HBO (Chapter 7: Organizational Conflict)
 Exceptions:
Introduction
Organizations operate within a social environment
Relationships with unions -> legislations and collective bargaining
agreements
Problem-solving systems – provide employees with outlets of their pent-
up emotions and grievances
Arbitrators – employed to resolve management-union conflicts
Management has to:
 Maintain a constructive attitude
 Employ bargaining tactics (to make its bargaining power more
effective)
 Provide equal employment opportunities for all (to avoid
discrimination against the less-advantaged members of society)
 Understand the expectations of professionals from their jobs and
superiors (to draw the most out of them)
Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Program – number of basic
requirements to avoid discrimination
Relationship of people and technology at work
 Features of technology – affects the occupations, educations, labor,
work systems, and people
 Scientific and professional employees are different from ordinary
employees
Employees – differ in social, political, cultural and economic orientations
Dysfunctional Nature of Organizational Conflict
Mutual allegiance of the personnel -> cohesive group
Employees are divided into subgroups based on:
 Age
 Type of work
 Rank in the organization
 Social interests
2 sets of conditions that causes formation of employee groups:
1. On-the-job differences and similarities
2. Arising from primarily off-the-job, related to EEO
Equal Employment Opportunity and the Law
Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO)
 provision of equal opportunities to secure jobs and earn in them,
regardless of unrelated conditions
 backed up by national and local legislations by EEO
EEO Laws – prohibit job discrimination based on non-job conditions such
as:
 race, color, religion, national origin, sex, age (within certain
prescribed age ranges)
 discrimination against handicapped individuals is prohibited
 Discrimination is prohibited with regard to:
1. Securing employment
2. Terms and conditions of work after employment
 Discrimination on job performance is permitted
Rewards and punishment – required by the law to be related to
performance, not on non-performance factors
Discrimination vs. Prejudice
 Discrimination – action, where law is concerned; unlawful
 Prejudice – attitude of mind
Social Benefits of EEO
1. Equal access to jobs
2. Reinforcement of social objectives
3. Better use of labor force
4. Higher family earnings
5. Higher national output
6. Better self-image for citizens
7. More useful contributors to society
Civil Rights Act
 Requires employers, labor unions and employment agencies to treat all
people alike
 Encompasses hiring, training, apprentice, programs, job assignments and
other personnel actions
o Religious organizations
o Religion, sex or national origin is a bona fide occupational
qualification
o Allows seniority as a basis for job choices
Other Legislations
“Equal pay for equal work”. Prohibited: practices that give men and
women different pay for similar work
Age Discrimination in Employment Act (in United States) – EEO for
people between ages 40 and 70
Vocational Rehabilitation Act – EEO for handicapped individuals
Pregnancy Discrimination Act – EEO to work during pregnancy (+ medical
benefits and leaves of absence)
Reverse Discrimination
 Caused by affirmative actions
 Opposite discrimination against those not included in affirmative action
program
 Example: maternity benefits to women is not extended to male employees
 Lead to employee frustration, tension, conflict, turnover, decreased
satisfaction, other adverse results
Affirmative action
 Result in desirable social goal
 Creates unfairness to those who suffer reverse discrimination
Basic Requirements for EEO Programs
1.Develop a positive approach
2.Ensure top management support
3.Assign responsibility for applying the program
4.Gather data to identify problem areas
5.Identify and develop people in protected groups who have potentials for
promotion
6.Develop recruitment activities that reach protected groups as well as
others
7.Communicate to maintain awareness of the program
8.Build supervisory support for the program
9.Appraise and follow up to ensure compliance
Sex
Job discrimination with regard to sex is generally prohibited BUT job
requirements related to one’s sex may be established
Sexual harassment - job offers in exchange for sexual favors, unnecessary
physical contact (suggestive of lewdness)
Training programs to educate employees about:
 Requirements of law
 Possible liabilities
 Actions that constitute sexual harassment
 Negative effects of sexual harassment
Handicapped Employees
Include people:
 with significant disability of some type (physical, mental, emotional)
 a prison record
 history of heart disease, cancer or mental illness
 rehabilitated alcoholics and drug abusers
Employers’ Program
Employers focus on employee’s abilities > disabilities
Properly-place handicapped employees can perform their jobs as
efficiently as other employees can
Instances where handicapped employees:
 strive to compensate for their disabilities
 may be better able to perform a job than one who is not handicapped
Job Adjustment of Older Workers
Older workers tend to develop into social groups separate form younger
workers because their interest and activities are different
Age comes alike to all persons so management, unions, and work groups
need to recognize their responsibility to build an organizational climate
that accepts older workers
 Performance of Older Workers
Infirmities associated with age are offset by improvement of other types
Job performance: younger workers = older workers
Older workers work slower but compensate it by improving
dependability, quality of work, attendance and effort
Pre-retirement Counseling
 encourage employees to think about prospective retirement
 Necessary subject: pension choices and insurance benefits
 Counseling topics: financial management, possible hobbies, emotional
problems associated with requirements, health
Phased retirement – ease the transition to retirement; accustoms the
workers to being away from work and learning to enjoy other activities
Integrating Technology with People: Social-Technology Systems
Socio-technical systems – relationship of technology to people at work;
key to effectiveness
Effects of technology
1.Features of technology
2.Technology and Occupations
3.Technology and Education
4.Knowledge Society
Features of Technology
Specialization – one key feature of technology; breaks work into smaller
units
Integration and changes – two other features
Integration - puts them back together; more complicated in a high-
technology society than in a low-technology one
Technological revolution – results to an associated social revolution
Technology and Occupations
Technological changes -> changes in jobs
Technology calls for more professional, scientific and other white-collar
workers
Technology tends to require more advanced skill in both production work
and support services
Technology and Education
A premium is places upon education in the labor market as modern
technology calls for higher skills
Modern technology -> more education and training necessities
Older workers and those who lack retraining capabilities – most seriously
displaced by technology
Demand for multi-professionals – those who posses two or more
professional preparations or intellectual disciplines
Knowledge Society
Knowledge society – one in which the use of knowledge and information
characterizes work and employs the largest portion of the labor force;
intellectual work > manual work
Knowledge – major factor in the social and economic development of
nations
Mental or intellectual work – calls for quality of motivation than manual
work; internal motivation and more conducive motivational environment
Technology and Labor
Technophobia – resulted as people believe that machinery threatened
jobs
Laborers face technology with “maturity coupled with anxiety”
New technology causes:
 Retraining of employees
o Workers sacrifice their time and energy for this
 Different jobs that workers are not prepared to fill
o Produces employee insecurity, stress, anxiety, lay-off
Work Systems
Work Systems are recognized in 2 basic ways:
1.Organizational structure – flow of authority;“organization”
2.Procedure – flow of work itself from one operation to another; other
terms are method, system, work flow
Human side of organizational structure is recognized
Human side of work flow is either ignored or overlooked
Work flow – engineering factor that is distinct and separate from human
factors
Work system – determines who will “initiate” an activity and who will
“receive” it
Initiation of action on another person – process of sending work and
instructions to another
Receivers of an initiation – psychologically secondary in importance
Types of Initiation Action that may cause Human Problems
1.slow worker to a fast one
2.inexperienced worker to one with more experience
3.from a low-seniority worker to one with high seniority
4.from unskilled worker to a skilled one
5.from a young person to an older one
6.from worker with low authority to one with higher authority
7.from a worker with lesser status to one with higher status
8.initiation that puts pressure on another worker
9.initiation that affects sensitive areas of a worker’s job
System Design for better Teamwork
 procedure requiring people to work together as a team
Communication Patterns
Plant lay=out and work-flow have much to do with the opportunities for
people to talk with one another
Lay-out that permits to talking or close coordination -> higher
productivity; relief from monotony
Red Tape
 problem arising from procedure
 a procedure that appears to be unnecessary to those who follow it; harass
people; becomes excessive; normal resistance to change
Reasons of red tape:
 instituted by higher authorities who do not understand the work
problems
 procedures crossing lines of authority
 people who created the procedure are often times supervisors who do
not have to follow them and then forget all about them
Effects of red tape:
 frustrates and irritates people, worries and carelessness
Alienation
 Feeling of powerlessness, lack of meaning, disorientation, lack of
attachment to job, work group or organization
 Develop when workers are performing insignificant tasks, frustrated by
red tape, forced to follow instructions from an inferior initiator of
action
 Outcome of poor design of socio-technical systems
Effects of Work Systems
Work systems have their substantial effects on human behaviour brought
about by:
1.Determining whi initiates action on whom, and some of the conditions in
which the initiation occurs
2.Influencing the degree to which employees performing interdependent
activities can work together as a team
3.Developing effective communication patterns of employees
4.Creating possibilities for unnecessary procedures, generally called red
tape
5.Providing tasks that seem insignificant and weak in power thereby
contributing to alienation
Managing Scientific and Professional Employees
Engineers, scientists, and technical people are different from other
employees, they resent treatment that indicates that they are thought of
as ordinary workers
Characteristics of a Professional's Work
1. A professional's work is investigative in nature -
Professionals are involved in conducting investigations for the purpose of
drawing scientific conclusions or solving technical problems.
2. A professional’s work requires individual contributions -
A professional worker is primarily concerned with the performance of
technical work himself and not primarily with planning, organizing and
directing work of others.
 3. A professional's work is not routine or repetitive -
Professional work does not follow a pattern or cycle nor repetitive does it
consist of specified duties and responsibilities as does the work of most
managers.
4. Increases in the importance and difficulty of professional
work do not occur in discreet stages -
Professional work covers a wide range of complexity. Assignments have a
progressive order of complexity in a more or less continuous spectrum.
Expectations of a Professional from His Job and His Superiors
National Association of Manufacturers in the United States, the following
have been found to be the unique needs of professional employees:
1.want to be recognized as a member of a profession
2.dislike regimentation and compulsion
3.want to be assured of credit and recognition from top management for
outstanding work and unusual accomplishments
4.resent the supervisor who takes credit for their work
5.want their unusual contributions to reach the attention of top men
6.desire that proper dignity be given to the title of each position held by a
professional employee
7.desire that the term "engineer" in jobs which do not require formal
technical training and professional status should be avoided
8.desire for the adoption of liberal policies with respect to time off for
personal reasons
9.resent a work environment where clock-punching and other rigid
controls are required
10. expect to be allowed reasonable compensating time off corresponding
to their personal time spent in coping with their employees' problem
11. desire to be provided with physical facilities and equipment which
meet the standards expected by professional employees
12. expect that professional interest should be promoted at every
opportunity
13. be allowed reasonable time off with pay and travel allowance so that
they may be able to attend society meetings, participate in committee
activities, present technical papers and hold office
14. expect to be provided with opportunities for research and
development personnel to pursue independent and company interests
What Engineers are most likely to complain about
Engineer subordinates - lack in practical knowledge of market needs;
technically strong but naïve in the realms of business practicality
Scientists and Paper Work
Young scientist - tends to be unaccustomed to paper works; hard to
satisfy because he feels superior to anyone; impatient
Supervising Research People
 must not be too close, should be left alone
True professional is basically self-regulating
Supervisor – catalyst and bridge to higher management
Ways to Keep Young Engineers in their Work
 make young scientists or engineers understand that big achievements
rarely come easily or quickly; little success is essential – foundation of
reputation
 variety of job assignments and job rotations keep it from being dull
 way to disenchant them: flagrantly misuse their talents
How to Develop Pride in a Profession
Professionals – encouraged to technical publications
Technical employees – encouraged to join and be active in their
professional societies
The Management Mind and the Engineering-Scientific Mind
Engineers tend to see management as measuring results in terms of
finances only, having little depth of knowledge and oversimplifying
problems (Herbert Wissman – manager of education and training for
American Motors); thoroughness is the principal criterion for the
engineers
How to retain good scientific, engineering and technical people
Best approach in retaining professional and scientific personnel is to
offer:
1.freedom of job direction as possible
2.worthwhile and challenging assignments
Criteria in Appraising the Work of Engineering Personnel
Evaluations – matter of judgment and not “appraisal standards” for
engineers
Different criterion:
 job and technical knowledge
 application and productivity
 originality and initiative
 quality of work
 judgment, planning and organization
 cooperation
 effective communication
 leadership
 attitude
 dependability and responsibility
 capacity for learning
Other kinds of employees who might be thought of as professionals
“Professional” – calling requiring specialized knowledge and often long
and intensive preparation and some form of licensing (Webster)
Managing Employees in Internal Operations
Social, political, and economic conditions
Complexities – rise because different cultures are mixed in
The Nature of International Operations
People of the world are organized into communities and nations with
distinct resources and cultural heritage
Differences in social, cultural, political, and economic life -> work
conditions differ
Social Conditions
 there are less developed countries and developed countries
 Less developed countries – unavailability of sufficient workers; calls for
massive training programs
 Study shows that per capita productivity tends to increase as the
proportion of the said occupation increase in the labor force.
Political Conditions
 Have a significant effect on organizational behaviour
 Includes general political instability, nationalistic drives, subordination of
employer and labor to an authoritarian state.
 Too much politics and too little work have left many developing countries
wallowing in instability
 The natives prefer to run their country on their own without the
interference of the foreign.
Economic Conditions
 Less developed nations: characterized by low per capita income and
inflation
 Per capita income or average income - average amount of money a person
gets in a year.
 Inflation - increase in the prices of goods and services over time; reduces
the purchasing power of each unit of currency
Integrating Social Systems
 International operations - require an integration of the various cultures
and new adjustments by all persons concerned
Adaptation to Host Country
 Involves managers and employees who are brought into the host country
to perform in a new branch established, employees are more likely
ethnocentric
 Employees needs to learn and know the culture and practices in the host
county to avoid misunderstanding
 *employees ---> culture shock
 *managers ---->need deficiency
 They need higher pay and fringe benefits
Transcultural Managers and Technicians
 Cultural preparation should be given to "expatriate employees"
 Transcultural employees - employees with cross-cultural adaptability.
 Multinational in character, a firm should have:
o Ownership, Operations, Markets, Managers
 Management Integrating Role in a Host Country
 Manager in a host country - should attempt integrate cultures
 Simpler system - may initially operate more effectively
The Community Role of an Expatriate Manager
Expatriate manager
 consider his role in a local community
 considered a s a quest
 ignoring local culture -> imbalance social system –> interfere productivity
Motivating Employees in a Host country
 Production for employees in less developed countries – perceived as
simply output . costs of inputs
 Routine communication between people of different culture – difficult for
the image of communicator
Cultural Restrictions on Productivity
 Productivity encompasses both quality and quantity of output
Understanding of Productivity among Local Managers
 Focus of local managers: profit > materials used
 Productivity- embodies the idea of producing outputs
 Without devotion to productivity
1. New capital inputs are dissipated
2. More education will increase demand for wasteful personal
ideas, attendants and helpers.
Adaptations Required of Expatriate Managers
 Expatriate manager – adjust himself to his new environment (knowledge
about their needs, thinking ways, cultural idiosyncrasies and social
systems)
Less Advanced Countries Need Structures of Local Employees
 employees in less-developed countries are less sophisticated in their
needs and wants
Interpersonal Approach to Conflict Management
Human Relations – integration of people into a work situation for
motivation
• Motivation requires:
o Coordination (of work) – effective time and sequence
o Coordination (of people) – willingness of persons to work together
Sound Human Relations – motivates people to develop teamwork
• Motivation through sound human relations – guide the employees’
inner drives
• Teamwork needs:
o Fulfillment (of one’s own need structure through organizational
rewards)
o Organizational objectives
Circumstances that make employees least cooperative
Change causes fear and suspicion
• To counteract the fear of change: personnel should be informed ahead
of time
Fear – causes personnel to refuse instruction and have no cooperation
• Antidote to fear: unpleasant fact + some answers to questions are
unknown
Impediments to cooperation:
• Lay-off
• Acquisition of new technology
• Rate cut
• Transfer
• Embarrassment
• Loss of prestige
High pay, the Key to Cooperation?
• Good pay rates- important to workers but does not guarantee workers’
loyalty.
• Money, vacations and pensions – nominal motivators
• To win employees cooperation, management should uncover the
employees personal needs and then try to adjust his working
conditions to satisfy those needs at work
Significance of Employee Objections
• Gripes are signs of healthy condition.
• Silence- manifestation of objection that is harder to detect.
• Hidden objections are still harder to spot, answers like “I’m not
interested” “I’ll think over it” ”I’ll let you know” are excuses to conceal
objections
How to reduce resistance
1.USE A SUCCESS EXAMPLE - to help the employee to become motivated
2.OFFER A GUARANTEE - to help them realize that there is always a right
way of doing a job easily.
3.DEMONSTRATE - to see how job will be done.
4.ASK QUESTION - ask questions to the employees if ther is a problem and
explain it carefully
5.JUST LISTEN - listen to the employees when they are telling their
problems then explain it to them for them to understand.
Competition
 Reliance on policy of promotion -> enhances monopoly of current
employees
 Promotion leads to open competition
 Policy of open competition- means of assuring managerial competence. It
should be fair and objective method
Managing Change
Change is inevitable
The Nature of Work Change
Work Change – any change that occurs in the work environment
Two generalizations have been drawn from the study of work change:
1. the whole organization tends to be affected by change in any of
its parts
2. change is a human as well as technical problem
MANAGEMENT'S GENERAL HUMAN OBJECTIVE REGARDING CHANGE: to
restore and maintain the group equilibrium and personal adjustment that
change upsets
Response to Change
 each change is interpreted by people according to their individual
attitudes.
 Feelings/Causes of change:
1. Personal history – people’s biological processes
2. The work environment itself – workers are members of groups
with codes, norms and patterns
• Feelings are apart from logic.
o Logic - ineffective means of modifying feelings
o Feelings - not much better refuted by logic
Group Response to Change
 They often manifest their attachment to the group by joining it in some
uniform response to change.
 This is illustrated by walkouts when actually few people really want to
walkout.
 Bandwagon mentality
Homeostasis
 It is the self-correcting characteristic of organization
 Leads people to act to establish a steady state of need fulfilment and to
protect themselves from the disturbance of the balance
Cost and Benefits
 Changes are likely to entail some costs. These costs are:
o Economic cost – weighed by social and psychological cost
o Psychological Cost – psychic cost
o social in nature
 Proposed change – require careful cost-benefit analysis
Psychic Costs and Physical Health
 Tolerance level for change – when exceeded, stress develop
 Stress – undermine person’s physical health
Psychic Costs of Promotion and Transfer
 Important types of change: Promotion and Transfer
 Often sought by employees: Growth and Opportunity
Psychic Costs and Geographic Moves
 Promotions that require movement to other locations brings high psychic
cost because they require adjustments in family life & relationships
Resistance to Change
 Employees tend to resist change but it is offset by their desire for new
experience & rewards that result from change
 Change can be good or bad depending on how skillfully resistance is
minimized
 Insecurity & change may bring chain reactions
 Group is an instrument for bringing strong pressure on its members to
change
 The strategy is to get the group join management to encourage the desire
change
Leadership for Change
 Capable leadership strengthens the psychological support for change
 Request for change should be in consonance with the objectives and rules
of the organization

Types of Resistance Participation

1.Logical - based on reasoning and science  One way to draw support for change
 Logical resistance – from time and effort  Commitment > Compliance
2.Psychological - based on emotional attitudes and values  Helps employees know what to do and prevent them to be surprise of the
 Psychological resistance –“logical” in the light of attitudes and organization's actions
feelings
3.Sociological - based on group interest and values Shared Rewards
 Another method to win employee support for change
The types of employee resistance to change are listed by Keith Davis as  Rewards – imply management’s concern; may take the form of promotion
follows: and financial rewards
1. Logical rational objections Employee Security
a. time required to adjust  Security during a change is of vital importance
b. extra effort to relearn  Employee benefits needs to be given protection
c. possibility of less desirable conditions such as downgrading  Employers must guarantee worker's protection
skills  Opportunities for advancements and other benefits should be
d. economic results of change safeguarded
e. questioned technical feasibility
2. Psychological, emotional attitudes Grievance Systems
a. fear of the unknown  gives employees a feeling of security that benefits will be amply protected
b. low tolerance of change and a feeling of assurance that difficult situations will be fairly and
c. dislike of management or other change agent justly resolved
d. lack of trust in others
e. need for security Communication
3. Sociological factors; group interests  Effective communication must be established
a. political coalitions  Wide dissemination of information develop a feeling of security among
b. opposing group values employees and maintain the group cooperation
c. parochial narrow outlook
d. vested interests Working with Unions
e. desire to retain existing friendships
 Management - primarily the initiator of change
 Union - serve as a restraint on management in its desire to protect the
Possible Benefits Derived from Resistance
interest and security of members
 RESISTANCE have both good and bad effects.
 It encourage management to reexamine the appropriateness of the Working with the Total System
changes. Management’s responsibilities for change are:
 Employees serve as check-and-balance to assure that management 1.Make only useful, necessary change. Change by evolution, not revolution.
properly plans and implements change. 2.Recognize the possible effects of change and introduce them with
 Specific problem can be define so that management can institute adequate attention to human needs
corrective measures 3.Share the benefits of change with employees
4.Diagnose the problems remaining after a change occurs and treat them.
Implementing Change Successfully
 Management - as a change agent Structural Approach to Conflict Management
 Employees are responsible for the success of the changes
 Originators of change from external environment: Lestee Bittel: Human Relations refer to the sum of all the agonies and
o Government, developments in fields of Science and technology, ecstasies that take place between people
customers, labor unions, communities, and demand by the
consuming public Understanding Organizational Development
 Organziational Development (OD) - new integrated type of training that
The 3-Step Change Procedure originated in the 1950s & 1960s
1.UNFREEZING- the old ideas and practices have to be discarded to give  OD processes strives to integrate into an effective whole, people,
way to new ones structure, technology and environment to improve organizational
2.CHANGING- new ideas are learned into actual practices performance
3.REFREEZING- successful practice of new ideas  Keith David states that "OD is an invention strategy..."
 Well-designed training programs fail because:
Building Support for Change o job environment provides inadequate support
1.Use of Group Forces o the fast pace of change, requires organizations to be extremely
2.Leadership for Change effective in order to survive.
3.Participation  It tries to "free up" communication
4.Shared Rewards
5.Maintenance of employee security Characteristics of OD
6.Communication about change 1.Focus on the whole organization – OD is an all-encompassing program
7.Working with unions 2.System orientation – OD is concerned with the interactions of various
8.Working with the total system parts of organization
3.Change agents – employees are change agents who stimulate and
coordinate changes in a group
Use of Group Forces
4.Problem solving – OD emphasizes on “action research”; OD has been 10. Reduced absence
defined as “organizational improvement through action research” 11. Lower labor turn over
5.Experiential learning – experiencing in the training environment kinds of
human relations problems Limitations of OD
6.Group processes – OD depends primarily on group processes; effort for 1. Major time requirements
interpersonal relations 2. Substantial expenses
7.Feedback – feedbacks play a key role in OD to have concrete data 3. Delayed payoff period
8.Contingency orientation – OD is flexible and pragmatic, alternatives > 4. Possible failure
single way solution 5. Possible invasion of privacy
9.Team building - General goal of OD: building teamwork throughout the 6. Possible psychological harm
organization 7. Potential conformity
8. Emphasis on group process rather that the performance
The Organizational Development Process 9. Possible conceptual ambiguity
A complete OD program includes the following:
1.Initial Diagnosis- to determine the type of OD. Interview some person in Conventional Training Methods
org. Excellent methods for providing an understanding of behaviour:
2.Data Collection- Surveys to determine climate and behavioral problems.  Coaching
3.Data Feedback and Confrontation- to determine the priorities for change  Lecture and discussions
and resolve disagreement.  Conference training
4.Action planning and problem solving- who are to be responsible and  Case method
when action should be completed are included in the plans.
5.Team Building- encourages the groups to find out how they can work Behavior Modeling
together. To have social interaction in the organization and improved Behavior modelling is another form of training in which teaching is done
group work. by actual demonstrations and acted-out ways to handle behavioural
6.Intergroup development-from small groups are developed larger groups problems; teaches behaviour first
made up of several teams.
7.Evaluation and follow-up-evaluate the results of its organizational efforts. Needed for Job Reinforcement
And additional programs. More reinforcements must be provided
If people find that their cautious efforts to change are rejected or
Laboratory Training discouraged, the repetition of behaviour is discouraged, in consonance
 OD conventional training methods: discussions, films, presentations with the Law of Effect
 Laboratory Training/Experiential Training – provides the participants or
trainees experiences through their own interactions in some
conditions that they talk about; experiment on themselves
 Laboratory methods:
o Role playing
o Gaming
o Encounter groups

Role Playing
 Spontaneous acting of realistic situation under classroom conditions
 Substitute experience
 Time-consuming and expensive; may produce the reverse results;
trainees may be embarrassed and hesitate

Gaming
 Some applications resembles role playing
 Difference from role playing:
o Gaming focus: administrative problems; covers a broader base
than role playing; better balance
o Role playing focus: feeling and tone between people

Organizational Gaming
 Essentially a group exercise, sequential decision, simulated organizational
conditions
 Small groups competing with each other

Encounter Groups
 Unstructured small groups that interact under stress that requires people
to become sensitive to one another’s feelings
 Training groups are called “t-groups”
 No leadership; ridiculous games to breakdown social barriers

Benefits of OD
Chief advantage of OD: deal with change in a whole organization or a
major unit
1. Change throughout the org
2. Greater motivation
3. Increased productivity
4. Better quality of work
5. Higher job satisfaction
6. Improved teamwork
7. Better conflict resolution
8. Commitment to objectives
9. Increased willingness to change