Organizational
Behavior
Lecture 6 –
Administrative
Processes in
Government
Example: Groupthink
 The mode of thinking that persons engage
in when concurrence seeking becomes so
dominant in a cohesive in-group that it
tends to override realistic appraisal of
alternative courses of action.
Example: Groupthink
 Symptoms of groupthink:
– An illusion of invulnerability;
– Collective construction of rationalizations that permit
group members to ignore warnings or other other
forms of negative feedback;
– Unquestioning belief in the morality of the in-group;
– Strong, negative stereotyped views about the leaders
of enemy groups;
– Rapid application of pressure against group members
who express even momentary doubts about virtually
any illusions the group shares;
Example: Groupthink
 Symptoms of groupthink (contd.):
– Careful, conscious, personal avoidance of deviation
from what appears to be a group consensus;
– Shared illusions of unanimity of opinion; And.
– Establishment of mind guards – people who “protect”
the leader and fellow members from adverse
information that might break the complacency they
shared about the effectiveness and morality of past
decisions.
Example: Groupthink
 Incidents of groupthink at the federal level:
– The 1941 failure to prepare for the Japanese attack on Pearl
–
–
–
–
–
Harbor.
The 1950 decision during the Korean War to send General
Douglas McArthur to the Yalu River.
The 1961 decisions to allow an American-sponsored invasion of
Cuba by expatriate Cubans trained by the CIA to overthrow the
government of Fidel Castro.
The 1965 decision to introduce American ground troops into
Vietnam.
The 2001 failure to anticipate the terrorist attacks on the World
Trade Center and the Pentagon.
The 2003 decision to invade Iraq.
Organizational Behavior
 The study of organizational behavior
comprises those aspects of behavioral
sciences that focus on the understanding of
human behavior in organizations.
 Classic model: authoritarian and
militaristic.
Organizational Behavior: Major
Themes
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McGregor’s humanistic model.
Group dynamics.
Organization development.
The impact of personality on organizational
behavior.
 The impact of bureaucratic structure on
organizational behavior.
 Motivation.
 The future of organizations.
Organizational Behavior
 Douglas McGregor’s (1960) humanistic model:
– Organizations are created to serve human ends;
– Organizations and people need each other
(organizations need ideas, energy, and talent; people
need careers, salaries, and work opportunities);
– When the fit between the needs of the individual and
the organization is poor, one or both will suffer
(exploitation by one or the other or both).
– A good fit between individuals and organizations
benefits both because people gain meaningful
satisfying work.
Organizational Behavior
 When confronted with change, classical model
assumes no concern for workers.
 By contrast, modern behaviorists assume that
organization will:
– Minimize fear of change by inclusion of many in
decision-making process;
– Minimize negative impacts of change on vulnerable
workers;
– Coopt formal and informal leaders; and
– Find alternatives for those workers for whom change
is negative.
Organizational Behavior
 Group dynamics
– Organizations involve the development of formal and
informal work groups built around specializations.
– Groups develop norms (shared beliefs, values, and
assumptions) and expect conformity through reward
and punishment.
– Norms generate organizational stability, but can lead
to overconformity.
– When a group becomes institutionalized, the norms
become the basis for a cohesive group and an
organizational subculture.
Organizational Behavior
 Group dynamics (contd.).
– Group dynamics is the subfield of organizational
behavior concerned with the nature of groups, how
they develop, and how they interrelate with
individuals and other groups.
– Primary groups (face-to-face interaction)
• Formal (task-oriented).
• Informal (socially-defined). Critical to the functioning of the
organization.
Organizational Behavior
Organizational Behavior
Organizational Behavior
 Organization development.
– All organizations need constant change and
renovation.
– O.D. is planned organizational change.
– O.D. is not a philosophy, but a strategy for
increasing organizational effectiveness.
– Art, not science.
– Large scale, not incremental.
Organizational Behavior
Organizational Behavior
 The impact of personality.
– Personality can impact performance
(Hippocrates’ four humors, 500 BC).
•
•
•
•
Sanguine (optimistic and energetic).
Melancholic (moody and withdrawn).
Choleric (irritable and impulsive).
Phlegmatic (calm and slow).
– Mismatches are commonplace in
organizations.
The Impact of Bureaucratic
Structure on Behavior
 Each organization has structures that define the
unique ways that labor is divided, how
specialized roles and functions are coordinated,
how information flows among people and
groups, and how the system of controls (task
measurement, evaluation, and change) is to work.
 Structure is only one of the forces that affect
behavior. Others include peer group pressure,
group norms, social and technical aspects of
work tasks, and internal and external cultures.
The Impact of Bureaucratic
Structure on Behavior
 The structures of a bureaucracy are inherently
conservative. Common complaint is slowness of
response.
 But slowness reflects legal mandates.
 As government increased in size, bureaucratic
organizations provided an ideal structural model.
Allowed control from the top.
 But, also stifled initiative.
The Impact of Bureaucratic
Structure on Behavior
 Bureaucratic dysfunctions.
– Inherently dysfunctional and and pathological over the long run.
– Blind conformance and double binds.
• Catch-22.
• There was only one catch and that was Catch-22, which specified
that a concern for one's safety in the face of dangers that were
real and immediate was the process of a rational mind. Orr was
crazy and could be grounded. All he had to do was ask; and as
soon as he did, he would no longer be crazy and would have to
fly more missions. Orr would be crazy to fly more missions and
sane if he didn't, but if he was sane he had to fly them. If he flew
them he was crazy and didn't have to; but if he didn't want to he
was sane and had to. Yossarian was moved very deeply by the
absolute simplicity of this clause of Catch-22 and let out a
respectful whistle. "That's some catch, that Catch-22," he
[Yossarian] observed. "It's the best there is," Doc Daneeka agreed
(Joseph Heller, Catch-22).
The Impact of Bureaucratic
Structure on Behavior
 Bureaucratic dysfunctions.
– Depersonalized relations.
– Power derived from position.
– Advantages of bureaucracy.
• Order, predictability, stability, professionalism,
consistency.
– Disadvantages of bureaucracy.
• Rule-bound, over-procedural, protection of
authority and influence.
The Impact of Bureaucratic
Structure on Behavior
 Bureaucratic impersonality.
– Three virtues.
• Increases organizational effectiveness by ensuring
distance from critical decisions.
• Reduces personal and emotional considerations in
decisions.
• Even-handed rule application.
– Vices.
• May sacrifice substantive justice for procedural
justice.
The Impact of Bureaucratic
Structure on Behavior
 Bureaucrat bashing.
– Focus: alleged incompetence and secular humanism.
– Reality: Satisfactory treatment the norm rather than
the exception.
– Reality: Public performance not inferior to private
performance.
– Reality: American bureaucratic performance vastly
superior to performance in other countries.
Motivation
 Hawthorne experiments – Workplaces are
predominantly social institutions. Direct
challenge to economic models of
motivation.
 Maslow’s needs hierarchy.
Motivation
 Motivation – hygiene theory.
– Herzberg, Mauser, Snyderman.
– Determinants of job satisfaction.
• Achievement, recognition, work itself,
responsibility, and advancement (Job content motivations). Internal
– Determinants of job dissatisfaction.
• Company policy and administration, supervision,
salary, interpersonal relations, and working
conditions (job environment – hygiene). External.
Motivation
 Toward a democratic environment.
– A more participatory management style.
– Three stratagems for a more democratic
working environment.
• Symbolic.
• Management-initiated.
• Management-union initiated.
Motivation
 Douglas McGregor.
– Theory X.
• The average human being has an inherent dislike
for work.
• Most people must be coerced or threatened with
punishment to get them to put forth adequate effort.
• People prefer to be directed and wish to avoid
responsibility.
• RESULT – Hierarchy and military organization.
Motivation
 Douglas McGregor.
– Theory Y.
• The expenditure of physical and mental effort in work is as
natural as play or rest.
• A person will exercise self-direction and self-control in the
service of objectives to which he is committed.
• Avoidance of responsibility, lack of ambition, and emphasis
on security are generally consequences of experience, not
inherent human characteristics.
• The capacity to exercise a relatively high degree of
imagination, ingenuity, and creativity in the solution of
organizational problems is widely, not narrowly, distributed
in the population.
Motivation
 Assumptions about behavior can be selffulfilling prophecies.
 However, public organizations have
difficulty developing coherent philosophies
because of conflicting goals and objectives.
The Future of Organizations
 Postbureaucratic organizations.
– Bennis – Temporary society (adaptive
organizations).
– Toffler – Adhocracy.
– However, hierarch still dominates, still serves
a purpose in bringing order out of chaos.
The Future of Organizations
 Postmodernism.
– What is really changing organizations is
postmodernism: increasing complexity and
unpredictability.
– Primary source: information technology.
• Instant access to information eliminates the need
for multiple levels of hierarchy.
– Power arising from technology – Technocracy.
The Future of Organizations
 Themes of postmodernism.
DIFFERENCES BETWEEN MODERNISM AND POST-MODERNISM
MODERNIST
POST-MODERNIST
hierarchy
anarchy
design
chance
centering
dispersal
reason and rational science can find us
the answerers
not possible, live with the incomprehensible
world is logical, orderly
not so, world is disorderly
objective truths via science
not so, are multiple interpretations
superficiality, playfully embrace commerce,
commodity, fashion, style (eg., playful
reference to past architectural styles,
seriousness, depth, austere autonomy juxtapose them