulating the endocrine system and the ANS and exerting a powerful influence on the
immune system, the brain is the master organ for our behavior. And our behavior can help us or
hurt us in various ways. The most obvious way is to get us out of danger by flight or conciliation
or to increase danger by confrontation or by risk-taking behaviors like driving recklessly. Another
role of behavior is via health-damaging activities, e.g., smoking, drinking or eating too much of
the wrong things, or health promoting behaviors such as exercise and eating a healthful diet. In
other words, when we are under stress, it's important whether we reach for the bag of potato
chips or go for a swim or a jog. Eating a rich diet and drinking alcohol feed into the allostatic load
-- they increase the levels of these stress mediators and, thus, make hypertension and insulin
resistance, among other consequences, more likely.
What We Can Do to Better Handle Stress
Individuals may differ in their health and well being because they differ in behavioral and
neuroendocrine adaptive mechanisms, that is, the ways in which their hormone and nervous
systems react. You might, compared to a friend, have higher or lower allostatic load, not only
because you are subjected to different degrees of life stressors but because you are "wired"
differently and have had different life experiences that make you react in different ways
Whatever the cause may be, protecting your body against over-exposure to stress hormones is
as important to the body as the ability to mount an adequate allostatic response in the first
place. Either type of imbalance in allostasis qualifies under the definition of "allostatic load."
People with long-term histories of persistent and relatively small elevations or deficiencies in
stress hormone levels may show accelerated progress toward pathophysiology and disease. In
the case of excess hormone production, these disorders include atherosclerosis, obesity, type 2
diabetes and cognitive impairment. For relative hormone insufficiency, the pathophysiology
includes autoimmune and inflammatory disorders, chronic pain and chronic fatigue.
In dealing with the type of allostatic load involving hormone over-production, it is important to
use behavioral coping skills to control over-production of stress hormones in challenging
situations. This includes seeking social support, counting to ten and resisting an intemperate
reaction or simply withdrawing from a situation rather than risking a destructive confrontation.
Behavioral coping also includes engaging in health promoting behaviors, such as regular
moderate exercise and a healthy diet with moderate food intake and controlled alcohol intake.
It is also important to learn to see situations as a challenge and an opportunity, rather than as
disasters about to happen. If this sounds like an admonition to "positive thinking" it is exactly
that. These types of behaviors represent a first line of defense against the development of
allostatic load.
In the case of relative hormone deficiency, there are experimental programs to treat with low
dose glucocorticoids in the case of chronic fatigue syndrome and chronic pain but these have
had mixed results.2 Admittedly, the medical community is still not certain how to treat these
conditions.
How Your Doctor Can Help
Although allostatic load is a subtle phenomenon, your doctor needs to take it into account in
diagnosis and treatment. A doctor can help you reduce allostatic load by encouraging you to
learn behavioral coping skills that will enable you to recognize your limitations and teach you to
relax. These are simple steps every doctor can provide even without the results of further
research. Your doctor can also assess other areas of your health and remind you about the
interactions of high fat diet and stress in atherosclerosis, the role of risky behaviors such as
smoking in cardiovascular disease and cancer, and the beneficial effects of exercise. However,
there are limits to what such advice can accomplish. While your doctor may point these and
other matters out to you, your decision to follow the advice and your ability to change behavior
patterns3,4
are,
of
course,
critical.
Clearly, doctors of all types are involved in providing advice, counseling and/or psychotherapy
aimed at helping patients deal in a more healthy way with the many stressors of life.
Interestingly, different psychotherapeutic approaches might address more efficient and less
costly allostasis in different ways. For example, cognitive therapy focuses on better labeling of
the stimuli in the environment so that the same stimuli are subsequently interpreted in a less
threatening, arousing way. On the other hand, behavioral or exposure therapy focuses on
keeping the individual in a threatening environment long enough to allow the neuroendocrine
and autonomic systems to handle the situation. For example, a person with a fear of flying might
be treated with air travel simulations until their body learns to "cope" with the fear. Whatever
you do, it is important that the right psychotherapeutic" strategy appropriate for you and your
"nervous system" be selected.
In the future, we will need to develop better detectors for environmental stressors (infectious,
interpersonal, etc.), better detectors for allostatic response and better ways of determining
whether a response is turned on too much or too little or is of too long or too short a duration.
This allostatic framework, however, will help guide you and your doctor as you together decide
whether you're sick or stressed out.
1.6
Organizational Stress And Organizational Stress Management
Of all the potential workplace stressors, our research points to nine that are especially
relevant.
1.6.1. Bad Bosses
Recent studies suggest that one of the biggest sources of stress at work is having a bad
boss. Toxic bosses wreak havoc in organizations. Sometimes bad bosses may be
among the most experienced, hard working and results-oriented folks in an organization.
People can put up with many types of adversity, but often the hardest is to work for an
“interpersonally challenged” boss. Ask anyone who has endured a number of difficult
bosses in their career, and they'll tell you bosses come in many varieties and there are
all sorts of boss-induced stress. Generally, where there are toxic bosses, there is
increased turnover, more stress disability claims, less productivity and lower team
morale.
1.6.2. Overload, Frequent Reorganization and the Pace of Change
While bad bosses have been around since the dawn of time (or at least the dawn
of organized work), the current pace of change has been a relatively new phenomenon.
And, it is leaving employees reeling. In our research, many organizations report stress is
up, confusion is up, org charts are changing more quickly, and people have less of a
clue about what’s going on. Consequently,
trust and confidence in management is
down, and when people look outside the organization, they have see fewer options. It is
no surprise people feel more confused, angry, depressed, and worried about their job
security.
1.6.3. Job Designs That Do Not Make Sense
Napping at work may be as hazardous to your health as it is to your security. According
to a new University of Texas study, people who struggle to stay awake
in passive jobs are 34% more likely to die prematurely than employees who have
more active jobs (includes all causes of death). Additionally, a very heavy workload
coupled with little decision making opportunity—air traffic controllers, for example—
makes a premature demise 45% to 50% more likely. Why? Heavy workloads can lead to
continuously high stress hormones and often are associated with poor overall health
habits.
In turn, poor habits are strongly correlated with adverse health, increased absenteeism
and decreased productivity. Also, some job requirements simply do not make sense.
Research on job satisfaction shows people want to do meaningful work that fits in to a
larger framework. A sure way to kill motivation is to assign jobs where that connection is
not clear. When people do not see the purpose of their work, there is little for them to get
excited about. Work becomes a chore - a place to drag yourself to every day.
1.6.4. Lousy Feedback
Most of us require a certain diet of feedback. When that diet is deficient, there can be a
number of problems. Sometimes we don’t get enough positive feedback. Sometimes, we
don’t get any feedback. And sometimes it is the manner the feedback is given.
In the first case, people who get plenty of negative feedback, but little positive (related to
the problem of bad bosses) live in a very demotivating work climate. It is stressful to be
told only when you screw up. Getting consistently skewed feedback can erode selfconfidence and make work a whole lot less fun.
Getting no feedback at all can be extremely stressful too. (Or the variant of getting
feedback that is so vague and watered down, you might as well get none.) The most
engaging jobs are those where people perform a task --whether a complicated
management process or a simple physical task -- and get immediate feedback. They
know right away what worked and what did not. They know they have an impact on their
environment. They see the connection between what they do and achieving some result.
When deprived of that connection, people are left to swim through the mush of their work
not knowing if their actions had any impact on anything or anyone.
1.6.5. Money
Ask most employees, and they'll tell you they do not make enough money. When
questioned about what can be done to make them happier, a common response is “just
pay me more.” However, that knee -jerk reaction may mask other more basic drivers of
dissatisfaction.
Below a certain threshold, to be sure, low pay does cause stress. (A large body of
epidemiological research links low socioeconomic status to poorer overall health.)
However, attitudes related to money often are complex and can have a bigger impact
than actual dollars. Feelings about fairness, violated expectations, and lack of control
can affect people more than their absolute level of pay. (An axiom in stress management
is that it usually is the perception of stress that is so stressful, not the stressor itself.)
"Equity theory" says that what your neighbor makes can change how you feel about
what you make. Mary earns $75,000 a year and considers herself well paid. However,
she finds out her colleague Pat is making $90,000 and doing less work. Now, her sense
of justice may be offended. Simmering resentment can result.
Also, if expectations are violated (the "psychological contract" as behavioral scientists
like to say), that too can lead to money stress. When people are led to believe they will
get a certain raise or that their pay will be contingent on performance, they expect followthrough. Violations of such expectations can lead to pent-up resentment, depression and
a lower level of commitment to the organization.
Paradoxically, being overpaid can be stressful too. Of all the dysfunctional workgroups
we have known - and we have known many - some of the absolutely worst ones
contained people who were substantially overpaid. And they knew it!
Trapped in “golden handcuffs,” they would not leave even the most deplorable or
abusive work conditions. Instead, they simply hunkered down, grinned, bared it, and did
whatever it took to hang on to their jobs. Below the surface, however, they were
seething. Sometimes they would act out in ways just short of getting themselves fired.
Unable to attain satisfaction themselves, their closest substitute was to stir things up and
try to make others miserable too.
1.6.6. Unpleasant Co-Workers
We catch colds and bad moods from infected co-workers. Like bad bosses, unpleasant
co-workers rank right up there as a major source of occupational stress. A common
chorus among many workgroups is “we spend more time with each other than we do
with our families.” Often that is true. The people we hang out with can have a big effect
on how we feel about ourselves. What goes on from 9 to 5 (or 9 to whenever!) may have
a big impact compared to what we do at night and on weekends away from work.
Team work, collaboration, political culture and interpersonal style play a big role in the
type and amount of work stress that employees experience day-to-day.
1.6.7. The Work Itself
Sometimes, it is the actual work itself that leads to stress – not the conditions
surrounding the work. In blue-collar jobs especially, exposure to chemicals, noise or an
unpleasant physical working environment are common sources of stress. Among pinkand white-collar employees, environmental sources of stress are less common, but
stress emanating from the social and political environment can be just as toxic.
It is highly stressful when people believe their job requires them to do things that go
against their values or beliefs. Managers or human resource folks sometimes feel
compelled to take management’s side and toe the company line even though their true
sympathies lie elsewhere. Or potential whistle-blowers may anguish over whether they
are willing to pay the price for acting on their principles.
At its worst, people believe they need to lie in order to survive. Putting a lot of energy
into posturing and presenting a false self can be insidious to physical and mental health.
People often incur great costs when they feel they must pretend to be different from who
they really are, or to cover for the mistakes and misdeeds of others.
1.6.8. Technostress
Technostress is not new. It has been around for a long time -- even before “multitasking” was a word. For quite a while, many of us suffered from information overload,
and felt we were expected to do too many things at once. “Give yourself permission not
to multi-task” is a more modern version of the mantra “one thing at a time.”
And yes, it is getting worse. By the time this goes to press, there probably will be a few
more time-saving or data-transmitting technologies available to us. In many cases,
rather than using them as tools to make our lives simpler, we feel compelled to use them
and also suffer their effects. We become more available and have the capacity to do
even more things in even less time. Rather than being the master of technology, it is
easy to become the victim of it. It potentially increases productivity. However, it also can
increase expectations and the resulting work load. The bar is raised. Our level of
customer focus is higher. Now, we may feel we need to be responsive to others all
around us 24/7.
1.6.9. Work/Life/Family Balance
Results of a new study from the University of Maryland confirm what working parents
already know -- the expanded work week is undermining family life. In a study of over
500 employees in a Fortune 500 company, researchers concluded that long hours at
work increase work-family conflict and that this conflict is associated with stress related
health problems and depression. This was true regardless of how flexible an employee’s
schedule was or how much help they had at home for child care.
In case anyone hasn’t noticed, some major career paradigm shifts continue to influence
the value struggle between employers’ needs and employees’ wants. Job security has
been replaced by employability security, organizational loyalty has been replaced by
job/task loyalty, linear career paths have been replaced by
alternative career paths, and career success has been replaced by work/family
balance.
It is no coincidence that when reviewing characteristics of the “Best Companies” in
America, we find a shift to those that are indeed “family friendly.” In the past, it simply
was accepted that many of us had to put in long hours (particularly if we wanted to be
promoted and climb the corporate ladder). In recent years, some folks are reprioritizing.
Despite economic conditions, they feel life should not center entirely on work. Today, an
increasing number of employees are willing to put family, community, religion, hobbies,
or volunteering first even if they pay the price.
Career research from Organizational Performance Dimensions suggests there is a
greater proportion of working adults who endorse work/family balance as a top priority
for them—despite anxieties over the slow economic recovery and continuing threats of
downsizing. Despite these trends and despite the existence of family-friendly work
policies in many organizations, there are plenty of cultures that actively discourage
employees from leading balanced lives. Rewards and promotions go to those who put in
the requisite amount of “face time,” staying at the office long enough to show they are
good dedicated corporate citizens.
1.7
The Future of Stress
To many observers, the future of stress on the job may not seem promising. On the
other hand, it may not be as bleak as some of us fear. Work tends to go in cycles.
Neither bad times nor good times are permanent. (although to an individual in the midst
of a bad period, it may seem as if it will never end!) One may be tempted to look back at
the “good old days” and bemoan things will never be the same. In fact, that is true -things will never be the same - but not necessarily in a bad way. Many struggled to make
ends meet back then, and had to endure discrimination and physical demands not nearly
as commonplace now. Yet, we sometimes tend to remember the past in distorted and
glowing ways.
In any event, neither waxing nostalgic nor longing for better days is likely to help. We
need to face up to the changing nature of work and learn to adapt as best we can.
Stress is here to stay. Its form and nature may change. Coping strategies may need to
be altered somewhat to keep up with modern stressors. And, what works in one
environment may be different from what works in another. For individuals seeking to
manage their own stress and for those in positions of authority who can influence the
lives of others, it is important to understand the sources of work stress and what can be
done about them. The best organizations really do believe people are their most
important asset. And they manage them as if preserving that asset matters.
1.8 Employers Role In Relieving Stress
Employers can do quite a bit to help alleviate employee stress. Of course, there are
constraints based on culture, economics, the industry one is in, and a host of other
factors. Nevertheless, here are some general recommendations for helping reduce
employee stress:
•
Invest in talent management. Send the message to managers throughout
the organization that bad behavior is unacceptable. Encourage and
reward healthy management practices.
•
Share information generously. Even under adverse circumstances,
employees want to know what's going on. Yes, people will grumble and
complain when they hear bad news. However, that is nothing compared
to the resentment they will feel if they have been kept in the dark.
Communicate! Manage the pace of change. To the extent possible, allow
people a breather after a major change hits. Give them a chance to
recuperate before the next one comes along.
•
Establish a climate of openness and honesty. Make it safe for people to
express themselves. Tell it like it is. Make sure people don’t fear
retaliation if they speak out.
•
Get the right person - job fit. Steer employees into jobs they can succeed
at and have a passion for. Productive employees usually are the happiest
(however, the opposite - that happy employees are productive - is an
outdated myth). Give people jobs that challenge them but where success
is attainable.
•
Provide services employees can use for themselves and their families.
Wellness programs, gyms, childcare centers, EAPs, and other services
mean a lot, especially when employees are encouraged to use them and
there is no stigma attached.
•
Have “family friendly” policies. Balance short term productivity costs with
a longer term investment in people. Having generous flex time and
maternity/paternity policies can help employees manage the stresses of
work and home. Make it OK to use these services. Don’t just have them
on the books, but informally discourage their use.
•
Employ “fatigue countermeasures” to ensure that employee fatigue does
not result in accidents and injuries. Review and control working hours,
rotating shifts and policies surrounding work and travel schedules.
•
Make sure employees know the organization cares about their well being.
Provide appropriate avenues for people when they feel wronged. Let
them know there is recourse beyond their immediate boss if their
legitimate rights have been violated.
1.9 Relieving stress...what employees can do
There is no one-size-fits-all approach for how individuals manage stress. Different
strokes work for different folks. Experiment. Pick and choose what is right for you:
•
Identify what truly gives you satisfaction. What do you find absolutely
engaging and absorbing? Make a conscious effort to carve out time and
put that in your schedule. Try to maintain balance in your life. Put work in
perspective. If circumstances force your life to be temporarily out of
balance, accept it, but commit to reprioritizing and rebalancing at a
defined later point.
•
Practice positive lifestyle and health habits on an ongoing basis: regular
exercise, eating well, meditation, relaxation, restful sleep, and social
support.
•
Find humor even in difficult circumstances. Seek out people with positive
attitudes who make you laugh. Treasure those relationships.
•
Know when you had enough of a bad situation. Realize you have options.
Try to maintain a sense of hope and perspective. Without being a
“Pollyanna” or denying the reality of a negative situation, try to find the
challenge or “gift” in it.
•
Intersperse mini-stress reducers throughout your day. (Stretch, focus on
your breathing, yawn deeply, take a short walk, strike a Yoga pose, call a
friend at an appointed a time for a non-work conversation). Take time to
relax when you eat lunch.
•
Deal with unpleasant relationships in ways that are best for you. Accept
that some interpersonal stress is inevitable. Know when to walk, when to
ask for help or advice, and when to give it your assertive best.
•
Space out your stressors. Most of us can deal with a certain amount of
stress and do just fine. The problem is not having a chance to recover
from one before the next one hits. If possible, give yourself a chance to
recuperate before jumping into the next likely stressful situation.
•
Try a vacation without bringing along work -- physically or mentally. Make
it a point to use your vacation as a restorative time and minimize the “let
down effect” by practicing mental and physical relaxation exercises before
and after your break.
1.10
Stress Management Models
Transactional model
Stress management was developed and premised on the idea that stress is not a direct
response to a stressor but rather one's resources and ability to cope mediate the stress
response and are amenable to change, thus allowing stress to be controllable. Richard
Lazarus and Susan Folkman suggested in 1984 that stress can be thought of as resulting
from an “imbalance between demands and resources” or as occurring when “pressure
exceeds one's perceived ability to cope”.
In order to develop an effective stress management programme it is first necessary to
identify the factors that are central to a person controlling his/her stress, and to identify
the intervention methods which effectively target these factors.
Lazarus and Folkman's interpretation of stress focuses on the transaction between people
and their external environment (known as the Transactional Model).
The model conceptualizes stress as a result of how a stressor is appraised and how a
person appraises his/her resources to cope with the stressor. The model breaks the
stressor-stress link by proposing that if stressors are perceived as positive or challenging
rather than a threat, and if the stressed person is confident that he/she possesses adequate
rather than deficient coping strategies, stress may not necessarily follow the presence of a
potential stressor.
The model proposes that stress can be reduced by helping stressed people change their
perceptions of stressors, providing them with strategies to help them cope and improving
their confidence in their ability to do so.
Health realization/innate health model
The health realization/innate health model of stress is also founded on the idea that stress
does not necessarily follow the presence of a potential stressor. Instead of focusing on the
individual's appraisal of so-called stressors in relation to his or her own coping skills (as
the transactional model does), the health realization model focuses on the nature of
thought, stating that it is ultimately a person's thought processes that determine the
response to potentially stressful external circumstances.
In this model, stress results from appraising oneself and one's circumstances through a
mental filter of insecurity and negativity, whereas a feeling of well-being results from
approaching the world with a "quiet mind," "inner wisdom," and "common sense".
This model proposes that helping stressed individuals understand the nature of thought-especially providing them with the ability to recognize when they are in the grip of
insecure thinking, disengage from it, and access natural positive feelings--will reduce
their stress.
Diatheis model
The diathesis–stress model is a psychological theory that explains behavior as both a result of
biological and genetic factors ("nature"), and life experiences ("nurture"). This model thus
assumes that a disposition towards a certain disorder may result from a combination of one's
genetics and early learning. The term "diathesis" is used to refer to a genetic predisposition
toward an abnormal or diseased condition. According to the model, this predisposition, in
combination with certain kinds of environmental stress, results in abnormal behavior.
Another model that is referred is cognitive stress model. This model focus on Posttraumatic
stress disorder (PTSD), a common reaction to traumatic events
1.11
Summary
In this unit we have discussed about:
a.
stress
b.
sources of stress and causes of stress
c.
types of stress
d.
organizational stress and its management
e.
employers role in stress management
f.
employees role in stress management
1.12
key words
Stress
Stress management
Acute stress
Chronic stress
Eustress
Hyperstress
Hypostress
Work life balance
Stress model
Transaction model
Innate model
1.13
EXERCISE
1.
Define stress.
2.
What are the characteristics of stress?
3.
Explain various sources of stress
4.
elucidate the various organizational sources of stress
5.
what role an employer can play to manage the organizational stress
6.
what is the responsibility of an employee to manage the stress
7.
explain the different stress models
1.14
REFERENCE
1.
People and change: an introduction to counseling and stress management
By Catherine M. Flanagan. NJ. Hillside books. 1999
2.
Stress management for Dummies. By Allen elkien.IDG Books. 2000
MODULE 4
UNIT 2
MANAGING DIVERSITY IN WORKPLACE
Structure:
2.1 Objectives
2.2 Introduction
2.3 Definition
2.4 Managing Diversity
2.4.1 Employees / Individual Role
2.4.2 Issues
2.4.3 Strategies
2.4.4 Fair vs. Same Treatment
2.4.5 Managing Diversity is Different from Affirmative Action
2.5 Consequences of Ignoring Diversity
2.6 How Well Do You Manage Diversity in Your Unit?
2.7 The Implications for HRM
2.8Approaches To Manage Workforce Diversity
2.8.1 Promoting the Value of Diversity
2.9 Benefits Of Workforce Diversity
2.10
Challenges of Diversity in the Workplace
2.11 Recommended steps that have been proven successful in world-class
organizations are:
2.12 Workforce Diversity: Issues Of Concern
2.13Summary
2.14 Key Words
2.15 Exercise
2.1
Objectives
After learning this unit you will be able to know:
2.2
a.
what is diversity and workforce diversity
b.
issues associated with work force diversity
c.
employees role in diversity management
d.
consequences of ignoring workforce diversity
e.
factors that needs to be considered for effective diversity management
Introduction
Excellence through diversity is one of the Chancellor's goals, yet the term diversity often raises
controversy, confusion, and tension. What does it mean? Is it the same as affirmative action?
Why should you focus on it? When people think of diversity, they may think first of ethnicity
and race, and then gender; however, diversity is much broader than that. Diversity is otherness
or those human qualities that are different from our own and outside the groups to which we
belong, yet present in other individuals and groups.
Dimensions of diversity include, but are not limited to: age, ethnicity, ancestry, gender, physical
abilities/qualities, race, sexual orientation, educational background, geographic location,
income, marital status, military experience, religious beliefs, parental status, and work
experience, according to Loden and Rosener in Workforce America ! Managing Employee
Diversity as a Vital Resource. Hence, It's important to understand how these dimensions affect
performance, motivation, success, and interactions with others.
Institutional structures and practices that have presented barriers to some dimensions of
diversity should be examined, challenged, and removed.
2.3
Definition
Managing diversity is defined as "planning and implementing organizational systems and
practices to manage people so that the potential advantages of diversity are maximized while its
potential disadvantages are minimized," according to Taylor Cox in "Cultural Diversity in
Organizations." Managing diversity well provides a distinct advantage in an era when flexibility
and creativity are keys to competitiveness. An organization needs to be flexible and adaptable
to meet new customer needs. Heterogeneity promotes creativity and heterogeneous groups
have been shown to produce better solutions to problems and a higher level of critical analysis.
This can be a vital asset at a time when the campus is undergoing tremendous change and selfexamination to find new and more effective ways to operate.
With effective management of diversity, the campus develops a reputation as an employer of
choice. Not only will you have the ability to attract the best talent from a shrinking labor pool,
you can save time and money in recruitment and turnover costs. The campus will fulfill its role
as a public institution by reflecting the diversity of the state as well as meeting the increasing
demand to provide culturally informed services to an increasingly diverse customer base.
Diversity management (DM) is the label given to a wide range of management practices
which seek to promote the employment and career development of a range of specified
groups. Under EU law, the Racial Equality Directive (2004/43/EC) and the Employment
Equality Directive (2000/78/EC) have enforced the rights of employees to nondiscrimination in employment on the basis of age, beliefs, religion, gender, sexual
orientation or ethnicity.
Many employers now run diversity management programmes for these groups. These
programmes seek to improve recruitment, retention and promotion practices and also
seek to change the ethos of the company in relation to the diversity of its workforce.
2.4
Managing Diversity
To address diversity issues, consider these questions: what policies, practices, and ways of
thinking and within our organizational culture have differential impact on different groups?
What organizational changes should be made to meet the needs of a diverse workforce as well
as to maximize the potential of all workers, so that Berkeley can be well positioned for the
demands of the 21st century?
Most people believe in the golden rule: treat others as you want to be treated. The implicit
assumption is that how you want to be treated is how others want to be treated. But when you
look at this proverb through a diversity perspective, you begin to ask the question: what does
respect look like; does it look the same for everyone? Does it mean saying hello in the morning,
or leaving someone alone, or making eye contact when you speak?
It depends on the individual. We may share similar values, such as respect or need for
recognition, but how we show those values through behavior may be different for different
cultures. How do we know what different cultures need? Perhaps instead of using the golden
rule, we could use the platinum rule which states: "treat others as they want to be treated."
Moving our frame of reference from an ethnocentric view ("our way is the best way") to a
culturally relative perspective ("let's take the best of a variety of ways") will help us to manage
more effectively in a diverse work environment.
2.4.1 Employees / Individual Role
Employees have a key role in transforming the organizational culture so that it more closely
reflects the values of our diverse workforce. Some of the skills needed are:

an understanding and acceptance of managing diversity concepts

recognition that diversity is threaded through every aspect of management

self-awareness, in terms of understanding your own culture, identity, biases, prejudices,
and stereotypes

willingness to challenge and change institutional practices that present barriers to
different groups
It's natural to want a cookbook approach to diversity issues so that one knows exactly what to
do. Unfortunately, given the many dimensions of diversity, there is no easy recipe to follow.
Advice and strategies given for one situation may not work given the same situation in another
context.
Managing diversity means acknowledging people's differences and recognizing these differences
as valuable; it enhances good management practices by preventing discrimination and
promoting inclusiveness. Good management alone will not necessarily help you work effectively
with a diverse workforce. It is often difficult to see what part diversity plays in a specific area of
management.
2.4.2 Issues

How do you make the job sound appealing to different types of workers, such as people
with disabilities?

How can recruitment be effectively targeted to underutilized groups?

How do you overcome cultural bias in the interviewing process, questions, and your
response?
2.4.3 Strategies

Specify the need for skills to work effectively in a diverse environment in the job, for
example: "demonstrated ability to work effectively in a diverse work environment."

Make sure that good faith efforts are made to recruit a diverse applicant pool,
particularly underutilized minorities and women.

Focus on the job requirements in the interview, and assess experience but also consider

transferable skills and demonstrated competencies, such as analytical, organizational,
communication, coordination. Prior experience has not necessarily mean effectiveness
or success on the job.

Use a panel interview format. Ensure that the committee is diverse, unit affiliation, job
classification, length of service, variety of life experiences, etc. to represent different
perspectives and to eliminate bias from the selection process. Run questions and
process by them to ensure there is no unintentional cultural or institutional bias.

Ensure that appropriate accommodations are made for disabled applicants.

Know your own cultural biases. What stereotypes do you have of people from different
groups and how well they may perform on the job? What communication styles do you
prefer? Sometimes what we consider to be appropriate or desirable qualities in a
candidate may reflect more about our personal preferences than about the skills needed
to perform the job.
2.4.4 Fair vs. Same Treatment
Many people think that "fairness" means "treating everyone the same." How well does treating
everyone the same work for a diverse staff? For example, when employees have limited English
language skills or reading proficiency, even though that limit might not affect their ability to do
their jobs, transmitting important information through complicated memos might not be an
effective way of communicating with them. While distributing such memos to all staff is
"treating everyone the same," this approach may not communicate essential information to
everyone. A staff member who missed out on essential information might feel that the
communication process was "unfair." A process that takes account of the diverse levels of
English language and reading proficiency among the staff might include taking extra time to be
sure that information in an important memorandum is understood. Such efforts on the part of
supervisors and managers should be supported and rewarded as good management practices
for working with a diverse staff.
2.4.5 Managing Diversity is Different from Affirmative Action
Managing diversity focuses on maximizing the ability of all employees to contribute to
organizational goals. Affirmative action focuses on specific groups because of historical
discrimination, such as people of color and women. Affirmative action emphasizes legal
necessity and social responsibility; managing diversity emphasizes business necessity. In short,
while managing diversity is also concerned with underrepresentation of women and people of
color in the workforce, it is much more inclusive and acknowledges that diversity must work for
everyone.
2.5 Consequences of Ignoring Diversity
Ignoring diversity issues costs time, money, and efficiency. Some of the consequences can
include unhealthy tensions between people of differing gender, race, ethnicity, age, abilities,
etc.; loss of productivity because of increased conflict; inability to attract and retain talented
people of all kinds; complaints and legal actions; and inability to retain women and people of
color, resulting in lost investments in recruitment and training.
Projecting into the future is often and educated guess at best. Trying to predict the exact
composition of workforce diversity is no exception even though one does not know it will
be made up of "males, females, Hispanics, whites, blacks, Asians, Native Americans and
the elderly." Nonetheless, one does have some excellent predictions available to him, the
results of which give us a good indication of what is to come.
2.6 How Well Do You Manage Diversity in Your Unit?
One can assess how does diversity is managed in an organization by answering some of the
following questions.

Do you test your assumptions before acting on them?

Do you believe there is only one right way of doing things, or that there are a number of
valid ways that accomplish the same goal? Do you convey that to staff?

Do you have honest relationships with each staff member you supervise? Are you
comfortable with each of them? Do you know what motivates them, what their goals
are, how they like to be recognized?

Are you able to give negative feedback to someone who is culturally different from you?

When you have open positions, do you insist on a diverse screening committee and
make additional outreach efforts to ensure that a diverse pool of candidates has
applied?

When you hire a new employee, do you not only explain job responsibilities and
expectations clearly, but orient the person to the campus and department culture and
unwritten rules?

Do you rigorously examine your unit's existing policies, practices, and procedures to
ensure that they do not differentially impact different groups? When they do, do you
change them?

Are you willing to listen to constructive feedback from your staff about ways to improve
the work environment? Do you implement staff suggestions and acknowledge their
contribution?

Do you take immediate action with people you supervise when they behave in ways that
show disrespect for others in the workplace, such as ethnic jokes and offensive terms?

Do you make good faith efforts to meet your affirmative action goals?

Do you have a good understanding of institutional isms such as racism and sexism and
how they manifest themselves in the workplace?

Do you ensure that assignments and opportunities for advancement are accessible to
everyone?
2.7
The Implications for HRM
As women - both natural born and foreign citizens - become the dominant employee in
the work force, HRM will have to change its practices. This means that organization will
need to make concerted efforts to attract and maintain a diverse work force. Like
programs at many large organizations, a good diversity program means having customers
looking inside the organization and finding people like them. One means of achieving
that goal is through the organization benefits package. This includes HRM offerings that
fall under the heading of family-friendly organizations. A family-friendly organization is
one that has flexible work schedules and provides such employee benefits as childcare.
Even organizations that use part-time and temporary help personnel have found that
family-friendly benefits are needed by these groups to remain committed to the
organization, and productive.
2.8Approaches To Manage Workforce Diversity
Suggested approaches to increasing diversity include:
-
Determine the organization's level of diversity especially at higher management
levels.
-
Evaluate the healthcare consumer and community's racial and ethnic composition.
-
Identify stumbling blocks and strategies for preparing staff for diversity initiatives
that require changes.
-
Involve minorities in developmental and mentoring activities that are directed at
moving up the career ladder.
-
Select qualified minority candidates for senior management positions and provide
mentorship to newly employed staff.
-
Consult with an organizational development specialist as needed to facilitate
diversity management.
2.8.1 Promoting the Value of Diversity
In recent years, health care delivery system redesign has focused on collaborative,
interdisciplinary team based approaches. Very seldom is a staff's diversity mix
considered when team structures are established. However, there is a strong relationship
between racial diversity and difficulties with communication and conflict resolution in
teams.
As organizations identify initiatives, it is important that planning groups have
heterogeneous membership. This approach increases the likelihood that realistic and
feasible plans for implementing and evaluating initiatives are developed. Furthermore it
communicates the organizations commitment to diversity. Staffs who are part of planning
groups could serve as vital links to their colleagues in seeking ongoing support for
initiatives.
2.9 Benefits Of Workforce Diversity
An organization’s success and competitiveness depends upon its ability to embrace
diversity and realize the benefits. When organizations actively assess their handling of
workplace diversity issues, develop and implement diversity plans, multiple benefits are
reported such as:
Increased
adaptability
Organizations employing a diverse workforce can supply a greater variety of solutions to
problems in service, sourcing, and allocation of resources. Employees from diverse
backgrounds bring individual talents and experiences in suggesting ideas that are flexible
in adapting to fluctuating markets and customer demands.
Broader
service
range
A diverse collection of skills and experiences (e.g. languages, cultural understanding)
allows a company to provide service to customers on a global basis.
Variety
of
viewpoints
A diverse workforce that feels comfortable communicating varying points of view
provides a larger pool of ideas and experiences. The organization can draw from that pool
to meet business strategy needs and the needs of customers more effectively.
More
effective
execution
Companies that encourage diversity in the workplace inspire all of their employees to
perform to their highest ability. Company-wide strategies can then be executed; resulting
in higher productivity, profit, and return on investment.
2.10
Challenges of Diversity in the Workplace
Taking full advantage of the benefits of diversity in the workplace is not without its
challenges. Some of those challenges are:
Communication - Perceptual, cultural and language barriers need to be overcome for
diversity programs to succeed. Ineffective communication of key objectives results in
confusion, lack of teamwork, and low morale.
Resistance to change - There are always employees who will refuse to accept the fact
that the social and cultural makeup of their workplace is changing. The “we’ve always
done it this way” mentality silences new ideas and inhibits progress.
Implementation of diversity in the workplace policies - This can be the overriding
challenge to all diversity advocates. Armed with the results of employee assessments and
research data, they must build and implement a customized strategy to maximize the
effects of diversity in the workplace for their particular organization.
Successful Management of Diversity in the Workplace - Diversity training alone is not
sufficient for your organization’s diversity management plan. A strategy must be created
and implemented to create a culture of diversity that permeates every department and
function of the organization.
2.11
Recommended steps that have been proven successful in world-class
organizations are:
Assessment of diversity in the workplace - Top companies make assessing and
evaluating their diversity process an integral part of their management system. A
customizable employee satisfaction survey can accomplish this assessment for your
company efficiently and conveniently. It can help your management team determine
which challenges and obstacles to diversity are present in your workplace and which
policies need to be added or eliminated. Reassessment can then determine the success of
you diversity in the workplace plan implementation.
Development of diversity in the workplace plan - Choosing a survey provider that
provides comprehensive reporting is a key decision. That report will be the beginning
structure of your diversity in the workplace plan. The plan must be comprehensive,
attainable and measurable. An organization must decide what changes need to be made
and a timeline for that change to be attained.
Implementation of diversity in the workplace plan - The personal commitment of
executive and managerial teams is a must. Leaders and managers within organizations
must incorporate diversity policies into every aspect of the organization’s function and
purpose. Attitudes toward diversity originate at the top and filter downward. Management
cooperation and participation is required to create a culture conducive to the success of
your organization’s plan
Recommended diversity in the workplace solutions include:
-
Ward off change resistance with inclusion. - Involve every employee possible
in formulating and executing diversity initiatives in your workplace.
-
Foster an attitude of openness in your organization. - Encourage employees to
express their ideas and opinions and attribute a sense of equal value to all.
-
Promote diversity in leadership positions. - This practice provides visibility and
realizes the benefits of diversity in the workplace.
-
Utilize diversity training. - Use it as a tool to shape your diversity policy.
-
Launch a customizable employee satisfaction survey that provides
comprehensive reporting. - Use the results to build and implement successful
diversity in the workplace policies.
As the economy becomes increasingly global, our workforce becomes increasingly
diverse. Organizational success and competitiveness will depend on the ability to manage
diversity in the workplace effectively. Evaluate your organization’s diversity policies and
plan for the future, starting today.
2.12 Workforce Diversity: Issues Of Concern
As we enter the 21st century, workforce diversity has become an essential business concern. In the so-called
information age, the greatest assets of most companies are now on two feet (or a set of wheels).
Undeniably, there is a talent war raging. No company can afford to unnecessarily restrict its ability to
attract and retain the very best employees available.
Generally speaking, the term “Workforce Diversity” refers to policies and practices that seek to include
people within a workforce who are considered to be, in some way, different from those in the prevailing
constituency. In this context, here is a quick overview of seven predominant factors that motivate
companies, large and small, to diversify their workforces:
As a Social Responsibility
Because many of the beneficiaries of good diversity practices are from groups of people that are
“disadvantaged” in our communities, there is certainly good reason to consider workforce diversity as an
exercise in good corporate responsibility. By diversifying our workforces, we can give individuals the
“break” they need to earn a living and achieve their dreams.
As an Economic Payback
Many groups of people who have been excluded from workplaces are consequently reliant on taxsupported social service programs. Diversifying the workforce, particularly through initiatives like welfareto-work, can effectively turn tax users into tax payers.
As a Resource Imperative
The changing demographics in the workforce, that were heralded a decade ago, are now upon us. Today’s
labor pool is dramatically different than in the past. No longer dominated by a homogenous group of white
males, available talent is now overwhelmingly represented by people from a vast array of backgrounds and
life experiences. Competitive companies cannot allow discriminatory preferences and practices to impede
them from attracting the best available talent within that pool.
As a Legal Requirement
Many companies are under legislative mandates to be non-discriminatory in their employment practices.
Non-compliance with Equal Employment Opportunity or Affirmative Action legislation can result in fines
and/or loss of contracts with government agencies. In the context of such legislation, it makes good
business sense to utilize a diverse workforce.
As a Marketing Strategy
Buying power, particularly in today’s global economy, is represented by people from all walks of life
(ethnicities, races, ages, abilities, genders, sexual orientations, etc.) To ensure that their products and
services are designed to appeal to this diverse customer base, “smart” companies, are hiring people, from
those walks of life - for their specialized insights and knowledge. Similarly, companies who interact
directly with the public are finding increasingly important to have the makeup of their workforces reflect
the makeup of their customer base.
As a Business Communications Strategy
All companies are seeing a growing diversity in the workforces around them - their vendors, partners and
customers. Companies that choose to retain homogenous workforces will likely find themselves
increasingly ineffective in their external interactions and communications.
As a Capacity-building Strategy
Tumultuous change is the norm in the business climate of the 21 st century. Companies that prosper have the
capacity to effectively solve problems, rapidly adapt to new situations, readily identify new opportunities
and quickly capitalize on them. This capacity can be measured by the range of talent, experience,
knowledge, insight, and imagination available in their workforces. In recruiting employees, successful
companies recognize conformity to the status quo as a distinct disadvantage. In addition to their jobspecific abilities, employees are increasingly valued for the unique qualities and perspectives that they can
also bring to the table. According to Dr. Santiago Rodriguez, Director of Diversity for Microsoft, true
diversity is exemplified by companies that “hire people who are different – knowing and valuing that they
will change the way you do business.”
For whichever of these reasons that motivates them, it is clear that companies that diversify their
workforces will have a distinct competitive advantage over those that don’t. Further, it is clear that the
greatest benefits of workforce diversity will be experienced, not by the companies that that have learned to
employ people in spite of their differences, but by the companies that have learned to employ people
because of them.
2.13 Summary
In this unit we have discussed the concept of workforce diversity and various issues associated
with it. Managing Employee Diversity as a Vital Resource. Managing diversity is defined as
"planning and implementing organizational systems and practices to manage people so that the
potential advantages of diversity are maximized while its potential disadvantages are
minimized," according to Taylor Cox in "Cultural Diversity in Organizations." Ignoring diversity
issues costs time, money, and efficiency. Suggested approaches to increasing diversity include
determine the organization's level of diversity especially at higher management levels and
identifying stumbling blocks and strategies for preparing staff for diversity initiatives that
require changes.
2.14 Key Words
Workforce diversity, Diversity management, Issues, Strategies, Communication.
2.14
Exercise
1.
Define diversity and diversity management
2.
What role employees can play to manage the workforce diversity?
3.
What could be the consequences of neglecting the workforce diversity?
4.
Managing Diversity is Different from Affirmative Action-explain.
2.15
Reference:
1.
http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Josh_Greenberg
2.
Rob McInnes, Diversity World, 2000
Module 4
Unit 3
Organizational Development
Introduction
Organizations are likely to be in a state of constant transition, with some forces exerting
pressure for change and others reinforcing the status quo. Even those organizations that
introduced many changes in the recent past and believe “they have arrived as the
organization of the future” are likely to quickly find that these solutions have now created
a new set of unanticipated consequences – more problems to solve and more changes and
transitions to implement. For example, the massive downsizing of companies and the outsourcing of work created leaner organizations that now ask fewer workers to do more.
Although this did produce many positive changes and opened the doors to other features
of the new organization, it also added considerable stress to employees’ lives. It increased
the working hours that spilled over to increase in work-family tensions and reduced the
economic security and standard of living of large number of employees. Undoubtedly,
these consequences will produce a backlash that will influence the organizational
interactions in the future.
The art of management therefore, mainly is the art of managing the change. This means
that skills in managing the change are critical to all participants in the organization of the
future. In this module, you will learn the multiple models that are used to understand and
guide change. You will also learn the multiple perspectives with which organizational
participants experience and interpret change processes. The first part of the module
explores a number of different models of organizational change and transformation and
the associated managerial tools. It will be followed by concepts dealing with the
challenges involved in implementing change in organizations. Here, you will examine
how the solutions in one decade, (for example, transformations to improve productivity,
quality and competitiveness) can often produce the problems for the next decade. In this
way, a key point is emphasized: Change is one of the few constants in organizational life!
Or, the only permanent thing in our life is change.
The nature of organizational change
If an organization is to survive, it must respond to the changes in its environment. The
organization needs to adapt to environmental changes like, competitors introducing new
products or services, government agencies enacting new laws, important sources of
supply going out of business and many others. Some examples of change in the activities
directed at responding to changes in the environment are efforts to stimulate innovation,
empower employees and introduce work teams. .
Change agent
Changes in organizations do not take place automatically. Someone or a group takes
responsibility for managing the change activities in the organization. Change agents can
be managers or non-managers, employees of the organization or outside consultants. In
fact, part of every manager’s job in today’s dynamic environment is to act as a change
agent in the work setting. Often, the CEO and/or the senior executives of the firm need to
initiate the change process and the middle level managers are responsible for
implementation of that change. Variations do exist.
Planned change
Not all changes in organizations happen at a change agent’s discretion. Unplanned
changes occur spontaneously or at random without the change agent’s attention.
Sometimes those changes are ad-hoc, on-the-spot solutions to an immediate problem. The
appropriate goal in managing unplanned change is to act immediately once the change is
recognized, to minimize only the negative consequences and maximize any possible
benefits.
In contrast, the planned change happens as a result of specific efforts by a change agent –
the CEO or the top management.
Planned change is a direct response to someone’s perception of a performance gap – that
is, a discrepancy between the desired and actual state of affairs. Performance gaps may
represent problems to be resolved or opportunities to be explored. It is useful to think of
most planned changes as efforts initiated by managers to resolve performance gaps to the
benefit of the organization and its members.
Organizational targets for planned change can be the various components of an
organization. These targets include: organizational purpose and objectives, culture,
strategy, tasks, technology, people and structure. The logic of a truly planned change
requires a managerial willingness and ability to address problems systematically and to
avoid tendencies toward an easy but questionable “quick-fix”. Furthermore, you
recognize that the various targets of planned organizational change are highly intertwined
such that a change in one may require some corresponding change in others.
Phases in planned change
Kurt Lewin (1890-1947) recommends that any change effort be viewed as a three- phase
process:



Unfreezing
Changing
Refreezing
Unfreezing is the stage of preparing a situation for change. It involves disconfirming
existing attitudes and behaviors to create a felt need for something new. Unfreezing is
facilitated by environmental pressures, declining performance, the recognition of a
problem and awareness that someone else has found a better way, among other things.
Many changes are never tried or fail simply because situations are not properly unfrozen
to begin with.
When managers fail to monitor their environments and do not recognize the important
trends and sense no need to change, their organizations may slowly suffer and lose their
competitive edge.
The changing stage involves an actual modification in people, task, structure and/or
technology. Lewin feels that many change agents enter this stage prematurely. They are
too quick to change things and therefore they end up creating resistance to change in a
situation that is not adequately unfrozen.
Refreezing is the final stage in the planned change process. Designed to maintain the
momentum of a change, refreezing positively reinforces desired outcomes and provides
extra support when difficulties are encountered. Evaluation is a key element in this final
step.
Evaluation provides data on the costs and benefits of a change and offers opportunities to
make constructive modifications in the change over time. Improper refreezing results in
changes that are abandoned or incompletely implemented. The figure below gives
Lewin’s three phases of the planned change process:
Phase I: Unfreezing
Phase II: Changing
Phase III: Refreezing
Creating a felt need for
change;
Changing people
(individuals and groups);
tasks; structure;
technology
Reinforcing outcomes
Evaluating results
Making constructive
modifications
Minimizing resistance to
change
Resistance to change
People do change. People like to change. People change in many ways over many issues
in their daily life – say in food, dress, items of daily use and so on. . It is equally true that
people also resist change. It is a part of contradictions that you find in many facets of the
society. It presents itself as a puzzle that both liking for change and resistance to change
coexist.
In organizations, “resistance” is usually viewed by change agents as something to be
overcome in order for the change to be successful. It is better to view resistance to change
as feedback that can be used constructively by the change agent. The essence of this
approach is to recognize that when people resist change, they are defending something
important that appears threatened by the change attempt.
Potential sources of change
Shown in the table below are examples of why people might resist the introduction of a
new management practice. These and other viewpoints often act as the sources of
resistance to even the best and most wellintended planned changes.
Sources of resistance
Suggested response to overcome resistance
Fear of unknown
Offer information and encouragement
Fear of insecurity
Clarify intentions and methods
No felt need to change
Demonstrate the problem or opportunity
Vested interest threatened
Enlist key people in change planning
Contrasting interpretation
Disseminate valid information and facilitate
group sharing
Poor timing
Delay change and choose better timing
Lack of resources
Provide supporting resources and/or reduce
performance expectations
The resistance to change is minimized, if the changes satisfy the following four criteria:




Have a positive relative advantage; that is, their benefits are clearly apparent
to the people you are asking to change
Are compatible with existing values and experience
Are not too complex, that is, they are easy to understand and learn how to use
Can be tried on an incremental or experimental basis before a total
commitment has to be made
Dealing with resistance to change
All things considered, six general approaches for dealing with resistance to change can be
identified:
1. Education and communication
Resistance that originates from miscommunication, misunderstanding and
apprehensions of negative consequence often reduces through open
communication. This is done by the use of one-to-one discussions, presentations
to groups, memos, reports and demonstrations to educate people beforehand about
a change and to help them see the logic of the change. It is usually time
consuming if many people are involved. Once committed, people will often help
with the implementation of the change.
2. Participation and involvement
Change that is imposed from above frequently meets active or passive resistance.
Compliance can be achieved through coercion but ends in failure.
Participation and involvement - allowing the target members, for whom the
change is meant, to help design and implement the changes; asking individuals to
contribute ideas and advice, or forming task forces or committees to work on the
change-reduces resistance to change.
3. Facilitation and support
Providing socio-emotional support for the hardships of change, actively listening
to problems and complaints, providing training in the new ways and helping to
overcome performance pressures.
4. Negotiation and agreement
Offering incentives to actual or potential resistors; working out trade-offs to
provide special benefits in exchange for assurance that the change will not be
blocked.
5. Manipulation
Use of covert attempts to influence others; selectively providing information and
consciously structuring events so that the desired change receives maximum
support. It may lead to resentment and reinforce the very resistance, if people feel
manipulated.
6. Explicit and implicit coercion
Use of force to get people to accept change; threatening resistors with a variety of
undesirable consequences if they do not go along as planned. It may bounce back
if it is perceived as unethical and against the core values of the target group. It
may engender stiffer resistance, or even subterfuges.
Managers using them must understand that resistance to change is something to
be recognized and constructively addressed instead of being feared. The presence
of resistance typically suggests that something can be done to achieve a better
“fit” among the change, the situation and the affected people. A manager should
“listen” to such feedback and act accordingly.
Organizational development
Organizational development (OD) is a comprehensive approach to planned change that is
designed to improve the overall effectiveness of organizations. OD is the application of
behavioral science knowledge in a long-range effort to improve an organization’s ability
to cope with change in its external environment and increase its internal problem solving
capabilities.
Organizational development is used to improve performance in organizations of all types,
sizes and settings. OD includes a set of tools, which any manager concerned about
achieving and maintaining high levels of productivity will want to be familiar with. As a
result of its comprehensive nature and scientific foundations, OD is frequently done with
the aid of an external consultant or internal professional staff member. However, its basic
concepts can and should be routinely used by managers. Just as “human resource
development” must be a continuing management concern, so too “organizational
development”. There are times when every organization or sub unit needs to reflect
systematically on its strengths and weaknesses – and on the problems and opportunities it
faces. The concepts and ideas of OD can assist managers to do just that.
Goals of organizational development
OD offers a systematic approach to planned change in organizations that addresses both:


Process goals
Outcome goals
Process goals include achieving improvement in such things as communication,
interaction and decision-making, conflict management, team processes and leadership
styles among an organization’s members. They focus on how well people work together.
Outcome goals include achieving improvements in task performance. They focus on what
actually is accomplished through individual and group efforts.
OD is designed to help organizations and their members achieve better process and
outcome goals by:






Creating an open problem solving climate throughout the organization
Supplementing formal authority with that of knowledge and competence
Moving decision making to points where relevant information is located
Building trust and maximizing collaboration among individuals and groups
Increasing the sense of organizational “ownership” among members
Allowing people to exercise self-direction and self-control at work
Principles underlying organizational development
As a framework for planned change, OD is designed to improve the contributions of
employees to organizational goals. However, it seeks to do so in ways that respect them
as mature adults who need and deserve high quality experiences in their working lives.
The foundation for achieving change in this manner rests with a number of wellestablished principles you have already read in earlier modules:
The principles regarding individuals include:

Individual needs for growth and development are most likely to be satisfied in
a supportive and challenging work environment

Most people are capable of assuming responsibility for their own actions and
of making positive contributions to organizational performance.
The principles regarding groups include:



Groups help people satisfy important needs
Groups can be either helpful or harmful in supporting organizational
objectives
People can increase the effectiveness of groups in meeting individual and
organizational needs by working in collaboration.
The principles regarding organizations include:



Changes in one part of an organization will affect other parts as well
The culture of the organization will affect the nature and expression of
individuals’ feelings and attitudes
Organizational structures and jobs can be designed to meet the needs of
individuals and groups as well as the organization.
Ethical aspects of OD
Presumably, OD practitioners are trying to “help” a client system – groups, an
organization and its members- accomplish positive change. In any helping relationship,
however, ethical dilemmas may arise and the risk exists that the relationship may be
abused or misused in some way.
Among the most common ethical dilemmas that arise in OD are those involving the
following four decision situations:

The choice of “intervention” or ways of bringing about change in the client
system
It is not considered ethical to use an intervention that the OD practitioners is
not skilled in the practice of and/or to use an intervention the client system
does not want to use

The use of information that arises during the OD process
It is not considered ethical to use data to manipulate the client system or to
give one individual or group within the system special advantage over
another.

The management of client system dependency
It is not considered ethical to build and maintain prolonged dependency of the
client system on the OD practitioner; rather, the goal of OD include making
the client system independent and capable of managing its own self-renewal
and continuous improvement.

Freedom of choice in regard to participation in the OD process
It is not considered ethical to conduct OD activities in situations where the
participants do not have full information about what is taking place and where
they are not allowed to exercise free choice in respect of their continued
involvement.
The process of OD
You find the figure below showing a general model of OD. This shows the relationship
between OD processes and the phases of a planned change.
The OD process begins with diagnosis, that is, gathering and analyzing data to assess a
situation and set appropriate change objectives. From a planned change perspective, good
diagnosis helps to unfreeze an existing situation as well as pinpoint appropriate action
directions. Diagnosis leads to active intervention wherein objectives are pursued through
a variety of specific activities. This is the ‘changing’ phase of the planned change
process. In the reinforcement stage of OD, changes are monitored, reinforced and
evaluated. Refreezing of change occurs at this point and foundations for future replication
of similar diagnosis – intervention – reinforcement cycles are set.
An illustrative example follows:



Diagnosis: Management perceived a performance gap and hired a consultant.
The consultant interviewed key people and planned a workshop where
managers could analyze the interview results in a problem-solving format.
Intervention: The workshop was held. Participants were exposed to
experiential learning of group processes and helped analyze group data. Based
on their own understanding of the situation, they developed the appropriate
action directions.
Reinforcement: The consultant confirmed to meet periodically with the group
to review progress; additional help was given when things got “bogged
down”; problem-solving workshops became regular events for the firm.
Although OD is a planned change process, the example suggests that it is something
more. Think of OD as “planned change plus” if you would like. That plus is the goal of
creating change in a way that organization members develop a capacity for continual selfrenewal by learning how to implement similar diagnosis – intervention – reinforcement
cycles in the future. True OD, therefore, seeks more than the successful accomplishment
one planned change. OD seeks to achieve change in such a way that organization
members become more active and confident in taking similar steps to maintain longer run
organization effectiveness.
ORGANIZATION DEVELOPMENT PROCESS
Diagnosis
Intervention
Reinforcement
Gathering and analyzing
data, setting change
objectives
Taking collaborative
action to implement
desired change
Following up to reinforce
and support change
Unfreezing
Changing
Refreezing
Getting ready for
change
Making the change
Stabilizing the change
PLANNED-CHANGE PROCESS
Organizational development to organizational transformation: A critique of OD
In the 1960s, models of organizational development (OD) gained popularity. The work
was based on two basic theoretical foundations such as:

Individuals and organizations tend to resist change. Therefore, there is a
consistent need to understand the dynamics of the change process and
facilitate the desired change in organization

Kurt Lewin’s three phases of change process, that change does not occur in
one shot but multiple phases – unfreezing – changing – refreezing.
These change models were largely developed based on theories of interpersonal
influence, conflict, leadership and social psychological theories of motivation and group
behavior. OD models stressed the intervention of consultants as change agents or
facilitators who used interviews, surveys and observation to collect data on group
processes and interpersonal interactions and the data were shared as feedback to the
target group or management. These data and the feedback sessions in turn served as an
impetus for changing behavior and improving decision-making.
These models are still widely used and used effectively in settings where change, within
the cultural norms of the organization, receives the needed support.
However, these models are criticized for being too focused on top organizational leaders
or executives and for assuming there were strong, widely shared cultural norms
throughout the organization.
OD models also were recognized as being of limited value in settings where change
involved multiple interests or major shifts in structure or power of the parties, since the
underlying issues could not be resolved through increases in trust or interpersonal
understanding and empathy. Stronger tools were needed that reflected the diversity of
organizational participants and their interests, differences in power and the ability to
strategically restructure operations.
The dominant feature distinguishing change efforts in the past decade from earlier
models, therefore, is an effort to move from incremental, gradual, planned changes to
more decisive, rapid, fundamental transformations of organizational practices and design.
Now, you will be introduced to some alternative models of OD.
Socio-technical theories: the European alternative
In Europe, another approach to planned change evolved from the work of the Tavistock
Institute in Britain and Scandinavia known as socio-technical theory. The theory argues
that the technical system of work and the social system that builds around the technical
system are interwoven. Changing one aspect (say the technical aspect) without changing
the other, will not work. Hence, the key argument for this model is that technical and
social dimensions of a work process must be changed together. This approach in some
ways served as a forerunner of the workplace reforms that would gain considerable
popularity in the 1980s.
Like their OD counterparts in the United States, European socio-technical theorists stress
the importance of planned change. They, however, differed in an important respect. You
have already read that OD change agents tended to work with executives and focused on
building interpersonal trust among those at or near the top of organization. Sociotechnical change agents worked from the bottom-up and stressed the importance of
involving rank and file workers in the design of their jobs and the use of workplace
technologies. However, their major tool – the autonomous work group – did not fit all
work settings and therefore, this model remained limited in its applications.
“Garbage Can” concept
The essential view here was that most organizational actions are in fact unplanned
reactions to events. Actions are taken in response to some change in the environment and
these actions are then considered to be solutions to problems that are yet to be defined.
Only then do organizations tend to define problems to fit the solutions.
Top-down: The transformational leader
Gradually the popular press and some academic work, replaced both OD models of
planned change and the more agnostic or muddling through approach of the garbage can
models, with visions of transformational organizational leaders or executives. A topdown model of change envisaged a mixed charismatic and tough analytical leadership by
a CEO who was willing to make hard decisions even if these meant imposing personal
costs on considerable numbers of current employees for the sake of maximizing the value
of the firm to shareholders. It also recognized that the “market for change” was getting
impatient with the pace of change achieved in more incremental or softer approaches.
The tools of the transformational leader vary considerably. It may incorporate some of
the language, rhetoric and team building methods of the OD and cultural change models
with restructuring and strategic planning tools consistent with the strategic design
perspective on organization. This approach places great reliance on selecting (and
replacing) top managerial personnel to build a team that shares the same vision and
strategy for the organization.
Bottom-up: Labor – Management partnerships
The incrementalism in the approaches of change models in the 1950s and 1960s led to a
search for alternative models such as the top-down approach and the bottom-up approach.
In workplaces across the world, a bottom-up approach was emerging: workers, their
representatives and grass roots managers were engaged in fundamental rethinking of the
ways employee relations and work systems should be structured. Again, much of this
change was market driven and the impetus to get started often came from the top
executives who felt the market pressure. Top management responded to such market
pressure through labor-management partnerships in which workers and if present, unions,
joined with managers in problem solving processes. The nature of these partnerships
includes empowerment of workers at the shop-floor level, increased teamwork and the
flexibility needed to improve quality, productivity and customer satisfaction. An
additional motivation behind these efforts was to overcome the adversarial relations
between workers and managers.
This bottom-up model used many of the buzzwords of the 1980s – labor-management
cooperation, quality of working life, quality circles, total quality management and so
forth. This model also challenged the earlier model of incremental bargaining and
adjustment of personnel policies that proved to be too slow and too much imprisoned by
the work structures and traditions of the past. A more fundamental transformation of
employee relations was needed and indeed it began.
Reengineering
Advances in information technologies (IT) offered new opportunities for organizations to
change and be competitive. However, it was stated that capital spent on new information
technologies during much of the 1980s and early 1990s did not give the commensurate
payoff to organizations. As the 1987 Nobel Prize winning economist Robert Solow put it,
"Technology shows up everywhere but in the productivity numbers!" That IT would steer
organizations to Promised Land of higher productivity did not materialize. It is suggested
that most organizations have not learned how to make full use of new technologies.
When they do, quantum leaps in productivity and performance are possible. A new model
of organizational change, "process reengineering" was proposed in the early 1990s to
help organizations achieve the full potential of IT by totally "reengineering" their
operations and organizations.
Whether reengineering will produce the quantum leap forward remains to be seen, but if
history is a guide, it probably will fall short of the high expectations it has created for
itself. One reason is that reengineering downplays many of the human costs that are
imposed by the restructuring it recommends. This approach embodies a particularly
narrow U. S. engineering conception of technology as "hardware". Japanese engineers
and workplace experts have demonstrated that the real quantum leaps in gains promised
by new technologies come when the hardware (and software) features of new
technologies are combined with a sensitivity to what some call "humanware". That is, the
most significant productivity and quality gains from new technology are achieved when
technologies are conceived, designed and implemented in ways that make full use of the
ingenuity, skills and motivations of the people who will be working with the machinery.
This approach stresses continuous improvements throughout the life of the technology as
opposed to the one time quantum leap envisioned by reengineering models. One Japanese
scholar describes this approach as "giving wisdom to the machine."
Externally induced change
All of these change models focus on internal organizational operations and practices.
Many of the most important and fundamental changes in organizations, however, come
not from planned changes or even fundamental restructuring initiated by top management
in response to market pressures or opportunities. The biggest changes are more likely to
be externally induced by the economic environment - opening of new markets, entry of
new competitors and so on, or actions of government or other external political and social
forces seeking to change the role or behavior of corporations in society.
These externally induced changes can either be incremental - the invisible hand of the
market or more subtle hand of the government that change incentive structures and
investment payoffs; and more transformational disinvestments and privatization of stateowned enterprises.
Evolutionary process
Organization theories have little to say about how to handle or manage these changes.
One school of thought, labeled "population ecology", takes a Darwinian perspective new organization that fit the features of the changed environment are somehow born and
prosper while older organizations fitted to a prior world shrink and die off. There is, of
course, some initial risk, or "liability to newness", experienced by start - ups. Those who
did not fit with the environment would wither away. Those who fitted well with the
environment ultimately survive.
This evolutionary perspective provides little guidance to organizational participants.
Organization - environment "fit" is a more of a chance than a deliberate choice on the
part of managers. This outlook does not help and, therefore, has no takers.
Follow the best practice
Another approach to change advocates that managers should:

Scan their environment to see who is doing well and what they are doing

Identify new emerging "best practices" and then follow and copy them
quickly and effectively
This method of change known as "institutional theory" sounds rather common sense; it
may in fact be the dominant model of change used by most managers today. It says only
copy what is already there. As followers, managers can select the winning strategies and
thereby reduce their risks of failure. If they are good learners, followers can then adopt
and improve upon what works for others to fit their particular situation. This continuous
"adaptive learning" approach to change has been described as a key source of Japanese
(and South Korean) management strategy, both historically and currently.
Cross-boundary networks
More recently, organization theorists have been exploring ways to develop and sustain
trust among networks of organizations, in part in response to the recognition of the
importance of "cross-boundary networks". Many of the JVs across the national boundary
tend to change organizations through these cross-boundary networks. Yet sustained
cooperation has proved to be elusive in some cases due to many reasons such as
difference in cultures and institutional settings. Much remains to be done to develop
effective change models that involve cross-boundary relations among organizations with
partly shared and partly competing interests.
Lessons for the future
One important lesson that managers can learn from the approaches to change is that No
single model or strategy fits all problems or organizational situations. The manager of the
future will need to adept at diagnosing change situations and at choosing among different
models and using the tools best suited to the moment.
Essentially, a manager can choose from the following three approaches:

The strategic approach:
The strategic design perspective leads one to consider top-down restructuring
of operations and organization design. This approach fits the organization
better to its environment. This is the essence of reengineering models, with a
strong emphasis on the use of information technology.

The cultural approach:
Addressing the cultural dimensions of organizations and producing change
consistent with prevailing cultures, can best be done by applying the OD
techniques of probing and collecting data on the underlying values,
assumptions, interpersonal dynamics and world views of managers and
executives.

The political approach:
A political perspective helps alert organizational members to the interests that
need to be addressed in changes that challenge the existing culture,
redistribute power, or produce more fundamental transformations in internal
and external relationships.
If history is any guide and the dialectic view of change as described is accurate, then a
reasonable caveat can be:
Clues to the problems of the future are likely to be found in the solutions of the present.
Module 4
Unit 4
Change Management
Introduction:
Managing change is one of the most troubling and challenging tasks facing organizations today.
Implementing a major and lasting change requires focusing on three basic issues like Striking a
delicate balance between individual and collective actions, Paying attention to the context as
well as the process of change, and Pursuing both short-term and long-term goals. These three
issues are closely interrelated. In this unit we will focus on issues that are relevant to change
management process.
Objectives:
After reading this unit you will be able to learn/know/understand:
a. concept of change management
b. complexity of change process
c. Roles and tasks for the change makers
d. Models for change process:
e. Organizational Development and Managing change
f.
Change strategies and change recipients
g. Organizational Development and Managing change
h. Change strategies in organization
Complexity of change process
Change is extraordinarily difficult. To portray "change" as a discrete process, which
when followed "correctly" leads more or less inevitably to the new desired state, is wrong
in many ways.
A popular notion in management literature tends to consider organizational change as a
step-by-step process leading to success. Recent descriptions of the change process are
more sophisticated and suggest that corporate transformation should be a continuous, on
going process rather than a short-term fix; and recognize change as a reciprocal learning
process between the top of the organization and the bottom. Too often popular views fail
to concede the difficulties that lie along the way of organizational change.
In the real world, organizations cannot pursue only one change rationally and tenaciously.
Most corporations must stake out multiple changes at once and the goals themselves must
be continually reexamined, altered, added to, or even abandoned. Instead of one vision to
guide an organization's overall direction, many companies find they must pursue separate
and sometimes even competing visions, such as a quality vision, a customer vision and a
human resource vision. Instead of one powerful, centralized and charismatic change
leader, many companies now rely on teams of collaborating individuals who hammer out
the emerging details of the change process through bargaining, compromise and
negotiation.
The larger and more complex the change, more likely it is that this kind of overlap and
complexity will occur. Any large-scale change, experts claim, can entail at least some of
the following characteristics that can act as potential sources of problem:

Multiple transitions. Rather than being confined to one transition, complex
changes often involve many different transitions. Some may be explicitly
related others not.

Incomplete transitions. Many of the transitions that are initiated do not get
completed. Events overtake them, or subsequent changes subsume them.

Uncertain future states. It is difficult to predict or define exactly what a future
state will be; there are many unknowns that limit the ability to describe it.
Even when a future state can be described, there is a high probability that
events will change the nature of that state before it is achieved.

Transitions over long period of time. Many large-scale organizational changes
take a long time to implement - in some cases as much as three to seven years.
The dynamics of managing change over this period are different from those of
managing a quick change with a discrete beginning and end.
No matter how carefully the leaders prepare for change and no matter how realistic and
committed they are, there will always be factors outside their control that may have a
profound impact on the success of the change process. Those external, uncontrollable and
powerful forces are not to be underestimated and thus some researches have questioned
the manageability of change at all.
Roles and tasks for the change makers
Organizational change is typically modeled as a three-part process that takes the flawed
organization, moves it through an arduous transition stage and delivers it in an enriched
and desired state. You have already acquainted yourself with Kurt Lewin’s (1947) threephase change process. For the next 50 years or so different experts on organizational
change processes suggested the same basic three-phase model of change with marginal
changes and different nomenclatures. In the table below you get a summary presentation
of the major works. In all these works the same major themes emerge:

The company must be awakened to a new reality and must disengage from the
past, recognizing that the old way of doing things is no longer acceptable

Next, the organization creates and embraces a new vision of the future, uniting
behind the steps necessary to achieve that vision

Finally, as new attitudes, practices and policies are put in place to change the
corporation, these must be “refrozen” or solidified
This three-phase model is a prescription for creating a temporary stability so that the
change process can work for some period of time. “Change agents” – are meant to fulfill
these prescriptions.
Models for change process:
Model
Process
Lewin
Unfreezing
Changing
Refreezing
Beckhard and Harris
Present state
Transition state
Future state
Beer
Dissatisfaction
Process
Model
Departure from
Strategic decisions
Action vehicles and
tradition and crisis
and prime movers
institutionalization
Act I – Awakening
Act II – Mobilizing
Kanter
Act III – (Epilogue)
Tichy and Devanna
Reinforcing
Nadler and Tushman
Emerging
Envisioning
Enabling
In a real life situation, the change process seldom sails through so smoothly. Instead, it
meets often with a “choppy sea”. Both external and internal dynamics are at work to rock
the change boat. Many of the external forces are uncontrollable, or at a minimum,
unpredictable. However, organizations can control the internal dynamics and the way the
various internal actors in the change drama interact. If these actors also share an
understanding of what change is needed, of how that can be effected and of the “price” to
be paid, then the change process has a far better chance of succeeding.
For clarity, the change agents of an organization can be divided into three broad change
categories:

Change strategists

Change implementers

Change recipients
Change strategists
Change strategists are responsible for identifying the need for change, creating a vision of
the desired outcome, deciding what change is feasible, choosing who should sponsor and
defend it and oversee the links between the organization and its environment – its market
place, its identity. CEOs, top management and consultants typically, but not exclusively,
are change strategists.
In an organizational change program, the change strategist is seen in the “leadership” role
– someone who helps articulate the change, capture and mobilize the hearts and minds of
people.
Embedded in the leadership role are several tasks: determining the ultimate extent of
change needed and the degree of urgency; assessing whether the change is short or longterm; deciding if change is cultural, structural, etc. These interwoven tasks, in turn,
become represented in distinctive behavior – envisioning, emerging and enabling. The
leaders are typically portrayed as the critical ingredient in instituting change; if they are
missing, the change is not likely to occur.
Implicit in these leader-centered descriptions, however, are indications that while the role
is necessary, it is hardly sufficient. Implementation must be part of the earliest
formulation of a change. Strategists must also pay attention to all the constituencies that
must be “sold” on change, not just what should be changed. The need for implementing
change includes, therefore, recognizing that a change strategy is as much a matter of
selling as it is of substance.
In sum, while change strategists can fairly influence organizational structures and
resource allocation, it is more difficult for them to influence culture and individuals.
These are more directly shaped by change implementers and change recipients.
Change implementers
The change implementers “make it happen”, managing the day-to-day process of change.
They are often assigned their role and given a mandate to institute the change on behalf
of the change strategists. Depending on the extent of the “vision” they are given, they can
either develop the implementation plan or shepherd through programs handed down to
them, simultaneously attempting to win the cooperation from below.
Major issues that the implementers face are: intervention tactics for overcoming
resistance; communication tools; how to develop transition structures; training and
development; reward systems; and the like. Advice may be directed at technical, cultural,
or political dimensions and may focus on individuals, groups, or the entire organization.
The more complex and large scale the change, the more important it becomes that
interventions be well thought out and consistent with each other. A series of choices
among tactical options is thereby needed. This includes whether to use a pilot test or to
go pan-organization; whether to change certain systems sequentially or simultaneously;
whether to reject the old or accentuate the new and whether to drive change bottom-up or
top-down.
Change strategists may play a secondary role in making these choices. For their part,
change recipients are more focused on the outcomes and consequences of the choices.
Partly as a result of this, implementers often gripe about being caught in the middle. They
often feel that they have insufficient authority to make change happen entirely on their
own and they fail to receive the support from above to move forward. And the more the
recipients balk at the decisions implementers make, the more frustrating the task
becomes.
Change recipients
Change recipients represent the largest group of people that must adopt and adapt to
change. Thus, their response and reaction to change can fundamentally reshape that
change. These are institutionalizers. Their behavior determines whether a change will be
successful. The concept of “organizational readiness to change” that is frequently
assessed in the early phases of a change effort is an indication of how important the
“issues” actually are. Another indication of change recipients’ influence on the course
and nature of a change process is the high failure rate of change.
Recipients are characterized often as sources of resistance to change efforts in
organization. However, what is vital to a successful change effort is understanding how
recipients perceive the change and how they experience it. Resistance to change is not an
inevitable by-product of change efforts, nor it is purely emotional. Recipients resist
change for reasonable and predictable reasons. You have already acquainted yourself
how to deal with resistance to change in the early part of this module.
Unless carefully conceived, therefore, change programs aimed specifically at eliciting
employee participation (say TQM programs) can backfire. In fact, being ordered to
participate does not feel much different from being ordered to do anything else.
Moreover, when the rhetoric of participation does not match the actual ways people are
included, cynicism follows.
Differential roles of the change makers
The understanding and impact of a change effort vary considerably from one group to
another. All are critically linked with a change effort but their respective roles differ.
Differences in their roles, orientation to change, action focus, organizational level, stage
of involvement are presented in a tabular form below:
Organizational Development and Managing change
Role and
mindset
Change
Strategist
Visionary
Orientation to
change
External
environment
Initiator
Action focus
End – results
Level
Dominant
stage of
involvement
Top
Unfreezing
Middle
Changing
Bottom
Refreezing
Corporate values
and business
results
Corporate view
Change
Implementer
Internal
coordination
Translator
Means
Overcoming
resistance
Division or
department
Change
Recipient
Use and adapter
Institutionalizer
Distribution of
power and
proceeds
Means – ends
congruence
Personal benefits
s
Personal view
Operational
These three groups – strategists, implementers and recipients – usually represent different
hierarchical levels of organization. Thus, the varying experiences, tasks, priorities and on
going work of these three groups lead to very different assumptions about a change
effort. In addition to different frames of reference each group brings, is the fact that each
enter the change process at a different point of time. Therefore, in any major long-term
change effort, a harmonious blend of these roles – initiator, implementer and recipient is
the key to make the change a success.
Many of the companies that aspire to the transnational model have adopted a formal
matrix structure; others have developed a “virtual matrix”. One way to enhance this
process is to subdivide country units into a much smaller number of more focused units
that are often more densely linked to their counterparts in other countries than to other
local units. Both international stakeholders that are common to many of the local units
(such as multinational customers) and local stakeholders are important to the
transnational MNC and other subsidiaries often constitute key internal stakeholders of
each of local unit. The organizational culture tends to be an emergent culture influenced
by local and international organizational environments.
Change strategies in the organization
Organizational managers design and develop change strategies in response to the changes
in environments. Managers have many options depending on factors that are likely to
have an influence on the success or failure of the change process. You learned in this
module the different change models and the complex issues concerned with any change
program. How do these change models relate to the picture of the organization of the
future? In understanding this, you must consider the following:
1. A flatter organization will bring into closer contact any bottom-up or top-down
initiatives. Top executives will need to be skilled in managing worker-management or
labor-management partnerships and work redesign efforts, whereas rank and file
workers will be more exposed to and require the interpersonal skills and techniques of
organizational development.
The circle of contacts of top executives will be broader – more exposure to
frontline employees at the workplace and vice versa. This increases the need for
all organizational participants to understand and have the skills to manage change.
Change will be too important to leave to managers or designated “change agents”.
2. Flexible boundaries and networked organizations mean that organizational
participants will more frequently be exposed to externally induced changes and
influences. Dual loyalties (both inter group and inter organizational) will become an
increasing part of dynamics of change in the future. Skills in balancing the need to
represent one’s group or organizational interests with the need to build trust and
cooperative alliances with external groups or organizations will be critical to
managing change through cross-boundary networks.
3. Diversity increases the importance of the skills offered by OD models. Diversity
means that multiple cultural norms and styles of decision-making will be present in
organizations and that change will be initiated from many different people and
organizational units. Managing change effectively will therefore require a greater
openness to changes suggested by others rather than those planned or designed by an
organizational elite. Facilitating change initiated by others, therefore, will be an
important managerial skill in the organization of the future.
4. Globalization of economic activity now implies that efforts to scan the environment
for “best practices” will require a global perspective. However, choosing among ‘best
practices” found in other cultural and institutional environments will require even
greater skills in adaptive learning. Adaptive learning requires developing a deep
understanding of how to adapt them to fit into one’s own setting. Experimentation
with others’ “best practices”, therefore, will become an increasingly common and
critical task in the organization of the future.
The networked, flat, flexible, diverse and global will be the future model of an
organization. To achieve this type of ideal model is to use in some ways all the
concepts and tools discussed in OB. These concepts and tools are the building
blocks for managing change.
Summary
The nature of organizational change involves the activities of change agents who seek to
bring about change in people and/or systems. Managers are responsible for serving as
change agents with a special concern for resolving any performance gaps that indicate
discrepancies between desired and actual state of affairs.
The three phases of successful planned change include unfreezing, changing and
refreezing.
Resistance to change is to be expected. Dealing successfully with resistance begins with
awareness that it represents “feedback” that can be used by a change agent to increase the
effectiveness of a change effort. People resist change for different reasons. Successful
change agents are open to resistance and capable of responding to it in ways that creates a
better “fit” between the change, the situation and all the people involved.
Organizational development (OD) in concept is a special application of behavioral
science knowledge to create a comprehensive effort to improve organizational
effectiveness. OD has both outcome goals, to improve tasks accomplishments and
process goals, to improve the way organizational members work together.
With a strong commitment to collaborative efforts and human values, OD utilizes basic
behavioral science principles in respect to individuals, groups and organizations. Ethical
aspects of OD require a commitment to working with client systems in such a way that
the OD facilitator does not act beyond the boundaries of his expertise, allows free and
informed choice on the part of all affected parties and avoids the creation of unnecessary
dependencies.
The process of OD is a special form of planned organizational change. The OD phases of
diagnosis, intervention and reinforcement correspond to the unfreezing, changing and
refreezing phases of planned change.
In recent years, management literature focused on organizational transformation rather
than organizational development. Several models have been suggested such as the sociotechnical theories; top-down; the transformational leader model; bottom-up, labor
management partnerships; garbage-can model of unplanned change; reengineering and
externally induced changes. The implication for the future is that no single model or
strategy fits all problems or organizational situations. The manager of the future needs to
be adept at diagnosing change situations and skilled at choosing among different models
and using the tools best suited to the moment.
Implementing change is a challenging prospect. Different roles of the change strategists,
change implementers and change recipients corresponding roughly to the top, middle and
bottom levels of the organization, when matched with the change process,
implementation is likely to be successful. Change implementation also requires different
tactics to be followed.
Finally, the complexity of organizational change can be realized if one pursues the
changes in multinational or multi-domestic organizations to become transnational
organizations. Change strategies in the organization of the future require organizations to
become flatter, flexible, boundary-less, networked, diverse and global.
Key Words
Change
Change management
Change maker
Change implementers
Change recipients
Change management models
Exercise
1.
What do you mean by change and change agent
2.
explains the different change models
3.
Explain the relation between organizational development and change
management
4.
explain the differential roles of change makers
Module 5
Unit 1
Power, Politics and Conflict Management
Structure:
5.1 Objectives:
5.2 Introduction
5.3 Bases of power
5.3.1 Types of Power:
5.3.2 Person Based Power
5.3.3 Managerial power
5.4 Turning power into influence
5.5 Power, authority, and obedience
5.6 Zone of indifference
5.7 Acceptance of authority and personal values
5.8 Empowering others
5.9 Organizational politics
5.10 Organizational governance
5.11Conflict management:
5.12 Conflict management styles
5.13 Summary
5.14 Keywords
5.15 Exercise
5.1 Objectives:
After reading this unit you will be able to learn/know/understand
a) the concept of power, politics and conflicts in the organization
b) types of power
c) sources of power
d) relation between power and influence
e) Organizational politics
f) Functions of Organizational politics
g) Organizational Governance
h) Ethics of power and politics
i) Traditional and contemporary views on conflict
j) Levels of conflict
k) Types of conflict
5.2 Introduction
Team process and leadership in organizations explain the nature of interactions that
influence the members. In the previous chapter we have discussed that the team's
performance and the leader's effectiveness are dependent on the nature of interactions
among the members as well as the group leader. In a broader sense, the organizational
performance and/or effectiveness are influenced by the nature of the interactive
processes. During the interactive process, conflict do arise due to various reasons
conflicts with positive or negative consequences. . However, conflict is a part of normal
life and is inevitable. Conflict can be a serious problem in an organization. It can create
chaotic conditions that make it impossible for employees to work together. Or conflict
may generate a productive and innovative climate in a work unit.
Power is a tool which every one would like to posses but no one likes to talk about it and
at the same time deny having it. Often power is associated with corruption and unethical
practices. If there is a bad face of power, there is a good face of power as well. Power is a
natural process in any group or organization. The issue is how the power is acquired
which is a hard reality of organizational life. We will learn how one can act to ensure that
he/she has the power required to be successful in their jobs. What is essential is how
power and politics is used in an organization to have ethical practices.
In this chapter we aim to critically explore the concepts of the power and politics in
organizations, which are also interactive in nature. Organizational effectiveness is also
influenced by the nature of power and politics within the organization and the conflict
which arise due to interactive ness. At the end one will be able to Define power and
Distinguish between power, authority and obedience, dimensions of managerial power
and influence, ethical issues of power and politics in organizations, Define conflict,
Outline the conflict process, and conflict management styles in an organization.
5.3 Bases of power
Power is an essential feature of a managerial function. Without some degree of power,
a manager would find it difficult to direct the efforts of subordinates. Thus, power
underlies a manager's effectiveness. Subordinates also possess forms and degrees of
power. For example, subordinates can control the workflow or withhold support from
their manager. Therefore, to some extent, each member of an organization possesses
power. Power is an influence process. Power is defined as The ability to change the
behavior of others. It is the ability to cause others to perform actions that they might
not otherwise perform.
The essence of power is control over the behavior of others. One of the interesting
things about power is that it has no verb form. You do not "power" something. You can,
however, "influence" something. Power is the force that makes things happen in an
intended way.
Power is not always legitimate. Therefore, we speak of authority as the right to try to
change or direct others. Authority includes the notion of legitimacy. It is the right to
influence others in the pursuit of common goals that are agreed upon by various parties.
Power, in contrast, does not always pursue common goals and may, at times, be clearly
directed to pursuing only a single individual's goals.
In hierarchical organizations, power is vested in the office or position a person holds.
This is the formal power. Another person may not occupy a formal position in the same
organization but may enjoy power over others. This is an informal power. The formal
power is synonymous with authority.
Influence is a behavioral response to the exercise of power. It is an outcome achieved
through the use of power. People are "influenced" when they act in ways consistent
with others’ desires. Managers use power to achieve influence over other people in the
work setting.
5.3.1 Types of Power:
Important concerns for every member of an organization include who gets what, when,
and how. People at all levels are interested in and affected by the acquisition and
distribution of rewards and resources. Of course power plays a central role in such
allocation processes. To explain how power operates, we will first examine the five
distinct sources or bases of power proposed by John French and Bertram Raven.
Managers derive power, in varying degree, from these five sources or bases of power.
For convenience, these sources are classified into two categories of:

Position based power

Person based power
Position Based Power
Three bases of power are available to a manager because of his position in the
organization. These include:

Reward

Coercive

Legitimate
Reward power.
It is the extent to which a manager can use extrinsic and intrinsic
rewards to control other people. Examples of such rewards include money, promotions,
compliments, or enriched jobs. We will discuss these aspects in detail in the chapter
‘motivation’. Although all managers have some access to rewards, success in accessing
and utilizing them to achieve influence varies according to the skills of the manager. As
long as rewards are valued, a person who is able to distribute or withhold them can
enjoy strong power over other's behavior. Reward power gives a manager a distinct
advantage in obtaining desired ends from his work group.
Coercive power.
If the reward power is termed "the carrot", then the coercive
power is the 'stick". Coercive power stems from the capacity to produce fear in others.
The threat of punishment can be a strong means of invoking compliance. The most
obvious examples of punishments are demotions, suspensions, transfers, denial of
promotions, and dismissal. However, coercive power can also be more subtle. For
example, criticism and the denial of emotional support and friendship may also be
effective forms of coercion. Despite its potential misuse and negative effects, coercive
power underlies much of the routine compliance that occurs in organizations. Decisions
to arrive at work on time, meet deadlines, and so forth are often largely due to fear of
being fired, or reprimanded. Rightly or wrongly, coercive power is frequently used in
most organizations.
Bureaucratic and traditional organizational policies support coercive principles, "Be fair
but firm". Authoritarian culture believes in instilling fear to achieve a better compliance.
It advocates "It is better to be feared than loved, if both are not available at the same
time".
Theory X believers point out the undesirable consequence in withholding
punishment where it is due. They cite the adage "spare the rod, spoil the child" as an
example of their stand. One may argue both in favor of and against the use of coercive
power to achieve compliance. By and large, however, reward power is more effective
than coercive power.
Legitimate power.
It stems from the willingness of others to accept an individual's
direction. They feel an obligation to follow the individual's lead and submit to his
authority. There are two sources of legitimate power viz Social conditioning and
Designation
Social conditioning: From early childhood, people are conditioned to accept the
direction of authority figures. They learn that parents, teachers, as well as
foremen and managers, have the right to lead or direct others.
Designation. A person can gain power by being designated an authority figure
by someone who already possesses legitimate authority. For example, the
president of a company may assign a vice-president the authority to make
important decisions on the company's behalf. The president thus gives the vicepresident legitimate power to act as his representative and exercise authority
accordingly.
Legitimacy of power is derived from what is sanctioned under the judicial and legal
system of the country and the society at large.
5.3.2 Person Based Power
Two bases of personal power are:

Expert power

Referent power
Expert power is the ability to control another's behavior through the possession
of knowledge, experience, or judgment that the other person lacks but needs. In
the case of a supervisor having expert power, a subordinate would obey because
the boss is considered to know better about what is to be done or how it is to be
done than the subordinate. Access to or control over information is an important
element in this particular power base. Access to key organizational decision
makers is another important element. A person's ability to contact key persons
informally can allow for special participation in the definition of a problem or
issue, alteration in the flow of information to decision makers, and lobbying for
use of special criteria in decision making.
Referent power is the ability to control another's behavior because of their
wanting to identify with the power source. In this case, a subordinate would
obey the boss because he wants to behave, perceive, or believe as the boss
does. This may occur, for example, because the subordinate likes the boss
personally and therefore tries to do things the way the boss wants them done. In
a sense, the subordinate behaves in order to avoid doing anything that would
interfere with the pleasing boss-subordinate relationship.
Interplay among the power bases
A manager can possess each of the five sources of power to varying degrees, and his use
of one power base can affect the strength of another. For example, a person can gain
greater legitimacy by being promoted to a higher position. Of course, a greater
legitimate power usually entails more opportunities to use rewards and coercion. The
exercise of coercion, however, could reduce the manager's referent power because
coercion tends to produce immediate compliance but may have negative side effects.
Some distinctions can be drawn among the five power bases. Expert and referent power
bases are more informal in nature, while legitimate, reward, and coercive power bases
are more formal. The informal power bases have a greater capacity to affect overall
employee satisfaction and performance. The formal power bases, in contrast, have
potentially greater impact on immediate behavior.
Nicceolo Machiavelli (1469-1527), an Italian philosopher and statesman, contended that
people who have formal power tend to remain in their positions of authority longer
than people who rely on informal power. It is equally true that a person who was
regarded as a "tiger" in the formal position is often reduced to a "paper tiger" after
retirement. Power, like a sand dune, shifts with the shift of sources of power.
The diagram below shows power sources and the influence process.
Source of
Power
Position based
Reward
The Influence Process
Provide
Coercive
Legitimate
Person based
Expert
Referent
Power
that when
activated
becomes
influence
that gets
someone
to do
somethin
g the
way you
want it
done
Managerial perspectives on power and influence
A considerable portion of any manager's time will be directed toward what is called
"power-oriented" behavior. This is "behavior directed primarily at developing or using
relationships in which other people are to some degree willing to defer to one's wishes".
Basic dimensions of power and influence with which a manager will become involved in
this regard are:

Downward

Lateral

Upward
These dimensions are depicted in the following figure.
Achieve
upward
influence
based on
personal
Achieve
power
downward
influence
based on
position and
personal
power
Higher-level
superior
Achieve lateral
influence based
on emphasizing
personal power
Manager
Subordinates
Peers
and
other
s
The above figure also indicates some preliminary ideas on achieving success along each
of these dimensions. When facing upward, managers must rely on the use of personal
power to achieve influence over superiors. When facing downward, by contrast, both
position and personal power can be mobilized in dealing with subordinates. In lateral
relations with peers and outsiders, the manager must again emphasize personal power
to achieve the desired influence.
5.3.3 Managerial power
The effective manager is one who succeeds in building and maintaining high levels of
both position and personal power over time. Then and only then will sufficient power of
the right types be available when a manager needs to exercise influence on downward,
lateral, and upward dimensions.
Position power is based on formal authority and legitimacy of a manager's location in
the organization's hierarchy. Position power can be enhanced when managers are able
to demonstrate to others that their work units are highly relevant to organizational
goals and able to respond to urgent organizational needs. In addition, the guidelines
suggested below can enhance one’s position power.
1. Increasing one's own centrality and criticality in the organization by finding a
more central role in the work flow, getting information filtered through you,
making part of job responsibilities unique, expanding your network of
communication contacts, and occupying an office visible to the main traffic
flow.
2. Increase the personal discretion and flexibility of one's own 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 to be judged by clearly measurable
performance criteria.
3. Build tasks that are difficult to evaluate into your job by creating an
ambiguous job description, developing a unique set of labels in your work,
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 people, making oral presentations of written
work, participating in problem solving task forces, sending out notices of
accomplishment that are of interest to the organization, and seeking
additional opportunities to increase personal name 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.
A manager may use any one of these methods or a blend of these methods in a real life
situation. Personal power arises from personal characteristics of the manager rather
than from the location and other characteristics of his position in the organization. We
discussed in this module two primary bases of personal power as resting in expertise
and reference. Three personal characteristics are singled out for their special potential
to enhance someone's personal power in an organization.
1. Knowledge and information.
A manager can enhance his personal power
through the expertise gained by possession of special knowledge (example,
education, training, and experience) and information (example, gained
through special access to data and/or people).
2. Personal attractiveness. A manager's referent power will be increased by
characteristics that enhance 'likeability' and create personal attraction in
relationships with other people. These include pleasant personality
characteristics, agreeable behavior patterns, and attractive personal
appearance.
3. Effort.
The demonstration of sincere hard work can also increase
personal power by enhancing both expertise and reference. A person
perceived to try hard might be expected to know more about the job and
thus be sought out for advice; a person who tries hard is also likely to be
respected and become dependable.
5.4 Turning power into influence
The acquisition of power is certainly an important task for any manager. Using this
power well, actually to achieve the desired influence over other people, however, is yet
another challenge. There are many useful ways of exercising influence. These strategies
involve managers attempting to get their ways by:

Reason.
Using facts and data to support a logical argument.

Friendliness.
Using flattery, goodwill, and favorable impression.

Coalition.
Using relationships with other people.

Bargaining.
Using the exchange of benefit 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.
Actual research on these strategies for achieving managerial influence suggests that
reason is the most popular strategy overall. In addition, friendliness, assertiveness,
bargaining, and higher authority are used more frequently to influence subordinates
than superiors.
5.5 Power, authority, and obedience
Power is the potential to control the behavior of others; authority is the potential to
exert such control through the legitimacy of a managerial position. Yet, it is known that
people who seem to have power do not always get their way. This leads us to the
subject of obedience. Why should subordinates respond to a manager's authority or
'right to command'? Furthermore, given that they are willing to obey, what determines
the limits of obedience?
People's tendency to obey the directives of higher authority in organizational settings
could be understood in terms of what is called 'the psychological contract'. The
psychological contract is a set of expectations held by the individual that specify what
the individual and the organization expect to give and receive from each other in the
course of their working relationship.
Most people seek a balance between what they put into an organization (contributions)
and what they get in return (inducements). Within the boundaries of the psychological
contract, therefore, employees will agree to do many things in and for the organization
because they should. So, in exchange of certain inducements, they recognize the
authority of the organization and its managers to direct their behavior in certain ways.
5.6 Zone of indifference
Chester Barnard, a former President of the New Jersey Bell Telephone Company and a
renowned management scholar suggested this as early as 1938. A zone of indifference is
the range of authoritative requests to which a subordinate is willing to respond without
subjecting the directives to critical evaluation or judgment. Hence this is the area to
which he is indifferent.
Directives falling within the zone are obeyed. Requests or orders falling outside the zone
of indifference are not considered legitimate under the terms of the psychological
contract. Such 'extraordinary' directives may or may not be obeyed.
5.7 Acceptance of authority and personal values
At times, one is asked to do things that are illegal, unethical or both. Most of us will
occasionally face such ethical dilemmas during our careers. In such a situation, saying
"no" or "refusing to keep quite" can be difficult and potentially costly, but it may still be
the right thing to do. On the other side of the obedience and authority issue is the boss's
point of view. What does he need to do to ensure that others are willing to follow his
directive or request? Given certain position and person power, a manager's orders will
be accepted only when each of these four conditions are satisfied:
1. The subordinate truly understands the directive.
2. The subordinate feels capable of carrying out the directive.
3. The subordinate sees the directive in the organization's best interests.
4. The subordinate believes the directive to be consistent with personal values.
5.8 Empowering others
Empowerment is the process through which managers help others acquire and use the
power needed to make decisions affecting themselves and their work. In the traditional
'pyramid' of organizations, power is considered as something only to be held at the
higher levels. Empowerment concept, on the other hand, considers power as something
that can be shared by everyone working in flatter and more collegial structures.
The concept of empowerment is part of the sweeping change being witnessed in today's
industry. Corporate staff, layers of management and the number of employees are
being cut back. What is left is a leaner and trimmer organization staffed by fewer people
who share more power as they go about daily tasks. When all goes well, everyone can
gain from empowerment. To keep their organizations competitive, top management
must attend to a variety of challenging and strategic forces in the external environment.
While they concentrate on decisions about strategy and dynamic change, others
throughout the organization must be ready and willing to make critical operating
decisions. By providing these opportunities, empowerment increases the total power
available in an organization. Trends in managerial efforts at empowering others include:

Delegation of authority to lower levels should be clear and unambiguous people must know what they are empowered to do and what they are being
held accountable for.

Planning must be integrated and participative at all levels - people must be
involved in planning if they are to understand plans and goals, and have the
commitment needed to implement them effectively.

Managers at all levels, but especially the top, should exercise strong
communication skills - information is the key to understanding goals and
responsibilities, and for understanding the 'big picture' within which they
become meaningful.
Empowerment will be successful and organizations will derive benefits from it
only when the organization culture matures and supports empowerment.
5.9 Organizational politics
Any study of power and influence inevitably leads to the subject of 'politics'. The word
itself, however, gives rise to a negative and derogatory meaning. 'Politics is the last
resort of scoundrels' is an often-quoted dig at the political parties/leaders by Bernard
Shaw. Organizational politics is a mirror image of the political processes in the society at
large. Perhaps the image of shrewd, often dishonest, practices of obtaining one's way is
reinforced by Machiavelli's (1469-1527) classic fifteenth century work The Prince, which
outlines how to obtain and hold power via political action. It is important, however, to
adopt a perspective that allows for politics in organizations to function in a much
broader capacity.
The two traditions of organizational politics
There are two quite different traditions in the analysis of organizational politics. One
tradition builds on Machiavelli and defines politics in terms of self-interest and the use
of non-sanctioned means. Organizational politics, in this tradition, may be formally
defined as the management of influence to obtain ends not sanctioned by the
organization or to obtain sanctioned ends through non-sanctioned means.
Managers are often considered political when they seek their own goals or use means
not currently authorized. In ambiguous or uncertain situations, it is often difficult to
identify whether a manager's behavior is political in this self-serving sense.
The second tradition treats politics as a necessary function resulting from differences in
the self-interests of individuals. Here organizational politics is viewed as the art of
creative compromise among competing interests. In a heterogeneous society,
individuals need to develop compromises, avoid confrontation, and live together. The
same holds true in organizations where individuals join, work, and stay because their
self-interests are served. Further, it is important to remember that organizationally
powerful individuals, in negotiation with others, establish the goals of the organization
and the acceptable means. Thus, organizational politics is also the use of power to
develop socially acceptable ends and means that balance individual and collective
interests.
Functions of organizational politics
Organizational politics is not automatically good or bad. It can serve a number of
important functions including helping managers to:

Overcome personal inadequacies
As a manager, you should expect some mismatches between people and
positions in organizations. Even in the best managed firms, mismatches arise
among managers who may be learning, burnt out, lacking in needed training
and skills, over-qualified, or lacking resources needed to accomplish their
assigned duties. Organizational politics provides a mechanism for
circumventing these inadequacies and getting the job done.

Cope with change
Changes in the environment and technology of an organization often come
more quickly than an organization can restructure. Even in organizations
known for detailed planning, unanticipated events occur. To meet
unanticipated problems, people and resources must be moved into place
quickly before small headaches become major problems. Organizational
politics can help to identify such problems and push the more ambitious,
problem solving managers into the breach.

Channel personal contacts
In larger organizations, it is all but impossible to know the persons in every
important position. Yet managers need to influence individuals throughout
the organization. The political network of the organization can provide the
necessary access.

Substitute for formal authority
When a person's formal authority breaks down or fails to apply in a situation,
political actions can be used to prevent a loss of influence. Managers may
use political behavior to maintain operations and achieve task continuity in
circumstances where the failure of formal authority may otherwise cause
problems.
Political actions in organizations
Political action is a part of organizational life and it is best to view organizational politics
for its potential to contribute to managerial and organizational effectiveness. Political
action in organizations, from the perspectives of a manager, sub-units, and the Chief
Executive, is briefly examined below.
Political action and the manager
Managers may gain a better understanding of political behavior by placing themselves in
the positions of other persons involved in critical decisions or events. Each action and
decision can be seen as having benefits and costs to all parties concerned. Where the
costs exceed the benefits, the manager may act to protect his position.
To determine the cost-benefit ratio, managers need to develop an orientation to search
for a joint solution that will benefit the parties concerned in critical decisions. It requires
a trust relationship among co-managers and other workers who may be involved in
these critical events. It also requires for all the parties to search for a superior or superordinate goal instead of narrow subordinate goals that will satisfy only the self-interest
of one of the parties. It is a difficult proposition because the 'climate' or 'culture' of
organizations often encourages people to maximize their self-interest at minimal risks.
The involvement of higher-level managers may be needed to set a better stage. If they
themselves are engaged in 'competitive' games to satisfy their self-interest, it becomes
a near impossible task to achieve collaboration where and when it is needed most.
Political action and sub-unit power
Another level of political action links managers more formally to one another as
representatives of their work units. To be effective in political action, managers should
understand the politics of sub-unit relations. Line units are typically more powerful than
staff groups, and units toward the top of the hierarchy are often more powerful than
those toward the bottom. Certain strategic contingencies can often govern the relative
power of sub-units. For a sub-unit to gain power vis-à-vis others, it must increase its
control over such strategic contingencies as:
Scarce resources: Sub-units gain power when they obtain access to or control
resources needed by others.
Ability to cope with uncertainty: Sub-units gain power when they are able to
cope with uncertainty and help solve problems that uncertainty causes for
others.
Centrality in the flow of work: sub-units gain in power when their position in the
workflow allows them to influence the work of others.
Substitutability of activities: Sub-units gain in power when they perform tasks or
activities that are non-substitutable, that is, when they perform essential
functions that cannot be completed by others.
Political action and the chief executive:
Resource dependencies
Executive behavior can sometimes be explained in terms of resource dependencies - the
firm's need for resources that are controlled by others. Essentially, the resource
dependence of an organization increases as:
1. Needed resources become more scarce
2. Outsiders have more control over needed resources
3. Fewer substitutes for a particular type of resource are controlled by a
limited number of outsiders
Thus, one political role of chief executives is to develop workable compromises among
the competing resource dependencies facing the organization - compromises that
enhance the executive's power. To create such compromises, executives need to
diagnose the relative power of outsiders and craft strategies that respond differently to
various external resource suppliers.
For larger organizations, many strategies may center on altering the firm's degree of
resource dependence. Through mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and strategic
alliances, a firm may bring key resources within its control.
5.10 Organizational governance
Organization governance refers to the pattern of authority, influence, and acceptable
managerial behavior established at the top of the organization. This system of an
organization, establishes what is important, how issues will be defined, who should and
should not be involved in key choices, and the boundaries for acceptable
implementation. Those studying organizational governance suggest that a 'dominant
coalition' comprised of powerful organizational actors is a key to its understanding.
While one expects many top officers within the organization to be members of this
coalition, it occasionally includes outsiders with access to key resources. This analysis of
organizational governance builds on the resource dependence perspective by
highlighting the effective control of key resources by members of a dominant coalition.
The ethics of power and politics
The discussion on power and politics in organizations is inseparably linked with a
consideration of related ethical issues. This can be studied by clarifying the distinction
between the nonpolitical and political use of power. Power is nonpolitical in its use
when it remains within the boundaries of formal authority, organizational policies and
procedures, and job descriptions, and when it is directed toward ends sanctioned by the
organization. When the use of power moves outside the realm of authority, policies,
procedures, and job descriptions, or is directed toward ends not sanctioned by the
organization, such use of power is political. As a consequence of the above analysis,
four different situations may be envisaged, as shown below:
Ends
Organizationally sanctioned
sanctioned
by
organization
Means
Organizationally
Not
I.
Nonpolitical job behavior
II.
sanctioned
Organizationally
dysfunctional
political behavior
Not sanctioned by III.
Political
organization
potentially functional to
dysfunctional
the organization
political behavior
Source:
behavior IV.
Organizationally
B.T. Mayes and R.W. Allen, "Towards a definition of organizational
politics" , Academy of Management Review, Vol.2, 1977, p.675.
When the use of power moves into the realm of political behavior (quadrants II, III, and
IV), important ethical issues emerge. It is in this context that a manager, for example,
must stop and consider more than a pure 'ends justify means' logic.
Work in the area of ethical issues in power and politics suggests the usefulness of the
integrated structure for analyzing political behavior presented in the following figure.
This structure suggests that a manager's behavior must satisfy some criteria to be
considered ethical. These are:
1. Criterion of utilitarian outcomes
The behavior results in optimization of satisfactions of people inside and
outside the organization. So, it produces the maximum benefit for the
greatest number of people.
2. Criterion of individual rights
The behavior respects the rights of all affected parties. So, it respects basic
human rights of free consent, free speech, freedom of conscience, privacy,
and due process.
3. Criterion of distributive justice
The behavior respects the rules of justice. So, it treats people equitably and
fairly as opposed to arbitrarily.
The above figure also indicates that there may be times when a behavior is
unable to pass these criteria but can still be considered ethical in the given
situation. This special case must satisfy the criterion of overwhelming factors or
compelling factors, in which the special nature of the situation results in:
1. Conflicts among criteria (example, a behavior results in some good and bad
being done).
2. Conflicts within criteria ( example, inviting political leaders to ceremonial
function when government sanctions are pending).
3. Incapacity to employ the criteria (example, a person's behavior is based on
inaccurate or incomplete information).
Rationalization process
Every manager wants to be ethical. Sometimes, choosing to be ethical involves
considerable personal sacrifice, which one may find too dear. Four rationalizations are
often used to justify unethical choices:
1. Individuals feel that the behavior is not really illegal and thus, could be
moral.
2. The action appears to be in the firm's best interests.
3. It is unlikely the action will ever be detected.
4. It appears that the action demonstrates loyalty to the boss or the firm.
While these rationalizations appear compelling at the moment of action, each deserves
close scrutiny. The individual must ask,
-
How far is ‘too far’?
-
What are the long-term interests of the organization?
-
What will happen when the action is discovered?
-
Do individuals, groups, or organizations that ask for unethical
behavior deserve any loyalty?
-
Is it a quid-pro-quo situation?
-
Is it a kind of blackmail?
All managers use power and politics to get their work done. But every manager also
bears a responsibility to do so in an ethical and socially responsible fashion. Recognizing
and confronting ethical considerations such as those just discussed, each of you should
be prepared to meet this important challenge.
5.11Conflict management:
Conflict means a difference or divergence over an issue, or disparate or contrary
viewpoints on an issue. The issue may be an opinion, an idea, a decision, or anything. A
person will experience conflict if he meets with mutually exclusive options, goals, or
values of equal attractiveness/unattractiveness. Similarly, groups or organizational
members will face a conflicting situation if two members, parties, or groups want to
fulfill or achieve mutually incompatible goals, objectives or values. Two essential
conditions of conflict are:

Mutually exclusive goals, interests, objectives, needs, ideas, opinions such
that acceptance or fulfillment of one necessarily means rejection or nonfulfillment of other(s).

Arousal of negative feelings within the same individual or between the
parties against the frustrating agent - anything or any person or group
responsible for blocking the fulfillment of the goal or objective.
The conflict is said to be resolved when the negative feeling is reduced. Conversely, if
there is no arousal of negative feeling, there is no conflict either.
Traditional and contemporary (interactive) views of conflict
Manager's attitudes toward conflict have been changing over time. Traditionally,
conflict was viewed negatively. However, the interactive view of conflict suggests that
conflict is not necessarily bad or harmful, may even be functional if it is dealt with or
managed effectively. A brief summary of these two conflicting views on conflict is tabled
below.
Changing views of conflict
Traditional view
1.
2.
3.
4.
Contemporary (interactive) view
Something bad - should be avoided
1. A natural and inevitable outcome
Always negative in consequences
2. Both
negative
and
positive
consequences
Should be kept "under the carpet" 3. Should be open and dealt with
and dealt with surreptitiously
positively
Inter-group conflict is dysfunctional 4. Conflict can be a catalyst for change.
and adversely affects productivity in
It forces organizations to reexamine
an organization
corporate goals or reset priorities. It
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
Conflicting groups would not
cooperate in completing projects and
would
not
share
important
information
Conflicts distract managers from
their work and reduce their
concentration on the job
Conflict affects the morale of
employees:
develop
mistrust,
suspicion and enmity between
parties
Prevents members from "seeing" the
task at all
5.
Dislocate the entire group
9.
may raise important issues that
managers have been ignoring and
make them take higher quality
decisions on these issues. Conflict,
may
in
effect,
improve
organizational performance
Encourage creativity, brainstorming
or innovation
6.
Introduce different solutions to the
problems
7.
Bring
emotive,
arguments into open
8.
Clearly
define
the
power
relationships within the group and
help, in effect, the empowering
process in the group
Focus on individual contributions
rather than group decisions
Provide catharsis - release of
interdepartmental or interpersonal
conflicts
Helps develop team spirit and
comradeship
Helps tendency to search new
approaches
Successful
management
and
resolution of conflict is desirable
Reduces
the
"group
think"
phenomenon and sharpens critically
the making of group decision
10. Subvert the objectives in favor of
sub-goals
10.
11. Lead people to use defensive and
blocking behavior in the group
12. Stimulate win-lose dynamics, where
reason is secondary to emotion
13. Total elimination is desirable
11.
14. Increase the polarization between
parties and leave behind bitterness
and cold-shouldered attitude
14.
12.
13.
non-rational
These two sets of views are contradictory to each other. Neither of them is unilaterally
right or wrong. Negative or positive consequences of conflict depend largely on the way
conflict is managed or resolved.
Sometimes suppressing conflicts leads to further negative consequences. People begin
to sabotage each other covertly rather than confronting each other directly. Groups
waste energy trying to undercut their opponents rather than directing their efforts to
solving problems with their adversaries.
Therefore, a manager’s job is not to suppress conflicts. It is to allow some optimal level
of conflict to surface, and to resolve conflict in a way that produces positive
consequence in group's productivity and performance. HRD efforts in many
organizations today aim at, enhancing the managerial skills of conflict resolution.
Levels of conflict
People at work encounter conflicts. These conflicts could be at four levels:

Intrapersonal or conflict within the individual

Interpersonal or conflict between two individuals

Intergroup conflict when it is between groups

Intra and inter organizational conflict.
Intrapersonal conflict
Among the significant conflicts affecting behavior in organization are those that involve
the individual alone. These are intrapersonal conflicts. They include actual or perceived
pressures from incompatible goals or expectations of the following types:

Approach-Approach conflict
It is a situation requiring a person to choose between two positive and equally
attractive alternatives. These alternatives are mutually exclusive so that choosing
one means rejecting (hence frustrating) the other. An example is choosing between
two job offers with similar benefits, compensation package, location and others.

Approach-Avoidance conflict
A situation requiring a person to make a decision regarding an alternative that has
both positive and negative consequences associated with it. An example is being
offered a promotion carrying a much higher pay but also carrying unwanted strings
which are against your values (example, greasing palms of powers that be).

Avoidance - avoidance conflict
A situation requiring a person to choose between two negative and equally
unattractive alternatives but the person cannot avoid both (choosing between the
devil and the deep sea).
Any individual might in a certain way experience all three types of goal conflict. Of these
three types of conflict, the approach - avoidance conflict is relatively difficult to resolve.
It is also most relevant to the analysis of organizational behavior. Often, organizational
goals have both positive and negative aspects for organizational members. Accordingly,
the organizational goal may arouse a great deal of conflict within a person and may
actually cause the person to vacillate anxiously at the point where approach equals
avoidance. Such conflict and its negative aftermath, if not resolved, are very common
among decision makers and people in responsible positions in modern, complex
organizations. The result of unresolved conflict is a great deal of internal stress, which
may cause psychosomatic problems (examples, heavy smoking, alcoholism, ulcers,
hypertension and neurosis).
A major management effort in HRM is, therefore, developed to building compatibility,
not conflict, between personal and organizational goals.
Interpersonal conflict
Interpersonal conflict occurs between two or more individuals. Conflict may arise when
attitudes, motives, ideas and options, values, expectations, or activities are
incompatible and if those people perceive themselves to be in disagreement. Everyone
experiences interpersonal conflict; it is a major form of conflict faced by managers given
the highly interpersonal nature of the managerial role itself.
Intergroup conflict
Intergroup conflict refers to overt expressions of differences including hostility between
groups and intentional interference with each other's activities. When there is
intergroup conflict in organization (i.e., intra-organizational conflict), systematic changes
occur in perceptions, attitudes, and behaviors of the organizational members. The
dynamics of intergroup conflict in organizations involve changes in interpersonal
relations and work orientation within each group and between the conflicting groups.
Intergroup conflict, if unresolved, will have negative consequences on performance of
the conflicting groups. Therefore, skill in diagnosing and resolving conflicts has become
an important aspect of management in today's organizations.
Dynamics of intergroup conflict
Conflict between groups leads to many changes within the conflicting groups and also
between the groups engaged in conflict. Many changes in perceptions, attitudes, and
behaviors of a group are particularly noticeable at the onset of intergroup conflict.
The focus is on two sets of changes:

Changes within each group

Changes in relations between groups
Changes within each group
Changes in relations between groups
1. Loyalty to the group becomes more 1. There are distortions of perception - about
important.
one's own group and about the other
group.
2. There is increased concern for task 2. Interaction and communication between
accomplishment.
groups decrease.
3. Leadership patterns tend to change from 3. There is a shift from a problem solving
more democratic toward more autocratic;
orientation toward other groups to a winthe group becomes more willing to
lose orientation.
tolerate autocratic leadership.
4. Each group becomes more structured and 4. There is increased hostility toward the rival
organized.
group.
5. Group cohesiveness increases.
5. Ability to listen to the other group's point
of view is decreased - each group listens
only that which supports its position and
stereotype.
Dynamics of intergroup conflict result in some positive changes within each group.
Changes in relations between groups, however, are negative. Negative consequences of
intergroup conflict in organization may outweigh any positive changes that may occur
within a group. Organizational tasks and goals being interdependent in nature,
intergroup conflict in organization, therefore, will affect negatively the organizational
effectiveness. A manager's job is essentially then to resolve conflict in a way that
enhances organizational effectiveness without creating hostility or destructive behavior.
Types of conflict
Conflicts have been classified into three types:

Task conflict

Relationship conflict

Process conflict
Task conflict relates to the content and goals of work. Differences among members are
confined to the task related matters such as scheduling of the task, time-structuring,
sharing of responsibility - who will do what, levels of accomplishment, rewards contributions parity and so on.
Relationship conflict focuses on interpersonal conflict. Relationships among the
members become sour. Members perceive that other members are responsible for
relatively poor performance of the group. There is an undercurrent of negative feelings
toward each other. Openness and trusting relationship is absent, and members are
indirectly accusing each other of not contributing to the group's task.
Process conflict relates to how the work gets done. Process variables in a group include
the communication patterns used by members for information exchanges, group
decision processes, leader behavior, power dynamics, conflict interactions, and the like.
Any or all of these factors may lead to process conflicts in a group engaged in a task.
A low-to-moderate level of task conflict has consistently demonstrated a positive effect
on group performance because it stimulates discussion of ideas that help groups
perform better.
It appears that the friction and interpersonal hostility present in relationship conflicts
increase personality clashes and decrease mutual understanding, thereby hindering the
completion of organizational tasks.
For process conflict to be productive, it must be kept low. Intense arguments about who
should do what become dysfunctional when they create uncertainty about task roles,
increase the time to complete tasks, and lead to members working at cross-purposes.
Among these three types of conflict, task conflict is relatively easier to handle and
resolve compared to the other two conflict types. It is reported that if the task conflict is
not adequately resolved, it has a tendency to expand into relationship and process
conflicts. Furthermore, it was observed that a high performing group has the ability and
skill to retain the task conflict within the task boundary and prevent it from escalating
into relationship and/or process conflicts. On the other hand, a low performing group
was observed to be unable to do so. A group's ability to handle and resolve conflicts,
therefore, becomes a critical variable in determining its effectiveness. A conflict-ridden
group is seldom found to be effective and productive.
The conflict process or conflict episode
Conflict does not happen suddenly. Conflict that manifests externally could be a result
of other latent processes not externally evidenced. In other words, conflict is episodic in
nature and develops in stages. It is suggested that the externalization of conflict takes
place sequentially in four stages:

Stage I - Potential opposition

Stage II- Cognition and personalization

Stage III
- Behavior

Stage IV
- Outcome aftermath
Stage I - Potential opposition: This is the antecedent condition. The potential conflict
appears to be in the latent stage. Suppose the individual or group is experiencing
frustration or opposition in certain area of concern such as communication, leadership
styles, goal compatibility and others. This situation of potential opposition or
incompatibility between parties creates opportunities for conflict to arise. They need
not lead directly to conflict, but one of these conditions is necessary if conflict is to arise.
Stage II - Cognition and personalization: This stage includes conceptualization, i.e.,
perception and understanding of the conflict issue (perceived conflict) and arousal of
negative feeling associated with the issue (i.e., felt conflict) take place. If the felt conflict
is subliminal, that is the strength of the feeling aroused (examples, anxiety, anger,
irritation and dejection ) is not sufficiently intense, the corresponding conflict behavior
may not be manifested.
In this stage, therefore, two critical factors that influence the arousal of conflict are:

Perceived conflict -
Awareness by one or more parties of the existence
of conditions that create opportunities for the
conflict to arise.

Felt conflict -
Members become emotionally involved, that
parties experience anxiety, tension, frustration
and/or
hostility
toward
other
parties.
The
emotional strength is strong enough to influence
external behavior.
Stage III - Overt behavior: The felt conflict is openly expressed and manifested in
external behaviors in one or both parties. A state of manifest conflict can be resolved in
the sense that its antecedent conditions are corrected. It can also be suppressed in that,
although no change in antecedent conditions occur, the manifest conflict behaviors are
controlled.
Stage IV - Outcome aftermath: Finally, the way a given conflict is handled can affect
future conflicts. The aftermath or outcome of conflict may be positive (example,
increased group performance) or negative (example, decreased group performance)
depending on the way conflict is handled, or the strategies of conflict management.
Unresolved conflicts continue to promote future conflicts over similar issues.
Truly resolved conflicts may establish conditions that reduce future conflicts of a similar
nature and that help other conflicts to be resolved in a constructive manner. Thus, any
manager should be sensitive to the influence of conflict aftermath on future conflict
episodes.
The episodes of conflict process are diagrammatically presented below:



Stage I
Stage II
Potential
Opposition
Cognition and
Personalization
Communication
Structure and degree
of size, specialization,
jurisdictional clarity,
goal compatibility,
leadership styles,
rewards system,
degree of
interdependence
Personal variables
Stage III
Behavior
Stage IV
Outcome
Aftermath
Increased
Group
Performance
Perceived
Conflict
Overt
Conflict
Behavior
Manifestation
Felt
Conflict
Decreased
Group
Performance
5.12 Conflict management styles
In the management of conflicts, the styles of the person involved in the conflict
resolution (either as individuals, or as group, especially the group leaders) play a critical
role. Some styles may promote search for solution, whereas other styles may lead to a
deadlock or in effect escalation of conflict.
Several approaches to conflict management have been proposed. Despite marginal
differences, a common theme is a two-dimensional model of conflict management. For
instance, one of the most often referred to model suggests the following two
dimensions of conflict resolution styles or strategies including:

Cooperativeness -the extent to which the individual or group desires to satisfy the
concerns of the other party involved in the conflict (how
cooperatively the individual or group will behave).

Assertiveness - the extent to which individual or the group desires to attain its own
preferred outcomes (how assertive the individual or group will be
in pursuing their own concerns).
Both cooperativeness and assertiveness may vary independently along a continuum,
from low to high.
Cooperativeness varies between high cooperativeness and low cooperativeness (or
uncooperativeness). A group that has a strong desire to satisfy the concerns of the other
groups involved in the conflict will be very cooperative, whereas one that has little or no
interest in satisfying the concerns of other groups will be rather uncooperative.
When a decision is important to the group, and consequently the group has a strong
desire to attain its preferred outcome, the members are likely to be very assertive in
their efforts to secure those outcomes. When, on the other hand, the decision is
relatively unimportant and thus the group does not have a strong desire to attain its
preferred outcomes, the members are not likely to be very assertive in pursuing those
outcomes.
These two dimensions will result in a four-quadrant matrix as shown below (low-low,
high-low, low-high, and high-high).
High

Low - high
High - high
Collaboratio
Competition
Assertivenes
s
(attempting
to satisfy
one's own
concern)
Low
‘Win – lose’
n
Compromis
e
‘Lose – lose’

‘Win – win’
‘Lose – win’
Cooperativeness
Avoidance
Accommodation
(attempting to satisfy the other party's
 Low - low
High - low 
concern)
High
These four quadrants and the middle position give rise to five conflict management
styles including:

Low - low : avoidance

High - low : accommodation

Low - high :competition

High - high : collaboration

Moderate – moderate: compromise
Avoidance style (low - low): When a group has low or no interest either in attaining its
own preferred outcomes or in satisfying the concerns of others, it will be oriented
towards avoidance or withdrawal way of managing the conflict. This is a weak strategy.
Sometimes both parties may like to avoid a confrontation on the issue. It may help
temporarily but the underlying conflict will remain and re-emerge once again unless the
issue is highly trivial and the difference between the parties is superficial. Sometimes, a
manager tries to downplay disagreements, fails to participate in the situation, or stay
neutral. Such a style may "calm down" the situation for the time being and thus help.
However, the risk is that the other party may take advantage of this style.
Accommodation style (high - low):
This style involves smoothing over the differences
and letting other's wishes rule and maintaining a superficial harmony. The style aims at
working toward the satisfaction of the concerns of the other groups, even if this means
sacrificing all its own preferred outcomes. This strategy seems most likely to be used
when a group strongly abhors conflict and desires agreement and harmony for its own
sake. This strategy is weak and often ends in escalating the demands from the opposite
party. As a stop-gap measure, a manager may use this strategy over a relatively less
important issue. It may build up a relationship that may prove to be helpful later on.
Competition (low - high):
This style is working against the wishes of the other party,
and seeking to satisfy its own concern at the expense of others. The strategy is to fight
it out or dominate in a win-lose competition, and/or forcing things to a favorable
conclusion through the exercise of authority.
This strategy has a built-in disadvantage. If one of the parties is strong and dominant
(say a dominant superior) and the other party is weak, the stronger party is likely to win,
and the weaker party is forced to yield. In such a situation, the weaker party often uses
subterfuge or indirect tactics to disrupt the agreement. If, on the other hand, both
parties are more or less equally strong, then there is a tendency for conflict escalation.
Both parties stand to lose. Nevertheless, it does not dampen the spirit of fighting with
the other. It ends up in a deadlock.
When quick, decisive action is vital, for example, emergencies and unpopular actions
such as cost cutting, and enforcing rules and discipline, this strategy of conflict
management is adopted by Chief Executives of large organizations.
Compromise: This strategy reflects a moderate desire by a group both to attain its
preferred outcomes and to satisfy the concerns of the other groups involved in the
conflict. Compromise implies that the group is willing to give up some, but not all, of
what it desires in order that the other groups involved can satisfy some of its concerns.
It is a willingness to share outcomes in order to resolve conflict. Each party seeks out
"acceptable" rather than "optimal" solutions so that no one totally wins or loses. This is
the most common strategy in conflict resolution. Sometimes, it is the second best
solution. The appropriate situations for this strategy to be useful are:
1. When goals are important but not worth the effort or potential disruption of more
assertive modes
2. When opponents with equal power are committed to mutually exclusive goals
3. To achieve temporary settlement of complex issues
4. To arrive at expedient solutions under time pressure
5. As a back-up when collaboration or competition is unsuccessful
6. To show that you are firm but interested in a continuing relationship
Collaboration (high - high):
This strategy implies an attempt at joint problem solving in
which the conflicting groups work together to develop a solution that meets all of the
preferences of all parties to the conflict. In this situation, the various parties involved in
the conflict must all believe that it is possible to find such a solution (a necessary
condition of conflict-resolution under this strategy). It is also possible in this situation
that a new creative solution acceptable to all may emerge.
The strategy of collaboration is the ideal mode of conflict resolution. The appropriate
situations that favor this strategy are:

finding an integrative solution when both sets of concerns are too important to be
compromised

gaining insights from people with different perspectives

gaining commitment by incorporating concerns into a consensus

working through feelings that have interfered with a relationship
Each of the five conflict management strategies has some potential value to the
practicing manager. Although only collaboration or problem solving results in true
conflict resolution, there may be times when the other strategies will yield adequate
outcomes.
Conflict resolution strategy, power and empowerment, and personality
In the organization, the power play between the conflicting groups determines the
strategy to be used for conflict resolution. If one of the groups involved in a conflict
were to have no power, that group would have no way to compel others to give it what
it desires. It would have no way to assert itself in order to attain its preferred outcomes.
In this situation, the group or groups holding all the power would dominate.
On the other hand, if conflicting groups have roughly equal amounts of power,
compromise will become a highly (and perhaps the only) viable conflict-resolution
strategy.
Empowerment
A related topic between power and conflict resolution strategies is that of
empowerment. It is commonly believed that when power is shared among more people,
each individual holds less of it. But this is not necessarily the case. On the contrary,
power is not a fixed commodity and sharing it (empowering) can actually increase a
manager's power. Empowering process may, therefore, downplay the use of power in
conflict resolution strategy. Instead, empowerment may, in effect, encourage
collaboration strategy for conflict resolution in the organization. This is an interesting
idea that deserves more research.
Personality variable
Cooperative and competitive behavior, as individual behavior, could be influenced by
the personality of the individuals.
One such relevant personality variable is Machiavellianism. High Machiavellianism
prefers manipulative – competitive games. High ‘Machs’ exert greater attempts for
cooperation for personal gains. If corporate culture and practices encourage and reward
Machiavellianism, then power – politics and competitive (win – lose) strategy would
likely to be the model behavior for conflict – resolution.
Conversely, if the corporate culture discourages Machiavellianism and instead
encourages empowerment, then collaborative strategy is likely to be the preferred
behavior for conflict – resolution. Not much work has been done on the relationship
among these variables, Machiavellianism, empowerment, and cooperative –
competitive behavior in organizations.
5.13 Summary
In this unit we introduced to the concepts of power, politics and conflict in
organizations. Power is an essential managerial resource. It is an interactive process
between two individuals or among a number of individuals. It is the ability to get
someone else to do what you want him to do. There are five bases of power. Of these,
three are vested on the position a manager holds. These are rewards, coercion or
punishments, and legitimacy. Legitimacy is the same as formal authority and based on
the manager's position in the hierarchy. The other two bases of power are based on
one's expertise and reference. It allows managers to extend his power beyond that
available in the position alone. Power, authority, and obedience are interrelated.
Obedience is what happens when one individual responds to the request or directive of
another person. A zone of indifference defines the boundaries within which people in
organizations will let others influence their behavior. Ultimately, power and authority
only works if the individual 'accepts' them.
A managerial perspective on power and influence must include the practical
considerations of how to get the power needed to get the job done. Managers can
pursue various ways of acquiring both position and personal power. They can also
become skilled at using various tactics such as reasoning, friendliness, coalition,
bargaining, and others to influence superiors and peers as well as subordinates. They
are also increasingly called upon to be skilled at empowering others; helping others to
acquire and utilize power so that their jobs can be done with highest performance and
satisfaction.
Organizational politics is inevitable. Managers must become comfortable with political
behavior in organizations and then use it responsibly and to good advantage. Politics
may involve the use of power to obtain end not officially sanctioned; it is also a use of
power to find ways of balancing individual and collective interest in otherwise difficult
circumstances.
Political action in organizations can be examined at the managerial, sub-unit, and chief
executive levels. Politics also involves sub-units as they jockey for power and
advantageous positions vis-à-vis one another. For chief executives, politics come into
play as resource dependencies with external environmental elements must be
strategically managed, and in organizational governance by the members of the
'dominant coalition'.
Ethics, in power and politics, is as common as in any decision situation. Managers can
easily slip into questionable territory as they resort to power plays and politics to get
their way in situations where resistance exists. While this behavior may be 'rationalized'
as acceptable, it may not meet the personal test of ethical behavior. When political
behavior is ethical it will satisfy the criteria of utilitarian outcomes, individual rights,
distributive justice, and/or overwhelming factors.
Conflict in a way, is inevitable. Conflict is experienced by an individual when he meets
mutually exclusive choices such that fulfillment of one leads to frustration of the other.
Similarly, when groups are faced with incompatible situations conflict occurs. Conflicting
parties experience negative feelings toward each other and perceive each other as an
adversary.
Conflict does not happen suddenly. It develops in stages. The outcome of conflict or the
conflict aftermath may be positive or negative depending on strategies of conflict
resolution followed by one or both the parties. The conflict, if not resolved, will recur
again. Conflicts may be occurring at several levels – intra and interpersonal, intra and
intergroup, intra and inter-organization. In the organizational context, intra and
intergroup conflicts are more critical.
The manager’s ability or skill to handle or deal with conflict, therefore, gains
importance. The styles or strategies of conflict management vary among the five
strategies depending upon the task and organizational contextual factors. These
strategies
are:
avoidance,
accommodation,
competition,
compromise,
and
collaboration.
Collaboration is the mature style. It envisages mutuality of interest and a relationship of
joint exploration and search for the most satisfying solution. The prevention of intergroup
conflict in organization is especially crucial if the groups involved are highly
interdependent. The greater the interdependence, the greater the potential loss to the total
organization due to negative stereotyping, withholding information, efforts to make the
other group look bad in the eyes of the superior authority, and so on. We can say that
organizational culture that encourages empowerment and sharing information among the
relevant members helps develop collaboration and thus, organizational growth and
renewal.
5.14 Keywords
Power, Position Based Power, Reward, Coercive, Legitimate, Expert power, Referent
power, Reason, Friendliness, Coalition, Bargaining, Cooperativeness, Assertiveness.
5.15 Exercise
1) What is the relationship that exists between power and politics?
2 What are the different types of power and sources of power?
3) Explain the relationship that you might find between power and influence.
4) Explain the various issues associated with Organization politics.
5) What role ethics play in the context of power and politics?
6) What type of conflicts one can identify in an Organization at different levels?
Module 5
Unit 2
CURRENT ISSUES IN ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR
Structure:
2.1 Objectives:
2.2
Introduction
2.3 EMPLOYEE TURN OVER
2.4 BENCH STREGNTH
2.5 EMPLOYEE RETENTION
2.6
EMPLOYEE LAYOFF
2.7
MERGER & ACQUISTION CULTURE
2.8 Conclusion
2.9 Keywords
2.10 Exercise
2.1 Objectives:
After reading this unit you will be able to understand/learn/know
a) the current issues in organizational behavior such as
a) employee turn over
b) Bench strength
c) employee retention
d) employee retention strategies
e) employee layoff
f) criteria for employee layoff
g) Merger and Acquisition culture
2.2
Introduction
Change is a continuous process. Perspective of any discipline change due to the practice
adopted by many organizations as per the requirement of the time. One can also find the
growth and changes due to the impact of business environment at both domestic and
international level. How to keep up to date with the current developments and issues in the
study and practice of organizational behavior? That is the challenge for students, academics and
practitioners.
Whether employees should be stakeholders in their businesses and the relationship between
employees and owners in general is a fast-growing topic and owners in general is a fast-growing
topic and is explored in this volume of Trends by distinguished academics who are at the
forefront of this important field. Some of the issues that are of interest in he present context
include Employee equity (ESPO), Employee loyalty , achieving ownership of performance, Open
book management, employee turn around, U turn concept, bench strength etc. We shall discuss
these issues in this unit.
2.3 Employee Turn Over
Employee turnover is a ratio comparison of the number of employees a company must
replace in a given time period to the average number of total employees. A huge concern
to most companies, employee turnover is a costly expense especially in lower paying job
roles, for which the employee turnover rate is highest. Many factors play a role in the
employee turnover rate of any company, and these can stem from both the employer and
the employees. Wages, company benefits, employee attendance, and job performance are
all factors that play a significant role in employee turnover.
It is difficult to accept when organizations say they have zero attrition rates. Companies may
have healthier turnover rates, however, there is no such thing as zero attrition. There are other
such facts about turnover, about which most of us are not aware. Some of such facts have been
highlighted below:

Turnover always happens: Companies who believe in zero attrition rates only fool
themselves. This happens because employees keep on moving due to reasons like
marriage or further education. Nothing can top these employees from moving on. So,
rather than achieving zero attrition companies should focus on identifying whom they
want to keep so that they have healthy attrition rate.

Some Turnover is Desirable: Zero attrition is not desirable mainly because of two
reasons. Firstly, if all employees continue to stay in the same organization, most of them
will be at the top of their pay scale which will result in excessive manpower costs.
Secondly, new employees bring new ideas, approaches, abilities & attitudes which can
keep the organization from becoming stagnant.

Turnover includes costs: Turnover always includes some costs. Consider the costs of
replacing the key employee who falls in to the category of high performers. This includes
the costs of recruitment advertisement, referral bonuses, selection testing, training
costs, etc. Moreover, turnover results in loss of time and efforts, low productivity, loss
of morale, loss of knowledge and so on.

High salary doesn’t work: Most managers assume that a high salary package is enough
to keep employees loyal to their organization. Employees may face other problems like
low job satisfaction, low engagement levels, no recognition, poor working conditions,
less support from superiors and so on. Salaries are not always the solution to attrition.
Managers should try to identify the roots of the problem and then find a feasible
solution.

The manager can reduce attrition: Managers should take primary responsibility for
retaining their employees. Much of the employee’s perception of job satisfaction stems
from the relationship they share with their immediate supervisor. Managers should try
to support their subordinates and give proper feedback on performance. HR managers
should work in collaboration to make the key employees last in their organization.

Reducing Turnover takes Commitment: Reducing turnover takes an investment in
coaching, developing, motivating, mentoring & listening to people. There should be
universal acceptance of the goal of reducing turnover along with top management
commitment and dedication.
2.4 BENCH STREGNTH
The key to sustained competitive advantage in any industry is not size, image, or
technology. It’s talent, particularly at the leadership level. Organization’s future depends
on its ability to identify, retain, and prepare a dependable “bench” -- its next generation
of leaders -- continuously. Over the next several years, the “baby boomers” who have
engineered some of America’s greatest business growth will be retiring in huge numbers,
creating talent gaps and unprecedented competition to fill them.
Bench Strength offers a step-by-step approach to building a powerful talent strategy that
will ensure the perpetual availability of potential leaders. Some of the points/factors one
might consider are:

The Make or Buy Decision: Should your talent strategy be focused primarily on
developing leadership from within, or on acquiring “ready-made” leaders from
other organizations? The Capstone/Foundation Decision: Should you concentrate
development efforts on a few high-potential individuals, or spread resources
across a broader section of your overall leadership bench?

The Stream or Pool Decision: Should you identify successor candidates for

specific leadership positions, or retain pools of potential leaders who may be
qualified for any of a number of leadership positions as they become available?

The Trade-Up or Build-Out Decision: Should you build bench strength by
progressively “trading up” from marginally performing managers to high
performers, or quickly expand the leadership talent base by hiring a large group of
potential managers simultaneously?

The Best-in-Industry or World Class Decision: Is your best talent strategy to focus
on your own industry, or to look for cream-of-the-crop talent regardless of
particular industry experience?
Each pair of strategic options includes clear examples and all-important “payoffs and
pitfalls” that will help you make the right decision based on the organization’s unique
needs. Bench Strength also gives you effective methods for continuously monitoring how
your company’s talent measures up against that of external candidates, further informing
your “make versus buy” and other talent decisions.
Barner advocates for the creation of a new position in theorganization, that of Chief
Talent Officer. A new and increasingly recognized strategy, the hiring of a talent
executive is a significant step with lasting implications, so you’ll want to find out as
much as you can about the potential talent officer. To that end, the author presents ten
detailed questions to ask CTO candidates, the answers to which will illuminate their
approach to evaluating talent, their ability to play a “point position” for the organization,
their knowledge of your industry and the company’s place within it, and much more.
Leadership talent is one of the most critical needs of any organization. Bench Strength
provides a comprehensive, practical approach and specific action steps for making smart
talent decisions and putting together a deep and versatile team -- for today and for the
future."
2.5 EMPLOYEE RETENTION
Employee Retention involves taking measures to encourage employees to remain in the
organization for the maximum period of time. Corporate is facing a lot of problems in employee
retention these days. Hiring knowledgeable people for the job is essential for an employer. But
retention is even more important than hiring. There is no dearth of opportunities for a talented
person. There are many organizations which are looking for such employees. If a person is not
satisfied by the job he’s doing, he may switch over to some other more suitable job. In today’s
environment it becomes very important for organizations to retain their employees. The top
organizations are on the top because they value their employees and they know how to keep
them glued to the organization. Employees stay and leave organizations for some reasons. The
reason may be personal or professional. These reasons should be understood by the employer
and should be taken care of. The organizations are becoming aware of these reasons and
adopting many strategies for employee retention.
Now that so much is being done by organizations to retain its employees, why is retention so
important? Is it just to reduce the turnover costs? Well, the answer is a definite no. It’s not only
the cost incurred by a company that emphasizes the need of retaining employees but also the
need
to
retain
talented
employees
from
getting
poached.
The process of employee retention will benefit an organization in the following ways:
1. The Cost of Turnover: The cost of employee turnover adds hundreds of thousands of
money to a company's expenses. While it is difficult to fully calculate the cost of
turnover (including hiring costs, training costs and productivity loss), industry experts
often quote 25% of the average employee salary as a conservative estimate.
2. Loss of Company Knowledge: When an employee leaves, he takes with him valuable
knowledge about the company, customers, current projects and past history
(sometimes to competitors). Often much time and money has been spent on the
employee in expectation of a future return. When the employee leaves, the investment
is not realized.
3. Interruption of Customer Service: Customers and clients do business with a company in
part because of the people. Relationships are developed that encourage continued
sponsorship of the business. When an employee leaves, the relationships that employee
built for the company are severed, which could lead to potential customer loss.
4. Turnover leads to more turnovers: When an employee terminates, the effect is felt
throughout the organization. Co-workers are often required to pick up the slack. The
unspoken negativity often intensifies for the remaining staff.
5. Goodwill of the company: The goodwill of a company is maintained when the attrition
rates are low. Higher retention rates motivate potential employees to join the
organization.
6. Regaining efficiency: If an employee resigns, then good amount of time is lost in hiring a
new employee and then training him/her and this goes to the loss of the company
directly which many a times goes unnoticed. And even after this you cannot assure us of
the same efficiency from the new employee
RETENTION STRTAEGIES
The basic practices which should be kept in mind in the employee retention strategies are:

Hire the right people in the first place.

Empower the employees: Give the employees the authority to get things done.

Make employees realize that they are the most valuable asset of the organization.

Have faith in them, trust them and respect them.

Provide them information and knowledge.

Keep providing them feedback on their performance.

Recognize and appreciate their achievements.

keep their morale high.

Create an environment where the employees want to work and have fun.
These practices can be categorized in 3 levels: Low, medium and high level.
<Low>
2.6
<Medium >
<High>
EMPLOYEE LAYOFF
There are good numbers of reasons for laying off an employee. Irrespective of the
reasons one should be know whether laying off an employee violates any legal standards.
This knowledge will also protect you in case a disgruntled former employee takes you to
court.
Whether you are a small business or a large corporation, laying off employees is a
necessary reality in this difficult economic recession. Laying off employees can be one of
the most difficult tasks for a manager or VP and knowing how to layoff employees
without seeming like a heartless tyrant can seem like an impossible task.
The key to knowing how to lay off employees is to remember that each worker you lay
off has feelings, monetary needs and a sense of dignity.
The following factors might help a manager to take precautions while laying off an
employee.
1. Lay off employees with compassion - the first rule in how to layoff employees
is to terminate their employment with feeling. Remembering to consider the
employee's feelings even if you have to terminate their employment under
harsh circumstances can make the lay off process significantly easier for the
employee. Remember that a job is an important aspect of a person's image of
themselves. Don't destroy their self image by forgetting to consider just how
important your job might be to them.
2. Lay off legally - refer to any contracts you may have with employees, read up
on national and state employment laws and talk to your lawyer to make sure
you are laying off employees legally.
3. Give advance warning - if you see company layoffs or corporate layoffs are
eminent, give subtle hints in the office so that when you need to deliver the
bad news, the employee is already mentally prepared.
4. Give plenty of notice - Advance notice is a key step in best lay off practice.
Don't just tell an employee he has 15 minutes to vacate the office unless there
are major security issues involved. Give him/her at least a few weeks to clear
our their desks, say good bye to fellow co workers, and start looking for
employment.
5. Be honest but not hurtful when telling your worker the bad news - Don't make
out like it is the worker's fault you are laying him/her off just because it clears
you of your guilty feelings. On the other hand, if the reason is because the
worker did not live up to expectations, do not go overboard in explaining how
horrible the employee was.
6. Give a good bye gift - Give the laid off employee a little good bye present or,
if the company is very close, even consider throwing a good bye party to show
how much you will really miss them. (Each company is different, so consider
whether this would be appropriate in your specific company.)
7. Give extra compensation - If at all possible, compensate the employee
generously when you need to perform a company or corporate layoff. Pay
workers a little bit extra in their last pay check to help them out with the
beginning difficulties of their unemployment.
8. Give advice for finding a new job- Sit down with the laid off employee and
discuss their job options. Tell them what you think their strong points are,
how they have gained from the job and types of positions they should look
for. If possible, recommend to them several companies that might be looking
for employees with their qualifications.
9. Write an honest but complimentary recommendation letter - Give the laid off
employee a detailed letter mentioning how much you appreciated them.
Include details about projects they worked on and how much they contributed.
Make the laid off worker feel special and important.
10. Consider hiring a career counselor to counsel recently laid off employees - if
you are laying off several employees, then hiring a career counselor to give
them advice could be a good way to show you care.
11. Give a good bye gift - Give the laid off employee a little good bye present or,
if your company is very warm and close-nit, you may even consider throwing
a good bye party to show how much you will really miss them. (Each
company is different, so consider whether this would be appropriate in your
specific company.)
Criteria for Layoff
If you are in the unfortunate position of having to lay off workers, it is important to
determine the criteria for employees layoffs carefully to avoid making mistakes.
The best way to decide on criteria for employee lay offs varies from company to
company, based on factors such as number of employees, projects being worked on, pay
scale, employee overlap and more. Consider the following factors as criteria for layoff.
Consider the legal implications of laying off an employee - Some employees
might have legal reasons why they cannot be laid off or need extra warning or
benefits in doing so. These employees could include pregnant females, minorities,
disabled, etc. Speak to a lawyer to determine if any restrictions apply to your
company.
Consider the employee's general attitude - Most companies would agree that one
of the most important criteria for employee layoffs is the employee's attitude. This
includes the employee's work ethics, moral, flexibility, team playing skills, job
motivation, etc. An employee who is generally difficult to work with is often the
first to go. Not only is this employee not productive, but productivity of fellow
workers also slides when (s)he is around.
Consider the employee's usefulness - Unfortunately, some employees are more
useful than others. This could be because of job function (some functions are just
less useful in the company) or because of the worker's personality. Some workers
are more willing to take on additional tasks beyond their bare minimal job
descriptions - these employees will be especially useful after other workers are
laid off.
Consider the employee's skills - Does this employee have skills that are unique or
does this employee have skills that are duplicated by many other staff members.
Consider the future of the company - Which projects is the company focusing on
now and in the future? Is the employee that you are considering laying off a main
player in one of the future projects or is (s)he mainly involved in a project that is
dying out? You may want to transfer important employees from one project to
another, but this consideration is still part of the criteria for employee lay off.
Consider the employee's pay in comparison to his/her usefulness - Is the
employee being overpaid relative to their amount of contribution? Some
employees are very talented and worth a lot of money, but they are not used to
their full potential and are therefore not worth their high pay. Other employees
may be receiving a very high pay but are a key employee in the company and are
therefore worthwhile to keep on.
Consider when the employee was hired - Newly hired workers are often the first
to let go when company layoffs are performed because they have contributed the
least to the company and will be missed the least. However, criteria for company
layoffs should focus not just on newly hired workers, but on how long all workers
have been at the company. Ethically, some companies might want to keep on
employees who have been at the company many years because of the employees'
contribution in the early days and a feeling that laying them off would be a lack of
gratitude. Although years at the job is not the only criteria, this combined with
other criteria is important to consider.
Consider trade secrets an employee might have - Some employees are valuable
because they hold knowledge about your company or corporation. Some are
valuable because they have a unique skill that cannot be easily replaced.
Employee layoffs are never easy to conduct and dealing with disgruntle employees is a
given. But there are things you can do to make the experience less painful for you and the
employee.
The announcement is the first contact you'll have with the employees. Make sure you're
honest with employees and tell them why you are laying them off. If you have no other
option let them know that. Communicate that you will call them back if positions reopen.
Provide employees with career counseling. Hire professionals to help all layoff
employees update their resumes or provide a fund to pay for them to enroll in a local
certificate program to gain a new skill.
Bring temporary placement agencies and head-hunters in for the employees to make
contact with and hopefully move directly into work after leaving your company. This will
give the employee something that will put out the fire of anger that is ultimately fueled by
betrayal and uncertainty of their family's security - a job.
Make sure every employee walks out with a recommendation letter to take to their next
job. This applies to everyone from the manager to the janitor
2.7
MERGER & ACQUISTION CULTURE
Mergers affect organizational culture. In regard to mergers in the corporate world, Deal
and Kennedy suggest that the impact is seen in three ways:
1. What they call "the over-your-shoulder effect" –
2. The "winners-and-losers effect"
3. And the "cultural isolation effect"
Each of these effects is both an opportunity for organizational learning and personal
development, as well as, a source of resistance and a drawing of energy from mission.
Do we see these effects in non-profit, business and church mergers?
The over-your-shoulder effect
This is the anxiety people experience as they wonder about the effect the merger will
have on their position in the organization, e.g., uncertainty about the degree of influence
one will have in the new situation -- Who will be on the board? Who will continue to be
employed? Will I be respected and listened to? Will my friends stay?, etc. In a business
when mergers take place there is usually the assumption that increased size will bring
greater effectiveness. Usually employees will be terminated to reduce costs and increase
efficiency In the non-profit the assumption is that we merge to increase the total number
of people we serve and to decrease redundant functions; and in so doing to increase our
capacity for mission and survival. There are usually staff cuts and changes in leadership
positions. As changes begin to take place (e.g., some people do decide to leave the
organization or not move to a new location, familiar staff are "retired" or fired, awkward
power sharing arrangements are attempted, etc.) – the anxiety builds.
Winners and Losers
While leaders may attempt to ease or cover it with comforting words or sentimentality,
what most people experience is that one organization has "won" and the other has "lost".
There will be the obvious issues of position and status, which mangers are maintained
what locations are kept; there will also be the question of organizational culture. After
several years the culture of the "winners" takes hold.
The Cultural Isolation Effect
The cultural ways and assumptions that come into play as a result of a merger will vary
from one case to another. Even if there is a high degree of cultural alignment in many
areas, there is likely to be tension in areas with less alignment. So, for example, if the
merging organizations have leaders that come from the same class and professional
background, and share many similarities in personal style; they may find that they collide
over approaches to decision making or how informally people dress at organizational
gatherings.
The major reasons or factors that lead to uncomfortableness
are:
1. Mergers frequently set goals that will not be achieved but the illusion is comforting. In
the corporate world there is a widespread assumption that at least half of the mergers
fail to achieve the goals that brought them to consider merger in the first place. I’d
guess that that assumption might hold in non-profit and religious systems.
2. There is a sense in which mergers are often about transferring the assets of one
organization to another without acknowledging it.
3. Within a few years one of the organizations has "won" and the other has "lost" – power,
quality of work life issues, members that stay in the merged organization, etc.
4. Mergers can result in lost members/employees and stagnation.
5. Poorly managed mergers can result in a merged organization with an organizational
culture marked by denial, mistrust, illusion and a fear/blame cycle.
In order to ease the process and maintain a healthy culture during merger and acquisition,
one can consider the following:
1. Clarify and maximize the goals of merger, e.g., become institutionally stronger, increased size
and financial resources while decreasing building and administrative costs; increased
productivity, more energy and resources available for mission and vision; making use of the
strengths of each party; gain synergy that would nor exist separately; etc.
2. Explore the options available to the organization, including options other than merger,
and the choices within merger
3. Increase the ability of leaders for building mutual trust and for managing disagreement,
tension, and conflict within and between the merging parties.
4. Develop ways of being and working as a merged organization that appear to have the
best chance of being successful (i.e., success in facilitating and supporting the primary
task of the organization). Set it up for success! If it is successful and sustained a new
common organizational culture will evolve; if it is not successful there will be conflict
and/or stagnation and/or decline.
5. Begin the process of getting the merged organization focused on and competent for its
on-going development.
Intervention Strategy
Interventions need to be made a various levels in the organization and over time.
1. Total System
2. With sub groups, e.g., similar departments, departments that will be interdependent in
the merged organization, etc.
3. Before the merger
4. In the first years
This can be carried out in a standard organization development process of planned
change with some special attention given to an exploration of the cultures of each of the
merging organizations. The merger process might include the following elements:
Pre-merger

Exploration of options other than merger and within merger;

Assessments of organizational cultures and the place of each organization in the their
field and the community; work at understanding the deep and underlying assumptions
in each about participation, decision making, leadership, etc.

building trust within each existing organization and between the organizations. Also
with organizations that are served by or vendors of those merging;

developing clear and "owned" statements of mission, primary task, core values; and
ways of working as an organization that are directed at success in the mission and
primary task;

exploration of possible staffing patterns;

Identify the best of the processes, structures and climate of each of the organization;
decide to use the best, develop something new from combining the ways of each, or
create a new and better way.

Identify and begin to develop the leadership competencies that will be needed in the
integrated organization
Integration Team

Have an integration team with responsibility that includes participation in all pre-merger
work, the designing of the integration – develop action plans; careful exploration of and
planning for likely barriers to success, look at possible resistance and "learning anxiety"
issues, etc.
Implementation

Assess decisions being made about the merger in terms of the statements of
mission/primary task and the culture you are trying to create

Designing the integration – integration team and others

Implementing the merger – celebrate success as you go along; be adaptable, refine,
innovate, and revise as you go along.
Post Merger

Post merger monitoring – assessments of emerging results; additional interventions to
enhance results; refine and revise any aspect of the merger based on learning from the
experience as it unfolds; etc.
The process of merger seeks an outcome in which there is a high degree of internal commitment
to and collaboration in the newly merged organization. To a large extent that commitment will
be built on:
1. How leaders come to an acceptance of people, merger goals and the merger process
itself
2. The openness of communication and information flow – keep everyone informed;
systematically gather ideas and feedback; over-communicate in all directions; provide
ways for open dialogue in small group settings about ideas, fears, hopes and anxieties;
deal with rumors openly and quickly; no secret meetings.
3. The setting of a goals that are based on free choice
The consultant needs to work with all parties to assist them in gaining the best results in
this process.
Examples of Actions that May Help in a Merger Process:
1. The stronger party in the merger makes a decision to change in the direction of the other
organization.
Two humorous, yet strategic examples -- many of us noticed that in the Time Warner –
AOL merger when the two CEO’s came together to make the announcement each was
dressed in a manner that reflected the norms of the other’s company. Deal and Kennedy
report a similar event when IBM acquired Lotus in 1995. The meeting was between IBM
senior vice president John Thompson and a group of Lotus senior managers. "In
preparing for the meeting, the Lotus crew had donned conservative suits and ties they
thought were expected in the traditionally buttoned-down IBM. They were shocked when
Thompson, trying to play to the cultural dictates of Lotus, showed up for the meeting in a
T-shirt and jeans."
While the attempt to be sensitive was probably appreciated the more important issue may
have been strategic. IBM wanted Lotus to maintain parts of its culture as a way of
protecting the assets IBM sought in the merger. There was a lot for IBM to lose if Lotus
technical people found themselves too alienated in the merger process and left for other
positions. Edgar Schein reports just that scene in another merger. The larger company
joins with a smaller firm with a significant number of engineers with skills the larger
company needed. Within a few years most of those engineers had left for other jobs.
They simply did not feel comfortable in the new setting.
2. Identify the healthiest subcultures in each organization and use them in the merger
process. Draw on them for new leadership. Find ways to increase their influence in the
merged organization.
3. Avoid "BS" – For example, don’t tell people that this is a "new organization", it is in
fact a merged organization and will have issues and dynamics that significantly differ
from a new organization; don’t tell the weaker party that this is a merger of equals – they
will not believe you and you will damage your credibility and therefore trust;
4. Watch out for the tendency to seek harmony in a manner that avoids areas of tension. You
may end up with a merged organization that has such a low level of integration that it is
inefficient, ineffective and frustrating to be part of.
You want to allow for as much diversity as possible that shows respect for the identity
and strengths of the merging organization. You also want to set this up for integration and
harmony in the long run.
Some areas in which the creation of a common approach may help include:

how the merged organization will by "marketed"; this might include considering coming
up with a new name for the organization rather than using the name of just one or even
both of the merging organization

titles of officers and groups; consider coming up with new titles for at least some
positions and groups.
5. Explore the cultures of each organization. Look at how each understands and expresses:

Mission, primary task, goals

The means and process to accomplish the mission, primary task, etc.

How they measure success

Methods for feedback and correction
2.8 Conclusion:
In this unit we have discussed the current issues in organizational behaviour that are
relevant to the organizational growth. Employee turnover is a ratio comparison of the
number of employees a company must replace in a given time period to the average
number of total employees. A huge concern to most companies, employee turnover is a
costly expense especially in lower paying job roles, for which the employee turnover rate
is highest. Many factors play a role in the employee turnover rate of any company, and
these can stem from both the employer and the employees. Wages, company benefits,
employee attendance, and job performance are all factors that play a significant role in
employee turnover.
Nothing can top these employees from moving on. Managers should take primary responsibility
for retaining their employees. HR managers should work in collaboration to make the key
employees last in their organization.
Employee Retention involves taking measures to encourage employees to remain in the
organization for the maximum period of time. There are many organizations which are
looking for such employees. In today’s environment it becomes very important for
organizations to retain their employees. Employees stay and leave organizations for some
reasons. The organizations are becoming aware of these reasons and adopting many
strategies for employee retention. The process of employee retention will benefit an
organization.
Employee layoff is another new concept in the Organizational behaviour domain. The
best way to decide on criteria for employee lay offs varies from company to company,
based on factors such as number of employees, projects being worked on, pay scale,
employee overlap and more. Consider the employee's general attitude - Most companies
would agree that one of the most important criteria for employee layoffs is the
employee's attitude. This includes the employee's work ethics, moral, flexibility, team
playing skills, job motivation, etc. Consider the employee's usefulness - Unfortunately,
some employees are more useful than others. Consider the employee's skills - Does this
employee have skills that are unique or does this employee have skills that are duplicated
by many other staff members.
2.6 Keywords
Employee Turn Over, bench strength, employee retention, employee layoff
2.8 Exercise
1. Explain the concept of
a) employee retention
b) employee turnover
c) employee layoff
d) merger and acquisition culture
2) What strategies one could adopt for retention strategies?
3) What criteria one could follow for employee layoff?
Module 5
Unit 3
LEARNING ORGANIZATION
Structure:
3.1 Objectives
3.2
Introduction
3.3
What is a Learning Organization?
3.4
Organizational Learning vs. Learning Organization
3.5
Adaptive Learning vs. Generative Learning
3.6
Relationship between Strategy and Organizational Learning
3.7
Role of Information Systems in the Learning Organization
3.8
Does IT Impose Any Constraints on Organizational Learning?
3.9
CHARACTERIATICS OF LEARNING ORGANZIATION
3.10 Types of organizational learning
3.11
Building a Learning Organization
3.12
Conclusion
3.13 Keywords
3.14
Exercise
3.1 Objectives:
The major objectives of this unit to make the student understand the concept of learning
organization, characteristics of learning organization and what are the factors needs to be
considered to build a learning organization, types of organization learning.
3.2
Introduction
Organizational learning is the process of "detection and correction of errors."
Organizations learn through individuals acting as agents for them: "The individuals'
learning activities, in turn, are facilitated or inhibited by an ecological system of factors
that may be called an organizational learning system. Huber considers four constructs as
integrally linked to organizational learning: knowledge acquisition, information
distribution, information interpretation, and organizational memory. He clarifies that
learning need not be conscious or intentional. Further, learning does not always increase
the learner's effectiveness, or even potential effectiveness. Moreover, learning need not
result in observable changes in behavior. Taking a behavioral perspective, an entity
learns if, through its processing of information, the range of its potential behaviors is
changed.
Organizational Learning perhaps involves a different kind of learning than has been
described in the past: "the process within the organization by which knowledge about
action-outcome relationships and the effect of the environment on these relationships is
developed". In his view, "a more radical approach would take the position that individual
learning occurs when people give a different response to the same stimulus, but
Organizational Learning occurs when groups of people give the same response to
different stimuli." We understand that learning in an organization is continuous process
and creating such an environment where people/employees learn continuously and
improve the performance and productivity for the benefits of themselves and the
organization. In this unit we shall focus on issues that are important in the context of
creating and sustaining a learning organization.
3.3
What is a Learning Organization?
Senge defines the Learning Organization as the organization "in which you cannot not
learn because learning is so insinuated into the fabric of life." Also, he defines Learning
Organization as "a group of people continually enhancing their capacity to create what
they want to create." I would define Learning Organization as an "Organization with an
ingrained philosophy for anticipating, reacting and responding to change, complexity and
uncertainty." The concept of Learning Organization is increasingly relevant given the
increasing complexity and uncertainty of the organizational environment. As Senge
remarks: "The rate at which organizations learn may become the only sustainable source
of competitive advantage." McGill et al. define the Learning Organization as "a company
that can respond to new information by altering the very "programming" by which
information is processed and evaluated."
3.4
Organizational Learning vs. Learning Organization
Organizational Learning and Learning Organization can be seen as different aspects in
terms of process versus structure. McGill et al. (1992) do not distinguish between
Learning Organization and Organizational Learning. They define Organizational
Learning as the ability of an organization to gain insight and understanding from
experience through experimentation, observation, analysis, and a willingness to examine
both successes and failures.
3.5
Adaptive Learning vs. Generative Learning
The current view of organizations is based on adaptive learning, which is about coping.
Senge (1990) notes that increasing adaptiveness is only the first stage; companies need to
focus on Generative Learning or "double-loop learning". Generative learning emphasizes
continuous experimentation and feedback in an ongoing examination of the very way
organizations go about defining and solving problems. In Senge's view, Generative
Learning is about creating - it requires "systemic thinking," "shared vision," "personal
mastery," "team learning," and "creative tension" [between the vision and the current
reality]. [Do Japanese companies accomplish the same thing with "strategic" and
"interpretive" equivocality"?] Generative learning, unlike adaptive learning, requires new
ways of looking at the world.
In contrast, Adaptive Learning or single-loop learning focuses on solving problems in the
present without examining the appropriateness of current learning behaviors. Adaptive
organizations focus on incremental improvements, often based upon the past track record
of success. Essentially, they don't question the fundamental assumptions underlying the
existing ways of doing work. The essential difference is between being adaptive and
having adaptability.
To maintain adaptability, organizations need to operate themselves as "experimenting" or
"self-designing" organizations, i.e., should maintain themselves in a state of frequent,
nearly-continuous change in structures, processes, domains, goals, etc., even in the face
of apparently optimal adaption argue that operating in this mode is efficacious, perhaps
even required, for survival in fast changing and unpredictable environments. They reason
that probable and desirable consequences of an ongoing state of experimentation are that
organizations learn about a variety of design features and remain flexible.
Here the leader's role in the Learning Organization is that of a designer, teacher, and
steward who can build shared vision and challenge prevailing mental models. He/she is
responsible for building organizations where people are continually expanding their
capabilities to shape their future -- that is, leaders are responsible for learning.
3.6
Relationship between Strategy and Organizational Learning
According to Minzberg, the key is not getting the right strategy but fostering strategic
thinking. Shell has leveraged the concept of Learning Organization in its credo "planning
as learning". Faced with dramatic changes and unpredictability in the world oil markets,
Shell's planners realized a shift of their basic task: "We no longer saw our task as
producing a documented view of the future business environment five or ten years ahead.
Our real target was the microcosm (the 'mental model') of our decision makers." They
reconceptualized their basic task as fostering learning rather than devising plans and
engaged the managers in ferreting out the implications of possible scenarios. This
conditioned the managers to be mentally prepared for the uncertainties in the task
environment. Thus, they institutionalized the learning process at Shell.
The key ingredient of the Learning Organization is in how organizations process their
managerial experiences. Learning Organizations/Managers learn from their experiences
rather than being bound by their past experiences. In Generative Learning Organizations,
the ability of an organization/manager is not measured by what it knows (that is the
product of learning), bur rather by how it learns -- the process of learning. Management
practices encourage, recognize, and reward: openness, systemic thinking, creativity, a
sense of efficacy, and empathy.
3.7
Role of Information Systems in the Learning Organization
Although, Huber explicitly specifies the role of IS in the Learning Organization as
primarily serving Organizational Memory, in my view, IS can serve the other three
processes
(Knowledge
Acquisition,
Information
Distribution,
and
Information
Interpretation) as well. One instance of use of IS in Knowledge Acquisition is that of
Market Research and Competitive Intelligence Systems. At the level of planning,
scenario planning tools can be used for generating the possible futures. Similarly, use of
Groupware tools, Intranets, E-mail, and Bulletin Boards can facilitate the processes of
Information Distribution and Information Interpretation. The archives of these
communications can provide the elements of the Organizational Memory. Organizational
Memory needs to be continuously updated and refreshed. The IT basis of OM suggested
by Huber lies at the basis of organizational rigidity when it becomes "hi-tech hide bound"
and is unable to continuously adapt its "theory of the business".
3.8
Does IT Impose Any Constraints on Organizational Learning?
Huber notes that "it might be reasonable to conclude that more learning has occurred
when more and more varied interpretations have been developed, because such
development changes the range of the organization's potential behaviors...". However,
most extant information systems focus on the convergence of interpretation and are not
geared for multiple interpretations. The massive technology of MIS, quality control
systems, and audits of quality control systems is designed for single loop learning.
Essentially, it is said that the problem of using IT is in its reinforcement of the prevailing
[rigid] structures. The overarching command-and-control structures for the "gaps of
knowledge" that top managers design to manage effectively is one factor that influence
the learning organzaition: "Another set of attitudes usually developed is that lower level
managers and employees can be trusted only to the extent that they can be monitored".
The problems related to MIS implementation are more related to organizational factors
than to the underlying technology.
There are "deeper" reasons behind the implementation gap of MIS, especially when the
technology was used to deal with the more complex and ill-structured problems faced by
the organization. This requirement, in turn, implies that learning also requires the
capacity to know when it is unable to identify and correct errors.
A learning organization is one that is able to change its behaviors and mind-sets as a result of
experience. This may sound like an obvious statement, yet many organizations refuse to
acknowledge certain truths or facts and repeat dysfunctional behaviors over and again.
Examples include the number of times restructuring initiatives are repeated because the
previous attempt did not achieve the desired outcomes or the failure of mergers and
acquisitions to meet initial objectives.
Although there may be some metrics that can gauge and evaluate learning in an organization,
this discussion will offer an alternative perspective, not about how to measure outcomes, but
more about how to create learning environments that facilitate the achievement of specific or
of multiple, related objectives.
Such environments tend to promote learning and leadership at all levels (distributed leadership)
and they are likely to make the organization more accountable for its actions as individuals tend
to accept more readily responsibility for their actions. Organizations, both in the private and
public sectors that have adopted this approach find that individual
responsibility increases to a significant degree and accountability becomes clearer and stronger.
Everyone is a responsible agent working towards a shared vision, exploring possibilities and
taking initiatives that nevertheless fit well into the overall strategic direction.Learning
organizations achieve this through a strong network of relationships and peer support (rather
than pressure).
Enabling learning environments inform business strategy by taking advantage of distributed
intelligence throughout the organization; they fully engage internal and external stakeholders by
responding to issues identified by stakeholders; they change the behavior of the organization
through mindset and attitude change in individuals within the organization; and, finally, they
help to integrate sustainability thinking into the culture of the organization.
All human organizations are complex and one way of understanding their characteristics is
through complexity theory. The following characteristics are those of complex learning
organizations and are based on research with companies in both the private and public sectors
undertaken by the Complexity Group at the London School of Economics, UK, over the past 12
years.
Organizational learning (OL) is more than individual learning and arises through the interaction
of individuals in groups and teams of different sizes. What is characteristic of OL is that it is an
emergent process in the sense that its outcome is not predictable and it is more than the
separate contributions of individuals. OL needs the right environment to thrive, one that allows
time for reflection on past actions and outcomes and is prepared to accept some unpalatable
truths and one that is not a blame culture in the sense that ‘mistakes’ are unacceptable. Such an
environment makes a distinction between ‘mistakes’ that are the result of irresponsibility and
lack of forethought and those that are genuine explorations of a new idea or a new way of
working. If individuals and teams are encouraged to be innovative then they need to explore
alternatives and to take thoughtful risks. But not all the experiments will succeed. For one to
succeed many need to be tried. The ‘failures’ are not ‘mistakes’, they are legitimate explorations
of the space of possibilities, as part of the search to find new, innovative products, procedures,
ways of working, etc.
3.9
CHARACTERIATICS OF LEARNING ORGANZIATION
During the learning process, individuals will influence each other and their ideas will co-evolve;
that is each idea will adapt and change in the context of other ideas, and once changed, it will, in
turn, have an influence on what happens next. The concept of co-evolution is a powerful one and
applies not only to internal organizational learning but also to strategy in relation to a changing
environment, as well as to sustainability understanding. Whatever actions or procedures are in
place at any one time regarding sustainability (whether organizational or environmental) they
cannot remain static. As the
broader environment changes these actions and procedures, policies, etc., need to change to
respond to changes in the environment. Once changed, they will, in turn, influence that broader
environment. When the influence and change are reciprocal and not unilateral then co-evolution
has occurred. In terms of sustainability, the concept to work towards is that of co-evolutionary
sustainability – in other words the ability of an organization to continuously and appropriately
adapt to external changes in its broader environment. Another relevant concept, inspired by
biology, is the notion of the social ecosystem. This includes all competitors, suppliers, customers,
associates, legal and government bodies, etc. Complexity theory sees systems as interacting
wholes, influencing each other, in a co-evolutionary process.
Learning organizations encourage self-organization, so that groups can come together to explore
new ideas without being directed to do so by a manager outside that group. This is the process
that occurs naturally around the coffee machine or the water cooler, but learning organizations
actively encourage self-organization and do not see it as a waste of time. This is an essential part
of the innovative process which is also an integral part of creating an environment that facilitates
co- evolutionary sustainability.
Organizations include multiple and intricate networks of relationships, which are sustained
through communication and other forms of feedback, with varying degrees of inter-dependence.
Although heavily influenced by their history and culture, they can transcend both when
necessary. When such organizations meet a constraint they are able to explore the space of
possibilities and find a different way of doing things, i.e., they are creative and innovative and can
create something new. This creation of new order is the distinctive characteristic of complex (as
distinct from complicated) systems.
Unfortunately, this innate source of innovation is often restricted. Understanding the
characteristics of complex systems and of complex learning organizations means that we can
work with those characteristics to achieve objectives, rather than against them.
The characteristics are also group in the following four categories by few experts.

communication and openness;

inquiry and feedback;

adequate time; and

Mutual respect and support.
Communication and openness involve both self-reflection (i.e., being honest with oneself
about a situation) and participatory reflection (i.e., pushing the group to clarify and
evaluate the assumptions underlying how work gets done within the organization). It also
involves communication that flows as much from the bottom of a hierarchy to the top as
vice-versa. Inquiry allows individuals to become adept at questioning things as a normal
course of their work. It encourages people to take risks in improving aspects of their
work. Positive feedback involves activities that are designed to let people learn from their
inquiries, to build a personal knowledge base that is defined by proactive rather than
reactive or defensive thinking. It involves those with more experience helping those with
less experience understand not just the "right" way to do things, but what can be learned
from doing things the "wrong" way. Communication, reflection, feedback, flexibility, and
inquiry all depend upon individuals having adequate time to engage themselves and
others in meaningful dialogue and brainstorming. Finally, mutual respect and support
involves treating co-workers, supervisors, and employees equally and consistently with
respect to one's ability to contribute positively to the organization, regardless of where
that person is located in the organizational hierarchy.
Table 1. Characteristics of a Learning Organization and Associated Best
Practices *
Characteristic
Definition
Associated Best Practices
Self masteryindividual
1.Positive reinforcement
from role
models/managers
The ability to honestly
2.Sharing experiences
and openly see reality as 3.More interaction time
it exists; to clarify one's
between supervisory
levels
personal vision
4.Emphasis on feedback
5.Balance work/nonwork life
Greater commitment
to the organization
and to work; less
rationalization of
negative events;
ability to face
limitations and areas
for improvement;
ability to deal with
change
Mental
models individual
The ability to compare
reality or personal vision
with perceptions;
reconciling both into a
coherent understanding
Less use of defensive
routines in work; less
reflexivity that leads
to dysfunctional
patterns of behavior;
less avoidance of
1.Time for learning
2.Reflective openness
3.Habit of inquiry
4.Forgiveness of oneself
5.Flexibility/adaptability
Positive Byproducts
difficult situations
Shared vision
- group
The ability of a group of
individuals to hold a
shared picture of a
mutually desirable
future
The ability of a group of
individuals to suspend
Team learning personal assumptions
about each other and
- group
engage in "dialogue"
rather than "discussion"
Systems
thinking group
The ability to see
interrelationships rather
than linear cause-effect;
the ability to think in
context and appreciate
the consequences of
actions on other parts of
the system
1.Participative openness
2.Trust
3.Empathy towards
others
4.Habit of dissemination
5.Emphasis on
cooperation
6.A common language
Commitment over
compliance, faster
change, greater within
group trust; less time
spent on aligning
interests; more
effective
communication flows
1.Participative openness
2.Consensus building
3.Top-down and bottomup communication flows;
4.Support over blame;
5.Creative thinking
Group self-awareness;
heightened collective
learning; learning "up
and down" the
hierarchy; greater
cohesiveness;
enhanced creativity
1.Practicing self mastery
2.Possessing consistent
mental models
3.Possessing a shared
vision
4.Emphasis on team
learning
Long-term
improvement or
change; decreased
organizational conflict;
continuous learning
among group
members;
Revolutionary over
evolutionary change
* Adapted from the work of Senge (1990), Argyris and Schon (1996), Argyris (1991),
and Schon (1983).
3.10 Types of organizational learning
1. Single-loop learning.
This occurs when errors are detected and corrected and firms continue
with their present policies and goals. Single-loop learning can be equated
to activities that add to the knowledge-base or firm-specific competences
or routines without altering the fundamental nature of the organization's
activities. Single-loop learning has also been referred to as "Lower-Level
Learning" by Fiol and Lyles, "Adaptive Learning" or "Coping" by Senge,
and "Non Strategic Learning" by Mason.
2. Double-loop learning. This occurs when, in addition to detection and correction of
errors, the organization questions and modifies its existing norms, procedures,
policies, and objectives. Double-loop learning involves changing the organization's
knowledge-base or firm-specific competences or routines. Double-loop learning is
also called "Higher-Level Learning" by Fiol and Lyles, "Generative Learning" or
"Learning to Expand an Organization's Capabilities" by Senge, and "Strategic
Learning" by Mason. Strategic learning is defined as "the process by which an
organization makes sense of its environment in ways that broaden the range of
objectives it can pursue or the range of resources and actions available to it for
processing these objectives."
3. Deutero-learning. This occurs when organizations learn how to carry out Single-loop
learning and Double-loop learning. The first two forms of learning will not occur if
the organizations are not aware that learning must occur. Being aware of ignorance
motivates learning (Nevis et al., 1995). This means identifying the learning
orientations or styles, and the processes and structures (facilitating factors) required
to promote learning. Nevis et al., (1995) identify seven different learning styles and
ten different facilitating factors that influence learning. For example, one of the
facilitating factors is identifying the performance gap between targeted outcomes
and actual performance. This awareness makes the organization recognize that
learning needs to occur, and that the appropriate environment and processes need
to be created. This also means recognizing the fact that lengthy periods of positive
feedback or good communication can block learning.
Double-loop learning and Deutero-learning are concerned with the why and how to
change the organization, while Single-loop learning is concerned with accepting change
without questioning underlying assumptions and core beliefs. Dodgson states that the
type of Organizational Learning also depends on where in the organization the
organizational learning occurs. Thus, learning can occur in different functions of the
organization such as research, development, design, engineering, manufacturing,
marketing, administration, and sales.
3.11
Building a Learning Organization
As we all know, to stay ahead of competitors, companies must constantly enhance the
way they do business. But more performance-improvement programs fail than succeed.
That's because many managers don't realize that sustainable improvement requires a
commitment to learning.
After all, how can organizations respond creatively to new challenges (shifts in customer
preferences, market downturns) without first discovering something new--then altering
the way they operate to reflect new insights? Without learning, companies repeat old
practices, make cosmetic changes, and produce short-lived improvements.
To transform your company into a learning organization, Garvin recommends mastering
five activities:

Solving problems systematically

Experimenting with new approaches to work

Learning from past experience

Learning from other companies and from customers

Transferring knowledge throughout your organization
Woven into the fabric of your company's daily operations, these activities help your
organization make enduring improvements that translate directly into measurable gains-including superior quality, better delivery, and increased market share.
The Idea in Practice
Garvin offers these suggestions for mastering five organizational learning practices:
Solving Problems Systematically
Don't try to solve problems by relying on gut instinct or assumptions. Instead, generate
hypotheses, gather data to test your hypotheses, and use statistical tools (such as causeand-effect diagrams) to organize data and draw inferences.
Experimenting
Systematically search for and test new knowledge. Use small experiments to produce
incremental gains in knowledge. For instance, specialty glass manufacturer Corning
experiments continually with diverse raw materials and new formulations to increase
yields and provide better grades of glass.
Use demonstration projects to produce knowledge you can use for systemwide changes.
General Foods experimented with self-managing teams at its Topeka plant with the aim
of adopting this approach across the company later.
Learning from Past Experience
Review your successes and failures, identify lessons learned, and record those lessons in
accessible forms. For example Boeing compared the development processes of its 737
and 747 planes (models that had serious technical problems) to those of its 707 and 727
(two profitable programs). It then compiled a booklet of lessons learned. Several
members of the learning team were later transferred to two start-up programs--the 757
and 767. They produced the most successful, error-free launches in Boeing's history.
Learning from Others
Look outside your immediate environment to gain new perspectives. Consider these
sources:
Other companies. Identify best-practice organizations (even in other industries), use site
visits and interviews to study how they get work done, and generate ideas for improving
your own practices.
Your customers. Meet regularly with customers to gather knowledge about products,
competitors, consumers' preferences, and the quality of your service. Also observe
customers using your products, to identify problems and generate ideas for improvement.
Transferring Knowledge
New knowledge carries maximum impact when it's shared broadly. To transfer
knowledge quickly and efficiently throughout your organization, move experts to
different parts of the company--across divisions, departments, and facilities--so they can
share the wealth.
Time Life's CEO shifted the president of the company's music division (who had
orchestrated years of rapid growth and high profits through innovative marketing) to the
book division, where profits were flat because of continued reliance on traditional
marketing concepts. (source HBR)
3.12
Conclusion
To build a learning organization, you need people who can learn. But sometimes your
best and brightest are the hardest to teach. Why? They haven't had the opportunities for
introspection that failure affords, and they dread feeling incompetent or vulnerable. When
they do fail, they become defensive rather than open to learning from mistakes. To help
talented employees develop more learning-oriented responses, demonstrate your
willingness to examine and change unproductive assumptions, such as "I must never
make mistakes." And teach employees to apply the same kind of "tough reasoning" to
their own assumptions that they apply to on-the-job problems--such as using objective
data and asking others to verify their conclusions.
3.13 Keywords
Learning
Organization,
strategy,
knowledge,
Deutero-learning,
Double-loop
learning, Single-loop learning.
3.14
Exercise
1. Explain the concept of learning organization.
2. What are the characteristics of learning organization?
3. Explain the different types of organization learning.
4. What methods you can adopt to build learning organization?
Module 5
Unit 4
TRANSACTION ANALYSIS AS A TOOL FOR BEHAVIOURAL ANALYSIS
Structure:
4.1
Objectives
4.2
Introduction
4.3
Transaction Analysis
4.3.1
Metaphor
4.3.2
Method
4.3.3
Scientific Postulates:
4.4
The Child Ego State
4.5
Transactions Types
4.6
Games
4.7
Payoffs
4.8
The Existential Position
4.9
The Stroke Economy
4.10
Rituals, Pastimes, Games, Intimacy, Work
4.11
The Drama Triangle
4.12
Scripts
4.13
Decisions
4.14
Tragic And Banal Scripts
4.15
Permission, Protection and Potency
4.17
Johari Window
4.18
Summary
4.1
Objectives:
After reading this unit you will be able to learn/understand/know
a) the concept of transaction analysis
b) Various elements of transaction analysis like ego states, transaction types,
strokes, payoff
c) Johari window and its application
4.2
Introduction:
Human beings have an innate hunger for stimulation and information. An organization
can be more successful by knowing the people in a better way and providing an open
environment for overall growth of the individual and the organization. Transaction
analysis has been used by many people and today it has become a passion for many
organizations to adopt transaction analysis for having people who match their
requirements. At the end of this chapter we will understand the importance of Transaction
analysis, ego states, transaction types and Johari window concept for self analysis.
4.3
Transaction Analysis
Transactional Analysis (TA) is a theory of personality and social psychology within the
humanistic tradition. Eric Berne, the founder of TA, re-examined the basic assumptions
held by psychiatry and, from his pioneering work as a radical scientist, developed the
theory of Transactional Analysis.
Transactional Analysis offers a framework for understanding personality, human
development, communications and personal life patterns. TA provides ways to describe
and explain both internal experience and interpersonal behaviour in an innovative and
accessible manner. Because of its emphasis on the interactional aspects of
communication, it is invaluable wherever people intervention is more and where the
understanding of people is of central importance to professional effectiveness. The three
philosophical concepts underpin Transactional Analysis. They are:
*
Respect for the dignity of all human beings and empathic acceptance of them as
people are essential qualities for effective educators. These qualities are at the
heart of successful relationships between the people in the organization.
*
People at all ages and stages of development are capable of learning to take
responsibility for their decisions and actions.
*
Difficulties can be addressed effectively with co-operative goodwill and a
coherent theoretical framework which makes sense of the human dynamics
involved.
TA theory is blend of three concepts which are intermingled with each other. They are
metaphor, method and science.
4.3.1
Metaphor:
A set of ideas based on belief. Intuitively connected myths, metaphors and neologisms which
are very helpful to people who want to understand and change their lives and other people’s
lives but which make more sense as morality tales than as scientific or philosophical postulates.
This is the basis of TA’s early popularity.
4.3.2
Useful
Method:
techniques
based
on
heuristic
development.
Modern(ized)
methods
of
psychotherapy/educational practice based on trial and error, pragmatic findings, the creative
use of techniques from other methods and generally supported by scientific research. This is the
most likely path for a revival of transactional analysis in the professional community.
4.3.3
Scientific Postulates:
A theory and practice based on scientific research. This is the only possible basis for a place for
transactional analysis in the scientific community and depends on just how prescient Berne was
fifty years ago.
EGO STATES AND TRANSACTIONS: People's interactions are made up of transactions. Any
one transaction has two parts: the stimulus and the response. Individual transactions are
usually part of a larger set. Some of these transactional sets or sequences can be direct,
productive and healthy or they can be devious, wasteful and unhealthy.
When people interact they do so in one of three different ego states. An ego state is a specific
way of thinking feeling and behaving and each ego state has its origin in specific regions of the
brain. People can behave from their Parent ego state, or from their Child ego state or from their
Adult ego state. At any one time our actions come from one of these three ego states.
4.4
THE CHILD EGO STATE:
An individual in the Child ego state act like the child once were. We aren't just putting on an act;
we think, feel, see, hear and react as a three or five or eight year old child. The ego states are
fully experienced states of being, not just roles. When the Child is hateful or loving, impulsive,
spontaneous or playful it is called the Natural Child. When it is thoughtful, creative or
imaginative it is called the Little Professor. When it is fearful, guilty or ashamed it is called the
Adapted Child. The Child has all the feelings; fear, love, anger, joy, sadness, shame and so on.
The Child is often blamed for being the source of people's troubles because it is self-centered,
emotional, and powerful and resists the suppression that comes with growing up.
In transactional analysis (TA) the Child is seen as the source of creativity, recreation and
procreation; the only source of renewal in life. The Child can be observed in children for
extended periods of time, but also in grownups in situations where people have permission to
let the Child out, like at sport events or parties. The Child will appear for short periods of time in
other situations, such as board meetings, classrooms or serious discussions where it may not be
desired at all. In its most undesirable form it completely dominates a person's life, as in
the cases of persons who are severely emotionally disturbed whose confused, depressed, crazy
or addicted Child will drive them to virtual self-destruction with out-of-control behavior. The
Child may also appear for long periods of time in the form of depression or grief, as in the case
of people who have incurred a great loss.
THE PARENT The Parent is like a tape recorder. It is a collection of pre-recorded, prejudged, prejudiced codes for living. When a person is in the Parent ego state she thinks, feels
and behaves like one of her parents or someone who took their place. The Parent decides,
without reasoning, how to react to situations, what is good or bad, and how people should live.
The Parent judges for or against and can be controlling or supportive. When the Parent is critical
it is called the Critical Parent. When it is supportive it is called the Nurturing Parent.
One ego state can dominate a person to the exclusion of the other two. An example of this is
the excluding Nurturing or Critical Parent, which happens when a person is unable to use their
Child or Adult. This person is at a great disadvantage because in order to be a well-functioning
human being, the ego states must be available when needed.
With an excluding Parent as the only functioning ego state a person has to live without the
benefit of his Child or Adult and is therefore cut off from two thirds of his human potential.
The Parent uses old "tapes" to solve problems, and is therefore usually twenty five years behind
the times (though it may be 250 or as much as 2,500 years behind the times.) and is useful when
there is no information available to the Adult, or no time to use the Adult to think. The Child, on
the other hand, will create novel solutions based on intuition but these solutions may not be as
reliable as the fact-based Adult decisions.
THE ADULT EGO STATE: When in the Adult ego state the person functions as a human computer.
It operates on data it collects and stores or uses to make decisions according to a logic-based
program.
When in the Adult ego state the person uses logical thinking to solve problems making sure that
Child or Parent emotions do not contaminate the process. People may conclude from this
that emotions are not good. But it only means that in order to be rational and logical we need to
be able to separate ourselves from our emotions. It doesn't mean that to be rational and logical
is the best way to be at all times. In fact, just as an excluding Parent makes for an incomplete
human being, so does an excluding Adult have the same deadening effect on people. People will
also object: "I am an adult and I have emotions!" and they are right. Being a mature human
being or grownup is not the same as being in the Adult ego state. Little children can be in their
Adult and well adjusted grown-ups use their Parent and Child all the time.
The Adult computes all the facts fed into it. If the facts are up-to-date, then the Adult's answers
will be timely and more effective than the Parent's solution. If the facts are incorrect, the Adult
computer will produce incorrect answers. A very important function of the Adult is to predict
outcomes and to provide a fact-based critique of the effectiveness of people's behavior in the
pursuit of their chosen goals. This fact-based, critical function is different from the value-based
function of the Critical Parent.
Sometimes the Adult uses information which has its source in the Child or in the Parent and
which may be incorrect. This is known as contamination. When a contamination comes from
the Parent it is called a prejudice. For instance when someone assumes that women prefer to
follow a man's lead instead of making their own decisions this is data which comes to the Adult
the from the Parent, and is a contamination because it is accepted as a fact without checking it
against reality.
The same unchecked acceptance of information can occur with information fed by the Child in
which case it is called delusion. A delusion is usually based on a Child fear or hope that is
accepted as reality by the Adult. For instance when a person is convinced that he is being
poisoned by the government this is probably based on his Child's fears which the Adult accepts,
rather than on fact. An extremely important process in transactional analysis is decontamination
of the Adult.
VOICES IN THE HEAD As you will recall, the Parent ego state is like a tape recorder full of prejudged, prejudiced, pre- programmed statements. These "taped" statements can get activated
while we are in our Adult or Child and then we can actually hear them as "voices in our heads."
The Parental tapes can feel good or bad depending on which Parent makes them. In other
personality theories, the harmful Critical Parent voices are known as the harsh super-ego,
negative self-talk, cognitive traps, low self-esteem, punitive protector or catastrophic
expectations.
The Critical Parent can makes put-down statements like: "You're bad, stupid, ugly, crazy and
sick; in short you're doomed, not OK." The Nurturing Parent loves the Child unconditionally and
says things like: "I love you," "You're a winner," "You're smart," "You're a princess" or "You're
beautiful."
The Critical Parent sometimes controls the Child by preventing it from feeling good about itself.
If the Child wants to be loved the Critical Parent says, "You don't deserve it." If the Child wants
to give love the Critical Parent may say, "It isn't wanted." If the Child is angry at an unrewarding
job, the Critical Parent may say, "This is the best you can do because you are lazy." If the Child
comes up with a new idea that goes against old points of view, the Critical Parent may respond:
"You must be crazy to think like that." The Critical Parent can make people feel not OK and force
them to do things they don't want to do. To counteract this kind of a Critical Parent people can
learn to develop their Nurturing Parent, Adult or Natural Child.
By means of an egogram we can show the relative strength of a person's ego states at any one
time. This is very useful in diagramming the way people change over time, especially how they
reduce their Critical Parent and increase their Nurturing Parent Adult or Child.
4.5
TRANSACTIONS TYPES:
Transactions occur when any person relates to any other person. Each transaction is made up of
a stimulus and a response. The transactions can proceed from the Parent, Adult or Child of one
person to the Parent, Adult or Child of another person.
Complimentary and Crossed Transactions. A complimentary transaction involves one ego state
in each person. In a crossed transaction the transactional response is addressed to an ego state
different from the one which started the stimulus. Communication can continue between two
people as long as transactions are complimentary: Crossed transactions are important because
they disrupt communication. This is useful to know because it helps transactional analysts
understand how and why communication is disrupted. The rule is: "whenever a disruption of
communication occurs, a crossed transaction caused it." One very important kind of
crossed transaction is the discount transaction. Here a person, in his response, completely
disregards the contents of a transactional stimulus. Discounts are not always obvious but are
always disruptive to the person receiving them and if repeated can severely disturb the
recipient.
Covert Transactions: Covert transactions occur when people say one thing and mean another.
Covert transactions are the basis of games and are especially interesting because they are
deceptive. They have a social (overt) and a psychological (covert) level.
It is important to know the difference between the social and covert levels because in order to
understand and predict what people are going to do, the covert level will provide more
information than the overt level.
One important reason we say one thing and mean another is that we are generally ashamed of
our Child's or Parent's desires and feelings. Nevertheless, we act on these desires and express
those feelings while we pretend to be doing otherwise. For instance, we may use smiling
sarcasm instead of a direct expression of our anger, or when scared we may counter-attack
instead of admitting our fears.
When we want attention or love we often feign indifference, and we have trouble giving or
accepting them. In fact, because our lives are so immersed in half-truth and deception it can
happen that we no longer know what it is our Child really wants. We also don't expect people to
be completely honest so that we never really know whether we can trust what they say.
Transactional analysts encourage people to be honest with one another, and with themselves,
about their wants and feelings, rather than "crooked" and covert. In this manner people can find
out what they want, how to ask for it and, if possible, how to get it.
STROKES: Stroke is a unit of recognition. Stroking is the recognition that one person gives to
another. Strokes are essential to a person's life. Without them, as Berne said, the "spinal cord
will shrivel up." It has been shown that a very young child needs actual physical strokes in order
to remain alive. Adults can get by on fewer physical strokes as they learn to exchange verbal
strokes; positive strokes like praise or expressions of appreciation, or negative strokes like
negative judgments or put downs. Therefore, the exchange of strokes is one of the most
important things that people do in their daily lives.
4.6
GAMES:
The essential aspect of games is that they are crooked or covert exchanges of strokes. A game is
a recurring series of covert transactions with a beginning, middle and end, and a payoff. The
payoff is a hidden advantage which motivates the players to participate. What makes it a game
is that none of the suggestions are really accepted. The reason for that is that, at the
psychological and much more meaningful level, what is really going on is that one may need
advice but needs strokes even more. Because these strokes are being given in a roundabout way
they are not as satisfying as direct strokes would be. This is why the game ends on a note of
depressed frustration.
4.7
PAYOFFS: There are number of payoffs of this game; every game pays off at three
different levels: 1. the biological pay-off of a game is strokes. Even though games end badly, all
the players get a considerable number of strokes-both positive and negative-out of playing
them. 2. The social pay-off of a game is time-structuring. People are able to fill time which
otherwise might have been dull and depressing with an exciting activity. 3. The existential payoff of a game is the way in which the game confirms the existential position of each player.
4.8
THE EXISTENTIAL POSITION: In the process of developing an identity people define for
themselves, early in life, what the meaning of their life or existence is. Some people decide they
are OK and are going to have a good life; but many others decide they are not OK and will fail in
some way. That expectation based on a decision of how life will be is their existential position.
People can feel OK or not OK about themselves and others so that there are four main
existential positions: “I'm OK, you're OK,” “I'm OK you're not OK,” “I'm not OK you're OK” and
finally, “I'm not OK you're not OK.”
4.9
THE STROKE ECONOMY: One of the harmful aspects of the Critical Parent is that it has a
set of rules that govern the giving and taking of strokes (Don't give, ask for, accept or give
yourself strokes) The effect of these rules, called the stroke economy, is that people are
prevented from freely stroking each other and taking care of their stroke needs. As a
consequence, most human beings live in a state of stroke hunger in which they survive on a
deficient diet of strokes -- in a manner similar to persons who are starved for food -- and spend
a great deal of time and effort in trying to satisfy their hunger. Positive strokes, sometimes
called "warm fuzzies," such as holding hands or saying "I love you," give the person receiving
them a feeling of being OK. There are also negative strokes, which are painful forms of
recognition such as sarcasm, putdowns, a slap, an insult or saying "I hate you." Negative strokes
make the person receiving them feel not OK. Still, even though unpleasant, negative strokes are
a form of recognition and prevent "the spinal cord from shriveling up." For this reason, people
prefer a situation of negative strokes to a situation without strokes at all. This explains why
some people seem to intentionally hurt themselves in their relationships with others. It is not
because "they enjoy hurting themselves" but because they can't get positive recognition, and
choose painful negative strokes to having no strokes.
People can learn to exchange strokes freely, open the hearts and give and ask for strokes
without shame or embarrassment. Different strokes appeal to different people and everyone
has their special, secret wishes. There are many kinds of positive strokes - there are physical
strokes and verbal strokes. Physical strokes can be hugs, kisses, holding, caresses, strong or light,
sensual or just friendly, nurturing or slightly teasing and so on. Verbal strokes can be about a
people's looks - their face, body, posture or movements or about a person's personality - their
intelligence, loving nature sensitivity or courage. In any case, people need and deserve strokes
and if they ask for them they will usually find someone who has just the strokes they want and is
willing to give them.
4.10
RITUALS, PASTIMES, GAMES, INTIMACY, WORK There are five ways people can
structure their time to get strokes: 1. A ritual is a pre-set exchange of recognition strokes. 2. A
pastime is a pre-set conversation around a certain subject. Pastimes are most evident at cocktail
parties and family get-togethers. Some common pastimes are: sports, music, clubs etc.
3. Games are repetitive, devious series of transactions intended to get strokes. Unfortunately,
the strokes obtained in games are mostly negative. A game is a failed method of getting
wanted strokes. 4. Intimacy is a direct and powerful exchange of strokes which people crave but
seldom attain because the Child is frightened away from it by hurtful experiences. 5. Work is an
activity which has a product as its result. Good work results in the exchange of strokes as a side
effect.
Intimacy and work are the most satisfying ways of obtaining strokes. Unfortunately, lasting
intimacy is difficult to achieve because people are often emotionally illiterate and work is often
unsatisfying
when
people
work
in
isolation
and
don’t
get
praise
for
their
accomplishments. Therefore, people must resort to rituals, games, and pastimes which are
safer, though far less satisfying ways of obtaining strokes. For example, a marriage can be an
endless and boring series of rituals, pastimes and games. Frequently this is because both
partners live on the basis of stroke-depriving life scripts which prevent men from being
emotional and intimate and women from being able to use their Adult to ask for and get the
love they want. Games can be played in a range of degrees. Different people play different roles
in the games they play. When a person is are willing to play one of the roles of a game he/she
will often find him/her self playing the other roles in the game. There are a variety of roles but
the three basic game roles are Persecutor, Rescuer, and Victim. Work places, schools and
friendships are often based on these roles. The three roles can be arranged in a triangle to
illustrate what happens:
4.11
THE DRAMA TRIANGLE: The drama triangle can be illustrated with the Addiction Game.
In the Addiction Game, the addict playing the role of the Victim of addiction, humiliation,
prejudice, medical neglect and even police brutality seeks and finds a Rescuer. The Rescuer
plays the role by trying to generously and selflessly help the addict without making sure that the
addict is invested in the process of giving up drug abuse. After certain amount of frustrating
failure the Rescuer gets angry and switches into the Persecuting role by accusing, insulting,
neglecting or punishing the addict. At this point the addict switches from Victim to Persecutor
by counterattacking, insulting, becoming violent and creating midnight emergencies. The
erstwhile Rescuer is now the Victim in the game. This process of switching goes on endlessly
around the Drama Triangle Merry-go-Round.
To avoid the drama triangle in psychotherapy, transactional analysts insist on establishing a
contract in which the person specifically states what he/she wants to be cured of. This protects
both client and therapist: the therapist knows exactly what the person wants, and the person
knows what the therapist is going to work on and when therapy is to be completed. In any case,
the best way to avoid the Drama Triangle is to avoid the roles of Rescuer, Persecutor or Victim
by staying in the Adult ego state.
4.12
SCRIPTS: Transactional analysts believe that most people are basically OK and in
difficulty only because their parents (or other grown ups and influential young people) have
exposed them to powerful injunctions and attributions with long-term harmful effects.
People, early in their lives come to the conclusion that their lives will unfold in a predictable
way; short, long, healthy, unhealthy, happy, unhappy depressed or angry, successful or failed,
active or passive. When the conclusion is that life will be bad or self damaging this is seen as a
life script.
The script matrix is a diagram used to clarify people's scripts. In it we see two parents and
their offspring and we can diagram the transactional messages--injunctions and attributions-which caused the young person to abandon their original OK position and replace it with a serfdamaging not OK position.
When life is guided by a script there are always periods in which the person appears to be
evading his or her unhappy fate. This seemingly normal period of the script, is called the
counterscript. The counterscript is active when the person's unhappy life plan gives way to a
happier period. This is, however, only temporary and invariably collapses, giving way to the
original scripting. For an alcoholic, this may be a period of sobriety; for a depressed person with
a suicide script it may be a brief period of happiness which inevitably ends when the script's
injunctions take over.
In the Script Matrix of Joseph, a drug addict we see that the script injunction "Don't think, drink
instead." goes to Joseph's Child from his father's Child. This powerful message influences
Joseph's life dramatically, when he follows his father’s injunction with drugs instead of alcohol
causing him repeated drug abuse episodes through his young life and adulthood. The
counterscript message "You should not drink to excess," motivates him to make repeated but
ineffectual efforts to cut down on drug abuse and it goes to Joseph's Parent from his mother
and father's Parent.
The Script message: "don't think, drink instead" delivered from Child-to-Child-is more
influential than the Parent-to-Parent counterscript message to abuse moderatly: that is why the
script messages will usually prevail unless the person changes his or her script. When scripts are
not changed they are passed down the generations, like “hot potatoes,” from grown ups to
children in an uninterrupted chain of maladaptive, toxic behavior patterns.
4.13
DECISIONS. In a healthy home environment parents will give unconditional protection
to their children regardless of what they may do. When parents make their protection
conditional on children's submission to their injunctions and attributions, the children are likely
to develop a script. Script decisions are often consciously made in order to go along with
parental injunctions, even though they go against the child's best self-interests. At this point the
young person trades autonomy for parental protection to avoid punishment and criticism. The
decision involved is a switch from an "I'm OK" position to an “I’m not OK" position. It also often
involves a decision about whether other people are OK. When people make such decisions, they
may need the help of a therapist to discard the script and begin to pursue an autonomous life
course or as Berne put it: "Close down the show and put a new on the road".
As individuals are helped to go back to the early experiences which caused them to make
decisions that were necessary for their physical or psychological survival then, but are getting in
their way in the present, they can make redecisions to behave differently in order to have a
more fulfilling life in the present.
It is possible to observe a person's script in brief sequences of behavior called miniscripts
which constantly mimic and reinforce the script. The fact is that everything that goes on in
people's mental and emotional life is reflected in their behavior. That is how by studying
people's transactions, transactional analysts are able to understand the ways and reasons of
people's behavior and help them stop playing games, change their scripts and get the most out
of life.
4.14
TRAGIC AND BANAL SCRIPTS: Some scripts are tragic and some scripts are banal. Tragic
scripts are highly dramatic such as drug addiction, suicide or "mental illness." Banal, or gardenvariety scripts are less dramatic but more common. They usually affect large sub-groups
of people such as men, women, racial groups or teenagers. People in these sub-groups are
scripted to live their lives in certain set ways: in the past women were supposed to be emotional
loving home-makers, and have no permission to be logical, strong or independent; men to be
logical, strong, bread-winners, with no permission to be childlike, scared, needy nurturing or
openly loving. A banal script's life course may be: going from bad to worse, never having fun,
always being in debt or taking care of others and neglecting oneself..
Members of certain nationalities or races are supposed to be smart or stupid or honest or
devious or good athletes or reckless or cold and so on. Some cultures, script their children to be
competitive so that they have trouble cooperating and living with each other. Other cultures
emphasize cooperation and cause people who are strong individuals to feel thy are no OK. These
cultural scripts can affect whole populations in a harmful way.
RACKETS: One aspect of scripts is the existential payoff of games is the bad feelings which
are accumulated and can eventually blow up and lead to an emotional disaster. Each game's
existential payoff accumulates to eventually cause a predicted script outcome. Some people
collect angry feelings that they will eventually justify an exit from an organization. Some may
accumulate depressive feelings toward a suicide. The fact that they are creating situations which
produce the negative feelings of their script choice is called their emotional racket.
4.15
PERMISSION, PROTECTION and POTENCY. Permission is a very important part of a
transactional analysis. It's a situation in which the manager says, "You can do what your parents
or other people told was wrong" or "You don't have to keep doing what you decided to do as a
child." For example, if a person who is now very shy was told "Don't ask for anything," one
permission would be to ask for what is wanted or needed. "Ask for strokes, you deserve them."
When a person takes a permission and goes against parental and social demands and wishes,
their Child is apt to get very frightened. That is why protection is a very important part of
change. Protection is given or offered by the organization preferably with a group's support, to a
person who is ready to change his or her script. The therapist and the group offer protection to
the person when they say, "Don't worry, everything's going to be all right. We'll back you up and
take care of you when you're scared." Permission and protection increase the therapeutic
potency of a transactional analysts by introducing the Nurturing Parent into the situation. Use of
the therapist's Parent and Child (as when having fun during therapy) makes the transactional
analyst more effective than the professional who uses only one-third of his personality and
relates to clients only with his or her Adult.
4.16
CONTRACTS: TA therapists work contractually, that is the make agreements about
what specific outcome the client desires. Typical contracts are ”getting over depression” or
“getting rid of my non productive human resource,” or “stop unethical practice”. While a lot can
go on in psychotherapy, the long term therapeutic contract is "always on top" as the guiding
goal of a transactional analyst. In addition, transactional analysts will make short term contracts
to help clients achieve their overall contractual goal.
Since people are born OK it stands to reason that with competent help they can return to their
original OK position. The capacity to be OK is waiting in every person ready to be released from
the prohibitions of the script. Transactional analysts know that by making clear, goal oriented
therapeutic contracts, effectively analyzing people's transactions and powerfully giving people
permission to change and protecting them from their fears, it is possible for everyone to have a
chance to become happy, loving and productive.
4.17
Johari Window:
Johari Window is developed by American psychologists Joseph Luft and Harry Ingham in the
1950's, calling it 'Johari' after combining their first names, Joe and Harry. It is a simple and useful
tool for understanding and training self-awareness, personal development, improving
communications, interpersonal relationships, group dynamics, team development and intergroup relationships. Especially relevant due to emphasis on, and influence of, 'soft' skills,
behaviour, empathy, inter group development and interpersonal development.
Also referred to as a 'disclosure/ Feedback model of self awareness', and an 'information
processing tool' . Represents information -feelings, experience, views, attitudes, skills,
intentions, motivation, etc - within or about a person - in relation to their team, from four
perspectives can also be used to represent the same information for a team in relation to other.
Johari Window classifies behaviour in a matrix from between what is known-unkown to self and
what is known-unknown to others. Some time awareness may form a shared one also. Johari
window adopts regions or areas or quadrants to classify the known, unknown to self and others.
Each quadrant contains and represents the information -feelings, motivation, etc -In terms of
whether the information is Known or unknown by the person,and whether the information is
known or unknown by others in the team. The four quadrants are:
JOHARI WINDOW
SELF
to self
OTHERS
Behaviour known Behaviour
unknown to other
Behaviour
known
to
others
Behaviour
PUBLIC
BLIND
HIDDEN
UNKNOWN
unknown to
others
1.
Open area, open self, free area, free self, or 'the arena‘: what is known by the person
about him/ herself and is also known by others. This type of interaction represents
openness and compatibility. This a less scope for defensive behaviour and feelings.
2.
Blind area, blind self, or 'blindspot‘: what is unknown by the person about him/ herself
but which others know. This represents an individual irritates unintentionally. Often it
may so happen that the latter though gets hurt may not tell being afraid of hurting
his/her feelings.
3.
Hidden area, hidden self, avoided area, avoided self or 'façade’: what the person
knows about him/ herself that others do not know. Here the individual tends to hide the
things from others for fear of their reactions. The true feeling sor attitudes of the
individual may remain a secret from others.
4.
Unknown area or unknown self: what is unknown by the person about him/ herself and
is also unknown by others. This form of interaction is highly explosive in nature. It is
useful in T group programs. The complete Johari Window Model is represented as
below.
Feedback, self discovery, sharing the information and adding to this the observations of
others will make the individual more effective and successful.
COMPLETE JOHARI WINDOW MODEL
SELF
Behaviour known to Behaviour
Behaviour
known
unknown
self
other
1
Feedback/solicitation
PUBLIC
BLIND
to
2
to
others
Behaviour
3
Self discovery/
exposure
others
HIDDEN
OTHERS
unknown to
4
Shared
others
Discovery
observations
UNKNOWN
The aim is to develop the 'open area for every person, because when an individual work
in this area with others he/she is at his/her most effective and productive state, and the
team is also at its most productive state. The open free area or the arena is the space
where good communications and cooperation occur, free from distraction, mistrust,
confusion and conflict misunderstanding. Managers can benefit of this to understand
the individual and plan to promote a culture and expectation for open, honest, positive,
helpful, constructive, sensitive communications, and the sharing of knowledge
throughout their organization and encouraging the positive development of the 'open
area' or 'open self' for everyone as a fundamental aspect of effective leadership. Johari
window is an useful tool and mechanism for sharing awareness with others. It forms
the means whereby the individual encourages, supports and presents himself as open to
the disclosure of others.
4.18
Summary
Transactional Analysis offers a framework for understanding personality, human
development, communications and personal life patterns.
People's interactions are made up of transactions. When people interact they do so in one of
three different ego states. People can behave from their Parent ego state, or from their Child
ego state or from their Adult ego state. An individual in the Child ego state act like the child
once were. The Child can be observed in children for extended periods of time, but also in
grownups in situations where people have permission to let the Child out, like at sport events or
parties. THE PARENT The Parent is like a tape recorder. When the Parent is critical it is called
the Critical Parent. When in the Adult ego state the person functions as a human computer.
Little children can be in their Adult and well adjusted grown-ups use their Parent and Child all
the time. If the Child wants to be loved the Critical Parent says, "You don't deserve it." If the
Child wants to give love the Critical Parent may say, "It isn't wanted." To counteract this kind of
a Critical Parent people can learn to develop their Nurturing Parent, Adult or Natural Child.
The transactions can proceed from the Parent, Adult or Child of one person to the Parent, Adult
or Child of another person. Stroke is a unit of recognition. Strokes are essential to a person's life.
Adults can get by on fewer physical strokes as they learn to exchange verbal strokes; positive
strokes like praise or expressions of appreciation, or negative strokes like negative judgments or
put downs. People can learn to exchange strokes freely, open the hearts and give and ask
for strokes without shame or embarrassment. Different strokes appeal to different people and
everyone has their special, secret wishes. There are many kinds of positive strokes - there are
physical strokes and verbal strokes. There are five ways people can structure their time to get
strokes: A ritual is a pre-set exchange of recognition strokes. Games are repetitive, devious
series of transactions intended to get strokes. Unfortunately, the strokes obtained in games are
mostly negative. A game is a failed method of getting wanted strokes. Different people play
different roles in the games they play. SCRIPTS: Transactional analysts believe that most people
are basically OK and in difficulty only because their parents (or other grown ups and influential
young people) have exposed them to powerful injunctions and attributions with long-term
harmful effects.
The script matrix is a diagram used to clarify people's scripts. The Script message: "don't think,
drink instead" delivered from Child-to-Child-is more influential than the Parent-to-Parent
counter script message to abuse moderatly: that is why the script messages will usually prevail
unless the person changes his or her script. When parents make their protection conditional on
children's submission to their injunctions and attributions, the children are likely to develop a
script. Some scripts are tragic and some scripts are banal. Each game's existential
payoff accumulates to eventually cause a predicted script outcome.
Johari Window is a model used to perform the transaction analysis. It is a simple tool for
understanding and training self awareness, personal development, improving communication,
interpersonal relationships, group dynamics, and team development etc.
4.19







4.20
Key words
Transaction analysis
Johari window
EGO
EGO state
transaction types
strokes
payoff
Exercise
1. Define transaction analysis.
2. What are the philosophical concepts of transaction analysis?
3. Explain EGO and EGO states in the context of Transaction Analysis.
4. What are the different transaction types?
5. Explain the four quadrants of Johari Window.