Book Summary – Management and Organizational Behavior
• Cook, C. W. & Hunsaker, P. L. (2001). Management and Organizational Behavior (3rd edition).
Chapter 1 – Managing People and Organizations
TOPIC: Personal Effectiveness / 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
Covey, S. (1990). The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. The Seven Habits 1. Be Proactive – More than taking initiative. As human beings we are responsible for our own lives. Our behavior is a function of our decisions, not our conditions.
2. Begin with the
simply
Interdependence
Seek first to Synergize 6 Understand… then to be understood PUBLIC 5 VICTORY Think Win/Win 4
End in Mind – To start with a clear understanding of your destination. It means to know where you’re going so that you better understand where you are now and so that the steps you take are always in the right direction. A personal mission statement. Urgent/Importance Matrix Planning.
Independence
3 Put First Things First
PRIVATE VICTORY 1 2 Be Begin Proactive with the End in Mind
Dependence
3. Put First Things First – Organize and execute around priorities. 4. Think Win/Win – A frame of mind & heart that constantly seeks
mutual benefit in all human interactions.
5. Seek First to Understand… then to be Understood – Listen
with the intent to understand, not to reply.
6. Synergize – The whole is greater than the sum of its parts. The relationship is the
most important part.
7. Sharpen the Saw – Preserving and enhancing the greatest asset
you have – you. Renewing the four dimensions of your nature – physical, spiritual, mental, and social/emotional.
TOPIC: Discuss history of management Until the late 1800’s, organizations were very small or individual. With the industrial revolution (trains, assembly line/automobiles, oil), business organizations became very large and very complex. TOPIC: What large organizations existed prior to 1900? • • • • • These early, large organizations were based on the only large organizational form that existed at the time – the military. Early management theory was centered around scientific management (Frederick Taylor). Efficiency, people were extensions of machines. No one was expected to like their jobs. Mid 1900’s – behavior psychology / Carl Jung influenced management thinking. People started to study human behavior and motivation. Hawthorne studies (Eldon Mayo) at Western Electric influenced thinking. Today: still influences of military organization in business, and management. Additional thinking about why we work, what we should expect out of work. Coaching, communication, open-book management, … • •
TOPIC: Managers don’t design, make, sell, or deliver anything. What? Managers are responsible for working with and through others to achieve objectives by influencing people and systems in a changing environment. Some managers are also leaders and visionaries, the qualities of which become necessary as managers take on central decision-making roles within an organization.
Why Study Management and Organizational Behavior?
TOPIC: What is organizational behavior? Organizational behavior (OB) refers to the behaviors of individuals and groups within an organization, and the interactions between the organization and environmental forces. Students of organizational behavior seek to improve the effectiveness of organizations (and their lives in organizations) through the application of behavioral science concepts and research. The assumption that organizational behavior can be improved by study and analysis is based on the premise that behavior is not completely random. Rather, it represents mutual dependencies or cause-and-effect links that can be anticipated,
sometimes predicted, and often influenced to varying degrees. TOPIC: What is management? Management is the practice of organizing, directing, and developing people, technology, and financial resources to provide products and services through organizational systems. Organization is a group of people working in a network of relationships and systems toward a common objective.
What Purpose Do Organizations Serve?
TOPIC: Pick a company, list stakeholders, what do they want/conflict? Formulating a purpose and goals in an organization is complicated by the need to balance the interests of various groups who have a stake in its actions and outcomes. Stakeholders are members of identifiable clusters of people who have economic and/or social interests in the behaviors and performance of a specific organization. (e.g. Managers, Employees, Unions, Customers, Governments, Watchdog Groups, Universities, Suppliers, Alliances, Investors.) To link the role of employee/investor, many firms with rapid growth prospects use stock options as financial incentives for employees. An important challenge for managers is to identify the relevant stakeholders and to operate the organization in ways that optimize the returns to each group. Sometimes the interests of these stakeholders are in conflict. TOPIC: Is the mission of business to make money? Mission is an organization’s fundamental purpose, articulated to define the nature of the business and unify human and other resources. A well-framed mission provides a sense of purpose and establishes parameters that focus effort and resources. TOPIC: What is Your Personal Mission? Write one (picture end of life). Beyond defining its mission, founders and top managers are responsible for articulating the organization’s fundamental values, goals, and guiding concepts. Such statements provide a sense of direction, conveying how the game of business is to be played by organization members. Superordinate goals are the highest goals of an organization; fundamental desired outcomes that enable managers to assess performance relative to its mission. According to Peter Drucker, “there is only one valid definition of business purpose: to create a customer”. Simplistic goals and strategies that contribute to performance early in the life of an organization may become detrimental as the firm grows. Once success for the emerging firm takes hold and growth takes off, managers often branch out to offer products and services beyond those that established the original business. The firm then runs the risk of becoming
unfocused, of trying to be too many things to too many people. Many employees are more motivated to work diligently for organizations that fulfill socially desirable purposes than for firms whose managers define their principal objective as profit taking or engaging in practices that question ethical norms. Organizational behavior is usually not random. The law of effect is the behavioral tendency where people tend to behave in ways that enable them to attain the goals for which they are rewarded.
How Do Organizations Behave as Systems?
A system is an integrated whole formed by a set of interrelated elements and interacting subsystems. Organizations are complex forms of social systems comprised of people, other resources, and subsystems integrated for the purpose of transforming inputs into mission-relevant outputs. Any business is an inputtransformation-output system that takes in resources, converts them into goods and services, and passes along these outputs to customers and others. Closed systems operate without environmental or outside disturbance. Open systems are influenced by external pressures and inputs, making them more complex and difficult to control than closed systems. Dynamic systems change over time as structures and functions adapt to external disturbances and conditions. All business organizations are thus open dynamic systems. As an open system, firms are subject to outside forces by competitors, customers, suppliers, and regulators. As a dynamic system, a business can change its product mix, enter new markets, restructure its sources of financing, hire new managers, or redesign its compensation policy in anticipation of or in response to outside forces. TOPIC: Pick a business, what are the inputs, subsystems & outputs?
Inputs People, materials , supplies, capital
Imports
Procuremen Order t& Fulfillment Production Organizational Subsystems Money Managemen t
Exports
Outputs Sales of goods and services, waste, jobs
Informatio n
Feedbac k
Money
The management of open dynamic systems requires careful attention to important boundary spanning transactions. Boundary-spanning transactions are actions that link an organization to specific external sectors; exchanges that make the system dynamic and open.
What Do Successful Managers Do?
TOPIC: Who have been managers (or managed)? What did mgrs do? Managers are people responsible for working with and through others to achieve objectives by influencing people and systems in a changing environment. Managers do not have total control over that part of the organization for which they are responsible. No manager can absolutely predict and control environmental forces. Even internal forces that involve human behavior are often unpredictable and people will thwart attempts by managers to influence them. TOPIC: The Rational Heroic View The rational heroic view is a legacy of early descriptions and prescription of the nature of a managers job. This view characterizes the manager as one who engages in reflective planning, takes time to carefully organize structures and systems, directs and coordinates an orchestrated flow of activities, and then exercises control to keep critical elements in harmony. The manager is expected to have an overall feel for where the organization is going, know what is going on, and accept responsibility for problem solving and the department’s success or failure. All forces considered, the rational heroic model places too much emphasis and responsibility on the manager and not enough on teams and followers within the organization. When managers act as if they should be the only ones “in control”, they deprive followers of job challenges and create delays in decisions. TOPIC: The Chaotic View The chaotic view is that managerial life is intense, fragmented, and complex. Henry Mintzberg found that instead of being the reflective and systematic planners described in tradional books on management, most managers are actually caught up in a variety of intense, brief, disconnected activities. Managers prefer action to reflection, according to both Mintzberg and Kotter. The “plans” of managers often exist largely in their heads; They prefer oral mediums over written information. Verbal contacts with others are the manager’s principal source of information – gossip, ideas, opinions, and facts. All managers share common work characteristics. Writes Mintzberg, “All these managers are vested with formal authority over an organizational unit. From formal authority comes status, which leads to various interpersonal relations, and from these comes access to information. Information, in turn,
enables the manager to make decisions and strategies for his unit. • The Interpersonal Roles o Figurehead – participating in ceremonial duties o Leader – focusing on exerting influence over people; to motivate and encourage (servant-leadership) o Liaison – interactions with others outside his or her vertical chain of reporting relationships The Informational Roles – involves obtaining or exchanging relevant information o Monitor – scanning the environment, asking questions, maintaining a network of contacts, and in general finding out what is going on (MBWA) o Disseminator – sharing information with unit members – especially proprietary or goal affecting information o Spokesperson – sharing information with influential people outside the unit The Decisional Roles – acting on information to commit the organization to new courses of action, whether as entrepreneur, disturbance handler, resource allocator, or negotiator. o Entrepreneur – attempting to adjust the organization to its environment o Disturbance Handler – typically draws managers in involuntarily (can delegate) o Resource Allocator – a role that all levels of managers perform o Negotiator – negotiations and the management of conflict are a way of life for managers.
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How Do Managers Influence Organization Systems?
The key resource variables or capabilities that managers seek to influence and transform include tasks, technology, organization, people, and organizational culture. TOPIC: The Manager’s Toolbox – what can a manager do to help? • • • Tasks – the jobs or work that people do in pursuit of enterprise purpose. Tasks begin with goals and can be designed to be simple or complex, easy or difficult, physical or mental, and so on. Technology – includes the knowledge, equipment, subsystems, software, and methods for accomplishing work tasks (also includes the knowledge needed to use hardware and software). People – People energize and give life to organizations. To begin with, managers have to decide how many people to employ in a certain task and what knowledge and skills they require. Managers are then responsible for selecting and training people who have or can develop the skills needed to achieve organizational goals.
•
•
•
Organization – Organization as used here refers to a structural network and the processes that define and link key subsystems within the enterprise. Organization structure is simplistically symbolized by a chart, drawing, or map that depicts the decision authority and communication relationships among people and the ways in which tasks are grouped into departments or subunits. In a realistic sense, managers view structure in a broader way to include all those elements that help govern people’s behavior at work. These include goals, plans, policies, and rules, as well as the authority and communication networks. Organizational Culture – All the foregoing elements combine to form a network of social systems, and from these evolve an organizational culture. By culture we mean the beliefs, values, and assumptions people have about their particular organization and the expected behavior within it. Management – The Integrating Responsibility – In the center of this transformation network, we show managers and leaders.
The planned changes managers make in a system to achieve intended results commonly lead to unintended second-order consequences. In diagnosing how and where to influence an organizational system, managers typically start with outputs because they are important to all organizations. All organizations try to produce outputs that meet the quality, quantity, timeliness, and price expectations of customers. To do so, they need to set specific goals that address three output criteria: productivity, satisfaction, and revitalization. TOPIC: Important Definitions ASK Productivity is the ratio of acceptable quality outputs to inputs consumed; a measure of how well the organization achieves its goals. Efficiency means doing something right or getting the most output for the least input. Effectiveness means producing the right output or doing things right to create value for stakeholders. It is possible to have efficiency without effectiveness or vice versa. The ideal is to achieve a balance of effectiveness and efficiency, although effectiveness is usually more critical. Satisfaction is another key goal of organizations. Satisfaction refers to positive feelings people have about an organization, whether as an employee, customer, supplier, or regulator. Revitalization refers to the ability to take care of tomorrow’s problems as well as today’s by renewing strategies, resources, technology and skills. Rather than deplete the resource base to get immediate results, companies must periodically or continually reinvest, renew, and reinvent. Revitalization also involves people, for without training and professional development of
human resources, an organization slips in its capacity to compete. Therefore, the overall job of any manager is: • • • • • To identify clearly the output requirements of his or her system To devise measures of efficiency and effectiveness To develop core skills and capabilities within the organization to do the job well To promote improvement and innovation To make changes when results fail to measure up
What Are the Organizational Context Challenges for Managers?
Four thematic issues emerge: managing technology, global business, human diversity and ethical behavior. In managing diversity, differences in gender, race, language, size, physical impairments, and age are clearly visible. Less visible are differences in education, religion, nationality, economic status, sexual orientation, and learning disabilities. Affirmative action and managing diversity are not the same. The goal of affirmative action is to ensure that people are given fair opportunities to be hired or admitted to organizations. TOPIC: Discuss the impact of globalization on local/national economy?
Summary
Organizations are open dynamic systems for transforming resource inputs into outputs of useful products and services that satisfy the needs of customers and provide value to stakeholders. But the interests of various stakeholders are not always aligned. This places conflicting pressures and demands on managers. At the highest organizational level, managers seek to navigate competitive environmental forces by developing a mission to define the firm’s unique business purpose and crafting superordinate goals to challenge and guide employees. At all levels, managers diagnose and influence systems by working with people and allocating resources to carry out tasks and achieve goals within an environment of change. In performing their jobs, managers behave in different roles, frequently shifting emphasis among interpersonal, information, and decision-making roles. To maintain organizational viability, managers work to achieve goals in the areas of productivity, satisfaction, and revitalization. One of the realities of life in organizations is that today’s effective practices are not likely to suffice tomorrow. Whether pulled by the success of growth or jolted by crisis and downturn, managers must periodically transform the system to adapt to environmental realities. In the process of transformation, managers can target changes in the key internal resources such as tasks, technology, organization, people, and culture. Maintaining a dynamic balance among
these resources is what organizational behavior (OB) is all about. The study of organizational behavior is important because of the growing complexity and turbulence of the business environment and the related growth in research knowledge about behavior within and between organizations.
Book Summary – Management and Organizational Behavior
• Cook, C. W. & Hunsaker, P. L. (2001). Management and Organizational Behavior (3rd edition).
Chapter 2 – Strategic Thinking, Planning & Continuous Improvement
It is not just the tangible “plans” that are important. Also important is the process by which plans are developed.
How Does a Manager Begin to Think Strategically?
TOPIC: What is strategic thinking? Strategic thinking is a process of envisioning and planning to create a workable match between organizational competencies (and limitations) and external opportunities (and threats) with the goal of better serving customers. Thinking strategically means anticipating what actions and behaviors are most likely to help the organization prosper in a changing environment. Key objectives are articulated as mission-consistent measurable results to be achieved by specific times in the future. Objectives help frame the choices for crafting strategy that charts a course for the future makeup of products and services and targeted customer bases. Every organization has a mission, or cause, intended to unite and provide direction to its members.
The Strategic Cycle
6. Controlling & Improving 5.Impleme nting & executing
1A. Mission 1B. Vision
2. Setting objectives 3. Crafting strategy
4. Organizing and financing
TOPIC: Discuss football coach analogy. Most businesses jump in. 1. A – Craft a Mission to Define a Common Purpose The mission of a firm is the fundamental purpose of an enterprise that defines the nature of its business and provides strategic direction to unify
the use of human and other resources. A well-conceived mission answers the questions: Why do we exist and what do we do? Who are we and where are we headed? With the passage of time, mission statements have to be reassessed and even reformulated. Missions become complicated when an organization branches beyond its original line of business. A mission is normally expected to provide direction that stretches beyond the foreseeable future. To be useful, a statement of mission should: • • • • • Articulate the vision that defines the business, what it is, what it is not, and what it should be in the future. Communicate to internal members and external constituencies a clear sense of meaning and direction that is motivating and energizing Convey which customer wants and needs it will seek to satisfy, and the target markets it will serve Identify the value-adding functions it will perform, realizing its specific enabling actions will change over time while the purpose endures. Be of bumper-sticker length – brief enough to be incorporated into corporate communications and easily remembered
TOPIC: Example Mission Statements
Worldcom’s Mission
To be the preeminent global communications company for the digital generation, generation d.
Conseco’s Three-Pronged Mission
“To be more efficient than other insurance companies. To actively manage our investments to generate greater returns with no additional risk. To develop products that meet real market needs—and find more effective channels for distributing them.”
Enron’s Mission
Not found.
IBM’s Mission
At IBM, we strive to lead in the creation, development and manufacture of the industry’s most advanced information technologies, including computer systems, software, networking systems, storage devices and microelectronics.
Microsoft’s Mission
To enable people and businesses throughout the world to realize their full potential
Apple’s Mission
Apple is committed to bringing the best personal computing experience to students, educators, creative professionals and consumers around the world through its innovative hardware, software and Internet offerings.
Peace Corps Mission
• To help the people of interested countries in meeting their need for trained men and women; • To help promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of the peoples served; • To help promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of Americans.
Ball State’s Mission
Ball State University is committed to being a premier teaching institution and providing excellent programs of instruction. Consistent with this commitment, the mission of the College of Business is to provide high-quality business and economic education and other related services to our students, to the organizations (business, governmental, educational, and not-for-profit) that employ or admit our graduates, and to the citizens of our state.
Eli Lilly Values
As we implement our strategies and pursue our objectives, long-established core values guide us in all that we do: • Respect for people that includes our concern for the interests of all people worldwide who touch — or are touched by — our company: customers, employees, shareholders, partners and communities; • Integrity that embraces the very highest standards of honesty, ethical behavior and exemplary moral character; • Excellence that is reflected in our continuous search for new ways to improve the performance of our business to become the best at what we do. TOPIC: Discuss Tylenol experience, J&J used mission as guide.
Johnson & Johnson’s Credo
“We believe our first responsibility is to the doctors, nurses and patients, to mothers and fathers and all others who use our products and services. In meeting their needs everything we do must be of high quality. We must constantly strive to reduce our costs in order to maintain reasonable prices. Customers' orders must be serviced promptly and accurately. Our suppliers and distributors must have an opportunity to make a fair profit. We are responsible to our employees, the men and women who work with us throughout the world. Everyone must be considered as an individual. We
must respect their dignity and recognize their merit. They must have a sense of security in their jobs. Compensation must be fair and adequate, and working conditions clean, orderly and safe. We must be mindful of ways to help our employees fulfill their family responsibilities. Employees must feel free to make suggestions and complaints. There must be equal opportunity for employment, development and advancement for those qualified. We must provide competent management, and their actions must be just and ethical. We are responsible to the communities in which we live and work and to the world community as well. We must be good citizens – support good works and charities and bear our fair share of taxes. We must encourage civic improvements and better health and education. We must maintain in good order the property we are privileged to use, protecting the environment and natural resources. Our final responsibility is to our stockholders. Business must make a sound profit. We must experiment with new ideas. Research must be carried on, innovative programs developed and mistakes paid for. New equipment must be purchased, new facilities provided and new products launched. Reserves must be created to provide for adverse times. When we operate according to these principles, the stockholders should realize a fair return.” TOPIC: “Where there is no vision the people perish”. But, what about corporate cults? 1. B – Use a Vision to Set Direction for a Desired Future Visions change more frequently, are often more detailed, and can be specific to a product, program or project. A vision is a desired future image of the organization and its processes and products that integrates current realities and expected future conditions within a specific time frame. Three elements are fundamental to a comprehensive, meaningful vision: • • • A statement of purpose – it should inspire and motivate insiders A tangible goal – framing a clear, specific and compelling goal that focuses people’s efforts. A well-framed goal has a target and a time frame for its attainment. An image of results – the image should paint a compelling picture using crisp language
TOPIC: How is vision different than a mission? 2. Set Objectives to Define Measurable Results Objectives convert visionary intentions into specific performance targets that can be measured at designated points in time. Benchmarking can be used to compare a unit’s performance to outcomes achieved in other outstanding organizations.
Any type of organization needs to specify objectives focusing on two types of performance outcomes: financial and strategic. Financial objectives are critical to guiding the long-term viability of the enterprise. Strategic objectives are used to assess performance against the specific design of a strategy. TOPIC: Balanced Scorecard A balanced scorecard is a strategic management system that encourages companies to set objectives in four perspectives: • • • • Financial Customer Business Process Learning & Growth (Employee)
TOPIC: Strategy fairly recent in business. Sun Tsu, The Art of War. 3. Craft Strategy to Fulfill the Mission and Vision A strategy is a plan of actions to achieve a favorable position within the competitive marketplace by strengthening the relationship between an organization’s capabilities and its changing environment. Strategies pertain to those destiny-shaping decisions concerning: • • • • • The The The The The choice of technologies on which products and services are based development and release of new products and services processes for producing products and services way products and services are marketed, distributed, and priced ways in which the organization responds to rivals
TOPIC: More about strategies later 4. Organizing and Financing to Support Strategy Two planning processes are close companions to crafting strategy, and they must be resolved before (or at least concurrently with) implementation. The organizing function plans supportive structures and systems that align people to the strategy. In organizing, structure provides a way of grouping people and tasks into departments or work units to promote coordination of communication, decisions, and action. Also in organizing, systems provide guidelines or structured processes for handling recurring transactions and events in a standardized or consistent way. The financing function involves budget preparation and finding or determining sources of funding to meet requirements for capital investments and operating expenses. 5. Implementing and Executing Strategy
The greatest concentration of management and non-management effort occurs with implementation (or execution) of strategy. Above all, implementation requires leadership, the formation of teams, and the nurturing of a supportive organizational culture. TOPIC: Project management must be used to implement strategy “A project is a temporary endeavor undertaken to achieve a particular aim. Every project has a definite beginning and a definite end. While projects are similar to operations in that both are performed by people, both are generally constrained by limited resources, and both are planned, executed and controlled, projects differ from operations in that operations are ongoing and repetitive while projects are temporary and unique.” – The Project Management Institute (PMI) “Project management is the application of knowledge, skills, tools and techniques to a broad range of activities in order to meet the requirements of the particular project. Project management knowledge and practices are best described in terms of their component processes. These processes can be placed into five Process Groups: – Initiating, Planning, Executing, Controlling and Closing – and nine Knowledge Areas – Project Integration Management, Project Scope Management, Project Time Management, Project Cost Management, Project Quality Management, Project Human Resource Management, Project Communications Management, Project Risk Management, and Project Procurement Management.” The Project Management Institute (PMI) This is the most common area where strategy falls down. 6. Controlling Results to Sustain Continuous Improvement But profits are the result, or the derivative, of doing several things well. While a certain level of profitability may be one objective, other objectives and measures are needed to assure that people are focusing effort and resources on the things they have to do to bring about favorable results, to create customer satisfaction, and the like. Continuous improvement is ongoing assessment and problem solving aimed at improving designs, processes, and outcomes. Assessment, thus, completes the strategic cycle, and in the process generates new visions just as it promotes organizational learning of new skills and knowledge bases.
The Teachable Point of View
The teachable point of view puts the leader in front of her people by writing about and interactively teaching her personal beliefs, assumptions, and models of change. 1. What Business Are We In?
The most basic question any organization must answer is: What product or service should we market? A related question is: Who is our customer and how can we provide value to that customer? Experience and research substantiates that organizations do best if they remain focused on a core business that takes advantage of the unique capabilities that give them competitive advantage over rivals. Every unit must serve a customer, regardless of the department’s or unit’s level, function, or size. In effect, all managers of work units should think of themselves as entrepreneurs serving customer markets – and if they don’t serve them well, other customers (whether external or internal) should be free to buy where they find the best deal. 2. What Are Our Internal Strengths and Weaknesses? A firm (or a line of business within it) should be aware of its core capabilities and sources of competitive advantage. A sustainable competitive advantage is created if a firm’s core capabilities cannot be readily copied by competitors. Core capabilities are the critical skills and processes that an organization executes so well in carrying out its intended strategy that its reputation builds around them. In addition to knowing its strengths, an organization must recognize its limitations. TOPIC: What are your core capabilities? Reputation is key in business. 3. What External Opportunities and Threats Do We Face? External and internal environments present both driving and restraining forces. A SWOT analysis is an assessment of internal resources and competence (Strengths and Weaknesses) in relation to conditions in an organization’s external environment (Opportunities and Threats). TOPIC: Michael Porter’s Five Forces Model
4. What Business Should We Be In? With this question, managers seek to control their organization’s destiny. First, the traditional interpretation focuses on lines of business – product and market combinations. Second, management might probe the internal business processes used to bring products and services to the market. Three basic process networks or businesses are found in most organizations: a product innovation business, a customer relationship business, and an infrastructure business that builds and manages facilities for the highvolume repetitive tasks. By outsourcing noncore capabilities, the organization concentrates on what it can do better than others. 5. How Do We Get There? (This is called a Gap Analysis) Responses to the preceding questions cascade down into planning how to strategically position or reposition resources and actions to achieve the desired business objectives. 6. How Do We Know We’re Still on the Right Course? Plans need to have milestones and controls to ensure that actions correspond to plans, or to evaluate whether intended actions and goals are still feasible. A firm uses milestones, future dates by which certain events are planned to occur, to track progress. A control system works if it prevents deviations from a well-conceived plan. If a deviation does occur, the control process should trigger actions to bring out-of-control elements back in line with the plan’s goals and milestones.
Results Are the Payoff
All the plans, actions, milestones, goal, and controls managers use to shape business strategy culminate in performance results. Results are external acceptance or rejection of what an organization does – satisfied customers are the hallmark of positive results. TOPIC: LOVE this quote by Peter Drucker! The single most important thing to remember about any enterprise is that results exist only on the outside. The result of a business is a satisfied customer. The result of a hospital is a healed patient. The result of a school is a student who has learned something and puts it to work ten years later. Inside an enterprise, there are only costs. (Peter Drucker) The previous six questions, or variations of them, should not be asked only when an organization is in trouble. Such questions serve as the focus for management retreats, meetings, and conversations with peers.
How Do Organizations Develop Competitive Advantage?
TOPIC: How is Dell different than Gateway? Burger King from McDs? In a practical sense, strategy begins by making decisions about which markets to compete in and what products and services to provide so that customers’ needs are met and expectations are exceeded. Strategy then includes decisions about: • • • • • How much of the product the firm should make, and how much it should buy from other firms Whether to be technology or labor intensive Whether to distribute through independent dealers, wholesale trade channels, a business-owned dealer network, or the Internet Whether to aim for high-volume economies of scale, or flexibility with short product life-cycles and greater customized production Whether to price products to gain market share or to improve gross margin
Competitive advantage occurs whenever a business is able to sustain an edge over its rivals by attracting customers and defending itself against competitive forces. To achieve a strategic competitive advantage, all enterprises build their strategies around a core of physical assets, business processes, and the skills and talents of its people. Core capabilities provide the keys to longterm success by enabling the firm to combine assets and skills to do certain things better than competitors. Corporate strategy for multi-business firms, are the highest-level decisions and actions about what lines of business to be in and how to manage them.
Professor Michael Porter’s research on diversified firms found that competition occurs only at the business-unit level, which in a diversified firm involves a plant or division targeting a focused product line at a specific market. TOPIC: Five Generic Competitive Strategies When one strips away the details to get at the real substance the biggest and most important differences among competitive strategies boil down to (1) whether a company’s market target is broad or narrow and (2) whether it is pursuing a competitive advantage linked to low costs or product differentiation. Five distinct approaches stand out: • A low-cost leadership strategy – Appealing to a broad spectrum of customers based on being the overall low cost provider of a product or service. A broad differentiation strategy – Seeking to differentiate the company’s product offering from rivals’ in ways that will appeal to a broad spectrum of buyers. A best-cost provider strategy – Giving customers more value for the money by combining an emphasis on low cost with an emphasis on upscale differentiation; the target is to have the best (lowest) costs and prices relative to producers of products with comparable quality and features. A focused or market niche strategy based on lower cost – Concentrating on a narrow buyer segment and outcompeting rivals by serving niche members at a lower cost than rivals. A focused or market niche strategy based on differentiation – Concentrating on a narrow buyer segment and outcompeting rivals by offering niche members a customized product or service that meets their tastes and requirements better than rivals’ offering.
T y p e o f C e r o m C p e t i t i v e A d v a n t a g e n B e i n g P u r s u e d L o w A Broad CrossSection of Buyers O o sD t i f f e r e n t i a t i o w d n t i a t i o e g y
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•
•
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A Narrow Buyer Segment
- C B o r o ta s i f f e r e S t r a t t - C o s t v i d e r a t e g y F o c u F o c u s e d L o w D i f f e r e C o s t S t r a t e g y S t r a t i Dp
Market Target
v e r a l l L o L e a d e r s h S t r a t e g y B e s P r o S t r
n
s e d n t i a t i o e g y
n
TOPIC: Important Definitions (and some not so important things) Diversification in complex organizations, is a corporate strategy of branching out beyond the core business by offering different combinations of
products and markets that establish new lines of business. (Can be pushed by growth needs of stock companies when they hit an upper limit). Outsourcing is the strategy of purchasing services or components from suppliers to prevent overextending the firm beyond its core capabilities. Managers realize that they must not lose strength in their core businesses; otherwise their relative quality will be degraded. Relative quality degradation occurs when an enterprise’s rate of improvement falls behind that of competitors, which relegates it to second-class performance. Competitive strategy is possible only within specific lines of business, where competitive advantage can be created through making choices about where to compete (the markets and segments, the type of rivals one goes up against) and how to compete (on the basis of product features, manufacturing, pricing, distribution, and so on). Competitive strategy is actions at the level of a specific line of business intended to create a competitive advantage by planned actions about where to compete and how to compete. Clusters are geographic concentrations of interconnected organizations in a particular field. Every manager, regardless of level within the organization, needs to think strategically before initiating major actions. In reality, planning is more about organizational learning than about programming a series of activities to attain an objective. When managers plan, the emphasis is on strategic thinking, not on strategic planning. Most organizations encounter periods of crisis in which the winning formula that created success under one set of conditions no longer propels growth – success breeds failure. Planning is the process of establishing objectives and specifying how they are to be accomplished in a future that is uncertain. When it works well, planning helps individuals and groups visualize desired outcomes and anticipate the behaviors and resources necessary to make them a reality. Controlling is the process of evaluating the degree to which outcomes match objectives; and when they do not, analyzing why and taking corrective action. Ideology are beliefs and values held by a manager about how to succeed in business; encompasses economic assumptions and ethical ideals. TOPIC: Not sure how useful these two systems of management are? Two systems of management have been identified by Professor Larry Cummings, one based on information and the other on ideology. Management by information is a structured system of information management based on developing clear, specific goals, and plans for all
managers to use in analyzing problems by studying cause-effect relationships. Management by ideology is a system of information management based on trust in individual managers to be sensitive to the attitudes and perceptions of all participants in a decision situation and to do what is best for all by applying appropriate values and beliefs. Trust and credibility begin to center more on ideology, values, and basic beliefs, as opposed to . . . the accuracy and completeness of information. If one cannot trust others’ information because of environmental change and turbulence, then one must trust others’ values. The combination of increased environmental turbulence and better-educated management has made management by ideology more common. In management by ideology, innovation is sought and positions are advocated that, in fact, reward innovative policies and structures. Contrary to the usual assumption, on the other hand, in management by information real innovation is to be avoided . . . Technological and information systems are designed to ensure the status quo or, at most, the gradual and incremental modification of organizational policies and designs. Environmental scanning is the monitoring of current and anticipated trends and events in the external environment through quantitative data and qualitative perceptions. Active environmental scanning opens managers to a broader array of possibilities, especially if they evaluate data guided by ideology.
How Can Group Techniques Promote Innovative Visions?
TOPIC: Good series of steps to use in your group project! 1. Identify Stakeholder Needs and Requirements • • • Brainstorm a list of possible stakeholders affected by the project Brainstorm lists of the specific needs or requirements of any stakeholders with whom the group has experience From these overall impressions, participants are collectively asked to categorize (a) the strength of these needs and (b) the degree to which they are satisfied by the organization’s current offerings (or in the case of potential new products, the extent to which they are satisfied by whatever is currently available). (?=strong, ?=medium, ?=weak). A comparison of needs and their fulfillment usually reveals unfilled needs. Strong needs that are weakly satisfied at present are candidates for visioning new offerings or initiating corrective actions. Stakeholders Strength of Need Degree of Satisfaction
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Employees Stockholders Community Customers
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? ? ? ?
2. Initiate Visioning through an Affinity Diagram • • Define what the group wants the business or product/service offering to look like at some time in the future. Participants proceed by (1) viewing the stakeholder analysis as a picture of the present state, (2) creating a vision of the future, and (3) working out details of the plan as the bridge between the present and future. Ask the participants what the characteristics of a successful business in the future will be. Have them think about internal capabilities, customer needs, competition, the economic environment, obstacles to overcome, technology trends and opportunities to exploit. Participants individual write their responses. Move all the statements around the wall to create thematic clusters. This creates an affinity diagram, which is an output from a quasistructured group process created by arranging individual responses to a focusing question into groupings in which individual statements appear to have an affinity relationship to each other. This affinity mapping often results in 6 to 10 clusters for most visioning tasks. The group then decides on a thematic title for each affinity set and draws a border around the individual items in the cluster. Evaluate the relationships (if any) between the items in the circle, looking for cause-effect linkages. Connecting arrows are drawn to show cause-effect relationships. Once the network of cause-effect arrows has been completed, the group counts the number of incoming and outgoing arrows for each theme and tabulates scores beside the label (C=number of causal elements and E=number of effects). The group then labels the two or three thematic elements that have the largest number of outgoing arrows as PC for primary cause. The same is done for the PE, or primary effect, themes. For planning purposes, the PC elements are the ones that focus attention. If primary cause elements are acted upon and strengthened, the primary effects will likely occur. From this causeeffect diagram, the group then collectively articulates a written vision statement of what the future should look like.
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3. Convert Cause – Effect Diagram to a Vision Statement • •
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Theme A Theme B
P C PE P C PE
Theme C PE Theme D Theme E P C
Theme F
4. Use a Radar Chart to Show Vision-Reality Gaps • • Starting with a hub and circle, with a spoke for each thematic group. The hub represents a score of zero (0) on a theme (the complete absence of performance or lack of any value added). The point at the circle represents a perfect score of ten (10) – the future state desired three years from now (or whatever the time horizon is). Each person then pastes an adhesive dot on each spoke at the point where he or she judges the organization to be currently performing on that thematic element. The facilitator asks the group to visually estimate the central tendency of dots on each thematic spoke. The average value and number approximating its value is written beside the mark. Connecting lines are drawn between the midpoints of pairs of spokes. The facilitator then shades in the inner portion of the web to represent the distance already traveled in crossing the bridge to the future. The non-shaded area represents the gap, where future progress must be accomplished. Participants than have a shared sense of where they must concentrate their planning efforts. Most important, this interactive process usually energizes participants and gives them a broader shared vision of the project, which is difficult to accomplish when just one or two people sit down to plan. Such a group approach to planning emphasizes four Ps: participation of people in a series of processes that collectively produce a variety of visualization products that guide action to achieve performance results.
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How Do Control Systems Impact Continuous Improvement?
Although negative connotations persist, evaluation and control systems are a must in organizations. A control is any process to help align actions of people and systems with the goals and interests of the organization. A control system is evaluative and feedback processes to let people know their managers are paying attention to what they do and can tell when undesired deviations occur. Control systems can be formalized and structured. However, as defined above, control systems also include behavioral sources of control, such as organizational culture and leadership. For social system controls to work, people need to know that someone in authority knows what they are doing and is willing to call attention to gaps between performance and objectives. TOPIC: What control systems are we using in the classroom? Measurement is preferred when outcomes can be quantified. To be effective, any evaluation or measurement needs to assess outcomes or behaviors that are affected by the actions of the unit or individual. One paradox of management is that social expectations conveyed within an organization’s culture provide better controls over people than do formal measurement systems. The purpose of social controls is to get people to commit themselves to the organization. Many leaders engage their people in a Baldrige-type evaluation process because it is broad-based and provides an eye-opening experience for participants that typically dramatizes the gaps between current performance and desired results. The Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award framework for evaluating the qualities and processes of organizations dedicated to quality performance as measured by seven dimensions of organizational life ranging from leadership practices to performance results: 1. Leadership – senior leaders are involved in creating and sustaining consensus regarding the organization’s mission, values, plans, and goals; and focus on the stakeholder groups being served. 2. Planning – the process for short-, intermediate-, and long-range plans are communicated and aligned throughout the organization. 3. Service orientation – processes are provided for learning about the needs and expectations of the groups for which services are provided, and satisfaction for these groups is monitored and improved
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(especially relative to peer and benchmark institutions). Information and analysis – information is assessed and managed to track and improve overall organizational effectiveness and service excellence. Employees and workplace climate – employees at all levels are encouraged to develop their full potential relative to the organizational mission and goals, supported by an environment conducive to excellence, participation, appreciation of diversity, and personal/organizational growth. Process management – key processes are developed, managed, and improved to achieve superior organizational performance and a service orientation. Excellence levels and trends – achievements and improvements are documents in key excellence areas, relative to past performance and to peer and benchmark organizations.
Six-sigma is a high-performance, data driven approach to analyzing the root causes of business problems and solving them after first lining the outputs of a business directly to marketplace requirements. Organizations that embrace six sigma analyze their customers’ requirements, and then build their internal processes in a highly disciplined manner to fulfill these customer requirements by driving out variances from the standard. They do this by measuring and tracking performance, sharing data with those involved in the process, analyzing why deviations occur, and then working to eliminate causes of unacceptable performance. Critical to all this working is close attention to employee training in statistical methods and the techniques for process improvements. In this regard it is more an intervention to affect organizational behavior than it is a statistical tool. Three different managerial control orientations (depend on values and commitments): • A competitive team orientation focuses on adding value to the market, with controls used to enhance the organization’s core competence and strategic competitiveness. Information flow laterally and informally throughout the organization to help people make timely decisions. The classic command and control orientation is used most often in firms that rely on a chain-of-command structure to emphasize operating efficiency and conservation of corporate resources. Controls focus on internal events, with vertical flows of information up the hierarchy for top management review and oversight. The conformance orientation of control is found most often in organizations doing business with the government. Work is organized around a bureaucracy, with fixed control routines for processing information and externally reporting it in compliance with government
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regulations. The IRS is the archetype of an organization focused on conformance control. TOPIC: What examples of these control orientations have you seen? The more stereotypical view of control is seen in the core values of managers who view their roles more to police activities and people. They emphasize oversight and surveillance and administration of rules and procedures. Team-oriented leadership is typical of organizations operating in dynamic, fast-changing, high-tech environments. The team-centered manager is more likely to use social expectations combined with quality-oriented methods to foster commitment and self-accepted responsibility than the manager who polices the behavior of others.
Book Summary – Management and Organizational Behavior
• Cook, C. W. & Hunsaker, P. L. (2001). Management and Organizational Behavior (3rd edition).
Chapter 3 – Organizing Work and People
Organization is the architectural alignment of people and processes around which enterprises are designed. Electronic business makes corporate boundaries transparent by enabling transactions that enables instant and simultaneous access to the same data and information. Where work is carried out through (information) networks, an organization’s structure changes whether you want it to or not.
The Organizational Star (Change Points)
Regulators
People
Vendors
Tasks
Technolog y
Customers
Organizati on & Systems
Organizatio n Culture
Competito rs
Technology is the scientific knowledge, processes, systems and equipment used to create products and services and to help people carry out their tasks. Jobs have shifted to new knowledge-based technologies. In the Third-Wave, Alvin Toffler saw work-related changes transforming civilization. The three waves were agricultural, industrial and informational.
The Basic Organizational Design Structures
Organizational structure is the networked arrangement of positions and
departments through which the essential tasks of an enterprise are subdivided and grouped to create the systems, decision centers, and behavioral linkages that carry out business strategies. Organizational charts are the symbolic structures of boxed titles and lines that represent positions and reporting relationships. Organizational design is the process managers go through to create meaningful structures, decision and information networks, and governance systems. Organizational design provides for: • • • • • The dividing and grouping of tasks Networks to convey information A structure for locating decision centers or authority Processes for coordination, control and conflict resolution The means to link key work units with appropriate external stakeholders such as customers and suppliers
Designing an organization involves deciding how the enterprise should be managed and led as much as it does creating structures to subdivide and allocate tasks.
The Four Basic Structures
• Design by Function – grouping people into departments or subunits based on similar skills, expertise, and functions performed – such as product design, production, and marketing. o Advantages: Works best when a company has a single line of business and/or is relatively small. Ideally suited to encourage specialization and prompt people to keep up with the latest technical developments in their specialty field. If departmental tasks are relatively independent, a high level of functional efficiency is possible. Because of departmental specialization, the functional form relies on pushing decisions to a higher level of management for control and coordination, which may not be an efficient use of managerial time. o Disadvantages: Extreme specialization creates tunnel vision. People tend to perceive multifunctional problems from the vantage point of their narrow area of expertise. This leads to conflict and turf protecting, which can strain the process of communication and coordination in the absence of a decisive leader. Decisions that are complex, or span two or more functions tend to get pushed to the top for resolution, slowing decision responsiveness as the organization becomes larger and more layered. Maintaining quality becomes difficult, since few people genuinely feel responsible for customer satisfaction or the acceptance of decisions. A functional design also complicates the process of developing broad-based general managerial skills,
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because functional managers have a limited range of specialized experiences. Design by Geography – with organizational growth, this design creates units focused on serving the needs of a region or territory, which could include organizing by country or hemisphere. o Advantages: Emphasizes local adaptation to market and/or supplier conditions. Especially well suited to retain chains, the U.S. Postal Service, public accounting partnerships, urban police departments, and fast-food restaurants. For organizations engaged in customer service, a regional structure allows local personnel and managers to be responsive to pressures and opportunities in their region. It promotes competitiveness and quality. Geographic design also makes it possible to create many profit centers where local general managers are responsible for both revenues and expenses. o Disadvantages: Maintaining consistency of image and service can be compromised by a geographic design. The dilemma faced by headquarters managers is how much freedom to allow local managers versus how much control to exercise centrally. This decision typically depends on the size and complexity of the territory to be managed locally. A multi-national firm will grant greater autonomy to its business unit managers in foreign countries than national (or regional) firms within a single region. Design by Product Line – A structural grouping on the basis of the unique product or service each activity center provides. o Advantages: Promotes entrepreneurial behavior. Product-line executives typically have profit center responsibility to reinforce accountability. o Disadvantages: The difficulty of coordinating related activities across business units. Rivalry is likely to exist – rivalry not only for customers for also for corporate resources. If several business units separately draw on similar core technologies for the research and design of products, they likely forgo economy of scale savings and may be slow to share with other units the technological breakthroughs discovered in one unit. Some duplication of function specialization is almost inevitable. Design by Customer/Market Channel – Clustering human talent and resources so that each organizational unit focuses on the unique sales/service requirements for each type of customer or channel of distribution – such as the home market, commercial accounts, or resellers. o Advantages: Usually used in combination with one or more other designs. They serve well the needs of the business when product lines can be marketed to very distinct customer segments. Their advantage is that special customer needs can
focus quality service throughout each organizational unit. To create high employee involvement, Edward Lawler believes that customer-based design is optimum. Focusing on the customer enables the competitive market – not hierarchical controls or supervisor whims – to affirm or modify employee behavior. o Disadvantages: The challenge for companies offering several lines of products to the same customer is to balance product expertise (a benefit of product-focused designs) with the simplicity of having one voice speak to the customer. Market focused designs also tends to require duplication of sales and marketing staff, with two or more groups selling the same product line. As firms age and grow in size, firms pass through an organizational life cycle in which they move from simple to progressively more complex structures and systems. The ultimate design for a firm diversified into several lines of business is to take on characteristics of a network, loosely coupled by central resource allocations. The focus of most reorganizations is to better align organization design with business strategies and competitive forces, although at times “reorganization” is simply a euphemism for reducing headcount by layoffs.
A Hybrid Combination – The Matrix Organization
A matrix organization is a structure that incorporates dual responsibilities and reporting relationships connecting selected functions with specific products or projects. The matrix structure originated in aerospace and is used where people with functional expertise need to be temporarily assigned to a project, but where it is expected people will be reassigned to another project once a designed milestone (timetable or accomplishment) is reached. The project manager is typically given the overall responsibility for bringing the project in on time, on budget, and meeting the product requirements. The project manager is dependent on pulling temporary talent from specialized functions and paying the salaries of those functional team members. The functional manager is responsible for assuring the assigned personnel are keeping up with their professional development, such as state of the art technical knowledge and skills. Individual specialists thus have to contribute to the needs of the project, and yet continue to interface with their functional manager. Managers in the matrix organization need to become skilled at managing conflict, for at times there will be differences in perspective and priority. EXERCISE: Hand out group exercise 3. About 30 minutes.
Fundamental Trade-Offs for Balancing Organizational Design
Centralization and Decentralization
The central trade-off pits pressures for centralization against the need for decentralization. Centralization is the concentration of authority and decision-making toward the top of an organization. Decentralization is the dispersion of authority and decision making to operating units throughout an organization. Most medium-to-large organizations have a degree of both centralization and decentralization in their structures. Larger enterprises with highly competent and skilled employees tend to diffuse decision-making, allowing greater participation and less centralization. Large firms that perpetuate centralized management tend to be slower in recognizing how their hierarchical structure restrains organizational effectiveness over time. Central structures work reasonably well in slow-changing industries but are less adaptable in complex, fastchanging environments. As environmental uncertainty and complexity increase, senior managers move incrementally toward decentralized control to promote local adaptability and decision-making. In particular, implementation of strategies and operating policies are decision areas normally delegated to local or lower-level managers. However, major resource allocation decisions, such as acquisitions or investments in new plants are typically retained by the top management team.
Autonomy and Control
An emphasis on control limits the authority given managers to shape decisions and resource allocations by specifying parameters and providing for higher-level reviews, often with approvals prior to proceeding. Organizations that emphasize control and concerned with consistency of action. In contrast, autonomy means granting power and responsibility to followers to initiate innovative action that improves processes and performance with results assessed against general goals. An organization that emphasizes autonomy is more concerned with promoting creativity and freedom of action in the belief that people will do what is right. Autonomy pushes decisions to those who are closest to the action, who have information, with the expectation that people will accept responsibility for producing favorable results. The control-autonomy conflict is often framed in terms of maintaining consistency and predictability versus promoting innovation and flexibility.
Differentiation and Integration
Differentiation distinguishes the congnitive-emotional orientations people
hold toward a subpart of an organization (department, discipline or function). Integration reflects the quality and form of collaboration between work units to shift expectations to a “big picture” perspective of the larger organization. Differentiation promotes specialization and functional expertise, whereas integration promotes synergy and coordination. With increased globalization and use of information technology, integration has become a stronger need where the whole, not just the sum of the parts, is important for success.
Bureaucracy and Organic, Postmodern Structures
A mechanistic organization is an organization with a traditional “look and feel” that is highly structured and formalized, desiring conformance behaviors to handle routine functions appropriate to stable environments. An organic organization is an organization with a looser “look and feel” that relies on the adaptive capacities of individuals to cope with dynamic internal and external forces, facilitated by empowerment and a collaborative network. A bureaucracy is a classic pyramid-shaped structure created as a rationallegal system of authority emphasizing formal roles and rules with the intent of being efficiency oriented. Alternative structures go by names such as “networks, clusters, crossfunctional teams, temporary systems, ad hoc task forces, lattices, modules, and matrices”. Organic organizations empower individuals and teams to pursue continuous improvement through flexible adaptation. Task roles are expected to continually change or are ambiguously defined, and organizational design is fluid and features frequent structural reorganizations. Goals are diverse, complex, less measurable, and more likely to change than in the mechanistic organization. Planning flows up, down and across organizational units rather than being passed up and down. Structurally, the organization is flatter. Organic organizations are designed to promote effectiveness in complex, fast-changing environments, especially when technology is a driving force for change. The organic organization promotes high involvement, which helps people provide high-quality products and services at competitive costs and respond quickly to opportunities or threats.
How Do Organizations Become Leaner, Flatter, More Integrated?
Widen the Span of Control
Span of control denotes the number of people supervised by one manager, or the ratio of managers to persons managed.
The only way a large organization (100,000 or more) can maintain flexibility without becoming overly hierarchical is to increase the average span of control and reduce the number of management levels (and thus the number of managers). Executives today generally aim to have 7 or fewer levels. In organizations that hold to the old principle of narrow span of control, people are undermotivated and underutilized. As the number of people in a manager’s unit increases, the opportunity for the manager to directly control their behavior decreases while the empowerment potential increases. Ultimately, a manager’s span of control is constrained by his or her information processing capabilities.
Flatten Levels of Management
Power firmly held at the top transmits the message that people lower in the organization are not to be trusted to think and act independently. By structuring to eliminate layers of management, an organization pushes power to lower levels and encourages employee involvement. Information technology provides a tremendous boost to the concept of pushing decisions to lower levels.
Shift Control from Staff to Line
Line positions are job assignments that directly contribute to creating customer value by either designing products, producing them, financing needed resources, marketing to create demand, and/or selling and servicing the product. Staff positions are jobs that support the line positions through carrying out advisement and internal “overhead” support activities such as accounting, purchasing, and human resource functions. Expanding the scope of staff control carries two costs: the cost of employing staff and the added cost (especially in time requirements) to line people who have to comply with staff procedures.
Reengineer from Vertical Flows to Horizontal Work Processes
Shift from emphasizing vertical relationships to focusing on horizontal work flows. This shift feeds on changes in high-involvement work teams, the electronic distribution of information, and managing business processes rather than functional departments. Reengineering is the radical redesign of business processes to achieve dramatic improvements in measures such as cost, quality, service and speed. Reengineering seeks to make two changes: • At the personal level, it aims to shift the mindsets of people caused by working within the “silos” of vertical, functionally aligned organizations.
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At the competitive level, work flows are redesigned to make sense from a customer’s perspective. The emphasis is on rearranging business processes so they cut across functions in a horizontal flow.
These approaches rely on Pareto’s law, known as the 80/20 rule, that states that 80 percent of an observed result is caused by 20 percent of the activities, or efforts, or people involved. These approaches are not without risk. 50 to 70 percent of reengineering efforts fail to achieve their objectives. Before launching a top-down redesign using one or more of the three Rs (restructuring, reengineering, and rightsizing), executives might do well to rethink their pending actions by pulling the three Cs noted above to the forefront: character, constituencies, and capabilities.
Self Managed Teams
Tasks are increasingly bundled into teams to work in harmony with technology. Firms are moving to abandon what have been narrowly defined job classifications. Many organizations give team members broad responsibilities and greater discretion to define their jobs so they can respond to whatever challenge the group encounters. Teams now carry out many of the planning and problem-solving functions previously reserved for managers. The most important factor in this improvement is increased cooperation of the workforce to help find ways to reduce costs. Managers who wish to allow nonmanagers to participate in making decisions face two questions: In what types of decisions should employees participate? How much latitude should they be granted to implement their recommendations? LEVELS OF DECISIONS Formulating business strategy Organizational design and governance Managing work unit performance Deciding on work procedures Job design Management decides Traditional management practices Task forces Cross-functional teams
Consultative participation Quality circles
Joint decisions
Self-managed teams Performers decide
WHO MAKES DECISIONS
Not all decisions are equally participative. Once management moves beyond traditional management practices, in which decisions reside with managers, the intermediate step is usually joint decisions, where performers can make recommendations (as usually practiced by quality circles, consultative participation, and task forces). Only when decisions are completely delegated to the performers (as with self-managed teams and crossfunctional teams) is participation at its highest level. Self-managed teams are work units whose members are granted responsibility and authority to take the decisions and actions necessary to produce a product or service. Teams are given the right to be largely selfgoverning, to make decisions about scheduling and assigning tasks, to decide on work methods and who gets hired, and even in some cases to adjust rates of pay. Teams are intended to create high rates of member involvement and commitment. Cross-functional teams are a way of organizing that pulls people together from several different functions or disciplines to emphasize coordination of separate but interrelated tasks in achieving product and service quality. They often take the form of development teams who band together only long enough to complete a particular project and then disband.
Book Summary – Management and Organizational Behavior
• Cook, C. W. & Hunsaker, P. L. (2001). Management and Organizational Behavior (3rd edition).
Chapter 4 – Creating and Modifying Organizational Culture
TOPIC: Discuss group dynamics: Form – Storm – Norm - Perform Culture is the configuration of learned behavior and results of behavior whose component elements are shared and transmitted to the members of a particular society. TOPIC: What is American culture? List words that come to your mind. Organizational culture is the fundamental assumptions people share about an organization’s values, beliefs, norms, symbols, language, rituals, and myths – all the expressive elements that give meaning to organizational membership and are accepted as guides to behavior. Most organizations develop patterns of cultural assumptions that answer such fundamental questions as: How does our organization relate to its environment? How do we learn and communicate? What do we expect of people and relationships? What constitutes successful results? At what do we excel? Strong culture is achieved when most members accept the interrelated assumptions that form an internally consistent cultural system. • Assumptions define relationships to the environment. Firms generally fit four natural environmental profiles: reactive, defensive, accommodative, and proactive. Most often these assumptions refer to the industry environment, related to assumptions concerning customers, markets and competitors. Assumptions promote learning and communicating. Some organizations seek to learn empirically through experimenting and gathering feedback. Others believe truth is revealed intuitively or comes only from higher management. These issues frame assumptions about management’s planning timeframe (short or long-term), concepts of space and equity (open cubicles or private offices), and beliefs about how to achieve innovation (driven by management or teams throughout the organization). Language and communication norms also define organizational reality. Assumptions tell about people and relationships. Organizations tend to develop common assumptions about human nature and how people are to be treated. The culture also reflects assumptions about who is to have power and how power is to be used, which affects relationships among people.
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Assumptions link competencies to mission. Common assumptions about the competencies with give them advantage in the market environment are held by employees and managers. Assumptions about what constitutes technological competencies and how to enable knowledge workers to create innovation differs across organizational cultures. Organizations that develop technology-sharing relationships or networks in collaboration with other organizations are more likely to produce a sustained competitive advantage.
Organizational Value Systems
The assumptions most critical to organizational behavior are those shared values that lie at the heart of human character and societal behavior. Values are the enduring beliefs and expectations that a person or group hold to be important guides to behavior. TOPIC: What do you think the top five company values are? The top five organizational values are: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Provide excellent service to customers. Operate in a highly ethical manner at all times. Provide products and/or services of excellent quality. Consistently make a fair and reasonable profit (not maximize profits). Staff the organization with high-caliber employees from top to bottom.
An organization’s values convey what behaviors and beliefs are important to its success. A set of values becomes an organizational value system when those core values are shared by the majority of organizational members, typically differentiated by the origin and content of those enduring values. Organizational values originate from either charismatic leadership or organizational traditions. Charismatic-based values originate from a strong leader, usually the founder, which tend to be internalized by members as long as they look to the leader for guidance and inspiration. Alternatively, values can emerge out of organizational traditions that are more anonymous in origin. Tradition-based values are values deeply rooted in historical practices, which provide stability as they are passed from generation to generation. The content or interpreted meaning of values is based on either functional or elitist ideals. Functional values express a normative mode of conduct that tells members what they should pay attention to (e.g., customer service, innovation, quality). Elitist values focus more on the perceived superiority of the organization in comparison to others. Elitist values attempt to instill pride in membership, creating a “we’re number one” mentality. Elitist values can create an aloofness that weakens members’ abilities to confront changing realities.
Functional Content
Functional / Charismatic Elitist Content Elitist / Charismatic Charismatic Origin
Functional / Traditional
Elitist / Traditional Tradition Origin
When organizational values are strong, one of these four systems typically emerges as the dominant pattern. Since charismatic types are inherently more unstable, the arrows show possible movements toward greater organizational effectiveness (with solid arrows stronger than dashed). Values embedded in tradition with a functional focus are thus more effective in bringing about behaviors necessary for long-term success. Functional-Traditional Values - Most likely to contribute to the development of environmentally viable values and, consequently, to organizational effectiveness. Elitist-Charismatic Values – At the opposite end of long-term effectiveness. Values usually comes from the flamboyant, eccentric personality of a founder who creates a product or service that meets early market success. Functional-Charismatic Values – This system has the potential for longerterm effectiveness and probably represents a transitional phase along the path toward functional-traditional values. Dedication to functional values puts the focus on doing what is right rather than on elitist pride. Elitist-Traditional Values – Finally some organizations use tradition as a way of intentionally sustaining long-term elitism. Usually these are smaller, niche marketers who appeal to clients attracted by snob appeal or the long tradition of being perceived as superior or exclusive.
Core Ideology
Companies that others sought to emulate built their organizations on a foundation core ideology. An organization’s core ideology combines essential and enduring core values as a set of guiding principles with a purpose that uniquely defines the fundamental reasons for the organization’s existence (beyond making money). Ideology provides for stability over generations of management; it is a set of precepts around which the organization functions irrespective of its leaders, its strategies, its lines of business, and its practices as they change over time. • Purpose more than profits. Emulated organizations build their organizations around an ideology that had more than an economic
purpose. HIGHLIGHT THIS! • Ideologies vary across organizations. There was not a consistency of themes or values embedded in the core ideologies of sustainable visionary companies. What was central to all, was the authenticity of the ideology. Behavior and actions that are consistently aligned with the stated ideology are more critical than the content of the ideology per se.
Functions of Organizational Cultures
Less overt than the traditional managerial tools, organizational culture contributes as a guide to consistent behavior by reinforcing capabilities and strengthening sources of competitive advantage. Organizational epitomizes the expressive character of organizations; it is communicated less through objective realism and more through symbolism, feelings, and the meanings behind language, behaviors, and physical settings.
Culture Complements Rational Managerial Tools
“Rational” Tools (used to do things) “Expressive” Cultural Elements (used to say things)
Goals and objectives Task and job design Technology/equipment Organizational structure Policies and procedures Plans and controls Information system Performance evaluation Rewards and punishment Skill training
Rites Ceremonies Myths Legends Symbols Folktales Language Gestures Physical Settings Artifacts
How people behave in organizations What gets done How it gets done By whom and how often With what consequences
Culture Supports (or Resists) Strategic Choices
Culture serves as a rudder to keep the firm’s strategy on course. Strategy is a rational management process that leads to actions intended to match a firm’s product and service offering to a specific market or type of customer. Culture is the expressive backup that influences how well the strategy is implemented. Managers are often blindsided when they try to introduce radical strategic changes that run contrary to cultural expectations. TOPIC: What happens if a strategy runs contrary to the culture?
Culture Helps Socialize New Members
Socialization is the process by which new members are indoctrinated in the expectations of the organization and its cultural norms, or unwritten codes of behavior. TOPIC: Anyone been through new employee orientation? Organizations with strong ideologies and cultures devote considerable time to indoctrinating and training new members in the ways of the organization. Bureaucratic organizations typically devote attention to detailed explanations of rules and procedures. By contrast, socialization into younger,
more entrepreneurial organizations is less formal.
Culture Promotes Expected Behaviors
Culture works best when strong. Culture works best when people forget why they are doing certain things, but keep on doing them. But the strong culture that promotes consistent behavior also makes it difficult to adapt when old ways no longer fit new realities.
Subcultures Facilitate Organizational Diversity
Subcultures are localized subsystems of values and assumptions that give meaning to the common interests of smaller clusters of people within the overall organization. Subcultures have three possible impacts on the organization: They can (1) serve to enhance the dominant culture; (2) promote an independence from it, as commonly occurs among divisions of diversified firms; or (3) function as countercultures when they are at odds with it. Countercultures reject the values and assumptions of the host organization and develop opposing beliefs, often based on elitist notions that may be promulgated by a charismatic leader.
Reading Organizational Culture
Managers need to learn how to read cultural clues, for often there are inconsistencies between what is said and what is done, or between subcultures and the overall culture.
Observation of Physical Settings and Artifacts
• Facilities – Physical facilities tell a tale of what is important, and not so important. They reflect values and performance expectations. Organizations that function around elitist values tend to convey status differentials in the location and sizes of offices. o Bricks and Mortar ? What is the physical appearance of the facility? Is it well maintained, with an aesthetically pleasing sense of décor, or unkept, dingy, and rundown? ? Do work areas show individual flair (with artwork or awards and other artifacts on display), or does everything appear to be stock issues and monotonously uniform? o Use of Space ? Do space allocations seem equitable and well used, or do some departments seem to have more than they need while others are shoehorned into a corner? ? In office settings, does an open layout invite spontaneous conversations, or are people protected by private offices
(behind closed doors)? ? Does the allocation of space clearly reinforce status differences among people in different positions, or does it appear that most people have about the same amount of space? o Equipment, Symbols, and Artifacts ? How ostentatious or Spartan are the furnishings and décor? Are the walls painted? Wallpapered? Paneled with inexpensive veneer or solid hardwood? ? What adorns the walls in the reception area, gallery-quality paintings or mass-produced prints? Award plaques and trophies? ? Are the computers, fax machines, and other technological equipment state of the art? • Dress – What people wear says a lot about the organization. Such clues offer insights into the degree of formality expected of people.
Find Meaning in Organizational Rites
A rite is a planned public performance where other forms of cultural expression, such as recounting company legends, are woven into a single event. Stories and legends are often told at rites. Meetings are the most frequent rites practiced in organizations. Are they formal, planned and predictable, or scheduled as needed, and less formal? An off-site meeting is a daylong or multi-day forum intended to bring key players together to question basic assumptions, raise critical issues, and plan responses to challenges.
Ask Questions and Observe Responses
Asking questions is more efficient and direct, even though responses can’t always be taken at face value. As questions, then listen and act on what others say – and learn more about the culture.
How Do Leaders Build Flexible, Responsive Cultures?
Once established, an organization’s culture takes on a life of its own, resisting pressures to change – even if feedback confirms that the firm’s relationship to its environment has deteriorated.
First Generation Managers Develop a Culture
During the formative period culture emerges from two sources: the founder’s behaviors and from direct experience. Founders manifest three important behaviors: 1. The behaviors they deliberately use to role model, teach, and coach. 2. What they pay attention to in the organization or its environment –
what they measure and control. 3. How they react to critical events and organizational crises, or their demonstrated methods of coping. Second, another early source of culture is active experimentation (trail and error), where group members learn what really works and what fails.
The Second Generation Adapts a Culture
Culture typically comes under threat once the founder begins to hire into key positions people who are not part of the first generation. The first generation of employees tends to operatae more on the basis of personal relationships than the formal systems more characteristic of the second generation. The alternative to a strong culture is to have no consistency of beliefs and values, in effect, a weak culture. In weak cultures, there is the absence of assumptions and norms, people are not sure what is expected of them, much less how the organization believes it will succeed. Purposeful change may be even more difficult in weak-culture organizations.
Growth Prompts Revolutionary Shifts in Culture
Culture change is typically more revolutionary and the result of a change in leadership. Often there is a period of skepticism, resistance, and complaining about “losing our values”. Cultural change thus needs to be led, guided, and nurtured, for like a large ship at sea, it takes time to turn. Many times changes are guided through teachable points of view, where the leader defines his or her values and beliefs about what it takes to succeed in the organization’s chosen businesses and in business generally, and then projects those ideas as a teacher throughout the organization. Cultural changes may be necessary whenever organizations need to: • • • • • • • • Break away from a rigid bureaucratic culture and become more responsive to change. Diminish the belief that power or policies gets things done and shift more toward satisfying customers and the marketplace. Create an identity and set of values for a mediocre, culturally weak organization. Integrate an acquisition (with its own culture) into the ways of a new parent. Blend two cultures into one following a merger. Establish a unique, autonomous culture after a division is spun off or divested. Permit a division or major task unit to develop a subculture supportive of its task. Infuse stronger cultural elements into a weak culture firm through rites and symbols.
Ethnic Diversity Sensitizes Organizational Culture
What you are learning about managing people’s organizational behavior gives you an Americanized view of the world. The managerial approaches that work for us do not necessarily stand up well in other countries.
How Do National Cultures Impact Global Business?
While business people may share some commonality of values across national cultures, a country’s culture and business environment can cause value elements to differ significantly across national borders. Values, beliefs and behaviors have patterned differences. Ethnic differences give people different predispositions toward work and business practices. Cultural differences influence management styles. The essence of country culture is national mental preprogramming, which is that part of a country’s collective learning that is shared with other members of that nation, region, or group, but not with members of other nations, regions or groups. Values tend to be stable across nationally groups, where attitudes differ. Attitudes are temporal beliefs based on evaluative interpretations of current conditions. Four patterns of enduring values provide the framework for describing national cultures: • Individualism versus Collectivism. In highly individualistic societies, the individual is expected to look out for his or her own selfinterest, and maybe that of the immediate family. At the other extreme, collectivist societies assume that close ties exist among people and the interests of the individual are subordinated to the group, be it extended family, tribe, village, and/or employer. Individualistic nations are loosely integrated (do your own thing), collectivist tightly integrated (honor thy group heritage). Centralized versus Diffused Power. Centralized power societies permit unequal intellectual or physical capabilities to grow into blatant inequalities in the distribution of power and wealth. Diffused power societies play down individual differences by sharing or decentralizing power. Strong versus Weak Uncertainty Avoidance. Societies accepting of uncertainty use organized creativity to reduce the risk of uncertainty. Nations with a strong need for uncertainty avoidance usually claim that absolute truth originates from a dominant religion. Masculinity versus Femininity. Some nations make sharp distinctions between roles based on sex. Nations with such clear sex role divisions are called “masculine”. Masculine values permeate
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societies where the hero is the successful achiever, where showing off and displaying wealth is accepted. Other societies are more tolerant of a wider distribution of roles almost independent of sex and are called “feminine”. Feminine values include respecting the underdog, putting relationships before wealth, and tending to the quality of life and the environment. TOPIC: Utilize American Culture quiz from ice breaker section. The key to effective management practices or quality organizational research is to understand the cultural contexts in which firms and individuals function and operate. Organizations that choose to operate on a transnational basis, especially business, must obviously build in some capacity of adaptiveness to function harmoniously within hose national cultures.
Book Summary – Management and Organizational Behavior
• Cook, C. W. & Hunsaker, P. L. (2001). Management and Organizational Behavior (3rd edition).
Chapter 5 – Perception, Learning & Personality
Person-job fit is the degree of fit between a person’s abilities and motives and a job’s demands and rewards.
Abilities What the person can do Motives What the person wants Demands What the job requires Rewards What the job offers
Degree of Fit
Drucker’s Five Skills for Improving the Person-Job Match
• First, ask “What is the task?” What are we trying to accomplish? What do it at all? In any industry, the most profound route for improving performance and the person-job match is often to eliminate tasks altogether-to stop doing that which really does not need to be done. Second, take a hard look at the ways in which jobs add value. Where does real value occur? Many activities only add costs rather than value. Cost generators should be candidates for elimination. Third, define performance in terms of what works. Quality only comes by analyzing the steps in the process that produce value-added performance. Managers then need to wipe out unnecessary steps and build in those that are necessary but lacking. Fourth, managers need to develop a partnership with people who hold potentially productive jobs and get them to improve the process. Finally, to sustain continuous learning, people at all levels need to teach.
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The contemporary challenge is to continually increase productivity in the sectors employing most of the population, the knowledge and service sectors. Technology is also creating global competition for jobs and skills.
Psychological Contract
The psychological contract is the workers’ implicit expectations about what they are expected to contribute to an organization and what they will receive in return. Individuals contribute such qualities as their skills, effort, time, loyalty, and commitment to an organization. In return the organization offers such things as pay, benefits, security, and opportunities to satisfy such
motives as the need for achievement, power, status, and affiliation. Both the individual and the organization feel satisfied if they perceive the psychological contract as fair. The psychological contract is dynamic because the expectations and contributions of both the individual and organization change over time. Terms of the psychological contract are affected by economic cycles and business trends. TOPIC: What do you expect to contribute to BSU? Get at the end? A social contract is a term used to describe collective psychological contracts within a national culture. The general social contract in the US included two common elements: employees would give regular attendance and effort along with loyalty to the organization; In return, employers would provide ‘fair’ pay and benefits, advancement based on seniority and merit, and job security within reasonable limits. TOPIC: American social contract. Has this changed in any way? Recent times suggest that a revised social contract is needed including the following elements: Employees will be expected to provide a high level of performance, a commitment to the company’s objectives, and a willingness to innovate or make suggestions and train to improve behavior; Employers in turn, will provide interesting and challenging work, learning, flexibility, performance-based compensation, and opportunities for participation and involvement. This means that many workers will have to change from their psychological dependence on their employers to a commitment to their craft or profession. Ability is the capacity to perform physical and intellectual tasks. Aptitude is the capacity to learn an ability. People differ in both their abilities and aptitudes. Managers should know what abilities are required to perform various jobs and should try to match the jobs with people who have appropriate abilities, or at least the aptitude to learn.
Perceptions & Attributions
TOPIC: Mind over Matter Exercise, p 2.503 Perception is the selection, organization, and interpretation of sensory data. People DO NOT see objective reality, but they believe what they perceive is real. Our perceptions are our personal reality, whether they are objective or not, and they influence our behavior.
The Perceptual Process
Attention & Selection
Stimuli Perceiver Perceived Setting
Organization
Classification Figure-ground Closure
Interpretation
Beliefs Values Attitudes
Personal Meaning & Intentions
Behavi or
Attention & Selection
TOPIC: Old Woman/Young Woman Exercise, p 2.499 The Perceiver People tend to notice what is important to them. People tend to perceive what they need, want and expect to see. The physical, mental, and emotional condition of the perceiver affects attentiveness. The perceiver’s beliefs, attitudes, values, motives, and expectations influence what he or she perceives as relevant. TOPIC: Count the F’s Exercise, p 2.489 The Perceived Certain general attributes of the perceived object or person influence what is noticed and what is not. These include size, novelty, motion, proximity, and intensity. TOPIC: Misplaced Dot Exercise, p 2.493 The Setting Time and physical conditions such as temperatures, lighting, noise, smell, and clutter are examples of contextual factors that may influence what is noticed and what is not. The nature of the setting influences what is perceived as appropriate or normal.
Organization
Classification We classify people in a variety of categories such as age, gender, race, nationality, physical categories, education, occupation, and status. We also attach the assumptions, beliefs, and attitudes we hold about those groupings. Classifying sensory inputs helps us to sort and recall sensory data faster. TOPIC: Perception Exercise, p 2.521 (leave on last slide) Figure-ground A key element in perceptual accuracy is the ability to distinguish figure (dominant features) from ground (surrounding, competing, stimuli). You respond selectively to the most relevant stimuli. People pay more attention to some stimuli than others and run the danger
of overlooking relevant clues. A major purpose for studying organizational behavior is to alert you to possible important stimuli. TOPIC: Perceptual “K” Exercise, p 2.515 Closure Perceptual closure is the mind’s tendency to fill in missing data when it receives incomplete information, especially if the situation or topic is familiar. Given sketchy information, people often make assumptions about the missing data. However, if the stimulus is insufficient to effect closure and thus cope with an ambiguous situation, then frustration, anxiety, and stress may result. TOPIC: Hidden Triangles Exercise, p 2.507
Interpretation
The perceptual process happens instantly. Our past learning and experience as well as our current beliefs, assumptions, attitudes, and values all influence the meaning we add to what we take in. Combined, they form our individual frame of reference, which is the mental filter through which perceptions are interpreted and evaluated.
Perceptual Distortions
TOPIC: Remodeling a Window Exercise, p 2.517 Selective perception is the tendency to focus on those attributes of people and situations that fit our frame of reference. The potential danger of selective perception is that we miss important data, and the omission causes a distorted view of a person or situation. A stereotype is a rigid, biased perception of a person, group, object, or situation. We tend to categorize people by their obvious, and sometimes less obvious, differences. Stereotypes can be positive or negative. Unwarranted negative stereotypes can lead to bias, which in turn leads to destructive attitudes such as sexism, racism, and nationalism. A halo effect is the tendency to overrate a person based on a single trait. Halo effects can lead to incomplete and inaccurate judgments and, like stereotypes, may prompt someone to miss individual differences. Projection is attributing to others one’s own thoughts, feelings, attitudes, and traits.
Attribution
Attribution is an assumed explanation of why people behave as they do, based on our observations and inferences. We also make attributions about our own behavior. Theory suggests that when people observe another’s behavior, they use certain criteria to determine whether it fits that person’s general personality or is affected by other factors (often subconscious).
Individual Behavior Examples: productivity, promptness, attendance Internal Causes Criteria Distinctiveness Consistency Consensus
Examples: ability, effort, attitude
Situational Factors
Behavior Response External Causes
Examples: work demands, conditions, time pressures
Examples: workload, resources, support, time Criteria
Distinctiveness is an attribution process used to explain whether a person’s behavior fits with other behaviors. Consistency is an attribution process used to explain the degree of variance in behavior over time. Consensus is an attribution process used to determine how others behave in similar situations.
Attribution of Internal-External Causality
After assessing observations using the above criteria, the cause of behavior is likely to be attributed to internal and/or external factors. Attributional error is the tendency to overestimate internal factors and underestimate external factors when making attributions about others. Self-serving bias is the tendency of individuals to attribute their own positive performance to internal factors and their to negative performance to external factors.
How People Learn
Learning is the acquisition of knowledge or skill through study, practice, or experience. Learning is affected by intelligence, which is the ability to adapt to novel situations quickly and effectively, use abstract concepts effectively, and grasp relationships and learn quickly. An additional concept of intelligence, emotional intelligence, relates to a person’s ability to get along with others, exert control over one’s life, and think and decide clearly.
Individuals differ in memory, intelligence, and ability to learn. Three theories of how people learn: 1. Behavioral Conditioning Classical conditioning (Pavlov), is an experimental approach that associates a conditioned stimulus with an unconditioned stimulus to achieve a conditional response. Operant conditioning (Skinner) is learning in which reinforcement depends on the person’s behavior. In operant conditioning, the critical learning element is the direct linkage of significant contingent consequences to an operant behavior. A contingent consequence is a reinforcer; it may be positive, negative or neutral. The basic assumption underlying conditioning theory is simple: People tend to repeat those behaviors that lead to desirable consequences and avoid those that lead to negative results. Self-Management of contingencies. It is possible for a person to manage his or her own contingencies. The Premack principle is the pairing of disagreeable tasks with enjoyable tasks or events to hasten their completion. 2. Social Learning Social learning theory is the belief that we learn many behaviors by observing and imitating others. Imitation is especially strong when the learner identifies with and desires to be like the role model or mentor. People are certainly capable of anticipatory control, choosing how they will respond in various situations. 3. Cognitive Discovery Cognitive learning involves selective interpretation of perceptual data organized into new patterns of thoughts and relationships.
Human beings are capable of rearranging thought patterns into new configurations, or gestalts. Gestalt is a German word meaning “shape, configuration, or the arrangement of relationships in a total situation”. Patterns of concepts and relationships may occur suddenly, through insight, or they may evolve gradually as elements are linked together with new data.
An insight is the sudden discovery of the answer to a problem (“Eureka!”).
How Do People Differ in How They Learn?
Kolb’s Experiential Learning Styles
Concrete Experienc e
Active Experimen -tation
Accommodat ion Convergence Abstract Conceptu al-ization
Divergence Assimilation
Reflective Observatio n
Kolb’s experiential learning model distinguishes two primary dimensions of the learning process. These two dimensions are combined to suggest four key learning abilities or processes. A complete pattern of learning flows in a circular direction. Most people become highly skilled at one or two processes rather than all four. When two adjacent processes are emphasized, a dominant learning style emerges. The four distinct personal learning styles in this model are: • The Diverger: Learn best by reflecting on specific experiences and drawing new inferences. The diverger tends to be highly imaginative, excels at brainstorming, and likes involvement in the generation of creative ideas. Academically, such learners often are interested in the liberal arts, humanities, and fine arts. Human resource managers are often divergers. The Assimilator: With their capability to combine reflective observation and abstract conceptualization, assimilators are good at creating theoretical models. Dealing with abstract ideas is the assimilator’s domain, more so than seeking practical applications or working with people. Individuals who adopt this learning style are attracted to basic research; in business you may find them staffing corporate research and planning departments. The Converger: Convergers use abstract concepts as a basis for active experimentation. They focus on specific problems, looking for answers and solutions. Like the assimilator, the converger prefers working with ideas and specific tasks more than working with people. Convergers tend to do well in the physical sciences and engineering. The Accommodator: The style focuses on doing. The accommodator’s domain is active experimentation and the carrying out of plans that lead to real experiences. Such people are risk takers, able to adapt quickly to new situations. Although at ease with people, accommodators tend to be impatient and assertive. Accommodation is often the dominant style of individuals trained for the business world, especially those who gravitate toward action-oriented management or sales jobs.
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Managers and organizations should value and consciously seek learning from experience by budgeting time for the learning process. Second, managers and organizations should value and include those with different learning styles and perspectives. Action-oriented people should be combined with those who are reflective, etc.
Brain-Hemisphere Dominance Learning
Our dominant brain hemisphere may play a significant role in how we learn. The brain’s left hemisphere assimilates information in ordered, systematic ways. Quantification and written language are handled by the left hemisphere of the brain. The world of the right hemisphere manager involves holistic, simultaneous, creative learning. In addition, it emphasizes learning from face-to-face verbal exchanges rather than from written reports. Hunches and judgment are mental processes from which insights and new possibilities spring forth.
Other Models (Not In Book)
• • • Senses classification: auditory (aural), visual, tactile (taste, smell can affect learning) Thinking / seeing / doing 4MAT Model – 4 Quadrants: Why, What, How, What If? o Type 1 (Why?): Innovative Learners are primarily interested in personal meaning. They need to have reasons for learning-ideally, reasons that connect new information with personal experience and establish that information's usefulness in daily life. Some of the many instructional modes effective with this learner type are cooperative learning, brainstorming, and integration of content areas (e.g., science with social studies, writing with the arts, etc.). o Type 2 (What?): Analytic Learners are primarily interested in acquiring facts in order to deepen their understanding of concepts and processes. They are capable of learning effectively from lectures, and enjoy independent research, analysis of data, and hearing what "the experts" have to say. o Type 3 (How?): Common Sense Learners are primarily interested in how things work; they want to "get in and try it." Concrete, experiential learning activities work best for them--using manipulatives, hands-on tasks, kinesthetic experience, etc. o Type 4 (What If?): Dynamic Learners are primarily interested in self-directed discovery. They rely heavily on their own intuition, and seek to teach both themselves and others. Any type of independent study is effective for these learners. They also enjoy simulations, role play, and games.
How Do Personal Values Differ from Attitudes?
Values are stable, enduring beliefs or ideals held to be important that influence thought and behavior. The values of the larger culture and society greatly influence what individuals learn. The natural tendency for an expatriate manager is to cross-reference her own cultural values with her stereotypes of the new culture. Two simple recommendations may prevent cross-cultural mistakes: • • Seek our a cultural mentor. Approach learning another culture much like a scientist who treats cultural stereotypes like hypotheses to be reality tested against a specific work situational context.
A classification of values developed by Allport and associates include the following categories: • • • • • • Theoretical: Values the discovery of truth and emphasizes critical and rational approaches to problems. Economic: Values utility and practicality and emphasizes standard of living. Aesthetic. Values form, grace, and harmony and emphasizes the artistic aspects of life. Social: Values love of people and altruism and emphasizes concern for others. Political: Values power, position, and influence and emphasizes competition and winning. Religious: Values unity and people’s relationship to the universe and emphasizes high ideals and the search for the purpose of being on earth.
Values people emphasize vary with their occupations. A second way of classifying values was developed by Rokeach, distinguishing between two sets of values. Instrumental values describe desirable beliefs about what behaviors are appropriate in reaching desired goals and ends. Terminal values describe desirable ends that are worth striving to reach. A personal value system is a relatively permanent perceptual framework (an enduring organization of beliefs) that shapes and influences an individual’s behavior. Where the organization reinforces personal values, the consistency makes it highly probable that those core values will guide behavior. Moral dilemmas, internal conflicts, and ethical compromises occur when personally intended and organizationally induced values clash. Integrity defines a loyalty in demonstrated action to rational principles and one’s values, or the principle or being principled, practicing what one preaches regardless of emotional or social pressure.
Values can and do shift over time. An awareness of values can help managers understand and predict behavior of others. An attitude is a predisposition or readiness to respond in a certain way to a person, object, idea, or situation. Although some attitudes may remain relatively stable over time, others are subject to change with the accumulation of new information and experience. Attitudes have three components: • • • Cognition: the beliefs and perceived knowledge about the subject of the attitude. Affect: the feelings associated with the subject, often conveying likes and dislikes. Behavior: the perceptions and feelings as an intention to behave in a certain way.
Cognitive dissonance describes a state of inconsistency between an individual’s attitudes and behavior. The discomfort experienced by people feeling cognitive dissonance leads to efforts to reduce the tension by (1) changing the attitude, (2) changing behavior, or (3) rationalizing the inconsistency.
Personalities
Personality is the set of traits and behaviors that characterizes an individual. Managers and others use personality to understand and predict an individual’s behavior and to define the essence of an individual. Personality emerges over time from the interaction of genetic and environmental factors. People’s personalities become clearer and more stable as they grow older. Personality can change and may do so slowly over the years.
The “Big Five” Personality Factors
• • • • • Expressive style: How individuals express themselves verbally and behaviorally (e.g. quiet/reserved vs. talkative/outgoing) Interpersonal style: How individuals behave while interacting with others (e.g. cool/distant vs. warm/close) Work style: How people work and meet responsibilities (e.g. detailed/structured vs. general/spontaneous). Emotional style: How people express their emotions (e.g. unemotional/stable vs. highly emotional/volatile). Intellectual style: How individuals learn, think, and decide (e.g. learning, thinking, deciding in simple/traditional ways vs. complex/novel ways).
Each factor helps us to know what behavior patters to observe in understanding someone’s personality. Key elements of each factor combine to provide an overall understanding of an individual’s personality. This ability
to understand different personalities is helpful to managers in being better able to predict an individual’s behavior in different situations.
Psychological Types and Cognitive Styles
The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), developed from the theories of Carl Jung, is the most widely used personality test in the U.S. Sensatio n Sensation Thinkers (ST)
Thinkin g
Evaluating Intuitive Thinkers (IT)
Intuition
Cognitive style describes the way an individual perceives and processes information. According to Jung, individuals develop, mostly unconsciously, preferred ways of gathering information and evaluating it to make decisions.
The Four Cognitive Styles
Two styles of gathering information: • Sensation: Collect information by sensing seeking details, hard facts, and quantitative reports. Sensors like to apply structures for organizing data logically, step by step. They are especially comfortable working within a structure of organizational policies and rules that provide clear guidelines for action. Sensors learn best from concrete experience; they can be thought of as left-brain-hemisphere processors. Intuitive: Disavow routine, structured reports and rely more on hunches and nonverbal perceptions of problems. Data collection by this type often appears to be nonsystematic, with considerable jumping back and forth. Intuitives excel at synthesis, that is, taking a large amount of data from a number of sources and drawing seemingly spontaneous conclusions. These people are imaginative, futuristic, and
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G a t h e ri n g I n f o r m a ti o n
Sensation Feelers (SF) Information Intuitive Feelers (IF)
Feeling
often good at drawing creative ideas out of others. They are more dependent on the right-brain hemisphere. Two styles of processing information: • Thinking: Use analysis and rational logic as the basis for problem solving. They tend to be unemotional in applying data to models or problem-solving techniques. The forte of these managers is the use of the scientific method (systematic evaluation of empirical data), devoid of personal considerations. Feeling: Rely heavily on person-centered values. They personalize their evaluations and are sensitive to the concerns, ideas, and feelings of those around them. Placing major emphasis on the human aspects of problems, these managers dislike creating conflict. They value harmony and tend to conform to the wishes of others rather than consider alternatives based on logic or analysis.
Introversion/Extroversion E -- Extraverted: turned toward the outer world, of people and things. An extravert, or extraverted type, is one whose dominant function is focused in an external direction. Extraverts are inclined to express themselves, using their primary function, directly. I -- Introverted: turned toward the inner world of symbols, ideals and forms. An introvert, or introverted type, is one whose dominant function is inwardly focused. Introverts are inclined to express themselves, using their primary function, indirectly, through inference and nuance. What about P and J?
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P stands for Perceiving, J for Judging. What they really represent is, again, complex. For the E (extraverted) types, it's simple enough - P means that the dominant function is a Perceiving function (iNtuition or Sensing); J means the dominant function is a deciding or Judging function. For Introverts, it's just the opposite. P actually means that the extraverted function is a Perceiving (data-collecting, or irrational) function, but since the dominant function is introverted (by definition for Introverts), the I _ _ P types' first functions are Judging (deciding or rational) functions.
Four Types of Problem-Solving Behaviors
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Sensation-Thinkers (ST): Bureaucratic, concerned with formulating and enforcing rules. Because sensation and thinking dominate function, they are persistent, yet decisive. They weight costs and benefits, plan logical schedules, and have an infinite capacity to absorb and remember details. Hard working, good coordinators, and dependable leaders. Their penchant for analysis and logic makes them quite predictable. However, they tend to be impatient with those who
aren’t equally detailed, organized, and rational. Avoids abstractions and seldom provides feedback to others unless it is based on measured performance. So concerned with preserving acceptable practices and tradition that they overlook possibilities for creative improvement. • Intuitive-Thinkers (IT): Looks ahead, always searching for innovative possibilities. Although they tend to be impersonal, they are quick to analyze the power dynamics within an organization. Noted for intellectual capabilities and pioneering ideas. A great designer of new methods and projects. Depends on staff to flesh out the details of proposals. Relinquishes administration to someone better suited to establishing organizational routines. Gifted in abstract creativity, sometimes is insensitive to the personal needs and wishes of others. Responds to the ideas and problems of others when they are logical and reasonable. Finds it difficult to accept anything other than competent, professional performance. Frequently expects more than others are prepared to deliver. Sensation-Feelers (SF): Methodological. Great at analysis based on detailed observation. Deals efficiently with here-and-now problems. Decisions and actions result from quick interpretation of the facts. Loves to find the causes of problems in standardized operations and excels at extracting higher efficiency from programmed procedures. Does not like to see changes sweep too far in new directions. Would rather fix an old system than conceptualize a new approach. Generally gets along well with co-workers. Reinforces good performance by giving praise, writing memos of thanks, and publicly acknowledging others’ accomplishments. Intuitive-Feelers (IF): Charismatic leader who communicates fluently and is quick to visualize possibilities for improvement. Draws out ideas from others and always consults co-workers before moving ahead on significant actions. Given the freedom to manage, creates a high level of esprit de corps within their team. Believes in psychological rewards and makes sure they come in timely response to their workers’ emotional needs. Need recognition from others. Tends to back away from his personal ideas when they appear to conflict with views held by esteemed others. Is very popular among co-workers, but because they wish to retain this popularity, is at times hesitant to act. Sometimes the opportunity of the moment is lost as a result of indecision.
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TOPIC: Personality Types Exercise, p 2.511. Discuss proper uses of personality tests, and limitations.
Other Personality Traits
Locus of control is the degree to which people believe that they, rather than external forces, determine their own lives. Authoritarianism is the degree to which a person believes that status and power differences are appropriate in an organization. Dogmatism is the degree of flexibility or rigidity of a person’s views. Machiavellianism is a personality attribute that describes the extent to which a person manipulates others for personal gain. Risk propensity is a person’s willingness to take risks. Self-esteem is the judgment one makes about one’s own worth. Self-monitoring is the degree to which people are sensitive to others and adapt their own behavior to meet external expectations and situational needs.
Book Summary – Management and Organizational Behavior
• Cook, C. W. & Hunsaker, P. L. (2001). Management and Organizational Behavior (3rd edition).
Chapter 6 – Motivation
People have different needs that direct their behavior. Some of these needs depend on personal circumstances and outside events. Needs can cause people to seek out experiences that enrich their lives. Alternatively, needs can trigger behavior to avoid threatening conditions and feelings of deprivation. Other needs are learned from rewarding experiences. These learned needs become relatively persistent motives that influence a person to seek out experiences that satisfy a particular motive, such as the need for achievement or power. Beyond human needs and the acquired taste for specific motives, a different explanation of motivation focuses on expectancies, or people’s expectations about whether they can affect performance outcomes and how closely desired rewards are linked to performance. People also consider the equity of how they are treated, and those evaluations help determine whether they will appear motivated or not.
How Do Human Needs Differ in Content?
Motivation involves a conscious decision to perform one or more activities with greater effort than other competing activities. Motivation governs behavior selection, direction, and level of effort. Motivation, thus, contains three elements: • • • Some need, motive, or goal that triggers action. A selection process that directs the choice of action. A level of effort intensity applied to the chosen action.
The content theories of motivation identify specific human needs and describe the circumstances under which these needs activate behavior. Approach and avoidance behaviors – people willingly seek out or approach desirable conditions; people try to minimize or avoid troubling or debilitating conditions. Deficiency reduction needs are universally experienced needs that trigger behaviors of avoidance where the aim is to find relief from deficiencies, deprivations, or unpleasant tensions. Growth aspiration needs are somewhat unique personal needs that motivate people to approach or seek out goals and experiences that they find personally meaningful.
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
Hierarchy of needs is a five-level need theory proposed by Maslow in which lower-level basic needs must be satisfied before advancing to a higher-level need. Once a lower-level need has been largely satisfied, its impact on behavior diminishes and a person can activate the next higher-level need. (This assertion of movement up the pyramid is not confirmed in research.) 1. Self-actualization needs – the peak of human existence – the ability to develop latent capabilities and realize fullest potential. 2. Esteem needs – Psychological well-being, built on the perception of oneself as worthy and recognized by others. 3. Love or belonging needs – Beyond existence needs lies the desire for nurturing, acceptance, respect, and caring relationships. 4. Safety needs – Need to be free from harm or danger, to have a secure and predictable life. 5. Physical needs – Most basic is the need for relief from thirst, hunger, and physical drives. ERG Theory – Alderfer’s simplified content theory that identifies existence, relatedness, and growth as need categories, and acknowledges multiple needs may be operating at one time without being hierarchically determined.
How Do Needs Affect Work-Related Motivation?
Herzberg’s Dual-Factor Theory
Herzberg’s Dual-Factor Theory – job satisfaction and job dissatisfaction derive from different sources and simply removing the sources of dissatisfaction will not cause a person to be motivated to produce better results. The theory is based on two independent needs: hygiene and motivator factors. Hygiene factors are job context factors such as working conditions and benefits that trigger dissatisfaction if inadequate. Such factors are largely extrinsic, or external to the nature of the job itself; thus they can be thought of as job context factors. If adequate, they simply produce neutral feelings with the realization that basic maintenance needs are taken care of. Motivator factors are job content factors such as job challenge, responsibility, opportunity for advancement, achievement and recognition that which originate from the nature of the job itself and that provide feelings of satisfaction when experienced. Such factors are intrinsic to the job or unique to each individual. Because motivation is derived from the job itself, one way managers can improve motivation is to enrich jobs. Job enrichment is a means to encourage motivation by building greater scope (variety) and depth (responsibility for planning and control of the work) into a job.
McGregor’s Theory X and Theory Y
A philosophy based on differing managerial practices. Theory X A Theory X set of assumptions about human behavior postulates that people act only to realize their basic needs and therefore do not voluntarily contribute to organizational aims. Managers believe their task is to direct and modify human behavior to fit the needs of the organization. Managers must persuade, reward, punish, and control those who don’t naturally strive to learn and grow. Managers believe that: 1. People dislike responsibility and lack ambition; therefore, they prefer to be led, and management must direct their efforts. 2. The average person is passive, indolent, and works as little as possible; thus, people need to be coerced and controlled. 3. People are self-centered and indifferent to organized needs; therefore, they are by nature resistant to change. Theory Y A Theory Y view of human behavior sees people motivated by higherorder growth needs and they will therefore act responsibly to accomplish organizational objectives. Management’s task is to enable people to act on these needs and to grow in their jobs; To structure the work environment so that people can best achieve their higher-order personal goals by accomplishing organizational objectives. Managers believe that: 1. People seek responsibility and have the capacity to direct and control organizational tasks if they are committed to the objectives. 2. People by nature are not passive or indifferent to organizational needs, for work is as natural as rest or play. 3. Employees at all levels have the ability to be creative and use ingenuity in solving organizational problems.
How Do Learned Motives Influence Work Behavior?
Motives are learned from experience. Examples of learned motives include the need for achievement, power, affiliation, competence, status, and autonomy. This learning can be either conscious or unconscious. Individuals differ in the importance they assign to specific motives. Managers can motivate others if they are sensitive to the learned motives of individual employees.
The Achievement Motive
The need to achieve (or achievement motive) is a learned motive that satisfaction can be found in seeking tasks that will provide a sense of
accomplishment. Many people of Anglo descent like to think of themselves as being achievement-oriented, undoubtedly because achievement is highly valued in most Western societies. Several behavioral characteristics distinguish the achievement-motivated person: 1. Achievers prefer a moderate level of difficulty or challenge. The most desired task is one that requires a high level of exertion but carries a reasonable probability of success. 2. High achievers also like to feel that they are in reasonable control of an outcome. 3. Achievement-motivated people also like to receive frequent and specific feedback about how well they are doing. Ideally the task itself should provide enough feedback so they can evaluate themselves; self-approval is good feedback for an achiever.
The Power Motive
Power is the ability to influence others to behave as we want. People who have a high need for power (or power motive), find satisfaction from being in charge and controlling or influencing others. Managers with high personal power needs exemplify the stereotypical self-serving, exploitative, dominating boss. Managers with high institutional power needs temper their influence over others with inhibition and self-control. They are altruistic and believe power should be used more for the good of the organization than for personal advantage. Satisfaction is obtained more from the process of influencing others to carry out work in pursuit of organizational goals than from their own personal success.
The Affiliation Motive
Persons with a high need for affiliation (or affiliation motive) find satisfaction in the quality of their social and interpersonal relationships. People who are high affiliators often make weak bosses.
Attributions and Learning Affect Motive Development
Personal attribution is the process of rationalizing causality (either to external or internal [personal] factors) as to why personally involving events turn out as they do. (Remember the self-serving bias.)
Emotional Intelligence
Emotional intelligence is twice as important as either technical skills or IQ as a driver of outstanding performance. The five key components of emotional intelligence are self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and social skill.
How Do Expectations Affect Work Motivation?
Process theories of motivation are theories that focus on the ways people think through motivation issues and how they determine whether their actions were successful. The human tendency is to embrace the most advantageous option or at least avoid functioning at a disadvantage.
Expectancy Theory
Expectancy theory is a theory of motivation based on a person’s beliefs about effort-performance-outcome relationships. The three variables of expectancy theory: Expectancy The probability (from 0 to 1) that an individual believes his or her work effort directly affects the performance outcome of a task. Instrumentality The probability (from 0 to 1) that an individual anticipates that an attained level of task performance will have personal consequences. Valence The value (from positive to negative) that a person assigns to the personal consequences that follow work performance.
The basics of expectancy theory for organizational practitioners can be converted into a series of three questions that people often ask themselves about their work situation: 1. Does how hard I try really affect my performance? To be motivated, you must have a positive answer to this expectancy question. Positive task motivation begins when you see a link between personal effort and task performance. 2. Are personal consequences linked to my performance? To answer this instrumentality question, you must believe that task performance results (a first order outcome) serve to obtain second-order personal consequences or payoffs. Increased motivation is possible when you perceive a positive personal consequence arising from satisfactory task performance. 3. Do I value the consequences available to me? Answers to this valence question depend on how much you value a particular expected personal outcome or payoff. A person must value the payoff if the expectancy loop is to be positive and motivational. Motivation is enhanced when a person answers yes to all three expectancyrelated questions: (1) when effort is believed to be performance related, (2) when performance is linked to personal consequences, and (3) when the consequences or payoffs available are highly valued. Conversely, when one or more answers is negative, motivation potential diminishes. There are two basic sources of rewards or payoffs: Extrinsic rewards are
rewards externally bestowed, as by a supervisor, teacher, or organization. Intrinsic rewards postulate that motivation is moderated by perceived fairness or discrepancies between contributions and rewards. Although most people look for some mix of intrinsic and extrinsic rewards, people clearly differ as to which is the more compelling motivational force. Expectancy theory is most applicable to those jobs in which an individual has discretion as to how and when work is performed. To get the best from their people, managers should emphasize anticipated rewards, whether extrinsic or intrinsic. The manager’s job is to strengthen effort-performance-reward expectations. • Clarify Performance-Reward Linkages – clarify rewards available to employees and relate them to personal and team performance. The key is to make obvious in advance the payoffs people can expect for certain levels of performance, and then follow up on satisfactory performance with feedback and appropriate rewards. Provide Performance Feedback – Managers need to provide feedback both to demonstrate that they know what others are doing and to acknowledge improved performance or a job well done.
•
How Do Perceptions of Equity Affect Motivation?
Managers need to be aware of equity perceptions and reduce gaps in the rewards or conditions of employment where possible. Equity theory is the idea that motivation is moderated by perceived fairness or discrepancies between contributions and rewards. People often think in terms of the ratio of their personal outcomes to work inputs. People also compare their own outcomes/input ratio to those they perceive for other people doing comparable work. These comparisons may be made on three levels: 1. Comparisons to specific other individuals. 2. Comparisons to another reference group. 3. Comparisons to general occupational classifications. The equity concept affects motivation whenever a person perceives a meaningful difference in personal or group outcomes and then adjusts behavior or perceptions to reduce the gap. Distributive justice is the perceived fairness of the amount and allocation of rewards and allocation of rewards among individuals. Procedural justice is the perceived fairness of the means used to determine the amount and distribution of rewards. Referent cognitions theory postulates that people evaluate their work and rewards relative to “what might have been” under different circumstances.
Research implies that if an organization’s procedures treat employees fairly, they will view the organization as positive even if dissatisfied with personal outcomes such as pay.
Should Motivation Focus on Individuals or Groups?
Theories of motivation in western countries focus on the individual. But not all cultures emphasize the individual. In many cultures, the group is the center of attention, and individual behavior gets attention only if it deviates from group norms.
Book Summary – Management and Organizational Behavior
• Cook, C. W. & Hunsaker, P. L. (2001). Management and Organizational Behavior (3rd edition).
Chapter 7 – Motivation Methods and Applications
How Does Goal Setting Enhance Motivation?
Goal striving is a common element in most motivational theories. A goal is the desired outcome of an action, which becomes motivational when an individual wants it and strives to achieve it. Content of a goal emphasizes the features of the goal, how it is to be measured or assessed, and its level of specificity – which implies a level of difficulty in attaining it. Given adequate ability and commitment, more difficult goals stimulate greater effort and performance. Intensity considers the process by which a goal is set – the extent of participation – and the degree of commitment and intention to bring it about. Having a goal assigned by management or participating in goal setting is associated with higher performance (equally), rather than the simple instructions of “do your best”. By focusing on goals rather than controls, a manager can align people behind organizational purposes and then allow individual initiative without sacrificing coordination. An intention is a cognitive representation of both the goal and the action plan to obtain the goal. Actions involve choices about where to direct behaviors combined with intense, persistent efforts to achieve a goal over some time period. The more a manager specifies goals, the easier it is for others to frame intentions for achieving them. Management by objectives (MBO) is the practice of manager and subordinate jointly determining time-specific objectives. The intent of MBO is threefold: (1) to strengthen planning, (2) to encourage participative decision making, and (3) to motivate performance of tasks that have a high payoff for the organization. The manager and subordinate usually take four steps: 1. 2. 3. 4. Agreement on key goals or objectives Action planning to work on the objectives Self-control and corrective actions to keep on target Periodic measurements, formal reviews, and performance appraisals
The important factor is for both people to have a shared expectation for what needs to be done during the next planning cycle. Then it is necessary to make adjustments in their priority or scope or in the actions taken in pursuit of them.
MBO works well if there is respect and trust between the subordinate and manager, and if the subordinate keeps the manager informed of progress and setbacks. Goals need to be clear, specific, and challenging, and one way to achieve this is to write operational objectives. A four-step approach is suggested: 1. Begin with an action very preceded by the word “to”. Examples: To build, to complete… 2. Identify a relevant key result area that is the performance target. Example: customer service. 3. State a performance indicator or measurement standard that specifies the targeted degree of quality and quantity to be achieved. Indicators can be stated in monetary units, resource units consumed, average time per task, percentages, or changes. 4. Provide a time frame by or during which the key result will be produced. Example: “To decrease time lost by equipment failure to no more than 10 minutes per day during the next quarter”.
How Does Reinforcement Modify Behavior
Reinforcement is the use of contingent consequences following a behavior to shape a consistent behavior pattern. Reinforcement is the product of a behaviorism philosophy, meaning that behavior is believed to be shaped by environmental consequences. The objective of reinforcement is to apply consequences (reinforcers) following a behavior that will shape a patterned response to a given antecedent condition. 1. Positive reinforcers – pleasant, rewarding, or otherwise satisfying contingent consequences that are used to initiate or increase a desired behavior. They should increase in frequency as the desired behavior increases. Praise and tangible rewards or gifts are positive reinforcers widely used at work. So are more attractive office space, a more prestigious job title, extra time off, and off-site meetings at resorts. 2. Negative reinforcers – the removal or reduction of an aversive condition following a desired behavior to initiate or increase the desired behavior. The ontingent consequence of the desired behavior is relief or escape from something unpleasant, threatening, or dissatisfying. Negative reinforcement is at work when one person acts to avoid another’s wrath or ridicule or to prevent personal harm. It keeps us paying our bills on tiem and obeying the speed limit. 3. Punishment – an aversive event or the removal of a positive event following a behavior, designed to reduce the frequency of the behavior or to eliminate it altogether. Punishment in the workplace is less severe than
in the criminal justice system and may involve warnings, withdrawal of privileges, or assignment to unpleasant tasks. The most severe punishment is probably dismissal. 4. Omission – a completely neutral response to a negative behavior to encourage its diminishment. It is often the ideal response to chronic complainers and others with annoying habits, such as telling offensive jokes.
Behavior Modification Follows an ABC Sequence
1. Antecedent (A) represents the antecedent condition or cue that precedes a set of behavior alternatives – the simulus or circumstances that invites a desired behavior. 2. Behavior (B) is the behavior in response to the antecedent circumstance. 3. Consequence (C) represents an environmental consequence that is contingent on an appropriate behavior. The most common consequence is positive reinforcement of a desired behavior. At times the consequence is negative reinforcement of a desired behavior, which reduces or avoids a potential negative outcome. Punishment is used to decrease an undesired behavior. Omission is a neutral response to either a desired or undesired behavior – also tends to diminish offending behavior. The law of effect advocates that consequences should immediately follow behavior to reinforce the link between the two.
Managing Environments with Organizational Behavior Modification
Organizational behavior modification (OB mod) is deliberate management application of the antecedent – behavior – consequence sequence to shape desired employee behaviors. Although simple in concept, it is difficult to consistently apply in most organizations if the management is left to apply the contingent reinforcer. Some of the most significant OB mod programs rely on automatic, computer-generated feedback. In fact, feedback alone has been found to be a very useful reinforcer. The four key processes that are typically employed when implementing OB mod: 1. Establish baseline data – to provide a point of reference, measure or chart the frequency with which the undesirable behavior occurs in the normal, unmodified environment. The objective is to document the problem behavior in a way that reveals the circumstances under which it most frequently occurs. 2. Analyze Current Behavioral Contingencies – Examine the current environment to identify any antecedent cues that encourage or discourage the desired behavior. Interviews, group discussions, or a survey are likely to reveal the circumstances that affect the behavior. Further investigation may show that punitive measures already taken haven’t worked. 3. Develop a Reinforcement Strategy – Those responsible for correcting the
problem evaluate possible reinforcers and select the one(s) thought to be most conducive to improving behavior. Three factors should be considered in structuring a reinforcement program: • • • The reinforcer selected should be meaningful enough to increase the desired behavior and offset the competing reinforcers. The reinforcers should follow timely evidence of improved behavior to cement the law-of-effect relationship. Criteria for achieving the reinforcer should be realistic, directly related, attainable by most employees, and less expensive than the cost.
4. Implement the Reinforcement and Chart Results – If results are not as strong as desired, managers could move to a more substantive reinforcement plan.
Identify behavioral performance problems
Chart frequency of target behavior
Analyze existing behavioral contingencies
Develop contingency intervention strategy
Apply contingency intervention strategy Probl em Solve d? Yes
Evaluate performance improvement over time
Chart frequency of resulting behavior
Reinforce to maintain desirable behavior
What Is The Link Between Rewards and Behavior?
Whenever systematic performance objectives, appraisals, and rewards are lacking in an organization, members usually experience three emotions: • • • Ambiguity: Exactly what is expected of me as an employee? Uncertainty: How well am I performing or measuring up to my boss’s standards? Suspicion: Are promotions and rewards (or layoffs and discharges) being administered equitably around here?
Performance is behavior that has been evaluated or measured as to its contribution to organizational goals. The overarching goal is to make as
many behaviors as possible be performance contributors to specific goals. Performance can be evaluated on the basis of productivity (including quality), growth, and satisfaction. • Pay for Performance – Uniform systems of pay may seem equitable. But from a motivational perspective, such nonperformance payments do not necessarily encourage stellar performance. Now, the norm for systems of rewards incorporate more pay-for-performance factors. Performance-based compensation schemes are consistent with the expectancy theory of motivation. Employees compare rewards received for performance with what they expect to receive. They also compare what they receive with what others receive (equity factor). Overall satisfaction is likely a composite of how the employee perceives both the extrinsic and intrinsic rewards from the job. o Piecework – the classic performance-based reward system, which is the practice of rewarding performance by paying for the amount produced consistent with quality standards. The difficulties are twofold: One is evaluating work methods to arrive at an equitable standard and rate. The second concern is the quality-quantity tradeoff. • Merit Pay (Base Plus Merit) – Rather than tie pay only to output, an alternative is to provide a base salary or hourly wage and then an incentive or bonus based on output. The performance-based portion depends on some measurable level of output over which the employee has control (quantity, quality, cost savings). o Bonus and Profit-Sharing Plans – Compensation plans that are based on the overall performance of the enterprise rather than the individual’s contribution. A pool of money is divided among eligible employees based on some performance evaluation or rating system. The objective of merit plans such as profit sharing, bonuses, and stock options is to link everyone’s fate to overall performance, reinforcing corporate cultures that emphasize group results over individual performance. ? Gainsharing Plans – A pay-for-performance system that shares financial rewards among all employees based on performance improvements for the entire business unit.
o Rewards as a Cafeteria of Benefits – Allowing people to select from a portfolio or menu of benefits. o Consequences of Incentives and Rewards – Except in cases where performance can be easily measured, employees often believe that the person evaluating them relies too much on subjective judgment (they question the fairness of the plan). While goals, incentives, and rewards can energize and focus behavior in
some countries, there are potential pitfalls in using them as motivational systems: Quality may be traded off for quantity and vice versa. o Open Book Management is the practice of sharing key financial information, often including salaries and compensation, with all employees.
What Are the Key Factors in Job Design?
Job design is the process of incorporating tasks and responsibilities into meaningful, productive, satisfying job responsibilities. Scientific management is an early twentieth century methodology advocated by Frederick W. Taylor in which work tasks were structured into highly simplified, standardized jobs to simplify hiring, training, and supervision. In keeping with the principles of scientific management, job design historically has involved analyzing a complex task, then breaking it down into subtasks. Increasingly, responsibility for the design of work is shifting to workers themselves and to self-managed teams, rather than residing with managers or industrial engineers.
Task Scope and Task Depth
Task scope is the degree of task variety built into a job, typically called horizontal job loading when jobs are formally designed. A job narrow in scope has few activities. Task depth addresses how much vertical responsibility, individual accountability, and autonomous decision authority is expected in a job, often thought of as vertical job loading when formally designed.
Hig h
Task Depth (responsibility) Vertical Job Loading
Technician – offers greater
opportunities for independent thinking and deciding what to do when, but provide employees with little variety in their daily tasks. The technician may have a university education or need professional training to learn how to perform the job. The work may be valued by the client, bur research suggests that people find their jobs become meaningless over time because their job tasks are repetitive and there – Programmed to be Routineis little growth opportunity. repetitive and narrow in scope and are often restricted by technology. People in these simplistic and repetitive jobs are expected not to do much independent thinking, just pay attention to detail. Skills are mastered in a matter of hours or days; there is no expectation of career growth unless one becomes a supervisor over those performing these routine jobs.
Enriched – enable an individual to
feel responsible for whole tasks. Most professional jobs that require analysis and manipulation of symbolic data are enriched to give the individual responsibility for doing whatever is necessary to get the job done. The work presents challenges and novelty, with the incumbent empowered to solve problems and find innovative solutions to shifting performance demands. Enlarged – Provides an expanded variety or diversity of tasks. At times jobs are deliberately expanded, either by adding on sequential tasks or by allowing employees to rotate among different jobs. Decreasing the number of separate job classifications or titles in a traditional industry typically affords employees enlarged variety or a change of pace.
Low Task Scope (variety) Horizontal Job Loading
Hig h
Horizontal job loading is the process of enlarging jobs by combining separate work activities into a whole job that provides for greater task variety (often giving responsibility for more links in the ‘chain’ or of the task). Vertical job loading is the process of structuring a greater range of responsibility for planning, control, and decision making authority into a job.
How Does Job Design Affect Work Outcomes?
Integrating Motivational Theory of Job Design includes a threesequence model for enriching jobs: 1. Core Job Dimensions – the underlying characteristics of a job (such as autonomy, task veriety) and how they relate to job involvement, motivation, performance, and satisfaction. These core dimensions had a better fit and greater meaning for self-motivating individuals who desire opportunity, personal growth, challenge, autonomy, and feedback. • Autonomy – the degree of control a person has over his or her own job actions, such as responsibility for self-governing behaviors to perform the job and the absence of a programmed sequence of activities (essentially, task depth). Task variety – the degree to which normal job activities require performing multiple tasks (breadth of task scope). Task identity – the extent to which a person has a whole task to complete, with visible starting and ending points. Feedback – the frequency and completeness with which the task provides information about work progress and results of personal efforts. Friendship opportunities – the extent to which the work setting provides opportunities for close interpersonal contacts (less impact). Dealing with others – the degree to which task flow or accomplishment requires interaction with others in contributory or collegial ways (less impact). Task significance – the significance of the work being performed. Task interdependence – how independent the task is of other tasks in the work chain.
• • • • • • •
2. Psychological States – three possible job qualities (experienced meaningfulness, experienced responsibility, knowledge of results) that shape individual job motivation and satisfaction of growth needs. Generally people whose jobs enable them to experience the following
three psychological states will have a positive “motivating potential” because these conditions satisfy personal-professional growth needs. • Experienced meaningfulness – occurs when an individual perceives his or her work as worthwhile or in tune with personal values (influenced by skill variety, task identity, and task significance dimensions). Experienced responsibility – Realized when a person feels personally accountable for the outcomes of his or her efforts (influenced by the autonomy dimension). Knowledge of Results – Experienced when an individual can determine on a fairly regular basis whether the performance outcomes of his or her work are satisfactory (influenced by the feedback dimension).
• •
3. Personal/Work Outcomes – Job outcomes are measured by job involvement, motivation, and satisfaction at the personal level and performance at the work level.
Four Approaches to Job Design
There is no one approach that is best for all types of people and jobs. Job design involves seeking a balance among approaches to achieve results that best fit situations realities. • Motivational Approach – Aiming to increase the outcomes of job satisfaction, job involvement, and performance by enabling people to realize growth needs through experiencing challenging work. In striving to produce jobs that are stimulating and mentally demanding, the motivational approach may have the unintended consequence of creating staffing difficulties, increasing training times, and having higher mental overload and stress. Mechanistic Approach – The earliest techniques, based on time and motion studies and work simplification (scientific management and industrial engineering). Oriented towards efficiency and have lower mental overload and stress, but creates more boredom and physical demands. Biological Approach – Ergonomics is a biomechanic approach to minimize physical strain and stress on a worker based on the healthy design of work methods and technology (from work physiology and biomechanics). Involve making jobs physically comfortable and matched to physical strength and endurance, combined with attention to noise, climate requirements, and the design of equipment. Workers report less physical effort and fatigue, fewer aches and pains, and fewer health complaints, causing favorable attitudes towards their work. This approach is sometimes more expensive (equipment) and training requirements increase.
•
•
•
Perceptual/Motor Approach – Seeks to match job characteristics to human mental capabilities (and limitations) with a primary emphasis on how people concentrate and what helps them pay attention to job requirements (from human factors engineering, experimental psychology and human information processing studies). This can create improved reliability, less errors and accidents, and positive reactions by reduced stress, fatigue, mental overload, and stress. Staffing and training requirements are reduced, but boredom increases.
Integrating the Factors of Job Redesign
Implementing Strategies Job Core Characteristics Psychological States (Effects) Personal and Work Outcomes
Combine tasks Vertical job loading Open feedback channels Establish client relationships Form natural work units
Autonomy Skill variety Task identity Work feedback Friendship opportunities Task significance Initiated task interdependence
Experienced meaningfulness Experienced responsibility for: One’s own work outcomes Other’s work outcomes Experienced knowledge of results of work Employee needs for growth
Internal work motivation Satisfaction with work and internal growth Quality work performance Low absenteeism and turnover
How Are People Motivated by Empowerment?
Empowerment describes the conditions that enable people to feel competent and in control of their work, energized to take initiative and persist at meaningful tasks. Empowerment is a highly personal motivational force. Empowerment can come from within the individual, from peers, or from a manager. It aspires to bring about positive self-perceptions and task-directed behaviors. Changed self-perceptions are an important manifestation of empowerment.
By Others Accepting Modeling Mentoring
Perceptions
By Self
Predisposition Competence Expectations
Self-concept Self-esteem Self-efficacy
Empowerment Behaviors
Self-initiated Persistent Adaptive
Outcomes
By Managers
Job designs Goal reward Leadership
Self-concept is how we think about ourselves or see ourselves in a role. Self-esteem is how we generally feel about our own worthiness – our selfacceptance. Self-efficacy is our self-perceptions about our ability to perform certain types of tasks. The empowered person undergoes two types of personal change. One is motivational enhancement, especially when the source of empowerment is positive change initiated by a manager. Empowered people usually intensify their task focus and are energized to become more committed to a cause or a goal. They experience self-efficacy, which stimulates motivation by enabling people to see themselves as competent and capable of high performance. Empowerment is also active in problem solving behaviors that concentrate energy on a goal. The empowered person is more flexible in behavior, tries alternative paths when one is blocked, and eagerly initiates new tasks or adds complexity to current ones. Behavior becomes self-motivated when the individual seeks to carve out greater personal autonomy in undertaking tasks without the manager’s help, or to draw support from team members. Ultimately, the individual decides whether to act empowered. Not everyone responds in the same way to empowerment. Expectancy motivation comes into play in empowerment.
Book Summary – Management and Organizational Behavior
• Cook, C. W. & Hunsaker, P. L. (2001). Management and Organizational Behavior (3rd edition).
Chapter 8 – Communicating for Understanding and Results
Communicating is the one activity that takes up most of a manager’s time.
What is Communication?
Communication is the process of one person sending a message to another with the intent of evoking a response. Effective communication occurs when the receiver interprets the message exactly as the sender intended. Efficient communication uses less time and fewer resources. The most efficient communication is not necessarily the most effective. What a manager wants to achieve is effective communication in the most efficient way. Communication in organizations serves three major purposes: it allows members to coordinate actions, share information, and satisfy social needs.
The Communications Process
Sender
Origination – idea or feeling Encoding – translating information into a message appropriate for transmission Transmission – The act of conveying a communication
Message
Channel – the medium through which a message is transmitted Verbal channel – words spoken and transmitted through sound waves Nonverbal channel – all ways of communicating without words, such as tone of voice, facial expression,
Receiver
Perception – process includes attention/selection, organization, and interpretation Decoding – the receiver function of perceiving communication stimuli and interpreting their meaning Response – no response in one-way communication
No Reply – end communication
Noise – anything that interferes with the communication process
No Reply – oneway
Perception – process includes attention/selection, organization, and interpretation Decoding – the receiver function of perceiving communication stimuli and interpreting their meaning Response – no response in one-way communication
Channel – the medium through which a message is transmitted Verbal channel – words spoken and transmitted through sound waves Nonverbal channel – all ways of communicating without words, such as tone of voice, facial expression,
Replies – idea or feeling Encoding – translating information into a message appropriate for transmission Transmission – The act of conveying a communication
Feedback – a message that tells the original sender how clearly the message was understood and
How Are Communication Channels Used in Organizations?
Managers are responsible for establishing and maintaining formal communication channels in downward, upward, and horizontal directions.
Formal Communication Channels
Formal communication channels are established within the organization’s chain of command in order to accomplish task objectives.
UPWARD COMMUNICATION Provides managers with info about: • • •
DOWNWARD COMMUNICATION Used by managers to:
Coordinati on
• •
Intradepartmental problem solving Interdepartmental coordination
• • • • •
Employee surveys Suggestion boxes Face-to-face encounters Open-door policies Required reports
• • • • •
Speeches Memos Newsletters Bulletin boards Policy & procedure manuals
Informal Communication Channels
Informal communication channels exist to serve the interests of those people who make them up, regardless of their positions in the organization. They are not formally sanctioned by management and do not follow the organization’s hierarchy; however, informal communications are often perceived by employees as more believable than communications received through formal channels. • The Grapevine – the informal communication channel for gossip and rumors. It satisfies social needs, helps clarify orders and decisions, and
Problem Solving
Current problems • Assign goals Progress toward goals • Provide job instructions Suggestions for • Policies/procedures/practice improvement s • Proposals for innovation • Provide performance feedback • Employee grievances HORIZONTAL COMMUNICATION problems • Point out • Feedback about attitudes • Socialize employees Communication that takes place among peers that can cut across departments & work groups, resulting in:
serves as a way of getting out information that can’t be expressed adequately through formal channels. About 80 percent of grapevine communication is work related, and over 80 percent of the time the grapevine is accurate. • • Social Gatherings Management by Wandering Around (MBWA) – Walking around the organization to informally chat with all levels of employees to learn about their concerns, ideas, and problems. Small Group Networks o Wheel – Provides more efficient and accurate problem solving of simple and routine tasks. Employee in the central position are much more active, satisfied, and likely to become leaders than those in the peripheral locations. o Star – More effective for ambiguous and complex problems. Group satisfaction is higher because group members participate more evenly.
•
What Barriers to Communication Exist?
The image and credibility of the sender, stereotyping, past experiences, overexposure to data, attitudes, mindsets, perceptual filters, trust, and empathy all impact on what receivers of communication “hear” and how they interpret its meaning. Misinterpretation occurs when the receiver understands the message to his or her own satisfaction but not in the sense that the sender intended. The barriers to communication that can occur are: • Frames of reference – a person’s mindset, based on past experience and current expectations, which determines what is perceived and how it is interpreted. Within organizations, people with different functions often have different frames of reference. Semantics – the meaning and use of words that can differ between people & especially cultures. Many professional and social groups adopt a specialized technical language called jargon that provides them with a sense of belonging and simplifies communication within the in-group. Value judgments – a source of noise when a receiver evaluates the worth of a sender’s message before the sender has finished transmitting it. Often such value judgments are based on the receiver’s previous experience either with the sender or with similar types of communications. When listeners form value judgments, speakers are usually aware of it through verbal and nonverbal feedback. The frequent result is a highly distorted understanding. Selective listening – receiver behavior of blocking out information or distorting it to match preconceived notions. This problem occurs
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frequently in emotionally charged conversations when receivers listen only for an opening to speak. • Filtering – when the sender conveys only certain parts of the relevant information to the receiver. Filtering often occurs in upward communication when subordinates suppress negative information. Filtering is very common when people are being evaluated for promotions, salary increases, or performance appraisals. Additionally, when managers are deluged with more information than they can process effectively, one response is to screen out and never decode a large number of messages. Distrust – A lack of trust on the part of either communicator is likely to evoke one or more of the barriers we’ve just examined. Distrust itself may have arisen out of earlier communications barriers. Distrust is sometimes caused by status differences.
•
How Can Messages Be Sent More Effectively?
Increase the Clarity of Messages
• Use multiple channels – the impact of a message can be increased by using more than one channel or mode of transmission to send it (audio, non-verbal, visual, etc …). Be complete and specific – when the subject matter is new or unfamiliar to the receiver, provide sufficient background information and details. Claim your own message – senders should use personal pronouns such as “I” and “mine”. This indicates to the receiver that the sender takes responsibility for the ideas and feelings expressed in the message. It’s better too to be up front rather than put the receiver on the defensive. Be congruent – make sure your messages are congruent with your actions. Simplify your language – effective communicators avoid jargon, slang, clichés, and colorful metaphors when communicating with people outside the industry or those who do not speak the language fluently.
•
•
• •
Develop Credibility
The credibility of a sender is probably the single most important element in effective interpersonal communications. Credibility is the sender’s degree of trustworthiness, as perceived by the receiver. • • Expertise – receivers will be more attentive when they perceive that a sender has expertise in the area about which he or she is communicating. Mutual trust – receivers prefer to have the sender’s motives clarified;
owning up to motives at the very beginning eliminates anxiety about a sender’s real intentions and does much to establish common trust. • Reliability – a sender’s perceived dependability, predictability, and consistency in providing all relevant information reinforce the sender’s perceived trustworthiness. Warmth and friendliness – a warm, friendly, supportive attitude is conducive to credibility. Dynamic appearance – a sender who is dynamic, confident, and positive is more credible. Personal reputation – if other members of the organization have told the receiver that a sender is credible, the receiver usually will tend to believe it.
• • •
Communicate Ethically
Interpersonal communications are ethical when they facilitate a person’s freedom of choice by presenting accurate, relevant information. Deception is the conscious alteration of information to significantly influence another’s perceptions. An overt lie is a false statement made with the deliberate intent to deceive. Covert lying occurs when one omits something relevant, leading others to draw incorrect inferences. Ethical behavior has very important consequences for a sender’s credibility.
Obtain Feedback
To ensure that each party understands what the other is trying to communicate, interpretations of received messages can be fed back for confirmation.
Criteria for Giving Feedback
Criteria for Receiving Feedback 1. Don’t be defensive 2. Seek specific examples 3. Be sure you understand (summarize) 4. Share your feelings about the comments 5. Ask for definitions 6. Check out underlying assumptions 7. Be sensitive to sender’s nonverbal messages 8. Ask questions to clarify
1. Make sure your comments are intended to help the recipient 2. Speak directly and with feeling based on trust 3. Describe what the person is doing and the effect the person is having 4. Don’t be threatening or judgmental 5. Be specific, not general (use clear and recent examples) 6. Give feedback when the recipient is open to accepting it
7. Check to ensure the validity of your statements 8. Include only things the receiver can do something about 9. Don’t overwhelm; make sure your comments aren’t more than the person can handle
How Can Messages Be More Accurately Received?
• Ask questions – we need to ask questions to obtain information we need. Questions motivate communication and open channels of communication, providing an environment in which employees also feel free to state their feelings, which helps managers communicate more effectively with a diverse work force. Listen – listening is an intellectual and emotional process in which the receiver integrates physical, emotional, and intellectual inputs in search of meaning. People can think nearly four times as fast as they can speak, leaving the listener with three times the mental capacity which should be used to summarize and relate data. Active listeners put themselves in the other person’s shoes. They practice sensing (recognize silent messages through nonverbal cues), attending (full attention to the verbal message), and responding (summarize and give feedback on the content and feelings of the message). Read nonverbal communication cues – if a person says one thing but the non-verbal communication is not consistent, it results in mixed messages. The visual component of nonverbal communication is body language or kinesics. The face is the best communicator of nonverbal messages. Most gestures are culturally bound and susceptible to misinterpretation. Other nonverbal channels are tactile, vocal, time, and physical spaces. Image is also a strong force of communication. Improving cross-cultural communication – global differences require employees and managers to acknowledge and understand how different cultures interpret, behave and interact. These differences also include gender differences.
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Book Summary – Management and Organizational Behavior
• Cook, C. W. & Hunsaker, P. L. (2001). Management and Organizational Behavior (3rd edition).
Chapter 9 – Creating Productive Interpersonal Relationships
What Influences Interpersonal Relations?
• Emotional intelligence (EQ) is a person’s ability to be aware of personal emotions and those of others in order to interact with others in productive ways. A manager’s success will largely be dependent upon his or her interpersonal skills, which is greatly affected by emotional intelligence. The key factors of emotional intelligence are: o Self-awareness – the basis for all other components; means being aware of what you are feeling, being conscious of the emotions within yourself. o Managing emotions – the manager is able to balance his or her own moods so that worry, anxiety, fear, or anger do not get in the way of what needs to be done. o Motivating oneself – the ability to be hopeful and optimistic despite obstacles, setbacks, or even outright failure. o Empathy – being able to put yourself in someone else’s shoes, to recognize what others are feeling without them needing to tell you. o Social skill – the ability to connect to others, build positive relationships, respond to the emotions of others, and influence others. • The A-B Model – a model that illustrates the chain of rapid events that occur between to interacting people. The interaction is affected by the needs, values, assumptions and feelings of each person, leading to perceptions, evaluations and intentions. All of these factors lead to consequences of the interaction, which may repeat the loop. Personality factors – several evaluations and reactions affect interpersonal relations, including: o Self-concept – our perception and evaluation of ourselves. A person’s self-concept includes their value system, which are internalized beliefs about what behavior, feelings, goals, and techniques are desirable. o Personal frame of reference – how we see the world based upon our past experiences and self-concept (also see chapter 5). o Defensiveness – a cognitive distortion that protects the selfconcept against being diminished. It occurs when you protect yourself by denying, excusing, or rationalizing your actions to
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protect your self-concept against the threat of being damaged by failure, guilt, shame, or fear. Common defense mechanisms are: rationalization, repression, reaction-formation, projection, regression, displacement, compensation, denial, withdrawal, resignation, conversion, counterdependence, and aggression. o Interpersonal relationship needs, expressed as a desire to give, and wanted in the desire to receive, which include: ? ? ? Inclusion – the need to establish and maintain relationships with other people Control – the need to maintain a balance of power and influence in relationships Affection – the need to form close and personal relationships with others
o Feelings – about themselves and others. • Interaction setting o Job requirements – determine how psychologically close or distant two people need to be to perform their work. The depth of interpersonal relationships required by a job depends on how complex the task is, whether the people involved possess different kinds of expertise, the frequency of the interaction in the job, and the degree of certainty with which job outcomes can be predicted. o Organizational culture – influences the general nature of employee relationships. The more culture fosters competitiveness, aggressiveness, and hostility, the greater the likelihood that people will be cautious and on guard with each other. Different interaction patterns can be distinguished by four primary factors: ? ? ? ? Openness – the degree to which participants share their thoughts and feelings Trust – the degree to which you believe someone else is honest and supportive Owning – taking responsibility for a problem versus blaming someone else Risk to experiment – degree to which you are punished for trying something new
o Trust levels – trust is the feeling of confidence that someone will act to benefit rather than harm you. Trust exists whenever you choose to let yourself be dependent on another person whose future behavior can affect your well-being. Relationships do not grow and develop until individuals trust each other. Covey suggests six major deposits to build up emotional bank accounts (trust): ? ? Understand and honor other peoples’ needs and priorities Attend to little things like showing kindness and being
? ? ? ?
courteous Keep commitments Clarify expectations Show personal integrity by keeping promises, being honest, fulfilling expectations, and being loyal Apologize sincerely when you make a withdrawal, without rationalizing
Why Do People Have Different Styles of Relating?
Interpersonal effectiveness is the degree to which the consequences of your behavior match your intentions. You can improve interpersonal effectiveness by disclosing your intentions, receiving feedback on your behavior, and modifying your behavior until it has the consequences you intend it to have.
Differences in Self-Disclosure
Self-disclosure is the process of revealing how you perceive and feel about the present. Without self-disclosure, you cannot form a meaningful relationship with another person.
The Johari window is a model of the different degrees of openness between two people based on their degree of self-disclosure and feedback solicitation. The model presents four windowpanes of awareness of others and ourselves.
Known to self Feedback Not known to self
Blind area – encompasses certain things about you that are apparent to others but not to yourself, either because no one has ever told you or because you defensively block them out. Blind spots, however, make you less Unknown area – repressed fears and needs or potential that neither you nor the other are aware of.
Known to others
Known area – information is disclosed and known by both parties; mutually shared perceptions confirm both parties’ frames of reference. Hidden area – the things that you are aware of but do not share because you may be afraid that others will think less of you, use the information to their advantage, or chastise you because they may hurt other’s
Managing openness: guidelines for self-disclosure. Because openness is risky it can be difficult to decide how open to be and with whom. Sharing your feelings and needs with others can build strong relationships in which you feel understood and cared about and have your needs satisfied. With the wrong parties, however, your openness could be used against you. Either too much or too little openness can be dysfunctional in different types of interpersonal relationships. Managing your openness means choosing when and how to be more open and authentic in your relationships with others. It means thinking before acting. Trust is a major determinant.
Disclosure
Not known to others
Different Behavioral Styles
A person’s behavior style is a person’s habitual way of interacting with other people. It can be determined by examining two dimensions. Responsiveness is a person’s degree of readiness to show emotions and develop relationships. Assertiveness refers to the amount of control a person tries to exercise over other people. High Responsiveness
Amiable Style
Amiables are very responsive, but unassertive, causing them to be supportive and reliable. Sometimes they appear to be complaining, soft hearted, and acquiescent. They are slow to take action and want to know how other people feel about a decision before they commit themselves. Amiables dislike interpersonal conflict so much that they often tell others what they think others want to hear rather than what is really one their minds. Amiables like expressing and receiving tender feelings of warmth and support, but abhor tough emotions like anger or hostility. They are good team players and have no trouble recognizing the person in charge, unlike drivers, who always act as if they are the boss. To get along with amiables, support their feelings and show personal interest in them. Move along in an informal manner and show the amiable that you are “actively listening” • • • • • • • • • Slow at taking action and making decisions Likes close, personal relationships Dislikes interpersonal conflict Supports and “actively” listens to others Weak at goal setting and self-direction Has excellent ability to gain support from others Works slowly and cohesively with others Seeks security and belongingness Good counseling skills
Expressive Style
Expressives are animated, intuitive, and lively, but they can also be manipulative, impetuous, and excitable. They are fast paced, make spontaneous decisions, and are not very concerned about facts and details. They thrive on involvement for others. They are very verbal and good at influencing and persuading. They are the cheerleaders. They like to be recognized. Expressives are very emotional and are relatively comfortable sharing their own feelings and hearing about the feelings of others. To maintain productive relationships with them, it helps not to hurry a discussion and to be entertaining. When striving for an agreement with an expressive, make sure that you both fully understand all the details and summarize everything in writing so it won’t be forgotten. • • • • • • • • • Spontaneous actions and decisions Likes involvement Dislikes being alone Exaggerates and generalizes Tends to dream and get others caught up in the dream Jims from one activity to another Works quickly and excitingly with others Seeks esteem and belongingness Good persuasive skills
Analytical Style
Analyticals are not very assertive or responsive. They are persistent, systematic problem solvers who sometimes appear aloof, picky, and critical. They need to be right, which can lead them to rely too heavily on data. In their search for perfection, they avoid being confrontational, and think before they speak. Analyticals suppress their feelings because they are uncomfortable with any type of emotion. To get along with an analytical, try to be systematic, organized, and prepared. Analyticals require solid, tangible, and factual evidence. Do not use gimmicks or push them for a fast decision. Take
Driver Style
Drivers are highly assertive but not very responsive. They are firm with others and make decisions rapidly. They are oriented toward productivity and concerned with bottom-line results, so drivers can be stubborn, impatient, and tough minded. Drivers string to dominate and control people to achieve their tasks. Drivers like expressing and reacting to tough emotions, but are uncomfortable either receiving or expressing tender feelings. You can maintain a productive relationship with a driver if you are precise, efficient, and well organized. You should keep the relationship businesslike. To influence a
High Assertiveness
Low Assertiveness
time to explain the alternatives and the advantages and disadvantages of your recommendations. • • • • • • • • • Cautious actions and decisions Likes organization and structure Dislikes involvement with others Asks many questions and wants specific details Prefers objective, task-oriented, intellectual work environment Wants to be right and therefore relies heavily on data collection Works slowly and precisely alone Seeks security and self-actualization Good problem-solving skills
driver in the direction you desire, provide options you are comfortable with, but let the driver make a decision. • • • • • • • • • Firm actions and decisions Likes control Dislikes inaction Prefers maximum freedom to manage self and others Cool and independent; competitive with others Low tolerance for feelings, attitudes, and advice of others Works quickly and impressively alone Seek esteem and self-actualization Good administrative skills
Low Responsiveness
Male/Female Differences
An early emphasis on relatedness and connection causes women to develop, more highly than men, the qualities of vulnerability, empathy, and an ability to empower and enable others. Men are socialized to deny feeling vulnerable and are encouraged to strive for self-reliance, strength, and independence, while women are expected to attend to their own and others’ feelings and connect emotionally with others. Women are better able to nonjudgmentally address weaknesses in themselves and others. Women learn to listen with empathy and to be responsive and sensitive to others’ emotions. Men, on the other hand, are encouraged to be rational and strong and to deny feelings in order to maintain rationality and control. Finally, women grow up expecting a two-directional pattern of relational growth, where contributing to the development of others will increase their feelings of effectiveness and competence and where others will be motivated to reciprocate. This is opposed to men’s early training, which emphasizes independence and competiveness. Consequently, women are more naturally adaptable to helping others at work in coaching or mentoring relationships. Males and females differ in their reactions to authority figures and how they prefer to deal with conflict. In terms of supervisor preference, females tend to have more positive attitudes toward female managers than do males. They also perceive female managers are more competent than males perceive them. With respect to conflict, more female managers than male managers have been socialized to avoid confrontation altogether or to seek help in resolving them. More women than men settle for noninfluential roles rather than become involved in power struggles and conflicts. In contrast, many men have been taught to overemphasize power and strive for one-upmanship
even when it is unnecessary or counter productive. Effectively managing sexual attraction in relationships involves learning to communicate directly, setting personal boundaries, and having a sense of ethics.
Book Summary – Management and Organizational Behavior
• Cook, C. W. & Hunsaker, P. L. (2001). Management and Organizational Behavior (3rd edition).
Chapter 10 – Building Groups into Teams
When groups do not act like teams and are nonproductive and dissatisfying, it is usually because their members lack necessary attitudes, knowledge and skills to work together effectively. Or, if they have not been provided with clear objectives, structures, and appropriate environments by management.
What Are Groups and What Functions Do They Perform?
Work groups are the manager’s main vehicle for accomplishing organizational tasks. Groups also satisfy personal needs for friendship, selfesteem, and identity. A group is two or more people who perceive themselves as a distinct entity, regularly interact and influence one another over a period of time, share common values, and strive for common objectives.
Formal Groups
A formal group is a group intentionally established by a manager to accomplish specific organizational objectives. A standing task group is a permanent group formally specified in the organizational structure consisting of a supervisor and direct subordinates. A task group is a temporary formal group created to solve specific problems. Contributions to Organizations
1. Accomplish complex, interdependent tasks that are beyond the capabilities of individuals. 2. Create new ideas 3. Coordinate interdepartmental efforts 4. Solve complex problems requiring varied information and perspectives 5. Implement action plans 6. Socialize and train newcomers
Contributions to Individuals
1. Satisfy needs for affiliation 2. Confirm identity and enhance selfesteem 3. Test and share perceptions of social reality 4. Reduce feelings of insecurity and powerlessness 5. Provide a mechanism for solving personal and interpersonal problems
Informal Groups
An informal group is a group that emerges through the efforts of individuals to satisfy personal needs not met by the formal organization. Membership in informal groups is based on common interests and mutual attraction versus being assigned, as it is in formal groups. The subtle
influence of informal groups over their members’ behaviors often turns out to be more powerful than the vested authority of formal groups. This influence can be both positive and negative. An interest group is an informal group consisting of individuals who affiliate to achieve an objective of mutual interest. A friendship group is an informal group based on common characteristics that are not necessarily work related. A reference group is a group with which an individual identifies to form opinions and make decisions regardless of whether he or she is an actual member. Reference groups are the basis for many friendship and interest groups, but they may also exist outside of the organization and still influence a person’s behavior at work. Reference groups are based on things like race, gender, politics, religion, social class, education level, and profession. Reference groups provide values for individuals on which to base personal decisions and norms that justify social behavior, both of which may or may not be congruent with organizational preferences. Contributions to Individuals
1. Satisfaction of social and affiliation needs 2. Satisfaction of needs for security and support 3. Enhanced status for members if the group is perceived by others as prestigious 4. Enhanced feelings of self-esteem if a member is valued by other group members 5. Feeling more competent by sharing the power of the group to influence and achieve
Contributions to Organizations
1. Solidify common social values and expectations congruent with organizational culture 2. Provide and enforce guidelines for appropriate behavior 3. Provide social satisfaction unlikely for anonymous individual workers to experience 4. Provide a sense of identity that often includes a certain degree of status 5. Enhance members access to information 6. Help integrate new employees into the information expectations of the organization
How Do Groups Develop?
Groups have life cycles similar to people. A group’s effectiveness is influenced by its stage of development and how well its members have learned to work together. To become stable, cohesive, and effective, a group must resolve issues about goals, power, and intimacy as it progresses through several stages of maturation.
The Five-Stage Model of Group Development
Different groups will remain at various stages of development for different lengths of time, and some may remain at a given stage permanently, either by design or because the group is stalled. By being aware of a group’s
process, its leader can facilitate members’ functioning at each stage and the transition to the next stage of development. 1. Forming – in a newly formed group, a lot of uncertainties exist about the group’s purpose, structure, and leadership. Members are concerned about exploring friendship and task potentials. They don’t have a strategy for addressing the group’s task. They don’t know yet what behaviors are acceptable as they try to determine how to satisfy needs for acceptance and personal goal satisfaction. As awareness increases, this stage of group development is completed when members accept themselves as a group and commit to group goals. 2. Storming – The next stage involves intragroup conflict about the clarification of roles and behavioral expectations. Disagreement is inevitable as members attempt to decide on task procedures, role assignments, ways of relating, and power allocations. One objective at this stage is to resolve the conflicts about power and task structure. Another is to work through the accompanying hostility and replace it with a sense of acceptance and belonging that is necessary to progress to the next stage. 3. Norming – Cooperation is the theme of the norming stage, which involves the objectives of promoting open communication and increasing cohesion as members establish a common set of behavioral expectations. Members agree on a structure that divides work tasks, provides leadership, and allocates other roles. Desired outcomes for this stage of group development are increased member involvement and mutual support as group harmony emerges. If groups become too contented, however, they can get stalled at this stage because they do not want to crease conflict or challenge established ways of doing things. 4. Performing – In this stage of development, group members are no longer conflicted about acceptance and how to relate to each other. Now members work interdependently to solve problems are committed to the group’s mission. Productivity is at its peak. Desired outcomes are achievement and provide, and major concerns include preventing loss of enthusiasm and sustaining momentum. For permanent work groups, this is hopefully the final and ongoing state of development. 5. Adjourning – The adjournment or separation phase occurs when temporary groups like task forces and committees disband after they have accomplished their goals. Feelings about disbanding range from sadness and depression at the loss of friendships to happiness and fulfillment due to what has been achieved. The leader can facilitate positive closure at this stage by recognizing and rewarding group performance. Ceremonial events bring closure to the desired emotional outcome of a sense of satisfaction and accomplishment.
Moderators to the Five-Stage Sequence of Group Development
• Task deadlines – Given a deadline for task completion, a group will develop its own distinctive approach to problem solving until about halfway through the allotted time. At this midpoint, most groups change their approach to the task and apply a burst of concentrated energy, reexamining assumptions and ineffective behaviors and replacing them with new approaches that usually contribute to dramatic gains in progress. These more productive behaviors are maintained until close to the deadline, when a final burst of activity to finish the job occurs. Group composition – Other developmental differences have been found between culturally diverse and homogeneous groups. Newly formed homogeneous groups are more effective than heterogeneous ones through the first part of the task (performing) stage. After settling into the performing stage, however, heterogeneous groups catch up and perform comparable to homogeneous ones. More diverse groups actually become slightly more proficient at identifying problems and generating solution alternatives if they continue to work together for long periods of time.
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How Are Groups Structured?
After a group has progressed through the stages of development previously described, certain stable patterns of relationships exist among its members. Communication networks have been established, bonds of intimacy and interpersonal attraction have emerged, powerful and influential members have been identified, agreement regarding appropriate behavior has been reached, and the relative esteem for each team member has been established in a hierarchy. These patterns of relationships constitute the group’s structure and directly impact each member’s behaviors.
Functional Group Roles
A role is an expected set of recurring behaviors that is expected from a member by others in the group. Some group roles are functional in that they help the group achieve its goals. Other roles, which are usually motivated by specific individual needs, are dysfunctional and interfere with group effectiveness. After a group has matured to the performing stage, personal behaviors detrimental to the group are mostly eliminated and members adopt behaviors beneficial to group performance. Two types of functional roles emerge: • • Task roles directly help accomplish group goals. Maintenance roles help establish and maintain good relationships among group members.
Personal roles are those that only meet individual needs and are usually detrimental to the group. Personal roles need to be replaced with maintenance and task roles before a group can become an effective team.
Task Roles • • • • • • Initiating Giving information Seeking information Summarizing Elaborating Consensus testing
Maintenance Roles • • • • • • Encouraging Harmonizing Setting group standards Gate keeping Compromising Providing feedback
Personal Roles • • • • • Blocking Recognition seeking Dominating Avoiding Seeking help
Norms are commonly held expectations about appropriate group member behavior. They are established over time for behaviors that have a significant impact on a group. Formal norms exist as written rules and procedures for all employees to obey. Most norms are informal in that they develop from group members’ own experiences of what behaviors help and hinder their performance and satisfaction. The most common norms are performance-related processes. There are usually norms about appearance. Informal social arrangements are also dictated y norms. Finally, norms relegate the allocation of resources. Status is the measure of relative worth and respect conferred upon an individual by the group. Higher status is more likely to be awarded to members who are willing to put in the necessary work to make the group successful. Cohesiveness is the degree of attractiveness of a group to its members and the closeness of the interpersonal bonds between group members. The more cohesive a group, the more effective it will be in meeting member needs and the more conformity it can demand from its members. Eight sources of high cohesiveness are: common goals, success experience, small size, interpersonal attraction, challenge of a common enemy, high status, cooperation among group members, and female composition (women are thought to be more cooperative and less competitive). Performance Norms
Cohesiveness
High High productivity Medium productivity
Low Low productivity Medium to low productivity
High Low
Advantages and Disadvantages of Group Problem Solving
Advantages group have over individuals • • • • More knowledge and information Diversity of viewpoints Increased understanding Better implementation Disadvantages groups have • • • • • Competing goals Time consuming Social pressure to conform Domination by a few Ambiguous responsibility
What Are the Threats to Group Effectiveness?
• • Inappropriate conformity is when individual members go along with decisions they believe are clearly wrong. Groupthink is a state in groups where the pressures for conformity are so great that they dominate members’ abilities to realistically appraise alternative decision options. Symptoms of groupthink include: illusions of group invulnerability, collective rationalization, illusion of group morality, stereotypes of competitors, pressure to conform, self-censorship, illusions of unanimity, and mind guarding. Social loafing is the tendency of individuals to exert less effort when working in a group than when working individually.
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TOPIC: What might be a cause of social loafing? • Group composition affects group effectiveness. Members with individualistic cultures are more prevalent to social loafing. Heterogeneous groups can enhance or harm effectiveness. Gender differences can cause some problems.
How Can Groups Become More Effective?
• Leadership facilitation, the leader’s ability to facilitate the process can be enhanced. Group leaders need to ensure that all participants feel free to contribute. The leader’s role is to establish a cooperative environment in which all opinions are heard and evaluated before a solution is reached. Improve meeting facilitation by: o Preparing and distributing an agenda well in advance of the meeting o Consulting with participants before the meeting o Establishing specific time parameters o Maintaining focused discussion o Encouraging and supporting pariticipation by all members o Encouraging the clash of ideas
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o Discouraging the clash of personalities o Facilitating careful listening o Bringing proper closure • Team building includes all activities aimed at improving the problem solving ability of group members by resolving task and interpersonal issues that impede the team’s functioning. Form new groups – it is usually easier to form a completely new group than to deal with the resistance that must be overcome when trying to change existing groups. When starting a new group, address the following questions: where are we going, who are we, where are we now, and how will we get there?
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How Do Teams Differ from Groups?
A team is a relatively permanent work group whose members share common goals, are interdependent, and are accountable as a functioning unit to the organization as a whole. Three types of teams: • • • Teams that recommend things Teams that make or do things Teams that run things
How Do Groups Develop Into Teams?
• • • • • • • • • Determine performance goals that can be immediately achieved to create early success Make sure that members have the appropriate skills Establish demanding performance standards and provide direction Create a sense of urgency in the first meeting Set clear rules of behavior The leader should model appropriate behaviors Members spend lots of time together bonding as a team socially and while working Continually give the team and individual members positive feedback and rewards Regularly challenge the team with new projects or problems to solve
How Do Teams Maintain and Improve Their Effectiveness?
• Role analysis technique – clarifies role expectations and obligations of team members through a structured process of mutually defining and delineating role requirements. Role negotiation technique – a controlled negotiation process between team members that results in written agreements to change specific
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behaviors by conflicting parties. • • Responsibility charting – a technique for clarifying who is responsible for what on various decisions and actions within the team. Sensitivity training – unstructured feedback meetings where members share observations and feelings about each other to help improve sensitivity of behavior toward others and the team’s ability to function. Structured feedback procedures are meetings where members share feedback with each other by using a prepared format. Self-assessment inventories are paper and pencil tests that reveal participant characteristics. Exercises and simulations – activities participants engage in to generate behavior for feedback that can be analyzed and used to develop improvement plans.
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Book Summary – Management and Organizational Behavior
• Cook, C. W. & Hunsaker, P. L. (2001). Management and Organizational Behavior (3rd edition).
Chapter 11 – Conflict Management & Negotiation
Conflict is a disagreement between two or more parties who perceive that they have incompatible concerns. In some cases, conflict can actually stimulate creative problem solving and improve the situation for all parties involved.
The Conflict Management Process
Stages of Conflict
Stage 1 Latent conflict – antecedent conditions (sources of conflict): • • Interdependence Different goals Sources of Conflict
Consequences
Functional Conflict Conflict between groups that stimulates innovations and production. A conflict-positive organization is where participants perceive conflict as an opportunity for personal and organizational growth. • Problem awareness • Increased group cohesiveness (band together against a common enemy) • Increased loyalty • Motivation to improve • Creative change Dysfunctional Conflict Conflict between groups in the same organization that hinders the achievement of group and organizational goals. • Sub optimization • Negative feelings • Distorted perceptions – emphasize negatives of others and inflate positives of their own group • Negative stereotypes • Decreased communication
Goal Incompatibility
• Mutually exclusive
Stage 2 Perceived Conflict • Aware of a problem • Incompatibility is perceived • Tension begins
goals – win-lose goal conflict • Lack of resources – winlose conflict over resources • Different time orientations (urgency)
Structural Design
Stage 3 Felt conflict
• • • Emotionally involved Focus on differences Opposing interests
• Interdependence – the
Stage 4 Manifest Conflict
• Conflict behaviors: disagreeing, verbal attacks, ultimatums
Stage 5 Conflict Outcome
• Functional – positive outcomes, creative problem solving, complacency avoidance Dysfunctional – negative outcomes, aggression and hostility, inability to cooperate
degree to which interactions between parties must be coordinated in order for them to perform adequately (pooled, reciprocal, & sequential) • Lack of substitutability – the dependent party often perceives a lack of alternatives as a conflict. • Power differentials Different Role Expectations Role – A set of tasks and behaviors that an individual or group is expected to perform. • Role ambiguity – unclear expectations • Role conflict – different expectations • Uncertainty reduction – power differences from
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groups making rules to reduce uncertainty
Degenerative Climate
Climate that encourages dysfunctional conflict. • Win-lose attitudes • People with different values & expectations • Merged cultural differences
Personal Differences
• Different values • Different preferred way of behaving • Different views of the world
How Can Conflict Be Productively Managed?
Conflict Style Orientations
Conflict management styles are the different combinations or assertiveness and cooperation that people emphasize when in a conflict situation.
Conflict Management Strategies
Avoiding Intergroup Conflict
• Integrating departments - fulltime
coordinators groups
behavior, embodied in the parties’ pursuit of their own concerns at others’ expense (often used by power-oriented people). Can be beneficial when quick action is vital. competing, unassertive and cooperative behavior. Appropriate when the issue at stake is much more important to the other. behavior (sidestep, postpone, or withdraw). Appropriate when the issue involved is relatively unimportant to you. Also when you have little power or are in a situation that is very difficult to change. consists of assertive and cooperative behavior. It involves working with the other person to find a solution that fully satisfies both parties. A necessity when the concerns of both parties are too important
Cost
• Competing – Assertive and uncooperative
• Teams - coordinating team between • Task forces - temp group to resolve
problems
• Accommodating – the opposite of
• Liaison roles - expedites lateral
communication groups
• Planning - coordinates interacting • Hierarchy - conflict passed up the
hierarchy
• Avoiding – Unassertive and uncooperative
• Rules and procedures
(recurring/anticipated) Reducing Dysfunctional Conflict
• Collaborating – The opposite of avoiding;
• Superordinate goals – determine an
overriding goal that requires cooperative effort of both conflicting parties. A derivative strategy is to focus on a common enemy.
to be compromised.
• Communication – devising means to
• Compromising – Falls somewhere
between assertive and cooperative behaviors. The objectives is to find a mutually acceptable middle ground that partially satisfies both parties. Appropriate when goals are moderately important but not worth the effort of collaboration or the possible disruption of competition. the collaborating and compromising approaches. Occurs whenever two or more parties enter into a discussion in an attempt to determine a mutually acceptable resolution.
increase communication can do much to correct misunderstandings, reduce negative stereotypes, and develop positive feelings. conflicts through a mutual airing of differences, complaints, and negative feelings. limited resources.
• Problem solving – identify and solve
• Negotiating – the practical application of
• Expansion of resources if conflict of • Third-party judgment – a common boss
or mediator in resolving disputes.
Participants from different cultures have different conflict style orientations consistent with their cultural values. Women seem to be more concerned about relationships. This leads them to prefer a collaborative style, and more willingness to compromise, or even accommodate. Men, on the other hand, are usually more competitive and less concerned about the relationship.
• Changing organizational structure –
when reasons for conflict are scarce resources, status differences, or power imbalances.
• Avoidance – although avoidance is
ineffective in the long run, certain controlled conditions can be established to lessen the short-term consequences of conflict.
Guidelines for effective negotiating: Consider the other party’s situation Have a plan and concrete strategy Begin with a positive overture Address problems, not personalities Maintain a rational, goal-oriented frame of mind 6. Pay little attention to initial offers 7. Emphasize win-win solutions 8. Create a climate of trust 9. Insist on using objective criteria 10. Be open to accepting third-party assistance 11. Adapt to cultural differences 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Book Summary – Management and Organizational Behavior
• Cook, C. W. & Hunsaker, P. L. (2001). Management and Organizational Behavior (3rd edition).
Chapter 12 – Ethical Problem Solving & Decision Making
What Are the Steps for Rational Problem Solving?
Problem solving is the process of eliminating the discrepancy between actual and desired outcomes. Decision making is selecting the best solution from among feasible alternatives.
Problem Awareness
1. Establish trust – people need to feel secure enough to acknowledge that a problem exists. 2. Clarify objectives – an objective is a desired outcome that we want to achieve. This provides a documented statement of what you intend to accomplish; establishes a basis for measuring performance; provides positive motivation through knowing what is expected; and helps to provide a road map. 3. Assess the current situation – focus on the “what” and the “how” of the organization and that of the people involved. 4. Identify problems – to identify a problem accurately, it must be understood from all points of view. Many times a flowchart (process flow diagram) is used to identify process problems.
Problem Definition
1. Analyze problems – the goal is to determine the root cause of the problem. A cause-and-effect diagram (fishbone chart) are sometimes used to represent the relationship between some “effect” and all possible “causes” influencing it. 2. Agree on problems to be solved – you must set priorities regarding which problem will be worked on first and which follow (and when or if at all). A Pareto chart is a vertical bar graph that indicates which problems, or causes of problems, should be solved first.
Decision Making
1. Establish decision-making criteria – criteria are statements of objectives that need to be met for a problem to be solved. Effective criteria should possess the following characteristics:
• • • •
Specific, measurable, and attainable Complementary – the achievement of one should not reduce the likelihood of achieving another. Ethical – Criteria should be legal, fair, and observant of human rights. Acceptable – criteria must be acceptable to all interested parties.
2. Develop action alternatives 3. Evaluate benefits and risks of alternatives – Important criteria to consider in evaluating action alternatives are each alternative’s probability of success and the associated degree of risk that negative consequences will occur. Degree of risk can be given in four categories: • • • • Certainty exists if the exact results of implementing a problem solution are known in advance. Known risk is present when the probably that a given alternative will produce specific outcomes can be predicted. Uncertainty exists when decision makers are unable to assign any probabilities to the consequences associated with an alternative. Turbulence occurs when the environment is rapidly changing and decision makers are not even clear about relevant variables, available solution options, or potential consequences of decisions.
4. Decide on a plan – the decision-making goal is to select the best solution alternative for solving the entire problem without creating any additional negative consequences for anyone else in the organization. You can use a decision making grid like the one below to assist:
Alternativ e Benefits Probabilit y of success Costs Risks Associate d conseque nces Timing
Alternative 1 Alternative 2
Action Plan Implementation
1. Assign tasks and responsibilities – clarify both verbally and in writing what each person involved will do to make the new action plan work. 2. Establish an implementation schedule – all necessary tasks need a specified time schedule for completion. You can use a Gantt chart, which is a graphical planning and control method that breaks down a
project into separate tasks and estimates the time needed for their completion. 3. Reinforce commitment 4. Activate the plan
Follow Through
1. Establish criteria for success – these criteria serve as the benchmarks for measuring and comparing results. 2. Determine how to measure performance 3. Monitor the results – each implementation step may alter the problem situation. 4. Take corrective action – as needed
What Is Ethical Decision Making?
Ethics is the discipline for dealing with what is good and bad and with moral duty and obligations. Ethical behavior is behavior that conforms to accepted standards of conduct. Ethical reasoning is the process of sorting out the principles that help determine what is ethical when faced with an ethical dilemma. An ethical dilemma is a situation or problem facing an individual that involves complex and often conflicting principles of ethical behavior.
One Ethical Decision Making Model
Ethical Question Ethical Source (sources from Hosmer, Velasquez, & Cook)
Cost/benefit analysis
Economic Analysis 1. What are the best economic alternatives? Legal & Policy Analysis 2. Is the action legal in all countries and localities were it would be taken? 3. Does the action violate any professional or organizational codes of conduct, rules, or policies? Ethical Analysis
The legal system of the affected countries and localities
Professional and organizational policies
4. Does the decision result in greater benefits than damages for society as a whole, not just for our organization? 5. Is the decision selfserving, or would we be willing to have everyone else take the same action when faced with the same circumstances? 6. We understand the need for social cooperation; will our decision increase or decrease the willingness of others to contribute?
Utilitarianism – acting in such a way that the greatest good is achieved for the greatest number.
Kant’s Categorical Imperative - The person’s reasons for acting must be reasons that everyone could act on at least in principle; and the person’s reasons for acting must be reasons that he or she would be willing to have all others use, even as a basis of how they treat him or her. An action is morally right for a person if, and only if, in performing the action, the person does not use others merely as a means for advancing his or her own interests, but also both respects and develops their capacity to choose freely for themselves. (Velasquez, 2002). Social good – positive decision results such as happiness, benefit or least harm. An ethic of care emphasizes two moral demands: • We each exist in a web of relationships and should preserve and nurture those concrete and valuable relationships we have with specific persons; • We each should exercise special care for those with whom we are concretely related by attending to their particular needs, values, desires, and concrete well-being as seen from their own personal perspective, and by responding positively to these needs, values, desires, and concrete well-being, particularly of those who are vulnerable and dependant on our care. (Velasquez, 2002).
7. We recognize the importance of personal freedom; will our decision increase or decrease the liberty of others to act? 8. Does the action result in benefit for the least advantaged person? 9. Would the benefits and burdens resulting from the action be distributed fairly?
• Fairness - Rawls: “A) Each person has an equal right to the most
extensive basic liberties compatible with similar liberties for all (these basic liberties include the right to vote, freedom of speech and conscience and other civil liberties, freedom to hold personal property, and freedom from arbitrary arrest.), and B) Social and economic inequalities are arranged so that they are both: 1) To the greatest benefit of the least advantaged persons and 2) Attached to offices and positions open to all under conditions of fair equality of opportunity.” (Velasquez, 2002). Distributive justice –fair distribution of benefits and burdens across a group or society.
• Egalitarian justice: “every person should be given exactly equal
shares of a society’s or a groups benefits and burdens.” (Velasquez, 2002).
• Capitalist justice: “benefits should be distributed according to • Socialist justice: “from each according to his ability, to each
according to his need”. (Velasquez, 2002).
the value of the contribution the individual makes to a society, a task, a group, or an exchange”. (Velasquez, 2002).
• Libertarian justice: “Everyone should act to ensure greater
10. Does the action infringe on the moral rights or dignity of others? 11. Does the action help to build one of the moral virtues in that person?
freedom of choice, for this promotes market exchange, which is essential for social productivity.” (Hosmer, 1996). make to behave or to have others behave toward him or her in a certain way.
• Right is a justified claim or entitlement that an individual can
• Virtue theory argues the aim of the moral life is to develop those
general dispositions we call the moral virtues (courage, temperance, justice, prudence, faith, hope and charity), and to exercise and exhibit them in the many situations that human life sets before us (Velasquez, 2002).
12. How would I feel if this action becomes public knowledge?
• The front page of the New York Times test
What Are Individual Differences in Decision Styles?
Decision styles are learned habits for processing decision-making information. • • A satisficer uses just enough information to arrive at a feasible solution (advantage when time is an important factor). A maximizer continues to gather information until nothing new can be learned about the problem (important when problems are complicated and there is little time pressure). Solution focus refers to the number of alternatives that a person develops for dealing with a problem. o Unifocus people are committed to one dominant criterion and consequently favor a single solution to a problem (advantage when efficiency is important, when it is possible to adopt only one solution, or when rules and regulations narrowly limit the range of choices). o Multifocus people apply several criteria an generate several solutions to a problem (advantage when there is a need to find new ways of doing things or it is important to “cover all the bases”). Five Dominant Decision Styles Solution Focus
The number of alternatives that a person develops for dealing with a problem.
•
Information Use
Satisficer Uses just enough information to arrive at a feasible solution (advantage when time is an important factor Maximizer Continues to gather information until nothing new can be learned about the problem (important when problems are complicated and there is little time pressure)
Unifocus People committed to one dominant criterion and consequently favor a single solution to a problem (advantage when efficiency is important, when it is possible to adopt only one solution, or when rules and regulations narrowly limit the range of choices) Multifocus People that apply several criteria an generate several solutions to a problem (advantage when there is a need to find new ways of doing things or it is important to “cover all the bases”)
Decisive People that use just enough information to reach one workable solution. Fast-thinking, actionoriented people who place high importance on efficiency, promptness, and reliability. They usually stick to one course of action for dealing with a particular problem. Flexible Use a minimal amount of information, but they are multi-focused and so produce several solutions for a problem. Actionoriented, but they place greater importance on adaptability than on efficiency. Like to keep options open.
Hierarchic Analyze a large amount of information thoroughly to develop a single, best solution to a problem. Place great emphasis on logic and quality. Tend to be slow to make decisions the first time they encounter a problem, but they speed up after they develop a method for handling that type. Integrative Utilize a very large amount of information to produce multiple solutions to problems. Value exploration, experimentation, and creativity. Look at problems from many points of view and see numerous options for dealing with a single problem. Sometimes have difficulty deciding.
Systemic This two-stage decision style combines both integrative and hierarchic patterns. Initially approaches a problem in the integrative way, viewing it from many points of view and exploring multiple solutions. After examining many options, the person becomes more hierarchic, subjecting various alternatives to a rigorous analysis that ends with a clearly prioritized set of solutions. The systemic usually develops a very broad understanding of a problem. Systemics examine multiple problems simultaneously to understand the broader implications of situations. Tend to be slow at decision.
The Degree of Participation in Decision-Making
The specific needs for quality, acceptance, and time provide the impetus for choosing among the five degrees of participation in any given situation. Answers to the following seven questions can indicate the most appropriate degree of participation in any given decision situation: • How important is the technical quality of this decision? • How important is subordinate commitment to the decision? • Do you have sufficient information to make a high-quality decision? • Is the problem well structured? • If you were to make the decision by yourself, is it reasonable certain that your subordinate(s) would be committed to the decision? • Do subordinates share the organizational goals to be attained in solving
this problem? • Is conflict among subordinates over preferred solutions likely? • Do subordinates have sufficient information to make a high-quality decision? The answers to these questions (see page 437) lead to five different decision approaches: • AI – You solve the problem or make the decision yourself, using information available at the time. • AII – You obtain the necessary information from your subordinate(s), then decide on the solution to the problem yourself. You may or may not tell your subordinates what the problem is in getting the information from them. The role played by your subordinates in making the decision is clearly on of providing the necessary information to you, rather than generating or evaluating alternative solutions. • CI – You share the problem with relevant subordinates individually, getting their ideas and suggestions without bringing them together as a group. Then you make the decision that may or may not reflect your subordinates’ influence. • CII – You share the problem with your subordinates as a group, collectively obtaining their ideas and suggestions. Then you make the decision that may or may not reflect your subordinates’ influence. • GII – You share the problem with your subordinates as a group. Together you generate and evaluate alternatives and attempt to reach agreement (consensus) on a solution. Your role is much like that of chairman. You do not try to influence the group to adopt “your” solution, and you are willing to accept and implement any solution that has the support of the entire group.
How Can Problems Be Solves More Effectively?
Encouraging Creativity
Brainstorming – a small group approach for achieving high participation and increasing the number of action alternatives. Rules for effective brainstorming promote the goal of quantity of ideas no matter how farfetched, allow no criticism or evaluation of ideas as they are generated, allow only one idea at a time from each person, and encourage people to build on each other’s ideas. Nominal Group Technique is a highly-structured group problem-solving format that governs the decision-making process. First participants independently write down their ideas about a problem. Second, each presents one idea to the group in a round-robin fashion without discussion.
These ideas are summarized and written on a flip chart or blackboard so all can see them. After a group discussion to clarify and evaluate the ideas, an independent ranking of the proposals takes place. These rankings are pooled to determine the proposal with the highest aggregate ranking, which is the group’s decision. Delphi Technique is a structured group problem-solving process where participants do not meet together but interact through a series of written judgments and suggestions. After each participant has been presented with the problem, he or she writes down comments and possible solutions and sends them to a central location for recording and reproduction. Each participant then receives a copy of all other comments and solutions to use as a springboard for additional ideas or comments. These also are returned to the central location for compilation and reproduction, and an independent vote on solution priority is taken. Group Decision Support Systems are electronic and computer supported data processing tools that can facilitate group decision-making in certain situations.
Book Summary – Management and Organizational Behavior
• Cook, C. W. & Hunsaker, P. L. (2001). Management and Organizational Behavior (3rd edition).
Chapter 13 – Power and Politics
What Is Power and How Do We Gain It?
Power is the ability of A (the power holder) to alter circumstances impacting on B so that B does what A wants done. Managers can be most influential if they can get colleagues to cooperate without resorting to formal authority or position power. The intentions of power determine its positive or negative effect. Organizational Position Power – a form of power that originates from the rights a person holds by virtue of the organizational hierarchy – the legitimate authority to reward and punish. • Formal authority – legitimate power derived directly from a person’s title and position in the organizational hierarchy. The effectiveness of authority ultimately depends on subordinates’ acceptance of a manager’s right to command. • Control of rewards – reward power is demonstrated when a person offers to reward others for doing something he or she wants (promotion, pay raises, sought after assignments). Its strength rests on the desirability and magnitude of the rewards and on the perception of others that the manager can (and will) provide the rewards if they comply with directives or requests. • Control of resources – power gained by controlling access to resources others need or want often provokes ethical issues. Power from Personal Attributes • Expert power originates when a person is perceived to have superior knowledge, experiences, or judgment that others need and do not possess themselves. You degree of expert power depends on your performance record over time, the important of your area of expertise, and the alternative sources of such knowledge available to others. A mentor (a person with more expertise who helps those with less) enjoys expert power. • Referent power – comes from being respected, likable, and worthy of emulation. Charisma is a quality of admiration when others identify with and are attracted to a leader they look up to. • Reciprocal alliances – are when people engage in mutually beneficial exchanges and build alliances or networks. Reciprocity is the trading of
power or favors for mutual gain. Power from Situational Forces • Coercive power – is the ability to withhold desired resources or make life unpleasant for those who do not comply with the power holder’s requests. Coercive power is based on fear and is likely to arouse anger, resentment, and even retaliation. Coercion is one of the most commonly used forms of power. • Information power – stems from the ability o control access to critical information and it distribution. • Association power arises when one person has influence with another who possesses power.
How Do People Engage in Organizational Politics?
Organizational politics is the deliberate management of influence to achieve outcomes not approved by the organization, or to obtain sanctioned outcomes through non-approved methods. • Organizational uncertainty increases conflict and politics. Conflict often results when performance criteria are ambiguous, goals inconsistent or dissimilar, rewards uncertain, work flows interdependent, communication lacking, or organizational participants highly competitive. • Important, decentralized decisions invite politics. When power is widely dispersed and decision-making processes are ad hoc, politics comes into greater play. • Forms of Political Manipulation o Persuasion – the manipulator tries emotion and logic to influence the way others perceive the situation. o Inducement is a stronger positive force that relies on the use of power. The manipulator offers some form of reward in exchange for compliance. o Obligation is a negative form of political manipulation that draws on feelings of owing the manipulator something. o Coercion is where the manipulator alters the situation so that the other is worse off unless they comply. Experienced politicions often delegate coercive tactics to a committee or subordinate so they don’t appear to be the “heavy”. • Political tactics o Maintain alliances with powerful people. Forming coalitions and networking is basic to gaining power in any organization. o Avoid alienation. Don’t injure someone who is or might soon be
in a position to take revenge. o Use information as currency. That person now owes you a favor and may perceive you as someone on whom he or she is dependent for future information. o Withdraw from petty disputes. Be gracious in yielding on an issue that is important to another person but not to you. Doing so builds credibility and an indepbted ness that might be reciprocated at a later date. o Avoid decisive engagement. By advancing slowly toward a political end, it may be possible to progress undetected or at least remain inconspicuous. o Avoid preliminary disclosure of preferences. Appearing overly eager for a certain outcome may leave you in a vulnerable position. o Make a quick but successful showing. Make a big, successful splash early in the game to get the right people’s attention, especially if you are a newly appointed manager. o Collect IOUs. Extending favors or support to another is like depositing in a savings account, as long as you trust the person to reciprocate later. o Exploit possible negative outcomes. By focusing on likely negative outcomes, those who would otherwise resist may switch to your side. o Divide and rule. The assumption behind this principle is that those who are divided will not form coalitions themselves.
How Can Power and Politics Be Moral?
The moral manager strives to develop and adhere to ethical goals, motives, standards, and general operating strategies. Power is exercised to pursue fair and just ends. Moral management is essentially unselfish and not prone to self-serving politics. Moral management is consistent with innovation and continuous improvement. Moral managers support their people, recognize their accomplishments, are sensitive to their fears and needs, and communicate confidence in the organization’s purpose and products. The immoral manager is not only devoid of ethical principles, but also actively opposed to what is ethical. Selfishness is paramount for the immoral manager. The amoral manager the one who lacks any moral sensibility whatsoever; one who doesn’t think about the moral implications of actions, or who chooses to keep ethics out of decisions.
Book Summary – Management and Organizational Behavior
• Cook, C. W. & Hunsaker, P. L. (2001). Management and Organizational Behavior (3rd edition).
Chapter 14 – Leadership
What Distinguishes Managers from Leaders?
Managers are persons granted authority to be in charge of an organizational unit and thus responsible for diagnosing and influencing systems and people to achieve appropriate goals. Authority is the right to make decisions and commit organizational resources based on position within the organization. Accountability is holding a person with authority answerable for setting appropriate goals, using resources efficiently, and accomplishing task responsibilities. Leadership is the act of providing direction, energizing others, and obtaining their voluntary commitment to the leader’s vision. A leader is a person who creates a vision and goals, then energizes others to voluntarily commit to that vision. Leaders can be found at all levels. Leadership is observable even in the absence of formal managerial authority.
Management Do Things Right, Leaders Do the Right Things
Managers can be leaders, but leaders don’t have to be managers. To manage means to bring about, to accomplish, to have responsibility for, to conduct. Leading is influencing, guiding in direction, course, action, opinion. The distinction is crucial. Managers are people who do things right and leaders are people who do the right thing. The difference may be summarized as activities of vision and judgment – effectiveness (leading) – versus activities of mastering routines – efficiency (managing).
Kotter’s Distinction between Managers and Leaders Three Basic Tasks
Leaders (coping with change) Setting a direction (inductively creating a vision and strategies to provide focus for planning) Aligning people to the vision (emphasizing
Managers (coping with complexity) Planning and budgeting (deductively producing orderly results)
Deciding what needs to be done
Creating networks and relationships
Organizing and staffing (structuring jobs and
communication, credibility, and empowerment) Ensuring people do the job Motivating people (creating involvement, emphasizing values, building informal networks or relationships)
Leader Traits
reporting relationships to efficiently implement plans) Controlling and problem solving (comparing behavior with plan; taking action to correct deviations)
• Credibility – refers to being honest, competent, forward-looking, and inspiring. • Drive – has the need for achievement through challenging assignments, the desire to get ahead, high energy to work long hours with enthusiasm, tenacity to overcome obstacles, and initiative to make choices and take action that leads to change. • Leadership motivation – exemplifies a strong desire to lead, willingness to accept responsibility, the desire to influence others, and a strong socialized desire for power (which means the desire to exercise power for the good of the organization). • Honesty and integrity – demonstrates truthfulness or non-deceitfulness (honesty) and consistency between word and deed, is predictable, follows ethical principles, is discreet, and makes competent decisions (integrity). • Self-confidence – gains the trust of others by being sure of own actions (and not being defensive about making mistakes), being assertive and decisive, maintaining emotional stability (not losing one’s cool), and remaining calm and confident in times of crises. • Cognitive ability – has a keen mind and thinks strategically, reasons analytically, and exercises good judgment in decisions and actions; has the ability to reason deductively and inductively. • Knowledge of the business – beyond formal education, develops technical expertise to understand the concerns of followers, comprehends the economics of the industry, and knows the organization’s culture and behavior.
Leader Behaviors
• Task oriented behavior is an approach to leadership that focuses on supervision of group members to obtain consistent work methods and job accomplishments. It centers on initiating structure intended to establish “well-defined patterns of organization, channels of
communication, and methods of procedure” between leader and group. • Employee-oriented behavior is an approach to leadership that aims at satisfying the social and emotional needs of group members. This focuses on showing consideration to develop friendship, mutual trust, respect, and warmth in the relationship between the leader and members of his staff.
Leader Decision Behaviors
Low Initiating Structure High Showing Consideration Low Showing Consideration Human relations Laissez-faire
High Initiating Structure Democratic Autocratic
Blake and Mouton’s Leadership Grid Concern for Production
Concern for People
Low High Medium Low Impoverished Management Country Club Management
Medium
High Team Management
Middle-of-the-Road Management Authority Compliance
How Do Leaders and Managers Adjust to Situational Contingencies?
Contingency theory is the perspective that a leader’s effectiveness is dependent on how he or she interacts with various situational factors – there is no one best universal approach.
Leader Style Motives/Concerns Knowledge/Beliefs Personality Perceptions
Restricts choices about
Leader Behavior Task Structuring Showing Consideration Decision Making Using Power
Affects perceptions of
Creates pressures for Influence
Influence
Situational Variables Tasks/Strategies Technology/Time Organization/Policies People (Followers)
Influence
Followers’ Behavior Acceptance/Rejection Productive/Unproductive Development/Decline Satisfaction/Dissatisfactio n
Hersey and Blanchard’s Situational Leadership Theory
Principle-Centered Leadership – Covey
Levels I. Personal II. Interpersonal III. Managerial IV. Organizational • • • • • • • Self People Style Skills Structure Systems Strategy Alignment Key Principles Trustworthiness Trust Empowerment
Book Summary – Management and Organizational Behavior
• Cook, C. W. & Hunsaker, P. L. (2001). Management and Organizational Behavior (3rd edition).
Chapter 15 – Change
Change is the process of moving from one condition to another. Changes in organizations are stimulated by multiple external and internal forces, often interacting to reinforce one another. Individuals resist change due to: selective perception, lack of information, fear of the unknown, habit, and resentment toward the initiator. Organizations resist change for many of the same reasons individuals do. Additional sources of resistance are: power maintenance, structural stability, functional sub-optimization, organizational culture, and group norms.
Methods for Dealing with Resistance to Change
Approach
Commonly Used Where there is a lack of information or inaccurate information and analysis. Where the initiators do not have all the information they need to design the change, and where others have considerable power to resist. Where people are resisting because of adjustment problems.
Advantages Once persuaded, people will often help with the implementation of the change. People who participate will be committed to implementing change, and any relevant information they have will be integrated into the change plan. No other approach works as well with adjustment problems. Sometimes it is a relatively easy way to avoid major resistance.
Drawbacks Can be very time consuming if lots of people are involved. Can be very time consuming if participants design an inappropriate change.
Education and communica tion Participatio n and involvemen t
Facilitation and support
Can be time consuming, expensive and still fail. Can be too expensive in many cases if it alerts others to negotiate for compliance.
Negotiation Where someone or and some group will agreement clearly lose out in a change, and where that group has considerable power
to resist. Manipulatio Where other n and tactics will not cooptation work or are too expensive. It can be a Can lead to future relatively quick and problems if people inexpensive feel manipulated. solution to resistance problems. It is speedy, and can overcome any kind of resistance. Can be risky if it leaves people mad at the initiators.
Explicit and Where speed is implicit essential, and the coercion change initiators possess considerable power.
How Do Managers Prepare for Planned Change?
Planned change is the process of preparing and taking actions to move from one condition to a more desired one. The key questions to be answered when planning change are: 1. What do we want to achieve? What are our goals? 2. Why? What are our performance gaps? 3. Who will be the change agents responsible for making the change (change agents are individuals or groups responsible for changing behavior and systems)? 4. How do we plan to make it happen? What targets do we want to change and what process will we apply to change them? 5. What organizational consequences do we anticipate from the change?
How Is the Planned Change Process Managed?
Three Phases of Planned Change
1. Unfreezing – raising awareness that current conditions are not satisfactory and reducing resistance to desired change. 2. Moving – letting go of old ways of doing things and adopting new behaviors. 3. Refreezing – reinforcing the changes made to stabilize new ways of behaving.
What Is the Practice of Organizational Development (OD)?
Organizational development (OD) is the system-wide application of behavioral science knowledge to the planned change process to improve
organizational effectiveness. OD can be differentiated from manager-led change in the following ways: • Generally, OD focuses on changing an entire system in contrast to only one or a few components. • OD involves the application of behavioral science knowledge and techniques in constrast to operations research, industrial engineering, or other deterministric disciplines. • OD focuses on helping people and organizations learn how to diagnose and solve their own problems in constrast to relying on others for solutions. • OD is often more adaptive and less rigid than structural-mechanistic change approaches.
OD Interventions and Organizational Issues
Area of Is s u e
Issues
Interventions
Human Process
• • • •
How How How How
to to to to
communicate solve problems interact lead
Human Resourc e
Strategic
Technolo gy and Structur e
• How to attract competent people • How to set goals and reward people • How to plan and develop people’s careers • What functions, products, services, markets • How to gain competitive advantage • How to relate to environment • What values to guide organizational functioning • How to divide work • How to coordinate organizational units • How to produce products/services • How to design work
• • • • • • • • • •
Sensitivity training Process consultation Third-party intervention Role negotiation Team building Survey feedback Intergroup relations Goal setting Reward systems Career planning and development • Stress management • Strategic change • Culture change • Trans-organizational development • Reengineering
• • • •
Work design Structural redesign Collateral structures Quality of work life
How Do Learning Organizations Promote Change?
A learning organization develops tools and methods to analyze, change, and reevaluate their organizational systems so that employees respond more effectively and quicker to the same work-related stimulus than they did in the past and to novel stimuli almost as quickly. A learning organization is skilled at creating, acquiring, and transferring knowledge and at modifying its behavior to reflect new knowledge and insight.
The Characteristics of Learning Organizations
• Systems Thinking – Members perceive their organization as a system of interrelated processes, activities, functions, and interactions. Any action taken will have reprocussions on other variables in the system. It is important to see the entire picture in the short and long run. • Shared Vision – Belief and commitment toward a goal deeply desired by all. Sublimation of competing departmental and personal interests for the achievement of the shared vision. • Personal Mastery – Continual learning and personal growth by all organizational members. Individuals are willing to give up old ways of thinking and behaving to try out possible better ones for themselves and the organization. • Mental Process Models – Shared internal images of how individuals, the organization, and the world work. Willingness to reflect on the reasoning underlying our actions and to change these assumptions when necessary to create a more appropriate process for doing things. • Team Learning – Organization members openly communicate across departmental and hierarchical boundaries to help all members solve problems and learn from each other. Decreasing the need for personal wins in order to increase the search for the truth for the good of the entire team. Single loop learning occurs when a manager shifts responsibility from employees to himself or herself by asking the simple unidimentional questions that produce simple impersonal responses. Double loop learning shifts accountability for actions and learning to employees by having a manager ask complex questions about the employee’s motivation for solving a problem.
How Does an Organization Learn to Innovate?
Innovation is planned change and learning that transforms products, services, and markets, or dramatically creates an entirely new market and line of business. Sustaining innovations are incremental innovations typically introduced by industry leaders to provide greater customer choice within established markets. Disruptive innovations are revolutionary industry changes usually introduced by smaller, more entrepreneurial organizations to provide customers new ways of doing things.
doc_679629079.doc
• Cook, C. W. & Hunsaker, P. L. (2001). Management and Organizational Behavior (3rd edition).
Chapter 1 – Managing People and Organizations
TOPIC: Personal Effectiveness / 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
Covey, S. (1990). The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. The Seven Habits 1. Be Proactive – More than taking initiative. As human beings we are responsible for our own lives. Our behavior is a function of our decisions, not our conditions.
2. Begin with the
simply
Interdependence
Seek first to Synergize 6 Understand… then to be understood PUBLIC 5 VICTORY Think Win/Win 4
End in Mind – To start with a clear understanding of your destination. It means to know where you’re going so that you better understand where you are now and so that the steps you take are always in the right direction. A personal mission statement. Urgent/Importance Matrix Planning.
Independence
3 Put First Things First
PRIVATE VICTORY 1 2 Be Begin Proactive with the End in Mind
Dependence
3. Put First Things First – Organize and execute around priorities. 4. Think Win/Win – A frame of mind & heart that constantly seeks
mutual benefit in all human interactions.
5. Seek First to Understand… then to be Understood – Listen
with the intent to understand, not to reply.
6. Synergize – The whole is greater than the sum of its parts. The relationship is the
most important part.
7. Sharpen the Saw – Preserving and enhancing the greatest asset
you have – you. Renewing the four dimensions of your nature – physical, spiritual, mental, and social/emotional.
TOPIC: Discuss history of management Until the late 1800’s, organizations were very small or individual. With the industrial revolution (trains, assembly line/automobiles, oil), business organizations became very large and very complex. TOPIC: What large organizations existed prior to 1900? • • • • • These early, large organizations were based on the only large organizational form that existed at the time – the military. Early management theory was centered around scientific management (Frederick Taylor). Efficiency, people were extensions of machines. No one was expected to like their jobs. Mid 1900’s – behavior psychology / Carl Jung influenced management thinking. People started to study human behavior and motivation. Hawthorne studies (Eldon Mayo) at Western Electric influenced thinking. Today: still influences of military organization in business, and management. Additional thinking about why we work, what we should expect out of work. Coaching, communication, open-book management, … • •
TOPIC: Managers don’t design, make, sell, or deliver anything. What? Managers are responsible for working with and through others to achieve objectives by influencing people and systems in a changing environment. Some managers are also leaders and visionaries, the qualities of which become necessary as managers take on central decision-making roles within an organization.
Why Study Management and Organizational Behavior?
TOPIC: What is organizational behavior? Organizational behavior (OB) refers to the behaviors of individuals and groups within an organization, and the interactions between the organization and environmental forces. Students of organizational behavior seek to improve the effectiveness of organizations (and their lives in organizations) through the application of behavioral science concepts and research. The assumption that organizational behavior can be improved by study and analysis is based on the premise that behavior is not completely random. Rather, it represents mutual dependencies or cause-and-effect links that can be anticipated,
sometimes predicted, and often influenced to varying degrees. TOPIC: What is management? Management is the practice of organizing, directing, and developing people, technology, and financial resources to provide products and services through organizational systems. Organization is a group of people working in a network of relationships and systems toward a common objective.
What Purpose Do Organizations Serve?
TOPIC: Pick a company, list stakeholders, what do they want/conflict? Formulating a purpose and goals in an organization is complicated by the need to balance the interests of various groups who have a stake in its actions and outcomes. Stakeholders are members of identifiable clusters of people who have economic and/or social interests in the behaviors and performance of a specific organization. (e.g. Managers, Employees, Unions, Customers, Governments, Watchdog Groups, Universities, Suppliers, Alliances, Investors.) To link the role of employee/investor, many firms with rapid growth prospects use stock options as financial incentives for employees. An important challenge for managers is to identify the relevant stakeholders and to operate the organization in ways that optimize the returns to each group. Sometimes the interests of these stakeholders are in conflict. TOPIC: Is the mission of business to make money? Mission is an organization’s fundamental purpose, articulated to define the nature of the business and unify human and other resources. A well-framed mission provides a sense of purpose and establishes parameters that focus effort and resources. TOPIC: What is Your Personal Mission? Write one (picture end of life). Beyond defining its mission, founders and top managers are responsible for articulating the organization’s fundamental values, goals, and guiding concepts. Such statements provide a sense of direction, conveying how the game of business is to be played by organization members. Superordinate goals are the highest goals of an organization; fundamental desired outcomes that enable managers to assess performance relative to its mission. According to Peter Drucker, “there is only one valid definition of business purpose: to create a customer”. Simplistic goals and strategies that contribute to performance early in the life of an organization may become detrimental as the firm grows. Once success for the emerging firm takes hold and growth takes off, managers often branch out to offer products and services beyond those that established the original business. The firm then runs the risk of becoming
unfocused, of trying to be too many things to too many people. Many employees are more motivated to work diligently for organizations that fulfill socially desirable purposes than for firms whose managers define their principal objective as profit taking or engaging in practices that question ethical norms. Organizational behavior is usually not random. The law of effect is the behavioral tendency where people tend to behave in ways that enable them to attain the goals for which they are rewarded.
How Do Organizations Behave as Systems?
A system is an integrated whole formed by a set of interrelated elements and interacting subsystems. Organizations are complex forms of social systems comprised of people, other resources, and subsystems integrated for the purpose of transforming inputs into mission-relevant outputs. Any business is an inputtransformation-output system that takes in resources, converts them into goods and services, and passes along these outputs to customers and others. Closed systems operate without environmental or outside disturbance. Open systems are influenced by external pressures and inputs, making them more complex and difficult to control than closed systems. Dynamic systems change over time as structures and functions adapt to external disturbances and conditions. All business organizations are thus open dynamic systems. As an open system, firms are subject to outside forces by competitors, customers, suppliers, and regulators. As a dynamic system, a business can change its product mix, enter new markets, restructure its sources of financing, hire new managers, or redesign its compensation policy in anticipation of or in response to outside forces. TOPIC: Pick a business, what are the inputs, subsystems & outputs?
Inputs People, materials , supplies, capital
Imports
Procuremen Order t& Fulfillment Production Organizational Subsystems Money Managemen t
Exports
Outputs Sales of goods and services, waste, jobs
Informatio n
Feedbac k
Money
The management of open dynamic systems requires careful attention to important boundary spanning transactions. Boundary-spanning transactions are actions that link an organization to specific external sectors; exchanges that make the system dynamic and open.
What Do Successful Managers Do?
TOPIC: Who have been managers (or managed)? What did mgrs do? Managers are people responsible for working with and through others to achieve objectives by influencing people and systems in a changing environment. Managers do not have total control over that part of the organization for which they are responsible. No manager can absolutely predict and control environmental forces. Even internal forces that involve human behavior are often unpredictable and people will thwart attempts by managers to influence them. TOPIC: The Rational Heroic View The rational heroic view is a legacy of early descriptions and prescription of the nature of a managers job. This view characterizes the manager as one who engages in reflective planning, takes time to carefully organize structures and systems, directs and coordinates an orchestrated flow of activities, and then exercises control to keep critical elements in harmony. The manager is expected to have an overall feel for where the organization is going, know what is going on, and accept responsibility for problem solving and the department’s success or failure. All forces considered, the rational heroic model places too much emphasis and responsibility on the manager and not enough on teams and followers within the organization. When managers act as if they should be the only ones “in control”, they deprive followers of job challenges and create delays in decisions. TOPIC: The Chaotic View The chaotic view is that managerial life is intense, fragmented, and complex. Henry Mintzberg found that instead of being the reflective and systematic planners described in tradional books on management, most managers are actually caught up in a variety of intense, brief, disconnected activities. Managers prefer action to reflection, according to both Mintzberg and Kotter. The “plans” of managers often exist largely in their heads; They prefer oral mediums over written information. Verbal contacts with others are the manager’s principal source of information – gossip, ideas, opinions, and facts. All managers share common work characteristics. Writes Mintzberg, “All these managers are vested with formal authority over an organizational unit. From formal authority comes status, which leads to various interpersonal relations, and from these comes access to information. Information, in turn,
enables the manager to make decisions and strategies for his unit. • The Interpersonal Roles o Figurehead – participating in ceremonial duties o Leader – focusing on exerting influence over people; to motivate and encourage (servant-leadership) o Liaison – interactions with others outside his or her vertical chain of reporting relationships The Informational Roles – involves obtaining or exchanging relevant information o Monitor – scanning the environment, asking questions, maintaining a network of contacts, and in general finding out what is going on (MBWA) o Disseminator – sharing information with unit members – especially proprietary or goal affecting information o Spokesperson – sharing information with influential people outside the unit The Decisional Roles – acting on information to commit the organization to new courses of action, whether as entrepreneur, disturbance handler, resource allocator, or negotiator. o Entrepreneur – attempting to adjust the organization to its environment o Disturbance Handler – typically draws managers in involuntarily (can delegate) o Resource Allocator – a role that all levels of managers perform o Negotiator – negotiations and the management of conflict are a way of life for managers.
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How Do Managers Influence Organization Systems?
The key resource variables or capabilities that managers seek to influence and transform include tasks, technology, organization, people, and organizational culture. TOPIC: The Manager’s Toolbox – what can a manager do to help? • • • Tasks – the jobs or work that people do in pursuit of enterprise purpose. Tasks begin with goals and can be designed to be simple or complex, easy or difficult, physical or mental, and so on. Technology – includes the knowledge, equipment, subsystems, software, and methods for accomplishing work tasks (also includes the knowledge needed to use hardware and software). People – People energize and give life to organizations. To begin with, managers have to decide how many people to employ in a certain task and what knowledge and skills they require. Managers are then responsible for selecting and training people who have or can develop the skills needed to achieve organizational goals.
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Organization – Organization as used here refers to a structural network and the processes that define and link key subsystems within the enterprise. Organization structure is simplistically symbolized by a chart, drawing, or map that depicts the decision authority and communication relationships among people and the ways in which tasks are grouped into departments or subunits. In a realistic sense, managers view structure in a broader way to include all those elements that help govern people’s behavior at work. These include goals, plans, policies, and rules, as well as the authority and communication networks. Organizational Culture – All the foregoing elements combine to form a network of social systems, and from these evolve an organizational culture. By culture we mean the beliefs, values, and assumptions people have about their particular organization and the expected behavior within it. Management – The Integrating Responsibility – In the center of this transformation network, we show managers and leaders.
The planned changes managers make in a system to achieve intended results commonly lead to unintended second-order consequences. In diagnosing how and where to influence an organizational system, managers typically start with outputs because they are important to all organizations. All organizations try to produce outputs that meet the quality, quantity, timeliness, and price expectations of customers. To do so, they need to set specific goals that address three output criteria: productivity, satisfaction, and revitalization. TOPIC: Important Definitions ASK Productivity is the ratio of acceptable quality outputs to inputs consumed; a measure of how well the organization achieves its goals. Efficiency means doing something right or getting the most output for the least input. Effectiveness means producing the right output or doing things right to create value for stakeholders. It is possible to have efficiency without effectiveness or vice versa. The ideal is to achieve a balance of effectiveness and efficiency, although effectiveness is usually more critical. Satisfaction is another key goal of organizations. Satisfaction refers to positive feelings people have about an organization, whether as an employee, customer, supplier, or regulator. Revitalization refers to the ability to take care of tomorrow’s problems as well as today’s by renewing strategies, resources, technology and skills. Rather than deplete the resource base to get immediate results, companies must periodically or continually reinvest, renew, and reinvent. Revitalization also involves people, for without training and professional development of
human resources, an organization slips in its capacity to compete. Therefore, the overall job of any manager is: • • • • • To identify clearly the output requirements of his or her system To devise measures of efficiency and effectiveness To develop core skills and capabilities within the organization to do the job well To promote improvement and innovation To make changes when results fail to measure up
What Are the Organizational Context Challenges for Managers?
Four thematic issues emerge: managing technology, global business, human diversity and ethical behavior. In managing diversity, differences in gender, race, language, size, physical impairments, and age are clearly visible. Less visible are differences in education, religion, nationality, economic status, sexual orientation, and learning disabilities. Affirmative action and managing diversity are not the same. The goal of affirmative action is to ensure that people are given fair opportunities to be hired or admitted to organizations. TOPIC: Discuss the impact of globalization on local/national economy?
Summary
Organizations are open dynamic systems for transforming resource inputs into outputs of useful products and services that satisfy the needs of customers and provide value to stakeholders. But the interests of various stakeholders are not always aligned. This places conflicting pressures and demands on managers. At the highest organizational level, managers seek to navigate competitive environmental forces by developing a mission to define the firm’s unique business purpose and crafting superordinate goals to challenge and guide employees. At all levels, managers diagnose and influence systems by working with people and allocating resources to carry out tasks and achieve goals within an environment of change. In performing their jobs, managers behave in different roles, frequently shifting emphasis among interpersonal, information, and decision-making roles. To maintain organizational viability, managers work to achieve goals in the areas of productivity, satisfaction, and revitalization. One of the realities of life in organizations is that today’s effective practices are not likely to suffice tomorrow. Whether pulled by the success of growth or jolted by crisis and downturn, managers must periodically transform the system to adapt to environmental realities. In the process of transformation, managers can target changes in the key internal resources such as tasks, technology, organization, people, and culture. Maintaining a dynamic balance among
these resources is what organizational behavior (OB) is all about. The study of organizational behavior is important because of the growing complexity and turbulence of the business environment and the related growth in research knowledge about behavior within and between organizations.
Book Summary – Management and Organizational Behavior
• Cook, C. W. & Hunsaker, P. L. (2001). Management and Organizational Behavior (3rd edition).
Chapter 2 – Strategic Thinking, Planning & Continuous Improvement
It is not just the tangible “plans” that are important. Also important is the process by which plans are developed.
How Does a Manager Begin to Think Strategically?
TOPIC: What is strategic thinking? Strategic thinking is a process of envisioning and planning to create a workable match between organizational competencies (and limitations) and external opportunities (and threats) with the goal of better serving customers. Thinking strategically means anticipating what actions and behaviors are most likely to help the organization prosper in a changing environment. Key objectives are articulated as mission-consistent measurable results to be achieved by specific times in the future. Objectives help frame the choices for crafting strategy that charts a course for the future makeup of products and services and targeted customer bases. Every organization has a mission, or cause, intended to unite and provide direction to its members.
The Strategic Cycle
6. Controlling & Improving 5.Impleme nting & executing
1A. Mission 1B. Vision
2. Setting objectives 3. Crafting strategy
4. Organizing and financing
TOPIC: Discuss football coach analogy. Most businesses jump in. 1. A – Craft a Mission to Define a Common Purpose The mission of a firm is the fundamental purpose of an enterprise that defines the nature of its business and provides strategic direction to unify
the use of human and other resources. A well-conceived mission answers the questions: Why do we exist and what do we do? Who are we and where are we headed? With the passage of time, mission statements have to be reassessed and even reformulated. Missions become complicated when an organization branches beyond its original line of business. A mission is normally expected to provide direction that stretches beyond the foreseeable future. To be useful, a statement of mission should: • • • • • Articulate the vision that defines the business, what it is, what it is not, and what it should be in the future. Communicate to internal members and external constituencies a clear sense of meaning and direction that is motivating and energizing Convey which customer wants and needs it will seek to satisfy, and the target markets it will serve Identify the value-adding functions it will perform, realizing its specific enabling actions will change over time while the purpose endures. Be of bumper-sticker length – brief enough to be incorporated into corporate communications and easily remembered
TOPIC: Example Mission Statements
Worldcom’s Mission
To be the preeminent global communications company for the digital generation, generation d.
Conseco’s Three-Pronged Mission
“To be more efficient than other insurance companies. To actively manage our investments to generate greater returns with no additional risk. To develop products that meet real market needs—and find more effective channels for distributing them.”
Enron’s Mission
Not found.
IBM’s Mission
At IBM, we strive to lead in the creation, development and manufacture of the industry’s most advanced information technologies, including computer systems, software, networking systems, storage devices and microelectronics.
Microsoft’s Mission
To enable people and businesses throughout the world to realize their full potential
Apple’s Mission
Apple is committed to bringing the best personal computing experience to students, educators, creative professionals and consumers around the world through its innovative hardware, software and Internet offerings.
Peace Corps Mission
• To help the people of interested countries in meeting their need for trained men and women; • To help promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of the peoples served; • To help promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of Americans.
Ball State’s Mission
Ball State University is committed to being a premier teaching institution and providing excellent programs of instruction. Consistent with this commitment, the mission of the College of Business is to provide high-quality business and economic education and other related services to our students, to the organizations (business, governmental, educational, and not-for-profit) that employ or admit our graduates, and to the citizens of our state.
Eli Lilly Values
As we implement our strategies and pursue our objectives, long-established core values guide us in all that we do: • Respect for people that includes our concern for the interests of all people worldwide who touch — or are touched by — our company: customers, employees, shareholders, partners and communities; • Integrity that embraces the very highest standards of honesty, ethical behavior and exemplary moral character; • Excellence that is reflected in our continuous search for new ways to improve the performance of our business to become the best at what we do. TOPIC: Discuss Tylenol experience, J&J used mission as guide.
Johnson & Johnson’s Credo
“We believe our first responsibility is to the doctors, nurses and patients, to mothers and fathers and all others who use our products and services. In meeting their needs everything we do must be of high quality. We must constantly strive to reduce our costs in order to maintain reasonable prices. Customers' orders must be serviced promptly and accurately. Our suppliers and distributors must have an opportunity to make a fair profit. We are responsible to our employees, the men and women who work with us throughout the world. Everyone must be considered as an individual. We
must respect their dignity and recognize their merit. They must have a sense of security in their jobs. Compensation must be fair and adequate, and working conditions clean, orderly and safe. We must be mindful of ways to help our employees fulfill their family responsibilities. Employees must feel free to make suggestions and complaints. There must be equal opportunity for employment, development and advancement for those qualified. We must provide competent management, and their actions must be just and ethical. We are responsible to the communities in which we live and work and to the world community as well. We must be good citizens – support good works and charities and bear our fair share of taxes. We must encourage civic improvements and better health and education. We must maintain in good order the property we are privileged to use, protecting the environment and natural resources. Our final responsibility is to our stockholders. Business must make a sound profit. We must experiment with new ideas. Research must be carried on, innovative programs developed and mistakes paid for. New equipment must be purchased, new facilities provided and new products launched. Reserves must be created to provide for adverse times. When we operate according to these principles, the stockholders should realize a fair return.” TOPIC: “Where there is no vision the people perish”. But, what about corporate cults? 1. B – Use a Vision to Set Direction for a Desired Future Visions change more frequently, are often more detailed, and can be specific to a product, program or project. A vision is a desired future image of the organization and its processes and products that integrates current realities and expected future conditions within a specific time frame. Three elements are fundamental to a comprehensive, meaningful vision: • • • A statement of purpose – it should inspire and motivate insiders A tangible goal – framing a clear, specific and compelling goal that focuses people’s efforts. A well-framed goal has a target and a time frame for its attainment. An image of results – the image should paint a compelling picture using crisp language
TOPIC: How is vision different than a mission? 2. Set Objectives to Define Measurable Results Objectives convert visionary intentions into specific performance targets that can be measured at designated points in time. Benchmarking can be used to compare a unit’s performance to outcomes achieved in other outstanding organizations.
Any type of organization needs to specify objectives focusing on two types of performance outcomes: financial and strategic. Financial objectives are critical to guiding the long-term viability of the enterprise. Strategic objectives are used to assess performance against the specific design of a strategy. TOPIC: Balanced Scorecard A balanced scorecard is a strategic management system that encourages companies to set objectives in four perspectives: • • • • Financial Customer Business Process Learning & Growth (Employee)
TOPIC: Strategy fairly recent in business. Sun Tsu, The Art of War. 3. Craft Strategy to Fulfill the Mission and Vision A strategy is a plan of actions to achieve a favorable position within the competitive marketplace by strengthening the relationship between an organization’s capabilities and its changing environment. Strategies pertain to those destiny-shaping decisions concerning: • • • • • The The The The The choice of technologies on which products and services are based development and release of new products and services processes for producing products and services way products and services are marketed, distributed, and priced ways in which the organization responds to rivals
TOPIC: More about strategies later 4. Organizing and Financing to Support Strategy Two planning processes are close companions to crafting strategy, and they must be resolved before (or at least concurrently with) implementation. The organizing function plans supportive structures and systems that align people to the strategy. In organizing, structure provides a way of grouping people and tasks into departments or work units to promote coordination of communication, decisions, and action. Also in organizing, systems provide guidelines or structured processes for handling recurring transactions and events in a standardized or consistent way. The financing function involves budget preparation and finding or determining sources of funding to meet requirements for capital investments and operating expenses. 5. Implementing and Executing Strategy
The greatest concentration of management and non-management effort occurs with implementation (or execution) of strategy. Above all, implementation requires leadership, the formation of teams, and the nurturing of a supportive organizational culture. TOPIC: Project management must be used to implement strategy “A project is a temporary endeavor undertaken to achieve a particular aim. Every project has a definite beginning and a definite end. While projects are similar to operations in that both are performed by people, both are generally constrained by limited resources, and both are planned, executed and controlled, projects differ from operations in that operations are ongoing and repetitive while projects are temporary and unique.” – The Project Management Institute (PMI) “Project management is the application of knowledge, skills, tools and techniques to a broad range of activities in order to meet the requirements of the particular project. Project management knowledge and practices are best described in terms of their component processes. These processes can be placed into five Process Groups: – Initiating, Planning, Executing, Controlling and Closing – and nine Knowledge Areas – Project Integration Management, Project Scope Management, Project Time Management, Project Cost Management, Project Quality Management, Project Human Resource Management, Project Communications Management, Project Risk Management, and Project Procurement Management.” The Project Management Institute (PMI) This is the most common area where strategy falls down. 6. Controlling Results to Sustain Continuous Improvement But profits are the result, or the derivative, of doing several things well. While a certain level of profitability may be one objective, other objectives and measures are needed to assure that people are focusing effort and resources on the things they have to do to bring about favorable results, to create customer satisfaction, and the like. Continuous improvement is ongoing assessment and problem solving aimed at improving designs, processes, and outcomes. Assessment, thus, completes the strategic cycle, and in the process generates new visions just as it promotes organizational learning of new skills and knowledge bases.
The Teachable Point of View
The teachable point of view puts the leader in front of her people by writing about and interactively teaching her personal beliefs, assumptions, and models of change. 1. What Business Are We In?
The most basic question any organization must answer is: What product or service should we market? A related question is: Who is our customer and how can we provide value to that customer? Experience and research substantiates that organizations do best if they remain focused on a core business that takes advantage of the unique capabilities that give them competitive advantage over rivals. Every unit must serve a customer, regardless of the department’s or unit’s level, function, or size. In effect, all managers of work units should think of themselves as entrepreneurs serving customer markets – and if they don’t serve them well, other customers (whether external or internal) should be free to buy where they find the best deal. 2. What Are Our Internal Strengths and Weaknesses? A firm (or a line of business within it) should be aware of its core capabilities and sources of competitive advantage. A sustainable competitive advantage is created if a firm’s core capabilities cannot be readily copied by competitors. Core capabilities are the critical skills and processes that an organization executes so well in carrying out its intended strategy that its reputation builds around them. In addition to knowing its strengths, an organization must recognize its limitations. TOPIC: What are your core capabilities? Reputation is key in business. 3. What External Opportunities and Threats Do We Face? External and internal environments present both driving and restraining forces. A SWOT analysis is an assessment of internal resources and competence (Strengths and Weaknesses) in relation to conditions in an organization’s external environment (Opportunities and Threats). TOPIC: Michael Porter’s Five Forces Model
4. What Business Should We Be In? With this question, managers seek to control their organization’s destiny. First, the traditional interpretation focuses on lines of business – product and market combinations. Second, management might probe the internal business processes used to bring products and services to the market. Three basic process networks or businesses are found in most organizations: a product innovation business, a customer relationship business, and an infrastructure business that builds and manages facilities for the highvolume repetitive tasks. By outsourcing noncore capabilities, the organization concentrates on what it can do better than others. 5. How Do We Get There? (This is called a Gap Analysis) Responses to the preceding questions cascade down into planning how to strategically position or reposition resources and actions to achieve the desired business objectives. 6. How Do We Know We’re Still on the Right Course? Plans need to have milestones and controls to ensure that actions correspond to plans, or to evaluate whether intended actions and goals are still feasible. A firm uses milestones, future dates by which certain events are planned to occur, to track progress. A control system works if it prevents deviations from a well-conceived plan. If a deviation does occur, the control process should trigger actions to bring out-of-control elements back in line with the plan’s goals and milestones.
Results Are the Payoff
All the plans, actions, milestones, goal, and controls managers use to shape business strategy culminate in performance results. Results are external acceptance or rejection of what an organization does – satisfied customers are the hallmark of positive results. TOPIC: LOVE this quote by Peter Drucker! The single most important thing to remember about any enterprise is that results exist only on the outside. The result of a business is a satisfied customer. The result of a hospital is a healed patient. The result of a school is a student who has learned something and puts it to work ten years later. Inside an enterprise, there are only costs. (Peter Drucker) The previous six questions, or variations of them, should not be asked only when an organization is in trouble. Such questions serve as the focus for management retreats, meetings, and conversations with peers.
How Do Organizations Develop Competitive Advantage?
TOPIC: How is Dell different than Gateway? Burger King from McDs? In a practical sense, strategy begins by making decisions about which markets to compete in and what products and services to provide so that customers’ needs are met and expectations are exceeded. Strategy then includes decisions about: • • • • • How much of the product the firm should make, and how much it should buy from other firms Whether to be technology or labor intensive Whether to distribute through independent dealers, wholesale trade channels, a business-owned dealer network, or the Internet Whether to aim for high-volume economies of scale, or flexibility with short product life-cycles and greater customized production Whether to price products to gain market share or to improve gross margin
Competitive advantage occurs whenever a business is able to sustain an edge over its rivals by attracting customers and defending itself against competitive forces. To achieve a strategic competitive advantage, all enterprises build their strategies around a core of physical assets, business processes, and the skills and talents of its people. Core capabilities provide the keys to longterm success by enabling the firm to combine assets and skills to do certain things better than competitors. Corporate strategy for multi-business firms, are the highest-level decisions and actions about what lines of business to be in and how to manage them.
Professor Michael Porter’s research on diversified firms found that competition occurs only at the business-unit level, which in a diversified firm involves a plant or division targeting a focused product line at a specific market. TOPIC: Five Generic Competitive Strategies When one strips away the details to get at the real substance the biggest and most important differences among competitive strategies boil down to (1) whether a company’s market target is broad or narrow and (2) whether it is pursuing a competitive advantage linked to low costs or product differentiation. Five distinct approaches stand out: • A low-cost leadership strategy – Appealing to a broad spectrum of customers based on being the overall low cost provider of a product or service. A broad differentiation strategy – Seeking to differentiate the company’s product offering from rivals’ in ways that will appeal to a broad spectrum of buyers. A best-cost provider strategy – Giving customers more value for the money by combining an emphasis on low cost with an emphasis on upscale differentiation; the target is to have the best (lowest) costs and prices relative to producers of products with comparable quality and features. A focused or market niche strategy based on lower cost – Concentrating on a narrow buyer segment and outcompeting rivals by serving niche members at a lower cost than rivals. A focused or market niche strategy based on differentiation – Concentrating on a narrow buyer segment and outcompeting rivals by offering niche members a customized product or service that meets their tastes and requirements better than rivals’ offering.
T y p e o f C e r o m C p e t i t i v e A d v a n t a g e n B e i n g P u r s u e d L o w A Broad CrossSection of Buyers O o sD t i f f e r e n t i a t i o w d n t i a t i o e g y
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•
•
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A Narrow Buyer Segment
- C B o r o ta s i f f e r e S t r a t t - C o s t v i d e r a t e g y F o c u F o c u s e d L o w D i f f e r e C o s t S t r a t e g y S t r a t i Dp
Market Target
v e r a l l L o L e a d e r s h S t r a t e g y B e s P r o S t r
n
s e d n t i a t i o e g y
n
TOPIC: Important Definitions (and some not so important things) Diversification in complex organizations, is a corporate strategy of branching out beyond the core business by offering different combinations of
products and markets that establish new lines of business. (Can be pushed by growth needs of stock companies when they hit an upper limit). Outsourcing is the strategy of purchasing services or components from suppliers to prevent overextending the firm beyond its core capabilities. Managers realize that they must not lose strength in their core businesses; otherwise their relative quality will be degraded. Relative quality degradation occurs when an enterprise’s rate of improvement falls behind that of competitors, which relegates it to second-class performance. Competitive strategy is possible only within specific lines of business, where competitive advantage can be created through making choices about where to compete (the markets and segments, the type of rivals one goes up against) and how to compete (on the basis of product features, manufacturing, pricing, distribution, and so on). Competitive strategy is actions at the level of a specific line of business intended to create a competitive advantage by planned actions about where to compete and how to compete. Clusters are geographic concentrations of interconnected organizations in a particular field. Every manager, regardless of level within the organization, needs to think strategically before initiating major actions. In reality, planning is more about organizational learning than about programming a series of activities to attain an objective. When managers plan, the emphasis is on strategic thinking, not on strategic planning. Most organizations encounter periods of crisis in which the winning formula that created success under one set of conditions no longer propels growth – success breeds failure. Planning is the process of establishing objectives and specifying how they are to be accomplished in a future that is uncertain. When it works well, planning helps individuals and groups visualize desired outcomes and anticipate the behaviors and resources necessary to make them a reality. Controlling is the process of evaluating the degree to which outcomes match objectives; and when they do not, analyzing why and taking corrective action. Ideology are beliefs and values held by a manager about how to succeed in business; encompasses economic assumptions and ethical ideals. TOPIC: Not sure how useful these two systems of management are? Two systems of management have been identified by Professor Larry Cummings, one based on information and the other on ideology. Management by information is a structured system of information management based on developing clear, specific goals, and plans for all
managers to use in analyzing problems by studying cause-effect relationships. Management by ideology is a system of information management based on trust in individual managers to be sensitive to the attitudes and perceptions of all participants in a decision situation and to do what is best for all by applying appropriate values and beliefs. Trust and credibility begin to center more on ideology, values, and basic beliefs, as opposed to . . . the accuracy and completeness of information. If one cannot trust others’ information because of environmental change and turbulence, then one must trust others’ values. The combination of increased environmental turbulence and better-educated management has made management by ideology more common. In management by ideology, innovation is sought and positions are advocated that, in fact, reward innovative policies and structures. Contrary to the usual assumption, on the other hand, in management by information real innovation is to be avoided . . . Technological and information systems are designed to ensure the status quo or, at most, the gradual and incremental modification of organizational policies and designs. Environmental scanning is the monitoring of current and anticipated trends and events in the external environment through quantitative data and qualitative perceptions. Active environmental scanning opens managers to a broader array of possibilities, especially if they evaluate data guided by ideology.
How Can Group Techniques Promote Innovative Visions?
TOPIC: Good series of steps to use in your group project! 1. Identify Stakeholder Needs and Requirements • • • Brainstorm a list of possible stakeholders affected by the project Brainstorm lists of the specific needs or requirements of any stakeholders with whom the group has experience From these overall impressions, participants are collectively asked to categorize (a) the strength of these needs and (b) the degree to which they are satisfied by the organization’s current offerings (or in the case of potential new products, the extent to which they are satisfied by whatever is currently available). (?=strong, ?=medium, ?=weak). A comparison of needs and their fulfillment usually reveals unfilled needs. Strong needs that are weakly satisfied at present are candidates for visioning new offerings or initiating corrective actions. Stakeholders Strength of Need Degree of Satisfaction
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Employees Stockholders Community Customers
? ? ? ?
? ? ? ?
2. Initiate Visioning through an Affinity Diagram • • Define what the group wants the business or product/service offering to look like at some time in the future. Participants proceed by (1) viewing the stakeholder analysis as a picture of the present state, (2) creating a vision of the future, and (3) working out details of the plan as the bridge between the present and future. Ask the participants what the characteristics of a successful business in the future will be. Have them think about internal capabilities, customer needs, competition, the economic environment, obstacles to overcome, technology trends and opportunities to exploit. Participants individual write their responses. Move all the statements around the wall to create thematic clusters. This creates an affinity diagram, which is an output from a quasistructured group process created by arranging individual responses to a focusing question into groupings in which individual statements appear to have an affinity relationship to each other. This affinity mapping often results in 6 to 10 clusters for most visioning tasks. The group then decides on a thematic title for each affinity set and draws a border around the individual items in the cluster. Evaluate the relationships (if any) between the items in the circle, looking for cause-effect linkages. Connecting arrows are drawn to show cause-effect relationships. Once the network of cause-effect arrows has been completed, the group counts the number of incoming and outgoing arrows for each theme and tabulates scores beside the label (C=number of causal elements and E=number of effects). The group then labels the two or three thematic elements that have the largest number of outgoing arrows as PC for primary cause. The same is done for the PE, or primary effect, themes. For planning purposes, the PC elements are the ones that focus attention. If primary cause elements are acted upon and strengthened, the primary effects will likely occur. From this causeeffect diagram, the group then collectively articulates a written vision statement of what the future should look like.
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3. Convert Cause – Effect Diagram to a Vision Statement • •
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Theme A Theme B
P C PE P C PE
Theme C PE Theme D Theme E P C
Theme F
4. Use a Radar Chart to Show Vision-Reality Gaps • • Starting with a hub and circle, with a spoke for each thematic group. The hub represents a score of zero (0) on a theme (the complete absence of performance or lack of any value added). The point at the circle represents a perfect score of ten (10) – the future state desired three years from now (or whatever the time horizon is). Each person then pastes an adhesive dot on each spoke at the point where he or she judges the organization to be currently performing on that thematic element. The facilitator asks the group to visually estimate the central tendency of dots on each thematic spoke. The average value and number approximating its value is written beside the mark. Connecting lines are drawn between the midpoints of pairs of spokes. The facilitator then shades in the inner portion of the web to represent the distance already traveled in crossing the bridge to the future. The non-shaded area represents the gap, where future progress must be accomplished. Participants than have a shared sense of where they must concentrate their planning efforts. Most important, this interactive process usually energizes participants and gives them a broader shared vision of the project, which is difficult to accomplish when just one or two people sit down to plan. Such a group approach to planning emphasizes four Ps: participation of people in a series of processes that collectively produce a variety of visualization products that guide action to achieve performance results.
A B
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How Do Control Systems Impact Continuous Improvement?
Although negative connotations persist, evaluation and control systems are a must in organizations. A control is any process to help align actions of people and systems with the goals and interests of the organization. A control system is evaluative and feedback processes to let people know their managers are paying attention to what they do and can tell when undesired deviations occur. Control systems can be formalized and structured. However, as defined above, control systems also include behavioral sources of control, such as organizational culture and leadership. For social system controls to work, people need to know that someone in authority knows what they are doing and is willing to call attention to gaps between performance and objectives. TOPIC: What control systems are we using in the classroom? Measurement is preferred when outcomes can be quantified. To be effective, any evaluation or measurement needs to assess outcomes or behaviors that are affected by the actions of the unit or individual. One paradox of management is that social expectations conveyed within an organization’s culture provide better controls over people than do formal measurement systems. The purpose of social controls is to get people to commit themselves to the organization. Many leaders engage their people in a Baldrige-type evaluation process because it is broad-based and provides an eye-opening experience for participants that typically dramatizes the gaps between current performance and desired results. The Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award framework for evaluating the qualities and processes of organizations dedicated to quality performance as measured by seven dimensions of organizational life ranging from leadership practices to performance results: 1. Leadership – senior leaders are involved in creating and sustaining consensus regarding the organization’s mission, values, plans, and goals; and focus on the stakeholder groups being served. 2. Planning – the process for short-, intermediate-, and long-range plans are communicated and aligned throughout the organization. 3. Service orientation – processes are provided for learning about the needs and expectations of the groups for which services are provided, and satisfaction for these groups is monitored and improved
4. 5.
6. 7.
(especially relative to peer and benchmark institutions). Information and analysis – information is assessed and managed to track and improve overall organizational effectiveness and service excellence. Employees and workplace climate – employees at all levels are encouraged to develop their full potential relative to the organizational mission and goals, supported by an environment conducive to excellence, participation, appreciation of diversity, and personal/organizational growth. Process management – key processes are developed, managed, and improved to achieve superior organizational performance and a service orientation. Excellence levels and trends – achievements and improvements are documents in key excellence areas, relative to past performance and to peer and benchmark organizations.
Six-sigma is a high-performance, data driven approach to analyzing the root causes of business problems and solving them after first lining the outputs of a business directly to marketplace requirements. Organizations that embrace six sigma analyze their customers’ requirements, and then build their internal processes in a highly disciplined manner to fulfill these customer requirements by driving out variances from the standard. They do this by measuring and tracking performance, sharing data with those involved in the process, analyzing why deviations occur, and then working to eliminate causes of unacceptable performance. Critical to all this working is close attention to employee training in statistical methods and the techniques for process improvements. In this regard it is more an intervention to affect organizational behavior than it is a statistical tool. Three different managerial control orientations (depend on values and commitments): • A competitive team orientation focuses on adding value to the market, with controls used to enhance the organization’s core competence and strategic competitiveness. Information flow laterally and informally throughout the organization to help people make timely decisions. The classic command and control orientation is used most often in firms that rely on a chain-of-command structure to emphasize operating efficiency and conservation of corporate resources. Controls focus on internal events, with vertical flows of information up the hierarchy for top management review and oversight. The conformance orientation of control is found most often in organizations doing business with the government. Work is organized around a bureaucracy, with fixed control routines for processing information and externally reporting it in compliance with government
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regulations. The IRS is the archetype of an organization focused on conformance control. TOPIC: What examples of these control orientations have you seen? The more stereotypical view of control is seen in the core values of managers who view their roles more to police activities and people. They emphasize oversight and surveillance and administration of rules and procedures. Team-oriented leadership is typical of organizations operating in dynamic, fast-changing, high-tech environments. The team-centered manager is more likely to use social expectations combined with quality-oriented methods to foster commitment and self-accepted responsibility than the manager who polices the behavior of others.
Book Summary – Management and Organizational Behavior
• Cook, C. W. & Hunsaker, P. L. (2001). Management and Organizational Behavior (3rd edition).
Chapter 3 – Organizing Work and People
Organization is the architectural alignment of people and processes around which enterprises are designed. Electronic business makes corporate boundaries transparent by enabling transactions that enables instant and simultaneous access to the same data and information. Where work is carried out through (information) networks, an organization’s structure changes whether you want it to or not.
The Organizational Star (Change Points)
Regulators
People
Vendors
Tasks
Technolog y
Customers
Organizati on & Systems
Organizatio n Culture
Competito rs
Technology is the scientific knowledge, processes, systems and equipment used to create products and services and to help people carry out their tasks. Jobs have shifted to new knowledge-based technologies. In the Third-Wave, Alvin Toffler saw work-related changes transforming civilization. The three waves were agricultural, industrial and informational.
The Basic Organizational Design Structures
Organizational structure is the networked arrangement of positions and
departments through which the essential tasks of an enterprise are subdivided and grouped to create the systems, decision centers, and behavioral linkages that carry out business strategies. Organizational charts are the symbolic structures of boxed titles and lines that represent positions and reporting relationships. Organizational design is the process managers go through to create meaningful structures, decision and information networks, and governance systems. Organizational design provides for: • • • • • The dividing and grouping of tasks Networks to convey information A structure for locating decision centers or authority Processes for coordination, control and conflict resolution The means to link key work units with appropriate external stakeholders such as customers and suppliers
Designing an organization involves deciding how the enterprise should be managed and led as much as it does creating structures to subdivide and allocate tasks.
The Four Basic Structures
• Design by Function – grouping people into departments or subunits based on similar skills, expertise, and functions performed – such as product design, production, and marketing. o Advantages: Works best when a company has a single line of business and/or is relatively small. Ideally suited to encourage specialization and prompt people to keep up with the latest technical developments in their specialty field. If departmental tasks are relatively independent, a high level of functional efficiency is possible. Because of departmental specialization, the functional form relies on pushing decisions to a higher level of management for control and coordination, which may not be an efficient use of managerial time. o Disadvantages: Extreme specialization creates tunnel vision. People tend to perceive multifunctional problems from the vantage point of their narrow area of expertise. This leads to conflict and turf protecting, which can strain the process of communication and coordination in the absence of a decisive leader. Decisions that are complex, or span two or more functions tend to get pushed to the top for resolution, slowing decision responsiveness as the organization becomes larger and more layered. Maintaining quality becomes difficult, since few people genuinely feel responsible for customer satisfaction or the acceptance of decisions. A functional design also complicates the process of developing broad-based general managerial skills,
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because functional managers have a limited range of specialized experiences. Design by Geography – with organizational growth, this design creates units focused on serving the needs of a region or territory, which could include organizing by country or hemisphere. o Advantages: Emphasizes local adaptation to market and/or supplier conditions. Especially well suited to retain chains, the U.S. Postal Service, public accounting partnerships, urban police departments, and fast-food restaurants. For organizations engaged in customer service, a regional structure allows local personnel and managers to be responsive to pressures and opportunities in their region. It promotes competitiveness and quality. Geographic design also makes it possible to create many profit centers where local general managers are responsible for both revenues and expenses. o Disadvantages: Maintaining consistency of image and service can be compromised by a geographic design. The dilemma faced by headquarters managers is how much freedom to allow local managers versus how much control to exercise centrally. This decision typically depends on the size and complexity of the territory to be managed locally. A multi-national firm will grant greater autonomy to its business unit managers in foreign countries than national (or regional) firms within a single region. Design by Product Line – A structural grouping on the basis of the unique product or service each activity center provides. o Advantages: Promotes entrepreneurial behavior. Product-line executives typically have profit center responsibility to reinforce accountability. o Disadvantages: The difficulty of coordinating related activities across business units. Rivalry is likely to exist – rivalry not only for customers for also for corporate resources. If several business units separately draw on similar core technologies for the research and design of products, they likely forgo economy of scale savings and may be slow to share with other units the technological breakthroughs discovered in one unit. Some duplication of function specialization is almost inevitable. Design by Customer/Market Channel – Clustering human talent and resources so that each organizational unit focuses on the unique sales/service requirements for each type of customer or channel of distribution – such as the home market, commercial accounts, or resellers. o Advantages: Usually used in combination with one or more other designs. They serve well the needs of the business when product lines can be marketed to very distinct customer segments. Their advantage is that special customer needs can
focus quality service throughout each organizational unit. To create high employee involvement, Edward Lawler believes that customer-based design is optimum. Focusing on the customer enables the competitive market – not hierarchical controls or supervisor whims – to affirm or modify employee behavior. o Disadvantages: The challenge for companies offering several lines of products to the same customer is to balance product expertise (a benefit of product-focused designs) with the simplicity of having one voice speak to the customer. Market focused designs also tends to require duplication of sales and marketing staff, with two or more groups selling the same product line. As firms age and grow in size, firms pass through an organizational life cycle in which they move from simple to progressively more complex structures and systems. The ultimate design for a firm diversified into several lines of business is to take on characteristics of a network, loosely coupled by central resource allocations. The focus of most reorganizations is to better align organization design with business strategies and competitive forces, although at times “reorganization” is simply a euphemism for reducing headcount by layoffs.
A Hybrid Combination – The Matrix Organization
A matrix organization is a structure that incorporates dual responsibilities and reporting relationships connecting selected functions with specific products or projects. The matrix structure originated in aerospace and is used where people with functional expertise need to be temporarily assigned to a project, but where it is expected people will be reassigned to another project once a designed milestone (timetable or accomplishment) is reached. The project manager is typically given the overall responsibility for bringing the project in on time, on budget, and meeting the product requirements. The project manager is dependent on pulling temporary talent from specialized functions and paying the salaries of those functional team members. The functional manager is responsible for assuring the assigned personnel are keeping up with their professional development, such as state of the art technical knowledge and skills. Individual specialists thus have to contribute to the needs of the project, and yet continue to interface with their functional manager. Managers in the matrix organization need to become skilled at managing conflict, for at times there will be differences in perspective and priority. EXERCISE: Hand out group exercise 3. About 30 minutes.
Fundamental Trade-Offs for Balancing Organizational Design
Centralization and Decentralization
The central trade-off pits pressures for centralization against the need for decentralization. Centralization is the concentration of authority and decision-making toward the top of an organization. Decentralization is the dispersion of authority and decision making to operating units throughout an organization. Most medium-to-large organizations have a degree of both centralization and decentralization in their structures. Larger enterprises with highly competent and skilled employees tend to diffuse decision-making, allowing greater participation and less centralization. Large firms that perpetuate centralized management tend to be slower in recognizing how their hierarchical structure restrains organizational effectiveness over time. Central structures work reasonably well in slow-changing industries but are less adaptable in complex, fastchanging environments. As environmental uncertainty and complexity increase, senior managers move incrementally toward decentralized control to promote local adaptability and decision-making. In particular, implementation of strategies and operating policies are decision areas normally delegated to local or lower-level managers. However, major resource allocation decisions, such as acquisitions or investments in new plants are typically retained by the top management team.
Autonomy and Control
An emphasis on control limits the authority given managers to shape decisions and resource allocations by specifying parameters and providing for higher-level reviews, often with approvals prior to proceeding. Organizations that emphasize control and concerned with consistency of action. In contrast, autonomy means granting power and responsibility to followers to initiate innovative action that improves processes and performance with results assessed against general goals. An organization that emphasizes autonomy is more concerned with promoting creativity and freedom of action in the belief that people will do what is right. Autonomy pushes decisions to those who are closest to the action, who have information, with the expectation that people will accept responsibility for producing favorable results. The control-autonomy conflict is often framed in terms of maintaining consistency and predictability versus promoting innovation and flexibility.
Differentiation and Integration
Differentiation distinguishes the congnitive-emotional orientations people
hold toward a subpart of an organization (department, discipline or function). Integration reflects the quality and form of collaboration between work units to shift expectations to a “big picture” perspective of the larger organization. Differentiation promotes specialization and functional expertise, whereas integration promotes synergy and coordination. With increased globalization and use of information technology, integration has become a stronger need where the whole, not just the sum of the parts, is important for success.
Bureaucracy and Organic, Postmodern Structures
A mechanistic organization is an organization with a traditional “look and feel” that is highly structured and formalized, desiring conformance behaviors to handle routine functions appropriate to stable environments. An organic organization is an organization with a looser “look and feel” that relies on the adaptive capacities of individuals to cope with dynamic internal and external forces, facilitated by empowerment and a collaborative network. A bureaucracy is a classic pyramid-shaped structure created as a rationallegal system of authority emphasizing formal roles and rules with the intent of being efficiency oriented. Alternative structures go by names such as “networks, clusters, crossfunctional teams, temporary systems, ad hoc task forces, lattices, modules, and matrices”. Organic organizations empower individuals and teams to pursue continuous improvement through flexible adaptation. Task roles are expected to continually change or are ambiguously defined, and organizational design is fluid and features frequent structural reorganizations. Goals are diverse, complex, less measurable, and more likely to change than in the mechanistic organization. Planning flows up, down and across organizational units rather than being passed up and down. Structurally, the organization is flatter. Organic organizations are designed to promote effectiveness in complex, fast-changing environments, especially when technology is a driving force for change. The organic organization promotes high involvement, which helps people provide high-quality products and services at competitive costs and respond quickly to opportunities or threats.
How Do Organizations Become Leaner, Flatter, More Integrated?
Widen the Span of Control
Span of control denotes the number of people supervised by one manager, or the ratio of managers to persons managed.
The only way a large organization (100,000 or more) can maintain flexibility without becoming overly hierarchical is to increase the average span of control and reduce the number of management levels (and thus the number of managers). Executives today generally aim to have 7 or fewer levels. In organizations that hold to the old principle of narrow span of control, people are undermotivated and underutilized. As the number of people in a manager’s unit increases, the opportunity for the manager to directly control their behavior decreases while the empowerment potential increases. Ultimately, a manager’s span of control is constrained by his or her information processing capabilities.
Flatten Levels of Management
Power firmly held at the top transmits the message that people lower in the organization are not to be trusted to think and act independently. By structuring to eliminate layers of management, an organization pushes power to lower levels and encourages employee involvement. Information technology provides a tremendous boost to the concept of pushing decisions to lower levels.
Shift Control from Staff to Line
Line positions are job assignments that directly contribute to creating customer value by either designing products, producing them, financing needed resources, marketing to create demand, and/or selling and servicing the product. Staff positions are jobs that support the line positions through carrying out advisement and internal “overhead” support activities such as accounting, purchasing, and human resource functions. Expanding the scope of staff control carries two costs: the cost of employing staff and the added cost (especially in time requirements) to line people who have to comply with staff procedures.
Reengineer from Vertical Flows to Horizontal Work Processes
Shift from emphasizing vertical relationships to focusing on horizontal work flows. This shift feeds on changes in high-involvement work teams, the electronic distribution of information, and managing business processes rather than functional departments. Reengineering is the radical redesign of business processes to achieve dramatic improvements in measures such as cost, quality, service and speed. Reengineering seeks to make two changes: • At the personal level, it aims to shift the mindsets of people caused by working within the “silos” of vertical, functionally aligned organizations.
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At the competitive level, work flows are redesigned to make sense from a customer’s perspective. The emphasis is on rearranging business processes so they cut across functions in a horizontal flow.
These approaches rely on Pareto’s law, known as the 80/20 rule, that states that 80 percent of an observed result is caused by 20 percent of the activities, or efforts, or people involved. These approaches are not without risk. 50 to 70 percent of reengineering efforts fail to achieve their objectives. Before launching a top-down redesign using one or more of the three Rs (restructuring, reengineering, and rightsizing), executives might do well to rethink their pending actions by pulling the three Cs noted above to the forefront: character, constituencies, and capabilities.
Self Managed Teams
Tasks are increasingly bundled into teams to work in harmony with technology. Firms are moving to abandon what have been narrowly defined job classifications. Many organizations give team members broad responsibilities and greater discretion to define their jobs so they can respond to whatever challenge the group encounters. Teams now carry out many of the planning and problem-solving functions previously reserved for managers. The most important factor in this improvement is increased cooperation of the workforce to help find ways to reduce costs. Managers who wish to allow nonmanagers to participate in making decisions face two questions: In what types of decisions should employees participate? How much latitude should they be granted to implement their recommendations? LEVELS OF DECISIONS Formulating business strategy Organizational design and governance Managing work unit performance Deciding on work procedures Job design Management decides Traditional management practices Task forces Cross-functional teams
Consultative participation Quality circles
Joint decisions
Self-managed teams Performers decide
WHO MAKES DECISIONS
Not all decisions are equally participative. Once management moves beyond traditional management practices, in which decisions reside with managers, the intermediate step is usually joint decisions, where performers can make recommendations (as usually practiced by quality circles, consultative participation, and task forces). Only when decisions are completely delegated to the performers (as with self-managed teams and crossfunctional teams) is participation at its highest level. Self-managed teams are work units whose members are granted responsibility and authority to take the decisions and actions necessary to produce a product or service. Teams are given the right to be largely selfgoverning, to make decisions about scheduling and assigning tasks, to decide on work methods and who gets hired, and even in some cases to adjust rates of pay. Teams are intended to create high rates of member involvement and commitment. Cross-functional teams are a way of organizing that pulls people together from several different functions or disciplines to emphasize coordination of separate but interrelated tasks in achieving product and service quality. They often take the form of development teams who band together only long enough to complete a particular project and then disband.
Book Summary – Management and Organizational Behavior
• Cook, C. W. & Hunsaker, P. L. (2001). Management and Organizational Behavior (3rd edition).
Chapter 4 – Creating and Modifying Organizational Culture
TOPIC: Discuss group dynamics: Form – Storm – Norm - Perform Culture is the configuration of learned behavior and results of behavior whose component elements are shared and transmitted to the members of a particular society. TOPIC: What is American culture? List words that come to your mind. Organizational culture is the fundamental assumptions people share about an organization’s values, beliefs, norms, symbols, language, rituals, and myths – all the expressive elements that give meaning to organizational membership and are accepted as guides to behavior. Most organizations develop patterns of cultural assumptions that answer such fundamental questions as: How does our organization relate to its environment? How do we learn and communicate? What do we expect of people and relationships? What constitutes successful results? At what do we excel? Strong culture is achieved when most members accept the interrelated assumptions that form an internally consistent cultural system. • Assumptions define relationships to the environment. Firms generally fit four natural environmental profiles: reactive, defensive, accommodative, and proactive. Most often these assumptions refer to the industry environment, related to assumptions concerning customers, markets and competitors. Assumptions promote learning and communicating. Some organizations seek to learn empirically through experimenting and gathering feedback. Others believe truth is revealed intuitively or comes only from higher management. These issues frame assumptions about management’s planning timeframe (short or long-term), concepts of space and equity (open cubicles or private offices), and beliefs about how to achieve innovation (driven by management or teams throughout the organization). Language and communication norms also define organizational reality. Assumptions tell about people and relationships. Organizations tend to develop common assumptions about human nature and how people are to be treated. The culture also reflects assumptions about who is to have power and how power is to be used, which affects relationships among people.
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Assumptions link competencies to mission. Common assumptions about the competencies with give them advantage in the market environment are held by employees and managers. Assumptions about what constitutes technological competencies and how to enable knowledge workers to create innovation differs across organizational cultures. Organizations that develop technology-sharing relationships or networks in collaboration with other organizations are more likely to produce a sustained competitive advantage.
Organizational Value Systems
The assumptions most critical to organizational behavior are those shared values that lie at the heart of human character and societal behavior. Values are the enduring beliefs and expectations that a person or group hold to be important guides to behavior. TOPIC: What do you think the top five company values are? The top five organizational values are: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Provide excellent service to customers. Operate in a highly ethical manner at all times. Provide products and/or services of excellent quality. Consistently make a fair and reasonable profit (not maximize profits). Staff the organization with high-caliber employees from top to bottom.
An organization’s values convey what behaviors and beliefs are important to its success. A set of values becomes an organizational value system when those core values are shared by the majority of organizational members, typically differentiated by the origin and content of those enduring values. Organizational values originate from either charismatic leadership or organizational traditions. Charismatic-based values originate from a strong leader, usually the founder, which tend to be internalized by members as long as they look to the leader for guidance and inspiration. Alternatively, values can emerge out of organizational traditions that are more anonymous in origin. Tradition-based values are values deeply rooted in historical practices, which provide stability as they are passed from generation to generation. The content or interpreted meaning of values is based on either functional or elitist ideals. Functional values express a normative mode of conduct that tells members what they should pay attention to (e.g., customer service, innovation, quality). Elitist values focus more on the perceived superiority of the organization in comparison to others. Elitist values attempt to instill pride in membership, creating a “we’re number one” mentality. Elitist values can create an aloofness that weakens members’ abilities to confront changing realities.
Functional Content
Functional / Charismatic Elitist Content Elitist / Charismatic Charismatic Origin
Functional / Traditional
Elitist / Traditional Tradition Origin
When organizational values are strong, one of these four systems typically emerges as the dominant pattern. Since charismatic types are inherently more unstable, the arrows show possible movements toward greater organizational effectiveness (with solid arrows stronger than dashed). Values embedded in tradition with a functional focus are thus more effective in bringing about behaviors necessary for long-term success. Functional-Traditional Values - Most likely to contribute to the development of environmentally viable values and, consequently, to organizational effectiveness. Elitist-Charismatic Values – At the opposite end of long-term effectiveness. Values usually comes from the flamboyant, eccentric personality of a founder who creates a product or service that meets early market success. Functional-Charismatic Values – This system has the potential for longerterm effectiveness and probably represents a transitional phase along the path toward functional-traditional values. Dedication to functional values puts the focus on doing what is right rather than on elitist pride. Elitist-Traditional Values – Finally some organizations use tradition as a way of intentionally sustaining long-term elitism. Usually these are smaller, niche marketers who appeal to clients attracted by snob appeal or the long tradition of being perceived as superior or exclusive.
Core Ideology
Companies that others sought to emulate built their organizations on a foundation core ideology. An organization’s core ideology combines essential and enduring core values as a set of guiding principles with a purpose that uniquely defines the fundamental reasons for the organization’s existence (beyond making money). Ideology provides for stability over generations of management; it is a set of precepts around which the organization functions irrespective of its leaders, its strategies, its lines of business, and its practices as they change over time. • Purpose more than profits. Emulated organizations build their organizations around an ideology that had more than an economic
purpose. HIGHLIGHT THIS! • Ideologies vary across organizations. There was not a consistency of themes or values embedded in the core ideologies of sustainable visionary companies. What was central to all, was the authenticity of the ideology. Behavior and actions that are consistently aligned with the stated ideology are more critical than the content of the ideology per se.
Functions of Organizational Cultures
Less overt than the traditional managerial tools, organizational culture contributes as a guide to consistent behavior by reinforcing capabilities and strengthening sources of competitive advantage. Organizational epitomizes the expressive character of organizations; it is communicated less through objective realism and more through symbolism, feelings, and the meanings behind language, behaviors, and physical settings.
Culture Complements Rational Managerial Tools
“Rational” Tools (used to do things) “Expressive” Cultural Elements (used to say things)
Goals and objectives Task and job design Technology/equipment Organizational structure Policies and procedures Plans and controls Information system Performance evaluation Rewards and punishment Skill training
Rites Ceremonies Myths Legends Symbols Folktales Language Gestures Physical Settings Artifacts
How people behave in organizations What gets done How it gets done By whom and how often With what consequences
Culture Supports (or Resists) Strategic Choices
Culture serves as a rudder to keep the firm’s strategy on course. Strategy is a rational management process that leads to actions intended to match a firm’s product and service offering to a specific market or type of customer. Culture is the expressive backup that influences how well the strategy is implemented. Managers are often blindsided when they try to introduce radical strategic changes that run contrary to cultural expectations. TOPIC: What happens if a strategy runs contrary to the culture?
Culture Helps Socialize New Members
Socialization is the process by which new members are indoctrinated in the expectations of the organization and its cultural norms, or unwritten codes of behavior. TOPIC: Anyone been through new employee orientation? Organizations with strong ideologies and cultures devote considerable time to indoctrinating and training new members in the ways of the organization. Bureaucratic organizations typically devote attention to detailed explanations of rules and procedures. By contrast, socialization into younger,
more entrepreneurial organizations is less formal.
Culture Promotes Expected Behaviors
Culture works best when strong. Culture works best when people forget why they are doing certain things, but keep on doing them. But the strong culture that promotes consistent behavior also makes it difficult to adapt when old ways no longer fit new realities.
Subcultures Facilitate Organizational Diversity
Subcultures are localized subsystems of values and assumptions that give meaning to the common interests of smaller clusters of people within the overall organization. Subcultures have three possible impacts on the organization: They can (1) serve to enhance the dominant culture; (2) promote an independence from it, as commonly occurs among divisions of diversified firms; or (3) function as countercultures when they are at odds with it. Countercultures reject the values and assumptions of the host organization and develop opposing beliefs, often based on elitist notions that may be promulgated by a charismatic leader.
Reading Organizational Culture
Managers need to learn how to read cultural clues, for often there are inconsistencies between what is said and what is done, or between subcultures and the overall culture.
Observation of Physical Settings and Artifacts
• Facilities – Physical facilities tell a tale of what is important, and not so important. They reflect values and performance expectations. Organizations that function around elitist values tend to convey status differentials in the location and sizes of offices. o Bricks and Mortar ? What is the physical appearance of the facility? Is it well maintained, with an aesthetically pleasing sense of décor, or unkept, dingy, and rundown? ? Do work areas show individual flair (with artwork or awards and other artifacts on display), or does everything appear to be stock issues and monotonously uniform? o Use of Space ? Do space allocations seem equitable and well used, or do some departments seem to have more than they need while others are shoehorned into a corner? ? In office settings, does an open layout invite spontaneous conversations, or are people protected by private offices
(behind closed doors)? ? Does the allocation of space clearly reinforce status differences among people in different positions, or does it appear that most people have about the same amount of space? o Equipment, Symbols, and Artifacts ? How ostentatious or Spartan are the furnishings and décor? Are the walls painted? Wallpapered? Paneled with inexpensive veneer or solid hardwood? ? What adorns the walls in the reception area, gallery-quality paintings or mass-produced prints? Award plaques and trophies? ? Are the computers, fax machines, and other technological equipment state of the art? • Dress – What people wear says a lot about the organization. Such clues offer insights into the degree of formality expected of people.
Find Meaning in Organizational Rites
A rite is a planned public performance where other forms of cultural expression, such as recounting company legends, are woven into a single event. Stories and legends are often told at rites. Meetings are the most frequent rites practiced in organizations. Are they formal, planned and predictable, or scheduled as needed, and less formal? An off-site meeting is a daylong or multi-day forum intended to bring key players together to question basic assumptions, raise critical issues, and plan responses to challenges.
Ask Questions and Observe Responses
Asking questions is more efficient and direct, even though responses can’t always be taken at face value. As questions, then listen and act on what others say – and learn more about the culture.
How Do Leaders Build Flexible, Responsive Cultures?
Once established, an organization’s culture takes on a life of its own, resisting pressures to change – even if feedback confirms that the firm’s relationship to its environment has deteriorated.
First Generation Managers Develop a Culture
During the formative period culture emerges from two sources: the founder’s behaviors and from direct experience. Founders manifest three important behaviors: 1. The behaviors they deliberately use to role model, teach, and coach. 2. What they pay attention to in the organization or its environment –
what they measure and control. 3. How they react to critical events and organizational crises, or their demonstrated methods of coping. Second, another early source of culture is active experimentation (trail and error), where group members learn what really works and what fails.
The Second Generation Adapts a Culture
Culture typically comes under threat once the founder begins to hire into key positions people who are not part of the first generation. The first generation of employees tends to operatae more on the basis of personal relationships than the formal systems more characteristic of the second generation. The alternative to a strong culture is to have no consistency of beliefs and values, in effect, a weak culture. In weak cultures, there is the absence of assumptions and norms, people are not sure what is expected of them, much less how the organization believes it will succeed. Purposeful change may be even more difficult in weak-culture organizations.
Growth Prompts Revolutionary Shifts in Culture
Culture change is typically more revolutionary and the result of a change in leadership. Often there is a period of skepticism, resistance, and complaining about “losing our values”. Cultural change thus needs to be led, guided, and nurtured, for like a large ship at sea, it takes time to turn. Many times changes are guided through teachable points of view, where the leader defines his or her values and beliefs about what it takes to succeed in the organization’s chosen businesses and in business generally, and then projects those ideas as a teacher throughout the organization. Cultural changes may be necessary whenever organizations need to: • • • • • • • • Break away from a rigid bureaucratic culture and become more responsive to change. Diminish the belief that power or policies gets things done and shift more toward satisfying customers and the marketplace. Create an identity and set of values for a mediocre, culturally weak organization. Integrate an acquisition (with its own culture) into the ways of a new parent. Blend two cultures into one following a merger. Establish a unique, autonomous culture after a division is spun off or divested. Permit a division or major task unit to develop a subculture supportive of its task. Infuse stronger cultural elements into a weak culture firm through rites and symbols.
Ethnic Diversity Sensitizes Organizational Culture
What you are learning about managing people’s organizational behavior gives you an Americanized view of the world. The managerial approaches that work for us do not necessarily stand up well in other countries.
How Do National Cultures Impact Global Business?
While business people may share some commonality of values across national cultures, a country’s culture and business environment can cause value elements to differ significantly across national borders. Values, beliefs and behaviors have patterned differences. Ethnic differences give people different predispositions toward work and business practices. Cultural differences influence management styles. The essence of country culture is national mental preprogramming, which is that part of a country’s collective learning that is shared with other members of that nation, region, or group, but not with members of other nations, regions or groups. Values tend to be stable across nationally groups, where attitudes differ. Attitudes are temporal beliefs based on evaluative interpretations of current conditions. Four patterns of enduring values provide the framework for describing national cultures: • Individualism versus Collectivism. In highly individualistic societies, the individual is expected to look out for his or her own selfinterest, and maybe that of the immediate family. At the other extreme, collectivist societies assume that close ties exist among people and the interests of the individual are subordinated to the group, be it extended family, tribe, village, and/or employer. Individualistic nations are loosely integrated (do your own thing), collectivist tightly integrated (honor thy group heritage). Centralized versus Diffused Power. Centralized power societies permit unequal intellectual or physical capabilities to grow into blatant inequalities in the distribution of power and wealth. Diffused power societies play down individual differences by sharing or decentralizing power. Strong versus Weak Uncertainty Avoidance. Societies accepting of uncertainty use organized creativity to reduce the risk of uncertainty. Nations with a strong need for uncertainty avoidance usually claim that absolute truth originates from a dominant religion. Masculinity versus Femininity. Some nations make sharp distinctions between roles based on sex. Nations with such clear sex role divisions are called “masculine”. Masculine values permeate
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societies where the hero is the successful achiever, where showing off and displaying wealth is accepted. Other societies are more tolerant of a wider distribution of roles almost independent of sex and are called “feminine”. Feminine values include respecting the underdog, putting relationships before wealth, and tending to the quality of life and the environment. TOPIC: Utilize American Culture quiz from ice breaker section. The key to effective management practices or quality organizational research is to understand the cultural contexts in which firms and individuals function and operate. Organizations that choose to operate on a transnational basis, especially business, must obviously build in some capacity of adaptiveness to function harmoniously within hose national cultures.
Book Summary – Management and Organizational Behavior
• Cook, C. W. & Hunsaker, P. L. (2001). Management and Organizational Behavior (3rd edition).
Chapter 5 – Perception, Learning & Personality
Person-job fit is the degree of fit between a person’s abilities and motives and a job’s demands and rewards.
Abilities What the person can do Motives What the person wants Demands What the job requires Rewards What the job offers
Degree of Fit
Drucker’s Five Skills for Improving the Person-Job Match
• First, ask “What is the task?” What are we trying to accomplish? What do it at all? In any industry, the most profound route for improving performance and the person-job match is often to eliminate tasks altogether-to stop doing that which really does not need to be done. Second, take a hard look at the ways in which jobs add value. Where does real value occur? Many activities only add costs rather than value. Cost generators should be candidates for elimination. Third, define performance in terms of what works. Quality only comes by analyzing the steps in the process that produce value-added performance. Managers then need to wipe out unnecessary steps and build in those that are necessary but lacking. Fourth, managers need to develop a partnership with people who hold potentially productive jobs and get them to improve the process. Finally, to sustain continuous learning, people at all levels need to teach.
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The contemporary challenge is to continually increase productivity in the sectors employing most of the population, the knowledge and service sectors. Technology is also creating global competition for jobs and skills.
Psychological Contract
The psychological contract is the workers’ implicit expectations about what they are expected to contribute to an organization and what they will receive in return. Individuals contribute such qualities as their skills, effort, time, loyalty, and commitment to an organization. In return the organization offers such things as pay, benefits, security, and opportunities to satisfy such
motives as the need for achievement, power, status, and affiliation. Both the individual and the organization feel satisfied if they perceive the psychological contract as fair. The psychological contract is dynamic because the expectations and contributions of both the individual and organization change over time. Terms of the psychological contract are affected by economic cycles and business trends. TOPIC: What do you expect to contribute to BSU? Get at the end? A social contract is a term used to describe collective psychological contracts within a national culture. The general social contract in the US included two common elements: employees would give regular attendance and effort along with loyalty to the organization; In return, employers would provide ‘fair’ pay and benefits, advancement based on seniority and merit, and job security within reasonable limits. TOPIC: American social contract. Has this changed in any way? Recent times suggest that a revised social contract is needed including the following elements: Employees will be expected to provide a high level of performance, a commitment to the company’s objectives, and a willingness to innovate or make suggestions and train to improve behavior; Employers in turn, will provide interesting and challenging work, learning, flexibility, performance-based compensation, and opportunities for participation and involvement. This means that many workers will have to change from their psychological dependence on their employers to a commitment to their craft or profession. Ability is the capacity to perform physical and intellectual tasks. Aptitude is the capacity to learn an ability. People differ in both their abilities and aptitudes. Managers should know what abilities are required to perform various jobs and should try to match the jobs with people who have appropriate abilities, or at least the aptitude to learn.
Perceptions & Attributions
TOPIC: Mind over Matter Exercise, p 2.503 Perception is the selection, organization, and interpretation of sensory data. People DO NOT see objective reality, but they believe what they perceive is real. Our perceptions are our personal reality, whether they are objective or not, and they influence our behavior.
The Perceptual Process
Attention & Selection
Stimuli Perceiver Perceived Setting
Organization
Classification Figure-ground Closure
Interpretation
Beliefs Values Attitudes
Personal Meaning & Intentions
Behavi or
Attention & Selection
TOPIC: Old Woman/Young Woman Exercise, p 2.499 The Perceiver People tend to notice what is important to them. People tend to perceive what they need, want and expect to see. The physical, mental, and emotional condition of the perceiver affects attentiveness. The perceiver’s beliefs, attitudes, values, motives, and expectations influence what he or she perceives as relevant. TOPIC: Count the F’s Exercise, p 2.489 The Perceived Certain general attributes of the perceived object or person influence what is noticed and what is not. These include size, novelty, motion, proximity, and intensity. TOPIC: Misplaced Dot Exercise, p 2.493 The Setting Time and physical conditions such as temperatures, lighting, noise, smell, and clutter are examples of contextual factors that may influence what is noticed and what is not. The nature of the setting influences what is perceived as appropriate or normal.
Organization
Classification We classify people in a variety of categories such as age, gender, race, nationality, physical categories, education, occupation, and status. We also attach the assumptions, beliefs, and attitudes we hold about those groupings. Classifying sensory inputs helps us to sort and recall sensory data faster. TOPIC: Perception Exercise, p 2.521 (leave on last slide) Figure-ground A key element in perceptual accuracy is the ability to distinguish figure (dominant features) from ground (surrounding, competing, stimuli). You respond selectively to the most relevant stimuli. People pay more attention to some stimuli than others and run the danger
of overlooking relevant clues. A major purpose for studying organizational behavior is to alert you to possible important stimuli. TOPIC: Perceptual “K” Exercise, p 2.515 Closure Perceptual closure is the mind’s tendency to fill in missing data when it receives incomplete information, especially if the situation or topic is familiar. Given sketchy information, people often make assumptions about the missing data. However, if the stimulus is insufficient to effect closure and thus cope with an ambiguous situation, then frustration, anxiety, and stress may result. TOPIC: Hidden Triangles Exercise, p 2.507
Interpretation
The perceptual process happens instantly. Our past learning and experience as well as our current beliefs, assumptions, attitudes, and values all influence the meaning we add to what we take in. Combined, they form our individual frame of reference, which is the mental filter through which perceptions are interpreted and evaluated.
Perceptual Distortions
TOPIC: Remodeling a Window Exercise, p 2.517 Selective perception is the tendency to focus on those attributes of people and situations that fit our frame of reference. The potential danger of selective perception is that we miss important data, and the omission causes a distorted view of a person or situation. A stereotype is a rigid, biased perception of a person, group, object, or situation. We tend to categorize people by their obvious, and sometimes less obvious, differences. Stereotypes can be positive or negative. Unwarranted negative stereotypes can lead to bias, which in turn leads to destructive attitudes such as sexism, racism, and nationalism. A halo effect is the tendency to overrate a person based on a single trait. Halo effects can lead to incomplete and inaccurate judgments and, like stereotypes, may prompt someone to miss individual differences. Projection is attributing to others one’s own thoughts, feelings, attitudes, and traits.
Attribution
Attribution is an assumed explanation of why people behave as they do, based on our observations and inferences. We also make attributions about our own behavior. Theory suggests that when people observe another’s behavior, they use certain criteria to determine whether it fits that person’s general personality or is affected by other factors (often subconscious).
Individual Behavior Examples: productivity, promptness, attendance Internal Causes Criteria Distinctiveness Consistency Consensus
Examples: ability, effort, attitude
Situational Factors
Behavior Response External Causes
Examples: work demands, conditions, time pressures
Examples: workload, resources, support, time Criteria
Distinctiveness is an attribution process used to explain whether a person’s behavior fits with other behaviors. Consistency is an attribution process used to explain the degree of variance in behavior over time. Consensus is an attribution process used to determine how others behave in similar situations.
Attribution of Internal-External Causality
After assessing observations using the above criteria, the cause of behavior is likely to be attributed to internal and/or external factors. Attributional error is the tendency to overestimate internal factors and underestimate external factors when making attributions about others. Self-serving bias is the tendency of individuals to attribute their own positive performance to internal factors and their to negative performance to external factors.
How People Learn
Learning is the acquisition of knowledge or skill through study, practice, or experience. Learning is affected by intelligence, which is the ability to adapt to novel situations quickly and effectively, use abstract concepts effectively, and grasp relationships and learn quickly. An additional concept of intelligence, emotional intelligence, relates to a person’s ability to get along with others, exert control over one’s life, and think and decide clearly.
Individuals differ in memory, intelligence, and ability to learn. Three theories of how people learn: 1. Behavioral Conditioning Classical conditioning (Pavlov), is an experimental approach that associates a conditioned stimulus with an unconditioned stimulus to achieve a conditional response. Operant conditioning (Skinner) is learning in which reinforcement depends on the person’s behavior. In operant conditioning, the critical learning element is the direct linkage of significant contingent consequences to an operant behavior. A contingent consequence is a reinforcer; it may be positive, negative or neutral. The basic assumption underlying conditioning theory is simple: People tend to repeat those behaviors that lead to desirable consequences and avoid those that lead to negative results. Self-Management of contingencies. It is possible for a person to manage his or her own contingencies. The Premack principle is the pairing of disagreeable tasks with enjoyable tasks or events to hasten their completion. 2. Social Learning Social learning theory is the belief that we learn many behaviors by observing and imitating others. Imitation is especially strong when the learner identifies with and desires to be like the role model or mentor. People are certainly capable of anticipatory control, choosing how they will respond in various situations. 3. Cognitive Discovery Cognitive learning involves selective interpretation of perceptual data organized into new patterns of thoughts and relationships.
Human beings are capable of rearranging thought patterns into new configurations, or gestalts. Gestalt is a German word meaning “shape, configuration, or the arrangement of relationships in a total situation”. Patterns of concepts and relationships may occur suddenly, through insight, or they may evolve gradually as elements are linked together with new data.
An insight is the sudden discovery of the answer to a problem (“Eureka!”).
How Do People Differ in How They Learn?
Kolb’s Experiential Learning Styles
Concrete Experienc e
Active Experimen -tation
Accommodat ion Convergence Abstract Conceptu al-ization
Divergence Assimilation
Reflective Observatio n
Kolb’s experiential learning model distinguishes two primary dimensions of the learning process. These two dimensions are combined to suggest four key learning abilities or processes. A complete pattern of learning flows in a circular direction. Most people become highly skilled at one or two processes rather than all four. When two adjacent processes are emphasized, a dominant learning style emerges. The four distinct personal learning styles in this model are: • The Diverger: Learn best by reflecting on specific experiences and drawing new inferences. The diverger tends to be highly imaginative, excels at brainstorming, and likes involvement in the generation of creative ideas. Academically, such learners often are interested in the liberal arts, humanities, and fine arts. Human resource managers are often divergers. The Assimilator: With their capability to combine reflective observation and abstract conceptualization, assimilators are good at creating theoretical models. Dealing with abstract ideas is the assimilator’s domain, more so than seeking practical applications or working with people. Individuals who adopt this learning style are attracted to basic research; in business you may find them staffing corporate research and planning departments. The Converger: Convergers use abstract concepts as a basis for active experimentation. They focus on specific problems, looking for answers and solutions. Like the assimilator, the converger prefers working with ideas and specific tasks more than working with people. Convergers tend to do well in the physical sciences and engineering. The Accommodator: The style focuses on doing. The accommodator’s domain is active experimentation and the carrying out of plans that lead to real experiences. Such people are risk takers, able to adapt quickly to new situations. Although at ease with people, accommodators tend to be impatient and assertive. Accommodation is often the dominant style of individuals trained for the business world, especially those who gravitate toward action-oriented management or sales jobs.
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Managers and organizations should value and consciously seek learning from experience by budgeting time for the learning process. Second, managers and organizations should value and include those with different learning styles and perspectives. Action-oriented people should be combined with those who are reflective, etc.
Brain-Hemisphere Dominance Learning
Our dominant brain hemisphere may play a significant role in how we learn. The brain’s left hemisphere assimilates information in ordered, systematic ways. Quantification and written language are handled by the left hemisphere of the brain. The world of the right hemisphere manager involves holistic, simultaneous, creative learning. In addition, it emphasizes learning from face-to-face verbal exchanges rather than from written reports. Hunches and judgment are mental processes from which insights and new possibilities spring forth.
Other Models (Not In Book)
• • • Senses classification: auditory (aural), visual, tactile (taste, smell can affect learning) Thinking / seeing / doing 4MAT Model – 4 Quadrants: Why, What, How, What If? o Type 1 (Why?): Innovative Learners are primarily interested in personal meaning. They need to have reasons for learning-ideally, reasons that connect new information with personal experience and establish that information's usefulness in daily life. Some of the many instructional modes effective with this learner type are cooperative learning, brainstorming, and integration of content areas (e.g., science with social studies, writing with the arts, etc.). o Type 2 (What?): Analytic Learners are primarily interested in acquiring facts in order to deepen their understanding of concepts and processes. They are capable of learning effectively from lectures, and enjoy independent research, analysis of data, and hearing what "the experts" have to say. o Type 3 (How?): Common Sense Learners are primarily interested in how things work; they want to "get in and try it." Concrete, experiential learning activities work best for them--using manipulatives, hands-on tasks, kinesthetic experience, etc. o Type 4 (What If?): Dynamic Learners are primarily interested in self-directed discovery. They rely heavily on their own intuition, and seek to teach both themselves and others. Any type of independent study is effective for these learners. They also enjoy simulations, role play, and games.
How Do Personal Values Differ from Attitudes?
Values are stable, enduring beliefs or ideals held to be important that influence thought and behavior. The values of the larger culture and society greatly influence what individuals learn. The natural tendency for an expatriate manager is to cross-reference her own cultural values with her stereotypes of the new culture. Two simple recommendations may prevent cross-cultural mistakes: • • Seek our a cultural mentor. Approach learning another culture much like a scientist who treats cultural stereotypes like hypotheses to be reality tested against a specific work situational context.
A classification of values developed by Allport and associates include the following categories: • • • • • • Theoretical: Values the discovery of truth and emphasizes critical and rational approaches to problems. Economic: Values utility and practicality and emphasizes standard of living. Aesthetic. Values form, grace, and harmony and emphasizes the artistic aspects of life. Social: Values love of people and altruism and emphasizes concern for others. Political: Values power, position, and influence and emphasizes competition and winning. Religious: Values unity and people’s relationship to the universe and emphasizes high ideals and the search for the purpose of being on earth.
Values people emphasize vary with their occupations. A second way of classifying values was developed by Rokeach, distinguishing between two sets of values. Instrumental values describe desirable beliefs about what behaviors are appropriate in reaching desired goals and ends. Terminal values describe desirable ends that are worth striving to reach. A personal value system is a relatively permanent perceptual framework (an enduring organization of beliefs) that shapes and influences an individual’s behavior. Where the organization reinforces personal values, the consistency makes it highly probable that those core values will guide behavior. Moral dilemmas, internal conflicts, and ethical compromises occur when personally intended and organizationally induced values clash. Integrity defines a loyalty in demonstrated action to rational principles and one’s values, or the principle or being principled, practicing what one preaches regardless of emotional or social pressure.
Values can and do shift over time. An awareness of values can help managers understand and predict behavior of others. An attitude is a predisposition or readiness to respond in a certain way to a person, object, idea, or situation. Although some attitudes may remain relatively stable over time, others are subject to change with the accumulation of new information and experience. Attitudes have three components: • • • Cognition: the beliefs and perceived knowledge about the subject of the attitude. Affect: the feelings associated with the subject, often conveying likes and dislikes. Behavior: the perceptions and feelings as an intention to behave in a certain way.
Cognitive dissonance describes a state of inconsistency between an individual’s attitudes and behavior. The discomfort experienced by people feeling cognitive dissonance leads to efforts to reduce the tension by (1) changing the attitude, (2) changing behavior, or (3) rationalizing the inconsistency.
Personalities
Personality is the set of traits and behaviors that characterizes an individual. Managers and others use personality to understand and predict an individual’s behavior and to define the essence of an individual. Personality emerges over time from the interaction of genetic and environmental factors. People’s personalities become clearer and more stable as they grow older. Personality can change and may do so slowly over the years.
The “Big Five” Personality Factors
• • • • • Expressive style: How individuals express themselves verbally and behaviorally (e.g. quiet/reserved vs. talkative/outgoing) Interpersonal style: How individuals behave while interacting with others (e.g. cool/distant vs. warm/close) Work style: How people work and meet responsibilities (e.g. detailed/structured vs. general/spontaneous). Emotional style: How people express their emotions (e.g. unemotional/stable vs. highly emotional/volatile). Intellectual style: How individuals learn, think, and decide (e.g. learning, thinking, deciding in simple/traditional ways vs. complex/novel ways).
Each factor helps us to know what behavior patters to observe in understanding someone’s personality. Key elements of each factor combine to provide an overall understanding of an individual’s personality. This ability
to understand different personalities is helpful to managers in being better able to predict an individual’s behavior in different situations.
Psychological Types and Cognitive Styles
The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), developed from the theories of Carl Jung, is the most widely used personality test in the U.S. Sensatio n Sensation Thinkers (ST)
Thinkin g
Evaluating Intuitive Thinkers (IT)
Intuition
Cognitive style describes the way an individual perceives and processes information. According to Jung, individuals develop, mostly unconsciously, preferred ways of gathering information and evaluating it to make decisions.
The Four Cognitive Styles
Two styles of gathering information: • Sensation: Collect information by sensing seeking details, hard facts, and quantitative reports. Sensors like to apply structures for organizing data logically, step by step. They are especially comfortable working within a structure of organizational policies and rules that provide clear guidelines for action. Sensors learn best from concrete experience; they can be thought of as left-brain-hemisphere processors. Intuitive: Disavow routine, structured reports and rely more on hunches and nonverbal perceptions of problems. Data collection by this type often appears to be nonsystematic, with considerable jumping back and forth. Intuitives excel at synthesis, that is, taking a large amount of data from a number of sources and drawing seemingly spontaneous conclusions. These people are imaginative, futuristic, and
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G a t h e ri n g I n f o r m a ti o n
Sensation Feelers (SF) Information Intuitive Feelers (IF)
Feeling
often good at drawing creative ideas out of others. They are more dependent on the right-brain hemisphere. Two styles of processing information: • Thinking: Use analysis and rational logic as the basis for problem solving. They tend to be unemotional in applying data to models or problem-solving techniques. The forte of these managers is the use of the scientific method (systematic evaluation of empirical data), devoid of personal considerations. Feeling: Rely heavily on person-centered values. They personalize their evaluations and are sensitive to the concerns, ideas, and feelings of those around them. Placing major emphasis on the human aspects of problems, these managers dislike creating conflict. They value harmony and tend to conform to the wishes of others rather than consider alternatives based on logic or analysis.
Introversion/Extroversion E -- Extraverted: turned toward the outer world, of people and things. An extravert, or extraverted type, is one whose dominant function is focused in an external direction. Extraverts are inclined to express themselves, using their primary function, directly. I -- Introverted: turned toward the inner world of symbols, ideals and forms. An introvert, or introverted type, is one whose dominant function is inwardly focused. Introverts are inclined to express themselves, using their primary function, indirectly, through inference and nuance. What about P and J?
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P stands for Perceiving, J for Judging. What they really represent is, again, complex. For the E (extraverted) types, it's simple enough - P means that the dominant function is a Perceiving function (iNtuition or Sensing); J means the dominant function is a deciding or Judging function. For Introverts, it's just the opposite. P actually means that the extraverted function is a Perceiving (data-collecting, or irrational) function, but since the dominant function is introverted (by definition for Introverts), the I _ _ P types' first functions are Judging (deciding or rational) functions.
Four Types of Problem-Solving Behaviors
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Sensation-Thinkers (ST): Bureaucratic, concerned with formulating and enforcing rules. Because sensation and thinking dominate function, they are persistent, yet decisive. They weight costs and benefits, plan logical schedules, and have an infinite capacity to absorb and remember details. Hard working, good coordinators, and dependable leaders. Their penchant for analysis and logic makes them quite predictable. However, they tend to be impatient with those who
aren’t equally detailed, organized, and rational. Avoids abstractions and seldom provides feedback to others unless it is based on measured performance. So concerned with preserving acceptable practices and tradition that they overlook possibilities for creative improvement. • Intuitive-Thinkers (IT): Looks ahead, always searching for innovative possibilities. Although they tend to be impersonal, they are quick to analyze the power dynamics within an organization. Noted for intellectual capabilities and pioneering ideas. A great designer of new methods and projects. Depends on staff to flesh out the details of proposals. Relinquishes administration to someone better suited to establishing organizational routines. Gifted in abstract creativity, sometimes is insensitive to the personal needs and wishes of others. Responds to the ideas and problems of others when they are logical and reasonable. Finds it difficult to accept anything other than competent, professional performance. Frequently expects more than others are prepared to deliver. Sensation-Feelers (SF): Methodological. Great at analysis based on detailed observation. Deals efficiently with here-and-now problems. Decisions and actions result from quick interpretation of the facts. Loves to find the causes of problems in standardized operations and excels at extracting higher efficiency from programmed procedures. Does not like to see changes sweep too far in new directions. Would rather fix an old system than conceptualize a new approach. Generally gets along well with co-workers. Reinforces good performance by giving praise, writing memos of thanks, and publicly acknowledging others’ accomplishments. Intuitive-Feelers (IF): Charismatic leader who communicates fluently and is quick to visualize possibilities for improvement. Draws out ideas from others and always consults co-workers before moving ahead on significant actions. Given the freedom to manage, creates a high level of esprit de corps within their team. Believes in psychological rewards and makes sure they come in timely response to their workers’ emotional needs. Need recognition from others. Tends to back away from his personal ideas when they appear to conflict with views held by esteemed others. Is very popular among co-workers, but because they wish to retain this popularity, is at times hesitant to act. Sometimes the opportunity of the moment is lost as a result of indecision.
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TOPIC: Personality Types Exercise, p 2.511. Discuss proper uses of personality tests, and limitations.
Other Personality Traits
Locus of control is the degree to which people believe that they, rather than external forces, determine their own lives. Authoritarianism is the degree to which a person believes that status and power differences are appropriate in an organization. Dogmatism is the degree of flexibility or rigidity of a person’s views. Machiavellianism is a personality attribute that describes the extent to which a person manipulates others for personal gain. Risk propensity is a person’s willingness to take risks. Self-esteem is the judgment one makes about one’s own worth. Self-monitoring is the degree to which people are sensitive to others and adapt their own behavior to meet external expectations and situational needs.
Book Summary – Management and Organizational Behavior
• Cook, C. W. & Hunsaker, P. L. (2001). Management and Organizational Behavior (3rd edition).
Chapter 6 – Motivation
People have different needs that direct their behavior. Some of these needs depend on personal circumstances and outside events. Needs can cause people to seek out experiences that enrich their lives. Alternatively, needs can trigger behavior to avoid threatening conditions and feelings of deprivation. Other needs are learned from rewarding experiences. These learned needs become relatively persistent motives that influence a person to seek out experiences that satisfy a particular motive, such as the need for achievement or power. Beyond human needs and the acquired taste for specific motives, a different explanation of motivation focuses on expectancies, or people’s expectations about whether they can affect performance outcomes and how closely desired rewards are linked to performance. People also consider the equity of how they are treated, and those evaluations help determine whether they will appear motivated or not.
How Do Human Needs Differ in Content?
Motivation involves a conscious decision to perform one or more activities with greater effort than other competing activities. Motivation governs behavior selection, direction, and level of effort. Motivation, thus, contains three elements: • • • Some need, motive, or goal that triggers action. A selection process that directs the choice of action. A level of effort intensity applied to the chosen action.
The content theories of motivation identify specific human needs and describe the circumstances under which these needs activate behavior. Approach and avoidance behaviors – people willingly seek out or approach desirable conditions; people try to minimize or avoid troubling or debilitating conditions. Deficiency reduction needs are universally experienced needs that trigger behaviors of avoidance where the aim is to find relief from deficiencies, deprivations, or unpleasant tensions. Growth aspiration needs are somewhat unique personal needs that motivate people to approach or seek out goals and experiences that they find personally meaningful.
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
Hierarchy of needs is a five-level need theory proposed by Maslow in which lower-level basic needs must be satisfied before advancing to a higher-level need. Once a lower-level need has been largely satisfied, its impact on behavior diminishes and a person can activate the next higher-level need. (This assertion of movement up the pyramid is not confirmed in research.) 1. Self-actualization needs – the peak of human existence – the ability to develop latent capabilities and realize fullest potential. 2. Esteem needs – Psychological well-being, built on the perception of oneself as worthy and recognized by others. 3. Love or belonging needs – Beyond existence needs lies the desire for nurturing, acceptance, respect, and caring relationships. 4. Safety needs – Need to be free from harm or danger, to have a secure and predictable life. 5. Physical needs – Most basic is the need for relief from thirst, hunger, and physical drives. ERG Theory – Alderfer’s simplified content theory that identifies existence, relatedness, and growth as need categories, and acknowledges multiple needs may be operating at one time without being hierarchically determined.
How Do Needs Affect Work-Related Motivation?
Herzberg’s Dual-Factor Theory
Herzberg’s Dual-Factor Theory – job satisfaction and job dissatisfaction derive from different sources and simply removing the sources of dissatisfaction will not cause a person to be motivated to produce better results. The theory is based on two independent needs: hygiene and motivator factors. Hygiene factors are job context factors such as working conditions and benefits that trigger dissatisfaction if inadequate. Such factors are largely extrinsic, or external to the nature of the job itself; thus they can be thought of as job context factors. If adequate, they simply produce neutral feelings with the realization that basic maintenance needs are taken care of. Motivator factors are job content factors such as job challenge, responsibility, opportunity for advancement, achievement and recognition that which originate from the nature of the job itself and that provide feelings of satisfaction when experienced. Such factors are intrinsic to the job or unique to each individual. Because motivation is derived from the job itself, one way managers can improve motivation is to enrich jobs. Job enrichment is a means to encourage motivation by building greater scope (variety) and depth (responsibility for planning and control of the work) into a job.
McGregor’s Theory X and Theory Y
A philosophy based on differing managerial practices. Theory X A Theory X set of assumptions about human behavior postulates that people act only to realize their basic needs and therefore do not voluntarily contribute to organizational aims. Managers believe their task is to direct and modify human behavior to fit the needs of the organization. Managers must persuade, reward, punish, and control those who don’t naturally strive to learn and grow. Managers believe that: 1. People dislike responsibility and lack ambition; therefore, they prefer to be led, and management must direct their efforts. 2. The average person is passive, indolent, and works as little as possible; thus, people need to be coerced and controlled. 3. People are self-centered and indifferent to organized needs; therefore, they are by nature resistant to change. Theory Y A Theory Y view of human behavior sees people motivated by higherorder growth needs and they will therefore act responsibly to accomplish organizational objectives. Management’s task is to enable people to act on these needs and to grow in their jobs; To structure the work environment so that people can best achieve their higher-order personal goals by accomplishing organizational objectives. Managers believe that: 1. People seek responsibility and have the capacity to direct and control organizational tasks if they are committed to the objectives. 2. People by nature are not passive or indifferent to organizational needs, for work is as natural as rest or play. 3. Employees at all levels have the ability to be creative and use ingenuity in solving organizational problems.
How Do Learned Motives Influence Work Behavior?
Motives are learned from experience. Examples of learned motives include the need for achievement, power, affiliation, competence, status, and autonomy. This learning can be either conscious or unconscious. Individuals differ in the importance they assign to specific motives. Managers can motivate others if they are sensitive to the learned motives of individual employees.
The Achievement Motive
The need to achieve (or achievement motive) is a learned motive that satisfaction can be found in seeking tasks that will provide a sense of
accomplishment. Many people of Anglo descent like to think of themselves as being achievement-oriented, undoubtedly because achievement is highly valued in most Western societies. Several behavioral characteristics distinguish the achievement-motivated person: 1. Achievers prefer a moderate level of difficulty or challenge. The most desired task is one that requires a high level of exertion but carries a reasonable probability of success. 2. High achievers also like to feel that they are in reasonable control of an outcome. 3. Achievement-motivated people also like to receive frequent and specific feedback about how well they are doing. Ideally the task itself should provide enough feedback so they can evaluate themselves; self-approval is good feedback for an achiever.
The Power Motive
Power is the ability to influence others to behave as we want. People who have a high need for power (or power motive), find satisfaction from being in charge and controlling or influencing others. Managers with high personal power needs exemplify the stereotypical self-serving, exploitative, dominating boss. Managers with high institutional power needs temper their influence over others with inhibition and self-control. They are altruistic and believe power should be used more for the good of the organization than for personal advantage. Satisfaction is obtained more from the process of influencing others to carry out work in pursuit of organizational goals than from their own personal success.
The Affiliation Motive
Persons with a high need for affiliation (or affiliation motive) find satisfaction in the quality of their social and interpersonal relationships. People who are high affiliators often make weak bosses.
Attributions and Learning Affect Motive Development
Personal attribution is the process of rationalizing causality (either to external or internal [personal] factors) as to why personally involving events turn out as they do. (Remember the self-serving bias.)
Emotional Intelligence
Emotional intelligence is twice as important as either technical skills or IQ as a driver of outstanding performance. The five key components of emotional intelligence are self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and social skill.
How Do Expectations Affect Work Motivation?
Process theories of motivation are theories that focus on the ways people think through motivation issues and how they determine whether their actions were successful. The human tendency is to embrace the most advantageous option or at least avoid functioning at a disadvantage.
Expectancy Theory
Expectancy theory is a theory of motivation based on a person’s beliefs about effort-performance-outcome relationships. The three variables of expectancy theory: Expectancy The probability (from 0 to 1) that an individual believes his or her work effort directly affects the performance outcome of a task. Instrumentality The probability (from 0 to 1) that an individual anticipates that an attained level of task performance will have personal consequences. Valence The value (from positive to negative) that a person assigns to the personal consequences that follow work performance.
The basics of expectancy theory for organizational practitioners can be converted into a series of three questions that people often ask themselves about their work situation: 1. Does how hard I try really affect my performance? To be motivated, you must have a positive answer to this expectancy question. Positive task motivation begins when you see a link between personal effort and task performance. 2. Are personal consequences linked to my performance? To answer this instrumentality question, you must believe that task performance results (a first order outcome) serve to obtain second-order personal consequences or payoffs. Increased motivation is possible when you perceive a positive personal consequence arising from satisfactory task performance. 3. Do I value the consequences available to me? Answers to this valence question depend on how much you value a particular expected personal outcome or payoff. A person must value the payoff if the expectancy loop is to be positive and motivational. Motivation is enhanced when a person answers yes to all three expectancyrelated questions: (1) when effort is believed to be performance related, (2) when performance is linked to personal consequences, and (3) when the consequences or payoffs available are highly valued. Conversely, when one or more answers is negative, motivation potential diminishes. There are two basic sources of rewards or payoffs: Extrinsic rewards are
rewards externally bestowed, as by a supervisor, teacher, or organization. Intrinsic rewards postulate that motivation is moderated by perceived fairness or discrepancies between contributions and rewards. Although most people look for some mix of intrinsic and extrinsic rewards, people clearly differ as to which is the more compelling motivational force. Expectancy theory is most applicable to those jobs in which an individual has discretion as to how and when work is performed. To get the best from their people, managers should emphasize anticipated rewards, whether extrinsic or intrinsic. The manager’s job is to strengthen effort-performance-reward expectations. • Clarify Performance-Reward Linkages – clarify rewards available to employees and relate them to personal and team performance. The key is to make obvious in advance the payoffs people can expect for certain levels of performance, and then follow up on satisfactory performance with feedback and appropriate rewards. Provide Performance Feedback – Managers need to provide feedback both to demonstrate that they know what others are doing and to acknowledge improved performance or a job well done.
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How Do Perceptions of Equity Affect Motivation?
Managers need to be aware of equity perceptions and reduce gaps in the rewards or conditions of employment where possible. Equity theory is the idea that motivation is moderated by perceived fairness or discrepancies between contributions and rewards. People often think in terms of the ratio of their personal outcomes to work inputs. People also compare their own outcomes/input ratio to those they perceive for other people doing comparable work. These comparisons may be made on three levels: 1. Comparisons to specific other individuals. 2. Comparisons to another reference group. 3. Comparisons to general occupational classifications. The equity concept affects motivation whenever a person perceives a meaningful difference in personal or group outcomes and then adjusts behavior or perceptions to reduce the gap. Distributive justice is the perceived fairness of the amount and allocation of rewards and allocation of rewards among individuals. Procedural justice is the perceived fairness of the means used to determine the amount and distribution of rewards. Referent cognitions theory postulates that people evaluate their work and rewards relative to “what might have been” under different circumstances.
Research implies that if an organization’s procedures treat employees fairly, they will view the organization as positive even if dissatisfied with personal outcomes such as pay.
Should Motivation Focus on Individuals or Groups?
Theories of motivation in western countries focus on the individual. But not all cultures emphasize the individual. In many cultures, the group is the center of attention, and individual behavior gets attention only if it deviates from group norms.
Book Summary – Management and Organizational Behavior
• Cook, C. W. & Hunsaker, P. L. (2001). Management and Organizational Behavior (3rd edition).
Chapter 7 – Motivation Methods and Applications
How Does Goal Setting Enhance Motivation?
Goal striving is a common element in most motivational theories. A goal is the desired outcome of an action, which becomes motivational when an individual wants it and strives to achieve it. Content of a goal emphasizes the features of the goal, how it is to be measured or assessed, and its level of specificity – which implies a level of difficulty in attaining it. Given adequate ability and commitment, more difficult goals stimulate greater effort and performance. Intensity considers the process by which a goal is set – the extent of participation – and the degree of commitment and intention to bring it about. Having a goal assigned by management or participating in goal setting is associated with higher performance (equally), rather than the simple instructions of “do your best”. By focusing on goals rather than controls, a manager can align people behind organizational purposes and then allow individual initiative without sacrificing coordination. An intention is a cognitive representation of both the goal and the action plan to obtain the goal. Actions involve choices about where to direct behaviors combined with intense, persistent efforts to achieve a goal over some time period. The more a manager specifies goals, the easier it is for others to frame intentions for achieving them. Management by objectives (MBO) is the practice of manager and subordinate jointly determining time-specific objectives. The intent of MBO is threefold: (1) to strengthen planning, (2) to encourage participative decision making, and (3) to motivate performance of tasks that have a high payoff for the organization. The manager and subordinate usually take four steps: 1. 2. 3. 4. Agreement on key goals or objectives Action planning to work on the objectives Self-control and corrective actions to keep on target Periodic measurements, formal reviews, and performance appraisals
The important factor is for both people to have a shared expectation for what needs to be done during the next planning cycle. Then it is necessary to make adjustments in their priority or scope or in the actions taken in pursuit of them.
MBO works well if there is respect and trust between the subordinate and manager, and if the subordinate keeps the manager informed of progress and setbacks. Goals need to be clear, specific, and challenging, and one way to achieve this is to write operational objectives. A four-step approach is suggested: 1. Begin with an action very preceded by the word “to”. Examples: To build, to complete… 2. Identify a relevant key result area that is the performance target. Example: customer service. 3. State a performance indicator or measurement standard that specifies the targeted degree of quality and quantity to be achieved. Indicators can be stated in monetary units, resource units consumed, average time per task, percentages, or changes. 4. Provide a time frame by or during which the key result will be produced. Example: “To decrease time lost by equipment failure to no more than 10 minutes per day during the next quarter”.
How Does Reinforcement Modify Behavior
Reinforcement is the use of contingent consequences following a behavior to shape a consistent behavior pattern. Reinforcement is the product of a behaviorism philosophy, meaning that behavior is believed to be shaped by environmental consequences. The objective of reinforcement is to apply consequences (reinforcers) following a behavior that will shape a patterned response to a given antecedent condition. 1. Positive reinforcers – pleasant, rewarding, or otherwise satisfying contingent consequences that are used to initiate or increase a desired behavior. They should increase in frequency as the desired behavior increases. Praise and tangible rewards or gifts are positive reinforcers widely used at work. So are more attractive office space, a more prestigious job title, extra time off, and off-site meetings at resorts. 2. Negative reinforcers – the removal or reduction of an aversive condition following a desired behavior to initiate or increase the desired behavior. The ontingent consequence of the desired behavior is relief or escape from something unpleasant, threatening, or dissatisfying. Negative reinforcement is at work when one person acts to avoid another’s wrath or ridicule or to prevent personal harm. It keeps us paying our bills on tiem and obeying the speed limit. 3. Punishment – an aversive event or the removal of a positive event following a behavior, designed to reduce the frequency of the behavior or to eliminate it altogether. Punishment in the workplace is less severe than
in the criminal justice system and may involve warnings, withdrawal of privileges, or assignment to unpleasant tasks. The most severe punishment is probably dismissal. 4. Omission – a completely neutral response to a negative behavior to encourage its diminishment. It is often the ideal response to chronic complainers and others with annoying habits, such as telling offensive jokes.
Behavior Modification Follows an ABC Sequence
1. Antecedent (A) represents the antecedent condition or cue that precedes a set of behavior alternatives – the simulus or circumstances that invites a desired behavior. 2. Behavior (B) is the behavior in response to the antecedent circumstance. 3. Consequence (C) represents an environmental consequence that is contingent on an appropriate behavior. The most common consequence is positive reinforcement of a desired behavior. At times the consequence is negative reinforcement of a desired behavior, which reduces or avoids a potential negative outcome. Punishment is used to decrease an undesired behavior. Omission is a neutral response to either a desired or undesired behavior – also tends to diminish offending behavior. The law of effect advocates that consequences should immediately follow behavior to reinforce the link between the two.
Managing Environments with Organizational Behavior Modification
Organizational behavior modification (OB mod) is deliberate management application of the antecedent – behavior – consequence sequence to shape desired employee behaviors. Although simple in concept, it is difficult to consistently apply in most organizations if the management is left to apply the contingent reinforcer. Some of the most significant OB mod programs rely on automatic, computer-generated feedback. In fact, feedback alone has been found to be a very useful reinforcer. The four key processes that are typically employed when implementing OB mod: 1. Establish baseline data – to provide a point of reference, measure or chart the frequency with which the undesirable behavior occurs in the normal, unmodified environment. The objective is to document the problem behavior in a way that reveals the circumstances under which it most frequently occurs. 2. Analyze Current Behavioral Contingencies – Examine the current environment to identify any antecedent cues that encourage or discourage the desired behavior. Interviews, group discussions, or a survey are likely to reveal the circumstances that affect the behavior. Further investigation may show that punitive measures already taken haven’t worked. 3. Develop a Reinforcement Strategy – Those responsible for correcting the
problem evaluate possible reinforcers and select the one(s) thought to be most conducive to improving behavior. Three factors should be considered in structuring a reinforcement program: • • • The reinforcer selected should be meaningful enough to increase the desired behavior and offset the competing reinforcers. The reinforcers should follow timely evidence of improved behavior to cement the law-of-effect relationship. Criteria for achieving the reinforcer should be realistic, directly related, attainable by most employees, and less expensive than the cost.
4. Implement the Reinforcement and Chart Results – If results are not as strong as desired, managers could move to a more substantive reinforcement plan.
Identify behavioral performance problems
Chart frequency of target behavior
Analyze existing behavioral contingencies
Develop contingency intervention strategy
Apply contingency intervention strategy Probl em Solve d? Yes
Evaluate performance improvement over time
Chart frequency of resulting behavior
Reinforce to maintain desirable behavior
What Is The Link Between Rewards and Behavior?
Whenever systematic performance objectives, appraisals, and rewards are lacking in an organization, members usually experience three emotions: • • • Ambiguity: Exactly what is expected of me as an employee? Uncertainty: How well am I performing or measuring up to my boss’s standards? Suspicion: Are promotions and rewards (or layoffs and discharges) being administered equitably around here?
Performance is behavior that has been evaluated or measured as to its contribution to organizational goals. The overarching goal is to make as
many behaviors as possible be performance contributors to specific goals. Performance can be evaluated on the basis of productivity (including quality), growth, and satisfaction. • Pay for Performance – Uniform systems of pay may seem equitable. But from a motivational perspective, such nonperformance payments do not necessarily encourage stellar performance. Now, the norm for systems of rewards incorporate more pay-for-performance factors. Performance-based compensation schemes are consistent with the expectancy theory of motivation. Employees compare rewards received for performance with what they expect to receive. They also compare what they receive with what others receive (equity factor). Overall satisfaction is likely a composite of how the employee perceives both the extrinsic and intrinsic rewards from the job. o Piecework – the classic performance-based reward system, which is the practice of rewarding performance by paying for the amount produced consistent with quality standards. The difficulties are twofold: One is evaluating work methods to arrive at an equitable standard and rate. The second concern is the quality-quantity tradeoff. • Merit Pay (Base Plus Merit) – Rather than tie pay only to output, an alternative is to provide a base salary or hourly wage and then an incentive or bonus based on output. The performance-based portion depends on some measurable level of output over which the employee has control (quantity, quality, cost savings). o Bonus and Profit-Sharing Plans – Compensation plans that are based on the overall performance of the enterprise rather than the individual’s contribution. A pool of money is divided among eligible employees based on some performance evaluation or rating system. The objective of merit plans such as profit sharing, bonuses, and stock options is to link everyone’s fate to overall performance, reinforcing corporate cultures that emphasize group results over individual performance. ? Gainsharing Plans – A pay-for-performance system that shares financial rewards among all employees based on performance improvements for the entire business unit.
o Rewards as a Cafeteria of Benefits – Allowing people to select from a portfolio or menu of benefits. o Consequences of Incentives and Rewards – Except in cases where performance can be easily measured, employees often believe that the person evaluating them relies too much on subjective judgment (they question the fairness of the plan). While goals, incentives, and rewards can energize and focus behavior in
some countries, there are potential pitfalls in using them as motivational systems: Quality may be traded off for quantity and vice versa. o Open Book Management is the practice of sharing key financial information, often including salaries and compensation, with all employees.
What Are the Key Factors in Job Design?
Job design is the process of incorporating tasks and responsibilities into meaningful, productive, satisfying job responsibilities. Scientific management is an early twentieth century methodology advocated by Frederick W. Taylor in which work tasks were structured into highly simplified, standardized jobs to simplify hiring, training, and supervision. In keeping with the principles of scientific management, job design historically has involved analyzing a complex task, then breaking it down into subtasks. Increasingly, responsibility for the design of work is shifting to workers themselves and to self-managed teams, rather than residing with managers or industrial engineers.
Task Scope and Task Depth
Task scope is the degree of task variety built into a job, typically called horizontal job loading when jobs are formally designed. A job narrow in scope has few activities. Task depth addresses how much vertical responsibility, individual accountability, and autonomous decision authority is expected in a job, often thought of as vertical job loading when formally designed.
Hig h
Task Depth (responsibility) Vertical Job Loading
Technician – offers greater
opportunities for independent thinking and deciding what to do when, but provide employees with little variety in their daily tasks. The technician may have a university education or need professional training to learn how to perform the job. The work may be valued by the client, bur research suggests that people find their jobs become meaningless over time because their job tasks are repetitive and there – Programmed to be Routineis little growth opportunity. repetitive and narrow in scope and are often restricted by technology. People in these simplistic and repetitive jobs are expected not to do much independent thinking, just pay attention to detail. Skills are mastered in a matter of hours or days; there is no expectation of career growth unless one becomes a supervisor over those performing these routine jobs.
Enriched – enable an individual to
feel responsible for whole tasks. Most professional jobs that require analysis and manipulation of symbolic data are enriched to give the individual responsibility for doing whatever is necessary to get the job done. The work presents challenges and novelty, with the incumbent empowered to solve problems and find innovative solutions to shifting performance demands. Enlarged – Provides an expanded variety or diversity of tasks. At times jobs are deliberately expanded, either by adding on sequential tasks or by allowing employees to rotate among different jobs. Decreasing the number of separate job classifications or titles in a traditional industry typically affords employees enlarged variety or a change of pace.
Low Task Scope (variety) Horizontal Job Loading
Hig h
Horizontal job loading is the process of enlarging jobs by combining separate work activities into a whole job that provides for greater task variety (often giving responsibility for more links in the ‘chain’ or of the task). Vertical job loading is the process of structuring a greater range of responsibility for planning, control, and decision making authority into a job.
How Does Job Design Affect Work Outcomes?
Integrating Motivational Theory of Job Design includes a threesequence model for enriching jobs: 1. Core Job Dimensions – the underlying characteristics of a job (such as autonomy, task veriety) and how they relate to job involvement, motivation, performance, and satisfaction. These core dimensions had a better fit and greater meaning for self-motivating individuals who desire opportunity, personal growth, challenge, autonomy, and feedback. • Autonomy – the degree of control a person has over his or her own job actions, such as responsibility for self-governing behaviors to perform the job and the absence of a programmed sequence of activities (essentially, task depth). Task variety – the degree to which normal job activities require performing multiple tasks (breadth of task scope). Task identity – the extent to which a person has a whole task to complete, with visible starting and ending points. Feedback – the frequency and completeness with which the task provides information about work progress and results of personal efforts. Friendship opportunities – the extent to which the work setting provides opportunities for close interpersonal contacts (less impact). Dealing with others – the degree to which task flow or accomplishment requires interaction with others in contributory or collegial ways (less impact). Task significance – the significance of the work being performed. Task interdependence – how independent the task is of other tasks in the work chain.
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2. Psychological States – three possible job qualities (experienced meaningfulness, experienced responsibility, knowledge of results) that shape individual job motivation and satisfaction of growth needs. Generally people whose jobs enable them to experience the following
three psychological states will have a positive “motivating potential” because these conditions satisfy personal-professional growth needs. • Experienced meaningfulness – occurs when an individual perceives his or her work as worthwhile or in tune with personal values (influenced by skill variety, task identity, and task significance dimensions). Experienced responsibility – Realized when a person feels personally accountable for the outcomes of his or her efforts (influenced by the autonomy dimension). Knowledge of Results – Experienced when an individual can determine on a fairly regular basis whether the performance outcomes of his or her work are satisfactory (influenced by the feedback dimension).
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3. Personal/Work Outcomes – Job outcomes are measured by job involvement, motivation, and satisfaction at the personal level and performance at the work level.
Four Approaches to Job Design
There is no one approach that is best for all types of people and jobs. Job design involves seeking a balance among approaches to achieve results that best fit situations realities. • Motivational Approach – Aiming to increase the outcomes of job satisfaction, job involvement, and performance by enabling people to realize growth needs through experiencing challenging work. In striving to produce jobs that are stimulating and mentally demanding, the motivational approach may have the unintended consequence of creating staffing difficulties, increasing training times, and having higher mental overload and stress. Mechanistic Approach – The earliest techniques, based on time and motion studies and work simplification (scientific management and industrial engineering). Oriented towards efficiency and have lower mental overload and stress, but creates more boredom and physical demands. Biological Approach – Ergonomics is a biomechanic approach to minimize physical strain and stress on a worker based on the healthy design of work methods and technology (from work physiology and biomechanics). Involve making jobs physically comfortable and matched to physical strength and endurance, combined with attention to noise, climate requirements, and the design of equipment. Workers report less physical effort and fatigue, fewer aches and pains, and fewer health complaints, causing favorable attitudes towards their work. This approach is sometimes more expensive (equipment) and training requirements increase.
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Perceptual/Motor Approach – Seeks to match job characteristics to human mental capabilities (and limitations) with a primary emphasis on how people concentrate and what helps them pay attention to job requirements (from human factors engineering, experimental psychology and human information processing studies). This can create improved reliability, less errors and accidents, and positive reactions by reduced stress, fatigue, mental overload, and stress. Staffing and training requirements are reduced, but boredom increases.
Integrating the Factors of Job Redesign
Implementing Strategies Job Core Characteristics Psychological States (Effects) Personal and Work Outcomes
Combine tasks Vertical job loading Open feedback channels Establish client relationships Form natural work units
Autonomy Skill variety Task identity Work feedback Friendship opportunities Task significance Initiated task interdependence
Experienced meaningfulness Experienced responsibility for: One’s own work outcomes Other’s work outcomes Experienced knowledge of results of work Employee needs for growth
Internal work motivation Satisfaction with work and internal growth Quality work performance Low absenteeism and turnover
How Are People Motivated by Empowerment?
Empowerment describes the conditions that enable people to feel competent and in control of their work, energized to take initiative and persist at meaningful tasks. Empowerment is a highly personal motivational force. Empowerment can come from within the individual, from peers, or from a manager. It aspires to bring about positive self-perceptions and task-directed behaviors. Changed self-perceptions are an important manifestation of empowerment.
By Others Accepting Modeling Mentoring
Perceptions
By Self
Predisposition Competence Expectations
Self-concept Self-esteem Self-efficacy
Empowerment Behaviors
Self-initiated Persistent Adaptive
Outcomes
By Managers
Job designs Goal reward Leadership
Self-concept is how we think about ourselves or see ourselves in a role. Self-esteem is how we generally feel about our own worthiness – our selfacceptance. Self-efficacy is our self-perceptions about our ability to perform certain types of tasks. The empowered person undergoes two types of personal change. One is motivational enhancement, especially when the source of empowerment is positive change initiated by a manager. Empowered people usually intensify their task focus and are energized to become more committed to a cause or a goal. They experience self-efficacy, which stimulates motivation by enabling people to see themselves as competent and capable of high performance. Empowerment is also active in problem solving behaviors that concentrate energy on a goal. The empowered person is more flexible in behavior, tries alternative paths when one is blocked, and eagerly initiates new tasks or adds complexity to current ones. Behavior becomes self-motivated when the individual seeks to carve out greater personal autonomy in undertaking tasks without the manager’s help, or to draw support from team members. Ultimately, the individual decides whether to act empowered. Not everyone responds in the same way to empowerment. Expectancy motivation comes into play in empowerment.
Book Summary – Management and Organizational Behavior
• Cook, C. W. & Hunsaker, P. L. (2001). Management and Organizational Behavior (3rd edition).
Chapter 8 – Communicating for Understanding and Results
Communicating is the one activity that takes up most of a manager’s time.
What is Communication?
Communication is the process of one person sending a message to another with the intent of evoking a response. Effective communication occurs when the receiver interprets the message exactly as the sender intended. Efficient communication uses less time and fewer resources. The most efficient communication is not necessarily the most effective. What a manager wants to achieve is effective communication in the most efficient way. Communication in organizations serves three major purposes: it allows members to coordinate actions, share information, and satisfy social needs.
The Communications Process
Sender
Origination – idea or feeling Encoding – translating information into a message appropriate for transmission Transmission – The act of conveying a communication
Message
Channel – the medium through which a message is transmitted Verbal channel – words spoken and transmitted through sound waves Nonverbal channel – all ways of communicating without words, such as tone of voice, facial expression,
Receiver
Perception – process includes attention/selection, organization, and interpretation Decoding – the receiver function of perceiving communication stimuli and interpreting their meaning Response – no response in one-way communication
No Reply – end communication
Noise – anything that interferes with the communication process
No Reply – oneway
Perception – process includes attention/selection, organization, and interpretation Decoding – the receiver function of perceiving communication stimuli and interpreting their meaning Response – no response in one-way communication
Channel – the medium through which a message is transmitted Verbal channel – words spoken and transmitted through sound waves Nonverbal channel – all ways of communicating without words, such as tone of voice, facial expression,
Replies – idea or feeling Encoding – translating information into a message appropriate for transmission Transmission – The act of conveying a communication
Feedback – a message that tells the original sender how clearly the message was understood and
How Are Communication Channels Used in Organizations?
Managers are responsible for establishing and maintaining formal communication channels in downward, upward, and horizontal directions.
Formal Communication Channels
Formal communication channels are established within the organization’s chain of command in order to accomplish task objectives.
UPWARD COMMUNICATION Provides managers with info about: • • •
DOWNWARD COMMUNICATION Used by managers to:
Coordinati on
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Intradepartmental problem solving Interdepartmental coordination
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Employee surveys Suggestion boxes Face-to-face encounters Open-door policies Required reports
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Speeches Memos Newsletters Bulletin boards Policy & procedure manuals
Informal Communication Channels
Informal communication channels exist to serve the interests of those people who make them up, regardless of their positions in the organization. They are not formally sanctioned by management and do not follow the organization’s hierarchy; however, informal communications are often perceived by employees as more believable than communications received through formal channels. • The Grapevine – the informal communication channel for gossip and rumors. It satisfies social needs, helps clarify orders and decisions, and
Problem Solving
Current problems • Assign goals Progress toward goals • Provide job instructions Suggestions for • Policies/procedures/practice improvement s • Proposals for innovation • Provide performance feedback • Employee grievances HORIZONTAL COMMUNICATION problems • Point out • Feedback about attitudes • Socialize employees Communication that takes place among peers that can cut across departments & work groups, resulting in:
serves as a way of getting out information that can’t be expressed adequately through formal channels. About 80 percent of grapevine communication is work related, and over 80 percent of the time the grapevine is accurate. • • Social Gatherings Management by Wandering Around (MBWA) – Walking around the organization to informally chat with all levels of employees to learn about their concerns, ideas, and problems. Small Group Networks o Wheel – Provides more efficient and accurate problem solving of simple and routine tasks. Employee in the central position are much more active, satisfied, and likely to become leaders than those in the peripheral locations. o Star – More effective for ambiguous and complex problems. Group satisfaction is higher because group members participate more evenly.
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What Barriers to Communication Exist?
The image and credibility of the sender, stereotyping, past experiences, overexposure to data, attitudes, mindsets, perceptual filters, trust, and empathy all impact on what receivers of communication “hear” and how they interpret its meaning. Misinterpretation occurs when the receiver understands the message to his or her own satisfaction but not in the sense that the sender intended. The barriers to communication that can occur are: • Frames of reference – a person’s mindset, based on past experience and current expectations, which determines what is perceived and how it is interpreted. Within organizations, people with different functions often have different frames of reference. Semantics – the meaning and use of words that can differ between people & especially cultures. Many professional and social groups adopt a specialized technical language called jargon that provides them with a sense of belonging and simplifies communication within the in-group. Value judgments – a source of noise when a receiver evaluates the worth of a sender’s message before the sender has finished transmitting it. Often such value judgments are based on the receiver’s previous experience either with the sender or with similar types of communications. When listeners form value judgments, speakers are usually aware of it through verbal and nonverbal feedback. The frequent result is a highly distorted understanding. Selective listening – receiver behavior of blocking out information or distorting it to match preconceived notions. This problem occurs
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frequently in emotionally charged conversations when receivers listen only for an opening to speak. • Filtering – when the sender conveys only certain parts of the relevant information to the receiver. Filtering often occurs in upward communication when subordinates suppress negative information. Filtering is very common when people are being evaluated for promotions, salary increases, or performance appraisals. Additionally, when managers are deluged with more information than they can process effectively, one response is to screen out and never decode a large number of messages. Distrust – A lack of trust on the part of either communicator is likely to evoke one or more of the barriers we’ve just examined. Distrust itself may have arisen out of earlier communications barriers. Distrust is sometimes caused by status differences.
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How Can Messages Be Sent More Effectively?
Increase the Clarity of Messages
• Use multiple channels – the impact of a message can be increased by using more than one channel or mode of transmission to send it (audio, non-verbal, visual, etc …). Be complete and specific – when the subject matter is new or unfamiliar to the receiver, provide sufficient background information and details. Claim your own message – senders should use personal pronouns such as “I” and “mine”. This indicates to the receiver that the sender takes responsibility for the ideas and feelings expressed in the message. It’s better too to be up front rather than put the receiver on the defensive. Be congruent – make sure your messages are congruent with your actions. Simplify your language – effective communicators avoid jargon, slang, clichés, and colorful metaphors when communicating with people outside the industry or those who do not speak the language fluently.
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Develop Credibility
The credibility of a sender is probably the single most important element in effective interpersonal communications. Credibility is the sender’s degree of trustworthiness, as perceived by the receiver. • • Expertise – receivers will be more attentive when they perceive that a sender has expertise in the area about which he or she is communicating. Mutual trust – receivers prefer to have the sender’s motives clarified;
owning up to motives at the very beginning eliminates anxiety about a sender’s real intentions and does much to establish common trust. • Reliability – a sender’s perceived dependability, predictability, and consistency in providing all relevant information reinforce the sender’s perceived trustworthiness. Warmth and friendliness – a warm, friendly, supportive attitude is conducive to credibility. Dynamic appearance – a sender who is dynamic, confident, and positive is more credible. Personal reputation – if other members of the organization have told the receiver that a sender is credible, the receiver usually will tend to believe it.
• • •
Communicate Ethically
Interpersonal communications are ethical when they facilitate a person’s freedom of choice by presenting accurate, relevant information. Deception is the conscious alteration of information to significantly influence another’s perceptions. An overt lie is a false statement made with the deliberate intent to deceive. Covert lying occurs when one omits something relevant, leading others to draw incorrect inferences. Ethical behavior has very important consequences for a sender’s credibility.
Obtain Feedback
To ensure that each party understands what the other is trying to communicate, interpretations of received messages can be fed back for confirmation.
Criteria for Giving Feedback
Criteria for Receiving Feedback 1. Don’t be defensive 2. Seek specific examples 3. Be sure you understand (summarize) 4. Share your feelings about the comments 5. Ask for definitions 6. Check out underlying assumptions 7. Be sensitive to sender’s nonverbal messages 8. Ask questions to clarify
1. Make sure your comments are intended to help the recipient 2. Speak directly and with feeling based on trust 3. Describe what the person is doing and the effect the person is having 4. Don’t be threatening or judgmental 5. Be specific, not general (use clear and recent examples) 6. Give feedback when the recipient is open to accepting it
7. Check to ensure the validity of your statements 8. Include only things the receiver can do something about 9. Don’t overwhelm; make sure your comments aren’t more than the person can handle
How Can Messages Be More Accurately Received?
• Ask questions – we need to ask questions to obtain information we need. Questions motivate communication and open channels of communication, providing an environment in which employees also feel free to state their feelings, which helps managers communicate more effectively with a diverse work force. Listen – listening is an intellectual and emotional process in which the receiver integrates physical, emotional, and intellectual inputs in search of meaning. People can think nearly four times as fast as they can speak, leaving the listener with three times the mental capacity which should be used to summarize and relate data. Active listeners put themselves in the other person’s shoes. They practice sensing (recognize silent messages through nonverbal cues), attending (full attention to the verbal message), and responding (summarize and give feedback on the content and feelings of the message). Read nonverbal communication cues – if a person says one thing but the non-verbal communication is not consistent, it results in mixed messages. The visual component of nonverbal communication is body language or kinesics. The face is the best communicator of nonverbal messages. Most gestures are culturally bound and susceptible to misinterpretation. Other nonverbal channels are tactile, vocal, time, and physical spaces. Image is also a strong force of communication. Improving cross-cultural communication – global differences require employees and managers to acknowledge and understand how different cultures interpret, behave and interact. These differences also include gender differences.
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Book Summary – Management and Organizational Behavior
• Cook, C. W. & Hunsaker, P. L. (2001). Management and Organizational Behavior (3rd edition).
Chapter 9 – Creating Productive Interpersonal Relationships
What Influences Interpersonal Relations?
• Emotional intelligence (EQ) is a person’s ability to be aware of personal emotions and those of others in order to interact with others in productive ways. A manager’s success will largely be dependent upon his or her interpersonal skills, which is greatly affected by emotional intelligence. The key factors of emotional intelligence are: o Self-awareness – the basis for all other components; means being aware of what you are feeling, being conscious of the emotions within yourself. o Managing emotions – the manager is able to balance his or her own moods so that worry, anxiety, fear, or anger do not get in the way of what needs to be done. o Motivating oneself – the ability to be hopeful and optimistic despite obstacles, setbacks, or even outright failure. o Empathy – being able to put yourself in someone else’s shoes, to recognize what others are feeling without them needing to tell you. o Social skill – the ability to connect to others, build positive relationships, respond to the emotions of others, and influence others. • The A-B Model – a model that illustrates the chain of rapid events that occur between to interacting people. The interaction is affected by the needs, values, assumptions and feelings of each person, leading to perceptions, evaluations and intentions. All of these factors lead to consequences of the interaction, which may repeat the loop. Personality factors – several evaluations and reactions affect interpersonal relations, including: o Self-concept – our perception and evaluation of ourselves. A person’s self-concept includes their value system, which are internalized beliefs about what behavior, feelings, goals, and techniques are desirable. o Personal frame of reference – how we see the world based upon our past experiences and self-concept (also see chapter 5). o Defensiveness – a cognitive distortion that protects the selfconcept against being diminished. It occurs when you protect yourself by denying, excusing, or rationalizing your actions to
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protect your self-concept against the threat of being damaged by failure, guilt, shame, or fear. Common defense mechanisms are: rationalization, repression, reaction-formation, projection, regression, displacement, compensation, denial, withdrawal, resignation, conversion, counterdependence, and aggression. o Interpersonal relationship needs, expressed as a desire to give, and wanted in the desire to receive, which include: ? ? ? Inclusion – the need to establish and maintain relationships with other people Control – the need to maintain a balance of power and influence in relationships Affection – the need to form close and personal relationships with others
o Feelings – about themselves and others. • Interaction setting o Job requirements – determine how psychologically close or distant two people need to be to perform their work. The depth of interpersonal relationships required by a job depends on how complex the task is, whether the people involved possess different kinds of expertise, the frequency of the interaction in the job, and the degree of certainty with which job outcomes can be predicted. o Organizational culture – influences the general nature of employee relationships. The more culture fosters competitiveness, aggressiveness, and hostility, the greater the likelihood that people will be cautious and on guard with each other. Different interaction patterns can be distinguished by four primary factors: ? ? ? ? Openness – the degree to which participants share their thoughts and feelings Trust – the degree to which you believe someone else is honest and supportive Owning – taking responsibility for a problem versus blaming someone else Risk to experiment – degree to which you are punished for trying something new
o Trust levels – trust is the feeling of confidence that someone will act to benefit rather than harm you. Trust exists whenever you choose to let yourself be dependent on another person whose future behavior can affect your well-being. Relationships do not grow and develop until individuals trust each other. Covey suggests six major deposits to build up emotional bank accounts (trust): ? ? Understand and honor other peoples’ needs and priorities Attend to little things like showing kindness and being
? ? ? ?
courteous Keep commitments Clarify expectations Show personal integrity by keeping promises, being honest, fulfilling expectations, and being loyal Apologize sincerely when you make a withdrawal, without rationalizing
Why Do People Have Different Styles of Relating?
Interpersonal effectiveness is the degree to which the consequences of your behavior match your intentions. You can improve interpersonal effectiveness by disclosing your intentions, receiving feedback on your behavior, and modifying your behavior until it has the consequences you intend it to have.
Differences in Self-Disclosure
Self-disclosure is the process of revealing how you perceive and feel about the present. Without self-disclosure, you cannot form a meaningful relationship with another person.
The Johari window is a model of the different degrees of openness between two people based on their degree of self-disclosure and feedback solicitation. The model presents four windowpanes of awareness of others and ourselves.
Known to self Feedback Not known to self
Blind area – encompasses certain things about you that are apparent to others but not to yourself, either because no one has ever told you or because you defensively block them out. Blind spots, however, make you less Unknown area – repressed fears and needs or potential that neither you nor the other are aware of.
Known to others
Known area – information is disclosed and known by both parties; mutually shared perceptions confirm both parties’ frames of reference. Hidden area – the things that you are aware of but do not share because you may be afraid that others will think less of you, use the information to their advantage, or chastise you because they may hurt other’s
Managing openness: guidelines for self-disclosure. Because openness is risky it can be difficult to decide how open to be and with whom. Sharing your feelings and needs with others can build strong relationships in which you feel understood and cared about and have your needs satisfied. With the wrong parties, however, your openness could be used against you. Either too much or too little openness can be dysfunctional in different types of interpersonal relationships. Managing your openness means choosing when and how to be more open and authentic in your relationships with others. It means thinking before acting. Trust is a major determinant.
Disclosure
Not known to others
Different Behavioral Styles
A person’s behavior style is a person’s habitual way of interacting with other people. It can be determined by examining two dimensions. Responsiveness is a person’s degree of readiness to show emotions and develop relationships. Assertiveness refers to the amount of control a person tries to exercise over other people. High Responsiveness
Amiable Style
Amiables are very responsive, but unassertive, causing them to be supportive and reliable. Sometimes they appear to be complaining, soft hearted, and acquiescent. They are slow to take action and want to know how other people feel about a decision before they commit themselves. Amiables dislike interpersonal conflict so much that they often tell others what they think others want to hear rather than what is really one their minds. Amiables like expressing and receiving tender feelings of warmth and support, but abhor tough emotions like anger or hostility. They are good team players and have no trouble recognizing the person in charge, unlike drivers, who always act as if they are the boss. To get along with amiables, support their feelings and show personal interest in them. Move along in an informal manner and show the amiable that you are “actively listening” • • • • • • • • • Slow at taking action and making decisions Likes close, personal relationships Dislikes interpersonal conflict Supports and “actively” listens to others Weak at goal setting and self-direction Has excellent ability to gain support from others Works slowly and cohesively with others Seeks security and belongingness Good counseling skills
Expressive Style
Expressives are animated, intuitive, and lively, but they can also be manipulative, impetuous, and excitable. They are fast paced, make spontaneous decisions, and are not very concerned about facts and details. They thrive on involvement for others. They are very verbal and good at influencing and persuading. They are the cheerleaders. They like to be recognized. Expressives are very emotional and are relatively comfortable sharing their own feelings and hearing about the feelings of others. To maintain productive relationships with them, it helps not to hurry a discussion and to be entertaining. When striving for an agreement with an expressive, make sure that you both fully understand all the details and summarize everything in writing so it won’t be forgotten. • • • • • • • • • Spontaneous actions and decisions Likes involvement Dislikes being alone Exaggerates and generalizes Tends to dream and get others caught up in the dream Jims from one activity to another Works quickly and excitingly with others Seeks esteem and belongingness Good persuasive skills
Analytical Style
Analyticals are not very assertive or responsive. They are persistent, systematic problem solvers who sometimes appear aloof, picky, and critical. They need to be right, which can lead them to rely too heavily on data. In their search for perfection, they avoid being confrontational, and think before they speak. Analyticals suppress their feelings because they are uncomfortable with any type of emotion. To get along with an analytical, try to be systematic, organized, and prepared. Analyticals require solid, tangible, and factual evidence. Do not use gimmicks or push them for a fast decision. Take
Driver Style
Drivers are highly assertive but not very responsive. They are firm with others and make decisions rapidly. They are oriented toward productivity and concerned with bottom-line results, so drivers can be stubborn, impatient, and tough minded. Drivers string to dominate and control people to achieve their tasks. Drivers like expressing and reacting to tough emotions, but are uncomfortable either receiving or expressing tender feelings. You can maintain a productive relationship with a driver if you are precise, efficient, and well organized. You should keep the relationship businesslike. To influence a
High Assertiveness
Low Assertiveness
time to explain the alternatives and the advantages and disadvantages of your recommendations. • • • • • • • • • Cautious actions and decisions Likes organization and structure Dislikes involvement with others Asks many questions and wants specific details Prefers objective, task-oriented, intellectual work environment Wants to be right and therefore relies heavily on data collection Works slowly and precisely alone Seeks security and self-actualization Good problem-solving skills
driver in the direction you desire, provide options you are comfortable with, but let the driver make a decision. • • • • • • • • • Firm actions and decisions Likes control Dislikes inaction Prefers maximum freedom to manage self and others Cool and independent; competitive with others Low tolerance for feelings, attitudes, and advice of others Works quickly and impressively alone Seek esteem and self-actualization Good administrative skills
Low Responsiveness
Male/Female Differences
An early emphasis on relatedness and connection causes women to develop, more highly than men, the qualities of vulnerability, empathy, and an ability to empower and enable others. Men are socialized to deny feeling vulnerable and are encouraged to strive for self-reliance, strength, and independence, while women are expected to attend to their own and others’ feelings and connect emotionally with others. Women are better able to nonjudgmentally address weaknesses in themselves and others. Women learn to listen with empathy and to be responsive and sensitive to others’ emotions. Men, on the other hand, are encouraged to be rational and strong and to deny feelings in order to maintain rationality and control. Finally, women grow up expecting a two-directional pattern of relational growth, where contributing to the development of others will increase their feelings of effectiveness and competence and where others will be motivated to reciprocate. This is opposed to men’s early training, which emphasizes independence and competiveness. Consequently, women are more naturally adaptable to helping others at work in coaching or mentoring relationships. Males and females differ in their reactions to authority figures and how they prefer to deal with conflict. In terms of supervisor preference, females tend to have more positive attitudes toward female managers than do males. They also perceive female managers are more competent than males perceive them. With respect to conflict, more female managers than male managers have been socialized to avoid confrontation altogether or to seek help in resolving them. More women than men settle for noninfluential roles rather than become involved in power struggles and conflicts. In contrast, many men have been taught to overemphasize power and strive for one-upmanship
even when it is unnecessary or counter productive. Effectively managing sexual attraction in relationships involves learning to communicate directly, setting personal boundaries, and having a sense of ethics.
Book Summary – Management and Organizational Behavior
• Cook, C. W. & Hunsaker, P. L. (2001). Management and Organizational Behavior (3rd edition).
Chapter 10 – Building Groups into Teams
When groups do not act like teams and are nonproductive and dissatisfying, it is usually because their members lack necessary attitudes, knowledge and skills to work together effectively. Or, if they have not been provided with clear objectives, structures, and appropriate environments by management.
What Are Groups and What Functions Do They Perform?
Work groups are the manager’s main vehicle for accomplishing organizational tasks. Groups also satisfy personal needs for friendship, selfesteem, and identity. A group is two or more people who perceive themselves as a distinct entity, regularly interact and influence one another over a period of time, share common values, and strive for common objectives.
Formal Groups
A formal group is a group intentionally established by a manager to accomplish specific organizational objectives. A standing task group is a permanent group formally specified in the organizational structure consisting of a supervisor and direct subordinates. A task group is a temporary formal group created to solve specific problems. Contributions to Organizations
1. Accomplish complex, interdependent tasks that are beyond the capabilities of individuals. 2. Create new ideas 3. Coordinate interdepartmental efforts 4. Solve complex problems requiring varied information and perspectives 5. Implement action plans 6. Socialize and train newcomers
Contributions to Individuals
1. Satisfy needs for affiliation 2. Confirm identity and enhance selfesteem 3. Test and share perceptions of social reality 4. Reduce feelings of insecurity and powerlessness 5. Provide a mechanism for solving personal and interpersonal problems
Informal Groups
An informal group is a group that emerges through the efforts of individuals to satisfy personal needs not met by the formal organization. Membership in informal groups is based on common interests and mutual attraction versus being assigned, as it is in formal groups. The subtle
influence of informal groups over their members’ behaviors often turns out to be more powerful than the vested authority of formal groups. This influence can be both positive and negative. An interest group is an informal group consisting of individuals who affiliate to achieve an objective of mutual interest. A friendship group is an informal group based on common characteristics that are not necessarily work related. A reference group is a group with which an individual identifies to form opinions and make decisions regardless of whether he or she is an actual member. Reference groups are the basis for many friendship and interest groups, but they may also exist outside of the organization and still influence a person’s behavior at work. Reference groups are based on things like race, gender, politics, religion, social class, education level, and profession. Reference groups provide values for individuals on which to base personal decisions and norms that justify social behavior, both of which may or may not be congruent with organizational preferences. Contributions to Individuals
1. Satisfaction of social and affiliation needs 2. Satisfaction of needs for security and support 3. Enhanced status for members if the group is perceived by others as prestigious 4. Enhanced feelings of self-esteem if a member is valued by other group members 5. Feeling more competent by sharing the power of the group to influence and achieve
Contributions to Organizations
1. Solidify common social values and expectations congruent with organizational culture 2. Provide and enforce guidelines for appropriate behavior 3. Provide social satisfaction unlikely for anonymous individual workers to experience 4. Provide a sense of identity that often includes a certain degree of status 5. Enhance members access to information 6. Help integrate new employees into the information expectations of the organization
How Do Groups Develop?
Groups have life cycles similar to people. A group’s effectiveness is influenced by its stage of development and how well its members have learned to work together. To become stable, cohesive, and effective, a group must resolve issues about goals, power, and intimacy as it progresses through several stages of maturation.
The Five-Stage Model of Group Development
Different groups will remain at various stages of development for different lengths of time, and some may remain at a given stage permanently, either by design or because the group is stalled. By being aware of a group’s
process, its leader can facilitate members’ functioning at each stage and the transition to the next stage of development. 1. Forming – in a newly formed group, a lot of uncertainties exist about the group’s purpose, structure, and leadership. Members are concerned about exploring friendship and task potentials. They don’t have a strategy for addressing the group’s task. They don’t know yet what behaviors are acceptable as they try to determine how to satisfy needs for acceptance and personal goal satisfaction. As awareness increases, this stage of group development is completed when members accept themselves as a group and commit to group goals. 2. Storming – The next stage involves intragroup conflict about the clarification of roles and behavioral expectations. Disagreement is inevitable as members attempt to decide on task procedures, role assignments, ways of relating, and power allocations. One objective at this stage is to resolve the conflicts about power and task structure. Another is to work through the accompanying hostility and replace it with a sense of acceptance and belonging that is necessary to progress to the next stage. 3. Norming – Cooperation is the theme of the norming stage, which involves the objectives of promoting open communication and increasing cohesion as members establish a common set of behavioral expectations. Members agree on a structure that divides work tasks, provides leadership, and allocates other roles. Desired outcomes for this stage of group development are increased member involvement and mutual support as group harmony emerges. If groups become too contented, however, they can get stalled at this stage because they do not want to crease conflict or challenge established ways of doing things. 4. Performing – In this stage of development, group members are no longer conflicted about acceptance and how to relate to each other. Now members work interdependently to solve problems are committed to the group’s mission. Productivity is at its peak. Desired outcomes are achievement and provide, and major concerns include preventing loss of enthusiasm and sustaining momentum. For permanent work groups, this is hopefully the final and ongoing state of development. 5. Adjourning – The adjournment or separation phase occurs when temporary groups like task forces and committees disband after they have accomplished their goals. Feelings about disbanding range from sadness and depression at the loss of friendships to happiness and fulfillment due to what has been achieved. The leader can facilitate positive closure at this stage by recognizing and rewarding group performance. Ceremonial events bring closure to the desired emotional outcome of a sense of satisfaction and accomplishment.
Moderators to the Five-Stage Sequence of Group Development
• Task deadlines – Given a deadline for task completion, a group will develop its own distinctive approach to problem solving until about halfway through the allotted time. At this midpoint, most groups change their approach to the task and apply a burst of concentrated energy, reexamining assumptions and ineffective behaviors and replacing them with new approaches that usually contribute to dramatic gains in progress. These more productive behaviors are maintained until close to the deadline, when a final burst of activity to finish the job occurs. Group composition – Other developmental differences have been found between culturally diverse and homogeneous groups. Newly formed homogeneous groups are more effective than heterogeneous ones through the first part of the task (performing) stage. After settling into the performing stage, however, heterogeneous groups catch up and perform comparable to homogeneous ones. More diverse groups actually become slightly more proficient at identifying problems and generating solution alternatives if they continue to work together for long periods of time.
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How Are Groups Structured?
After a group has progressed through the stages of development previously described, certain stable patterns of relationships exist among its members. Communication networks have been established, bonds of intimacy and interpersonal attraction have emerged, powerful and influential members have been identified, agreement regarding appropriate behavior has been reached, and the relative esteem for each team member has been established in a hierarchy. These patterns of relationships constitute the group’s structure and directly impact each member’s behaviors.
Functional Group Roles
A role is an expected set of recurring behaviors that is expected from a member by others in the group. Some group roles are functional in that they help the group achieve its goals. Other roles, which are usually motivated by specific individual needs, are dysfunctional and interfere with group effectiveness. After a group has matured to the performing stage, personal behaviors detrimental to the group are mostly eliminated and members adopt behaviors beneficial to group performance. Two types of functional roles emerge: • • Task roles directly help accomplish group goals. Maintenance roles help establish and maintain good relationships among group members.
Personal roles are those that only meet individual needs and are usually detrimental to the group. Personal roles need to be replaced with maintenance and task roles before a group can become an effective team.
Task Roles • • • • • • Initiating Giving information Seeking information Summarizing Elaborating Consensus testing
Maintenance Roles • • • • • • Encouraging Harmonizing Setting group standards Gate keeping Compromising Providing feedback
Personal Roles • • • • • Blocking Recognition seeking Dominating Avoiding Seeking help
Norms are commonly held expectations about appropriate group member behavior. They are established over time for behaviors that have a significant impact on a group. Formal norms exist as written rules and procedures for all employees to obey. Most norms are informal in that they develop from group members’ own experiences of what behaviors help and hinder their performance and satisfaction. The most common norms are performance-related processes. There are usually norms about appearance. Informal social arrangements are also dictated y norms. Finally, norms relegate the allocation of resources. Status is the measure of relative worth and respect conferred upon an individual by the group. Higher status is more likely to be awarded to members who are willing to put in the necessary work to make the group successful. Cohesiveness is the degree of attractiveness of a group to its members and the closeness of the interpersonal bonds between group members. The more cohesive a group, the more effective it will be in meeting member needs and the more conformity it can demand from its members. Eight sources of high cohesiveness are: common goals, success experience, small size, interpersonal attraction, challenge of a common enemy, high status, cooperation among group members, and female composition (women are thought to be more cooperative and less competitive). Performance Norms
Cohesiveness
High High productivity Medium productivity
Low Low productivity Medium to low productivity
High Low
Advantages and Disadvantages of Group Problem Solving
Advantages group have over individuals • • • • More knowledge and information Diversity of viewpoints Increased understanding Better implementation Disadvantages groups have • • • • • Competing goals Time consuming Social pressure to conform Domination by a few Ambiguous responsibility
What Are the Threats to Group Effectiveness?
• • Inappropriate conformity is when individual members go along with decisions they believe are clearly wrong. Groupthink is a state in groups where the pressures for conformity are so great that they dominate members’ abilities to realistically appraise alternative decision options. Symptoms of groupthink include: illusions of group invulnerability, collective rationalization, illusion of group morality, stereotypes of competitors, pressure to conform, self-censorship, illusions of unanimity, and mind guarding. Social loafing is the tendency of individuals to exert less effort when working in a group than when working individually.
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TOPIC: What might be a cause of social loafing? • Group composition affects group effectiveness. Members with individualistic cultures are more prevalent to social loafing. Heterogeneous groups can enhance or harm effectiveness. Gender differences can cause some problems.
How Can Groups Become More Effective?
• Leadership facilitation, the leader’s ability to facilitate the process can be enhanced. Group leaders need to ensure that all participants feel free to contribute. The leader’s role is to establish a cooperative environment in which all opinions are heard and evaluated before a solution is reached. Improve meeting facilitation by: o Preparing and distributing an agenda well in advance of the meeting o Consulting with participants before the meeting o Establishing specific time parameters o Maintaining focused discussion o Encouraging and supporting pariticipation by all members o Encouraging the clash of ideas
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o Discouraging the clash of personalities o Facilitating careful listening o Bringing proper closure • Team building includes all activities aimed at improving the problem solving ability of group members by resolving task and interpersonal issues that impede the team’s functioning. Form new groups – it is usually easier to form a completely new group than to deal with the resistance that must be overcome when trying to change existing groups. When starting a new group, address the following questions: where are we going, who are we, where are we now, and how will we get there?
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How Do Teams Differ from Groups?
A team is a relatively permanent work group whose members share common goals, are interdependent, and are accountable as a functioning unit to the organization as a whole. Three types of teams: • • • Teams that recommend things Teams that make or do things Teams that run things
How Do Groups Develop Into Teams?
• • • • • • • • • Determine performance goals that can be immediately achieved to create early success Make sure that members have the appropriate skills Establish demanding performance standards and provide direction Create a sense of urgency in the first meeting Set clear rules of behavior The leader should model appropriate behaviors Members spend lots of time together bonding as a team socially and while working Continually give the team and individual members positive feedback and rewards Regularly challenge the team with new projects or problems to solve
How Do Teams Maintain and Improve Their Effectiveness?
• Role analysis technique – clarifies role expectations and obligations of team members through a structured process of mutually defining and delineating role requirements. Role negotiation technique – a controlled negotiation process between team members that results in written agreements to change specific
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behaviors by conflicting parties. • • Responsibility charting – a technique for clarifying who is responsible for what on various decisions and actions within the team. Sensitivity training – unstructured feedback meetings where members share observations and feelings about each other to help improve sensitivity of behavior toward others and the team’s ability to function. Structured feedback procedures are meetings where members share feedback with each other by using a prepared format. Self-assessment inventories are paper and pencil tests that reveal participant characteristics. Exercises and simulations – activities participants engage in to generate behavior for feedback that can be analyzed and used to develop improvement plans.
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Book Summary – Management and Organizational Behavior
• Cook, C. W. & Hunsaker, P. L. (2001). Management and Organizational Behavior (3rd edition).
Chapter 11 – Conflict Management & Negotiation
Conflict is a disagreement between two or more parties who perceive that they have incompatible concerns. In some cases, conflict can actually stimulate creative problem solving and improve the situation for all parties involved.
The Conflict Management Process
Stages of Conflict
Stage 1 Latent conflict – antecedent conditions (sources of conflict): • • Interdependence Different goals Sources of Conflict
Consequences
Functional Conflict Conflict between groups that stimulates innovations and production. A conflict-positive organization is where participants perceive conflict as an opportunity for personal and organizational growth. • Problem awareness • Increased group cohesiveness (band together against a common enemy) • Increased loyalty • Motivation to improve • Creative change Dysfunctional Conflict Conflict between groups in the same organization that hinders the achievement of group and organizational goals. • Sub optimization • Negative feelings • Distorted perceptions – emphasize negatives of others and inflate positives of their own group • Negative stereotypes • Decreased communication
Goal Incompatibility
• Mutually exclusive
Stage 2 Perceived Conflict • Aware of a problem • Incompatibility is perceived • Tension begins
goals – win-lose goal conflict • Lack of resources – winlose conflict over resources • Different time orientations (urgency)
Structural Design
Stage 3 Felt conflict
• • • Emotionally involved Focus on differences Opposing interests
• Interdependence – the
Stage 4 Manifest Conflict
• Conflict behaviors: disagreeing, verbal attacks, ultimatums
Stage 5 Conflict Outcome
• Functional – positive outcomes, creative problem solving, complacency avoidance Dysfunctional – negative outcomes, aggression and hostility, inability to cooperate
degree to which interactions between parties must be coordinated in order for them to perform adequately (pooled, reciprocal, & sequential) • Lack of substitutability – the dependent party often perceives a lack of alternatives as a conflict. • Power differentials Different Role Expectations Role – A set of tasks and behaviors that an individual or group is expected to perform. • Role ambiguity – unclear expectations • Role conflict – different expectations • Uncertainty reduction – power differences from
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groups making rules to reduce uncertainty
Degenerative Climate
Climate that encourages dysfunctional conflict. • Win-lose attitudes • People with different values & expectations • Merged cultural differences
Personal Differences
• Different values • Different preferred way of behaving • Different views of the world
How Can Conflict Be Productively Managed?
Conflict Style Orientations
Conflict management styles are the different combinations or assertiveness and cooperation that people emphasize when in a conflict situation.
Conflict Management Strategies
Avoiding Intergroup Conflict
• Integrating departments - fulltime
coordinators groups
behavior, embodied in the parties’ pursuit of their own concerns at others’ expense (often used by power-oriented people). Can be beneficial when quick action is vital. competing, unassertive and cooperative behavior. Appropriate when the issue at stake is much more important to the other. behavior (sidestep, postpone, or withdraw). Appropriate when the issue involved is relatively unimportant to you. Also when you have little power or are in a situation that is very difficult to change. consists of assertive and cooperative behavior. It involves working with the other person to find a solution that fully satisfies both parties. A necessity when the concerns of both parties are too important
Cost
• Competing – Assertive and uncooperative
• Teams - coordinating team between • Task forces - temp group to resolve
problems
• Accommodating – the opposite of
• Liaison roles - expedites lateral
communication groups
• Planning - coordinates interacting • Hierarchy - conflict passed up the
hierarchy
• Avoiding – Unassertive and uncooperative
• Rules and procedures
(recurring/anticipated) Reducing Dysfunctional Conflict
• Collaborating – The opposite of avoiding;
• Superordinate goals – determine an
overriding goal that requires cooperative effort of both conflicting parties. A derivative strategy is to focus on a common enemy.
to be compromised.
• Communication – devising means to
• Compromising – Falls somewhere
between assertive and cooperative behaviors. The objectives is to find a mutually acceptable middle ground that partially satisfies both parties. Appropriate when goals are moderately important but not worth the effort of collaboration or the possible disruption of competition. the collaborating and compromising approaches. Occurs whenever two or more parties enter into a discussion in an attempt to determine a mutually acceptable resolution.
increase communication can do much to correct misunderstandings, reduce negative stereotypes, and develop positive feelings. conflicts through a mutual airing of differences, complaints, and negative feelings. limited resources.
• Problem solving – identify and solve
• Negotiating – the practical application of
• Expansion of resources if conflict of • Third-party judgment – a common boss
or mediator in resolving disputes.
Participants from different cultures have different conflict style orientations consistent with their cultural values. Women seem to be more concerned about relationships. This leads them to prefer a collaborative style, and more willingness to compromise, or even accommodate. Men, on the other hand, are usually more competitive and less concerned about the relationship.
• Changing organizational structure –
when reasons for conflict are scarce resources, status differences, or power imbalances.
• Avoidance – although avoidance is
ineffective in the long run, certain controlled conditions can be established to lessen the short-term consequences of conflict.
Guidelines for effective negotiating: Consider the other party’s situation Have a plan and concrete strategy Begin with a positive overture Address problems, not personalities Maintain a rational, goal-oriented frame of mind 6. Pay little attention to initial offers 7. Emphasize win-win solutions 8. Create a climate of trust 9. Insist on using objective criteria 10. Be open to accepting third-party assistance 11. Adapt to cultural differences 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Book Summary – Management and Organizational Behavior
• Cook, C. W. & Hunsaker, P. L. (2001). Management and Organizational Behavior (3rd edition).
Chapter 12 – Ethical Problem Solving & Decision Making
What Are the Steps for Rational Problem Solving?
Problem solving is the process of eliminating the discrepancy between actual and desired outcomes. Decision making is selecting the best solution from among feasible alternatives.
Problem Awareness
1. Establish trust – people need to feel secure enough to acknowledge that a problem exists. 2. Clarify objectives – an objective is a desired outcome that we want to achieve. This provides a documented statement of what you intend to accomplish; establishes a basis for measuring performance; provides positive motivation through knowing what is expected; and helps to provide a road map. 3. Assess the current situation – focus on the “what” and the “how” of the organization and that of the people involved. 4. Identify problems – to identify a problem accurately, it must be understood from all points of view. Many times a flowchart (process flow diagram) is used to identify process problems.
Problem Definition
1. Analyze problems – the goal is to determine the root cause of the problem. A cause-and-effect diagram (fishbone chart) are sometimes used to represent the relationship between some “effect” and all possible “causes” influencing it. 2. Agree on problems to be solved – you must set priorities regarding which problem will be worked on first and which follow (and when or if at all). A Pareto chart is a vertical bar graph that indicates which problems, or causes of problems, should be solved first.
Decision Making
1. Establish decision-making criteria – criteria are statements of objectives that need to be met for a problem to be solved. Effective criteria should possess the following characteristics:
• • • •
Specific, measurable, and attainable Complementary – the achievement of one should not reduce the likelihood of achieving another. Ethical – Criteria should be legal, fair, and observant of human rights. Acceptable – criteria must be acceptable to all interested parties.
2. Develop action alternatives 3. Evaluate benefits and risks of alternatives – Important criteria to consider in evaluating action alternatives are each alternative’s probability of success and the associated degree of risk that negative consequences will occur. Degree of risk can be given in four categories: • • • • Certainty exists if the exact results of implementing a problem solution are known in advance. Known risk is present when the probably that a given alternative will produce specific outcomes can be predicted. Uncertainty exists when decision makers are unable to assign any probabilities to the consequences associated with an alternative. Turbulence occurs when the environment is rapidly changing and decision makers are not even clear about relevant variables, available solution options, or potential consequences of decisions.
4. Decide on a plan – the decision-making goal is to select the best solution alternative for solving the entire problem without creating any additional negative consequences for anyone else in the organization. You can use a decision making grid like the one below to assist:
Alternativ e Benefits Probabilit y of success Costs Risks Associate d conseque nces Timing
Alternative 1 Alternative 2
Action Plan Implementation
1. Assign tasks and responsibilities – clarify both verbally and in writing what each person involved will do to make the new action plan work. 2. Establish an implementation schedule – all necessary tasks need a specified time schedule for completion. You can use a Gantt chart, which is a graphical planning and control method that breaks down a
project into separate tasks and estimates the time needed for their completion. 3. Reinforce commitment 4. Activate the plan
Follow Through
1. Establish criteria for success – these criteria serve as the benchmarks for measuring and comparing results. 2. Determine how to measure performance 3. Monitor the results – each implementation step may alter the problem situation. 4. Take corrective action – as needed
What Is Ethical Decision Making?
Ethics is the discipline for dealing with what is good and bad and with moral duty and obligations. Ethical behavior is behavior that conforms to accepted standards of conduct. Ethical reasoning is the process of sorting out the principles that help determine what is ethical when faced with an ethical dilemma. An ethical dilemma is a situation or problem facing an individual that involves complex and often conflicting principles of ethical behavior.
One Ethical Decision Making Model
Ethical Question Ethical Source (sources from Hosmer, Velasquez, & Cook)
Cost/benefit analysis
Economic Analysis 1. What are the best economic alternatives? Legal & Policy Analysis 2. Is the action legal in all countries and localities were it would be taken? 3. Does the action violate any professional or organizational codes of conduct, rules, or policies? Ethical Analysis
The legal system of the affected countries and localities
Professional and organizational policies
4. Does the decision result in greater benefits than damages for society as a whole, not just for our organization? 5. Is the decision selfserving, or would we be willing to have everyone else take the same action when faced with the same circumstances? 6. We understand the need for social cooperation; will our decision increase or decrease the willingness of others to contribute?
Utilitarianism – acting in such a way that the greatest good is achieved for the greatest number.
Kant’s Categorical Imperative - The person’s reasons for acting must be reasons that everyone could act on at least in principle; and the person’s reasons for acting must be reasons that he or she would be willing to have all others use, even as a basis of how they treat him or her. An action is morally right for a person if, and only if, in performing the action, the person does not use others merely as a means for advancing his or her own interests, but also both respects and develops their capacity to choose freely for themselves. (Velasquez, 2002). Social good – positive decision results such as happiness, benefit or least harm. An ethic of care emphasizes two moral demands: • We each exist in a web of relationships and should preserve and nurture those concrete and valuable relationships we have with specific persons; • We each should exercise special care for those with whom we are concretely related by attending to their particular needs, values, desires, and concrete well-being as seen from their own personal perspective, and by responding positively to these needs, values, desires, and concrete well-being, particularly of those who are vulnerable and dependant on our care. (Velasquez, 2002).
7. We recognize the importance of personal freedom; will our decision increase or decrease the liberty of others to act? 8. Does the action result in benefit for the least advantaged person? 9. Would the benefits and burdens resulting from the action be distributed fairly?
• Fairness - Rawls: “A) Each person has an equal right to the most
extensive basic liberties compatible with similar liberties for all (these basic liberties include the right to vote, freedom of speech and conscience and other civil liberties, freedom to hold personal property, and freedom from arbitrary arrest.), and B) Social and economic inequalities are arranged so that they are both: 1) To the greatest benefit of the least advantaged persons and 2) Attached to offices and positions open to all under conditions of fair equality of opportunity.” (Velasquez, 2002). Distributive justice –fair distribution of benefits and burdens across a group or society.
• Egalitarian justice: “every person should be given exactly equal
shares of a society’s or a groups benefits and burdens.” (Velasquez, 2002).
• Capitalist justice: “benefits should be distributed according to • Socialist justice: “from each according to his ability, to each
according to his need”. (Velasquez, 2002).
the value of the contribution the individual makes to a society, a task, a group, or an exchange”. (Velasquez, 2002).
• Libertarian justice: “Everyone should act to ensure greater
10. Does the action infringe on the moral rights or dignity of others? 11. Does the action help to build one of the moral virtues in that person?
freedom of choice, for this promotes market exchange, which is essential for social productivity.” (Hosmer, 1996). make to behave or to have others behave toward him or her in a certain way.
• Right is a justified claim or entitlement that an individual can
• Virtue theory argues the aim of the moral life is to develop those
general dispositions we call the moral virtues (courage, temperance, justice, prudence, faith, hope and charity), and to exercise and exhibit them in the many situations that human life sets before us (Velasquez, 2002).
12. How would I feel if this action becomes public knowledge?
• The front page of the New York Times test
What Are Individual Differences in Decision Styles?
Decision styles are learned habits for processing decision-making information. • • A satisficer uses just enough information to arrive at a feasible solution (advantage when time is an important factor). A maximizer continues to gather information until nothing new can be learned about the problem (important when problems are complicated and there is little time pressure). Solution focus refers to the number of alternatives that a person develops for dealing with a problem. o Unifocus people are committed to one dominant criterion and consequently favor a single solution to a problem (advantage when efficiency is important, when it is possible to adopt only one solution, or when rules and regulations narrowly limit the range of choices). o Multifocus people apply several criteria an generate several solutions to a problem (advantage when there is a need to find new ways of doing things or it is important to “cover all the bases”). Five Dominant Decision Styles Solution Focus
The number of alternatives that a person develops for dealing with a problem.
•
Information Use
Satisficer Uses just enough information to arrive at a feasible solution (advantage when time is an important factor Maximizer Continues to gather information until nothing new can be learned about the problem (important when problems are complicated and there is little time pressure)
Unifocus People committed to one dominant criterion and consequently favor a single solution to a problem (advantage when efficiency is important, when it is possible to adopt only one solution, or when rules and regulations narrowly limit the range of choices) Multifocus People that apply several criteria an generate several solutions to a problem (advantage when there is a need to find new ways of doing things or it is important to “cover all the bases”)
Decisive People that use just enough information to reach one workable solution. Fast-thinking, actionoriented people who place high importance on efficiency, promptness, and reliability. They usually stick to one course of action for dealing with a particular problem. Flexible Use a minimal amount of information, but they are multi-focused and so produce several solutions for a problem. Actionoriented, but they place greater importance on adaptability than on efficiency. Like to keep options open.
Hierarchic Analyze a large amount of information thoroughly to develop a single, best solution to a problem. Place great emphasis on logic and quality. Tend to be slow to make decisions the first time they encounter a problem, but they speed up after they develop a method for handling that type. Integrative Utilize a very large amount of information to produce multiple solutions to problems. Value exploration, experimentation, and creativity. Look at problems from many points of view and see numerous options for dealing with a single problem. Sometimes have difficulty deciding.
Systemic This two-stage decision style combines both integrative and hierarchic patterns. Initially approaches a problem in the integrative way, viewing it from many points of view and exploring multiple solutions. After examining many options, the person becomes more hierarchic, subjecting various alternatives to a rigorous analysis that ends with a clearly prioritized set of solutions. The systemic usually develops a very broad understanding of a problem. Systemics examine multiple problems simultaneously to understand the broader implications of situations. Tend to be slow at decision.
The Degree of Participation in Decision-Making
The specific needs for quality, acceptance, and time provide the impetus for choosing among the five degrees of participation in any given situation. Answers to the following seven questions can indicate the most appropriate degree of participation in any given decision situation: • How important is the technical quality of this decision? • How important is subordinate commitment to the decision? • Do you have sufficient information to make a high-quality decision? • Is the problem well structured? • If you were to make the decision by yourself, is it reasonable certain that your subordinate(s) would be committed to the decision? • Do subordinates share the organizational goals to be attained in solving
this problem? • Is conflict among subordinates over preferred solutions likely? • Do subordinates have sufficient information to make a high-quality decision? The answers to these questions (see page 437) lead to five different decision approaches: • AI – You solve the problem or make the decision yourself, using information available at the time. • AII – You obtain the necessary information from your subordinate(s), then decide on the solution to the problem yourself. You may or may not tell your subordinates what the problem is in getting the information from them. The role played by your subordinates in making the decision is clearly on of providing the necessary information to you, rather than generating or evaluating alternative solutions. • CI – You share the problem with relevant subordinates individually, getting their ideas and suggestions without bringing them together as a group. Then you make the decision that may or may not reflect your subordinates’ influence. • CII – You share the problem with your subordinates as a group, collectively obtaining their ideas and suggestions. Then you make the decision that may or may not reflect your subordinates’ influence. • GII – You share the problem with your subordinates as a group. Together you generate and evaluate alternatives and attempt to reach agreement (consensus) on a solution. Your role is much like that of chairman. You do not try to influence the group to adopt “your” solution, and you are willing to accept and implement any solution that has the support of the entire group.
How Can Problems Be Solves More Effectively?
Encouraging Creativity
Brainstorming – a small group approach for achieving high participation and increasing the number of action alternatives. Rules for effective brainstorming promote the goal of quantity of ideas no matter how farfetched, allow no criticism or evaluation of ideas as they are generated, allow only one idea at a time from each person, and encourage people to build on each other’s ideas. Nominal Group Technique is a highly-structured group problem-solving format that governs the decision-making process. First participants independently write down their ideas about a problem. Second, each presents one idea to the group in a round-robin fashion without discussion.
These ideas are summarized and written on a flip chart or blackboard so all can see them. After a group discussion to clarify and evaluate the ideas, an independent ranking of the proposals takes place. These rankings are pooled to determine the proposal with the highest aggregate ranking, which is the group’s decision. Delphi Technique is a structured group problem-solving process where participants do not meet together but interact through a series of written judgments and suggestions. After each participant has been presented with the problem, he or she writes down comments and possible solutions and sends them to a central location for recording and reproduction. Each participant then receives a copy of all other comments and solutions to use as a springboard for additional ideas or comments. These also are returned to the central location for compilation and reproduction, and an independent vote on solution priority is taken. Group Decision Support Systems are electronic and computer supported data processing tools that can facilitate group decision-making in certain situations.
Book Summary – Management and Organizational Behavior
• Cook, C. W. & Hunsaker, P. L. (2001). Management and Organizational Behavior (3rd edition).
Chapter 13 – Power and Politics
What Is Power and How Do We Gain It?
Power is the ability of A (the power holder) to alter circumstances impacting on B so that B does what A wants done. Managers can be most influential if they can get colleagues to cooperate without resorting to formal authority or position power. The intentions of power determine its positive or negative effect. Organizational Position Power – a form of power that originates from the rights a person holds by virtue of the organizational hierarchy – the legitimate authority to reward and punish. • Formal authority – legitimate power derived directly from a person’s title and position in the organizational hierarchy. The effectiveness of authority ultimately depends on subordinates’ acceptance of a manager’s right to command. • Control of rewards – reward power is demonstrated when a person offers to reward others for doing something he or she wants (promotion, pay raises, sought after assignments). Its strength rests on the desirability and magnitude of the rewards and on the perception of others that the manager can (and will) provide the rewards if they comply with directives or requests. • Control of resources – power gained by controlling access to resources others need or want often provokes ethical issues. Power from Personal Attributes • Expert power originates when a person is perceived to have superior knowledge, experiences, or judgment that others need and do not possess themselves. You degree of expert power depends on your performance record over time, the important of your area of expertise, and the alternative sources of such knowledge available to others. A mentor (a person with more expertise who helps those with less) enjoys expert power. • Referent power – comes from being respected, likable, and worthy of emulation. Charisma is a quality of admiration when others identify with and are attracted to a leader they look up to. • Reciprocal alliances – are when people engage in mutually beneficial exchanges and build alliances or networks. Reciprocity is the trading of
power or favors for mutual gain. Power from Situational Forces • Coercive power – is the ability to withhold desired resources or make life unpleasant for those who do not comply with the power holder’s requests. Coercive power is based on fear and is likely to arouse anger, resentment, and even retaliation. Coercion is one of the most commonly used forms of power. • Information power – stems from the ability o control access to critical information and it distribution. • Association power arises when one person has influence with another who possesses power.
How Do People Engage in Organizational Politics?
Organizational politics is the deliberate management of influence to achieve outcomes not approved by the organization, or to obtain sanctioned outcomes through non-approved methods. • Organizational uncertainty increases conflict and politics. Conflict often results when performance criteria are ambiguous, goals inconsistent or dissimilar, rewards uncertain, work flows interdependent, communication lacking, or organizational participants highly competitive. • Important, decentralized decisions invite politics. When power is widely dispersed and decision-making processes are ad hoc, politics comes into greater play. • Forms of Political Manipulation o Persuasion – the manipulator tries emotion and logic to influence the way others perceive the situation. o Inducement is a stronger positive force that relies on the use of power. The manipulator offers some form of reward in exchange for compliance. o Obligation is a negative form of political manipulation that draws on feelings of owing the manipulator something. o Coercion is where the manipulator alters the situation so that the other is worse off unless they comply. Experienced politicions often delegate coercive tactics to a committee or subordinate so they don’t appear to be the “heavy”. • Political tactics o Maintain alliances with powerful people. Forming coalitions and networking is basic to gaining power in any organization. o Avoid alienation. Don’t injure someone who is or might soon be
in a position to take revenge. o Use information as currency. That person now owes you a favor and may perceive you as someone on whom he or she is dependent for future information. o Withdraw from petty disputes. Be gracious in yielding on an issue that is important to another person but not to you. Doing so builds credibility and an indepbted ness that might be reciprocated at a later date. o Avoid decisive engagement. By advancing slowly toward a political end, it may be possible to progress undetected or at least remain inconspicuous. o Avoid preliminary disclosure of preferences. Appearing overly eager for a certain outcome may leave you in a vulnerable position. o Make a quick but successful showing. Make a big, successful splash early in the game to get the right people’s attention, especially if you are a newly appointed manager. o Collect IOUs. Extending favors or support to another is like depositing in a savings account, as long as you trust the person to reciprocate later. o Exploit possible negative outcomes. By focusing on likely negative outcomes, those who would otherwise resist may switch to your side. o Divide and rule. The assumption behind this principle is that those who are divided will not form coalitions themselves.
How Can Power and Politics Be Moral?
The moral manager strives to develop and adhere to ethical goals, motives, standards, and general operating strategies. Power is exercised to pursue fair and just ends. Moral management is essentially unselfish and not prone to self-serving politics. Moral management is consistent with innovation and continuous improvement. Moral managers support their people, recognize their accomplishments, are sensitive to their fears and needs, and communicate confidence in the organization’s purpose and products. The immoral manager is not only devoid of ethical principles, but also actively opposed to what is ethical. Selfishness is paramount for the immoral manager. The amoral manager the one who lacks any moral sensibility whatsoever; one who doesn’t think about the moral implications of actions, or who chooses to keep ethics out of decisions.
Book Summary – Management and Organizational Behavior
• Cook, C. W. & Hunsaker, P. L. (2001). Management and Organizational Behavior (3rd edition).
Chapter 14 – Leadership
What Distinguishes Managers from Leaders?
Managers are persons granted authority to be in charge of an organizational unit and thus responsible for diagnosing and influencing systems and people to achieve appropriate goals. Authority is the right to make decisions and commit organizational resources based on position within the organization. Accountability is holding a person with authority answerable for setting appropriate goals, using resources efficiently, and accomplishing task responsibilities. Leadership is the act of providing direction, energizing others, and obtaining their voluntary commitment to the leader’s vision. A leader is a person who creates a vision and goals, then energizes others to voluntarily commit to that vision. Leaders can be found at all levels. Leadership is observable even in the absence of formal managerial authority.
Management Do Things Right, Leaders Do the Right Things
Managers can be leaders, but leaders don’t have to be managers. To manage means to bring about, to accomplish, to have responsibility for, to conduct. Leading is influencing, guiding in direction, course, action, opinion. The distinction is crucial. Managers are people who do things right and leaders are people who do the right thing. The difference may be summarized as activities of vision and judgment – effectiveness (leading) – versus activities of mastering routines – efficiency (managing).
Kotter’s Distinction between Managers and Leaders Three Basic Tasks
Leaders (coping with change) Setting a direction (inductively creating a vision and strategies to provide focus for planning) Aligning people to the vision (emphasizing
Managers (coping with complexity) Planning and budgeting (deductively producing orderly results)
Deciding what needs to be done
Creating networks and relationships
Organizing and staffing (structuring jobs and
communication, credibility, and empowerment) Ensuring people do the job Motivating people (creating involvement, emphasizing values, building informal networks or relationships)
Leader Traits
reporting relationships to efficiently implement plans) Controlling and problem solving (comparing behavior with plan; taking action to correct deviations)
• Credibility – refers to being honest, competent, forward-looking, and inspiring. • Drive – has the need for achievement through challenging assignments, the desire to get ahead, high energy to work long hours with enthusiasm, tenacity to overcome obstacles, and initiative to make choices and take action that leads to change. • Leadership motivation – exemplifies a strong desire to lead, willingness to accept responsibility, the desire to influence others, and a strong socialized desire for power (which means the desire to exercise power for the good of the organization). • Honesty and integrity – demonstrates truthfulness or non-deceitfulness (honesty) and consistency between word and deed, is predictable, follows ethical principles, is discreet, and makes competent decisions (integrity). • Self-confidence – gains the trust of others by being sure of own actions (and not being defensive about making mistakes), being assertive and decisive, maintaining emotional stability (not losing one’s cool), and remaining calm and confident in times of crises. • Cognitive ability – has a keen mind and thinks strategically, reasons analytically, and exercises good judgment in decisions and actions; has the ability to reason deductively and inductively. • Knowledge of the business – beyond formal education, develops technical expertise to understand the concerns of followers, comprehends the economics of the industry, and knows the organization’s culture and behavior.
Leader Behaviors
• Task oriented behavior is an approach to leadership that focuses on supervision of group members to obtain consistent work methods and job accomplishments. It centers on initiating structure intended to establish “well-defined patterns of organization, channels of
communication, and methods of procedure” between leader and group. • Employee-oriented behavior is an approach to leadership that aims at satisfying the social and emotional needs of group members. This focuses on showing consideration to develop friendship, mutual trust, respect, and warmth in the relationship between the leader and members of his staff.
Leader Decision Behaviors
Low Initiating Structure High Showing Consideration Low Showing Consideration Human relations Laissez-faire
High Initiating Structure Democratic Autocratic
Blake and Mouton’s Leadership Grid Concern for Production
Concern for People
Low High Medium Low Impoverished Management Country Club Management
Medium
High Team Management
Middle-of-the-Road Management Authority Compliance
How Do Leaders and Managers Adjust to Situational Contingencies?
Contingency theory is the perspective that a leader’s effectiveness is dependent on how he or she interacts with various situational factors – there is no one best universal approach.
Leader Style Motives/Concerns Knowledge/Beliefs Personality Perceptions
Restricts choices about
Leader Behavior Task Structuring Showing Consideration Decision Making Using Power
Affects perceptions of
Creates pressures for Influence
Influence
Situational Variables Tasks/Strategies Technology/Time Organization/Policies People (Followers)
Influence
Followers’ Behavior Acceptance/Rejection Productive/Unproductive Development/Decline Satisfaction/Dissatisfactio n
Hersey and Blanchard’s Situational Leadership Theory
Principle-Centered Leadership – Covey
Levels I. Personal II. Interpersonal III. Managerial IV. Organizational • • • • • • • Self People Style Skills Structure Systems Strategy Alignment Key Principles Trustworthiness Trust Empowerment
Book Summary – Management and Organizational Behavior
• Cook, C. W. & Hunsaker, P. L. (2001). Management and Organizational Behavior (3rd edition).
Chapter 15 – Change
Change is the process of moving from one condition to another. Changes in organizations are stimulated by multiple external and internal forces, often interacting to reinforce one another. Individuals resist change due to: selective perception, lack of information, fear of the unknown, habit, and resentment toward the initiator. Organizations resist change for many of the same reasons individuals do. Additional sources of resistance are: power maintenance, structural stability, functional sub-optimization, organizational culture, and group norms.
Methods for Dealing with Resistance to Change
Approach
Commonly Used Where there is a lack of information or inaccurate information and analysis. Where the initiators do not have all the information they need to design the change, and where others have considerable power to resist. Where people are resisting because of adjustment problems.
Advantages Once persuaded, people will often help with the implementation of the change. People who participate will be committed to implementing change, and any relevant information they have will be integrated into the change plan. No other approach works as well with adjustment problems. Sometimes it is a relatively easy way to avoid major resistance.
Drawbacks Can be very time consuming if lots of people are involved. Can be very time consuming if participants design an inappropriate change.
Education and communica tion Participatio n and involvemen t
Facilitation and support
Can be time consuming, expensive and still fail. Can be too expensive in many cases if it alerts others to negotiate for compliance.
Negotiation Where someone or and some group will agreement clearly lose out in a change, and where that group has considerable power
to resist. Manipulatio Where other n and tactics will not cooptation work or are too expensive. It can be a Can lead to future relatively quick and problems if people inexpensive feel manipulated. solution to resistance problems. It is speedy, and can overcome any kind of resistance. Can be risky if it leaves people mad at the initiators.
Explicit and Where speed is implicit essential, and the coercion change initiators possess considerable power.
How Do Managers Prepare for Planned Change?
Planned change is the process of preparing and taking actions to move from one condition to a more desired one. The key questions to be answered when planning change are: 1. What do we want to achieve? What are our goals? 2. Why? What are our performance gaps? 3. Who will be the change agents responsible for making the change (change agents are individuals or groups responsible for changing behavior and systems)? 4. How do we plan to make it happen? What targets do we want to change and what process will we apply to change them? 5. What organizational consequences do we anticipate from the change?
How Is the Planned Change Process Managed?
Three Phases of Planned Change
1. Unfreezing – raising awareness that current conditions are not satisfactory and reducing resistance to desired change. 2. Moving – letting go of old ways of doing things and adopting new behaviors. 3. Refreezing – reinforcing the changes made to stabilize new ways of behaving.
What Is the Practice of Organizational Development (OD)?
Organizational development (OD) is the system-wide application of behavioral science knowledge to the planned change process to improve
organizational effectiveness. OD can be differentiated from manager-led change in the following ways: • Generally, OD focuses on changing an entire system in contrast to only one or a few components. • OD involves the application of behavioral science knowledge and techniques in constrast to operations research, industrial engineering, or other deterministric disciplines. • OD focuses on helping people and organizations learn how to diagnose and solve their own problems in constrast to relying on others for solutions. • OD is often more adaptive and less rigid than structural-mechanistic change approaches.
OD Interventions and Organizational Issues
Area of Is s u e
Issues
Interventions
Human Process
• • • •
How How How How
to to to to
communicate solve problems interact lead
Human Resourc e
Strategic
Technolo gy and Structur e
• How to attract competent people • How to set goals and reward people • How to plan and develop people’s careers • What functions, products, services, markets • How to gain competitive advantage • How to relate to environment • What values to guide organizational functioning • How to divide work • How to coordinate organizational units • How to produce products/services • How to design work
• • • • • • • • • •
Sensitivity training Process consultation Third-party intervention Role negotiation Team building Survey feedback Intergroup relations Goal setting Reward systems Career planning and development • Stress management • Strategic change • Culture change • Trans-organizational development • Reengineering
• • • •
Work design Structural redesign Collateral structures Quality of work life
How Do Learning Organizations Promote Change?
A learning organization develops tools and methods to analyze, change, and reevaluate their organizational systems so that employees respond more effectively and quicker to the same work-related stimulus than they did in the past and to novel stimuli almost as quickly. A learning organization is skilled at creating, acquiring, and transferring knowledge and at modifying its behavior to reflect new knowledge and insight.
The Characteristics of Learning Organizations
• Systems Thinking – Members perceive their organization as a system of interrelated processes, activities, functions, and interactions. Any action taken will have reprocussions on other variables in the system. It is important to see the entire picture in the short and long run. • Shared Vision – Belief and commitment toward a goal deeply desired by all. Sublimation of competing departmental and personal interests for the achievement of the shared vision. • Personal Mastery – Continual learning and personal growth by all organizational members. Individuals are willing to give up old ways of thinking and behaving to try out possible better ones for themselves and the organization. • Mental Process Models – Shared internal images of how individuals, the organization, and the world work. Willingness to reflect on the reasoning underlying our actions and to change these assumptions when necessary to create a more appropriate process for doing things. • Team Learning – Organization members openly communicate across departmental and hierarchical boundaries to help all members solve problems and learn from each other. Decreasing the need for personal wins in order to increase the search for the truth for the good of the entire team. Single loop learning occurs when a manager shifts responsibility from employees to himself or herself by asking the simple unidimentional questions that produce simple impersonal responses. Double loop learning shifts accountability for actions and learning to employees by having a manager ask complex questions about the employee’s motivation for solving a problem.
How Does an Organization Learn to Innovate?
Innovation is planned change and learning that transforms products, services, and markets, or dramatically creates an entirely new market and line of business. Sustaining innovations are incremental innovations typically introduced by industry leaders to provide greater customer choice within established markets. Disruptive innovations are revolutionary industry changes usually introduced by smaller, more entrepreneurial organizations to provide customers new ways of doing things.
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