Organizational Behaviour Chapter Notes

Chapter 1: Organizational Behaviour and Management

Organizations are social inventions for accomplishing common goals through group efforts.

Social inventions: o Social inventions essential characteristic is to coordinate the presence of

people, not necessarily things. o The field of organizational behaviour is about understanding people and

managing them to work efficiently. Goal Accomplishment:

o All organizations have goals they follow.o Non-profit organizations have goals such as saving souls, helping the needy, or

educating people.o The field of organizational behaviour is concerned with how organizations can

survive and adapt to change. o Certain behaviours are necessary for survival and adaptation:

People have to be motivated to join and remain in the organization Carry out their basic work reliably, in terms of productivity, quality and

services Be willing to continuously learn and upgrade their knowledge and skills Be flexible and innovative

o Innovation and flexibility, which provide for adaption to change, are especially important for contemporary organizations

o Management Guru Tom Peters has gone so far as to advise firms to “Get Innovate or Get Dead”.

Group Effort:o Organizations are based on group effort.o They depend on interaction and coordination among people to accomplish

their goals.o Communication and morale can have a strong impact on goal achievemento The field of organizational behaviour is concerned with how to get people to

practise effective teamwork. Organizational Behaviour:

o OB- refers to the attitudes and behaviours of individuals and groups in organizations

o At its core OB is interesting because it is about the people and humane nature.o OB is important to managers, employees, and consumers and understanding it

can make us more effective manager, employees or consumerso The main factor that differentiates organizations is their workforce or human

capital, and the most successful organizations are those that effectively manage their employees.

o Jeffery Pfeffer identified 16 practices of companies that are effective through their management of people. Many of these practices, such as incentive pay, participation and empowerments, teams, job redesign and training and skill development are important topics in OB.

o Pfeffer also points out that it makes a big difference for the effectiveness and competitiveness of organizations

o There is increasing evidence that management practices and OB not only influence employee attitudes and behaviour, but also have an effect on organizations effectiveness.

Predicting OB:o Predicting the behaviour of others is an essential requirement for everyday life,

both inside and outside the organization.o The very regularity of behaviour in organizations permits the prediction of it

future occurrence. However, untutored predictions of OB are not always accurate.

Explaining OB: o Another goal of OB is to explain events in the organization, (why do they

occur?)o In general accurate predictions precedes explanations.o OB is interested in determining why people are more or less motivated,

satisfied or prone to resign.o The ability to understand behaviour is a necessary prerequisite for effectively

managing it. Managing Organizational Behaviour:

o Management is defined as the art and science of getting things done in organizations. Managers acquire, allocate and utilize physical and human resources to accomplish goals.

o Prediction and explanation constitute analysis, and then management constitutes action.

The Classical View and Bureaucracy: o Occurred in the 1900s, with Henry Fayol, James D. Mooney, & Lyndall Urwicko Classical view tended to advocate very high degree of specializations of labour

and a very high degree of coordination. Each department was to tend to its own affairs, with centralized decision making from upper management providing coordination.

o Fredrick Taylor(1856-!915), known as the father of Scientific Management, was also a contributor to the classical school, although mainly concerned with job design and the structure of work on the shop floor.

o He advocated the use of careful research to determine the optimum degree of specialization and standardization. He also supported the development of written instructions that clearly defined work procedures, and he encouraged supervisors to standardize works movement and breaks for maximum efficiency.

o Max Weber (1864-1920), was the German social theorist.

o He made the term “bureaucracy” . Which means it is an ideal type of organization that includes a strict chain of command, detailed rules, high specializations, centralized power, and selection and promotion based on technical competence.

o He saw his theory as an “ideal type” or theoretical model that would standardize behaviours in organizations and provide workers with security and a sense of purpose. Jobs would be performed as intended rather than following the whims of the specific role occupant. In exchange for this conformity, workers would have a fair chance of being promoted and rising in the power structure. Rules, regulations and a clear-cut chain of command that further clarify the required behaviour provide the worker with a sense of security.

The Human Relations Movement and Critique of Bureaucracy:o Began with the Hawthorne Studies of 1920s and 1930s. It illustrates how

psychological and social processes affect productivity and work adjustments.o Human relations movement: A critique of classical management and

bureaucracy that advocated management styles that were more participative and oriented towards employees needs.

o The critique of bureaucracy addressed several specific problems: Strict Specialization is incompatible with human needs for growth and

achievement. Strong centralization and reliance on formal authority often fail to take

advantage of the creative ideas knowledge of lower-level members, who are often closer to the customer.

Strict, impersonal rules lead members to adopt the minimum acceptable level of performance that the rules specify.

Strong specialization causes employees to lose sight of the overall goals of the organization.

Contemporary Management- The Contingency Approach: o First contemporary scholars and managers recognize the merits of both

approaches. The classical advocates pointed out the critical role of control and coordination n getting organizations to achieve their goals. The human relationists pointed out the dangers of certain forms of control and coordination and addressed the need for flexibility and adaptability.

o Second, contemporary scholars have learned that management approaches need to be tailored to fit the situation.

o It is the “QUICK FIX” that cause simplistic and costly management fad and fashions.

o The big issue is that “IT DEPENDS” on the situation.o These dependencies are called contingencies. The contingency approach to

management recognizes that there is no one best way to manage rather an appropriate style depends on the demands of the situation.

Managers:

o Managers can have a strong impact on what happens in and to organizations. They both influence and are influenced by OB and the net result can have important consequences for organizational effectiveness.

Managerial Roles: o They were created by Henry Mintzberg (Interpersonal Roles, Informational

Roles and Decisional Roles) o Interpersonal Roles are expected behaviours that have to do with

establishing and maintaining interpersonal relations. Figurehead: managers serve as symbols of their organization rather

than active decision makers. Ex. Making a speech to a trade group, signing legal documents

Leader: Manager’s select, mentor, reward and discipline employees. Liaison: managers maintain horizontal contacts inside and outside the

organization. o Informational Roles: are concerned with the various ways managers receive

and transmit information. Monitor role: managers scan the internal and external environments of

the firm to follow current performance to keep themselves informed of new ideas and trends.

Disseminator role: managers send information on both facts and preferences to others,

Spokesperson role: concerns mainly in sending messages into the organizational external environment.

o Decisional Roles: Deals with decision-making. Entrepreneur role: managers turn problems and opportunities into

plans for improved changes. Disturbance handler role: manager’s deal with problems stemming

from employee conflicts and address threats to resources and turf. Resource allocation role: managers decide how to deploy time, money,

personnel and other critical resources. Negotiator role: managers conduct major negotiations with other

organizations and individuals. o First-level supervisors do more disturbance handling and less firgureheading.o Minztberg’s major contribution to OB is to highlight the complexity of the roles

managers are required to play and the variety of skills they must have to be effective, including leadership, communication, and negotiation.

Managerial Activities: o Routine communication. This includes the formal sending and receiving of

information (as in meetings) and the handling of paperwork.o Traditional management. Planning, decision-making, and controlling are the

primary types of traditional management. o Networking. Networking consists of interacting with people outside the

organization and informal socializing and politicking with insiders.

o Human resource management. This includes motivating and reinforcing, disciplining and punishing, managing conflict, staffing and training and developing employees.

Managerial Agendas:o John Kotter did this study.o Agenda setting:

Kotter’s managers, given their positions, all gradually developed agendas of what they wanted to accomplish for the organization

Theses agendas were almost always informal an unwritten, and they were much more concerned with “people issues” and were less numerical than formal strategic plans. The managers based their agendas on wide-ranging informal discussions with a wide variety of people.

o Networking: A wide formal and informal network of key people both inside and

outside the organization. Insiders were peers, employees, bosses etc. Outsiders were customers, suppliers, competitors, government officials and the press.

This networking provided managers with information and established cooperative relationships relevant to their agendas.

o Agenda Implementation: Managers used networks to implement the agendas. They would go

anywhere in the network for help-up or down, in our out of the organization. In addition they employed a wide range of influence tactics, from direct orders to subtle language and stories that conveyed their message indirectly.

o The theme that runs through Kotter’s findings is the high degree of informal interaction and concern with people issues that were necessary for the managers to achieve their agendas.

Managerial Minds:o Herbert Simon and Daniel Isenberg have both explored how managers think.o Careful observers have noted that intuition seems to guide many other their

actions.o Experienced managers use intuition in several ways:

To sense that a problem exists To perform well-learned mental tasks rapidly (ex sizing up a written

contract) To synthesize isolated pieces of information and data To double –check more formal or mechanical analyses (ex Do these

projections look correct?) Good intuition is problem identification and problem solving based on

long history systematic education and experience that enables the manager to locate problems within a network of previously acquired information.

International managers must adapt to cross-cultural differences to successfully interact with potential clients and overseas affiliates.

Diversity- Local and Global: o Increased movement of women into paid employment, as well as immigration

patterns.o In Canada, visible minorities are the fastest growing segment of the population. o Diversity of age is also having an impact in organizationso With the elimination of mandatory retirement at the age of 65, a growing

number of Canadians over 65 will remain in the workforce.o Organizations are beginning to adopt new programs in response to this

demographic shift, such as flexible benefits plans, compressed workdays, part-time jobs etc.

o Diversity is also coming to the force as many organizations realize that they have not treated certain segments of the population, such as women, the disabled etc fairly in many aspects of employment.

o Organizations have to be able to get the best from everyone to be truly competitive.

o Diversity issues are having an increasing impact as organizations “go global” o Stereotypes, conflicts, cooperation and teamwork are just some of the factors

that managers must manage effectively for organizations to benefit from the considerable opportunities that a diverse workforce affords.

Employee-Organization Relationships: o Downsizing, restricting, re-engineering and outsourcing have a profound effect

on North American and European organizations in the past 2 decades. o Full-time, full-year permanent jobs are being replaced by part-time work and

temporary or contract work.o The consequences of these events are decreased trust, morale and commitment

and shifting loyalties. o The key reasons for employees’ unhappiness are boredom, overwork, concern

about their future and a lack of support and recognition from their bosses. o Employee satisfaction with bonuses, promotions policies, training programs

and co-workers is on the decline.o Absenteeism in Canadian Organizations is also on the rise. Although there is no

definitive cause, increasing stress levels and poorly designed jobs are a major contribution.

o The field of OB offers many solutions to these kinds of problems. Ex employees have access to a fully quipped gym, flexible work hours, enriched maternity leaves and breakfast every morning.

Focus on Quality, Speed and Flexibility: o Intense competition for customers, both locally and globally, has given rise to a

strong emphasis on the quality of both products and services. Correctly identifying customer needs and satisfying them before, during and after the sale (whether the consumer purchased a car or health care) are now seen as key competitive advantages.

o Quality can be very generally defined as everything from speedy delivery to producing goods or services in an environmentally friendly manner. Quality tactics include extensive training, frequent measurement of quality indicators and an emphasis on preventing (rather than correcting) service or production errors.

o In addition to improving quality and speed, flexibility on the part of employees and organizations is also an important competitive advantage.

o Organizations today must operate in increasingly uncertain, turbulent, and chaotic environments that are being driven by the technological revolution and increasing globalization.

o Hypercompetitive environments are characterised by constant change and high levels of uncertainty.

o Organizations require multiskilled workers as well as new organizational structures, cultures and leaders to build an organization with strategic flexibility to survive and compete in the 21-century.

o Management must give employees the power to make on-the spot decisions that were previously reserved for managers

o In addition, quality, speed, and flexibility require a high degree of teamwork between individuals and groups who might have some natural tendency to be uncooperative.

Talent Management: o Refers to an organization’s process for attracting, developing, retaining and

utilizing people with the required skills to meet current and future business needs

o Two most important management challenges are: Recruitment of high quality people across multiple territories Improving the appeal of he company culture and work environment

o Most of CND’s top CEO’s believe that retaining their employees has become their #1 priority, and attracting new employees is their fourth priority, just behind financial performance and profitability.

o OB provides the means for organizations to be designed and managed in ways that optimize talent attraction, development, retention and performance.

o Some factors that are important for the effective management of talent are: Flexible work schedules Stock options, profit sharing plans and performance bonuses Extensive training and development programs Family assistance programs Monthly staff socials, (family Christmas party) Employee recognition and reward programs

A focus on Corporate Social Responsibility: o CSR = An organization taking responsibility for the impact of its decisions and

actions on its stakeholders.o Also overall impact on society at large and extends beyond the interests of

shareholders to the interests and needs of employees and the community in which it operates.

o CSR involves a variety of issues that range from community involvement, environmental protection, safe products, ethical marketing, and employee diversity and local and global labour practices.

o CSR has to do with how an organization performs its core functions of producing goods and providing services that that is does so in a socially responsible way.

o Many CSR issues have to do with OB such as an organizations treatment of employees, management practices such as managing diversity; work family balance, & employment equity.

o Organizations that rank high on CSR are good employers because of the way they treat their employees and because of their management practices that promote employee well being.

o CSR also involves environmental, social and governance issues. Ex many organizations make donations to charitable organizations and have implemented programs to help their communities. Ex green programs require changes in employees attitudes and behaviours.

o An organization’s CSR also has implications for the recruitment and retention of employees as an increasing number of workers want to work for organizations that are environmentally friendly ad rank high on CSR.

o OB has much to offer organizations in their quest to become more socially responsible.

Chapter 2: Personality and Learning

Personality: o Personality is the relatively stable set of psychological characteristics that

influences the way an individual interacts with his or her environment and how he or she feels, thinks and behaves.

o An individual personality summarizes his or her personal style of dealing with the world.

o Personality is relatively stable; it is certainly susceptible to change through adult learning experiences.

Personality and Organizational Behaviour: o 1st Dispositional approach because it focuses on individual dispositions

and personality. Individuals possess stable traits or characteristics that influence their ways.

o 2nd Situational approach is known as the characteristics of the organizational setting, such as rewards and punishment, influence people’s feelings, attitudes, and behaviour.

o 3rd Interactionism approach is to predict and understand organizational behaviour, one must know something about an individual’s personality and the setting in which he or she works. This approach is now the most widely accepted perspective within OB.

o In weak situations it is not always clear how a person should behave, while in strong situations there are clear expectations for appropriate behaviour. As a result, personality has the most impact in weak situations

o Strong situations have more defined roles, rules and contingencies (ex routine military operations)

o One of the most important implications of the interactionism perspectives is that some personality characteristics are useful in certain organizational situations.

o A key concept here is fit: putting the right person in the right job, group or organization and exposing different employees to different management styles.

The Five-Factor Model of Personality: o Or known as the Big Five provides a framework for classifying personality

characteristics into 5 general dimensions. Extraversion- this is the extent to which a person is outgoing versus

shy. (Sociable, talkative Vs. Withdrawn, shy)

Emotional stability- a degree to which a person has appropriate emotional control. (Stable, confident Vs. Depressed, Anxious)

Agreeableness- the extent to which a person is friendly and approachable (Tolerant, Cooperative Vs. Cold, Rude)

Conscientiousness- the degree to which a person is responsible and achievement oriented. (Dependable, Responsible Vs. Careless, Impulsive)

Openness to Experience- the extent to which a person thinks flexibly and is receptive to new ideas. (Curious, Original Vs. Dull, Unimaginative)

Research evidence:o 1st there is evidence that each of the “Big Five” dimensions is related to job

performance. o 2nd research found that the “Big Five “ is related to other work behaviour. It

is also related to work motivation and job satisfaction. Additionally related to job search and career success.

o The “Big Five” personality dimensions are basic and general. Locus of Control:

o A set of beliefs about whether one’s behaviour is controlled mainly by internal or external forces.

o Refers to individual’s belief s about the location of the factors that control their behaviour. At one end of the continuum are high internals (who believe that the opportunity to control their own behaviour resides within themselves. At the other end of the continuum are high externals (who believe that external forces determine their behaviour.)

o Internals tend to see stronger links between the effort they put into their jobs and the performance level that they achieve. In addition they perceive to a greater degree than externals that the organization will notice high performance and reward it.

o The locus of control influences OB in a variety of occupational settings. People who are high on internal control are more satisfied with their jobs, earn more money and achieve higher organizational positions.

o High external control= behaviour is determined by fate, luck and powerful people.

o High Internal control= behaviour is determined by self-initiative, personal actions and free will.

Self-Monitoring:o Self-Monitoring: The extent to which people observe and regulate how

they appear and behave in social settings and relationships.o The people who wear their hearts on their sleeves are LOW SELF-

MONITORS. They are not so concerned with scoping out and fitting in with those around them.

o HIGH SELF-MONITORS take great care to observe and control the images that they project. They are alike actors, who tend to show concern for socially appropriate behaviour.

o High self-monitors like jobs that require by their nature a degree of role-playing and the exercise of their self-presentation skills. Ex sales, law, politics.

o High self-monitors perform particularly well in occupations that call for flexibility and adaptive ness in dealings with diverse constituencies. Tend to be more involved in their jobs, to perform at a higher level, and to be more likely to emerge as leaders. However they tend to experience more stress and show less commitment to their organizations.

o The ability to regulate and adapt one’s behaviour in social situations and to manage the impressions other form of them might e a career advantage for high self-monitors.

o High self-monitors were more likely to change employers and locations and to receive more promotions than low self-monitors.

o High self-monitors types would seem to be weal innovators and would have difficulty resisting social pressure.

Self-Esteem: o It is the degree to which a person has a positive self-evaluation.o People with high self-esteem have favourable self-images.o People with low self-esteem have unfavourable self-images, and tend to be

uncertain about the correctness of their opinions, attitudes and behaviours. o Behaviour plasticity theory is people with low self-esteem tend to be more

susceptible to external and social influences than those who have high self-esteem.

o Events and people in the organizational environment have more impact on the beliefs and actions of employees with low self-esteem.

o Employees with low self-esteem tend to react badly to negative feedback.o Managers should direct criticism at the performance difficulty and not at

the person.o Organizations should try to avoid assigning those with low self-esteem to

jobs such as life insurance sales) that inherently provide a lot of negative feedback.

o Organizations will generally benefit from a work force with high self-esteem. Such people tend to be more satisfied and have a higher job performance.

Positive and Negative Affectivity: o Positive Affectivity: propensity to view the world, including oneself and

other people in a positive light. They tend to be cheerful, enthusiastic, lively, sociable, and energetic.

o Negative Affectivity: propensity to view the world, including oneself and other people in a negative light.

They tend to be distressed, depressed and unhappy.o Positive and negative affectivity are emotional dispositions that predict

people’s general emotional tendencies. They influence people’s emotions and mood states at work and influence job attitudes and work behaviour.

Proactive Personality: o Proactive behaviour: Taking initiative to improve current circumstances

or creating new ones. o Proactive personality: A stables personal dispositions that reflects a

tendency to take personal initiative across a range of activities and situations and to effect positive change in one’s environment.

o Proactive individuals search for and identify opportunities, show initiative, take action, and persevere until they bring about meaningful change.

o People who do not have proactive personalities are more likely to be passive a d to react and adapt to their environment.

o People who are more proactive are more likely to find a job, to receive higher salaries and more frequent promotions, and have more satisfying careers.

General Self-Efficacy: o A general trait that refers to an individual’s beliefs in his or her ability to

perform successfully in a variety of challenging situations. o GSE is considered to be a motivational trait. o Individuals who are high on GSE are better able to adapt to novel, uncertain

and adverse situations. Core Self-Evaluations:

o A broad personality concept that consists of more specific traits that reflect the evaluations people hold about themselves and their self-worth.

o Core Self-evaluation has found that these traits (self-esteem, GSE, locus of control and emotional stability) are among the best dispositional predictors of job satisfaction and job performance.

What Is Learning: o Learning occurs when practice or experience leads to a relative permanent

change in behaviour potential. o Learning in organizations can be understood in terms of taxonomies that

indicate what employees learn, how they learn and the different types of learning experiences.

o Practical skills: include job specific skills, knowledge and technical competence. Employees frequently learn new skills and technologies to continually improve performance and to keep the organizations competitive.

o Intrapersonal skills: are skills such as problem solving, critical thinking, learning about alternative process, and risk taking.

o Interpersonal skills: Include interactive skills such as communicating, teamwork, and conflict resolution.

o Cultural Awareness: involves learning the social norms of organizations and understanding company goals, business operations and company expectations and priorities.

Operant Learning Theory:

o Learning by which the subject learns to operate on the environment to achieve certain consequences.

Increasing the Probability of Behaviour: o One of the more important consequences that influence behaviour is

reinforcement.o Reinforcement is the process by which stimuli strengthen behaviour. o A reinforcer is a stimulus that follows some behaviour and increases or

maintains the probability of that behaviour. o Positive reinforcers work by their application to a situation, while negative

reinforcers work by their removal from a situation. Positive Reinforcement:

o Increases or maintains the probability of some behaviour by the application or addition of a stimulus to the situation in question.

o Intrinsic character of stimuli does not determine whether they are positive reinforcers when considered in the abstract.

Negative Reinforcement: o Increases or maintains the probability of some behaviour by the removal of

a stimulus from the situation. o Negative reinforcement occurs when a response prevents some event or

stimulus from occurring. o Negative reinforcers are usually aversive or unpleasant stimuli. They

increase the probability of behaviour. They also tend to be unpleasant things such as nagging, shock or threat of fines. They are defined by what they do and how they work, not by their unpleasantness.

Organizational Errors Involving Reinforcement: o Confusing Rewards with Reinforcement:

Organizations and individual managers frequently “reward” workers with things such as pay, promotions, fringe benefits, paid vacations, overtime work, and the opportunity to perform challenging tasks.

Rewards can fail to serve as reinforcers.o Neglecting Diversity in Preference for Reinforcers:

High-Seniority workers are often the best paid and the least in need of extra pay available through overtime.

Organizations should attempt to administer their formal rewards (such as pay and promotions) to capitalize on their reinforcing effects for various individuals.

o Neglecting Important Sources of Reinforcement: One very important source of reinforcement that managers often

ignore is information that accompanies the successful performance of tasks.

Performance feedback: involves providing quantitative or qualitative information on past performance for the purpose of changing or maintaining performance in specific ways.

Performance feedback is most effective when it is A) conveyed in a positive manner

B) delivered immediately after the performance is observed C) represented visually, such as in a graph or chart D) specific to the behaviour that is being targeted 4 feedback.

Social Recognition: Involves informal acknowledgement, attention, praises,

approval or genuine appreciation for work well done from one individual or group to another.

Reinforcement Strategies: o To obtain fast acquisition of some response, continuous and immediate

reinforcement should be used. o Behaviour tends to be persistent when it is learned under conditions of

partial and delayed reinforcement.o Continuous, immediate reinforcement facilitates fast learning, and delayed,

partial reinforcement facilitates persistent learning.o It is impossible to maximize both speed and persistence with a single

reinforcement strategy.o Managers have to tailor reinforcements strategies to the needs of the

situation. Reducing the Probability of Behaviour:

o There are 2 strategies that can reduce the probability of learned behaviour: EXTINCTION and PUNISHMENT

o Extinction: Involves terminating the reinforcement that is maintaining some

unwanted behaviour. It works best when coupled with the reinforcement of some desired

substitute behaviour. Behaviours that have been learned under delayed or partial

reinforcement schedules are more difficult to extinguished than those learned under continuous, immediate reinforcement.

o Punishment: Involves following an unwanted behaviour with some unpleasant,

aversive stimulus. In negative reinforcement a nasty stimulus is removed, increasing

the probability of that behaviour. With punishment a nasty stimulus is applied after some behaviour

decreasing the probability of that behaviour. o Using Punishment Effectively:

Punishment should be useful in eliminating unwanted behaviour. 1st Punishment provides a clear signal as to which activities are

inappropriate; it does not by itself demonstrate which activities should replace the punished response.

2nd it has a tendency to provoke a strong emotional reaction on the part of the punished individual.

Principles that can increase the effectiveness of the punishment: Make sure the chosen punishment is truly aversive

Punish immediately Do not reward unwanted behaviours before or after the

punishment Do not inadvertently punish desirable behaviour.

In general, reinforcing correct behaviours and extinguishing unwanted responses are safer strategies for managers than the frequent use of punishment.

Social Cognitive Theory:o People have the cognitive capacity to regulate and control their own

thoughts, feelings, motivation and actions. o People can also regulate their behaviour by thinking about the

consequences of their actions (forethought) o Human behaviour can best be explained through a system of triadic

reciprocal causation, in which personal factors and environmental factors work together and interact to influence people’s behaviours.

o Three components to the social cognitive theory are: Observational learning, self-efficacy and self-regulation.

o Observational Learning: Is the process of observing and imitating the behaviour of others. In general, attractive, credible, competent, high status people stand a

good chance of being imitated. o Self-Efficacy:

Refers to the beliefs people have about their ability to successfully perform a specific task.

People can have different self-efficacy beliefs for different tasks. Because it is a belief rather than a stable personality trait, it can be

changed and modified in response to different sources of information.

Self –efficacy is influenced by one’s experiences and success performing the task (performance mastery), observation of others performing the task, verbal persuasion and social influence and one’s physiological or emotional state.

o Self-Regulation: Uses learning principles to regulate one’s own behaviour, making

external control. When individuals attain their goals they are likely to set even higher

and more challenging goals, a process called Discrepancy Production.

Self regulating techniques: Collect self observation data Observe models Set goals Rehearse Reinforce oneself

Self-regulation programs have been successful in changing a variety of work behaviours and are an effective method of training and learning.

Organizational Behaviour Modification: o O.B. Mod: involves the systematic use of learning principles to influence

organizational behaviour. o OB Mod has also been found to have a positive effect on improving work

attendance and task performance. o The effects on task performance tend to be stronger in manufacturing than

in service organizations. As well, money, feedback, and social recognition have all been found to be effective forms of positive reinforcement.

Employee Recognition Programs:o Formal organizational programs that publicly recognize and reward

employees for specific behaviours.o To be effective a formal employee recognition program must specify

A) how a person will be recognized B) the type of behaviour being encouraged C) the manner of the public acknowledgment D) a token or icon of the event for the recipient

o A key part of an employee recognition program is public acknowledgment o An increasing number of organizations have begun to implement a new

kind of recognition program called peer recognition.o A key factor in the implementation and success of employee recognition

programs is to link them to organizational goals and make them relevant for employees throughout the organization.

Training Programs: o Training refers to planned organizational activities that are designed to

facilitate knowledge and skill acquisition to change behaviour and improve performance

o In addition to teaching employees technical skills required to perform their jobs, training programs also teach employees non-technical skills such as how to work in teams, how to provide excellent customer service. Etc.

o Behaviour modelling training: (BMT) one of the most widely used and effective methods of training, involving 5 steps based on the observational learning component of social cognitive theory.

Describe to trainees a set of well-defined behaviours (skills) to be learned

Provide a model or models displaying the effective use of those behaviours

Provide opportunities for trainees to practise using those behaviours

Provide feedback and social reinforcement to trainees following practice

Take steps to maximize the transfer of those behaviours to the job

o Training has been found to increase trainees self-efficacy in addition to having a positive effect on learning an job behaviour.

Career Development:o Is on ongoing process in which individual’s progress through a series of

stages that consist of a unique set of issues, themes and tasks.o Career planning involves the assessment of an individuals interest, skills

and abilities.o Career management involves taking the necessary steps to achieve your

goals.

Chapter 4: Values, Attitudes, and Work Behaviour

What are Values:o Values are a broad tendency to prefer certain states of affairs over others.o Generation X is independent, flexible, adaptable, direct and creativeo Generation Y is Optimistic, able to multitask. technology savvy, driven to

learn and grow, motivational, collaborative organized etc.o Traditionalist is hardworking, loyal, stable focused, fair, consistent

respectful.o Baby Boomers are team perspective, experienced, knowledgeable treat as

equals, warm and caring.o Traditionalist are portrayed as being respectful of authority and

having high work ethic, boomers are viewed as optimistic workaholics, Gen X is seen as cynical, confident and pragmatic and Gen Y is said to be confident, social and demanding of feedback and somewhat unfocused.

Cultural differences in Values: o Work centrality: Work itself is valued differently across cultures.o Hofstede’ Study:

Power distance: The extent to which an unequal distribution of power is accepted by society members. In small power distance cultures, inequality is minimized, superiors are accessible. In large power distance inequality is accepted as natural, superiors are inaccessible.

Uncertainty avoidance: The extent to which people are uncomfortable with uncertain and ambiguous situations. Strong uncertainty avoidance cultures stress rues and regulations, hard work, conformity, and security. Risk taking is valued. Cultures with weak uncertainty avoidance are less concerned with rules and conformity and hark work is seen as a virtue.

Masculinity/femininity: More masculine cultures clearly differentiate gender roles, support the dominance of men and stress economics performance. More feminine cultures accept fluid gender, stress sexual equality and stress the quality of life.

Individualistic/ Collectivism: More Ind. Cultures tend to stress independence and individual initiative and privacy (ex CND, USA) More Col. Societies favour interdependence and loyalty to one’s family or clan.

Long-term/ Short term orientation: Culture with long term orientation tend to stress persistence, perseverance, thrift and close attention to status differences. Cultures with short term orientation stress personal steadiness and stability.

Implications of cultural Variation: o Exporting OB theories:

A good fit btw company practices and the host culture is important.o Importing OB Theories:

Understanding cultural value differences can enable organizations to successfully import management practices by tailoring the practice to the home cultures concerns

o Appreciating Global Concerns: An appreciation of cross-cultural differences in values is essential to

understand the needs and tastes of customers around the world. o Developing Global Employees:

Success in translating management practices to other cultures, importing practise developed elsewhere and appreciating global customers.

What are Attitudes:o An attitude is a fairly stable evaluative tendency to respond consistently to

some specific object, situation, person or category of people. Attitudes are much more specific than values. They influence our behaviour toward some person, or situation.

o BELIEF + VALUE= ATTITUDE BEHAVIOUR o EX. My job is interfering with my family life (BELIEF) o I dislike anything that hurts my family (VALUE)o I dislike my job (ATTITUDE)o I’ll search for another job (BEHAVIOUR)

What is Job Satisfaction: o Job satisfaction: refers to a collection of attitudes that people have about

their jobs. o The first of these is facet satisfaction, the tendency for an employee to be

more or less satisfied with various facets of the job. (Ex I love my work but hate my boss)

o Overall Satisfaction an overall or summary indicator of a person’s attitude toward his or her job that cuts across the various facets.

o A popular measure of job satisfaction is the Job Descriptive Index (JDI). What determines Job satisfaction:

o Discrepancy: 1st People might differ in their beliefs about the job in question 2nd The might differ in what they want from the jobs.

Discrepancy Theory: A theory that job satisfaction stems from the discrepancy btw the job outcomes wanted and the outcomes that are perceived to be obtained.

o Fairness: Distributive fairness: Fairness that occurs when people receive the

outcomes they think they deserve from their jobs. Equity theory: A theory that job satisfaction stems from a

comparison of the inputs one invests in a job and the outcomes one receives in comparison with the inputs and outcomes of another person or group.

Inputs: Anything that people give up, offer or trade to their organization in exchange for outcomes.

Outcomes: Factors that an organization distributes to employees in exchange for their inputs.

Procedural Fairness: occurs when individuals see the process used to determine outcomes as reasonable. It is relevant to outcomes such as performance evaluations, pay raises, promotions, layoffs and work assignments.

Interactional Fairness: occurs when people feel that they have received respectful and informative communication about some outcome.

o Dispositiono Mood and emotion:

Emotions: Intense, often short-lived feeling caused a particular event.

Moods: Less intense, longer-lived and more diffuse feelings. Emotional contagion: Tendency for moods to spread between

people or through a group. Emotional regulation: Requirement for people to conform t o

certain “display rules” in their job behaviour in spite of their true mood or emotion.

Some key Contributions to Job Satisfaction: o Mentally challenging work: This is work that tests employee’s skills and

abilities and allows them to set their own working pace.o Adequate compensation: Pay and satisfaction are positively related. o Career Opportunities: (opportunity for promotion is an important

contributor.) o People: Friendly, considerate good-natured superiors and co-workers

contribute to job satisfaction. Consequences of Job Satisfaction:

o Absence from work: Absenteeism is an expansive behaviour. Such costs are attributable to “sick pay” lost productivity, and chronic over staffing.

Turnover:

o Refers to resignation from an organization and it can be incredibly expensive. There is s strong connection with less satisfied workers being more likely to quit.

Performance: o Job satisfaction is associated with enhanced performance. Thus,

interesting, challenging jobs are most likely to stimulate high performance. When good performance is followed by rewards employees are more likely to be satisfied.

Organizational Citizenship Behaviour: o OCB: is voluntary, informal behaviour that contributes to organizational

effectiveness. One prominent form is helping behaviour, offering assistance to

others. Conscientiousness to details of work Good sport Courtesy and cooperation

Customer Satisfaction and Profit: o Employee job satisfaction is indeed translated into customer or client

satisfaction and organizational profitability. What is organizational Commitment:

o Organizational commitment: is an attitude tat reflects the strength of the linkage btw an employee and an organization.

o Affective Commitment: Commitment based on identification and involvement with an organization

o Continuance Commitment: Commitment based on the costs that would be incurred in leaving an organization

o Normative Commitment: Commitment based on ideology or a feeling of obligation to an organization.

Key Contributors to Organizational Commitment: o Continuance Commitment occurs when people feel that leaving the

organization will result in personal sacrifice or they perceive that good alternatives employment is lacking.

o Normative Commitment can be fostered by benefits that build a sense of obligation to the organization.

Consequences of Organizational Commitment: o Commitment reduces turnover intentions and actual turnover. o Affective commitment is positively related to performance since it focuses

attention on goals and thus enhances motivation.o Continuance commitment is negatively related to performance. o High levels of commitment can cause conflicts btw family life and work life.o It can cause a lack of innovation and lead to a resistance when a change in

the culture is necessary. Changes in the workplace and employee commitment:

o Changes in the nature of employees commitment to the organization

o Changes in the focus of employees commitmento The multiplicity of employer-employee relationships within organizations.

Chapter 7: Groups and Teamwork

What is a group?o Group is 2 or more people interacting interdependently to achieve a

common goal. Groups exert a tremendous influence on us. They provide a context in which we are able to exert influence on others.

o Formal work groups: Groups that are established by organizations to facilitate the achievement of organizational goals. (ex task forces are temporary groups that meet to achieve a particular goal), (Ex Committees are usually permanent that handle assignments)

o Informal groups: Groups that emerge naturally in response to the common interests of organizational members.

Typical Stages of Group Development: o Forming: where group members try to orient themselveso Storming: when conflict emerges. o Norming: Members resolve the issues that provoked storming and they

develop social consensus. o Performing: The group devotes its energies toward task accomplishment. o Adjourning: Rites and rituals that affirm the groups previous successful

development re common ex ceremonies, + parties) Punctuated Equilibrium:

o A model of group development that describes how groups with deadlines are affected by their first meetings and crucial midpoint transition.

o Phase 1: begins with the first meeting and continues until the midpoint in the groups existence.

o Midpoint Transition: Occurs at almost exactly the halfway point in time toward the group’s deadline.

o Phase 2: It concludes with a final meeting that reveals a burst of activity and a concern for how outsiders will evaluate the product.

Group Structure and Its Consequences: o Size and Satisfaction: As opportunities for friendship increases, the

chance to work on and develop these opportunities might decrease owing

to the sheer time and energy required. Incorporating more members with different viewpoints might prompt conflict.

o Size and Performance: Depend on the exact task that the group needs to accomplish and on how we define good performance.

o Additive Tasks: takes in which group performance is dependent on the sum of the performance of individual group members (ex building a house)

o Disjunctive tasks: Tasks in which group performance is dependent on the performance of the best group member.

o Process Losses: Group performance difficulties stemming from the problems of motivating and coordinating larger groups.

o Conjunctive Tasks: Tasks in which group performance is limited by the performance of the poorest group member.

o Group diversity has a strong impact on interaction patterns more diverse groups have a more difficult time communicating effectively and becoming cohesive. Diverse groups sometimes perform better when the task requires cognitive, creativity-demanding tasks, rather than routine work.

Group Norms: o Norms: Are collective expectations that members of social units have

regarding the behaviour of each other. o Norm Development: provide regularity and predictability to behaviour.o Norms are collectively help expectations depending on 2 or more people

for their existence. o Dress norms: Social norms frequently dictate the kind of clothing people

wear to worko Reward allocation norms: a) Equity- reward according to input, b)

Equality -reward everyone equally, c) Reciprocity- reward people the way they would reward you, d) Social responsibility- reward those who truly need the reward

o Performance norms: the performance of organizational members. Roles:

o Roles: Norms: Positions in a group that have a set of expected behaviours attached to them.

o Assigned roles indicates who does what o Emergent roles are the roles that develop naturally to meet the social-

emotional needs of the group members.o Role ambiguity: lack of clarity of job goals or methods.o Elements that can lead to ambiguity: Organizational factors, Role sender, The focal person)o Roles conflict: A condition of being faced with incompatible role

expectations. o Intrasender role conflict: A single role sender provides incompatible role

expectations to a role occupant. o Interender role conflict: 2 or more role senders provide a role occupant

with incompatible expectations.

o Interrole conflict: Several roles held by a role occupant involve incompatible expectations

o Person role conflict: Role demands call for behaviour that is incompatible with the personality or skills of a role occupant.

Status:o The rank, social position or prestige accorded to group members. o Formal Status Systems: Represents management’s attempt to publicly

identify those people who have higher status than others.o Informal Status system: lack of the conspicuous symbols and systematic

support that people usually accord the formal system. It can operate just as effectively.

o Consequences of Status Differences: they are large, and can be inhibited from communicating upward. Where communication gets stalled.

o Reducing Status Barriers: the goal is to foster a culture of teamwork and cooperation across the ranks.

Group Cohesiveness: o The degree to which a group is especially attractive to its members. o Threat and Competition: External threat to the survival of the group

increases cohesiveness in a wide variety of situations. o Success: A group becomes more attractive to its members when it has

successfully accomplished some important goal. Cohesiveness will decrease after failure.

o Member diversity: Success in performing that task will often outweigh surface dissimilarity in determining cohesiveness.

o Size: Bigger groups should have a more difficult time becoming and staying cohesive.

o Toughness of initiation: group that are though to get into should be more attractive that those that are easy.

Consequences of Cohesiveness: o More participation: members wish to remain in the groupo More conformity: they are so attractive cohesive groups are well

equipped to supply info. o More success: Successful goal accomplishment contributes to group

cohesiveness.o In highly cohesive groups, the productivity of individual group members

tends to be fairly similar to that of there members. In less cohesive groups there is more variation in productivity.

Social Loafing: o The tendency to withhold physical or intellectual effort when performing a

group task. o Free rider effect where people lower their effort to get a free rideo Sucker effect where people lower their effort because of the feeling that

others are free riding. o Ways to Counter social loafing:

Make individual performance more visible Make sure that the work is interesting Increase feelings of indispensability Increase performance feedback Reward group performance.

What is a team: o Group becomes a team when there exists a strong sense of shared

commitment and when the groups effort are greater than the sum of its parts.

o Collective Efficacy: Shared beliefs that a team can successfully perform a given task.

Designing effective work teams: o Self managed work teams: Work groups that have the opportunity to do

challenging work under reduced supervision. o Tasks for self managed teams: Tasks assigned to self managed work

teams should be complex, and challenging, requiring high interdependence among team members for accomplishment.

o Composition of self managed teams: Stability: considerable interaction and high cohesiveness among their

members.(requires understanding an trust) Size: Should be small and feasible. The goal is to keep coordination

problems and social loafing to a min. Expertise: Groups should have a high level of expertise about the task at

hand. The group as a whole should be knowledgeable about the task, Social Skills is one set of skills that all members must posses.

Diversity: A team should have members who are similar enough to work well together and diverse enough to bring a variety of perspectives and skills to the task at hand.

Fit is important and it is well worth expending the extra efforts to find the right people.

Supporting Self-managed Teams: o Training: Members of self-managed teams will require extensive training.o Technical Training: Includes math computer use or any task that a

supervisor formerly handles. o Social Skills: Assertiveness, problem solving and routine dispute

resolution are skills that help the team operate smoothly.o Language skills: Important for ethnically diverse teams. Good

communication skills is essentialo Business Training: Training in the basic element of finance, accounting,

production. o Rewards: to tie rewards to team accomplishment rather than individual

accomplishments, but still providing individual member with performance feedback.

o Management: Will not see the best support when manager feel threatened and see it as reducing their own power or promotion opportunities

o Managerial support was related to many of the measures of effectiveness and was found to be one of the best predictors of group performance.

Cross-Functional Teams: o Work groups that bring people with different functional specialities

together to better invent, design or deliver a product or service. o A cross functional team might be self managed and permanent if it is doing

a recurrent task that is not too complex. Complex task such as designing a car is limited to the life of the specific project.

o Which have been used in service industries such as banking and hospitals are best known for their success in product development.

o The general goals of using cross-functional teams include a combination of innovation, speed, and quality that comes from the various specialties.

Principles for Effectiveness: o Compositions: All relevant specialities are necessary. o Superordinate goals: Are attractive outcomes that can only be achieved

by collaborationo Physical Proximity: Team members have to be located (sometimes

relocated close to each other to facilitate informal contact. o Autonomy: Cross functional teams need some autonomy from the larger

organization and functional specialists need some authority to commit their function to project decisions.

o Rules and procedures: petty rules and procedure are to be avoided, but some basic decision procedures must be laid down to prevent anarchy.

o Leadership: Need strong people skills in addition to task expertise.o Shared mental models: Team members share identical information about

how they should interact and what their task is. Virtual Teams:

o Work groups that use technology to communicate and collaborate across time space and organizational boundaries.

o Advantages of Virtual Teams: Around the clock work Reduced travel time and cost, with meeting face to face Larger talent pool: Allows companies to expand their potential labour

markets and to go after the best people, even if these people are not interested in relocating.

o Challenges of Virtual Teams: Trust Miscommunication (loss of face to face and some people use non-verbal

cues to communicate meaning or feeling in the message. Isolation (people have needs for companion) High costs (Initial set up costs can be substantial) Management issues ( can create new challenges in terms of dealing with

subordinate who are no longer in view) Technology actually leads to more objective, transparent and unbiased

information being available to both employees and managers.

Lessons concerning Virtual Teams: o Recruitment o Trainingo Personalizationo Goals and ground rules

Good planning and continuing support are necessary for the effective use of teams

Chapter 8: Social Influence, Socialization and Culture

Information Dependence and Effect Dependence:o In many social settings and especially in groups, people are highly

dependent on others,o Information Dependence: reliance on others for information on about

how to think, feel and act.o Individuals are dependent on the effects of their behavior as determined by

the rewards and punishments provided by others. o Effect Dependence: reliance on others due to their capacity to provide

rewards and punishment 1st the group frequently has vested interest in how individual members

think and act. 2nd the member frequently desires the approval of the group.

Motives for Social Conformity: o Compliance: Conformity to a social norm prompted by the desire to

acquire rewards or avoid punishment.o Identification: perception that those who promote the norm are attractive

or similar to oneself o If someone is similar to you, then you will be motivated to rely on that

person for information about how to think and act. o Internalization: prompted by true acceptance of the beliefs, values and

aptitudes that underlie the norm. o Conformity is due to internal, rather than external forces.

The subtle Power of Compliance:o A compliant individual is necessarily doing something that is contrary to

the way he or she thinks or feels.o One way to reduce this dissonance is to cease conformity.

Organizational Socialization:

o Socialization: the process by which people learn the attitudes, knowledge and behaviors that are necessary to function in a group or organization.

o It is the primary means by which organizations communicate the organizations culture and values to the new members.

o 1st New comers need to acquire the knowledge and skills necessary to perform their work tasks and roles. (known as Person-Job Fit)

o Person-Job fit: The match between an employee’s, knowledge, skills and abilities and the requirements of a job.

o 2nd newcomers must also learn the values and beliefs that are important to the group and organization. (known as P-O fit)

o Person-Organization Fit: The match between an employee’s personal values and the values of an organization.

o One of the primary goals of organizational socialization is to ensure that the newcomers learn and understand the key beliefs, and values of the organizations culture.

o Organizational Identification: An individual defines himself in terms of the organization and what it is perceived to represent.

Stages of Socialization: o Anticipatory Socialization: the amount of socialization occurs even

before a person becomes a member of a particular organization. o It includes a formal process of skill and attitude acquisition. o Another anticipatory socialization might be informal such as that acquired

through a series of summer jobs and experience.o Encounter: the newcomer is armed with the expectations about the

organizational life (day-to-day reality of this life). Formal aspects include orientation programs and rotation through various parts of the organization. The informal aspects include getting to know and understand the style and personality of one’s boss and co-workers.

o Role Management: the newcomer’s attentions shifts to fine-tuning and actively managing his role in the organization.

Unrealistic Expectations and the Psychological Contract: o Unrealistic Expectations: People entering organizations hold many

expectations that are inaccurate and often unrealistically high. As a result after entering the organization they will experience a reality shock since their expectations are not met.

o Psychological Contract: Beliefs held by employees regarding the reciprocal obligations and promises between them and their organization.

o Psychological Contract breach: Employee perceptions that his organization has failed to fulfill one or more of its promises or obligations of the Psychological Contract.

o Organizations need to ensure that truthful and accurate information about promises and obligations are communicated to newcomers before and after they join.

Methods of Organizational Socialization:

o The point is that organizations differ in terms of who does the socializing, how it is done and how much is done.

o Realistic Job previews: the provision of a balanced, realistic picture of the positive and negative aspects of a job to applicants.

o They provide “corrective action” to expectations at the anticipatory socialization stage.

o Realistic job previews are effective in reducing inflated expectations and turnover improving job performance.

o Employee orientation programs: Programs designed to introduce new employees to their job, the people they will be working with and the organization.

o Most orientations take place during the 1st week of entry and last one day to one week.

o Orientations programs are an important method of socialization because they can have an immediate effect on learning and lasting effect on the job attitudes and behaviors of newcomers.

Socialization Tactics: the manner in which organizations structure the early work experiences of newcomers and individuals who are in transition from one role to another.o Collective Tactics: a number of newcomers are socialized as a group,

going through the same experiences and facing the same challenges.o Individual Tactics: consists of socialization experiences that are tailored

for each newcomer.o Formal tactic: involve segregating newcomers from regular organizational

members and providing them with a formal learning experience.o Informal tactic: do not distinguish the newcomers from the more

experienced members and rely more on informal and on-the-job learning. o Sequential Tactics: there is a fixed sequence of steps leading to the

assumption of the role.o Random Tactics: is an ambiguous or changing sequence. o Fixed Tactics: there is a timetable for the newcomer’s assumption of the

role.o Variable Tactic: there is no time frame to indicate when the socialization

process ends and the newcomer assume his new role.o Serial Tactic: refers to a process in which experienced members of the

organization socialize newcomers.o Disjunctive Tactics: refers to a socialization process where role models

and experienced organization members do not groom new members. (do not “show them the ropes”)

o Investiture Tactic: affirms the incoming identity and attributes of new hires rather than denying them and stripping them away.

o Divestiture Tactic: refers to what is also called as debasement and hazing. This occurs when they put the new members through a series of experiences that are designed to humble them and strip away some of the

initial self-confidence. o Institutionalized Socialization: consist of collective, formal, sequential,

fixed, serial and investiture tactics. It reflects a more formalized and structured program that reduces uncertainty and encourages new hires to accept organizational norms.

o They are effective in promoting organizational loyalty, esprit de corps, and uniformity of behavior.

o Individualized Socialization: Consist of individual, informal, random, variable, disjunctive and divestiture tactics. It reflects a relative absence of structure that creates ambiguity and encourages new hire to question and develop their own approach to their role.

o New members are more likely to take on the particular characteristics and style of those who are socializing them.

o Social tactics: (serial-disjunctive and investiture-divestiture) have been found to be the most strongly related to socialization outcomes.

o Mentor: is an experienced or more senior person in the organization who gives a junior person special attention, such as giving advice and creating opportunities to assist him during the early stages of his career.

o Career Functions of Mentoring: a mentor must provide many career-enhancing benefits to an apprentice. Such as;

Sponsorship: the mentor might nominate the apprentice for advantageous transfers and promotions

Exposure and visibility: the mentor might provide opportunities to work with key people and see other parts of the organization

Coaching and feedback: the mentor might suggest work strategies and identify strengths and weaknesses in the apprentice’s performance.

Developmental assignments: the mentor can provide challenging work assignments that will help develop key skills and knowledge.

o Psychosocial functions of Mentoring: Role modeling: This provides a set of values, attitudes and

behaviors for the junior person to imitate. Provide acceptance and confirmation: this provides

encouragement and support and helps the apprentice to gain self-confidence.

Counselling: This provides an opportunity to discuss personal concerns and anxieties career prospects.

o Race, Ethnicity and Mentoring: constrains the mentoring opportunities available to younger minority group employees.

o The importance of having a mentor when starting one’s career and how it can influence career success.

Proactive Socialization: The process through which newcomers play an active role in their own socialization through the use of a number of proactive socialization behaviors.

Feedback and information seeking is related to greater knowledge of different

content areas as well as to higher job satisfactions, organizational commitment and job performance and lower levels of stress and intentions to quit and turnover.

What is organizational culture: The shared beliefs, values and assumptions that exist in an organization. Represents:

A way of life Involves basic assumptions, values and beliefs it tends to be fairly stable

over time. The content of a culture can involve matter that is internal to the

organization or external. It can have a strong impact on both the organizational performance and

member satisfaction. o Subcultures: are smaller cultures that develop within a larger

organizational culture that are based on differences in training, occupation or departmental goals

o Strong Cultures: An organizational culture with intense and pervasive beliefs, values and assumptions.

o A strong culture provides great consensus concerning “what the organization is about” or what it stands for.

o Weak cultures are fragmented and have less impact on organizational members.

o 3 points about Strong Cultures: An organization does not have to be big to have a strong culture Strong cultures do not necessarily result in blind conformity Strong cultures are associated with greater success and

effectiveness Assets of Strong Cultures:

o Organizations with strong cultures advantages: o Coordination: The overarching values and assumptions of strong cultures

can facilitate communication and coordinationo Conflict Resolution: Sharing core values is a powerful mechanism for

resolving conflicts o Financial Success: Strong cultures contribute to financial success and

organizational effectiveness when the culture supports the mission, strategy and goals of the organization.

Liabilities of Strong Culture:o Resistance to Change: the mission, strategy, or specific goals of an

organization can change in response to external pressures and a strong culture that was appropriate for past success might not support the new order.

o Culture clash: Strong cultures can mix badly when a merger or acquisition pushes two of them together under the same corporate banner

o Pathology: Such cultures maybe based on beliefs, values and assumptions that support infighting, secrecy and paranoia that hardly leave time for doing business.

Contributors to the Culture:

o Strong cultures reflect the values of an organizations founder.o Socialization: one of the primary means to learn the cultures beliefs,

values and assumptions. Socialization Steps in Strong Cultures:

1. Selecting Employees: New employees are carefully selected to obtain those who will be able to adapt to the existing culture and realistic job previews are provided to allow candidates to deselect themselves.

2. Debasement and Hazing: Provoke humility in new hires so that they are open to norms of the organization.

3. Training “in the trenches”: employees begin to master one of the core areas of the organization.

4. Reward and Promotion: used to reinforce those employees who perform well in areas that support the goals of the organization.

5. Exposure to Core Culture: the cultures core beliefs and values are asserted to provide guidance for member behavior.

6. Organizational Folklore: to reinforce the nature of the culture. 7. Role Models: new members view their actions and how they are

consistent with the culture. Consistency among these steps and their mutually reinforcing properties that make

a strong culture. Diagnosing a Culture:

o One way to grasp a culture is to examine the symbols, rituals and stories that characterize the organization’s way of life.

Chapter 9: Leadership

What is leadership?o The influence that particular individuals exert on the goal achievement of

others in an organizational context. o Effective leadership exerts influence in a way that achieves organizational

goals by enhancing the productivity, innovation, satisfaction and commitment of the workforce.

o Strategic Leadership: leadership that involves the ability to anticipate, envision, maintain flexibility, think strategically and work with others to initiate changes that will create a viable future for the organization. They are open and honest in their interactions with the organizations stakeholders’ and they focus on the future.

o Any organizational member can exert influence on other members, thus engaging in leadership.

o Traits: Individual characteristics such as physical attributes, intellectual ability and personality.

o Three of the “Big Five” dimensions of personality (agreeableness, extraversion, and openness to experience.) are related to leadership behaviors.

Limitation of the trait approach:o Do traits make the leader or does the opportunity for leadership produces

the traitso Failure to take into accounts the situation in which leadership occurs.

The behavior of Leaders:o The trait approach is mainly concerned with what leaders bring to a group

setting. Consideration:

o Consideration: The extent to which a leader is approachable and shows personal concern and respect for employees

o Initiating Structure: The degree to which a leader concentrates on group attainment

o The effects of consideration and initiating structure often depend on characteristics of the task, the employee and the setting in which work is performed.

o Leader reward behavior: the leaders use of compliments tangible benefits and deserved special treatment.

o When such rewards are made contingent on performance, employees should perform at a high level and experience job satisfaction.

o Leader punishment behavior: the leader’s use of reprimands or unfavorable task assignments and the active withholding of rewards.

o Contingent leader reward behavior was found to be positively related to employees perceptions.

Situational theories of leadership:o The situation refers to the setting in which influence attempts occur

Fiedler’s Contingency Theory: Contingency Theory: The association between leadership orientation and group

effectiveness is contingent on how favorable the situation is for exerting influence. Least Preferred Co-worker: A current or past co-worker with whom a leader has

had a difficult time accomplishing a task. High LPC leaders are motivated to maintain interpersonal relations with low LPC

leaders to accomplish the task. o Situational favourableness:

Leader-member relations: relationship is good Task structure: task is highly structured Position power: the more position power the leader hold

Cognitive Resource Theory: A leadership theory that focuses on the conditions in which a leader’s cognitive resources (intelligence, expertise and experience) contribute to effective leadership.

Leader intelligence is predicted to be most important when the leader is directive, the group supports the leader and the situation is low-stress, because the leader is able to think clearly and use his intelligence.

The Path-Goal Theory: concerned with the situation under which various leader behaviors (directive, supportive, participative, achievement oriented) are most effective.

Effective leader forms a connection between employee goals and organizational goals.

Leader Behavior:

o Directive behavior: Directive leaders schedule work, and maintain performance standards.

o Supportive behavior: Supportive leaders are friendly, approachable, and concerned with pleasant interpersonal relationships.

o Participative Behavior: consults with employees about work related matter.

o Achievement-oriented behavior: encourages employees to exert high effort and strive for high level of goal accomplishment.

Situational Factors: o High need achiever work under achievement-oriented leadershipo Employees being told what to do should respond best to a directive

leadership.o Low task activities would appreciate directive leadership and coaching

behavior. o Effective leadership should take advantage of the motivating and

satisfying aspects of jobs while offsetting or compensating for those job aspects that demotivate or dissatisfy.

Participative leadership: Involving employees in making work-related decisionso Minimally, participation involves obtaining employee opinions before

making a decisiono Maximally, allows employees to make their own decisions within agreed-

on limits. o Potential Advantages of Participative leadership:

o Motivation: Participation can increase the motivation of employees.

o Quality: Participation can enhance quality in at least two ways. 1st two heads are better than one 2nd participation enhances the quality because high levels of

participation often empower employees to take direct action to solve problems without checking every detail with the boss.

o Acceptance: it can increase the employee’s acceptance of decisions.

o Potential problems of Participative leadership:o Time and energyo Loss of powero Lack of receptivity or knowledge

Vroom and Jago’s situational model of participation:o A model that attempts to specify in a particular when leaders should use

participation and to what extent they should use it. o For issues involving the entire work group, the following range of behaviors

is plausible (A- Autocratic, C-Consultative, G- group, I-indicates) o Most workers seem to prefer a participative work environment.

Leader member exchange (LMX) theory: Focuses on the quality of the relationship that develops between a leader and an employee. (relationship-based approach to leadership)

o High LMX- involves a high degree of trust, loyalty and respect btw a leader and an employee.

o Low LMX- low trust, respect and mutual support. Effective leadership process result when leaders and employees develop and

maintain high quality social exchange relationship Different types of relationships develop between leaders and employees. Transactional Leadership: Leadership that is based on straightforward exchange

between the leader and the followers. It involves Contingent rewards behaviour: employees perform well, and the leaders reward them.

Management by exception: leadership that involves the leader taking corrective action on the basis of results of leader follower transaction.

Transformational Leadership: Leadership that provides followers with a new vision that instills true commitment.

o Intellectual stimulation: contributes to the “new vision” People are stimulated to think about problems, issues and strategies in new ways. The leader challenges assumptions, take risks and solicit follower’s ideas.

o Individualized considerations: treating employees as individuals, indicating concern for their needs and personal development and serving as a mentor or coach when appropriate.

o Inspirational motivation: communication of visions that are inspiring to followers. Leaders with inspirational motivation have a strong vision for the future based on values and ideals.

o Charisma: the ability to command strong loyalty and devotion from follower and thus have the potential from strong influence among them.

Transformational leadership to be strongly related to follower motivation and satisfaction, leader performance, leader effectiveness, individual, group and organizational performance.

Ethical leadership: demonstration of normatively appropriate conduct through personal actions and interpersonal relationships and the promoti0on of such conduct to followers through 2-way communication, reinforcement and decision-making.

Help raise awareness of ethics: o Communicate a clear and consistent positive ethics message from the top.o Create and embrace opportunities for everyone in the organization to

communicate positive ethics, values and practices. o Ensure consequences for ethical and unethical conduct.

Authentic leadership: A positive form of leadership that involves being true to oneself. They know and act upon their true values, beliefs and strengths and they help others do the same.

o 4 related dimensions: o Self-awareness: and understanding of ones strengths and weaknesses.

o Relational transparency: the presenting of one’s true or authentic self to others and the sharing of information and expression of ones true feelings.

o Balanced processing: the objective analysis of relevant information before making a decision and consideration of views that challenges one’s own position.

Implicit leadership theory: A theory that states individuals hold a set of beliefs about the kinds of attributes, personality characteristics, skills, and behaviors that contribute to or impede outstanding leadership.

The six global leadership dimensions are:o Charismatic/ Value-Based: Broadly defined leadership dimension that

reflects the ability to inspire, to motivate and to expect high performance outcomes from others.

o Team-Oriented: Emphasizes effective team building and implementation of a common purpose or goal among team members.

o Participative: The degree to which managers involve others in making and implementing decisions

o Human-Oriented: Reflects supportive and considerate leadership, but also includes compassion and generosity.

o Autonomous: Refers to independent and individualistic leadership.o Self-Protective: Focuses on ensuring the safety and security of the

individual. Global leadership: leadership capabilities required to function effectively in

different cultures and the ability to cross language, social, economic and political borders.

They have 4 characteristics:o Unbridled inquisitiveness: Global leaders must be able to function

effectively in different cultures.o Personal Character: consist of 2 components (emotional connection to

people from different cultures and uncompromising integrity.o Duality: hey must be able to manage uncertainty and balance global and

local tensions.o Savvy: to have business and organizational savvyo Becoming an effective global leader requires extensive training that

consists of travel to foreign countries, teamwork with members of diverse backgrounds, and formal training programs that provide instructions.

Women have a tendency to be more participative or democratic than men and as a result they are changing the business world.

Men leaders engage in more of the other components of transactional leadership such as management by exception and laissez-faire leadership.

Laissez-faire leadership: involves the avoidance or absence of leadership. Glass ceiling: an invisible barrier that prevents women from advancing to senior

leadership positions. Barriers that women encounter are:

o Vestige of prejudice: Men continue to receive higher wages and faster promotions that women do with equal qualifications.

o Resistance to women’s leadership: Men have agentic traits, which conveys assertion and control. Women have communal traits, which convey a concern for the compassionate treatment of others.

o Issues of leadership style: Women struggle to find an appropriate leadership style.

o Demands of Family life: Women remain more responsible for domestic work and child rearing as a result have fewer years of work experience and hours.

o Underinvestment in social capital: Women have less time for socializing with colleagues and develop social networks.

Chapter 10: Communication

Communication: the process by which information is exchanged between a sender and a receiver.

Interpersonal communication: the exchange of info btw people. Effective communication: communication whereby the right people receive the

right info in a timely manner. Chain of command: Lines of authority and formal reporting relationships. Downward communication: information that flows from top of the organization

toward the bottom. Upward communication: Information that flows from the bottom of the

organization toward the top. Horizontal Communication: info that flows btw departments or functional units,

usually as a means of coordinating efforts. The reality of organizational communication shows that the formal chain of

command is an incomplete and ineffective path of communication. Deficiencies in the Chain of Command:

o Informal communication: An informal grapevine might spread unsavory, inaccurate rumors across the organization.

o Filtering: the tendency for a message to be watered down or stopped during transmission.

o Open door policy: the opportunity for employees to communicate directly with a manager without going through the chain of command.

o Slowness: info can be painfully slow. The chain of command can be even slower for horizontal communication btw departments and not good to reacting quickly to customer problems.

Manager-Employee Communication:o Manager-employee communication consist of the one-to-one exchange of

info btw a boss and the employee. o It represents a key element in upward and downward communication in

organizations.o Advantages of Manager-employee communication:

The extent to which employees and managers agree about work-related matters and are sensitive to each other’s point of view is one index of good communication.

o Barriers to Effective Manager-Employee Communication: Conflicting Role Demands: we noted that the leadership role

requires managers to attend to both task and social-emotional functions.

Mum-effect: the tendency to avoid communicating unfavorable news to others.

Grapevine: An organization’s informal communication network.o Communicating info by word of mouth, email, notes, and writing.o Organizations have often several grapevine systemso It can transmit info that is relevant to the performance of the organization

as well as personal gossip. o 75% of non-controversial organization-related information carried by the

grapevine is correct.o Extraverts are more likely to pass on the info than introverts. o The nature of the info might also influence who chooses to pass it on. o The physical location of organizational members is related to their

opportunity to both receive and transmit the info. o Pros of the Grapevine: o It can keep employees

informed about important organizational matter

o Provides a test of employee reactions to prosed changes without making formal commitments.

o Info extends outside the organization; it can serve as potent informal recruiting sources.

o Cons of the Grapevine:o When it becomes a

pipeline for rumorso Rumors: An unverified

belief that is in general circulation.

o Rumors seem to spread faster and farthest when the info is ambiguous, and content of the info is important.

o Increasingly difficult global competition, staff reductions have placed a premium on rumor control.

o Organizations should avoid the tendency to be mum about giving bad news.

The verbal language of work: o Jargon: Specialized language used by jobholders of particular occupations

or organizations. o While jargon is an efficient way of communicating with peers, it can also

server as a barrier to communicating with others.o New members find jargon intimidating and confusing.

Nonverbal language of work: o Non-verbal communication: The transmission of messages by some medium

other than speech or writingo Body language: communication by means of the sender’s bodily motions,

facial expressions or physical locationo Props, artifacts and costumes:

Office decor and arrangement: Neatness as a typical cue for openness.

o Clothing: Receivers unconsciously attach certain stereotyped meanings to

various clothing and then treat the wearer accordingly. Gender differences in Communication:

o Girls see conservations as a way to develop relationships and networks of connection. Boys view conservations as a way for them to achieve status within the group and maintain independence.

o Getting credit: men are more likely than women to blow their horn about something good they have done

o Confidence and boasting: men tend to be more boastful about themselves and their capabilities

o Asking questions: men are less likely to ask questions o Apologies: men avoid ritual apologies because it is a sign of weaknesso Feedback: men are more blunt and straightforwardo Compliments: women are more likely to provide compliments o Ritual opposition: men often use ritual opposition as a form of

communication and to exchange ideas o Managing up and down: men spend much more time communication with

their superiors and talking about their achievements o Indirectness: women tend to be indirect when giving orders

Cross-cultural Communication Language differences:

o Communication is generally better between individuals who share similar cultural values.

Non-Verbal Communication across cultures:

o Facial expressions: people are very good a decoding basic and simple emotions in facial expressions.

o Gestures: do not translate well across cultures.o Gaze: there are differences in the extent to which it is considered suitable to

look others directly in the eye between cultures. o Touch: some cultures people tend to stand close to one another , or prefer

to keep there distance.o Cultures differ in how etiquette and politeness are expressed.o Greetings and how to say hello also vary across cultures. (Social conventions

across cultures) Cultural Context:

o The cultural info that surrounds a communication episode.o It is always important in accurately decoding a message. o High-context cultures such as Japan – literal interpretations are often

incorrect.o In Low-context cultures such as North America- literal interpretations are

correct since the meaning resides in the message than in the context. o High-context Cultures:o Want to know about you and the company in great detail o They do not like the style of getting to the point quicklyo When presenting the info give careful attention to the age and rank of the

communicator.o They place less emphasis no lengthy contracts because the context in which

the deal is sealed is critical. o Low-Context Cultures: o Like getting straight to the pointo Young fast talkers will do fine since it is the message that countso They tend to favor very detailed business contracts.

Computer-Mediated Communication: o Information richness: the potential info carrying capacity of a

communication medium. (face to face is very high in richness, teleconference is fairly high in richness but does not permit the observation of body language)

o CMC- Forms of communication that rely on computer technology to facilitate info exchange.

o They perform more poorly than face-to-face meetings.o They take more time, make less effective decisionso Detachment of electronic communication can give rise to rudeness o Are prone to misinterpretation, lack of non-verbal cues make it difficult . o Telecommunication can lead to professional isolation.

Personal Approaches to Improving Communication: o Improvements in communication skills are very reinforcing.

o Poor communication can provoke a negative response, that leads to poorer communication.

Basic Principles of Effective Communication: o Take the time: Good communication takes time o Be accepting of the other person: the individual has the right to have

feelings and perceptions that may differ from yours , so be accepting.o Do not confuse the Person with the problem: be more descriptive rather

that evaluating. o Say what you feel: (Congruence: a condition in which a person’s words,

thoughts, feelings and actions all contain the same message)o Listen Actively: Good listening improves the accuracy of your receptions,

and shows the acceptance for the speaker. o Active listening: A technique for improving the accuracy of info reception by

paying close attention to the sender. Watch your body

language Paraphrase what

the speaker means Show empathy

Ask questions Wait out pauses Give timely and

specific feedback

o Cross cultural encounter:o Assume difference until

you know otherwiseo Recognize differences

within cultureso Watch your language and

theirs

Organizational Efforts to Improve Communication:o Performance appraisal - 360 feedback: performance appraisal that uses the

input of supervision, employees, peers and clients of the appraised individual.

o Employee survey: An anonymous questionnaire that enables employees to state their candid opinions and attitudes about an organization as its practices.

o Suggestion systems: Programs designed to enhance upward communication by soliciting ideas for improved work operations from employees.

o Hotlines/intranets/webcasts: communicating important announcements or engaging employees in electronic discussions.

o Management training: proper training can improve the communication skills of managers.

o The manager who can communicate effectively downward can expect increased upward communication in return.

Chapter 11: Decision Making

What is Decision Making? o Decision Making: is the process of developing a commitment to some

course of action. o 1st it involves making a choice among several alternativeso 2nd decision making is a process that involves more than simply the final

choice among alternatives-o Finally it usually involves some commitment of resources. o Problem: A perceived gap between an existing state and a desired state.

Well-Structured Problems: o Well-structured problem: is a problem for which the existing state is

clear, the desired state is clear, and how to get from one state to the other is fairly obvious.

o Program: A standardized way of solving a problem.

o Programs usually go under labels such as rules, routines, standard operating procedures or rules of thumb. Some programs come from experience and exist only “in the head”. Other programs are more formal.

Ill-Structured Problems: o Ill-Structured Problem: is a problem for which the existing desired states

are unclear and the method of getting to the desired state is unknown. o Ill-Structured problems are generally unique that is they are unusual and

have not been encountered before. In addition they tend to be complex and involve a high degree of uncertainty.

A Rational Decision Making Model: o Perfect versus Bounded Rationality: o Perfect rationality: A decision strategy that is completely informed,

perfectly logical and oriented toward economic gain. o The Rational Decision Process: 1st Identify Problem 2nd Search for relevant information 3rd Develop Alternative Solutions to the problem 4th Evaluate Alternative solutions 5th Choose Best Solution 6th Implement Chosen Solution 7th Monitor and Evaluate Chosen Solution

Bounded Rationality: A decision strategy that relies on limited information and that reflects time constraints and political considerations.

o Framing: Aspects of the presentation of information about a problem that are assumed by decision makers.

o Cognitive Biases: Tendencies to acquire and process information in an error-prone way.

Problem Identification and Framing: o A problem exists when a gap occurs between existing and desired

conditions. o Perceptual defence: The perceptual system may act to defend the

perceiver against unpleasant perceptions.o Problem defined in terms of functional specialty: selective

perception can cause decision makers to view a problem as being in the domain of their own specialty.

o Problem defined in terms of solution: This form of jumping to conclusions effectively short-circuits the rational decision-making process.

o Problem diagnosed in terms of symptoms. o Rational decision makers should be very self-conscious about how

they frame the problem. Information Search:

o Too little information: Sometimes decision makers do not acquire enough information to make a good decision.

o Another cognitive bias that contributes to an incomplete information search is the well-documented tendency for people to be overconfident in their decision-making.

o Confirmation Bias: The tendency to seek out information that conforms to ones definition of or solution to the problem.

o Too much information: (Information overload: the reception of more information than is necessary to make effective decisions) (which can lead to errors, omissions, delays and cutting corners.)

Alternative Development, Evaluation and Choice: o Perfectly informed or not the decision maker can now list alternative

solutions to the problem, examine the solutions and choose the best one.

o Maximization: The choice of the decision alternative with the greatest expected value.

o People who are especially weak intuitive statisticians, frequently violate standard statistical principles such as:

o People avoiding incorporating known existing data about the likelihood of events into their decisions.

o Large samples warrant more confidence than small samples. o Decision makers often overestimate the odds of complex chains of

events occurring

o People are poor at revising estimates of probabilities and values as they acquire additional information.

o Anchoring effect: the inadequate adjustment of subsequent estimates that serves as an anchor.

o It is possible to reduce some of these basic cognitive biases by making people more accountable for their decisions.

o Satisficing: Establishing an adequate level of acceptability for a solution to a problem and then screening solutions until one that exceeds this level is found.

Risky Business: o When people frame the alternative as a choice between gains they

tend to make conservative decisions, protecting the sure win.o When people view a problem as a choice between losses, they tend to

make risky decisions. Solution Implementation:

o When a decision is made to choose a particular solution to a problem, the solution must be implemented.

Solution Evaluation: o Decision maker should be able to evaluate the effectiveness of the

decision with calm, objective detachment. o Potential problems that might be encountered:

Justification: Substantial dissonance can be aroused when a decision turns out to be faulty.

Sunk costs: Permanent losses of resources incurred as the result of a decision. Since the resources have been lost due to past decisions, they should not enter into future decisions.

Escalation of commitment: The tendency to invest additional resources in an apparently failing course of action. Sometimes occurs when the current decision maker is not responsible for previous sunk costs. Can occur in competitive and non-competitive situations.

Ways to prevent the tendency to escalate commitment to a failing course of action:

Encourage continuous experimentation reframing the problem to avoid the decision trap of feeling that more resources have to be invested.

Set specific goals for the project in advance that must be met if more resources are to be invested.

Place more emphasis when evaluating managers on how they made decisions and less on the decisions outcomes.

Separate initial and subsequent decision making so that individuals who make the initial decision to embark on a course of action are assisted or replaced by others who decide to continue.

Groups are more prone to escalate commitment than individuals are.

Hindsight: The tendency to review the decision-making process to find what was done right or wrong.

Knew-it-all-along effect: is the tendency to assume, after the fact, that we knew all along what the outcome of a decision would be.

How emotion and mood affect decision making: o Strong emotions frequently figure in the decision-making process

that corrects the ethical errors. o Whistle blowers often report that they were motivated by emotion to

protest decision errors. o Strong positive emotions have been implicated in creative decision-

making and proper use of intuition to solve problems. o People with strong emotions are self-focused and distracted from the

actual demands of the problem. o Moods are relatively mild, unfocused states of positive or negative

feeling. They affect what and how people think when making decisions.

o People in a positive mood tend to remember positive information.o People in a negative mood tend to remember negative information. o People in a positive mood tend to evaluate objects, people and events

more positively.o People in a negative mood provide more negative evaluations. o People in good mood tend to overestimate the likelihood that good

events will occur and underestimate the occurrence of bad events. People in a bad mood do the opposite.

o People in a good mood adopt simplified, shortcut decision-making strategies more like violating the rational model. People in a bad mood are prone to approach decisions in a more deliberate, systematic detailed way.

o Positive moods promote more creative and intuitive decisions making.

o Traders in a good mood performed poorly (by losing money) than those in a bad or neutral mood.

Group Decision Making: o Why use groups: o Decision Quality: groups and teams make higher quality decisions

than individuals. Groups are more vigilant than individuals are – more people

scanning the environment. Groups can generate more ideas than individuals can. Groups can evaluate ideas better than individuals can.

o Decision Acceptance and Commitment: People wish to be involved in decisions that will affect them.

People will better understand a decision in which they participated.

People will be more committed to a decision in which they invested personal time and energy.

o Diffusion of Responsibility: The ability of group members to share the burden of the negative consequences of a poor decision.

o Groups should perform better than individuals when: The group member differ in relevant skills and abilities, Some divisions of labour can occur Memory for facts is an important issue Individual judgements can be combined by weighting them to

reflect the expertise of the various members o Disadvantages of group Decision Making:

Time: Time increase with group size. Conflict: Participants in-group decisions have their own personal

resources to protect. Domination: If a dominant person has good info, this style is not

likely to lead to group acceptance and commitment. If the dominant person is particularly misinformed, the group decision is very likely to be ineffective.

Groupthink: The capacity for group pressure to damage the mental efficiency, reality testing and oral judgement of decision-making groups. Illusion of Invulnerability: Members are overconfident and

willing to assume great risks, and ignore danger signals. Rationalisation: Problems and counterarguments that

members cannot ignore are “rationalized away.” Illusion of Morality: the decisions the group adopts are not

only perceived as sensible, they are also perceived as morally correct.

Stereotypes of outsiders: The group constructs unfavourable stereotypes of those outside the group who are targets of their decisions.

Pressure for conformity: Members pressure each other to fall in line and conform with the group’s view.

Self-censorship: Members convince themselves to avoid voicing opinion contrary to the group

Illusion of unanimity: Members perceive that unanimous support exists for their chosen course of action.

Mind guards: Some group members may adopt the role of protecting the group from info that goes against its decisions.

o How do groups handle risks?

Risky shift: The tendency for groups to make riskier decisions that the average risk initially advocated by their individual members.

Conservative shift: The tendency for groups to make less risky decisions than the average risk initially advocated by their individual members.

Why do risky and conservative shifts occur when groups make decisions: 1. Group discussions generates ideas and arguments that

individual members have not considered before. 2. Group members try to present themselves as basically

similar to other members but “even better”. o Improving Decision Making in Organizations:

Manager can improve the success of their decisions by using various tactics, such as making the need for action clear at the outset, setting objectives, carrying out an unrestricted search for solutions and getting key people to participate.

Training Discussion Leaders: the use of role-playing training to develop these leadership skills has increased the quality and acceptance of group decisions. State the problem in a non-defensive manner. Supply essential facts and clarify any constraints on

solutions. Draw out all the group members. Prevent domination by one

person, and protect members from being attacked or severely criticized.

Wait out pauses. Do not make suggestions or ask leading questions.

Ask stimulating questions that move the discussion forward. Summarize and clarify at several points to mark progress.

o Stimulating and Managing Controversy: Individuals will withhold information and personal or group

goals will take precedence over developing a decision that solves organizational problems.

A complete lack of controversy can be equally damaging, since alternative points of view that may be very relevant to the issue at hand and will never surface.

Devils Advocate: A person appointed to identify and challenge the weaknesses of a proposed plan or strategy.

o Traditional and Electronic Brainstorming: Brainstorming: Its major purpose is to increase the # of creative

solution alternatives to problems by focusing on idea generation rather than evaluation.

A group generates a large # of ideas, the chance of obtaining a truly creative solution is increased.

It shapes the organizational culture; helps retain good talent and contribute to client confidence.

Electronic Brainstorming: The use of computer mediated technology to improve traditional brainstorming practices.

o Nominal group technique: NGT: A structured group decision-making technique in which

ideas are generated without group interaction and then systematically evaluated by the group.

It carefully separates the generation of ideas from their evaluation. Ideas are generated nominally (without interaction) to prevent inhibition and conformity. Evaluation permits interaction and discussion, but it occurs in a fairly structured manner to be sure that each idea gets adequate attention.

o The Delphi-Technique: Delphi-technique: A method of pooling a large # of expert

judgement by using a series of increasingly refined questionnaires.

Disadvantage of the Delphi-technique is the rather lengthy time frame involved in the questionnaire phases, although email and other web-based solutions can speed up sending and receiving.

Chapter 12: Power, Politics and Ethics

Power: The capacity to influence others who are in state of dependenceo 1st Power is the capacity to influence the behavior of others.o 2nd the fact that the target of power is dependent on the power holder

does not imply that a poor relationship exists btw the two.o 3rd power can flow in any direction in an organization

The Bases of individual power:o Legitimate Power: Power derived from a persons position or job in an

organizationo Reward power: ability to provide positive outcomes and prevent

negative outcomes. o Coercive Power: power derived from the use of punishment and

threat o Referent Power: power holder is well liked by others o Expert Power: has special information or expertise that the

organization values (valuable asset for managers) Doing the right thing:

o Extraordinary Activities: excellent performance in unusual or non-routine activities.

o Visible Activities: good at identifying visible activities and publicizing them.

o Relevant Activities: generate considerable influence. Cultivating the right People:

o Outsiders: Establishing good relationships with key people outside one’s organization can lead to increased power within the organization.

o Subordinates: gain influence if she is closely identifies with certain up-coming subordinates.

o Peers: good relationship with peers is mainly a means of ensuring that nothing gets in the way of one’s futures acquisition of power.

o Superiors: liaisons with key superiors probably represent the best way of obtaining power through cultivating others.

Empowerment: Giving people the authority, opportunity, and motivation to take initiative and solve organizational problems. (having legitimate powers)

People who are empowered have a strong sense of self-efficacy. Excessive power lead to abuse and ineffective performance. Influence tactics: tactics that are used to convert power into actual influence

over others.

o Assertiveness- nagging, setting deadlineso Ingratiation- acting friendly and politeo Rationality- using logic, reasono Exchange- doing favorso Upward appeal- making formal or informal appeals o Coalition formation- seeking united support from other organizations o Shotgun- style that is high on all tactics with particular emphasis on

assertiveness and exchange. People who are high in Power (n Pow) in its pure form conform to the

negative stereotype (they are rude, abuse alcohol etc.) However when (n Pow) is responsible and controlled, the negative properties are not observed.

o Have high n Pow;o Use their power to achieve organizational goalso Adopt a participative or “coaching” leadership styleo Are relatively unconcerned with how much others like them.o Institutional managers are more effective than personal power

managers, who use their power for personal gain. Controlling Strategic Contingencies:

o Subunit power: the degree of power held by various organizational subunits, such as departments

o Strategic contingencies: critical factors affecting organizational effectiveness that are controlled by a key subunit.

o Scarcity: differences in subunit power are likely to be magnified when resources become scarce

o Uncertainty: subunits that are most capable of coping, will tend to acquire power (organizations detest the unknown)

o Centrality: activities that are most central to the workflow of the organization should acquire more power than those whose activities are more peripheral.

o Substitutability: subunit will have little power if others inside or outside the organization can perform its activities

Organizational Politics: o Organizational Politics: The pursuit of self-interest in an

organization, whether or not this self-interest corresponds to organizational goals.

o Sanctioned means/ sanctioned ends: Here, power is used routinely to pursue agreed-on goals

o Sanctioned means/not-sanctioned ends: acceptable means of influence are abused to pursue goals that the organization does not approve of.

o Not-Sanctioned means/ sanctioned ends: Here, ends that are useful for the organization are pursued through questionable means.

o Not-Sanctioned means/ not-sanctioned ends: the most flagrant abuse of power, since disapproved tactics are used to pursue disapproved outcomes.

o Politicians conceal their activities with a cover story, or a smoke screen to make them appear legitimate.

o Political skill: the ability to understand others at work and to use that knowledge to influence others to act in ways that enhance one’s personal or organizational objectives.

Four facets to political skills: o Social astuteness: good politicians are careful observerso Interpersonal influence: good convincing and persuasive skills o Apparent sincerity: they come across as genuine, with integrityo Networking: establishing good relations with key

organizational members and outsiders to accomplish one’s goals Several aspects to networking:

Maintaining contacts- giving out business cards Socializing- playing golf, having gatherings Engaging in professional activities- teaching,

media Participating in community activities- clubs,

events Increasing internal visibility- accepting high-

profile projects Machiavellianism: a set of cynical beliefs about human nature, morality, and

the permissibility of using various tactics to achieve one’s ends. o The high Mach can deal face to face with those he is trying to

influence.o The interaction occurs under fairly emotional circumstanceso The situation is fairly unstructured, with few guidelines for

appropriate forms of interaction.o High machs are especially skilled at getting their way when power

vacuums or novel situation confront a group, dept., or organization. Defensive Behaviour:

o Stalling: moving slowly when someone asks for you cooperation o Overconforming: sticking to the strict letter of your job to avoid actiono Buck passing: having someone else take action to avoid doing it

yourself o Buffing: documenting information showing that an appropriate course

of action was followed. o Scapegoating: blaming others when things go wrong

Ethics: Systematic thinking about the moral consequences of decisions Stakeholders: People inside or outside the organization who have the

potential to be affected by organizational decisions. Ethical issues are often occupationally specific. Ethical behavior:

o Honest communicationo Fair treatmento Special considerationo Fair competitiono Responsibility to organizationo Corporate social responsibilityo Respect for the law

Causes of Unethical Behaviour o Gain: temptation in unethical activityo Role conflict: that get resolved in an unethical wayo Competition: stiff competition for scarce resources can stimulate

unethical behavior.o Personality: certain types of personalities (low locus of control are

less tuned into ethical matter. People with high need for personal power may be prone to make unethical decisions.

Organizational and industry culture: o Aspects of an organization’s culture can influence ethics.o Whistle-Blowing: disclosure of illegitimate practices by a current or

former organizational member to some person or organization that maybe able to take action to correct these practices. “snitch”

o The whistle maybe blowing either inside or outside the organization.o Measures of sexual harassment- can be very costly to deal with, lost

of employee satisfaction, increase in employee turnover and absenteeism.

It is a form of unethical behavior that is the abuse of power and perpetuation of gender power imbalance.

Deaf ear syndrome- the inaction of organizations in the face of charges of sexual harassment.

Organizations can effectively deal with sexual harassment by taking a number of important measures:

Examine the Characteristic of deaf ear organizations Foster management support and education Stay vigilant (monitor the work environment) Take immediate action Create a state of the art policy (clearly state policies and

procedures that will be brought on those found guilty. Establish clear reporting procedures

Employee ethical Guidelines: o Identify the stakeholders that will be affected by any decisiono Identify the costs and benefits of various decision alternatives to these

stakeholders.o Consider the relevant moral expectation that surround a particular

decisiono Be familiar with the common ethical dilemmas that decision makers

face in your organizational roleo Discuss ethical matters with decision stakeholders and otherso Covert your ethical judgment into appropriate action.

Chapter 13: Conflict and stress

Interpersonal conflict: The process that occurs when one person, group or organizational subunit frustrates the goal attainment of another.

o Involves antagonistic attitudes and behaviors (antagonistic behaviors might be name calling, sabotage, or physical aggression)

Interdependence: when individual or subunits are mutually dependent on each other to accomplish their own goals and the potential for conflict exists.

o 1st it necessitates interaction between parties so they can coordinate their interests,

o 2nd each party has some power over the other Difference on Power, Status and Culture:

o Power: if the dependence is not mutual but one-way, the potential for conflict increases.

o Status: when people with lower status are dependent on those with higher status conflict increases

o Culture: when 2 or more very different cultures develop in an organization, the clash in beliefs and values can result in conflict

Ambiguity: o Ambiguity goals, jurisdictions or performances can lead to conflict.

Scarce Resources: o Differences in power are magnified when resources become scarce.

Types of Conflict:

o Relationship conflict: interpersonal tensions among individuals that have to do with their relationship and not the task.

o Task conflict: disagreements about the nature of the work to be done

o Process conflict: disagreements on how the work should be organized and accomplished.

Conflict Dynamics:o When conflict begins, a number of events transpire:

“Winning” the conflict becomes most important The parties conceal information from each other or distort it Each side becomes more cohesive Contact with the opposite party is discouraged The opposite party is negatively stereotyped while the image

of one’s own position is boosted More aggressive people who are skilled at engaging in conflict

may emerge as leaders Modes of Managing Conflict:

o Avoiding: A conflict management style characterized by low assertiveness of one’s own interests and low cooperation with the other party.

o Accommodating: A conflict management style in which one cooperates with other party while not asserting one’s own interests.

o Competing: A conflict management style that maximizes assertiveness and minimizes cooperation.

o Compromise: A conflict management style that combines intermediate levels of assertiveness and cooperation.

o Collaborating: A conflict management style that maximizes both assertiveness and cooperation.

Managing Conflict with Negotiation:o Negotiation: A decision making process among interdependent parties

who do not share identical preferences. o Distributive negotiation tactics: win-lose negotiation in which a fixed

amount of assets is divided between parties Threats (implying that you will punish the other party if he

does not concede to your position) and promises (a pledge that concessions will lead to rewards in the future)

Firmness vs. Concessions Persuasion (Verbal persuasion or debate is common in

negotiation) o Integrative negotiation tactics: win-win negotiation that assumes that

mutual problem solving can enlarge the assets to be divided between parties

Copious information exchange (bargaining, trying to persuade the other party)

Framing differences as opportunities Cutting costs (cutting the costs that the other party associates

with, the chance of an integrative settle increases.) Increasing resources (increasing resources is a way of getting

around the fix-pie syndrome) Introducing Superordinate Goals: Are attractive outcomes

that can be achieved only by collaboration Third party Involvement:

o Mediation occurs when a neutral third party helps to facilitate a negotiated agreement.

o Arbitration occurs when a third party is given authority to dictate the terms of settlement of a conflict

o conciliator Is all conflict bad?:

o Conflict change Adaptation Survivalo For organizations to survive they must adapt to their environment. o Conflict stimulation: A strategy of increasing conflict to motivate

change. Stress in Organizations

o Stressors: Environmental events or conditions that have the potential to induce stress.

o Stress: A psychological reaction to the demands inherent in a stressor that has the potential to make a person feel tense or anxious

o Stress has become a serious concern for individuals and organizations

o Stress reactions: the behavioral, psychological and physiological consequence of stress

Personality and Stress:o Locus of Control: A set of beliefs about whether one’s behavior is

controlled mainly by internal or external forces. (Internal believe that they control their own behavior, External believe that they are not the master of their own fate)

o Type A behavior pattern: personality pattern that includes aggressiveness, competitiveness and impatience and a sense of time urgency.

o Negative affectivity: Propensity to view the world, including oneself and other people in a negative light.

Managerial stressors:o Role overload: The requirement for too many tasks to be performed

in too short time period.o Heavy Responsibility: extremely important consequences for the

organization and its members. Operative-level Stressors:

o Poor Physical working conditions

o Poor Job design

Boundary Role stressors, Burnout, and Emotional Labour:o Boundary roles – positions in which organizational members are

required to interact with members of other organizations or with the public

o Burnout: A syndrome of Emotional exhaustion, cynicism, and reduced self-efficacy

o Burnout follows a process:o Burnout Emotional exhaustion cynicism Low self-efficacy o It is most common among people who entered their jobs with

especially high idealso It also stems from the frequent need to engage in “emotional labour”

The job demands:o Work engagement: A positive work-related state of mind that is

characterized by vigorous dedication and absorptiono Job demands- resource model: A model that specifies how job

demands cause burnout and job resources cause engagements. Some general Stressors:

o Interpersonal conflicto Bullying: Repeated negative behavior directed toward one or more

individuals of lower power or status that creates a hostile work environment.

o Work- Family conflict: when work duties interfere with family life.o Job Insecurity and Change: Secure employment is an important goal.o Role Ambiguity: when the goals of the job are unclear.o Sexual Harassment

Behavioral Reactions to Stresso Problem solving

Ex.) delegation (giving some of the tasks to a capable assistant), time-management, talking it out, asking for help, searching for alternatives

o Seeking social supporto Performance changeso Withdrawalo Use of addictive substances

Psychological Reactions to Stress: o Defense Mechanisms: A psychological attempts to reduce the anxiety

associated with stress.o Rationalization: is attributing socially acceptable reasons or motives

to one’s actions, so that they appear reasonableo Projection: attributing one’s own undesirable ideas and motives to

others

o Displacement: is directing feelings of anger at a safe target rather than expressing them where they may be punished

o Reaction Formation: is expressing oneself in a manner that is directly opposite to the way one truly feels

o Compensation: is applying ones skills in a particular area to make up for failure in another area.

Physiological Reactions to Stress: o Work stress is associated with electrocardiogram irregularities and

elevated level of blood pressure, cholesterol and pulse. Organizational Strategies for Managing Stress:

o Some of the things organizations can to do reduce stress:o Job redesigno Social supporto Family-friendly HR policies (childcare, eldercare, increased flexibility)o Stress management program (meditation etc)o Work-life balance programs (flex-time, compressed work week, healthy

diet, physical activity, leisure activities) can reduce stress.

Chapter 14: Organizational Structure

Organizational Structure: the manner in which an organization divides its labour into specific tasks and achieves coordination among these tasks.

There are two basic division of labor:o Vertical: apportioning authority for planning and decision making o Flat and Tall organizations: (autonomy and Control)(authority is reduced

as the # of level in the hierarchy increase) flat: has relatively few levels in its hierarchy of authority, pushes

authority lower and involves people further down the hierarchy in more decisions)

tall: has relatively many levels in its hierarchy of authority Communication: timely communication and coordination can

become harder to achieveo Horizontal: groups the basic tasks that must be performed into jobs and

then into departments so that the organization can achieve its goalso Job designo Differentiation: the tendency for managers in separate units,

function or departments to differ in terms of goals, time spans and interpersonal styles.

Departmentalization: the assignments of jobs to departmentso Core aspect of the horizontal division of labour o Types:

Functional departmentation: employees with closely related skills and responsibilities are in the same department (most efficient)

Advantages: Communication within the dept. is enhanced Career ladder and opportunities are enhanced Performance is easier to measure and evaluate Disadvantages: High degree of differentiation can occur btw dept. Poor coordination and slow responses to organizational

problems Open conflict btw dept., where needs of the customer

are ignored. Product departmentation: formed on the basis of a particular

products or services Advantages: Coordination among the functional specialists Flexibility Product-focus dept. can be evaluated as profit centers

(they have independent control over revenue and exp.)

Serves customers better Disadvantage: Professional development might suffer Economies if scale might be threatened and inefficient

might occur if product-oriented dept. is not coordinating

Matrix Departmentalization: Employees remain members of a functional department while also reporting to a product or project manager

Advantages: Provides balance btw demands and the people who the

work, resulting in a better outcome Very flexible Better communication Disadvantages: No guarantee that the project manager will see eye-to-

eye with the functional manager Violation of classical management principle (every

employee must only have one boss) Geographic departmentation: Self-contained units deliver an

organization’s products or services in a specific geographic region. Canada, USA, Central America etc...

Customer Departmentation: Self-contained units deliver an organization’s products or services to specific customer groups.

Hybrid departmentation: A structured based on some mixture of functional, product, geographic, or customer departmentation.

Basic Methods of coordination divided labor:o Direct Supervision: (Chain of command) Coordination: A process of

facilitating timing, communication and feedback among work tasks. o Standardization of Work Process: routine that the technology itself

provides a means of coordination.o Standardization of Outputs: ensuring that the work meets certain

physical and economic standards. (ex budgets)o Standardization of skills: ex. Technicianso Mutual Adjustments: relies on informal communication to

coordinate tasks.o Integration: the process of attaining coordination across

differentiated dept. o Liaison roles: A person who is assigned to help coordination btw his

dept. and another dept.o Task Forces: Temporary groups set up to solve coordination

problems across departments

o Integrators: Organizational members permanently assigned to facilitate coordination btw dept.

Traditional Structural Characteristics: o Span of Control: the # of subordinates supervised by a manager. (As

the span increase the attention of supervision over the subordinate decreases)

o Flat organization: An organization with few levels in its hierarchy of authority (push decision making downward)

o Tall organization: an organization with many levels of authority (enhance vertical communication and coordination)

o Formalization: the extent to which work roles are highly defined by an organization

o Centralization: the extent to which decision-making power is localized in a particular part of an organization (ex . president)

o Decentralized: decision-making would be dispersed down through the levels and across dept.

o Complexity: the extent to which the organization divides labour, vertically, horizontally and geographically.

Summarizing Structures: o Mechanistic Structures: Organizational structures characterized by

tallness, specialization, centralization and formalization. (more stable and routine)

o Organic structures: Organizational structures characterized by flatness, low specializations, low formalization, and decentralization. (more flexible and informal communication)

Contemporary Organic Structures: o The Ambidextrous Organization: An organization that can exploit

competencies and explore opportunities.o Network Organizations: Liaisons btw specialist organizations that

rely strongly on market mechanisms for coordination (flexible and adaptable)

o Virtual Organizations: A network continually evolving, independent organization that share skills, costs, and access to one another’s markets (lose their organic advantage when they become legalistic, secretive etc)

o The Modular Organization: organization that performs a few core functions and outsources other activities to specialists and suppliers (disadvantage that they are dependent on too many outsiders who could outsource critical trade secrets, and decreases their operational control)

o The Boundaryless Organization: An organization that removes vertical, horizontal, and external barriers so that employees, managers, customers can work together share ideas, and identify the best ideas for the organization

Advantage:

Are able to achieve greater integration and coordination within the organization and with external stakeholders.

Disadvantage: Difficult to overcome political and authority boundaries and

can be time consuming to manage a democratic process Impact of Size:

o Size and Structure: Large organizations (increase the # of departments and job

titles) and are more complex that small organizations. Complexity means coordination problems Large organization tend to be more formal (rules, regulations)

than small organizations Large organization prefer product departmentation (as they

increase in size) and are less centralized o Downsizing:

The intentional reduction in workforce size with the goal of improving efficiency or effectiveness.

It can improve effectiveness but its impact on structure and morale must be anticipated and managed.

Problems of Downsizing: Rules are closely enforced and higher levels of

management take part in more day-to-day decisions Reduces flexibility Flattens organizations by removing management levels

without considering the implications for job design and workload.

Leads to reduced satisfaction and commitment, increased absenteeism

Symptoms of Structural Problems:o Bad job design: improper structural arrangementso The right hand does not know what the left is doing: duplication of

efforto Persistent conflict between departments: managers often inclined

to attribute such conflicts to personality clashes btw key personnel o Slow response times: delay response might be due to improper

structureo Decision made with incomplete information: decision made with

incomplete info and the info exists somewhere in the organization, structure could be at fault.

o A proliferation of committees: committee is pile on committee, or when tasks forces are being formed with great regularity is a sign that structure of the organization is being “patched up” because it does not work well.

Chapter 16: Organizational Change, Development and Innovation

The concept of Organizational Change It is the way changes are implemented and managed that is crucial to both

customers and members

Why organizations must change Two sources of pressure to change: external and internal Organizations work hard to stabilize their inputs and outputs Environmental changes must be matched by organizational changes if the

organization is to remain effective. External environment: change is stimulated when competitiveness of

business increases Internal environment: low productivity, conflict, strikes, sabotage, and high

absenteeism and turnover are some of the factors that signal change is necessary.

*Very often internal forces for change occur in response to organizational changes that are designed to deal with external environment.

When threat is perceived, scan the environment for solutions and use it as motivation for change. (other times the organization is paralyzes by it)

Change entails – investment of resources (money or management time)- Modification of routine and processes

*An organisation can either be dynamic (show more change to be effective) or stable

What organizations can change Goals and strategies: expansion introduction of new products and the

pursuit of new markets represent such changes Technology: technological changes from minor to major Job design: redesign individual groups of jobs to offer more or less

variety, autonomy, identity, significance and feedback Structure: formalization and centralization can be manipulated, spans of

control and networking with other firms. Also includes modifications in rules, policies and procedures.

Processes: process by which work is accomplished can be changed Culture: …. People: content of the members can be changed and the existing

*change in one area very often calls for changes in others*changes in goals, strategies, tech, structure, process, job design and culture almost always require that organizations give serious attention to ppl. As much as possible, necessary skills and favourable attitudes should be fostered before these changes are introduced.

The Change Process (Kurt Lewin) Unfreezing: the recognition that some current state of affairs is

unsatisfactory. Crises are especially likely to stimulate unfreezing. Ex dramatic drops in sales. Employee attitude surveys, customer surveys and accounting data are often used to anticipate problems and to initiate change before crises are reached.

Change: the implementation of a program or plan to move the organization or its members to a more satisfactory state

Refreezing: The condition that exists when newly developed behaviours; attitudes or structures become an enduring part of the organization. At this point, the effectiveness of the change can be examined and the desirability of extending the change further can be considered.

Debates on whether Lewin’s simple model of change applies to firms in so called hyper-turbulent environment, where constant, unpredictable, non-linear change is the norm

The Learning Organization Organizational learning: process through which an organization

acquires, develops, and transfers knowledge throughout the organization

1st: they learn through knowledge acquisition (interpretation of knowledge that already exists but external)

2nd: they learn through knowledge development (new info within organization experience…)

Learning organization: organization that has systems and processes for creating., acquiring and transferring knowledge to modify and change its behaviour to reflect new knowledge and insights

o Four key dimensions: Vision/support Culture Learning systems/dynamics Knowledge management/infrastructure

* 50% more likely to have higher overall levels of profitability than organizations not rated as learning organizations.

Issues in the change process

Diagnosis the systematic collection of information relevant to impending organizational

change initially can provide info that contributes to unfreezing by showing that a

problem exist once unfreezing more diagnosis to clarify the problem and suggest the

changes to be implemented

change agents: experts in the application of behavioural science knowledge to organizational diagnosis and change (big firms have in house change agent vs others who have outsiders)

Resistance overt or covert failure by organizational members to support a change effort at the unfreezing stage, defence mechanisms might be activated to deny or

rationalize the signals that change is needed causes of resistance

o politics and self-interest o low individual tolerance for changeo lack of trusto different assessments of the situationo strong emotionso resistant organization culture

two major themes: o change is unnecessary because there is only a small gap between the

organization’s current identity and its idealo change is unobtainable because the gap between the current and the

ideal identities is too large moderate identity gap is probably most conductive to increased acceptance

of change because it unfreezes people while not provoking maximum resistance

dealing with resistance o for politics and self-interest : give them a special, desirable role in

change process or by negotiating special incentives for changeo if misunderstanding, lack of trust, or different assessments are

provoking resistance, good commutation can pay off o involving the people who are the targets of change in the change in

the change process often reduces their resistanceo transformational leaders are particularly adept at overcoming

resistance to changeo being especially sensitive to when followers are ready for change. o Unfreeze current thinking by installing practices that constantly

examine and question the status quo o Transformational leaders are skilled at using the new ideas that stem

from these practices to create a revised vision for followers about what the organization can do or be. Often, a radically reshaped culture is the result.

Evaluation and institutionalization Range of variables

o Reactions- did participants like the change program?o Learning- what knowledge was acquired in the program?o Behaviour- what changes in job behaviour occurred?o Outcomes-what changes in productivity, absence and so on occurred?

Reactions measure resistance, learning reflects change, and behaviour reflects successful refreezing

Outcomes indicate whether refreezing is useful for the organization If the outcome of change is evaluated favourably, the organization will wish to

institutionalize that change 2 factors can inhibit institutionalization:

o promised extrinsic rewards might not be developed to accompany changes

o environmental pressures can cause management to regress to more familiar behaviours and abandon change effect

planning is a key issue in any change effort

Organizational Development: Planned Organizational change a planned, ongoing effort to change organizations to be more effective and more

human Organizational development practitioners have shown a more active concern

with organizational effectiveness and with using development practices to further the strategy of the organization

Some specific organizational development strategies The organization that seeks to “develop itself” has recourse to a wide variety of

specific techniques, and many have been used in combinationTeam Building An effort to increase the effectiveness of work teams by improving interpersonal

processes, goal clarification, and role clarification Begins with a diagnostic session in which the team explores its current level of

functioning. The goal of this stage is to paint a picture of the current strengths and weaknesses of the team.

Between the diagnostic and follow-up sessions, the change agent might hold confidential interviews with team members to anticipate implementation problems

Team building is a continuing process that involves regular diagnostic sessions and further dev. Exercises as needed.

Survey Feedback The collection of data from organizational members and the provision of

feedback about the results Types:

o Pre-packaged(standardized survey):covers areas such as communication and decision making practices and employee satisfaction

o Face-to-face meetings : covers only the organization as a whole

Total Quality Management

A systematic attempt to achieve continuous improvement in the quality of an organization’s products or services (TQM)

The goal is long-term improvement, not a short term “fix” Improvement requires knowing where we are in the first place stresses teamwork among employees and with suppliers and customers Relies heavily on training to achieve continuous improvement Tools used:

Flowchats of work processes: illustrate graphically the operations and steps of accomplishing some task, who does what, and when

Pareto analysis: collects frequency data causes of errors and problems, showing where attention should be directed for max improvement

Fishbone diagrams: diagram illustrate graphically the factors that could contribute to a particular quality problem

Statistical process control: gives employees hard data about the quality of their own output that enables them to correct any deviations from standard

Make heavy use of customer surveys, focus-group, mystery shoppers and customer clinics to stay close to their customers

Small gains over long period of time

Reengineering The radical redesign of organization processes to achieve major

improvements in such factors as time cost quality or service Uses a “clean slate” approach that asks basic questions- then job, structure,

technology and policy are redesigned around the answers Organizational processes: activities or work that have to be accomplished to

create outputs that internal or external customers value The gains from reengineering will be greatest when the process is complex

and cut across a # of jobs and departments Link between team: team usually seeks incremental improvements in

existing processes rather than radical revisions of processes. The efforts can be a part of reengineering projects.

Factors prompt interest in reengineering:o “creeping bureaucracy”o new info technology (work is modified to fit technological capabilities

rather than simply fitting the tech existing) goals

o #of mediating steps in a process is reduced, making process more efficient

o collaboration among the people involved in the process is enhanced aspects:

o jobs are redesigned and usually enrichedo a strong emphasis is placed on teamwork

o work is performed by the most logical pplo Unnecessary checks and balances are removedo advanced tech is exploited

using cross-functional teams and advanced Technology; before it begins, it is important to clarify overall strategy

Does organizational Development Work most OD techniques have a positive impact on productivity, job satisfaction,

or other work attitudes OD seems to work better for supervisors or managers than for blue-collar

workers changes that use more than one technique seem to have more impact there are great differences across sites in the success of OD interventions Problems:

o OD efforts involve a complex series of changeo Novelty effects or the fact that participants receive special treatment

might produce short-term gains that really do not persist overtimeo Self-reports of changes after OD might involve unconscious attempts

to please the change agento Organizations may be reluctant to publicize failures

The innovation Process

What is innovation? Process of developing and implementing new ideas in an organization Genuine invention of a new idea recognizing an idea in the env., importing it

to the organization and giving it a unique application Product innovation: direct impact on the cost, quality, style or availability of

a product or service Process innovation: new ways of designing products, making products or

delivering services IDEA GENERATIONIDEA IMPLEMENTATIONIDEA DIFFUSION Much idea generation is due to serendipity

Generating and Implementing Innovative Ideas Individual creativity: creative thinking by ind. Or small groups is the core of

innovation process Creativity: the production of novel but potentially useful ideas Creative people : tend to have an excellent technical understanding of their

domain, truly excellent grasp of finance and economics Creativity-relevant skills: tolerate ambiguity, withhold early judgment, see

things in a new way, and be open to new and diverse experience. Curiosity and persistence. Socially skilled but lower than average in need for social approval

Idea champions: ppl who recognize an innovative idea and guide it through to implementation. Often have a real sense of mission about the innovation.

Labelled as entrepreneurs or corporate entrepreneurs. Exhibited clear signs of transformational leadership, using charisma, inspiration and intellectual stimulation to get ppl to see the potential of the innovation. Use influence tactics to gain support.

Communicating: effective communication with the external environment and effective communication within the organization are vital for successful innovation.

o Gatekeepers : ppl who span organizational boundaries to import new info, translate it for local use, and disseminate it. Strong ties with a sparse but diverse network.

o Many organizations excel by going direct to userso Decentralization, informality and lack of bureaucracy all foster the

exchange of info that innovation requires. Inter-division communication is a potent source of innovation

o Working together a short time and a long time engages less communication

o Organic structures seem best in the idea-generation and design phases of innovation, more mechanistic structures are often better for actually implementing innovations

Resources and reward: funds for innovation are seen as an investment, not cost. Time can be an even more crucial factor for some innovations. Its key to avoid punishment failure. Freedom and autonomy were the most cited organizational factors leading to creativity

Diffusing Innovative Ideas The process by which innovations moves through an organization Poor record of diffusion

o Lack of support and commitment from top managemento Significant differences between the technology or setting of the pilot

project and those of the other units in the organization, raising arguments that “it wont work here”

o Attempts to diffuse particular techniques rather than goals that could be tailored to other situations

o Management reward systems that concentrate on traditional performance measures while ignoring success at implementing innovation

o Union resistance to extending the negotiated “exceptions” in the pilot project

o Conflict between the pilot project and the bureaucratic structure in the rest of the firm

Factors that determine the rate of diffusion of a wide variety of innovation o Relative advantageo Compatibilityo Complexityo Trialabilityo observability

A Footnote: The knowing-Doing Gap Managers are highly educated and have the right knowledge but lack of the

ability to implement Why: Organisational cultures tend to reward short term talk (meetings, presentations, documentation) rather than long-term action. This is because of the mistrust, and fear of mistakes. And when managers actually implement changes they sometimes fail because of bad techniques.