Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Organizational Behavior 3
Organizational Behavior 3
Contents
Module 1: Introductory topics .................................................................................. 1 Overview......................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Thinking about organisations and management....................................................... 3 Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 3 1.1.1 Why do we need to manage? ................................................................................ 3 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................... 5 1.2 Managerial work ....................................................................................................... 5 Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 5 1.2.1 The nature of managerial work .............................................................................. 5 1.3 Founding views of management............................................................................. 10 Introduction ................................................................................................................... 10 1.3.1 Scientific management ........................................................................................ 10 1.3.2 Administrative management ................................................................................ 11 1.3.3 The human relations movement .......................................................................... 13 1.3.4 Bureaucracy......................................................................................................... 13 1.3.5 Systems theory .................................................................................................... 13 1.3.6 Other approaches ................................................................................................ 14 Module 2: Groups, teams and leadership ............................................................. 18 Overview....................................................................................................................... 18 2.1 The nature of groups and teams............................................................................. 20 Introduction ................................................................................................................... 20 2.1.1 Definitions of groups: two caveats ....................................................................... 20 2.1.2 Functions of formal and informal groups ............................................................. 21 2.1.3 Other arguments concerning the formation of informal groups ........................... 22 2.1.4 Characteristics of groups ..................................................................................... 22 2.2 Team roles.............................................................................................................. 26 2.2.1 Creating an effective team................................................................................... 27 Conclusion .................................................................................................................... 29 2.3 Leadership .............................................................................................................. 30 Introduction ................................................................................................................... 30 2.3.1 Core definitional elements ................................................................................... 31
First Published: Semester 2, 1997. This edition: Session 2 2005 Author: Mary Barrett. Edited and updated by Shaun Saunders. Published by the Graduate Studies Program, Faculty of Business, University of the Sunshine Coast, Maroochydore DC, Qld, 4558 Copyright, University of the Sunshine Coast Copyright protects this publication. Except for purposes permitted by the Copyright Act 1968 (Cwlth) reproduction by any process is prohibited without the prior written permission of University of the Sunshine Coast. Initial inquiries are to be made to the Manager Graduate Studies, Faculty of Business. Copyrighted materials reproduced herein are used either under the provisions of the Copyright Act as amended, under agreement with Copyright Agency Limited, or as a result of permission from the copyright owner. We acknowledge, with thanks, those people who contributed of their time and knowledge to the development of this course.
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2.3.2 Points of convergence across leadership theories .............................................. 31 Module 3: Motivation and persuasion ................................................................... 35 Overview....................................................................................................................... 35 3.1 Motivation ............................................................................................................... 38 Introduction ................................................................................................................... 38 3.1.1 Theories of motivation ......................................................................................... 38 3.1.2 Process theories of motivation............................................................................. 42 3.1.3 Orientation to work approaches........................................................................... 45 3.1.4 Applications of motivation theories to human resource management practices.. 46 3.1.5 Other HRM issues ............................................................................................... 46 3.2 Persuasion.............................................................................................................. 50 Introduction ................................................................................................................... 50 3.2.1 What is persuasion? ............................................................................................ 51 3.2.2 Why learn the basics of persuasion?................................................................... 51 3.2.3 Fundamental principles of persuasion ................................................................. 54 3.2.4 The four strategies of influence: .......................................................................... 59 Module 4: Organisational culture, power and politics ......................................... 64 Overview....................................................................................................................... 64 4.1 Organisational culture............................................................................................. 66 Introduction ................................................................................................................... 66 4.1.1 Elements of culture .............................................................................................. 67 4.1.2 Perspectives on organisational culture ................................................................ 70 4.1.3 Culture and organisational lifecycle ..................................................................... 72 4.1.4. Culture and strategy ........................................................................................... 72 4.1.5 Cultural change.................................................................................................... 73 4.1.6 Societal and global workplace culture ................................................................. 75 Conclusion .................................................................................................................... 76 4.2 Power and politics................................................................................................... 76 Introduction ................................................................................................................... 76 4.2.1 'Power to' versus 'power over' ............................................................................. 77 4.2.2 Sources of power................................................................................................. 77 4.2.3 Power strategies+................................................................................................ 81 4.2.4 An Australian contribution to thinking about power: the arena model.................. 81 Conclusion .................................................................................................................... 82 Module 5: Organisational structure and decision-making .................................. 85 Overview....................................................................................................................... 85 5.1 Organisational structure.......................................................................................... 87 Introduction ................................................................................................................... 87 5.1.1 Definitions of organisational structure and design ............................................... 87 5.1.2 The contingency approach to organisational design ........................................... 88 5.1.3 Applications of organisational design .................................................................. 89 5.2 Decision-making ..................................................................................................... 90 Introduction ................................................................................................................... 90
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5.2.1 Alternatives to the rational model of decision-making ......................................... 91 5.2.2 A new form of rationality? .................................................................................... 97 5.2.3 Perspectives on what happens to information in decision-making ...................... 97 5.2.4 The escalation of commitment............................................................................. 98 5.2.5 Improving decision-making .................................................................................. 99 Conclusion .................................................................................................................. 100 Module 6: Organisational change, organisational behaviour and HRM, and management issues of the future ........................................................................ 102 Overview..................................................................................................................... 102 6.1 Organisational change.......................................................................................... 104 Introduction ................................................................................................................. 104 6.1.1 Perspectives on managing change.................................................................... 104 6.1.2 The organisation development approach to managing change......................... 106 6.1.3 Managing change as a political process............................................................ 110 6.1.4 Contingency approaches to managing change ................................................. 112 Conclusion .................................................................................................................. 114 6.2 Organisational Behaviour and HRM ..................................................................... 114 6.2.1 Why HRM? ........................................................................................................ 115 6.2.2 The Human Resource Management Process.................................................... 115 6.3 Management issues of the future ......................................................................... 122 Introduction ................................................................................................................. 122 6.3.1 Ways of predicting the future ............................................................................. 123 6.3.2 Select leading indicators.................................................................................... 123 6.3.3 Changes in the world of work ............................................................................ 124 Implications of change ................................................................................................ 127
Faculty of Business, University of the Sunshine Coast Course Work Managing Organisational Behaviour MGT701
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Topics
Topics covered in this Module are: 1.1 Thinking about organisations and management 1.2 Managerial work 1.3 Founding views of management
Learning outcomes
Upon completion of this Module you should have: an appreciation of some of the diverse ways of interpreting organisations and how being able to think about organisations in different ways contributes to understanding the task of management an understanding of a diversity of approaches to thinking about managerial work an understanding of some of the formal founding theories of management, their strengths and limitations, and their enduring contributions to modern views of management some experience at applying some of these perspectives on organisations and managerial work to examine your own approach to management, the workings of your organisation and some case studies.
Learning resources
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Introduction
This topic introduces you to management issues within organisations. It looks at the need for management and discusses this in the context of the complex and dynamic nature of organisations. In learning about the organisations and management we will examine the following issues:
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Defining management
In the light of what and why we manage, it makes sense to define management as: the activity whereby we obtain, allocate and use human efforts and physical resources to get something done.
Textbook
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Conclusion
It is clear from what has preceded that organisations are complex; they resist explanation via a single tool or mechanism. We need multiple views to come to grips with them. Organisations are changing entities existing within a variety of contexts that are themselves often unstable. It is probably clear by now why studying an organisation chart feels not much more informative than studying a faded photograph if you are trying to capture an understanding of the organisation as a 'moving target'. Even using more complex perspective such as the ones offered in this Module will have different results according to the purposes and perspective of the person applying it.
Interpersonal roles
figurehead leader liaison.
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Informational roles
monitor disseminator spokesperson decisional roles entrepreneur disturbance handler resource allocator negotiator.
The balance of these roles in a particular managerial job may vary, but basically all managers will need at least some skills in each of the roles.
Reading 1.2
Mintzberg, H. 2001, The Managers Job, in The Organizational Behavior Reader, eds J.S. Osland, D.A. Kolb, & I.M. Rubin, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey. (See Chapter 2, pp. 34-49).
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But Kotter also goes somewhat further, presenting these job demands as part of an overall three-part process: that is agenda setting, network building and executing (getting networks to implement agendas).
Graduate Studies Program
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Agenda setting centres on developing a set of loosely connected goals and plans, sometimes resulting in formal documents, sometimes remaining as ideas in the manager's head. The managers develop these agendas based on their own knowledge of the business and organisations involved, plus information gathered primarily from discussions with people. Network building involves the developing of a network of cooperative relationships with people who could make an important contribution to the successful implementation of the agenda. Thus managers develop relationships with superiors, subordinates, peers and various other individuals and groups, both inside and outside the organisation. The more dependent the managers are on a particular group or individual, the more they try to develop the relationship. As managing generally involves getting things done through people, it is not surprising that these managers put a lot of effort into developing support among key people for the set agenda. Network building involves encouraging the various network members to identify with the managers' agendas as well as fostering a sense of cooperation and commitment among them. It involves developing, maintaining and shaping an informal network of relationships. Execution involves the mobilisation of support from the network for the implementation of the agenda. Often this is done paradoxically by 'standing back': giving those with the capacity to accomplish a task successfully the authority to do just that and not directly intervening. Sometimes direct intervention occurs to ask, demand, cajole, threaten, praise or reward. Some actions involve the use of the manager's formal power; others are based on informal persuasion. Kotter's view reinforces the political emphasis of Luthans et als view of management. Taken together, these studies and similar work describe the real world of managing. Perhaps it comes as a relief to find that the frenetic reality of your job is at least being acknowledged in research. But it is disquieting, for example, to discover that the formula for success in management is not the same as the formula for effectiveness, and that management is by its nature a highly political activity. In all, the research confirms that management is a demanding and complex activity, and that chaos, drama, power plays, bargaining, negotiating and demanding schedules 'go with the territory'. By now, you can perhaps add a number of new fads to the list. Consider for example the popularity of Total Quality Management or TQM (late 80s to early 90s) and the current predilection for various forms of corporate re-engineering. This is not to argue that such 'recipes' have no value, but rather that any single precept in management is unlikely to be capable on its own of solving complex problems. In all, the readings indicate the complexity of managerial activities, including some things various management jobs have in common as well as differences between them, say as managers move further up the hierarchy (Mintzberg), or according to the functional areas of the organisation they occupy. It may be useful at this point to summarise what these studies tell us as a whole about managerial activities. The pace of work is hectic, often fragmented and unrelenting. Particularly as managers reach the top levels of major organisations, workloads become considerable (50 hours and more per week for even relatively junior managers). Breaks become less frequent, and there are continual demands for information. Despite the intention to plan and reflect on future strategy, the manager's day tends to be subsumed in 'fire-fighting' unexpected problems. The content of managerial work is varied and fragmented. All the studies show that managers typically engaged in a large number of activities covering ten or more
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different types depending on whose model is being used to classify them. Such activities tend to be disjointed, with little connection between them, because so many are initiated by others. There always seem to be more problems than one person can handle, and this increases the further up one goes in an organisation. Problems present themselves 'out of the blue' and in random order. There is little time for careful analysis, and so managers are inclined to ignore the 'fuzzy' and difficult to diagnose areas, concentrating on areas they know best, and resorting to styles of approach born out of habit and personal preference rather than considered analysis. They find it difficult to think beyond their immediate domain of responsibility, or to define solutions that involve more than their usual resources. Interactions often involve peers and outsiders. The contributions of Luthans, Kotter, Kanter and others show that successful managers tend to be those who can communicate across functions, divisions and with people outside the organisation. So networking at times surpasses even the higher level conceptual skills as managers develop skills and sensitivity to mobilise their workforce. The high need for lateral and external contacts is explained by managers' needs for information to reduce levels of uncertainty. If the story of the 1990s and the early part of the new century is the need for organisations to manage change, then the need to reduce uncertainty increases correspondingly. As Kanter notes, the successful entrepreneurial manager builds coalitions of supporters, starting with their peers and, over time, adding superiors. Interactions typically involve oral communication. Across studies, managers are reported as using a variety of methods to obtain information. These include written messages, phone messages, scheduled and unscheduled meetings and observational tours. Byrne extends these terms to include idea scavengers and management by walking around. Estimates put the amount of time managers spend in oral communication as varying between one quarter and three-quarters. Managers need to pay attention to gossip and rumours: they represent up-to-date information whether or not their content is factually based. Even joking and small talk are necessary for maintaining personal networks. Decision processes are disorderly and political. Managers seldom make major decisions immediately, but rather take a series of small steps towards the larger decision. Organisational decision processes are highly political, and decisions can drag on for months due to delays, political in-fighting and compromises. The political phenomena associated with decision-making will be dealt with more formally in the Module 'Organisational culture and power and politics', and also in the Module 'Control and decision making'. Most planning is informal and adaptive. The descriptive studies on which this part of the Module has been based show that while some planning does occur, it tends to be informal and implicit. Kotter's work identifies how managers define agendas that consist of loosely connected goals. Kotter found that the achievement of agenda items is a gradual, continuous process, in which managers use a range of influence techniques to shape opinion and mobilise support. Contrary to conventional models of strategic management, which portray management as an essentially top-down process, it appears that the objectives and strategies adopted by many firms emerge from more bottom-up processes.
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Reading 1.3
Teal, T. 2001, The Human Side of Management, in The Organizational Behavior Reader, eds J.S. Osland, D.A. Kolb, & I.M. Rubin, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey. (See Chapter 2, pp. 49-57).
The focus was on increasing productivity through the work of individual employees. Lilian and Frank Gilbreth and Henry Gantt are also closely linked with scientific management. The Gilbreths tried to improve the performance of workers by identifying the most efficient set of motions for any task that would at the same time reduce worker fatigue. Their study of bricklayers in action and the techniques devised to triple their
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daily output is a well-known example of their work. A legacy of Gantt's work still used today is the Gantt Chart, a means of charting production scheduling. The major advantages of scientific management were increased efficiency and productivity in manufacturing. Scientific analysis of the workplace including task breakdown and selection and training of workers also had a significant impact on managerial practice. We recognise in these practices the forerunners of today's job descriptions and duty statements. The linking of higher performance with greater rewards and the focus on cooperation between management and workers are also features of the modern workplace. In essence, however, the scientific approach considered workers as extensions of their equipment or 'human machines. Moreover, many of the assumptions about human motivation were simplistic, such as the view that individuals were only motivated to behave in self-interested ways that would accommodate their economic and physical needs. Issues such as personal recognition, status and achievement played no part. The scientific approach assumed that workers must be rigidly controlled by management as, otherwise, they would be unreliable and uninterested in their work. The approach to leadership was, accordingly, an authoritarian one. The emphasis was on the internal functioning of the organisation rather than its capacity to respond to the external environment.
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1 2 3 4
Planning: Deciding on the ways in which the organisation will meet its goals. Organising: Allocating human and physical resources to carry out organisational plans. Leading: Directing employees to carry out required tasks. Controlling: Monitoring how organisational plans are being carried out and taking corrective action when needed.
Fayol also described fourteen principles of management, which are briefly described as follows: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Divisions of labour: Tasks and responsibilities are specialised to achieve maximum efficiency. Authority and responsibility: Orders are supported by formal and personal authority and with the associated power to apply rewards or penalties. Discipline: Respect for organisational rules is accompanied by penalties for breaking them. Unity of command: Each employee should have only one direct supervisor. Unity of direction: There should be only one manager and one plan for operations of the same type. Subordination: of individual interest to the organisation interest. Organisational interests and goals take precedence. Remuneration: Appropriate and fair reward for effort provides incentive. Centralisation: A balance between centralisation of authority and responsibility in a manager and delegation to employees should be maintained. The hierarchy or scalar chain: The line of authority and communication should run from top to bottom, although managers need to communicate laterally with their peers.
10 Order: All resources should be correctly positioned to support the organisation's direction and goals. 11 Equity: Friendliness among employees and managers and fair discipline increase commitment. 12 Stability of staff: A lower turnover rate of employees and long-term commitment are necessary for an efficient organisation. 13 Initiative: Employees should be encouraged to conceive new ideas and carry out plans without fear of failure. 14 Esprit de corps: High morale and team spirit are organisational assets. No doubt you will see applications of many if not all of these principles in your organisation today, whether as stated or in some variant form. The need to see their value but to adapt them for each organisation's needs may almost appear self-evident. This was not always the case, however. While it was Fayol's intention that the principles be applied flexibly, at first they tended to be taken as rigid prescriptions without regard to environmental, technological, personnel or other factors. Today the need to apply a 'customised' view of them is better recognised and the fact that organisations still so frequently use Fayol's precepts or some version of them is evidence of their fundamental value.
Master of Business Administration
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1.3.4 Bureaucracy
The German sociologist, Max Weber, contended that the structure of an organisation had much to do with its level of efficiency, and that a clearly structured organisation with well-defined roles and responsibilities a bureaucracy provided at least a theoretically ideal organisational form. Some features of Weber's ideal bureaucracy include: there is a division of labour where each position is well defined and appropriate authority is delegated standardisation and control are achieved by using formal rules and standards positions are in a hierarchy of authority selection and promotion depend on competence and qualifications rewards and penalties are applied according to standardised procedures loyalty to the organisation results in long-term job security.
Weber's bureaucracy was designed to enable large organisations to carry out a wide range of activities in an orderly and efficient manner. It focuses on positions rather than on the people occupying them, implying that the structure of organisations should and could remain relatively stable over the longer term. While many organisations retain features of Weber's bureaucracy, it is generally accepted that its desirable features are most easily achieved in routine and predictable environments. Other more flexible and responsible organisational structures are required in situations of rapid or unpredictable change.
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biological sciences, attempts to consider the organisation as a whole system made up of various interrelated parts of sub-systems. This theory took as its starting point the idea that organisations are created for particular purposes and have multiple goals. In contrast to the scientific and administrative approaches which tended to regard organisations as complete unto themselves, that is as closed systems, systems theory drew attention to the interaction of the organisation with its environment, that is as an open system. Inputs, transformation processes, outputs and feedback are the key elements of all open systems, and managers need to focus on the interrelationship of these elements.
are combined with elements of 'Type X' or Japanese organisations, such as: lifetime employment collective decision-making collective responsibility slow evaluation and promotion implicit control mechanisms non-specialised career path holistic concern for employee as a person
to yield 'Type Z' organisations which offer the best of both, as follows: long-term employment collective decision-making individual responsibility
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slow evaluation and promotion implicit, informal control with explicit, formal measures moderately specialised careers holistic concern, including family.
The contingency perspective, which argues that managers should make decisions in a way that is most suitable for a given situation, appears to be a general philosophy rather than a defined approach. There is a recognition that there are no universal principles and always more than one way to achieve the same goal. Nevertheless, careful analysis of key variables is vital: for example the way organisational size, technology, changes in the environment, and the characteristics and needs of human resources are affecting the relationship between the organisation and its environment. Managers can be either reactive, that is adapting and responding to situations as they arise, or pro-active, that is, anticipating future opportunities or problems and taking steps to influence the situation to the advantage of their organisations.
Activities
Note: The following activities are optional. They are designed to help you develop your understanding of the various topics in this Course.
Managerial work
Which of Mintzbergs five roles are the most important in your current job (or in the job of the manager(s) you are observing)? How do you think the Chief Executive spends his or her time? If that is different from your job in terms of the balance between Mintzberg's roles is that desirable? Why or why not?
Activity 1.3 Analyse the prescribed and discretionary components of your job.
Think about your current job. What are the prescribed and discretionary work elements of your job? You might like to use a pie chart to describe the relative balance of these components. Is this balance appropriate in relation to the time you are spending on each component? (You might also want to consider here the targets you need to meet to achieve promotion or a satisfactory performance rating in your job.)
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If you are already operating as a manager, what level of contraction do you use when giving instructions or setting targets for people who report to you? What level is (mostly) used when instructions are given to you? Discuss the effects in each case. Are there any effects you hadn't anticipated as a result of the level of contraction, and do you now wish to change something about the current arrangements in either direction? If you are already occupying a management role in your organisation, especially one at middle or senior management, use the categorisations of Katz or Burgoyne and Stewart to consider the way your job has altered since you joined (or started) your organisation. Alternatively if you have worked in many organisations you may wish to carry out the analysis from the start of your career. As a further alternative, if you have not yet moved into management, consider the ways the career path of your boss has changed since he or she entered the workforce. Can you observe a change in the balance of the skills you (or your boss) have applied which corresponds to the divisions that these authors described? Are there specific skills you will need to develop as your career progresses? Do you miss the opportunity to do tasks that were important at an earlier level but which you have needed to leave behind? Compare the findings of the work by Mintzberg, Kanter, Kotter, Luthans et al. and Kraut et al. from the Readings, the textbook and other summary material in this Module. Compare the roles or activities of managers that each identifies, showing the ones the authors have identified in common and which seem to be unique. Then compare your results to the original 'Planning, Organising, Leading and Controlling' description of management which we owe to Fayol. Is Fayol's formulation still of value to managers now, despite the attempts by Mintzberg and others to contest it? The work of Luthans et al, as we noted, has the advantage that it identifies differences between successful and effective managers. Analysing your organisation (or through discussions with people who work in another organisation), build up a profile of cases of people who fit the 'successful' and the 'effective' categories identified by Luthans et al. Check within the organisation to see what it is doing to reward these types of managers, in particular if these reward systems are in line with Luthans et als suggestions. Perhaps, on the contrary, they provide evidence to challenge his suggestions.
Activity 1.5 Analyse how the balance of skills you need in your job has changed
Activity 1.7 Does your organisation reflect the distinction between 'successful' and 'effective' managers?
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It is simplistic to assume the extra money will motivate people to work harder. It is an authoritarian view that is inappropriate in today's work environment.
If your choice suggests that you believe scientific management ought to be superseded, do you also see any evidence of the resilience of scientific management within your organisation? How might you reconcile the two views? How applicable do you believe Fayol's 14 principles of management are in today's organisations? Consider four of the principles and discuss how they are being applied in your own organisation. What accounts for any similarities or differences you observe from the strict formulation of the principles? How would you change or perhaps even reinstate the application of Fayol's ideas in your organisation?
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Topics
Topics covered in this Module are: 2.1 The nature of groups and teams 2.2 Team roles 2.3 Leadership.
Learning outcomes
After successfully completing this Module, you should have: an understanding of the stages involved in forming a group, as well as some of the controversy surrounding this topic an understanding of the nature of groups, both formal and informal, and what distinguishes groups from teams an understanding of the kinds of needs groups fulfil, and the mechanisms by which they do it gained some experience at analysing a number of the groups and teams you are involved in, and working out how their functioning can be improved an understanding of the theories surrounding the nature of leadership and what they have in common gained some experience at analysing leadership situations and improving your own capacities as leader.
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Learning resources
Asch, SE 1951, 'Effects of group pressure upon the modifications and distortion of judgement', in Groups, leadership and men H. Guetzkow ed., pp. 177190, Carnegie Press, New York. Belbin, RM 1981, Management teams: why they succeed of fail, Heinemann, London. Bramel, D & Friend, R 1987, 'The work group and its vicissitudes in social and industrial psychology', Journal of Applied Behavioural Sciences, vol. 23, pp. 233 253. Dalton, M 1959, Men who manage. Wiley, New York. Dunphy, D 1981, Organisational change by choice, McGraw-Hill, Sydney. Fox, A 1985, Man mismanagement, Hutchinson, London.. Grzyb, GJ 1981, 'Decollectivization and recollectivization in the workplace: the impact of technology on informal work groups and work culture', Economic and Industrial Democracy, vol. 2, pp. 455482. Kanter, RM 1983, The change masters, Unwin, Boston. Katz, FE 1973, 'Integrative and adaptive uses of autonomy: worker autonomy in factories', in People and organisations G Salaman & K Thompson eds, Longman, London, pp. 190204. Leana, CR 1985, 'A partial test of Janis's groupthink model: effects of group cohesiveness and leader behaviour on defective decision making', in Journal of Management, vol. 11, pp. 517. Morgan, G 1986, Images of organisation. Sage, Beverly Hills CA. Perrin, S & Spencer C 1981, 'Independence or conformity in the Asch experiments as a reflection of cultural and situational factors', British Journal of Social Psychology, vol. 20, pp. 205209. Schein, EH 1980, Organisational psychology, 3rd edn, Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs NJ. Sinclair, A 1989, The tyranny of the team, working paper no. 4, Graduate School of Management, University of Melbourne. Trahair, RCS 1985, 'The workers' judgement and informal organization', in Australian organisational behaviour: readings, 2nd edn, eds WM Ainsworth & QF Willis, Macmillan, Melbourne, pp. 6074.
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Introduction
One of the notable consequences of the human relations movement discussed in 'Introductory topics', was the greater and more positive attention given to groups in management and organisation theory. To Mayo, McGregor and even Weber, groups were a fact of life, central to psychological well-being because they reflect a basic human need for social bonds. Researchers such as Likert continued the human relations tradition in arguing that the primary task of management was to ensure that groups functioned in ways which supported rather than undermined management objectives. This contrasted with the Scientific Management view of groups which was that they undermined productivity by determining that individual efficiency fell to the level of the least efficient worker in the group. Traditionally, and despite the prominence given nowadays to teamwork, managers have generally been ambivalent towards groups. Managers are aware of the importance of interdependent cooperative action, and even of the synergies another term for enhanced outputs which can be generated, but they are also wary of the influence that groups can have over their members (Bramel & Friend, 1987). In the first part of this Module, we will examine a range of aspects of the significance of groups and teams for an understanding of their behaviour and effects in organisations. Then, in the second part of the Module, we will consider the even more vexed question of the nature of leadership. It will be clear from an early point that, perhaps even more than in some other Modules, the material considered under 'Groups and teams' necessarily overlaps with issues considered elsewhere. For example, some of the roles that individuals assume within teams overlap with our consideration of management roles in 'Introductory topics'. This is because managerial work usually involves coordinating participants on complex tasks that are best carried out interdependently more simply: 'getting things done through other people'. As a further example, the function of socialisation and establishment of 'norms' that we will see to be one of the functions of groups, is also closely linked to the issue of organisational culture. Group assessment and reward issues will be dealt with further under Human Resource Management topics in 'Human Resource Management and Conflict Negotiation'.
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aware as you read that disparities among various authors' implied or overt definitions are likely.
Read Robbins' textbook, Chapters 8 and 9. Textbook
The textbook provides classic and fairly standard material on groups. The base being used is essentially social psychology a discipline that is both theoretically and methodologically strong. Thus the textbook defines groups, as well as different types of groups, and discusses the effects of various external and internal (structural) influences on the group. In a welcome development, the textbook also provides a counterbalance to the ideas of group formation, which are frequently presented in an uncritical way. The section on the punctuated equilibrium model of group development (see Robbins' textbook) provides a more realistic model for the less smooth and predictable path that groups traverse to achieve their goals. Essentially, the textbook's definitions of groups have a central notion of belonging, and also frequently a sense of common purpose, so that to invoke the classic contrast groups are differentiated from a mere collection of individuals waiting for a bus. Despite this, it is important to note that, in practice, the term 'group' tends to be applied to a range of situations where the existence of a sense of belonging or of collective identity must be speculation at best. For example, some production processes are organised around collectivities that have been formed by management as the basic unit for production. Such collectivities may be labelled groups before, and in the absence of, any evidence of the existence of the group characteristics the textbook describes. So the study of groups in organisations is likely to be the study of: the collectivities that conform to the definition of 'group, and collectivities to which the label 'group' has been applied.
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The informal functions are: a means of fulfilling social needs, that is, needs for friendship and social interaction a means of developing, enhancing and confirming a sense of identity and selfesteem a means of establishing and testing beliefs and understandings. Through shared experiences and shared discussions, shared meanings are developed a means of reducing feelings of insecurity, anxiety and powerlessness as a problem-solving, task-accomplishing mechanism for informal objectives.
These separate lists help make it clear that formal groups such as committees or departments may be defined as such by edict, yet it is often unclear whether they really reflect the internalised common orientations of employees within the group. Informal groups, by contrast, are often applied from the outside as with the sociometry analysis example in the textbook as a result of observing group-like behaviour.
Political/economic reasons
Trahair (1985), Grzyb (1981) and Fox (1985) have analysed work situations where informal groups seem to be aimed at increasing worker control over their work, forming bonds which enhance acts of solidarity (as in industrial action) or defending and advancing job interests. Accordingly, such groups often serve a 'counter-organisational function, as the basis for an alternative system of power and influence which can act to subvert the formal goals of the organisation. Managers, in turn, may attempt to prevent such groups forming through their arrangements of the workplace layout or by rotating the leaders of such groups.
Structural explanations
Katz (1973), Dalton (1959) both also dispute the social needs interpretation, arguing that informal groups develop because formal structure is never absolute in terms of its determination of the actions of workers. That is, informal groups may fill in the gaps in formal practices in a way that supports the general intentions of management, rather than being a form of resistance to them. Dalton argues that informal groups contribute to organisational effectiveness.
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(Janis 1988). The phenomenon of groupthink, for example, which arises from a combination of the effects of norms, the pressure to conform, and group cohesiveness, has received a great deal of attention. In considering these four dimensions, we will consider not only the problems that arise from one or more of these characteristics of groups, but the ways in which they help groups to endure.
Roles
Our earlier discussion of the differentiation of roles in management can be extended to a consideration of different roles within the group. Group activity requires both taskfocussed and maintenance-focussed actions. The former directly address what is needed to carry out the work task of the group; the latter attends to the maintenance of interpersonal relations and cohesion within the group. Dunphy (1981) has provided a summary of these task and maintenance roles, plus those often seen as disruptive:
Role function
A TASK Initiator: Most active in setting objectives and initiating action Expert: Has and provides specialist advice Evaluator: Assesses progress; analyses problems Implementer: Focuses on implementation details, timing and methods Procedural technician: Emphasises the importance of rules and procedures and precedent B MAINTENANCE Exemplar: Spokesperson/liaison/negotiation for the group Encourager: Praises; supports; empathises Confronter: Brings conflicts out into the open Harmoniser: Mediates; conciliates Tension reliever: Reduces formality; introduces humour C DISRUPTIVE Dominator: Seeks to dominate discussion and to impose own views/objectives Absentee: Withdrawn, uninvolved Aggressor: Attacks others; ridicules, hostile, sarcastic Smotherer: Compulsively nice; stifles attention to conflict Recognition-seeker: Boastful; highlights own achievement Confessor: Reveals personal fears, failings; uses group as a therapy session
Source: Adapted from Dunphy (1981)
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Norms
As Robbins points out, all groups have norms, that is expectations of appropriate behaviour for group members. But only those norms which ensure the group's survival, increase the predictability of group members' behaviours, avoid potential embarrassment, and express the central values of the group, tend to be regularly enforced.
Conformity
Conformity is an issue closely linked to the issue of norms. Read carefully the account in the textbook of the Zimbardo experiment carried out at Stanford University. There is a further experiment you may have heard of: the Asch study in 1951 that also demonstrated the impact of conformity pressures on group members. It is notable that these pressures to conformity existed despite the fact that these 'groups' were hardly groups at all in the strict sense of the word. That is, they were a collection of individuals thrown together for the purpose of the experiment, who would have had no opportunity to establish normative ties. The significance of this is that it would be reasonable to assume that such tendencies to conformity would be even greater in many established groups. However, Perrin and Spencer (1981) question the universality of Asch's results. In their replication of Asch's study almost thirty years later using British students, they found an almost total lack of compliance to the unanimous majority. The difference, they argued, could have been due to the fact that Asch's study took place during and in the conformist culture of 1950s America. They comment: Asch's subjects expressed their fear of 'sticking out like a sore thumb', 'being felt sorry for', 'being thought that they had something wrong with them'. The present students, in contrast, felt that to conform to a group majority they believed to be erroneous would make them look 'weak', 'ridiculous' and 'stupid'. It might still be argued that, given the British students feared appearing in an unfavourable light to others, some norms of conformity were still operating. (I have always wondered whether students 30 years or so later hadn't gradually got wind of the point of the experiment!) Nevertheless, it is important to note that the pressures towards conformity are likely within well-established groups, and even those that are less than well established.
Cohesiveness
The textbook lists a number of contributors to group cohesiveness, and also discusses the consequences of group cohesiveness. As a general rule, it can be concluded that greater cohesiveness leads to: increased quantity and quality of communication between members greater influence by the group over individual members' behaviour a higher level of job satisfaction of group members improved or reduced performance depending on whether the group norm is for high or low performance.
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Groupthink
Groupthink, or the tendency to suppress critical thinking as a result of the concern to retain group unity, is one of the possible deleterious consequences of working in groups.
See also: http://choo.fis.utoronto.ca/FIS/Courses/LIS2149/Groupthink.html Website http://www.abacon.com/commstudies/groups/groupthink.html http://www.groupthinkfilm.com/
Janis (1971) sets out a number of symptoms of groupthink, which are summarised in the textbook as follows: 'rationalising away' any resistance to the group's assumptions pressures to conform applied to doubters silence on the part of those who are doubters an illusion of unanimity.
To these we might add: the illusion of invulnerability, which leads the group to dismiss potential dangers and take great risks; a belief in the inherent morality of the group's position the stereotyping of enemy leaders, for example, as too evil, corrupt or primitive to be a threat mindguards: some members of the group sometimes act as mindguards, keeping adverse information from reaching members and the leader in particular.
Effects of Groupthink
As a result of Groupthink the group limits its discussion to a rather limited range of alternatives, with little time given to identifying non-obvious gains, or to seeking solutions to costs that could change the relative merit of alternatives. The advice of experts even within the same organisation who might have more accurate and useful data, is ignored or not even sought. The group fails to reconsider the decision if unanticipated risks or problems are brought to their attention. Group members show interest in information that supports their decision, and ignore those that do not. Little time is spent considering how the decision could be sabotaged in the course of being implemented, which means, in turn, that there is no contingency plan for such an event.
Explanation of Groupthink
Janis says that Groupthink is best understood as 'a mutual effort among the group members to maintain self-esteem and emotional equanimity by providing social support to each other, especially at times when they share responsibility for making vital decisions' (1971, p 43). He argues that the prime condition for Groupthink is group cohesiveness and that it is reinforced where the group is insulated and where the
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leader is promoting his or her preferred solution. He later qualifies this by noting that it is particularly so where cohesiveness is due to the desire of individuals to be members of a particularly prestigious or socially pleasant group, rather than because they want to be part of an effective and competent task-focussed group. Leana (1985) goes further, arguing that the leadership factor (mentioned above) is the prime determinant rather than cohesiveness.
Preventing Groupthink
Janis (1988) lists the following means of preventing groupthink: the leader of a policy-forming or decision-making group should assign the role of critical evaluator to each member and encourage expression of objections and doubts leaders should begin by adopting an impartial stance instead of stating preferences at the beginning several groups should work on the same matter, including some from outside the organisation each member should discuss the group's views with colleagues in their own unit of the organisation the group should invite one or more outside experts to each meeting and encourage them to challenge the group's views whenever a meeting is held at which policy alternatives are discussed, at least one member should be assigned the role of devil's advocate whenever the issue involves relations with a rival organisation the group should allocate plenty of time to a study of all warning signals from the rival the group should from time to time split into two or more subgroups which meet separately, then come back together to identify and resolve any differences.
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Company Worker: the practical organiser who turns decisions and strategies into defined and manageable tasks that people can actually get on with. This person is concerned with what is feasible and logical. Resource Investigator: the member of the team who goes outside the group and brings information, ideas and developments back to it. Team Worker: the person who monitors and attends to the emotional needs of individuals within the team, and working to produce harmony especially in times of stress and pressure. If someone produces an idea, the instinct of the Team Worker is to build on it rather than demolish it. Finisher: the person who worries about details and what might go wrong. The Finisher maintains a permanent sense of urgency, and keeps the team to its predetermined deadlines and standards.
6 7
In Belbin's formulation, it is clear that people may occupy more than one role within a team. In any team of fewer than eight or nine people this would have to be so. All the functions are necessary, but people's different personalities mean that they will find some functions easier to fulfil than others. For example, Belbin classifies the functions as follows: Chairperson, Plant, Resource Investigator and Shaper: 'outward-looking' functions Company Worker, Monitor-Evaluator, Team Worker and Finisher: 'inward-looking' functions.
Note that Belbin later added a ninth team role, that of the Expert who has specialist knowledge or expertise (e.g., Information Technology).
Reading 2.1
Wageman, R. 2001, Critical Success Factors for Creating Superb Self-Managing Teams, in The Oganizational Behavior Reader, eds J.S. Osland, D.A. Kolb, & I.M. Rubin, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey. (See Chapter 9, pp. 231242).
Teambuilding
Of course, managers tend not to simply leave the task of making groups effective creating teams simply to the inherent characteristics of the group. The process by which active interventions are made in order to improve the functioning of a group is known as team building. Problems that team building processes aim to eliminate include poor productivity, low morale, lack of coordination, complacency,
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miscommunication, uncertainty as to goals and responsibilities, internal conflicts, lack of leadership and lack of commitment. Team building interventions can be tailored to the particular nature of the group and the problems it is facing. Dunphy (1981, p 215) lists the following as key intervention strategies: Goal setting and goal classification: The purpose is to develop a clear, concrete statement of goals which is agreed on by the group and management, and which can then be used as a basis for defining roles and responsibilities and for producing more detailed action plans. Role analysis and role classification: This approach focusses on developing and agreement among team members as to how goals are translated into specific roles responsibilities for team members. Group problem-solving and decision-making: This approach focusses attention on such matters as the characteristics and the application of an effective problemsolving process, and how to avoid some of the potential problems associated with group decision-making. Understanding and contributing to group process: This type of intervention is based on the idea that groups need to perform two kinds of general function if they are to be effective: task functions directly related to the group's objectives and maintenance functions related to the maintenance of interpersonal relations and commitment within the group. Group process interventions develop and understanding of the roles commonly associated with these functions and an ability to recognise behaviour said to disrupt these general functions. These task, maintenance and disruptive roles have been discussed previously. Reviewing and revising group norms: The objective is to identify and discuss existing group norms in regard to both task and personal objectives and to see whether they should be modified. According to Dunphy (1981, p 237), 'norms are renegotiated and a new contract drawn up. Given the earlier discussion about the largely informal nature of norms, that is, the way they typically evolve unconsciously rather than come into existence by fiat, it is advisable to be sceptical about the notion of planned norms. Improving the use of group resources: This strategy is used to improve the effectiveness of resources. It involves classifying resources according to whether they are: A) over-utilised B) utilisation is OK C) under-utilised D) not-utilised Resource use is then adjusted accordingly
Reading 2.2
Rogers, C.R. & Farson, R.E. 2001, The Meaning of Active Listening, in The Organizational Behavior Reader, eds. J.S. Osland, D.A. Kolb, & I.M. Rubin, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey. (See Chapter 7, pp. 185-189).
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Do we overvalue teams?
Dunphy (1981) provides considerable detail on the nuts and bolts of the techniques associated with team strategies in his book Organisational Change by Choice. This book is one of the most widely used and cited, both in academic and practitioner circles, and is deservedly regarded as a management classic. Nevertheless, like many other similar texts, it is based on a rather uncritical concept of the group as a team, that is, as a collectivity fundamentally driven by common interest, but which periodically suffers from dysfunctional practices. The concept of 'team' is a highly evaluative one, associated as it is with the idea of cooperation and a common goal. That is, it brings with it considerable ideological baggage. Morgan (1986) notes that its usage by managers may reflect their preference about how their groups operate, but may not be a particularly accurate characterisation of relations between the individuals concerned. In fact, by invoking the image of a team, a manager may be trying to bring about a unity of purpose that is currently lacking. As Kanter (1983) points out: 'Declaring people a "team" does not necessarily make them one'. Forming a team does not in itself mean that various differences in perspective and interest, which already exist, will disappear. In the article just cited, Kanter argues that 'the myth of team' is a counterproductive one. This myth holds that differences among members do not exist (because they are now a team). This can lead to the delegitimisation of differences, a head-in-the-sand disinclination to confront the reality of the situation. The remaining readings for this part of the Module are especially useful in expanding upon the special uses of groups and teams. They cover autonomous and semiautonomous work groups, the importance of cultural factors in the use of teams, and in the analysis of more participatory styles of management, with Japanese management practices as a primary example. Observations of how Japan uses the group are reported in the discussion of corporate social responsibility in U.S. and Japanese organisations (Wokutch) and in descriptions of the strategic use of quality circles in this country (McGraw and Dunford). Together these articles provide a good interpretation of Japanese management practices, and the difficulties in developing and running quality circles. The message is that Japanese management methods need to be adapted carefully when applied in other places, since they can be very much at variance with established social norms in western countries.
Reading 2.3
Lipnack, J. & Stamps, J. 2001, Virtual Teams: The New Yay to Work, in The Organizational Behavior Reader, eds J.S. Osland, D.A. Kolb, & I.M. Rubin, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey. (See Chapter 9, pp. 242-249).
Conclusion
The topics covered in the textbook and the readings, highlight a major difficulty in examining the topic of the group the wide range of applications where group issues affect the behaviour and decision-making of managers, and yet the difficulty of making hard and fast rules about this. If anything, the next topic, Leadership, reinforces this finding.
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2.3 Leadership
Introduction
As the textbook points out, leadership is one of the most researched topics in the management literature, yet it is also probably one of the most frustrating in terms of identifiable practical and reliable applications for managers. Yet we have no difficulty in finding stories about great military, political, religious and social leaders, and it seems reasonable to assume that there are obvious lessons from their stories. Why did Gandhi, Mohammed, Julius Caesar and Churchill become great leaders and why, in many cases, did they later lose their followers' support? How did some undistinguished people, like Adolf Hitler rise to positions of power? Some of the broad areas in which researchers have worked in an effort to answer these questions have been: personality traits abilities behaviours sources and uses of power features of the situation.
Read Robbins' textbook, Chapters 11 and 12. Textbook
Reading 2.4
Goleman, D. 2001, What Makes a Leader?, in The Organizational Behavior Reader, eds J.S. Osland, D.A. Kolb, & I.M. Rubin, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey. (See Chapter 13, pp. 371-381). The textbook provides a comprehensive treatment of the various theories that have emerged about leadership. Not surprisingly, theories of leadership now constitute a vast area of the applied social sciences literature. The first difficulty in examining this literature is providing a satisfactory definition of leadership. As the textbook points out, there are almost as many definitions as researchers in the area, and different theorists provide various interpretations of leadership and leadership effectiveness. There are also debates about the similarities and differences between leadership and management. Typically both terms are used interchangeably, but many argue quite persuasively for different definitions for both concepts. We will also examine the following issues: core definition and elements changes in emphasis in leadership approaches points of convergence across leadership theories.
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Leader-subordinate relations
Effective leaders establish cooperative relationships with their staff. They achieve high levels of mutual trust and loyalty. Leaders especially provide an important source of influence over the effort and commitment of staff. Favourable leader-subordinate relations are more likely for leaders who are friendly, open and helpful to their staffs needs, and take actions to advance the careers of this group. Also, several traits and skills are more predictive of being an effective leader. These skills include tact, empathy for others and good listening and counselling skills. Many of these are the human resource management skills we will review in Module 3.
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Managerial decision-making
A fourth area of convergence is that of managerial decision-making. Successful decision-making assists leaders in gaining and retaining power. Managers, however, seldom make important decisions as discrete actions at a point in time. Rather as we saw in 'Introductory topics' managerial decision-making tends to be confused, disorderly, emotional rather than rational, and covers domains from high levels of strategic importance to the highly trivial. Contingency theories of leadership reveal that leaders are judged more highly if they use participative processes in their decisionmaking. Managers with the traits of being proactive, and having an orientation towards efficiency and decisiveness are more likely to take the initiative about decisions and to take moderate levels of risks. Managers with a high regard for others are more likely to encourage staff participation, and they seem less concerned about protecting their own power base. For more on this topic, see related readings and other material on decision-making in 'Control and decision-making'.
Reading 2.5
Manz, C.C. & Sims, H.P. Jr. 2001, SuperLeadership: Beyond the Myth of Heroic Leadership, in The Organizational Behavior Reader, eds J.S. Osland, D.A. Kolb, & I.M. Rubin, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey. (See Chapter 13, pp. 383-397).
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Activities
Note: The following activities are optional. They are designed to help you develop your understanding of the various topics in this Module.
Considering the issues of groupthink and the main symptoms given in the textbook and in the preceding discussion, identify some examples of groupthink in your workplace and in Australian public life. Identify specific examples from political and organisational leaders, and then discuss ways in which groupthink could have been averted.
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Leadership
The art of empowering the people who report to you involves several specific management practices. Using Conger's (1991) list, analyse examples of the use of at least three of these strategies in an organisation you know as a member or have learned about by talking to others or through your general reading. Were the strategies successful? Why or why not? Effective leadership involves a complex interaction between the situation the person, and the decision-making climate of the organisation. Managers must make decisions effectively about the kinds of leadership qualities as expressed by Bass for those decisions to be effectively implemented. Think about the managers you have encountered who have impressed you with their abilities as leaders and as decision-makers. To what extent did these leaders: Show evidence of charisma and create enthusiasm? Delegate tasks and activities effectively? Possess effective communication skills? Organise effectively? Show evidence of a developmental attitude towards the people who report to them? Set high levels of intellectual standards to effectively stimulate subordinates? Encourage subordinate participation in decisions that directly affected them? Use the root or branch method of decision-making as Vroom and Yetton describe? Exhibit transformational behaviours and qualities? Think about the managers you have observed who, n your opinion, have failed miserably as managers. What qualities does this group of managers have in common? What behaviours did they fail to demonstrate? Based upon your analysis, identify a list of skills that are necessary for effective leadership and decision-making abilities. Once your have completed your list, review the list to determine which skills you have already demonstrated effectively, and those that require improvement. Develop an action plan to improve your leadership and decisionmaking abilities.
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Topics
Topics covered in this Module are: 3.1 Motivation 3.2 Persuasion
Learning outcomes
After successfully completing this Module you should be able to: explain various theories of motivation: the differences between them and the strengths and weaknesses of each describe an entirely different way of thinking about the meaning of work, the orientations to work approach, and its relationship to other schools of thought about what managers need to do to get the best out of their workforce explain the ways specific motivation theories have informed a number of human resource management practices, such as performance appraisal and compensation identify other contemporary HRM issues, and theories supporting them understand the fundamental principles of persuasion and influence and how they can be used in the modern workplace. gain some experience in the practice of persuasion.
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Learning resources
Adler, JS 1965, Injustice in social exchange, in Advances in experimental social psychology, vol. 2, ed. L Berkowitz, Academic Press, New York. Adler, NJ 1997, International dimensions of organizational behavior, 3rd ed. Southwestern, Cincinnati, OH. Alderfer, CP 1972, Existence, relatedness and growth, Free Press, New York. Aungles, SB & Parker, AR 1989, Work, organisation and change, Allen & Unwin, Sydney. Carrell, MR & Dittrich, JE 1978, 'Equity theory: the recent literature, methodological considerations and new directions, Academy of Management Review, vol. 3, pp. 202210. Dufty, NF & Fells, RE 1989, Dynamics of industrial relations in Australia, McGraw-Hill, Sydney. Fox, A 1973, Industrial relations: a social critique of pluralist ideology, in Man and organisation, ed. J Child, pp. 185233. Halstead Press, New York. Goldthorpe, JH, Lockwood, D, Bechofer, F & Platt, J 1968, The affluent worker: industrial attitudes and behaviour, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. Handy, Charles B 1985, Understanding organisations, Penguin, Harmondsworth. Herzberg, F 1968, Work and the nature of man, Crosby Lockwood Staples, London. Herzberg, F, Mausner, B, & Snyderman, BB 1959, The motivation to work, John Wiley and Sons, New York. Hofstede, G 1980a, Culture's consequences: international differences in work-related values, Sage, Beverly Hills, CA. Hofstede, G 1980b, 'Motivation, leadership and organisations: do American theories apply abroad?' Organisational Dynamics, vol. 9, pp. 4263. Lambert, Field Sales Performance Appraisal. (see page 73 ) Landy, F & Becker, WS 1987, 'Motivation theory reconsidered, in Research in organisational behaviour, vol. 9 eds LL Cummings & BM Staw, JAI Press, Greenwich CT, pp. 138. Lee, JA. 1980, The gold and the garbage in management theories and prescriptions, Ohio University Press, Athens OH. Locke, EA 1980, Towards a theory of task motivation and incentives, Organisational Behaviour and Human Performance, vol. 3, pp. 157189. Locke, EA & Latham, GP 1984, Goal setting: a motivational technique that works, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ. McClelland, DC 1961, The achieving society, Van Nostrand, Princeton. McClelland, DC 1975, Power: the inner experience, Irvington, New York. McClelland, DC & Burnham, DH 1976, 'Power is the great motivator, Harvard Business Review, vol. 54, pp. 100110.
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Macken, D 1989, 'The workers' revolution on the top floor, in Sydney Morning Herald Good Weekend, 6 May. Maslow, AH 1987, Motivation and personality, 3rd edn (1st edn, 1954), Harper and Row, New York. Miller, Katherine & Monge, Peter R 1986, 'Participation, satisfaction and productivity: a meta-analytic review', Academy of Management Journal, vol. 29, no 4, pp. 727753. Miner, JB 1980, Theories of organisational behaviour, Dryden Press, Hinsdale IL. Morgan, G 1986, Images of organisation, Sage, Beverly Hills, CA. Napier, 'Motivation, incentives and salesforce performance' Pfeffer, J 1982, Organisation and organisational theory, Pitman, Boston. Pondy, LR 1967, 'Organisational conflict: concepts and models, Administrative Science Quarterly, vol. 12, pp. 296320. Postman, N 1986. Amusing ourselves to death. London: Heinemann. Pratkanis, A & Aronson, E 2000. Age Of Propaganda, Freeman, New York. Schein, E 1978, Career dynamics, Addison Wesley, Reading, MA. Schuler, Randall S & Jackson, Susan E 1987, 'Linking competitive strategies with human resource management practices', Academy of Management Executive, vol. 1, no 3, pp. 207219. Spillane, R 1980, Attitudes of business executives and union leaders to industrial relations: twenty-three years later, Journal of Industrial Relations, vol. 22, pp. 317 325. Thomas, K 1976, 'Conflict and conflict management, in Handbook of industrial and organisational psychology, ed. MD Dunce, Rand McNally, Chicago, pp. 889935. Vecchio, RP 1988, Organisational behaviour, Dryden Press, Chicago. Watson, TJ 1980, Sociology, work and industry, Routledge and Kegan Paul, London. Watson, TJ 1986, Management organisation and employment strategy, Routledge and Kegan Paul, London.
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3.1 Motivation
In this topic we will examine the following issues: theories of motivation Theory X and Theory Y process theories orientation to work approaches applications of motivation theories to human resource management other HRM issues.
Introduction
In 'Introductory topics' in the context of the Human Relations' movement, we touched on some early approaches to motivation, especially the ideas of Maslow (the 'hierarchy of needs') and McGregor (Theory X and Theory Y). In the first section of this Module we will return to ideas about motivation, particularly as they relate to some specific aspects of human resource management: job design, management by objectives (MBO) and compensation (pay) management. The reason for linking these issues is that beliefs about what motivates people directly influence a variety of management practices, so an understanding of both the theories and the specific practices is enhanced by dealing with the two together. Subsequently, we will deal with some other issues in the area of HRM, particularly career development issues, personnel selection and performance appraisal. Don't feel that this is the end of possible explorations within the field of HRM! This is a vast area which is changing rapidly, especially with new legislation such as antidiscrimination legislation and changes to dismissal laws. This Module introduces you to the topic with particular reference to motivation theory, but you may well want to take a number of issues further.
Robbins' textbook, Chapters 6 and 7. Textbook
The two theories that you have met briefly in 'Introductory topics', Maslow's hierarchy of needs and McGregor's Theory X and Theory Y, belong to the first type. You may want
Master of Business Administration
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to return to 'Introductory topics' to refresh your memory of the basic ideas in these two theories. We said in 'Introductory topics' that there had been some important qualifications to this theory and these are outlined in the textbook. It is important to note that Maslow himself was the author of these qualifications, which basically amount to saying that the theory has been misunderstood as indicating a simple rather than a complex relationship between needs and behaviour. Specifically, Maslow (1987) pointed out that: needs may exist but not necessarily be acted on any given behaviour may be determined by several or all of the basic needs; and there are many determinants of behaviour other than needs and desires, such as habit and conditioning.
In fact, 'most members of our society who are normal are partially satisfied in all their basic needs and partially unsatisfied in all their basic needs at the same time' (Maslow, 1987, pp. 2728). Despite this, as the textbook notes, Maslow's theory with its intuitive logic has achieved great popularity among managers even if its proposals have not been borne out by hard research. This is also despite the fact that Maslow's was a general theory of motivation with no specific attention given to motivation within work organisations. However Maslow came to believe that management practices provided practical application of his ideas. He believed that people operated at their optimal level when organisations developed practices that recognised the multidimensional nature of human motivation and that such practices would mutually benefit workers and management. In brief, organisational effectiveness and individual satisfaction would both gain from the application of practices based on this theory.
Additional reading
For those who would like to explore further the criticisms of Maslow's theory, find and read one or more of the following authors and their comments on Maslow: Aungles, SB and Parker, AR 1989, Work, organisations and change, Allen and Unwin, Sydney. Miner, JB 1980, Theories of organisation behaviour, Dryden Press, Hisdale IL. Watson, TJ 1986, Sociology, work and history, academy of management executive, Routledge and Kegan Paul, London.
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about the behavioural assumptions they make in their work is in itself a useful thing, even if it has led to simplistic Theory XTheory Y assumptions.
ERG theory
Clayton Alderfer (1972) provides a revision of Maslow's needs-based theory of motivation in which the basic needs are reduced to three: existence, relatedness and growth, hence ERG. These needs are arranged in a hierarchy as in the Maslow model but the relationship between the levels is more complex. Rather than there being a one-way progression up the hierarchy as needs are satisfied, Alderfer argues that if an individual is not able to satisfy needs at a particular level this frustration leads to regression. That is, a return to a focus on further satisfying needs at a lower level (the frustration-regression effect). There is regression from a more abstract (and therefore uncertain and ambiguous) higher level to a more concrete lower level; from a more to a less cognitively demanding task. This provides a rationale for the frustration-regression effect (Landy and Becker, 1987). However, as Landy and Becker note, ERG theory has not received much more empirical support than Maslow's original foundation.
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should be developed through training programs although evidence of the success of such programs in unclear (Vechhio, 1988; Lee, 1980). Also a major cross-cultural study by Hofstede (1980a) has concluded that McClelland's motivation model could not be seen as universally valid.
A critique of Herzberg
The textbook gives a comprehensive list of the criticisms of Herzberg's research. The criticisms tend to be of two kinds: that Herzberg's research was methodologically flawed, and that there is a lack of supporting evidence from other studies. As with Maslow and McGregor, the value in Herzberg's approach has not been in the specific details of the theory per se because of the substantial problems listed, but because it has been what Watson (1986) refers to as a 'sensitiser' bringing to managers' attention the motivational prospects of intrinsic job factors.
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Goal setting
The goal setting approach to motivation focuses on the role of goals in determining behaviour. In this approach the motivation process involves the conscious intentions of an individual that, his or her goals being the critical intervening variable between an incentive and actual performance (Locke and Latham, 1984). Key assumptions within the goal-setting approach are: specific goals motivate more than general ones such as the exhortation to 'do your best difficult but attainable goals motivate more than easily attained ones participation in the setting of a goals is likely to lead to a higher level of motivation than goals issued as directive, but primarily due to its effect on increasing the chances of a goal being accepted as a target for action
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Acceptance of the goal is the critical factor, that is, the effect of all other factors that may affect the motivational process is filtered through this factor. For example, it is argued that if a person accepts a goal as his or her target, then whether or not this was arrived at by participative means becomes of little significance in terms of its motivational effect. Research evidence has substantially supported the goal-setting approach, although there are certainly reservations as to whether acceptance deserves to be given quite the overwhelmingly dominant role as a causal factor that it is generally assigned. Pfeffer (1982) provides a useful and succinct discussion of this and other reservations about the goal-setting model of motivation.
Equity theory
J Stacy Adam's equity theory is based on the belief that employees' behaviour is influenced by their perception of the degree of equity in the outcomes (for example, salary, position) they receive for the input (for example, effort, experience) they make. Equity is assessed in a continuing process of comparison with the inputs and outputs of someone they see as in an equivalent position. Workers who believe that their outcome-to-input ratio is either higher or lower than those with whom they compare will have resulting feelings of inequity that lead them to take action to remove the inequity. Those who feel deprived may ask for higher pay (increased output), reducing the effort they put into their work (decreased input), revising downward their assessment of the difficulty of their job, or changing the person they use as their point of comparison. Alternatively, they may focus on the others, hoping to bring about a reduction in their pay, or an increase in their effort or a reassessment of the difficulty of that job. If the other's job is newly perceived as more demanding the inequity may disappear. If none of these solve the problem, or are simply not tried, the perceived inequity may be resolved by internal transfer or resignation. Adams argues that parallel reactions also exist for those whose assessment of equity leads them to believe that they are relatively privileged. According to the theory, the privileged will also seek to restore equity. A detailed view of the evidence on the validity of equity theory found that there was support in laboratory tests but that studies in actual organisations provided little clear evidence of such validity (Carrell and Dittrich, 1978).
Expectancy theory
Expectancy theory, as the term implies, draws on the notion that, in addition to the preferences and desires that someone has (which might be addressed through one or more need theories of motivation), they have a certain level of expectation of achieving that outcome, given other factors. The theory thus combines the strength of individual needs with the level of expectation. Accordingly, the motivational effect varies according to the strength of each of the following three factors: a certain outcome to be desired and available (valance) a belief that specific behaviours will lead to that outcome (instrumentality)
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a belief that one has the ability to complete the required behaviours successfully (expectancy).
As an example, a middle level marketing manager, Jim, may be told by his boss, Mary, that part of his job will now involve accessing computer records held elsewhere in the organisation. In addition, using some new computer packages, he will be required to devise and draw up new information about the company's marketing performance. Mary promises that if Jim is able to carry out the additional tasks successfully, she will strongly recommend him for a promotion and a performance bonus at the end of the year. According to expectancy theory, the degree to which this proposition influences Jim's motivation is dependent on how Jim judges all of the following: how much he wants the promotion and bonus the extent to which he believes that he will actually be recommended for the promotion and bonus, and whether the recommendation will in fact result in the promised rewards. (NB: You may wish to consider this latter point in relation to views of leadership that argue that leaders with 'clout' tend to be better respected and more successful within their organisations.) See the 'Groups, teams and leadership' Module. the extent to which he believes he can learn the new packages and produce reports of the required standard.
(The textbook's discussion of self-efficacy is relevant here.) In addition to the interaction of these factors, the situation may be complicated by efforts on Mary's part to influence the various judgements. For example by providing information on why Jim ought to be interested in the promotion, reassurances about her capacity to provide it, and her views on how confident Jim ought to be about reaching the goal. The textbook discusses attempts to validate expectancy theory, and outlines some ways in which experimental design has been improved and how these, in turn, have lent support for the theory. A more complex integrative model of expectancy theory is presented in the textbook; see the diagram and the accompanying discussion.
Reading 3.2
Kouzes, J.M. & Posner, B.Z. 2001, Recognize Contributions: Linking Rewards with Performance, in The Organizational Behavior Reader, eds J.S. Osland, D.A. Kolb, & I.M. Rubin, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey. (See Chapter 4, pp. 104-118).
Reading 3.3
Kerr, S. 2001, On the Folly of Rewarding A, While Hoping for B, in The Organizational Behavior Reader, eds J.S. Osland, D.A. Kolb, & I.M. Rubin, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey. (See Chapter 18, pp. 508-515).
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some notion of 'balance' between effort (input) and the offered wage (output). Factors that change the wage-effort bargain or ratio will induce changed behaviour as the worker tries to re-establish the old ratio or establish a new one. Thus changes in job design (see later in this Module), even if they are accompanied by extra pay and more enriched jobs may well radically disturb the wage-effort relationship. The fact that many job-redesign exercises are often associated with increased payments for some workers at least means that there are two possible explanations for a subsequent increase in output the satisfaction derived from the new job, or the desire to earn the new pay rate.
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Cultural diversity
An important theme in contemporary HRM is that managers must be concerned with an increasingly culturally diverse workforce.
Reading 3.4
Hofstede, G. 2001, Cultural Constraints in Management Theories, in The Organizational Behavior Reader, eds J.S. Osland, D.A. Kolb, & I.M. Rubin, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey. (See Chapter 12, pp. 345-356). The question managers need to face, is how to capitalise on the benefits of cultural diversity while minimising their potential costs. Adler (1997) argues that the diversity represented in multicultural work groups gives them both the potential for higher productivity than homogeneous groups and a greater chance of productivity losses.
Disadvantages of diversity
The disadvantages of group diversity include: Lack of cohesion, leading to mistrust, miscommunication and stress: This can cause inability to validate ideas and people, agree when agreement is needed, gain consensus on decision. Groups can become less efficient, effective and productive. Diversity is most valuable when the need for agreement (cohesion) remains low relative to the need for invention (creativity). This has implications for the effect of diversity at different stages of group activity. Thus, at the stage of group and trust formation, and also at the stage of decision-making and implementation, diversity makes the process more difficult since these processes are facilitated by recognition and creation of similarity. However, at the stage of creating ideas, which relies on the creative use of different, diversity makes the process easier.
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bonds at the level of professional similarity, and allow cultural differences to emerge as a resource rather than a threat. The second stage involves a focus on setting objectives collecting and analysing information and developing alternative courses of action. Diversity is an advantage at this stage. The third stage involves deciding what to do and how to do it. Reaching agreement is usually easier for homogeneous groups. Adler's general guidelines for managing culturally diverse groups include the following: select group members of a similar level of ability to enhance communication, but with a diversity to enhance creativity give attention to cultural differences but avoid stereotyping help the group to agree to a superordinate goal, one that transcends the individual differences avoid cultural dominance. Power should be distributed according to each member's ability to contribute to the task mutual respect by group members should be encouraged. This can be done by selecting members of equal ability and minimising early judgements based on cultural stereotypes.
Career development
Career planning is generally regarded as being a deliberate process for: becoming aware of self, opportunities, constraints, choices and consequences identifying career related goals programming of work, education and related developmental experiences.
Appendix B: Careers and Career Development Textbook
Looking to the next promotion or job is an important skill, but we also have to consider long-term-goals or constructing a career path. The choice of the term 'careers' rather than 'jobs' suggests an orientation towards a connected, motivated and developing series of work stages rather than an unrelated series of activities and events. It may also imply that reaching a long-term-goal may mean spending some time in a job that is not particularly congruent with our work preferences, but necessary if we want to take a broader, long term perspective.
Career anchors
A tool long used in helping people get a grip on the longer-term career development is the concept of 'career anchors', as used by Schein, among other researchers. Schein defines five career anchors that, through a process of ability testing in different jobs, tasks and positions, should become apparent by mid-career. These are: Technical/ functional competence: the actual technical or functional content of the work. The self-image of people in this group is tied up with their feeling of competence in the particular area they are in. As a result, they are not especially interested in management per se, but rather, without disregarding promotions and pay increases
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entirely, generally tend to seek increasingly challenging work in their technical area as a primary measure of success. Managerial competence: Unlike members of the previous group, people whose anchor is managerial competence do seek management as a specific goal. Specific technical or functional jobs are seen only as necessary interim stages on the way to the higher, general management areas. Such people measure their success by promotions, rank and income, all of which indicate 'amount of responsibility. Security and stability: People anchored in security tend to do what is required of them by their employers in order to maintain job security, a decent income and a stable future. By implication, such people will, more than others accept an organisational definition of their careers and will trust the organisation to do the right thing by them. Within this orientation there are two types. For some people the source of stability and security rests primarily with being stable members in a given organisation. For them, security is more geographically based and involves a feeling of settling down, stabilising the family and integrating themselves into the community. Creativity: People anchored in creativity need to build or create something that is entirely their own product. Achievement or self-extension, creating something that bears one's name, a company of one's own, a personal fortune that is a measure of one's accomplishments seems to be the key to such people. This is essentially an entrepreneurial profile, and the qualities needed management that is, to be analytically, interpersonally and emotionally competent in order to exercise high levels of responsibility are quite different from the creativity requirements of entrepreneurship. Autonomy and Independence: Those with this career anchor seek work situations in which they will be maximally free from organisational constraints to pursue their professional or technical/functional competence. What distinguishes this group from the others is that its members' need for autonomy is higher their needs in other areas. Autonomy is the anchor because that is what they would not give up if forced to choose. This group can be distinguished from the technical/functional competence group in particular in that the autonomy group members experience little conflict about missed opportunities for promotion, and have little sense of failure or guilt about not aspiring higher. On the surface it is not too easy to differentiate the autonomy and creativity groups, because the entrepreneurs also enjoy autonomy and freedom as they become successful. But as one listens to the entrepreneurs, it is clear that they are much more preoccupied with building something whereas the primary need of the autonomy seekers is to be on their own, setting their own pace, schedules, lifestyles and work habits.
(Source: Abridged from Schein, E 1978,Career dynamics, Addison Wesley, Reading, MA, pp. 124172.)
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3.2 Persuasion
Introduction
Persuasion relates directly to the management of meaning in organizations: i.e., why we are all here, what we do and how we do it. This can also be described as the process of articulating and reinforcing a clear sense of purpose for organisational participants. Managers not only deal with material resources, but also manipulate the symbolic aspects of organizations, which in turn effects: how information is disseminated; decision making and the way in which problems are framed; networking, politicking & influencing; motivating employees & shaping org. culture & gaining commitment from followers.
In this topic we will examine the following issues: what is persuasion? why learn about it? fundamental principles of persuasion four strategies of influence
There is no specific chapter in the textbook covering this topic. Use the following notes as a guide to study. For more detailed information on this topic, students might consult the main source for the following notes: Pratkanis, A & Aronson, E 2000. Age Of Propaganda, Freeman, New York.
Textbook
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propaganda: suggestion or influence through the manipulation of symbols and the psychology of the individual. o The first documented use of propaganda was in 1622 by Pope Gregory 15th, who realised that establishing faith by force of arms in holy wars was not particularly successful, and thus established the papal propaganda office to bring people to voluntarily accept church doctrines. First widespread use of persuasion tactics during WW1 when it was specifically defined and recognised as the dissemination of biased ideas and opinions, often through use of lies and deception.
Armed with these definitions, it is not too difficulty to see the possible use and abuse of persuasion and propaganda when used to shape an organisations culture specifically, and employees expectations and understanding of work events generally.
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advent of email, how much information do you receive, and how much attention do you give to it? And what about paper mail? As a result of this, a burden is placed on both the communicator and the recipient of a message intended to persuade: the communicator must design a message that will not only be appealing but attract special notice in this cluttered environment, and the recipient is so inundated by messages that it is difficult to devote the cognitive processing energy to make full sense of the important issues each day
To gain some perspective of that last point, lets go back to the modern world at large for some examples The average news story lasts only forty-five seconds, then, the next is presented (or an advertisement). A typical political advertisement runs for 30 seconds or less. Hence, time is not allowed for consideration, debate, or emotional attachment to any particular news frame. There is no context, and no intellectual confrontation. Each item is a discrete event, separated in terms of context & emotional attachment from the next. Epistemologically, without context, there can be no contradiction. Similarly, magazine advertisements often consist of little more than a picture and a phrase. Therefore, these discrete items cannot have implications, as the frame of reference moves every forty five seconds on to a new story. Credibility (is divorced from the rigours of debate and intellectual assessment of discourse, and) is placed in the hands of the appearance (and public acceptance) of the presenter.
Robert MacNeil (cited by Postman, 1986, 105): had the following to say about the aims and objectives of news presentation on television: keep everything brief, not to strain the attention of anyone but instead to provide constant stimulation through variety, novelty, action, and movement. You are required ... to pay attention to no concept, no character, and no problem for more than a few seconds at a time and, importantly, complexity must be avoided and that nuances are dispensable ... that visual stimulation is a substitute for thought, and that verbal precision is an anachronism. Postman (1986) describes televised news as a world of fragments, but it is not limited to that it could be quite reasonably argued that the same descriptor applies to the modern world in general: internet, email, handyteller adds, billboards, radio, etc.
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But, while the mass media (and the organizations we work and manage in) might not be able to tell you specifically what to think, they do strive to tell you what to think about and how to do it. For example, the combined/cumulative effects of car advertising on television will suggest what factors are important to consider when making decisions about transport. Product attributes that regularly appear in such advertisements such as prestige, luxury, or sportiness, are likely to be very different to other factors that might influence your choice of transportation, such the impact on the environment from private vehicles, or whether youll get to work or enjoy the scenery on the way to your destination. But, in the situation where the consumer views more adds for a specific product or receive greater exposure to a political message then they are more likely to switch to that product or party. When only one side of an issue is presented by the mass media (as in the car example we just looked at i.e., cars are the answer to your transport problem, and perhaps also means of asserting your success in life!), those who keep track of the coverage are far more likely to adopt that view than those who watch little television , and what applies for cars also applies to politics as well. For eg, in 1990 when Bush decided to send troops to the Persian gulf, his decision was supported by congress, and of those Americans who kept good track of current news events in August of that year, 76% supported the decision, while only 23% of those who watched very little news were supportive. But, of those who supported the decision to send troops, they differed in terms of how the intervention should proceed, and that was shaped by the preferences of their parties so, television reinforced their original party beliefs & alliances (i.e., conservatives favoured immediate & direct military action, while liberals favoured more economic sanctions first).
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For example, we often respond to propaganda with little thought and in a mindless fashion because: any reason will do: (Langer, Blank & Chanowitz, 1978) o o In a university study, confederates would walk up to people who were busy photocopying and ask either, Excuse me: may I use the photocopy machine? Responses fall into two general categories, either, Yeah, why not, Im a helpful person (in fact, just over half of the responses complied with the request) or, Is this person stupid? I was here first and Ive got work to do (just under half) But, if a stupid reason was given, such as, Excuse me: may I use the photocopy machine because I have to make copies, most people complied. This is a non-reason of course you need to make copies, or you wouldnt be asking to use the machine, but most people complied with it - even supplying a non reason saved the subject from having to think of one trumpet trivial differences as if they were important, such as our cigarettes are 2mm wider that usual state non-facts that appear impressive (Bloke Cola is it) or include meaningless superlatives (Mayer the worlds best aspirin; when all aspirin are the same)
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In the central route to persuasion, a person might ask: is this program in Massachusetts unique, or a one-off? what are the real percentages here? How many prisoners involed in the program complied? I.e., what is the success rate? have instances like this happened in other states, and to other governors?
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from a credible source, some not, and some had strong arguments (based on research etc), and some were full of personal opinions & anecdotes. The study found that the route to persuasion was determined by the personal relevance of the issue. For students for whom the issue was personally relevant, a strong argument was most important. Where the issue was not seen as being relevant, source credibility was the deciding issue. So how might we influence both groups (i.e., personally relevant / not relevant)? Use a strong argument and a credible source.
Summary
Due to our limited processing ability, we often use the peripheral route to simplify complex issues. That is, we mindlessly adopt a position or accept a conclusion because it is triggered by a simple persuasion strategy. How can we break out of the trap? By making a conscious effort to process messages via the central route, and not settling for what is presented to you without questioning and examining the premises that it is based on. Try to think what the ultimate aim of the message is and who it will serve best, and then work backwards and pick it apart.
Fundamental principle No 2:
2. Humans have a strong tendency to rationalise our thoughts and behaviours so that they appear reasonable to ourselves and preserve our self-esteem. Nomatter how irrationally we behave, we attempt to appear reasonable to ourselves and others (Pratkanis & Aronson, 2000)
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and handed out pamphlets on street corners suddenly it was incredibly important to get their message out why? o o They had given up a great deal but the world didnt end, and they were without homes, jobs, possessions, and in some instances, partners. The only way they could convince themselves they had done the right thing and that their actions were not in vain was to convince others that their sacrifices were not in vain and that their beliefs had saved the world. Believers zealots The mechanism at work here is that of cognitive dissonance (Festinger, 1957). Dissonance occurs when a person holds two inconsistent cognitions (ideas, beliefs, opinions) i.e., belief that world will end and possessions are irrelevant is dissonant with the fact that the world has not ended and it gets cold at night This inconsistency is uncomfortable, and we reduce it by changing one or both of the cognitions so that they reconcile. To do so, individuals will go to great lengths to distort facts & events, denial, and self-persuasion to justify their past behaviour. (We change cognitions because behaviour is in the past and hence unalterable.) These sort of defences are most strong when a persons self-esteem is at risk.
o o
For example, there are a lot of lay-offs occurring at work as a result of org. change and re-structuring / downsizing / becoming more efficient (or however you wish to frame the situation) and a friend of yours is retrenched and you remain. This triggers survivor syndrome (i.e., why am I still here when), and you experience cognitive dissonance because: 1. X was your friend. In response, you might change that cognition to well, we werent really that close, (and to make it so, you avoid him in the future, because his presence reminds you of the reality of what occurred). X was a good worker, well, he did slip up on occasions and X is in a dire situation well, he could have planned better, or his wife works, or and youre not in a dire situation because youre still employed well, Ive got a mortgage and problems of my own...
2. 3. 4.
So to recap here, the strategies to reduce dissonance here can be summarised as: 1. 2. reduce the humanity of the person involved / not really a friend, I didnt know him that well and maximise their responsibility not such a great worker any way
Depending on the context, the effects of these strategies can spiral once you explain away one retrenchment, the others become easier (same applies to war propaganda) Remember, when food is short, table manners change serve the self, in whatever form basic survival, or maintaining self-esteem. What can you do? Hes been terminated, so you cant change that, but you can change the way you think about the underlying premises (see above)
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The irony in all of this is that the rationalisations we undertake in order to avoid thinking of ourselves as stingy, uncaring, or stupid, or whatever, set the stage for increasing acts of stupidity or immorality.
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Four pain relievers are lined up in a row in a TV advertisement: Which of these pain relievers gives you a special-grip bottle? (which pre-supposes that it is important to you and hence frames the question) brand Z is removed from view, which just happened to be the best, special grip not-withstanding Which of these brands wont upset your stomach? Y is removed Which brand gives you the most pain relief? X is removed, leaving only W The choice is W
Also, answer the question for the target audience present a scenario as a fate accompli i.e., you know you want to ergo there is no reason for me to think
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further, and if framed generally enough to cover basic physical & emotional needs / drives, that would preclude most from expending cognitive resources to analyses and perhaps refute the statement. If successful, pre-persuasion establishes what everyone knows and what everyone takes for granted, even if it shouldnt be, and should, instead, be taken as a point of discussion. By establishing how an issue is defined and discussed, one can influence cognitive responses and processing and obtain consent without even appearing to be attempting to persuade us.
To sum up define the issue in such a way that you cant help but win!
Source credibility i.e., the communicator needs to establish a favourable image in the eyes of the target audience. So, the communicator or persuader needs to appear to be likeable, or trustworthy, or possessed of whatever other attribute that would facilitate persuasion in a particular instance. o Remember, this especially applies when the message is not considered to be personally relevant, as in the student example above.
Construct and deliver a message that focuses the targets attention and thoughts on exactly what the communicator wants them to think about for eg, by distracting the targets from arguing against the proposal, or by focussing the targets attention on a vivid and powerful image, or by inducing the targets to persuade themselves. o Example, refer to our forefathers, soldiers in battle fighting to protect us and our children from whatever
or, make certain that the message is personal to the target audience (if you want to cast a broad net, employ the Barnum Effect, and include something for everyone) o This is where is where rationalising and cognitive dissonance come in handy also i.e., inducing the target (us) to persuade ourselves, and this usually requires manipulating our emotions, which is the last strategy.
Finally, effective influence controls the emotions of a target and follows a simple rule: arouse an emotion and then offer the target a way of responding to that emotion that just happens to be the desired course of action. Hence, the target becomes preoccupied with dealing with emotions , and complies with the request in hope of escaping a negative emotion or maintaining a positive one.
A final example
A company delivering an environmentally friendly message Protecting the environment for future generations is not a simple problem (pre-persuasion: already excludes quick solutions which might come to mind, like solar power, wind etc; or that there may already be relatively simple / logical / available solutions which the company already owns the patents on but would rather not use!) its tempting to want to do what seems best and just rush in without thinking (show pictures of
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feral greenies being dragged away by police / chained to trees etc use of classical conditioning & pairing the notion of green activist with dirty, unemployed, socially irresponsible this in turn shapes the argument by excluding the traditional activist green approach), but it takes time to find the right solutions (suggesting that tree huggers reacted without thinking framing the issue), solutions which help the environment and provide jobs (emotional context, also can be linked with tree-huggers as dole bludgers, while company is actually working and being productive and contributing to society and providing jobs at the same time hence emotion raised hope - and solution offered we will provide jobs if you support us, which targets the message also) while were doing it switch to image of university graduate (expresses environmental concern - hence likeable & trustworthy - and ambition to work for a company that shares that, which provides source credibility) were improving our methods (but you dont say how non-reason) and providing more funding for research into alternative energy sources than before (how much is that??? Was any money spent before??? Non-reason)
Conclusion
Keep in mind that these influence strategies rarely work in independently. That is, each is to some degree dependant on the successful use of the other strategies. Also, weve barely touched on the psychological processes which have been researched over the years and which are available to supplement these strategies, particularly prepersuasion.
Reading 3.5
Conger, J.A. 2001, The Necessary Art of Persuasion, in The Organizational Behavior Reader, eds J.S. Osland, D.A. Kolb, & I.M. Rubin, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey. (See Chapter 16, pp. 451-461).
Activities
Note: The following activities are optional. They are designed to help you develop your understanding of the various topics in this Course
Motivation
Consider the criticisms of Maslow's theory mentioned in the textbook. You may wish to undertake some additional reading, listed below. When you have completed this, comment on Watson's rather scathing conclusion about Maslow: 'The significance of Maslow's work does not lie in its scientific validity. It clearly has little. Its role has really been a propaganda device: propaganda in a good and humanistic cause, but propaganda nonetheless'. Do you agree with this view? Why, in your view, do managers sometimes cling to theories which, while intuitively logical, are unable to be empirically substantiated?
Activity 3.1 Consider the criticisms of Maslow's theory mentioned in the textbook.
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What are the major factors that motivate you to work? Some mentioned directly or indirectly in the preceding discussion of needs theories are financial security, non-financial material rewards, prestige, recognition, fear, self development, achievement, power and affiliation. Take 1015 minutes to order these into some priority. Speculate how this list may have looked at two other stages of your working life and suggest the reasons for these differences. Consider the extent to which trends such as it describes relate to your own experience or that of other people whom you know. What do your conclusions suggest about the value of orientation to work approaches (with which this kind of discussion is broadly consistent) compared with other, more psychologically oriented approaches to explaining work motivation?
What practices, if any, does your organisation employ to promote worker participation in decision-making. What is the implied or explicit reasoning behind them? To get better ideas or to enhance worker satisfaction and productivity? Perhaps a mixture of both? To what extent do you consider that they meet their objectives?
Activity 3.5 Identify your career anchor and compare it with others.
Think back through your own career and identify your own career anchor. Can you narrow it down to one anchor, or are there several? Second, interview your immediate supervisor (if you have one) and another close associate, and attempt to discern their career anchors. Remember that they may not become apparent until mid-career. When you have identified your own, an associate's and your immediate supervisor's career anchors, discuss how you came to your conclusions. Finally critique Schein's (1978) scheme in terms of its practical usefulness to managers. As a further issue, consider the extent to which some career anchors are being affected by changes in the general economic environment. For example, in many fields the concept of the career ladder with a series of steps leading with reasonable certainty to middle and higher management levels has been under attack. Employees have been urged to think of developing a career in terms of broadening their experience rather than moving upward. People are commonly being advised to consider the possibility of three or four distinct careers in the course of their working lives. How do these issues relate to your experience and that of your supervisor and one or more associates? Do they affect the value of the notion of career anchors for you?
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Persuasion
With the four strategies of influence as a guide, create examples of organisational messages designed to be processed in the peripheral route (i.e., propaganda at work!) These messages can be intended to achieve any objective and directed at any audience: for eg, shareholders at the annual general meeting; a public press release; or the outline of an org. change plan; or simply a general motivational speech or for the more general purpose of (re)shaping org. culture. Analyse examples of propaganda from the national media and evaluate them in terms of the four strategies of influence. What was the target audience? Was the influence attempt successful? How could it be improved?
Think of some more tactics that can be used to achieve each of the above four strategies of influence Activity 3.9 Tactics & Strategies of influence Debate the ethics of the use of persuasion and propaganda in the workplace. Is it ever ethical to attempt to influence employees by using the strategies outlined above? Can there be mitigating circumstances? And who decides? Who benefits
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Learning outcomes
At the end of this Module you should have: an understanding of the elements of culture a critical understanding of perspectives on culture, particularly how they inform views about whether and how culture can be manipulated as part of a deliberate organisational strategy an appreciation of national cultures and 'best practice' cultures as they relate to your organisation and Australia generally gained some appreciation of the ways your own organisational culture operates, and the degree to which this suits you both as a manager and as an individual an understanding of the controversies about power and politics in organisations, particularly the extent to which they are endemic and useful to organisational functioning an understanding of the sources of power some experience in analysing and applying sources of power at both a personal and an organisational level.
Learning resources
Allaire, Y & Firsirotu, M 1984, 'Theories of organisational culture', Organisation Studies, vol. 5, pp. 193226. Crozier, M 1964, The bureaucratic phenomenon, Tavistock, London. Deal, TE & Kennedy, AA, 1982, Corporate cultures, Addison-Wesley, Reading MA.
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Degeling, PJ 1977, 'The politics of organising and managing'. Unpublished paper. Dunford, RW 1989, 'Corporate culture at Partnership Pacific Limited', Unpublished case study. Edwards, JD & Kleiner, BH 1988, 'Transforming organisational values and culture effectively', in Leadership and Organisational Development Journal, USA, vol. 9, no. 1, pp1316. French, JRP Jr & Raven, BH 1959, 'The bases of social power', in Studies in social power, ed. D. Cartwright, Institute for Social Research, Ann Arbor, pp. 150199. Frost, P, Moore, L, Lundberg C & Martin, J, eds 1991, Reframing organisational culture, Sage, Newbury Park CA. Handy, C, 1987, Understanding organisations, Penguin, Harmondsworth. Hickson, DJ, Hinings, CR, Lee, CA, Schneck, RH & Pennings, JM 1971, 'A strategic contingencies theory of intraorganisational circuits', Administrative Science Quarterly, vol. 16, pp. 216229. Lee, R & Lawrence, P 1985, Organisational behaviour: politics at work, Hutchinson, London. Morgan, G 1986, Images of organisations, Sage, Beverly Hills, CA. Louis, MR 1985, 'An investigator's guide to workplace culture', in Reframing organisational culture, 1991, eds Frost et al., Sage, Newbury Park CA, pp. 7393. Lundberg, CC 1985, 'On the feasibility of cultural intervention in organisations', in Reframing organisational culture, 1991, eds Frost et al., Sage, Newbury Park CA, pp. 169185. Macken, D 1988, The making of melrosses', in Sydney Morning Herald, Good Weekend, 22 October, pp. 3138. Martin, J 1985, 'Introduction' in Reframing organisational culture, 1991, eds Frost et al., Sage, Newbury Park CA, pp. 9598. Martin, J & Siehi, C 1983, 'Organisational culture and counterculture: an uneasy symbiosis', Organisational Dynamics, vol. 12, pp. 623647. Meyerson, D & Martin, J 1987, 'Cultural change: an integration of three different views', Journal of Management Studies, vol. 24, pp. 623647. Pascale, RT & Athos, AG 1981, The art of japanese management, Simon and Schuster, New York. Peters, TJ & Waterman, RH 1982, In search of excellence, Harper and Row, New York. Sathe, V 1985, Culture and related corporate realities, Irwin, Homewood IL. Schein, EH 1985, Organisational culture and leadership, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco. Smircich, L 1983, 'Concepts of culture and organisational analysis', Administrative Science Quarterly, vol. 28, pp. 339358. Turner, BA 1986, 'Sociological aspects of organisational symbolism', Organisation Studies, vol. 7, pp. 101115. Wright, JP 1979, On a clear day you can see general motors, Wright Enterprises, Grosse Point MI.
Graduate Studies Program
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Reading 4.1
Schein, E.H. 2001, Uncovering the Levels of Culture, in The Organizational Behavior Reader eds J.S. Osland, D.A. Kolb, & I.M. Rubin, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey. (See Chapter 14, pp. 398-405). In this topic we will examine the following issues: elements of culture perspectives on organisational culture culture and the organisational lifecycle culture and strategy cultural change
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Basic assumptions
Basic assumptions are the taken-for-granted, not easily articulated interpretations of the nature of reality. They include such items as: the need for hierarchy the trustworthiness of people the basis of competitive success the identity of the market in which an organisation operates the competitive nature of the market how conflict is to be treated the importance of consultation.
Values
Values are less 'deep' than the taken-for-granted subconscious phenomena of basic assumptions. Values are seen in expressed beliefs about how and why things are done. However, it is important to note that while they may provide an accurate picture of what actions may be taken in a given situation that may also differ. Espoused and actual values concerning innovation are a case in point.
Artefacts
Artefacts draw attention to culture as it is manifested in more or less observable forms and practices which can be 'read' to give clues about the values and beliefs underlying them. The classic cultural artefacts are those described by such terms as language, myths, ceremonies, rituals and norms. To take an example, the jargon of an organisation is a way of reinforcing distinctions between those inside and outside the culture (see the table on 'McSpeak' adapted from Macken 1988, below). Changes in language may signal changes in the relative influence of professional groups.
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McSpeak
The following list notes a selection of terms used within McDonalds: Crew tracking: Rush-verified people: Cross-rotation: Performance discrepancies: 10 to 1: Staff observation checks (SOCs): Unannounced SOCs: QSC: Unit producing people: PIMS: Premiums: Corrective feed-back: Negative cliques: Positive cliques: Confidence cushion: Suggestive sell: Upsell: Dumpster: Pride chart: Hill: Crown: Travel path:
(Source: Macken 1988, p. 34)
knowing what the staff is doing. staff who can cope with rush hour. moving staff to different areas of the store. mistakes, bad attitudes. the hamburger griller. check up on staff. sneaking up on staff to check their work. The McDonalds motto: quality, service and cleanliness. staff involved in cooking or selling. Planned maintenance systems. give-aways such as balloons. kicking butts nicely. gangs of disgruntled staff. gangs of keen staff. being nice to new staff. suggesting products to customers. suggesting big servings of food if the customer doesn't specify size. big rubbish bin. pasting up staff performance levels. the top part of a burger bun. the bottom part of a burger bun. walking around the store to check on staff and store, another form of SOC.
Artefacts may include such items as office layout, as the following example illustrates.
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A newly appointed managing director wished to encourage more interaction, discussion and consultation within the bank. He saw the physical layout as a physical and symbolic representation of a way of working that he wished to change. The bank moved buildings and $6 million was spent on establishing a completely new office layout. Interior architects were employed to design the office according to the new managing director's philosophy. The new layout involved open plan offices, with status indicated by the location of desk (managers next to the outer windows), size of chairs and the shape of the wooden desk area. 'Pink noise' was fed into the office area, which made it difficult for people not involved in conversation to overhear such a conversation. The new office area had an open, light and airy feel, compared with the enclosed offices previously used. This was reinforced by the use of light 'modern' materials and styles in contrast to the 'mahogany and velvet' feel of the previous offices.
(Source: Dunford 1989)
Stories
Stories may reinforce some predominant value in the culture as the example of the textbook illustrates. However they may also act to undermine an opposing culture, as the example of 'the refrigerator' (see below) highlights.
The refrigerator
Division head John DeLorean expressed his opposition to the General Motors' cultural emphasis on deference to authority through telling the following story: While preparing for a senior executive's trip to a particular city, the Chevrolet zone people learned from Detroit that he liked to have a refrigerator full of cold beer, sandwiches and fresh fruit in his room to eat at night before going to bed. They booked a suite in one of the city's better hotels, rented a refrigerator, and ordered the food and beer. However, the door to the suite was too small to accommodate the refrigerator. The sales people planned to rip out the door and part of the adjoining wall but the hotel manager refused to allow this. However, permission was given for their next proposal which involved hiring a crane and operator, putting them on the roof of the hotel, knocking out a steel set of windows in the suite, and lowering and shoving the refrigerator into the room through this gaping hole. That night the Chevrolet executive devoured the sandwiches, beer and fruit. The next day he was off to another city and probably another refrigerator while back in the city of his departure the sales people were once again dismantling hotel windows and removing the refrigerator by crane. This story had its impact in that it highlighted the ridiculous extremes to which deference to authority could be taken, thus undermining the dominance of this cultural value.
(Source: Wright 1979 cited in Martin and Siehi 1983).)
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Rituals
Rituals are routinised activities that maintain cultural beliefs and values. While 'Friday night drinks at the pub' is a widely acknowledged ritual, there are others that are more subtle. The appearance of having undertaken a full and unbiased assessment of all information can lead to a ritual which produces the appearance of this having been done, even though in fact the decision had been taken in advance.
Ceremonies
Ceremonies, such as retirement dinners and speeches, are formalised rituals. The strength of the cultural constraints inherent in such rituals is clear when someone transgresses the unspoken 'rules' about such rituals.
Integration perspective
The integration perspective treats culture as a unified phenomenon, both in the sense that assumptions, values and artefacts are shared by all organisational members, and in the sense that these various phenomena are consistent with each other and mutually reinforcing. This is the perspective inherent in such definitions as 'the way we do things around here' or 'normative glue' (Deal and Kennedy, 1982), or in short hand descriptions of the culture such as 'innovative' or 'entrepreneurial. The various case studies of Wait Disney, MCI, and Time Warner in the textbook onwards are examples of this perspective. Integrationist portrayals of culture frequently concentrate on a leader as the source of cultural content. It is assumed that the vision of the leader permeates the culture and that the lack of a vision is tantamount to a message of impending organisational failure. Little attention is given to the fact that visionary leaders have frequently been at the helm of organisations, which do, in fact, fail. Such a perspective leads naturally to the view that culture is relatively easily manipulable. Sathe (1985) provides an integration-perspective six-step model of how managers can control the character of the culture: pre-selection and hiring of members socialisation as per the textbook discussion removal of members who deviate reinforcement of desired behaviour, e.g. through rituals of integration such as promotion or other forms of recognition or induction/orientation, or rituals of punishment, such as disciplinary procedures or demotion reinforcement of values and beliefs in a similar way to the above
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cultural communication through artefacts such as stories and ceremonies as described earlier. Communicating 'vision' to staff is also important here. It is clear that this perspective has strong links with the idea of transformational leadership.
While the integration perspective is neat and provides a view of culture as something that is coherent and manageable, it may not be the most useful if managers wish to understand the complexity of organisations from a cultural framework.
Differentiation perspective
The differentiation perspective focuses on culture as characterised not by harmony and unity but by diversity and even inconsistency (Meyerson and Martin, 1987). Attention is given to sub-cultures rather than to the organisation as a whole as the key unit. So the different cultures in different parts of the organisation's structure, and those parts of culture that are imported into the organisation from the outside, such as class, gender and occupation, are important in this perspective. From the differentiation perspective cultural diversity and hence cultural conflict are taken as normal, rather than deviant or unusual. From this perspective, what is called from the integrationist perspective 'The culture' of an organisation is simply the dominant subculture. Martin and Siehi (1983) refer to three other typologies of subculture: Enhancing: those that manifest an extreme adherence to the core values of the dominant sub-culture. Orthogonal: those where there is simultaneous acceptance of both the core values of the dominant sub-culture and of another non-conflicting set of values, such as those of a profession. Countercultural: those that present a direct challenge to the core values of the dominant sub-culture. In addition, the differentiation perspective, with its attention to those aspects of culture that are 'not for public consumption, focusses on the fact that espoused values and actual practices in organisations will often be different.
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Reading
Additional reading (not in the Reader). For examples of this early attention to culture as an aspect of organisational strategy, see Ouchi (1981), Pascale and Athos (1981), Deal and Kennedy (1982) and Peters and Waterman (1982).
The message of virtually all of these writers is that a 'strong' culture underpins the organisation's success. Equally, a strong corporate culture has been nominated as the primary reason for failure, as when Burck (1986) argues that the dominance of a 'cando' culture in NASA stifled the open assessment of risk in the space shuttle program. For a detailed exposition of this case, see Module 2. In all of these cases, a unitarist or integrationist perspective on culture is being taken. You may wish to refresh your memory of these terms by referring to the 'HRM and conflict negotiation' heading 'Perspectives on conflict'. Once the link has been made between culture and success (or failure) it is only a short step to evaluating cultures as good or bad. Thus advice to organisations to hire people who will fit in with its (positive) culture, or help redirect organisational culture in positive directions, or to weed out people who do not fit the culture has become prevalent. Quite aside from the issue of whether it is appropriate to characterise cultures in such a simple manner, there is an important question here about the value of diversity in organisations. In Module 3 it was argued that it was both unrealistic and counterproductive to construe all organisational conflict as treacherous and dangerous, and that differences in viewpoint sometimes needed to be actively cultivated. If that standpoint is upheld it seems likely that some tension between subcultures could be healthy in terms of organisational performance. It would mean that organisations would be less likely to fall into the trap of freezing out alternative perspectives on their takenfor-granted assumptions and beliefs.
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precipitating pressures, such as changed consumer demands or changed nature of staff cultural visioning, that is 'key organisation members with a raised consciousness of the need to redesign their culture enter into the non-ordinary task of making their present organisational culture explicit and sketching out a more preferred one'. (Lundberg, 1985, p179) cultural change strategy, whereby the vision is turned into a plan for the pace and scope of change cultural change action plans, whereby the commitment to change and consolidation of the new culture occurs culture pursuits such as Turner (1986) argue that, given the fact that culture emerges over time as a result of myriad diverse influences, and not as a result of conscious decision, it is laughable to talk about changing it. They are scornful of 'pop culture magicians' who promise stunning changes in performance and sell the belief that corporate culture can be 'controlled, changed and manipulated from the top down for specific cost effectiveness and productivity gains' (Turner, 1986, p 104)
To some extent, evaluating the truth of either position requires an examination of what definition of culture is being used. Many advocates of cultural change are arguing in favour of changing relatively superficial behaviours and norms, and this makes cultural change at least according to that definition more realistic. Changing deep-seated, even unconsciously held assumptions and beliefs is likely to be much more difficult. Where cultural change is argued to be possible, there appear to be some common threads among organisations attempting it: determine the desired corporate strategy assess the cultural characteristics of the organisation forge a mission or vision for the organisation communicate the desired culture secure participation by managers and employees in the new desired culture and shape their behaviour with new job accountabilities, training, office layouts etc reinforce the desired behaviour by implementing salary incentives, promotions, recognition, etc.
Reading 4.2
Schein, E.H. 2001, Three Cultures of Management: The Key to Organizational Learning, in The Organizational Behavior Reader, eds J.S. Osland, D.A. Kolb, & I.M. Rubin, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey. (See Chapter 14, pp. 405-417).
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The implication is that theories of motivation or related management theories developed in one country may be inappropriate when applied to another. On the other hand, an alternative strand of thinking and research tends to stress what is common across all cultures and work places in a world of global competition. That is, it relates aspects of work culture to what is felt to be needed to achieve world class best practice. The following is one suggestion about the features of world-class work culture:
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World-class Workplace Culture open style, participative management flexible, learning organisation, customer focus quality mind-set, every employer a 'supplier' and 'customer'; quality problems handled at the source multi-skilled employees self-directing, task-oriented work groups innovative organisation, initiatives for improvements in all directions industry-based unions, shared values, shared goals short-term and long-term focus; strategic thinking and management rewarded
(Source: Report on National Summit on Management Skills, discussed in Business Review Weekly, 11 October, 1991, p69.)
Conclusion
The perspectives on organisational and societal cultures are themselves diverse and aimed in different directions. Each perspective has different implications for what change would mean and how it would be achieved. Theoretically, it is often the act of negotiation of meaning of what the culture of an organisation or society is or should be. In other words, it is associated with changes within the organisation that affect performance, and not the culture itself.
The textbook points out that power and politics are among the more 'difficult' and inadmissible topics in management, and in fact all of us would be aware of the drain on people's time and energy that comes through what we customarily call 'playing politics' or 'power struggles. However, this is not the only possible view of power. In other Modules we have occasionally referred to management as 'getting things done through other people. In the light of this definition, it is easier to accept that power and politics with politics defined as the exercise of power, which is perhaps the simplest distinction between the two are not merely necessary evils in organisations. If management is getting things done through people, then it is possible to think of power as the fuel behind the action of getting things done. This is not to deny that excessive politicking can indeed be the drain on personal and organisational resources that we intuitively feel it to be. But it may be interesting and instructive to examine the argument that the oppressive actions that we often label as power are more likely to be the result of a lack of power that is, the lack of the supplies, information and support needed to make things happen. But to deny the reality and the usefulness of power in organisations, is to rely on an unduly
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mechanistic, efficiency driven model of organisations which suggests that any intrusion of 'irrational' elements such as power or politics is an undesirable aberration. In this topic we will examine the following issues: power 'to' versus power 'over' sources of power power strategies an Australian contribution to thinking about power: the arena model.
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interest in the topic. The following are the lists of power sources of five prominent authors in the field:
French & Raven (1959) Reward power Coercive power Legitimate power Referent power Expert power Prestige power Hunt (1986) Authority Function Personal characteristics Intellect Charisma Interpersonal skills Access Wealth Connections Family Performance Referent power Reward power Coercive power Information power
(Source: Dunford 1992, p.197)
Paton (1984) Position power Expert power Dependence power Control over uncertainty Stakeholder power Personal power Morgan (1986) Formal authority Control of scarce resources
Stephenson (1985) Power over scarce resources Formal authority Information power
Use of organisational structure and rules Control of decision processes Control of knowledge and information Control of boundaries Ability to cope with uncertainty Control of technology Interpersonal alliances, networks and control Informal organisation' Control of counter organisations Symbolism and the management of meaning Gender and the management of gender relations Structural factors that define the stage of action The power one already has
The following discussion represents a summary of some of the more important of the various sources of power. Note: this doesn't mean that they are necessarily the most important for any particular person. The Activity following the discussion gives you the opportunity to consider your personal sources of power. Formal authority: the acknowledged right to give orders and make decisions. Note that this has nothing to do with competence, although staff's perceptions of the boss's competence may affect how readily the boss's requests and instructions are obeyed. Reward power: This has both formal and informal aspects. Formal position is likely to involve some control over rewards both in the positive sense of additional pay and in the negative sense of coercion, withholding of promotion and termination of employment.
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Control of scarce resources: The ability to control access to any resource that others value including money, materials, technology, employees with required abilities, customers is an important source of power. Even access to the CEO since it may be controlled by the CEO's Executive Assistant makes the assistant a powerful individual, even though he or she may not be paid as much as those seeking the access. The amount of power increases with increasing scarcity and increasing dependence. Control of uncertainty: Organisations are likely to face various forms of uncertainty, including environmental uncertainty, which relates to markets and the supply of needed resources, and operational resources, which are those within the organisation such as a breakdown in computer systems of production machinery. The 11 strategic contingencies(tm) approach to explaining the various parts of an organisation sees this power as tied to a given part's capacity to cope with uncertainty on behalf of other parts of the organisation (Hickson et al. 1971). Again, scarcity and dependency are key factors. Power is enhanced to the extent that the coping ability both cannot be carried out by others (substitutability) and is critical to the performance of other parts of the organisation (centrality) (Hickson 0/8/1971). The classic example is draw from research undertaken in France by Crozier, which considered the case of the maintenance workers in a continuous production process, who were often in a position to stop the production process (Crozier, 1964). This approach has its critics, however, since it may suggest that positions of power are determined solely by situational factors beyond the control of the parties involved. With the maintenance workers studied by Crozier, it has been pointed out that they were active in perpetuating their position of power by not allowing repair procedures to be recorded in written form. That is, they took action to enhance their power situation. In more recent times, the power of the central computing department, once greatly enhanced by perceptions of the difficulty of programming work, has been eroded by the greater familiarity of people generally with computers. The message is, first, that those in power can act to perpetuate their centrality power can define centrality, not just vice-versa, and second, that centrality and unsubstitutability are, perceived, not merely indisputable facts carved in stone. Expert power: To varying degrees, organisations involve specialisation. With this comes a degree of power relating to the expertise inherent in that specialisation. As people move up the organisational hierarchy, however, their formal power increases, but they normally must forgo a mastery of all the areas of expertise represented amongst the people who report to them. (See 'Introductory topics'.) Maintaining a broad overview conflicts with the demands and advantages of specialisation. Put another way, the sites of expert knowledge and the sites of formal position power are likely to differ. It is also important to note that expert power is likely to be due to the maintenance of the claim to legitimacy that a profession may make in specific areas. That is, the power is due not only to the knowledge, but also to the general acceptance that only a certain group has the right to pronounce on matters in a certain area. Information power:. Information about what's going on, or as an element in decision-making may be as important a resource as any other. Hence the ability to control the flow of information can influence the very definition and understanding of organisational situations and create patterns of dependency (Morgan, 1986). Thus in a political view of decision-making the determination of the form items take in a meeting agenda, or indeed whether they make it onto the agenda at all, is a vital and particularly subtle form of power.
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Use of organisational rules and regulations: Rules and regulations are not always obeyed; indeed they are not always known. Nonetheless, they may be invoked in support of, or to prevent a particular course of action. The ruled are of course most obviously subject to this form of power, but the rulers are also often constrained by rules, and doing what the rules require provides the rules with protection from arbitrary action. 'Working to rule' or working strictly according to one's job description and not doing the 'little extras' is an important source of industrial muscle. Finally, it is important not to see rules as subject to only one interpretation. Indeed power is more accurately described as residing in the ability to have one's interpretation of rules accepted than simply in knowledge of rules per se. Control of decision-making: The relationship between power and decision-making is a multi-dimensional one. It involves, at a minimum: who is involved in the decision-making process. how issues get discussed. what issues get discussed.
The involvement of a person in decision-making gives the opportunity for that person to be influential, provided the decisions have an effect. How a decision is made is important. We have already touched on this issue, in an oblique way. As noted in Module 1, the form of an instruction from a manager its penetration has an impact on the discretionary content of the work of an employee reporting to that person, and hence on their power. Moreover, defining an issue as a matter of corporate image or prestige rather than short-term gain may defeat an opponent's argument. Or couching it in terms of a particular context, for example that the whole organisation is under threat, may undermine the arguments of others who oppose a course of action on the grounds of its effects on their particular part of the organisation. Finally, the fact that a topic is off the agenda may not be evidence of genuine consensus, but rather that a particular party is able to stifle discussion in either a real or a metaphorical sense. So, control of what is discussed is an important source of power. Network power: Formal or informal alliances and networks can form important power bases for members, whether as a means to have certain actions taken, or as a source of information. Network power can also derive from influence in some powerful non work-related organisations, or from specific extra-organisational relations, such as being closely connected to a company's major client. The management and interpretation of meaning: We have discussed in the Modules which addressed leadership and organisational culture the power that comes from being able to define the nature of the situation that organisational members confront. So, meaning may be able to be managed, but it may also be able to be interpreted. Having skill in 'reading' the symbolic significance of apparently trivial issues such as office layout, body language and so on, can gain one the reputation and perhaps the reality of being a skilled organisational politician. Gender: Morgan (1986) includes gender as a basis for power, arguing that many organisations involved gender-related values that favour one sex, usually men. Moreover, the difficulty is not always overcome even if women adopt the dominant, male-oriented behaviours, since identical behaviour on the part of women is not necessarily perceived or treated in the same way as when it emanates from men. If this is the case, a direct implication is that women cannot necessarily overcome a power
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deficit by copying male behaviour because it is the interpretation, not the behaviour alone, which produces the outcomes. Personal power: Thus far, we have considered power as a function primarily of the situation, and have given little attention to the difference contributed by an individual. Yet it is clear that, even given the same situational factors, one person will not be as successful as another in a certain situation. Interpersonal style, the capacity to create goodwill, and so on, as well as an individual's capacity to be a shrewd analyst of the situation and its potential, can all play a part.
Reading 4.3
Cohen, A.R. & Bradford, D.L. 2001, Influence with Authority: The Ude of Alliances, Reciprocity, and Exchange to Accomplish Work, in The Organizational Behavior Reader, eds J.S. Osland, D.A. Kolb, & I.M. Rubin, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey. (See Chapter 16, pp. 461-469).
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Within a given arena, there will be players, objectives, resources, tactics and outcomes. players are the parties involved in the particular issue at stake. They may be individuals or collectivities such as departments objectives constitute the intentions that lie behind action resources refer to the power sources available to a player tactics are the actions taken by each player outcomes are the product of the particular series of actions.
Systematically listing the objectives, resources, likely tactics and outcomes for each player in a situation can give a comprehensive view of the political strength of each. The arena model is thus a form of power audit. It can be used either to interpret a past situation or to predict the outcome of a currently evolving situation, or even to prescribe what action to take in a current situation. Note that it is an analytical device rather than necessarily an accurate description of the exact process whereby outcomes are produced.
Conclusion
Having an understanding of the power and politics, which are inherent in any organisation, is central to an analysis of organisational behaviour, and how to manage it. Political models of organisations have raised the profile of power as an explanatory concept, and gone some way towards removing the idea that the exercise of power is always detrimental to organisational functioning. There are a variety of power sources that include reward power, control of scarce resources, control of uncertainty, expert power, information, use of organisational rules and regulations, control of decision-making, network power, membership of counterorganisations, the management and interpretation of meaning, gender and personal power. The effect of these power sources needs to be understood in the context of taken-for-granted understandings to understand how they operate. A number of tools and strategies for both enhancing and challenging power add to the value of this notion as both an analytical and a practical tool.
Activities
Note: The following activities are optional. They are designed to help you develop your understanding of the various topics in this Course.
Organisational culture
Consider the list of basic assumptions above. What shared views does your organisation hold about each of these? Do you have any way of checking these assumptions or do you 'just know'?
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What evidence is there in your organisation for the existence of one or more sub-cultures? Activity 4.2 What evidence is there in your organisation for the existence of one or more subcultures? What aspects of Schein's elements of culture did you use to help you come to your conclusions? Would you describe the sub-culture as enhancing, orthogonal or countercultural?
What evidence is there in your organisation for differences between its espoused values and actual practices? If so, why have these differences appeared? Activity 4.3 Examine your organisation's culture (II) Are these differences in values associated with one or more sub-cultures?
Activity 4.4 Find the commonalities across typologies of organisational culture (1)
There are several other typologies of (overall) organisational culture along the lines of the one presented by Sonnenfeld in the textbook on p 638. Other examples include the following from Edwards and Kleiner (1988): the Apathetic Culture which lacks concern for both people and performance, and is preoccupied with "playing politics" as a means of attaining rewards; the Caring Culture which reflects a parental "we will look after you" approach; the Exacting Culture which is orientated towards performance and success, in which, although jobs are well paid, people are considered expendable; and the Integrative Culture which reflects both a high concern for performance and a great respect for people. This perspective is in terms of the contributions they can make to the organisation, not a parental approach.
and this one from Handy's Understanding Organisations: the Power Culture: often found in small entrepreneurial companies, depends on a central power source with rays of power spreading out from that central figure. Size is a problem; the web can break if it seeks to link too many activities. Power cultures put a lot of faith in the individual, little in committees. the Role Culture: often stereotyped as a bureaucracy. Relies on procedures and rules, and is coordinated at the top by a narrow band of senior management. The role organisation will succeed as long as it can operate in a stable environment, but they are insecure when the ground shakes. the Task Culture: job or project-oriented. Its accompanying structure can be best represented as a net, with some of the strands thicker and stronger than the others. The so-called "matrix organisation" is one structural form of the task culture. It words well where flexibility and sensitivity to the market or environment are important, but has difficulty producing economies of scale or great depth of expertise. the Person Culture: exists only for the people in it without any superordinate objective. Barristers' chambers, families and some small consultancy firms are typical examples. A cluster is the best description of it, or perhaps a galaxy of individual stars.
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Describe your own organisation's culture at this stage of its history. What subcultures, if any, have also become noticeable, and how do they interact with the main culture? Using the argument of Edwards and Kleiner (1988) which links the evolution of an organisation's culture to the stages of its lifecycle, describe what organisational lifestage factors may be influencing the evolution and nature of your organisation's culture. How has the culture in an organisation of your choice been managed? Where has the management been successful and where has it been unsuccessful? Why?
Activity 4.6 How has the culture in an organisation of your choice been managed?
Fill out the questionnaire from Robbins called "What Kind of Organizational Culture Fits You Best?" and score it according to the directions. Compare the results to one of more of the culture typologies from this Module, to build up a picture of the kind of workplace in which you would feel most comfortable. Now compare the results to the culture of your present workplace. How well does your workplace's culture correspond to the kind of culture that best suits you? If there are discrepancies what aspects of the culture would need to be changed, and how feasible are such changes? Consider the lists from the authors above. They are unlikely to be exhaustive, since most things have the potential to be the source of power in some situation. Neither do they present mutually exclusive categories. Use the five authors' lists to assemble your own single, summarising list of sources of power. Add any sources that you feel are inadequately covered in the lists given and comment on why you added them. In addition, comment on any items that you have combined, and comment on the links between them. Consider the list of power sources you compiled from the previous Activity, or the list of power sources we have just elaborated on. Which of them figure among your own most prominent power sources? Which do not really rate as a source of power for you? Assuming you would like to increase your personal power in your organisation, what might you do to improve your personal power?
Activity 4.9 What are the most important of your personal sources of power?
Use the arena model to analyse a contested situation with which you are familiar not necessarily one in which you are or have been personally involved. Do the outcomes correspond to the analysis the arena model would predict? Why or why not? Remember that outcomes are not always worked out on the basis of a conscious decision or strategy, and that not all strategies lead to predictable outcomes!
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Learning outcomes
At the end of this Module you should have: an understanding of organisational structure and organisational design and be able to explain why they are important to an organisation. knowledge of the four contingency factors that influence organisational design gained an understanding of matrix organisations, project structures, autonomous internal units, and team-based structures and why organisations are using them. an understanding of the characteristics of a boundaryless organisation and this structure's appeal, and be able to explain the concept of the learning organisation and how it influences organisational design. an understanding of the rational model of decision-making and its practical limits an understanding of a variety of alternatives to the rational model of decisionmaking, both those that present themselves as variants on the model and more radical alternatives tested the applicability of the various models in your organisation gained an understanding of some common problems in decision-making and some ways of remedying them.
Learning resources
Anderson PA 1983, 'Decision-making by objection and the Cuban missile crisis', Administrative Science Quarterly, vol. 28, pp. 201222. Bergman, R, 2000. Instructors resource manual, in Robbins, S, Bergman, R, Stagg, I & Coulter, M. 2000. Management, Prentice-Hall, Australia.
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Blum, D 1987, 'Ishtar', Weekend Australia Magazine, 2122 March. Burawoy, M 1979, Manufacturing consent, University of Chicago Press, Chicago. Cohen, MD, March, JG & Olsen, JP 1972, 'The garbage can model of organisational choice', Administrative Science Quarterly vol. 17, pp. 125. Colebatch, HK & Degeling, PJ 1986, Understanding Local Government: ActionLinkage-Outcome, Canberra College of Advanced Education, Canberra. Feldman, MS & March, JG 1981, 'Information in organisations as signal and symbol, Administrative Science Quarterly, vol. 26, pp. 171186. Hickson, DJ, Butler, RJ, Cray, D, Mallory, GR & Wilson, DC 1986, Top decisions: strategic decision making in organisations, Basil Blackwell, Oxford. Hurst, D 1986, 'Why strategic management is bankrupt', Organizational Dynamics, vol. 15, pp. 427. Lindblom, CE 1959, 'The science of 'muddling through' Public Administration Review, vol. 19, pp. 7888. March, JG 1982), 'Theories of choice and making decisions', Society, vol. 20, Nov Dec, pp. 2939. Robbins, SP & Mukherjee, D 1990, Managing organisations, Prentice-Hall, New Jersey. Robbins, S, Bergman, R, Stagg, I & Coulter, M. 2000. Management, Prentice-Hall, Australia. Thompson, P & McHugh, D 1992, Work organisations: a critical introduction, Macmillan, Melbourne.
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In this topic we will briefly examine the following issues: a definition of organisational structure and design the contingency approach to organisational design some applications of organisational design the implications of technology on organisational design
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Once work tasks have been defined, they must be grouped together in some way through a process called departmentalisationthe basis on which jobs are grouped in order to accomplish organisational goals. The five major ways to departmentalise are Functional departmentalisation (i.e., grouping jobs by functions performed), Product departmentalisation (grouping jobs by product line), Geographical departmentalisation ( grouping jobs on the basis of territory or geography), Process departmentalisation (grouping jobs on the basis of product or customer flow) and Customer departmentalisation (where jobs are grouped on the basis of common customers. Customer departmentalisation continues to be a highly popular approach, whilst Cross-functional teams which are a hybrid grouping of individuals who are experts in various specialties (or functions) and who work together are being used along with traditional departmental arrangements. The chain of command is an unbroken line of authority that extends from the upper levels of the organisation to the lowest levels and clarifies who reports to whom. Authority is the rights inherent in a managerial position to give orders and to expect the orders to be obeyed. Responsibility is the obligation or expectation to perform, and Unity of command is the classical management principle that a subordinate should have one and only one superior to whom he or she is directly responsible. Span of control within an organisation refers to the number of subordinates a manager can supervise effectively and efficiently, and is important because it determines how many levels and managers an organisation will have. The ideal number of subordinates in a given span of control will be influenced by factors such as the skills and abilities of the manager, the skills and abilities of the subordinates, the nature of the job, the strength of the organisation's culture. Centralisation refers to the degree to which decision making is concentrated in the upper levels of the organization, while Decentralisation is the handing down of decision-making authority to lower levels in an organisation. Highly formalised organisations are characterised by employees with little discretion and high levels of consistent and uniform output. These organisations have explicit job descriptions, lots of organisational rules, and clearly defined procedures. On the other hand, less formalised organisation, employees have a lot of freedom and can exercise discretion in the way they do their work. As organisations empower employees and as technology breaks down the barriers between organisational levels, chain of command, authority, responsibility, and unity of command are not as significant in many contemporary organisations, and this has been mirrored by a trend towards larger spans of control with decentralised decision making and greater employee discretion in their work.
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organisations strategy, its size, and the degree of uncertainty in the environment in which it must operate in. Technology is also an important factor. From a systems perspective, every organisation uses some form of technology to transform inputs into outputs, and hence organisational structure adapts to the direct application of technology. The original work on the strategy-structure relationship in organisational design came from Alfred Chandler, who maintained that organisational structure must follow followed organisational strategy. Contemporary strategy-structure frameworks tend to focus on three strategy dimensions: innovation (which depends upon the flexibility and free flow of information of the organic organization); cost minimisation (which depends upon the efficiency, stability, and tight controls of the mechanistic organisation); and imitation (which uses characteristics of both the mechanistic and organic organisation).
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through compatible hardware and software. Examples include electronic mail or email, voice-mail (where a spoken message is digitised, transmitted over a computer network, and stores the message on disk for the receiver to retrieve later), facsimile (or fax), teleconferencing, which allows a group of people to confer simultaneously using telephones or e-mail (and can also be used to form virtual groups, thus saving time and money, and allowing for better access to intellectual capital), electronic data interchange (EDI) (allowing organisations to exchange standard business transaction documents), and intranets (which are internal organisational communication systems that use internet technology and are accessible only by organisational members). Telecommuting is a work design option in which workers are linked to the workplace by computers and modem, while virtual workplaces are offices that are characterised by open spaces, movable furniture, portable phones, laptop computers, and electronic files. Properly employed, the above options can remove geographic boundaries from both work and job design and the deployment of team-based roles. As a result, there are also time savings, allowing for increased employee and organisational productivity, and, when aligned with an appropriately flexible organisational culture, a more optimal balance of work, leisure and family concerns.
Reading 5.1
Nadler, D, & Tushman, M. 2001, The Organization Of The Future, in The Organizational Behavior Reader, eds J.S. Osland, D.A. Kolb, & I.M. Rubin, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey. (See Chapter 19, pp. 527-540).
5.2 Decision-making
Introduction
We tend to see decision-making as lying at the heart of management. That is, we think of a decision-action-outcome linkage as a chain of causality that is at the heart of the ways managers and organisations operate. Despite this, we also know from 'Introductory topics' that managers spend a good deal of time making decisions without being aware of all the facts available. This is borne out by the textbook chapter on perception and individual decision-making.
Robbins' textbook, Chapter 5, 'Perception and Individual Decision-Making' Textbook
In the middle section or the chapter, Robbins outlines the 'rational' or 'optimising' model of decision-making, which is usually taken as the starting point for portraying an ideal picture of decision-making by managers. Note particularly the list of conditions that need to be satisfied before it is even likely that the rational model would prevail. From this, it becomes clearer why the psychological and physiological limitations associated with bound rationality and decision biases make the rational model just that: a model. So this part of the Module will essentially consider other, more realistic alternatives to this model. Also note that the discussion of decision-making in Robbins is largely bound up with decisions taken by individuals, not by groups. At this point, you may also wish to review
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the discussion of the problems of group decision-making in 'Groups teams and leadership'. In this topic we will examine the following issues: alternatives to the rational model a new form of rationality? perspectives on what happens to information in decision-making the escalation of commitment improving decision-making
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Two days went by. The camel buyers continued their search through the Sahara for the perfect camel and the necessary backups. But every camel they looked at suffered by comparison with that first exquisite camel. The humps would be too large or too small. The facial hair would be beige or brown. It was always something. (It's important to know that a camel search is no cheap date. Every minute of a production staffer's time on a location shoot at union wages with costly travel and hotels is worth money, and days of it can cost thousands of dollars.) Finally they figured they'd been looking long enough. 'Let's see if we can buy that first camel we looked at', the buyers agreed. So they went back to the dealer who'd showed them that lovely specimen. 'Remember us? We'd like to buy that camel of yours that we looked at the other day'. The dealer shook his head. 'Sorry', he said. 'We ate it'.
(Source: Blum 1987)
The concept of bounded rationality is essentially a variant of the rational model. It assumes that decision-making is essentially a technical matter. If only complete knowledge were available quickly and cheaply, optimality would prevail.
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'intuitive' model and the others acknowledge the impact of distinctly non-rational or political elements in decision-making.
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makers; that goals discovery means that decision-making processes can begin without waiting for clarification of all goals, and that the risk avoidance decision is an uncertainty reduction practice.
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Once the matter for decision has been determined, the decision-making process must be understood in terms of both the complexity of decision problems and the politicality of decision interests. Complexity has four components: 1. 2. Rarity the frequency with which similar decisions occur Consequentiality the consequences of the decisions as indicated by: a) how radically a decision changes things b) the seriousness of something going wrong as a result of the decision c) the diffusion of the consequences in terms of the number of organisational aspects (for example, costs, morale, market share) affected by the decision d) how long the consequences of the decision will endure. 3. 4. Precursiveness: the extent to which decision sets parameters within which later decision-making is constrained. Involvement: the number of parties that become involved in the process of making a decision.
As Hickson points out, 'as the number builds up, so it becomes more and more taxing to remember who has yet to be asked and who was asked and what they said, who may know what, which meetings expressed what views and which committees have yet to report, what is significant and what can be ignored (Hickson et al., 1986, p. 44). Politicality is the degree to which influence is exerted through a decision-making process on the outcome. The 'decision set' that is, the interest groups implicated in any particular decision, will vary from decision to decision, but some stockholders in that group will tend to have more frequent involvement and influence and hence politicality than others. The table below shows the relative importance of various entities in the strategic decisions analysed by the researchers.
Infrequent Involvement Infrequent Influence Trades unions Competitors Purchasing Maintenance Personnel Frequent Influence Customers, clients Research and design Liaison Frequent Involvement Auditors Trade associations Shareholders Government bodies Suppliers Production Sales, marketing Accounting Quality control Autonomous divisions
(Source: Adapted from Hickson et al. 1986)
What is important, as a result of politicality, is not so much 'the decision' as 'the deciding'. Trying to define a single individual as responsible for a decision is not an adequate approach, and there is no decision that seems concerned only with technicalities and not with politicalities.
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On the basis of their research, Hickson et al. classified decision-making processes in terms of three types: sporadic, fluid and constricted. These vary in two ways: discontinuity, or the degree to which the process is smooth and unbroken, and dispersion, or the extent to which the process is spread throughout the management structure of the organisation.
As a result: sporadic processes are clearly discontinuous as well as dispersed. They are characterised by multiple sources of expertise, variation in the quality of information and high levels of informal interaction. Highly complex and highly political decisions, such as the decision to launch new products, are likely to be made in this way. fluid processes are continuous and dispersed. They flow smoothly and a decision is reached relatively quickly. Typically, they involve formal meetings, which help maintain the momentum. They involve many interests, but there is a fairly high degree of confidence in the information provided. Decisions of medium complexity and low politicality are likely to be made in this way. An example would be a decision about sources of finance for a major share issue, which, though complex, is not especially contentious. constricted processes are slightly discontinuous and narrowly channelled rather than dispersed. Information needed for the decision exists, and while it may be spread around various people it is not particularly hard to access. Decisions of low complexity and medium politicality, such as the annual budget, typify a constricted process decision. While they are serious they have been made before, and so the matter can proceed along recognised channels drawing on just the usual sources of information when they are needed.
The table below presents the characteristics of the process for different levels of complexity and politicality in decisions.
Application High complexity High politicality Medium politicality Low politicality Low complexity Medium politicality
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Reading 5.2
Vroom, V.H. 2001, Two Decades of Research on Participation: Beyond Buzz Words and Management Fads, in The Organizational Behavior Reader, eds J.S. Osland, D.A. Kolb, & I.M. Rubin, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey. (See Chapter 15, pp. 429-436).
On the contrary, according to Feldman and Marsh: much information that is gathered and communicated has little relevance to decision-making. much of the information that is used to justify a decision is collected and interpreted. much of the information gathered in response to requests for information is not considered in the making of the decision for which it was requested.
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regardless of the information available at the time a decision is first considered, more information is requested. complaints that an organisation does not have enough information to make a decision occur while available information is ignored. the relevance of the information provided in the decision-making process to the decision being made is less obvious than the insistence on information.
There are a variety of reasons for this, all of which paint a more messy, less rational model of the world than the rational model of decision-making suggests: information overload: Organisations are often unable to process all the information that they receive inappropriate data: The information may be the wrong sort. incentives to gather data: Organisational procedures lead to the underestimation of the costs of information relative to its benefits. Also, since decision-makers must often justify a decision after the event, there would seem to be more chance of being criticised for having not collected enough information than for collecting more than was needed. surveillance: Organisations collect information as part of a general surveillance of their environment. It may have no immediate relevance but services to reduce nasty surprises and to enhance creative speculation as to possible future directions. the political function of data: Information is often collected in order to persuade someone to do something. Information that one receives is thus likely to be confounded by unknown misrepresentation. That is, information is a weapon in the conflicts of interest within the organisation, so it is likely that some at least reflects strategic misrepresentation, further complicating the information-decision relationship. information is ritual: The decision-making process, as opposed to the outcome, is important as a symbol of the rationality of the organisation. Accordingly, being seen to make a decision in the right way may be even more important than the quality of the decision. Again, this leads to an incentive to collect more information rather than less.
It has also been argued that, in the face of increasing uncertainty, forecasting has become increasing important not because it really makes things more predictable, but because it relieves anxiety. In similar vein, collecting an apparent excess of information is not necessarily wasteful or inefficient, since it increases the perceived legitimacy of a decision and hence the likelihood of gaining support for its implementation. Finally, the ritualistic aspect of data gathering can be seen in the posthoc rationalisation of action already taken.
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As Hurst points out, these steps of strategic management evolved rapidly during the 60s and 70s, and were used by companies facing logistical problems more complex and planning horizons more distant than they had previously known. Planners such as Ansoff and Steiner became particularly strong advocates for the creation and spread of strategic planning units as central to management in all undertakings. Hurst not only provides an interesting history of the development of strategic decision models, but presents a case for its demise. The underlying problem for Hurst, is that such decisionmaking formats assume that organisations are like complex mechanical clock works operating in an environment that can be objectively determined by senior managers (or anyone else). Hurst then presents an alternative model, one that like the reading by Nonaka, highlights the negotiation of meanings about the organisation's mission as part of a non-deterministic creative management process. Hurst suggests that we need to abandon our notions of managers as decision-makers who must rationally solve the problems of the world. Rather we must assemble teams to handle the total process to combine 'the two great human gifts reason and passion'. In so saying, Hurst is referring to more than emotion. He is invoking the need for ethical principles in decision-making.
Reading 5.3
Klein, G. 2001, How People Really Make Decisions, in The Organizational Behavior Reader, eds J.S. Osland, D.A. Kolb, & I.M. Rubin, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey. (See Chapter 15, pp. 436-449).
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Conclusion
The latter part of Module 5 has mostly been concerned to point out how decisionmaking is imperfect in a rational sense, and to point out how this might be rectified, both by bringing the decision-making process closer to a rational model, and by widening the definition of what is rational. The latter part of the Module also examines ways in which more intuitive processes of decision-making operate, and how they can be valuable additions to the process. Finally, however, it is also impossible to avoid the realisation that decision-making is imperfect also in the sense that it has a subjective, moral component. This issue is examined further in the course 'International Law and Ethics for Managers' elsewhere in the MBA program.
Activities
Note: The following activities are optional. They are designed to help you develop your understanding of the various topics in this Course.
Today, many organisations are looking at issues such as job redesign, multi-skilling and quality assurance. How do these changes affect the organising function?
Activity 5.4 Apply the ideas of organisational structure and design to an organisation of your choice.
Consider a workgroup or organisation of your choice. How might you restructure it to achieve the twin aims of greater organisational efficiency whilst also allowing for a more optimal work/life balance for employees? What structural, political, cultural and other difficulties do you envisage and why?
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Decision making
Cadbury claims that not making decisions may be the least ethical principal course of action. On the other hand, Etzioni seems to argue that putting off decisions may be the most humble act. Which do you agree with and why? Give some examples from your experience.
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Module 6: Organisational change, organisational behaviour and HRM, and management issues of the future
Overview
In 'Organisational change we approach the issue of change which, again, is at the heart of management and is the supreme test of good management. We devote particular attention to the 'organisational development' (or OD) approach to change management which is a particularly popular one, but which, in the view of some practitioners fails to take sufficient account of the political realities of organisations. Whether or not an organisation has a human resource department, every manager is involved with human resource decisions, and in organisational behaviour and HRM, we briefly look at the relationship between organisational behaviour and each step in the human resource management process. The effectiveness with which each of these steps are carried out will to a large degree be determined by the way in which managers view the work relationship, and the way in which they interact with organisational stakeholders. Finally, we briefly invite you to consider a range of reasons for the common observation that, organisations and the world in general are changing more rapidly than ever before, and ask you to analyse your own and your organisation's preparedness to respond to this situation.
Learning outcomes
At the end of this Module, you should have: gained some practical and theoretical experience at dealing with change from a variety of perspectives analysed the phenomenon of resistance to change, both as an issue in change management and as an ideologically laden theoretical term considered and worked with Organisational Development (OD), politically-based, and contingency-oriented strategies for managing change understand the application of organisational behaviour to the HR process considered a range of issues concerned with the way changes in the world of work relate to management.
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Learning resources
Bergman, R, 2000. Instructors resource manual, in Robbins, S, Bergman, R, Stagg, I & Coulter, M. 2000. Management, Prentice-Hall, Australia.
Bolman, LG & Deal, TE 1991, Reframing organisations: artistry, choice and leadership, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco. Coates, JF, Jarratt, J & Mahaffie, JB 1991, 'Future work', The Futurist, vol. 25, no. 3, pp. 919. Coyle, W 1992, Human Resource Monthly, Melbourne, February. Davis, S 1987, Future perfect, Addison Wesley, Reading, Massachusetts. Dunphy, DC & Stace, DA 1988, 'Transformational and coercive strategies for planned organisational change: Beyond the OD model', Organisational Studies, vol. 9, pp. 317334. Dunphy, DC & Stace, DA 1990, Under new management: australian organisations in transition, McGraw-Hill, Sydney. French, WL & Bell, CH Jr. 1978, Organisational development behavioural science interventions for organisation improvement, 2nd edn, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey. Handy, C 1989, 'The end of the world we know', Management Review, April. Huse, EF 1982, Management, 2nd edn, West Publishing Co., St Paul. Kanter, RM 1983, The change masters, Simon and Schuster, New York. Kotter, JP & Schlesinger, LA 1979, 'Choosing strategies for change', Harvard Business Review, vol. 57, pp. 106114. Paterson, J 1983, 'Bureaucratic reform by cultural revolution', Canberra Bulleting of Public Administration, vol. 10, pp. 613. Pettigrew, A 1985, The awakening giant continuity and change in ICI. Basil Blackwell, Oxford, Robbins, S, Bergman, R, Stagg, I & Coulter, M. 2000. Management, Prentice-Hall, Australia. Schwartz, P 1991, The art of the long view planing for the future in an uncertain world, Doubleday, New York. Stephenson, T 1985, Management a political activity, Macmillan, Basingstoke. Ulrich, D & Lake, D 1991, Organisational capability: competing from the inside out, John Wiley and Sons, New York. Woodworth, W & Nelson, R 1979, 'Witch doctors, messianics, sorcerers and OD consultants: parallels and paradigms', Organisational Dynamics, vol. 8, pp. 1733.
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Reading 6.1
Kanter, R.M. 2001, Change is Everyones Job: Managing the Extended Enterprise in a Globally Connected World, in The Organizational Behavior Reader, eds J.S. Osland, D.A. Kolb, & I.M. Rubin, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey. (See Chapter 20, pp. 562-576).
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objective of organisational activities, and diverse interpretation of appropriate courses of action even where a common objective is agreed on. It is not uncommon, as Kanter (1983, p. 281) points out, for managers to make strategic choices based on their own areas of competence and career payoff. The textbook discusses this issue, and there it is clear that the very real losses of status and position in the hierarchy that would come from some forms of change would be sufficient to motivate change that favours particular managers' career preferences. But in addition, as the discussion in 'Control and decision-making' on the garbage-can model of decision-making pointed out, it can be difficult for managers and others even to see the avenues for change which arise from areas other than their specific type of competence. Finally, change can play a symbolic role. When external constituencies question the worth of existing practices, organisations promise reform and stage a ritual drama called change (Bolman & Deal, 1991, p. 274). For further discussion on change in terms of its political and cultural elements, see Pettigrew (1985, 1987).
Resistance to change
Overcoming resistance to change is an understandable concern of those seeking to implement change. Indeed, one of the reasons change tends to be studied as an issue in itself (and the early studies by Coch and French go back to 1948) is to try to find answers to this perceived problem. While it is most common to talk of resistance to change as a problem that managers confront, it is also a behaviour they may manifest, as the preceding discussion makes clear.
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Doing OD
Any given OD exercise is based on the application of one or more structured activities (called 'interventions') and it is typically orchestrated by a 'change agent' generally an external consultant. The OD approach has traditionally emphasised and sought to enhance the process of learning by the group. That is, rather than make pronouncements as 'experts' on the solutions to problems, change agents have sought to develop problem-awareness skills and problem-solving skills among their clients. The change agent may undertake a preliminary diagnosis and data collection but from there the group takes charge of both problem and data, discussing it, interpreting it, and developing action plans for their own preferred courses of action. OD is also intended as an ongoing interactive process (French and Bell, 1978). Huse identifies the following assumptions within OD about the behaviour of people: most people want and need opportunities for growth and achievement when the basic needs have been satisfied, most people will respond to opportunities for responsibility, challenge and interesting work organisational effectiveness and efficiency are increased when work is organised to meet individual needs for responsibility, challenge, and interesting work personal growth and the accomplishment of organisational goals are better attained by shifting the emphasis of conflict resolution from smoothing to open confrontation the design of individual jobs, group tasks, and organisational structure can be modified to more effectively satisfy the needs of the organisation, the group and the individual people hold many false assumptions about individuals, groups and organisations that could be rectified through open confrontations many so-called personality clashes result from problems of incorrect organisational design (Huse, 1982, p. 256).
From this list it is possible to discern the strength of the Human Relations and unitarist thinking within the OD approach, especially in the assumptions concerning individual motivation, the appropriate view of conflict, and so on. Robbins reviews a number of the specific technologies of OD, including sensitivity training, survey-feedback, process consultation and team building. To these classic OD approaches have been added interventions that incorporate a focus on structure, that is on the design of jobs, on the technology used and on the structure of the organisation. These interventions include job enrichment (expanding the range of skills in a job) (see textbook discussion) and the greater use of teams. However the focus on process remains central, through the emphasis on the need for a consultative participative approach.
Does OD work?
The effectiveness of OD as a strategy for managing planned change has been difficult to assess for the following reasons: the wide range of interventions to which the term OD has been applied means it is difficult to talk about a single overall OD effect
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the Inability of researchers to distinguish clearly the effect of an intervention from that of other variables lack of clear empirical evidence: Few studies have been carried out with sufficient methodological soundness and incorporating sufficient numbers of organisations for conclusions to be drawn.
However, according to the prime proponents of OD, its originators French and Bell (1978, p. 226), failures in OD interventions are not an indicator of problems with the method itself, but rather are due to 'mistakes or inattention' with regard to the following 'conditions for optimal success:' perceptions of organisational problems by key people perceptions of the relevance of the behavioural sciences in solving these problems the introduction into the system of a behavioural scientist consultation initial top-level involvement, or at least support from a higher echelon with subsequent top management involvement participation of intact work teams, including the formal leader; The operationalising of the action research model (see the discussion by Robbins of action learning on pp. 730731) early successes, with expansion of the effort stemming from these successes an open, educational philosophy about the theory and the technology of OD acknowledgement of the congruency between OD and many previous effective management practices involvement of personnel and industrial relations people and congruency with personnel policy and practice development of internal OD resources effective management of the OD process monitoring the process and the measuring of results.
As noted earlier, French and Bell's explanation of problem with OD is essentially 'technical'; that is, it relates to incorrect implementation rather than the fundamental characteristics of the approach. However other theorists of change management point to three other issues: the pace of the change, participation in the change process and power as an organisational issue.
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start with a small change, get key people on side, build up their confidence, and then push for more significant changes. if a number of groups become involved in the change, all claiming organisational change expertise, it may sometimes be wisest to withdraw fro the melee, especially if too many cooks are spoiling the broth. When the change program is assessed as less than successful, the group that withdrew from the exercise may have retained or even enhanced its influence.
Schein's approach, while 'grafting on' some attention to political dynamics to the key dynamics and assumptions of OD, is a modification rather than a radical overhaul of the approach. We move now to a consideration of organisational change as a political process.
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To motivate constructive behaviour, you need to: create dissatisfaction with the current state obtain appropriate levels of participation in planning implementing change reward desired behaviour in transition to the future state provide time and opportunity to disengage from the current state.
To manage the transitional stage of the change you need to: develop and communicate a clear image of the future state use multiple and consistent leverage points use transition devices obtain feedback about the Transition State, evaluate success.
Bases
ensure that you have support from above speak directly and often to employees as a whole. Direct communication reduces the possibility of your message being distorted ensure that your personal behaviour is above reproach to avoid any incident being used against you. Do not pretend to have knowledge you do not have
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build your prestige outside the organisation. Understand and use the media symbolic significance will be read into your actions; ensure that they convey the message you intend be well-read and well-practised in basic organisational and interpersonal skills.
Strategy
identify weak links in the current system that can be attacked at little cost for early victories. If necessary attack by exploiting existing divisions identify individual strengths and weaknesses. Make maximum use of internal expertise but bring in external expertise in its absence reform senior management first. Testing incumbents will speed up the departure of those who must go and build up the confidence of those who measure up.
Tactics
pace is the key tactical variable; your average pace must be such as to defeat the adaptive processes of the old system. Vary the pace on different 'fronts' to dictate the terms of battle timing should, as far as possible, conform to a planned schedule for change never cease scouting for recruits. Use selection and training processes to improve desired skills handle industrial relations skilfully. Reliance on the old industrial system should decline as managerial skills improve, but where the old system is involved, act with competence and promptly in order that the old system doesn't benefit make the client your ally. Properly mobilised, external pressures can be used against internal resisters.
Reading 6.2
Shepard, H.A. 2001, Rules of Thumb for Change Agents, in The Organizational Behavior Reader eds J.S. Osland, D.A. Kolb, & I.M. Rubin, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey. (See Chapter 20, pp. 589-594).
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The key distinction is between the first two types and the latter two types. The first two involve incremental approaches characterised by a series of adjustments. The latter two types involve discontinuous but substantial change. (Compare this to the textbook's distinction between first-order and second-order change). Style of change leadership refers to whether the change process: involves employees in decision about both the goals and means of change (collaborative), or requires managers to consult employees (consultative), or is characterised by managers issuing edicts based on their formal authority (directive), or is characterised by the use of explicit or implicit force (coercive).
On the basis of these two dimensions, Dunphy and Stace define four change strategies: participative evolution: characterised by incremental change and participation (OD strategies are typically of this type)
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charismatic transformation: characterised by transformative change and participation forced evolution: characterised by incremental change and non-participation dictatorial transformation: characterised by transformational change and nonparticipation. (This resembles the approach recommended by Paterson, 1983) according to Dunphy and Stace there should be a definite relationship between the circumstances of the organisation and selection of a change strategy.
Specifically: participative evolution is appropriate when the organisation is either 'in fit' but needs minor adjustment, or is 'out of fit' but time is available and key interest groups favour change charismatic transformation is appropriate when the organisation is 'out of fit', the need to change is urgent and key interest groups support substantial change forced evolution is appropriate when the organisation is either 'in fit' but needs minor adjustment or is 'out of fit' and, although time is available, key interest groups oppose change dictatorial transformation is appropriate when the organisation is 'out of fit', the need to change is urgent, but key interest groups oppose substantial change.
The authors recognise that the model is necessarily a simplification. For example, the two change dimensions (scale and style) are continuous rather than discrete variables and that different sections of the organisation or workforce may be subject to different strategies. They also recognise that managers have different 'interpretative schemes' and that this may limit management's recognition of the changes necessary to attain fit. These things are not incorporated into the model, and as a consequence, the degrees of fit, or resistance and of urgency are treated as relatively unambiguous. Nevertheless, the model is valuable in that it encourages reflection in regard to the change strategy-context relationship.
Conclusion
Despite the shortcomings of the organisational development approach, it is still regarded as a very attractive model for guiding change. The 'organisation as political arena' change model, on the other hand, has the advantage that it takes into account the complex and non-deterministic nature of organisations. The contingency approaches do something of both, allowing for the possibility of both OD and political approaches depending on the external circumstances of the organisation and managers' capacity to judge them.
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Jack Welch, the head of the 220,000-employee General Electric Corporation, had this to say about succeeding in today's highly competitive global economy: "If you're not thinking all the time about making every person more valuable, you don't have a chance. What's the alternative? Wasted minds? Uninvolved people? A labor force that's angry or bored? That doesn't make sense." To become a highly performing organisation starts with being able to recruit and select the best applicants for various positions within the organisation. Job training and personal and professional development are other activities that are also an important part of managing a companys human resources. In this topic we will examine the following issues: Why HRM? The Human Resource Management Process
Reading 6.3
Pfeffer, J, & Veiga, J, 1999, Putting People First For Organizational Success, in The Organizational Behavior Reader eds J.S. Osland, D.A. Kolb, & I.M. Rubin, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey. (See Chapter 17, pp. 471-484).
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database might include education, training, prior employment, languages spoken, specialised skills of each employee. Another part of the current assessment is the job analysis, which is an assessment that defines jobs and the behaviours necessary to perform them. From this information, management can draw up a job description, which is a written statement of what a jobholder does, how it is done, and why it is done. From this, management can also develop a job specification, which is a statement of the minimum acceptable qualifications that an incumbent must possess to perform a given job successfully. Future assessment involves a determination of future human resource needs by looking at the organisation's objectives and strategies. Demand for human resources (i.e., employees) is a result of demand or estimated future demand - for the organisations products or services. Developing a future program involves matching estimates of shortages of needed personnel with forecasts of future labour supply. Recruitment is the process of locating, identifying, and attracting capable applicants. Decruitment involves techniques for reducing the labour supply within an organisation. Sources for recruitment are varied and should reflect: 1. Local labour market for eg, if the University of the Sunshine Coast wanted a lecturer in org. behaviour, they would have to advertise nationally, or even internationally, as the local supply is virtually non-existent. Type or level of position forklift driver, or CEO? Size of the organization family business or office of a national firm?
2. 3.
Obviously, these considerations all interact. Note that recruitment and selection AND decruitment both lead to competent employees the rationale behind this has been explained elsewhere as the importance of getting the weeds out of the garden.
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Correct decision = prediction that the applicant would be successful, and that applicant later proved to be successful on the job. Problems arise when we make errors by rejecting candidates who later perform poorly (accept error which can cost money in terms of wasted selection resources and ongoing effects on org. performance), or who would have performed successfully (i.e., more than just the cost of selection procedure; eg, discrimination by using a biased test which can also cost money and damage the firms reputation). Therefore, we want to reduce the probability of making accept errors or reject errors. Validity describes the proven relationship that exists between a selection device and some relevant criterion. Reliability is the ability of a selection device to measure the same thing consistently. Hence, for a selection test to be useful, it must be both valid and reliable.
b)
Interviews are very popular as a selection device although there are many concerns about their reliability and validity. Whilst carefully planned and structured interviews can have similar predictive ability to cognitive tests, most interviews are unplanned and unstructured, and have no validity at all. For example, it has been suggested that most information gleamed from an interview is forgotten within ten minutes of the termination of the interview. A common objective of interviewing is too ascertain whether applicants have represented themselves truthfully. I think it is a rather common tendency for applicants to over-state their abilities and achievements, and hence interviewers should strive to validate the applications.
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If these suggestions and warnings are followed, interviews can be as predictive of future job performance as cognitive ability tests, work sample tests, or job knowledge tests.
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Summary of interviews
a flawed tool: the typical (unstructured) interview favoured by so many is almost useless in predicting employee performance. artificial situation - people who do best at interviews are those who have had more practice at them, and a manager at an interview is not managing, while a computer programmer is not computing theyre arguably only playing the role that they feel is expected of them. with this in mind, it probably is a good tool for predicting interpersonal skills. belief by managers that they know best i.e., only they know what is best, and are able to decide who will fit the job & org. best.
Background investigations can be done by verifying application data and/or reference checks. In the case of sensitive government positions, these may also include security checks (in Australia) by both federal Police and ASIO. The Federal Police might perform a records check to ascertain whether an applicant has a criminal record, while ASIO might perform more in-depth checks which could involve interviewing relatives etc, as well as investigating records of overseas travel for both the applicant and relatives. Physical examinations are often used for jobs with physical requirements. In the event of a claim for workers compensation, they also provide a baseline against which an employees future medical status may be compared against. Reference checks generally have little predictive ability of an applicants future job performance, whilst assessment centres work well for mid to high level managers. Work samples are appropriate for routine operatives, and tests of general cognitive ability are amongst the best predictors of future performance, particularly in higher level positions. Orientation or induction is defined as the introduction of a new employee into his or her job and the organisation. The major objectives of orientation include: 1. 2. Reduce initial anxiety and remove unrealistic expectations the employee may hold. Familiarise new employees with the job, the work unit, and the organisation. The latter often involves outlining the history of the company and its founders and current key personnel this also helps to establish the culture of the company (i.e., the written and unwritten rules about how things are done at that company) Facilitate the outsider-insider transition.
3.
Formal orientation programs are quite prevalent in many organisations, particularly large ones. Employee training is a critical component of the human resource management program. Skill categories fall into three types. 1. 2. 3. Technical skills, which include basic skills (reading, writing, math) and jobspecific competencies. Interpersonal skills, which involve the ability to interact effectively with coworkers and managers. Problem-solving skills, which involve the ability to solve problems that arise.
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2.
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stability; i.e., when pay was determined largely by seniority and job level. But since most organisations must cope with dynamic environments, they are looking to make pay systems more flexible and with fewer pay levels. An example of this is broadbanding compensation in which the number of job levels or salary grades is reduced eg, 8 pay grades with a range of $200 month to 3 grades of $700 month. This can allow managers more flexibility when linking compensation to individual skills & contributions (i.e., without having to formally promote staff). Performance appraisal is defined as the evaluation of an individuals work performance in order to arrive at objective personnel decisions such as merit pay increases, feedback from orgs on how they view employees performance, and to identify training and development needs. There are seven major performance appraisal methods. 1. Written essays method is a performance appraisal technique in which an evaluator writes out a description of an employees strengths; weaknesses; past performance; and potential, and then makes suggestions for improvement. Critical incidents method is a performance appraisal technique in which an evaluator lists key behaviours that separate effective from ineffective job performance. Graphic rating scales method is a performance appraisal technique in which an evaluator rates a set of performance factors on an incremental scale. Behaviourally anchored rating scales (BARS) method is a performance appraisal technique in which an evaluator rates employees on specific job behaviours derived from performance dimensions. Multiperson comparison method is a performance appraisal technique in which individuals are compared to one another. There are three types of multiperson comparisons. a) b) c) 6. 7. The group order ranking groups employees into ordered classifications. The individual ranking ranks employees in order from highest to lowest. Paired comparisons compare each employee to every other employee and rate him or her as superior or weaker of the pair.
2.
3. 4.
5.
Accomplishment of objectives, such as that done in an MBO program, can also be used as a performance appraisal method. One newer approach to performance appraisal is 360 degree feedback which is a performance appraisal review that utilises feedback from supervisors, subordinates, and co-workersthe full circle (360 degrees) of people with whom the person interacts.
No matter which performance appraisal method is used, managers need to provide feedback during the appraisal review. Formal performance appraisals are a common practice around the world. However, there are some exceptions. For eg, they might sometimes be carried out done in the absence of the staff member (and hence no feedback) and used for salary control, not employee development. This takes us back to management philosophy and org culture.
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Reading 6.4
Kerr, S. 1995, On The Folly Of Rewarding A, While Hoping for B, in The Organizational Behavior Reader eds J.S. Osland, D.A. Kolb, & I.M. Rubin, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey. (See Chapter 18, pp. 508-515).
Career development
A career is defined as the sequence of positions occupied by a person during his or her lifetime. We need to look first at career development the way it was: In the past, career development programs were typically designed by organisations to help employees realise their career goals. However, widespread internal changes have altered the idea of a traditional organisational career. Now, it is the individual, not the organisation, who is responsible for his or her own career. This has also been termed as the new employment contract where employees have to make their own opportunities but this impact on their level of trust in the organisation they work for, because it seems very one way i.e., it is very clear what the employee is responsible for (results driven), but what is the org responsible for eg, contract versus tenure etc. The idea of increased personal responsibility for one's career has been described as a boundaryless career in which individuals rather than organisations assume primary responsibility for career planning, career goal setting, education & training. The optimum career choice is one that offers the best match between what a person wants out of life and his or her interests, abilities, and market opportunities. The most recent trends in career development have actually been in the reverse direction, known as the sea change or down shifting, where workers as young as thirty years or age (and less) have opted for increased time for family and personal interests at the expense of career progression and promotion.
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Extrapolation, also called trend analysis or forecasting, involves researchers making assumptions about future growth or development based on historical, well-documented occurrences. While this seems plausible given that it is easy to assume that current trends will continue, there are many examples of second-order change which, by definition, resist the kind of prediction that relies on current trends extending in a linear manner into the future. Developing models, games or simulations that represent the future is familiar to us from the practices of car manufacturers using dummies to test safety features, and airlines using the approach to prepare pilots for various situations. Scenario development is an approach of which Royal Dutch Shell has become an outstanding exemplar. According to Schwartz (1991), the key to their success seems to be their philosophical approach to constructing scenarios, as follows: identify focal issue or decision determine key forces in local environment identify driving forces rank by importance and uncertainty select scenario logic flesh out the scenarios tease out implications.
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anticipating future needs and preparing the workforce, organisation, customers and suppliers for how to deal with them constantly questioning old assumptions about the world. This allows managers and employees to develop the skills needed to copy with new situations.
Paradigm shifts are difficult to illustrate from present experience because, by definition, they involve moving beyond present ways of thinking. Davis (1987) invites us to think 'outside present paradigms' in the following example: What if we shifted the management paradigm from one which believes that the essential management task has to do with people, capital and technology, and treats time, space and mass as obstacles to overcome, to a paradigm in which time, space and mass are the resources to be managed? At first sight this is difficult to understand, but Davis's specific examples help. Managing time better is the hallmark of a lift company that installs computerised diagnostics to alert the service team whenever a malfunction occurs or a component requires service. This means that service engineers can visit the site to rectify the problem or performance maintenance before the client even knows a problem exists. Manufacturers of office equipment can adopt similar approaches.
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Many of the most successful companies in the world, including those nominated in Peter's work on 'excellence' in the early 1980s are fighting to survive a decade and a half later.
Reading 6.5
Donaldson, T. & Dunfee, T.W. 2001, When Ethics Travel: The Promise and Peril of Global Business Ethics, in The Organizational Behavior Reader, eds J.S. Osland, D.A. Kolb, & I.M. Rubin, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey. (See Chapter 5, pp. 131-144).
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the glamour of independence has faded once the realities of combining family responsibilities with paid work set in loneliness is increased; the incidental social discourse that occurs as a necessary part of people's day at work disappears.
Shifting demographics
Several different but related changes are occurring in the demographic makeup of the industrialised world: the 'baby boomers' are ageing. As they enter middle age and later they are poised to become the dominant group in society older people are becoming a larger part of society, living longer and in better health than previously. As a result they are wielding greater influence politically, socially and economically birth rates are failing almost everywhere
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women are tending to have their babies later, especially in two-career families. They also return to paid employment faster than their mothers and grandmothers migration patterns continue to add to many countries' cross-cultural workforce more women are emerging into senior ranks of the workforce through sheer weight of numbers.
Implications of these developments include: a changing balance between the number of people receiving pensions and the number in the paid workforce whom can support them older people will alter buying habits and consumer preferences organisations will need to develop more flexible policies on parent leave, child care and elder care, and also for managing diversity in the workplace many more of the male-oriented policies in organisations will be challenged and changed.
Environment issues
Some authors argue that environmental considerations will be the greatest single source of influence on the way organisations do business in the 21st century. Some companies are already converting formerly wasteful and environmentally harmful activities into potentially profit-making ventures.
Implications of change
Retaining and ongoing development
In a situation analogous to the industrial revolution, where people who had worked on the land needed to be retrained to use machinery in factories, the move to the knowledge economy will similarly require retraining for a workforce which will comprise 70%80% 'knowledge workers. One of the key skills that people will need to learn is team skills, which are currently not well practised in most organisations, and yet are among the most necessary given the demands of the new economy.
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'downsized out' of organisations in the push to cut costs in the 80s and 90s, and that some of those who have retired will need to be enticed back to the organisation leave, such as parental leave and other leave options, not necessarily for a specified purpose.
Are the cultural differences between the home and host cultures significant or subtle? is language ability a criterion? does the job involve knowledge of the management cultures of local nations? is the person being thrust into a supportive corporate culture?
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Reading 6.4
Cartwright, S. & Cooper, C.L. 2001, The Growing Epidemic of Stress, in The Organizational Behavior Reader, eds J.S. Osland, D.A. Kolb, & I.M. Rubin, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey. (See Chapter 5, pp. 169-184).
Activities
Note: The following activities are optional. They are designed to help you develop your understanding of the various topics in this Course.
Organisational change
Consider a change that your organisation has undergone recently. Which external factor(s) were the prime cause of the change? Into which of the above five categories did it fall? If it is difficult to classify in terms of a single category, also discuss the links that the change has with other categories. What are the likely spin-off effects of the change?
Activity 6.2 Consider again the change you discussed in the previous activity.
Consider again the change you discussed in Activity 1 of this Module. Think now about the change in terms of the discussion above that sets out how organisations and managers within them are not always merely passive reactors to external forces for change. Did any of these arguments hold true in the instance of change you are considering? Explain.
Consider once again the change you discussed in the previous two activities. Did it encounter any resistance within the organisation? Was this resistance, if any, on the part of management, employees or both? What reasons were behind the resistance of either of these groups? How was this resistance 'framed' or 'discussed' by either management or employees? From this specific incident, do you see any basis for the argument that terming reluctance to change a form of 'resistance' may be ideologically based? Discuss. Consider an organisation of your choice. Describe an instance of planned and successful organisational change that did not follow the principles of Organisational Development. Why did it work? Analyse it in terms of two of the non-OD models of organisational change described in this chapter. What would have made it work even better, in your view? Why?
Consider an organisation of your choice, and recall an instance of planned change which was unsuccessful due to resistance to the change. What were the reasons behind the resistance, in the view of those who did not want the change? What means were used to resist the change? Why were they successful?
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Do you agree with the underlying assumptions of Organisational Development? Why or why not? Explain with reference to a change in your organisation which you either plan to undertake or which is affecting you.
What impact has the knowledge economy already had on the way you work? What changes can you anticipate for the future? Activity 6.9 Examine the impact of the knowledge economy Think of some organisations you know well. How will they change as a result of the knowledge economy?
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Activity 6.10 Consider the need for changes to your organisation's structure.
What changes in structure do you believe will be necessary in your organisation in the future. How will these changes help? Use the types of flexibility outlined above to help you reach your conclusions.
Activity 6.11 List the external sources of change affecting your organisation.
Will the changes mentioned in this part of the Module affect your organisation? List as many impacts as you can. For which of them, if any, has your organisation made definite plans? Which are the influences for which most urgent planning is needed?
Activity 6.12 Consider the management initiatives your organisation needs for the future.
What type of management initiative or programs do you believe your organisation will need to introduce over the next ten years to compete in the world of the future? Why?