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vi Dedication

Jack was not only an accomplished educator and book author, but also a prolific and
highly respected researcher. Well-known for his highly disciplined work ethic, Jack au-
thored or co-authored some 160 research articles, which were published in such journals as
Academy of Management Journal, Academy of Management Review, Administrative
Science Quarterly, Journal of Applied Psychology, and Harvard Business Review. His re-
search was highly influential and explored a range of management and organizational be-
havior topics, including job stress, white-collar crime, diversity management, global
assignments, job loss, absenteeism, job satisfaction, goal setting, job performance, training
method effectiveness, and organizational climate. The diversity of Jack’s research reflected
the complex and inter-related nature of management issues in organizations. In 2000,
in recognition of publishing a substantial number of refereed articles in Academy of
Management journals, Jack was inducted into the Academy of Management’s Journals
Hall of Fame as one of the first 33 Charter Members. This is an impressive achievement
when considering that in 2000, the Academy of Management had approximately 13,500
members.
In addition to teaching, writing books, and conducting research, Jack applied his knowl-
edge of organizational behavior and management to the several leadership positions he
held since joining the University of Houston faculty in 1974. In 1975, he was named Chair
of the Department of Organizational Behavior and Management, and the following year,
Jack became the Associate Dean of Research for the College of Business Administration
at UH. In 1979, Jack was awarded the Hugh Roy and Lillie Cranz Cullen Chair of
Organizational Behavior and Management, among the most prestigious positions at the
University of Houston. From 1988 to 1995, he served as Dean of the University of Houston
College of Business Administration. In 1995, Jack was named University of Houston
Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost; a position he held for two
years. Through visionary, performance-driven, and principled leadership, Jack left a lasting
and meaningful imprint on the entire University of Houston community, including internal
constituents, such as fellow administrators, deans, program directors, faculty, staff, and
students, as well as external stakeholders, such as legislators, donors, alumni, and area
company executives. His accomplishments were even more extraordinary given the fact
that Jack continued to teach classes, write books, and publish research articles while hold-
ing these myriad leadership positions.
Jack made innumerable contributions to all facets of higher education, all of which will
be felt for years to come. Perhaps one of Jack’s greatest and longest lasting legacies will be
from the many individuals he mentored during his 45 years in higher education. As busy as
he was throughout his entire career, Jack was extremely generous with his time and made
it a priority to mentor a large number of individuals, including current and former students,
junior faculty, colleagues from the publishing industry, and many others. He wanted people
to succeed and would do everything he could to help them accomplish their goals. Jack
would often invite younger faculty members to collaborate with him on research projects.
As a member of 80 doctoral and master’s committees, Jack relished his role as mentor and
would spend hours with graduate students, helping and guiding them through the process
of conducting original research for their theses or dissertations. Jack was always willing to
make phone calls and write detailed letters of recommendation on behalf of his students to
help them get hired or later in their careers, get promoted or be awarded tenure. He in-
vested heavily in these individuals and expected hard work and commitment to excellence
in return. Many of these former graduate students are professors at universities and col-
leges throughout the United States and now find themselves mentoring and inspiring their
own students.
On a personal note, Jack was my mentor, colleague, and friend. Words cannot capture
how grateful and honored I feel to have worked so closely with him on several textbooks
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Dedication vii

and research projects over the past 10 years. We became acquainted in 1999, after Jack
agreed to be my dissertation chair at the University of Houston. Given Jack’s stature and
commanding presence, I was a little intimidated by him in the beginning but quickly real-
ized he was a “gentle giant” who could switch rapidly between discussions of research,
books, academic careers, teaching, and the importance of being a good family man and
father, and achieving balance in one’s life. Jack was a great storyteller and especially liked
relating tales of his early years in the south side of Chicago. He taught me many things;
some lessons were passed along during thoughtful conversations but most came by observ-
ing him in action. Jack taught me to take life “head on” with a strong, positive, and can-do
attitude, while never losing sight of the importance of being a loving and committed hus-
band and father. He will be sorely missed by all of us who were fortunate to have been
touched by his warm friendship and guided by his generous spirit.
Jack is survived by his wife of 37 years, Margaret (Pegi) Karsner Ivancevich; son Daniel
and wife Susan; daughter Jill and husband David Zacha, Jr.; and grandchildren Kathryn
Diane and Amanda Dana Ivancevich, and Hunter David Michael, Hailey Dana, and Hannah
Marie Zacha. Jack was preceded in death by his beloved daughter Dana, and by his first
wife, Diane Frances Murphy Ivancevich.
Robert Konopaske
Texas State University
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Preface
The 14th edition of Organizations: Behavior, Structure, Processes is based on the proposi-
tion that managing people, structure, and processes in organizations is a challenging, com-
pelling, and crucial set of tasks. In good as well as in difficult economic times, there is
nothing boring about managing organizational behavior. Traditional approaches that
worked a decade ago or even a few years ago are currently being questioned, modified, or
replaced. This book will provide an opportunity for you to look inside organizations and to
develop your own perspective and skills for managing organizational behavior. Your own
perspective and approach will serve you in the positions you hold, the challenges you face,
and the career choices you make.
This edition of the award-winning Organizations: Behavior, Structure, Processes pres-
ents theories, research results, and applications that focus on managing organizational be-
havior in small, as well as large and global organizations. Through the successful history of
the book, feedback from students and instructors has suggested that we have succeeded in
presenting a realistic view of organizational behavior.
A consistent theme throughout the book is that effective management of organiza-
tional behavior requires an understanding of theory, research, and practice. Given this
theme, we view our task as presenting and interpreting organizational behavior theory
and research so that students can comprehend the three characteristics common to all
organizations—behavior, structure, and processes—as they are affected by actions of
managers. Accordingly, we illustrate how organizational behavior theory leads to re-
search and how both theory and research provide the basic foundation for practical ap-
plications in business firms, hospitals, educational institutions, government agencies,
and other organizations.
As dedicated teachers of organizational behavior and management, we are guided by
student needs, feedback, and applications in real-world settings. The 14th edition is cur-
rent, relevant, and offers a variety of techniques to encourage student involvement. The
book challenges students to continue to explore the content areas long after they success-
fully complete their current course. This self-initiated exploration will result in the con-
tinuous learning and inquiry so that students’ knowledge, skills, and competencies are
sharpened at each new juncture.
We incorporate a clear, student-friendly style and presentation in making the manage-
ment of organizational behavior insightful, meaningful, and realistic. The writing and pre-
sentation style used is successful in motivating students to engage in classroom analysis,
discussion, and learning.

Special Features
This edition emphasizes that the most successful managers in the global economy will be
those who can anticipate, adapt, and manage change. The world and economic conditions
change continuously, and the ability to manage behavior, structure, and processes in such
a rapidly changing environment will be a premier competency. To help students deal with
change better, we have included a significant amount of material on transformational
leadership, diagnosing and assessing change, communication effectiveness, information
technology, diversity, ethics, global management, organizational culture, offshoring,
viii
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Preface ix

teams, and team building. Coverage of some of these topics began a few editions back and
is further expanded in this edition. Some of the special content and features in this edition
include:

• Opening vignettes frame the start of each chapter. Real-world situations, events, facts,
or problems bring out upcoming issues covered in the chapter’s content. These are the
circumstances that managers of behavior, structure, and processes face every day.
• A new feature, OB and Your Career, is intended to help students apply the concepts of
this book to improving their careers. A sample of topics include: finding a job that fits
with personality and work style; staying motivated after a layoff; being more efficient
with time at work; and acquiring international business experience without relocating.
• Hundreds of real-world situations, companies, and applied examples were added to
illustrate how OB theory and research can be applied to actual work settings. Students
prefer to have real examples to support what academics and researchers are proposing
or stating. The real world is reflected in the chapter content, the OB at Work features,
and the Cases for Analysis.
• Student involvement with the World Wide Web is an element designated Taking It to
the Net. This is an exercise requiring students to perform a specific assignment on the
Internet. Each assignment is associated with a theory, research findings, management
applications, an organization, or a topic area covered in the particular chapter. By com-
pleting the exercise, the student will become more comfortable with conducting
research on the Internet and how classmates addressed the exercise.
• Each year organizations become more involved in global business, global joint ventures,
and global negotiations. This edition pays particular attention to global and ethical
business issues in each chapter.
• Diversity needs to be examined and managed in all organizations. Diversity manage-
ment and issues such as the changing nature of employees in the workplace and gen-
erational differences between Gen Y, Gen X, and Baby Boomers are presented, debated,
and analyzed throughout the text.
• Teams, group dynamics, group decision making, leadership, and managing change
are each important topics that are emphasized more in this edition.
• One of the characteristics of every one of our new editions is that the latest thinking,
debate, and insight be included. Content is updated in such areas as managing layoffs
and the survivors of layoffs, the MBA oath of managerial ethics, cultural diversity,
workplace spirituality, competitiveness, globalization, offshoring, empowerment, men-
toring, organizational learning, organizational justice, performance-based rewards,
managing information technology, virtual organizations, strategic decision making, in-
novation, flexible organizational and job design, contingency theory, ethical decision
making, sexual harassment, politics and change, communication skills, feedback, entre-
preneurship, and motivation.
• Coverage of ethics has been greatly expanded. Ethical issues are covered in many parts
of the book as well as in our OB at Work features and end-of-chapter material.

As usual, every time we have revised this book there has been an emphasis on re-
sponding to the feedback received and the need for updating. The content in the field of
organizational behavior and management is constantly changing and expanding. We want
to capture currentness along with a sense of history. Thus, the revision work concen-
trated on using current concepts along with proven approaches to managing behavior
within organizations.
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x Preface

Teaching Resources
Continuing attention to teaching also went into preparing the supplements for the book. In
developing and testing our supplements, we continually focus on needs of both students
and instructors. Simply, we want our supplements to add to students’ understanding while
simultaneously enabling the instructor to teach an exciting course. The Instructor’s
Manual, Test Bank, and PowerPoint® Presentation Software comprise a total system to
enhance learning and teaching. All of these supplements as well as additional study tools
for students are available at www.mhhe.com/gibson14e. In addition, The Organizational
Behavior Video DVD offers a selection of videos that illustrate various key concepts from
the book and explore current trends in today’s workplace.
Also available for purchase with the text, Premium Content includes access to online
Test Your Knowledge and Self-Assessments exercises as well as Manager’s Hot Seat.
Manager’s Hot Seat is interactive, video-based software that puts students in the manager’s
hot seat, where they apply their knowledge to make decisions on the spot on hot issues
such as ethics, diversity, working in teams, and the virtual workplace. Resources to support
these exercises and videos are located in the Group and Video Resource Manual.

AACSBI International© Guidelines

The guidelines of the American Assembly of Collegiate Schools of Business International
(AACSBI) guided the preparation of each revision. This book is used across campuses in
business schools, social science disciplines, engineering, hotel and restaurant management,
education, and public administration. We are pleased and honored by the many adoptions
and the loyalty of instructors in many different disciplines.
The AACSBI guidelines are used as a starting point for synthesizing management and
organizational behavior as fields of study. These guidelines call for more of a cross-
discipline (e.g., psychology, sociology, engineering) approach. A cross-discipline approach
is important because organizations are much more than simply business entities and insti-
tutions in which managing behavior, structure, and processes across functional areas poses
numerous challenges.

Framework of This Edition

The book is organized and presented in a sequence based on the three characteristics com-
mon to all organizations: behavior, structure, processes. This framework has been main-
tained based on the responses from numerous users of previous editions. However, note
that each major part is presented as a self-contained unit and can therefore be presented in
whatever sequence the instructor prefers. Some instructors present the chapter on structure
first, followed by those on behavior and processes. The text is easily adaptable to these
individual preferences. The book concludes with an appendix, which reviews research pro-
cedures and techniques used in studying organizational behavior.

Reviewers for This Edition

Julie Bergh, University of Colorado at Denver; Lea Davis, Dallas County Community
College; Jeannie Gaines, Brenau University; Bruce Gillies, California Lutheran University;
David Leuser, Plymouth State University; Robert Steel, University of Michigan at Ann
Arbor; James T. Ziegenfuss, Pennsylvania State University.
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Preface xi

Reviewers of Previous Editions

Mel Minarik, University of Nevada-Reno; Dr. Norma Friedman, Indiana Institute of
Technology; Consuelo M. Ramirez, University of Texas at San Antonio; Berrin Erdogan,
Portland State University; Thomas J. Callahan, University of Michigan–Dearborn; and
Robert P. Steel, University of Michigan–Dearborn. Allan E. Pevoto, St. Edward’s
University; Robin C. Smith, Tarleton State University; David J. Cherrington, Brigham
Young University; Mark Fichman, Carnegie-Mellon University; Harry E. Stucke, Long
Island University; S. Stephen Vitucci, Tarleton State University; Courtney Hunt, Northern
Illinois University; Macgorine A. Cassell, Fairmont State College; James W. Fairfield-
Sonn, University of Hartford; Mitchell J. Hartson, Florida Institute of Technology; Mary
Giovannini, Truman State University; Monty L. Lynn, Abilene Christian University;
Jeffrey Glazer, San Diego State University; Eugene H. Hunt, Virginia Commonwealth
University; William D. Murry, State University of New York–Binghamton; Stanley J.
Stough, Southeast Missouri State University; William E. Stratton, Idaho State University;
Harold Strauss, University of Miami; Harry A. Taylor, Capitol College; Betty Velthouse,
University of Michigan–Flint; Diana Ting Liu Wu, Saint Mary’s College of California;
Peter Lorenzi, Loyola College; Dr. Barry Friedman, State University of New York–
Oswego; R. Andrew Schaffer, North Georgia College & State University; Paul Lakey,
Abilene Christian University; and Andrzej Wlodarczyd, Lindenwood University.
James L. Gibson
John M. Ivancevich
James H. Donnelly, Jr.
Robert Konopaske
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Brief Contents
Preface viii PART FOUR
The Structure and Design
PART ONE of Organizations 367
Introduction 1 13 Work Design 368
1 Managing Effective Organizations 2 14 Organization Structure 396
2 Organizational Culture 29
3 Managing Globally 55 PART FIVE
The Processes of Organizations 429
PART TWO 15 Managing Communication 430
Behavior within Organizations: 16 Decision Making 462
The Individual 85
17 Managing Organizational Change and
4 Individual Behavior and Differences 86 Learning 487
5 Motivation: Background and
Theories 123 APPENDIX
6 Motivation: Organizational Procedures and Techniques for Studying
Applications 156 Organizations: Behavior, Structure,
Processes 521
7 Managing Workplace Stress 193
GLOSSARY 534
PART THREE
Behavior within Organizations: Groups and ENDNOTES 543
Interpersonal Influence 227
NAME/COMPANY INDEX 595
8 Group and Team Behavior 228
SUBJECT INDEX 605
9 Conflict and Negotiation 261
10 Power and Politics 290
11 Leadership: Fundamentals 312
12 Leadership: Emerging Perspectives 340

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Contents
Preface viii Summary of Key Points 25
Discussion and Review Questions 26
Taking It to the Net: Traditional versus New
PART ONE Economy Comparison 27
INTRODUCTION 1 CASE FOR ANALYSIS: McDonald’s Attempting to
Regain Its Effectiveness? 27
Chapter 1
Managing Effective Organizations 2
Chapter 2
Global Account Managers: Multiple Skills
Organizational Culture 29
Are Needed 3
OB AT WORK: Putting People First 5 Nike’s Culture Activists Attempt to Dampen
Studying Organizational Behavior 5 Growth 30
Organizational Behavior Follows Principles Organizational Culture 31
of Human Behavior 6 Organizational Culture Defined 31
Organizations Are Social Systems 6 OB AND YOUR CAREER: New Job?
Multiple Factors Shape Organizational Behavior 6 Learn the Culture 32
Structure and Processes Affect Organizational Behavior OB AT WORK: Pfizer 33
and the Emergent Culture 8 Organizational Culture and Societal
The Blending of the Art and Science of Organizational Value Systems 33
Behavior 8 Organizational Culture and Its Effects 34
OB AND YOUR CAREER: Research and Managers: OB AT WORK: Five Best Places to Work 35
Perfect Together! 9 Creating Organizational Culture 35
A Model for Managing Organizations: Behavior, Types of Culture 37
Structure, and Processes 9 Organizational Subcultures 38
The Organization’s Environment 9 Merging Cultures 38
Behavior within Organizations 10 Influencing Culture Change 39
OB AT WORK: Raising the Bar on Managerial Organizational Culture and Spirituality 41
Ethics 12 Socialization and Culture 42
The Structure and Design of Organizations 12 Socialization Stages 43
The Process of Organizations 13 Characteristics of Effective Socialization 45
Perspectives on Effectiveness 15 Effective Anticipatory Socialization 45
The Nature of Managerial Work 16 Effective Accommodation Socialization 46
Planning Effective Performance 17 Effective Role Management Socialization 47
Organizing Effective Performance 17 Mentors and Socialization 47
OB AT WORK: Another Day as a Manager 18 OB AT WORK: Mentoring Can Go Haywire 48
Leading Effective Performance 18 Socializing a Culturally Diverse Workforce 50
Controlling Effective Performance 19 Management’s Ability to Capitalize on Diversity 50
Three Ways to Think about Effectiveness 19 Summary of Key Points 51
Goal Approach to Effectiveness 20 Discussion and Review Questions 52
Systems Theory Approach to Effectiveness 21 Taking It to the Net: One of the Best Firms 52
Stakeholder Approach to Effectiveness 22 CASE FOR ANALYSIS: Toyota’s Culture and the
Organizational Change and Learning 24 “Sticky Pedal” Recall 52
Managerial Work and the Behavior, Structure, and EXPERIENTIAL EXERCISE: Testing National
Processes of Organizations 24 Culture Knowledge 53
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Chapter 3
Managing Globally 55
The Virtual Expatriate 56
Globalization 57
OB AT WORK: Offshoring: Does It Create
or Replace Jobs in the Global
Marketplace? 58
Global Strategic Skills 60
Team-Building Skills 61
Organization Skills 62
Communication Skills 62
Transfer of Knowledge Skills 62
OB AT WORK: Communicating in Global
Virtual Teams 63
Culture 64
National Culture 64
History and Culture 64
Cultural Dimensions 65
People’s Relationship to Nature 65
Individualism versus Collectivism 65
Time Orientation 65
Activity Orientation 66
Degree of Formality 66
Language 66
Religion 67
Cross-Cultural Research Findings 67
Hofstede’s Research 67
Hofstede-Inspired Research 72
The GLOBE Project 73
Cross-Cultural Transitions 74
Human Resources for International
Assignments 75
The Expatriate Manager 75
OB AND YOUR CAREER: Acquire International
Experience the “Easy Way” 76
Culture Shock and the Expatriate
Manager 78
Training the Expatriate Manager 79
The Global Theme for Organizations: Behavior,
Structure, and Process 81
Summary of Key Points 81
Discussion and Review Questions 82
Taking It to the Net: Offshoring: What’s It All
About? 82
CASE FOR ANALYSIS: Building a Global
Outsourcing Powerhouse 82
EXPERIENTIAL EXERCISE: How Important Is
Your Family? 83
EXPERIENTIAL EXERCISE:
Expatriate Sources on the Web 84
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PART TWO
BEHAVIOR WITHIN ORGANIZATIONS:
THE INDIVIDUAL 85
Chapter 4
Individual Behavior and Differences 86
A Grown-Up Risk Taker 87
The Basis for Understanding Behavior 88
Individual Differences 90
Abilities and Skills 90
Demographics 91
OB AT WORK: Johnson & Johnson, AT&T, and
Coca Cola: Leaders in Diversity Management 93
Individual Psychological Variables 93
Perception 94
Attribution 97
Attribution Errors 98
Attitudes 99
OB AT WORK: Is Pay the Most Important
Factor? 105
Job Satisfaction Comparison of Individuals in Work
Arrangements 106
Job Satisfaction and Customer Satisfaction 106
Personality 107
OB AT WORK: The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
(MBTI) Is Preferred by Managers 110
OB AND YOUR CAREER: Finding a Job
that Fits 112
OB AT WORK: Gen Y Employees: Are They
Changing the Workplace? 113
Emotional Intelligence 116
OB AT WORK: Emotional Contagion: A Lesson
for the Emotionally Intelligent 117
The Psychological Contract 118
Psychological Contract Violations 118
Summary of Key Points 119
Discussion and Review Questions 120
Taking It to the Net: Evaluating Online
Self-Tests 121
CASE FOR ANALYSIS: A Potter’s Wheel 121
EXPERIENTIAL EXERCISE: Applying Attribution
Theory 121
Chapter 5
Motivation: Background and
Theories 123
Motivating Generations of Employees 124
What Is Motivation? 126
The Starting Point: The Individual 127
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Contents xv

Motivational Theories: A Classification System 128 Behavioral Self-Management 166

Maslow’s Need Hierarchy 130 A Self-Regulation Model 167
Selected Need Hierarchy Research 130 Goal-Setting Theory 167
Alderfer’s ERG Theory 130 The Goal-Setting Process 168
ERG: Limited Research Base 132 Goal-Setting Research 168
Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory 133 Criticisms of Goal Setting 172
Critique of Herzberg’s Theory 135 Reviewing Motivation 173
McClelland’s Learned Needs Theory 135 Organizational Reward Systems 174
Research on Learned Needs 136 A Model of Individual Rewards 174
OB AT WORK: Women Managers: Better Motivators OB AT WORK: Rewarding a Diverse
than Men? 137 Workforce 176
A Synopsis of the Four Content Theories 138 Extrinsic and Intrinsic Rewards 177
OB AT WORK: Motivating Employees during a Extrinsic Rewards 177
Recession 141 Intrinsic Rewards 178
Expectancy Theory 141 OB AND YOUR CAREER: Find the Right Job with
Terminology 141 the Right Rewards 180
Principles of Expectancy Theory 143 The Interaction of Intrinsic and Extrinsic Rewards 180
Research on Expectancy 144 Rewards, Turnover, and Absenteeism 181
Management Practices 144 Rewards and Job Performance 182
OB AT WORK: Don’t Forget to Consider Rewards and Organizational Commitment 182
Nontraditional Rewards 145 Reward Systems in High-Performing
Criticisms of Expectancy Theory 145 Organizations 182
Equity Theory 146 Flexible Benefits 183
Alternatives to Restore Equity 147 Banking Time Off 184
OB AND YOUR CAREER: Keep Your Surviving Skill-Based Pay 184
Employees in the Loop 150 Gainsharing 185
Research on and Criticism of Equity Theory 150 Kohn’s Criticism of Performance-Based
Summary of Key Points 151 Rewards 186
Discussion and Review Questions 152 Summary of Key Points 187
Taking It to the Net: Generational Discussion and Review Questions 188
Differences 153 Taking It to the Net: How about Noncash
CASE FOR ANALYSIS: What Motivates Rewards? 189
Entrepreneurs? 153 CASE FOR ANALYSIS: Jack Welch of General
EXPERIENTIAL EXERCISE: Applying Motivation Electric: A Neutron Bomb or a Motivator? 189
Theory 155 EXPERIENTIAL EXERCISE: Making Choices
about Rewards 191
Chapter 6 EXPERIENTIAL EXERCISE: Valuing Diversity 192
Motivation: Organizational
Applications 156 Chapter 7
Reward or Punishment: The Saga of Stock
Managing Workplace Stress 193
Options 157 The Need for Work/Life Balance 194
Learning 158 What Is Stress? 195
Social Learning 158 Organizational Stress: A Model 196
Operant Conditioning 159 Work Stressors: Individual, Group, and
Principles of Operant Conditioning 160 Organizational 198
Behavior Modification: A Managerial Individual Stressors 198
Perspective 162 OB AT WORK: Monotonous or Underloaded Pain
Research on Reinforcement Theory 164 and Stress 200
Criticisms of Behavior Modification 164 Group and Organizational Stressors 200
OB AT WORK: Feedback Is Motivational 165 Nonwork Stressors 202
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xvi Contents

Stress Outcomes 202 Why People Form Groups 232

OB AT WORK: Karoshi: The Satisfaction of Needs 232
Stress and Death in Japan 203 Proximity and Attraction 233
Individual Outcomes 203 Group Goals 233
OB AT WORK: Preventing Burnout 206 Economics 233
Organizational Consequences 206 Stages of Development 233
OB AT WORK: The Costs of Job Stress 207 The Five-Stage Model 234
Stress Moderators 208 The Punctuated Equilibrium Model 234
Personality 208 Characteristics of Groups 235
Type A Behavior Pattern 209 Structure 235
Social Support 210 Status Hierarchy 235
Stress Prevention and Management 210 Roles 236
Maximizing Person–Environment Fit 211 Norms 236
Organizational Stress Prevention and Management Leadership 238
Programs 212 Cohesiveness 238
OB AT WORK: The Costs of Job Stress, OB AT WORK: Groupthink and War 240
Part 2 215 Social Loafing 242
Sustaining a Wellness Strategy 217 The Nature and Types of Teams 243
Individual Approaches to Stress Prevention and Problem-Solving Teams 243
Management 217 Virtual Teams 243
OB AND YOUR CAREER: Reduce Stress: OB AND YOUR CAREER: Want Some
Be More Efficient with Your Time 218 International Experience? Get Assigned
Summary of Key Points 220 to a Global Virtual Team 245
Discussion and Review Questions 220 Cross-Functional Teams 245
Taking It to the Net: The Annual Physical OB AT WORK: The Earliest Skunkworks 246
Exam 221 Skunkworks 246
CASE FOR ANALYSIS: Stressed Out at Work? Self-Directed Work Teams 247
Help Is on the Way 221 Why Teams Are Formed 247
EXPERIENTIAL EXERCISE: Behavior Activity Enhanced Productivity 247
Profile—A Type A Measure 222 Flattening Organizations 248
EXPERIENTIAL EXERCISE: Health Risk Need for Flexibility and Quicker Decisions 248
Appraisal 225 Workforce Diversity 249
Improved Quality 249
OB AT WORK: Group Diversity: Some Points
PART THREE to Consider 250
BEHAVIOR WITHIN ORGANIZATIONS: Increased Customer Satisfaction 251
GROUPS AND INTERPERSONAL Obstacles to Effective Teams 251
INFLUENCE 227 Building Effective Teams 252
Top-Level Commitment and Provision
Chapter 8 of Clear Goals 252
Management–Employee Trust 252
Group and Team Behavior 228
Willingness to Take Risks and Share Information 252
Teams Can Change the World 229 OB AT WORK: Team-Building Pointers
The Invention Team 229 (Learning from Geese) 253
The Twitter Team 229 Time, Resources, and a Commitment to Training 253
The Apple Team 229 Intergroup Behavior and Conflict 254
The Magic of an Idea Team 230 The Role Concept 254
The Meaning of a Group 230 Multiple Roles and Role Sets 254
Types of Groups 231 Role Perception 255
Formal Groups 231 Role Conflict 255
Informal Groups 231 Results of Role Conflict 256
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Contents xvii

Summary of Key Points 256 Resolving Group Conflict through Team

Discussion and Review Questions 257 Building 281
Taking It to the Net: Team Building 258 Team Building as a Process 282
Case for Analysis: Leading a Virtual Team 258 Management’s Role in Building Teams 282
Experiential Exercise: Participation in and OB AT WORK: Resolving Conflict through Team
Observation of Group Processes 259 Building in a Small Computer Organization 283
Managing Intergroup Conflict through
Chapter 9 Stimulation 284
Communication 284
Conflict and Negotiation 261
Bringing Outside Individuals into the Group 284
How Intergroup Conflict Can Affect an International Altering the Organization’s Structure 284
Startup Team 262 Stimulating Competition 285
A Realistic View of Intergroup Conflict 263 Summary of Key Points 285
Functional Conflict 263 Discussion and Review Questions 285
OB AND YOUR CAREER: How Do You Handle Taking It to the Net: Negotiating Tips 286
Interpersonal Conflict? 264 CASE FOR ANALYSIS: A Successful Partnership at
Dysfunctional Conflict 265 Ford-Mazda 286
Conflict and Organizational Performance 265 EXPERIENTIAL EXERCISE: The Old Stack
Views on Intergroup Conflict in Practice 266 Problem 287
Intragroup Conflict and Group Productivity 267
Why Intergroup Conflict Occurs 267 Chapter 10
Work Interdependence 268
Power and Politics 290
Differences in Goals 268
OB AT WORK: Interdependence in Sports 269 The Personal Power of Great Business Leaders 291
Differences in Perceptions 270 Power and Authority 291
Consequences of Dysfunctional Intergroup Interpersonal Power 292
Conflict 271 Legitimate Power 292
Changes within Groups 272 Reward Power 293
Changes between Groups 272 Coercive Power 293
Managing Intergroup Conflict through Expert Power 293
Resolution 273 Referent Power 293
Problem Solving 273 Need for Power 294
Superordinate Goals 273 OB AND YOUR CAREER: Build Your Interpersonal
Expansion of Resources 273 Power 295
Avoidance 274 Structural and Situational Power 296
Smoothing 274 Resources 296
Compromise 274 Decision-Making Power 296
Authoritative Command 275 Information Power 296
Altering the Human Variable 275 Upward Flow of Power 297
Altering the Structural Variables 275 Interdepartmental Power 298
Identifying a Common Enemy 275 Coping with Uncertainty 298
Managing Intergroup Conflict Through Centrality 299
Negotiation 276 Substitutability 300
Cross-Cultural Negotiations 276 Obedience to Authority 300
Group Negotiations 277 Political Strategies and Tactics 302
Prenegotiation Tasks 277 Research on Politics 302
Negotiation Tactics 278 OB AT WORK: The Neighborhood Bully Is
The Effect of Personalities on the Negotiation Back—At Your Workplace 303
Process 279 Impression Management 304
The Role of Trust 280 Playing Politics 305
Alternatives to Direct Negotiations 280 Ethics, Power, and Politics 307
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xviii Contents
OB AT WORK: Can Business Schools Teach
Ethics? 308
Summary of Key Points 308
Discussion and Review Questions 309
Taking It to the Net: Office Politics 101 309
CASE FOR ANALYSIS: Terry’s
Dilemma 310
EXPERIENTIAL EXERCISE: Office Diplomacy:
The Dos and Don’ts 311
Chapter 11
Leadership: Fundamentals 312
Business Leaders: Born or Made? 313
Leadership Defined 314
Traits That Appear to Identify Leaders 316
Abilities 316
Personality Traits 317
Motivation 317
Synopsis of Trait Theory 317
OB AT WORK: Wanted: Global
Leaders 318
The Behaviors of Effective Leaders
Job-Centered and Employee-Centered
Leadership 319
OB AND YOUR CAREER: Becoming More
Employee-Centered 320
Initiating Structure and Consideration
Leadership 320
OB AT WORK: Indian Business Leaders
Focus on Their People 322
Comparisons of Effective Leadership Behavior
Theories 322
The Effects of Situational Differences
Contingency Leadership Model 324
Path–Goal Model 328
Hersey-Blanchard Situational Leadership Model
OB AT WORK: Helping Women Become
Leaders 332
Leader–Member Exchange Theory 334
Comparing the Situational Approaches 334
Summary of Key Points 335
Discussion and Review Questions 336
Taking It to the Net: Using Facts,
Not Gossip 337
CASE FOR ANALYSIS: A New Leadership
Position 337
EXPERIENTIAL EXERCISE: Personal and Group
Leadership Hall of Fame 338
EXPERIENTIAL EXERCISE: Leadership Coach:
Are Employees BOBs or WOWs? 338
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Chapter 12
Leadership: Emerging Perspectives 340
Leadership Cultures at Successful Companies 341
Vroom-Jago Leadership Model 343
Nature of the Vroom-Yetton-Jago Model 343
OB AT WORK: The Roles of Leaders in Self-
Managed Teams 346
Application of the New Model 346
Validity of the Vroom-Jago Model 347
International Research 347
Limitations of the Model 347
Attribution Theory of Leadership 349
Leader’s Attributions 349
Leader’s Perception of Responsibility 349
Attributional Leadership Model 349
Leader Behavior: Cause or Effect? 350
Charismatic Leadership 351
Defining Charismatic Leadership 352
Conger’s Model 352
What Constitutes Charismatic Leadership
Behavior? 352
319 Two Types of Charismatic Leaders 352
OB AT WORK: Ethical Leadership during a Crisis 354
Transactional and Transformational Leadership 355
Transactional Leadership 355
Transformational Leadership 356
OB AT WORK: A Leader Who Stands Up and
Stands Out 357
OB AND YOUR CAREER: Become a Level 5
Leader 358
Substitutes for Leadership 359
Summary of Key Points 361
323 Discussion and Review Questions 361
Taking It to the Net: Leaders Need Guidance
Too! 362
331 CASE FOR ANALYSIS: Intel Prepares Its
Top Leaders 362
EXPERIENTIAL EXERCISE: Vroom-Jago
Leadership Style Analysis 364
PART FOUR
THE STRUCTURE AND DESIGN
OF ORGANIZATIONS 367
Chapter 13
Work Design 368
Designing Jobs to Allow Work/Family Balance 369
Designing Jobs to Enhance Quality of Work Life 370
Work/Family Balance and Job Design 371
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OB AT WORK: Job Sharing at Xerox: How Two
Employees Made It Happen 373
The Important Concepts of Job Design 374
Job Performance Outcomes 375
Objective Outcomes 375
Personal Behavior Outcomes 375
Intrinsic and Extrinsic Outcomes 375
Job Satisfaction Outcomes 375
Describing Jobs through Job Analysis
Job Content 376
Job Requirements 377
Job Context 377
Job Analysis in Different Settings 377
OB AT WORK: Six Sigma: Cure-All or Destroyer
of Innovation? 379
Job Designs: The Results of Job
Analysis 379
Range and Depth 379
Job Relationships 381
The Way People Perceive Their Jobs
Perceived Job Content 382
Job Characteristics 382
Individual Differences 382
Social Setting Differences 383
Designing Job Range: Job Rotation and Job
Enlargement 383
Job Rotation 384
Job Enlargement 384
Designing Job Depth: Job Enrichment 385
OB AND YOUR CAREER: The Changing Nature
of Jobs in America 388
Teams and Job Design 389
Total Quality Management and Job Design 389
Summary of Key Points 390
Discussion and Review Questions 391
Taking It to the Net: Search for a Good Fit?
Online Job Descriptions 392
CASE FOR ANALYSIS: Work Redesign in an
Insurance Company 393
EXPERIENTIAL EXERCISE: Conducting a Basic
Job Analysis 394
Chapter 14
Organization Structure 396
Organization Structure and Firm
Survival 397
The Concept of Organization
Structure 398
Structure as an Influence on Behavior 398
Structure as Recurring Activities 399
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Contents xix
Designing an Organization Structure 399
Division of Labor 400
Departmental Bases 401
Functional Departmentalization 401
Geographic Departmentalization 403
Product Departmentalization 403
Customer Departmentalization 404
Combined Bases for Departmentalization: The Matrix
376 Organization 404
Span of Control 405
OB AND YOUR CAREER: Tips for Managing
Survivors of Layoffs 406
Required Contact 406
OB AT WORK: The Effects of Downsizing on the
Spans of Control of Managers 407
Degree of Specialization 407
Ability to Communicate 407
Delegation of Authority 408
Reasons to Decentralize Authority 408
382 Reasons to Centralize Authority 409
Decision Guidelines 409
Mechanistic and Organic Models of Organization
Design 410
The Mechanistic Model 410
The Organic Model 412
Contingency Design Theories 414
Technology and Organizational
Design 414
The Classic Study of Technology and Organizational
Design 415
Understanding the Relationship between Technology
and Structure 416
Environment and Organizational Design 416
The Classic Study of the Relationship between
Environment and Organizational Design 416
Environmental Uncertainty and Organizational Design
in the Service Sector 418
Understanding the Relationship between Environmental
Uncertainty and Structure 419
Environmental Uncertainty, Information Processing,
and Adaptive Design Strategies 420
Sociotechnical Systems Theory 420
Structuring Virtual Organizations 421
Summary of Key Points 422
Discussion and Review Questions 423
Taking It to the Net: Virtual Organizational
Design 424
CASE FOR ANALYSIS: Defining the Role
of a Liaison Officer 424
EXPERIENTIAL EXERCISE: Identifying and
Changing Organization Design 427
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xx Contents

PART FIVE Simplifying Language 456

Effective Listening 457
THE PROCESSES OF
Summary of Key Points 458
ORGANIZATIONS 429 Discussion and Review Questions 458
Taking It to the Net: Netiquette: Effectively
Chapter 15 Communicating with E-Mail 459
Managing Communication 430 CASE FOR ANALYSIS: Leigh Randell 459
Communicating in Global Virtual Teams 431 EXPERIENTIAL EXERCISE: Perceptual
The Importance of Communication 432 Differences 461
The Communication Process 432
OB AT WORK: Communication Can Make the Chapter 16
Difference 433
Decision Making 462
A Classic Model 434
Nonverbal Messages 436 Decision Making: Are You as Good as
Communicating across Cultures 437 You Think You Are? 463
Words 437 Types of Decisions 464
OB AND YOUR CAREER: Learning about Different OB AT WORK: Falling in Love with Technology 466
Cultures 438 The Decision-Making Process 466
Space 438 Establishing Specific Goals and Objectives
Time 438 and Measuring Results 467
Behavior 439 Identifying Problems 467
Communicating within Organizations 439 Developing Alternatives 468
Directions of Communication 439 Evaluating Alternatives 469
Communication and Technology 441 Choosing an Alternative 469
Electronic Mail, Messaging, Social Networking, Implementing the Decision 470
and Blogs 442 Control and Evaluation 470
Smart Phones 444 OB AT WORK: Do Good Companies Make Poor
Voice-Mail 444 Decisions? 471
Videoconferencing, Teleconferencing, and e-Meetings/ Behavioral Influences on Individual Decision
Collaboration 444 Making 472
The Grapevine: An Informal Communication Ethical Decision Making 472
Channel 445 Values 474
Interpersonal Communication 446 Personality 474
Interpersonal Styles 447 Propensity for Risk 475
Interpersonal Strategies 448 Potential for Dissonance 476
Managerial Styles 448 Escalation of Commitment 477
Barriers to Effective Communication 449 OB AT WORK: Henry Ford Established Fordlândia
Barriers Created by the Sender 449 (“Ford Land”) in the Amazon! 478
Barriers Created by the Receiver 451 Group Decision Making 478
Barriers Created by the Sender, the Receiver, Individual versus Group Decision Making 479
or Both 452 Techniques for Stimulating Creativity in Group Decision
OB AT WORK: Intranets Improve Internal Making 480
Communication 454 OB AND YOUR CAREER: Sparking Your
Improving Communication in an Organization 455 Creativity 481
Following Up 455 Summary of Key Points 483
Regulating Information Flow 455 Discussion and Review Questions 483
Using Feedback 455 Taking It to the Net: Can Better Decision Making
Empathy 455 Be Taught? 484
Repetition 456 CASE FOR ANALYSIS: Breaking the Rules 484
Encouraging Mutual Trust 456 EXPERIENTIAL EXERCISE: Lost on the Moon:
Effective Timing 456 A Group Decision Exercise 485
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Contents xxi

Chapter 17 Summary of Key Points 516

Managing Organizational Change and Discussion and Review Questions 517
Learning 487 Taking It to the Net: Monitoring Dramatic
Managing Change Is a Proactive Behavior 488 Changes 517
Learning Principles and Change 489 CASE FOR ANALYSIS: Bayer’s Major Changes in
Change Agents 490 One Plant 517
External Change Agents 490 EXPERIENTIAL EXERCISE: Alternative Ways to
Internal Change Agents 491 Initiate Change 519
External–Internal Change Agents 491
Resistance to Change 492
Why People Resist Change 492 APPENDIX
Reducing Resistance to Change 493
Procedures and Techniques for Studying
OB AT WORK: Overcoming Resistance to Change
Organizations: Behavior, Structure,
by Inclusion 494
Processes 521
A Model for Managing Organizational
Sources of Knowledge about Organizations 521
Change 494
History 521
Environmental Forces 495
Experience 523
Internal Forces 496
Science 523
Diagnosis of a Problem 497
Behavioral Sciences Research and Methods 523
Alternative Interventions 497
Research 523
Depth and Approach of Intended Change 498
The Scientific Approach 524
Identifying Alternative Change Techniques 499
Methods of Inquiry 524
Structural Change 499
Research Designs 528
Behavioral Change 501
One-Shot Design 528
Technological Change 503
One-Group Pretest–Posttest Design 529
OB AT WORK: Technology Change Creates Ethical
Static-Group Comparison Design 530
Issues for Managers 505
Pretest–Posttest Control Group Design 530
Appreciative Inquiry 505
Posttest-Only Control Group Design 531
Trends in Organizational Change 506
Solomon Four-Group Design 531
OB AT WORK: Snapshots of AI
Observation and Measurement 531
Use and Claims 507
Observation 531
Recognizing Limiting Conditions 509
Interviews 532
Overcoming Limiting Conditions 510
Questionnaires 532
Leadership Climate 510
Nonreactive Measures 532
Formal Organization 510
Qualitative Research 532
OB AND YOUR CAREER: Managing Change,
Step-by-Step 511
Organizational Culture 511 Glossary 534
Resistance to Change 511
Endnotes 543
Implementing and Evaluating the Change 512
The Ethical Issues of Organizational Change 512 Name/Company Index 595
The Learning Organization 513
Subject Index 605
Learning Capabilities and Leadership 514
Learning 516
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P A R T O N E

Introduction
1. Managing Effective Organizations
2. Organizational Culture
3. Managing Globally
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C H A P T E R O N E

Managing Effective
Organizations

2
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Chapter 1 Managing Effective Organizations 3

Learning Objectives
After completing Chapter 1, you should be able to

Define
The term organizational behavior.
Explain
Why organizations need to manage in an effective manner.
Identify
Why managing workplace behavior in the United States is likely to be different from managing
workplace behavior in another country, such as Germany.
Compare
The goal, systems, and stakeholder approaches to effectiveness.
Describe
The type of environmental forces that make it necessary for organizations to initiate changes.

Global Account Managers: Multiple Skills Are Needed

Attracting, retaining, and managing customers in a global marketplace are daunting tasks for even
the most astute managers. It is difficult for a company to establish and maintain relationships with
customers in their own neighborhood, state, region, or country. In terms of difficulty, the task is mul-
tiplied when customers are spread around the world.
As globalization matures and grows, there are more opportunities to find and nurture customers.
However, some of the traditional jobs, structures, and systems have to be modified. The notion of a
global account manager was not a part of organizational infrastructures a decade ago. However, today
the global account manager is center stage and growing in stature.
The global account manager (GAM) in some cases is in charge of a single customer and all of its
global needs. The customer’s needs, schedules, and interests are the top priority of the GAM. Some
believe that it takes more than a decade to develop a responsive, effective, and profitable global
account management system.
Studies of DHL, Siemens, SAP, Marriott International, Microsoft, IBM, and others provide some
suggestions of how an effective GAM system evolves. Three stages emerge in effective GAM
systems: beginner, springload, and embedded.
Beginners identify global accounts, assign managers, and change their structures in terms of
communications, decision making, and problem solving to help the GAM succeed. In the springload
stage, the GAM works with customers to develop new products and find ways to make the customer
more competitive. In the embedded stage, the entire organization has developed a cooperative cul-
ture and global orientation. Serving the needs of the global customer is the top priority of the GAM.
Microsoft started using GAM around 2000. Today, they focus on multimillion-dollar, global cus-
tomers that rely heavily on information technology. Although size of the customer’s revenue is impor-
tant, Microsoft wants to attract leaders in their industry—customers who are willing to openly share
information for the development of new products and processes. Other firms develop their own set
of criteria for establishing the GAM program.
Sources: Adapted from “New Company of the Year,” Financial Times, February 16, 2008, p. 11; Christoph Senn and Axel
Thoma, “Global Business: Worldly Wise,” Wall Street Journal Online, March 3, 2007; and Karen R. Polenske, The Economic
Geography of Innovation (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2006).

Years ago, change was slow, markets were concentrated in a handful of countries, and
stability was the rule rather than the exception. Back then, organizational approaches em-
phasized top-down hierarchy, rules and regulations, and authority rested in the hands of
authoritative executives. Ford Motors, Nestlé, General Electric, and IBM—organizational
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4 Part One Introduction
organizations
Entities that enable
society to pursue
accomplishments that
can’t be achieved by
individuals acting alone.
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giants that dominated their respective markets—used a rigid hierarchy system from top
management to operating-level employees to accomplish their goals. During the past
30 years, many factors in the environment (such as government regulations, information
technology, global competitors, union influence, and customer demands and needs)
changed, and as a result, organizations needed to make dramatic adjustments in how they
managed their operations. Unfortunately, in the 21st century some organizations have
failed to change or adapt to their more turbulent environments. This inability to change
with the times has decreased their organizational effectiveness.
The opening vignette on global account managers illustrates how multiple skills are
needed to grow operations globally. Adapting to change and flexibility are the require-
ments for managing effectively in a globally connected marketplace.
This book is about organizations and how they operate effectively in a world that is
rapidly changing.1 We will focus our attention throughout this book on people working
within organizations or interacting with them from outside. People working together or
contributing individually within organizations, large and small, have built pyramids, city-
states, spacecraft, running shoes, automobiles, and entire industries. Each of us spends
much of our life working for or conducting transactions with organizations—restaurants,
universities, doctors’ offices, USAA Financial Services, Amazon.com, Southwest Airlines,
United Parcel Service, Target, and the Internal Revenue Service are just a few examples.
People and how they work individually and together are the focus of this book. The
story of Aaron Feuerstein in the OB at Work feature on the next page clearly shows that
putting people first can have dramatic positive effects for an organization and community.
Another characteristic of the book is that it is globally oriented. That people work in
organizations, produce goods and services, and contribute to a society is not a phenomenon
found only in the United States.2 Americans are no smarter than Germans, nor are they bet-
ter workers than Brazilians. The fact that the United States became such a productive
nation is largely the result of the application of sound management practices and tech-
niques. Americans planned efficiently, organized systematically, and led workers effec-
tively. Also, Americans came up with new techniques, new methods, and new styles of
management that fit well with the time, the workforce, and the mission. In the past 60 years,
productivity improvement has been a major priority for most organizations.
As we move further into the 21st century, managers around the world must recapture the
feel, the passion, and the desire for being effective, for producing high-quality products,
and for providing outstanding services. Unfortunately, the importance of managing human
resources hasn’t always taken center stage. It is our strong belief that managing people
effectively in organizations is the most essential ingredient for achieving organizational
success, retaining a comfortable standard of living, remaining one of the world’s economic
leaders, and improving the quality of life for all citizens.3
Whether we’re talking about a pizza parlor in Chicago, a glass manufacturing plant in
Monterrey, Mexico, or a cooperative produce shop in Vilnius, Lithuania, management
within an organizational setting is important. The clerk in the Lithuanian produce shop
wants to earn a fair day’s pay for his work, the company president in Mexico has to
purchase the best equipment to compete internationally, and the pizza parlor owner must
motivate people to show up on time for work. These individuals’ work behaviors occur
within organizations. To better understand these behaviors, we believe that we must for-
mally study people, processes, and structure in relation to organizations.
An organization is a coordinated unit consisting of at least two people who function to
achieve a common goal or set of goals. This is what this book is about—organizations,
large and small, domestic and global, successful and unsuccessful. Looking inside the or-
ganization at the people, processes, and structures will help enlighten the observer and will
also reveal the inner workings of organizations that have been a main contributor to the
standards of living enjoyed by people around the world.
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Chapter 1 Managing Effective Organizations 5

O B AT W O R K Putting People First

On December 11, 1995, a devastating fire swept through a mill
complex in the heart of Lawrence, Massachusetts. Malden
Mills, one of the few remaining textile firms operating in New
England, owned the factory. The destruction threatened the
1,400 jobs at the mill. Another 1,600 jobs at plants in the com-
munity that did business with Malden Mills were also threat-
ened. However, on the morning after the fire, the owner of
Malden Mills, Aaron Feuerstein, promised his employees that
their jobs were secure. He decided that Malden Mills would
rebuild the ruined plant and would continue to provide full pay-
checks and medical benefits through the holiday season.
The fire and its aftermath generated a lot of national atten-
tion. Feuerstein’s actions were praised, and he was regarded
as a sensitive, caring leader. A few months later, a welder at
the plant praised Feuerstein, “. . . with what he’s doing with
Malden Mills, it’s an honor to work in this place.”
Feuerstein’s philosophy of putting people first is reflected
in his statement that
Putting people first was something that Feuerstein did with
ease. In a region of the United States that had witnessed
downsizing, reengineering, and outsourcing, Feuerstein’s be-
havior was embraced, applauded, and held in high regard.
Feuerstein had faith in his workers and showed how important
they were to him.
Since the fire, Malden Mills has fallen on hard times.
Economic conditions in Lawrence have deteriorated for the
factories in the region. Unfortunately, the years after the fire
were filled with debt and bankruptcy. Feuerstein was asked if
he would do the same thing again. He said, “Yes, it was the
right thing to do.”
A memory that citizens will not forget, though, is how
managers at Malden treated their employees after an un-
fortunate fire. This memory continues to be a part of the
history of the region even though the factories continue to
close down.

I have a responsibility to the worker, both blue-collar and
white-collar. I have an equal responsibility to the community.
It would have been unconscionable to put 3,000 people on the
streets and deliver a deathblow to the cities of Lawrence and
Matheren. Maybe on paper our company is worth less to Wall
Street, but I can tell you it’s worth more. We’re doing fine.
Sources: Adapted from In Brief, Wall Street Journal, February 21, 2007,
eastern edition, p. B.4; www.aish.com, accessed on April 2, 2007;
Davis Bushnell, “Maneuvering for Control of Stronger Malden Mills,”
Boston Globe, February 5, 2004, p. D1; “Malden Mills,” Industry
Standard, July 24, 2001, p. 6; www.reputation-mgmt.com/malden.htm;
and Richard K. Lester, The Productivity Edge (New York: Norton, 1998),
pp. 213–14.

As the opening vignette illustrates, the expectations of consumers are changing.

Organizations must be prepared to deal with consumer needs for social responsibility, good
citizenship, and responsible management and leadership. The array of stakeholders apply-
ing pressure suggests that managing organizational behavior can be challenging and
rewarding for managers.

Studying Organizational Behavior

organizational
behavior (OB)
The field of study that
draws on theory, methods,
and principles from
various disciplines to
learn about individuals’
perceptions, values,
learning capacities, and
actions while working in
groups and within the
organization and to
analyze the external en-
vironment’s effect on the
organization and its hu-
man resources, missions,
objectives, and strategies.
Why does Ric Nunzio always seem to hire older employees for his pizza parlor? Why is
Selena Rodriguez the best decision maker in selecting what piece of equipment to purchase
for her glass manufacturing plant? Why does Val Kupolus always complain that he’s not
paid enough to sell produce at the Vilnius produce stand? Such questions are studied, ana-
lyzed, and debated in the field called organizational behavior (OB). The formal study of
organizational behavior began between 1948 and 1952. This still-emerging field attempts
to help managers understand people better so that productivity improvements, customer
satisfaction, and a better competitive position can be achieved through better management
practices.
The behavioral sciences—especially psychology, sociology, political science, and cul-
tural anthropology—have provided the basic framework and principles for the field of
organizational behavior. Each behavioral science discipline provides a slightly different
focus, analytical framework, and theme for helping managers answer questions about
themselves, nonmanagers, and environmental forces (e.g., competition, legal requirements,
and social/political changes).
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6 Part One Introduction
contingency approach
Approach to management
that believes there’s no
one best way to manage
in every situation and
managers must find
different ways that fit
different situations.
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The multidisciplinary definition of organizational behavior illustrates a number of
points. First, OB indicates that behaviors of people operate at individual, group, and orga-
nizational levels. This approach suggests that when studying OB we must identify clearly
the level of analysis being used—individual, group, organizational, or all three. Second,
OB is multidisciplinary; it uses principles, models, theories, and methods from other disci-
plines. The study of OB isn’t a discipline or a generally accepted science with an estab-
lished theoretical foundation. It’s a field that only now is beginning to grow and develop in
stature and impact. Third, there’s a distinctly humanistic orientation within organizational
behavior. People and their attitudes, perceptions, learning capacities, feelings, and goals
are important to the organization. Fourth, the field of OB is performance oriented. Why is
performance low or high? How can performance be improved? Can training enhance
on-the-job performance? These are important issues facing managers. Fifth, the external
environment is seen as having significant effect on organizational behavior. Sixth, because
the field of OB relies heavily on recognized disciplines, the scientific method is important
in studying variables and relationships. As the scientific method has been applied to re-
search on organizational behavior, a set of principles and guidelines on what constitutes
good research has emerged.4 Finally, the field has a distinctive applications orientation;
it concerns providing useful answers to questions that arise in the context of managing
operations.
Organizational Behavior Follows Principles of Human Behavior
The effectiveness of any organization is influenced greatly by human behavior. People are
a resource common to all organizations. The pizza parlor, the glass manufacturing plant,
and the produce stand employ human assets and interact with people such as customers,
suppliers, and job candidates.
One important principle of psychology is that each person is different. Each has unique
perceptions, personality, and life experiences. People have different ethnic backgrounds;
different capabilities for learning and for handling responsibility; and different attitudes,
beliefs, and aspiration levels. We’ve moved from an era in which large portions of the
workforce were middle-aged men who spoke only English to an era of diversity. Today’s
workforce doesn’t look, think, or act like the workforce of the past.5 To be effective, man-
agers of organizations must view each employee or member as a unique embodiment of all
these behavioral and cultural factors.
Organizations Are Social Systems
The relationships among individuals and groups in organizations create expectations for
individuals’ behavior. These expectations result in certain roles that must be performed.
Some people must perform leadership roles, whereas others must participate in the roles of
followers. Middle managers, because they have both superiors and subordinates, must per-
form both roles. Organizations have systems of authority, status, and power, and people in
organizations have varying needs from each system. Groups in organizations also have a
powerful impact on individual behavior and on organizational performance.
Multiple Factors Shape Organizational Behavior
A person’s behavior in any situation involves the interaction of that individual’s personal
characteristics and the characteristics of the situation. Thus, identifying all of the factors is
time-consuming and difficult; frequently, the task is impossible.
To help us identify the important managerial factors in organizational behavior, we
use the contingency (or situational) approach. The basic idea of the contingency
approach is that there’s not one best way to manage; a method that’s very effective in one
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Chapter 1 Managing Effective Organizations 7

situation may not work at all in others. The contingency approach has grown in popular-
ity because research has shown that given certain characteristics of a job and certain
characteristics of the people doing the job, some management practices work better than
others. Thus, the Mexican glass manufacturing plant’s manager of operations faced with
a poorly performing group doesn’t assume that a particular approach will work. In
applying the contingency approach, he diagnoses the characteristics of the individuals
and groups involved in the organizational structure, and his own leadership style, before
deciding on a solution.
Organizational behavior has evolved into an applied set of behavioral science concepts,
models, and techniques. The predominant contributors to OB—psychology, social psychol-
ogy, sociology, political science, and anthropology—have contributed to our understanding
and use of OB in organizational settings. Figure 1.1 presents an illustration of some of the
major contributions of the behavioral sciences to the study and application of OB.

FIGURE 1.1 Contributions to the Study and Application of OB

Behavior science Topic, model, technique contributed Level of focus or analysis

Psychology • Perception • Recruitment

• Values • Selection
A science that • Attitudes • Motivation Individual
attempts to study, • Learning • Stress
explain, and at • Job design • Reward systems
times modify • Individual difference • Evaluation and feedback
behavior. analysis

Sociology • Organization theory • Power

• Organization culture • Work teams
The study of group • Group development • Self-managed teams
behavior and how • Group characteristics • Change
people relate to • Intergroup analysis • Communication
each other. and conflict

Social psychology • Behavioral change • Group effectiveness

• Attitude change • Group decision making
A behavioral science • Group processes • Groupthink Group Field of
area that focuses on organizational
how individuals behavior
influence each other.

Political science • Influence tactics • Empowerment

• Power and ethics • Conflict resolution
The study of the • Political strategies • Illusion of power
behavior of
individuals and
groups within a
political framework. Organization

Anthropology • Cross-cultural • Values and morals

communications • Comparative analysis
The study of societies • Cross-cultural analysis
to learn about values,
attitudes, and
behavior of people
within different
settings, cultures,
and countries.
gib12664_ch01_001-028.indd Page 8 27/01/11 7:25 PM user-f472
8 Part One Introduction
structure
Blueprint that indicates
how people and jobs are
grouped together in an
organization. Structure
is illustrated by an
organization chart.
processes
Activities that breathe
life into organization
structure. Common
processes are communi-
cation, decision making,
socialization, and career
development.
/208/MHBR213/gib12664_disk1of1/0078112664/gib12664_pagefiles
To help you learn how to manage individuals and groups as resources of organizations,
this book focuses on the behavior of individuals and groups, organizational structure and
job design, and processes. Developing the model presented in this book required the use of
several assumptions. These assumptions are explained briefly in the following paragraphs,
which precede the model.6
Structure and Processes Affect Organizational Behavior
and the Emergent Culture
An organization’s structure is the formal pattern of how its people and jobs are grouped.
Structure often is illustrated by an organization chart. Processes are activities that give
life to the organization chart. Communication, decision making, and organization devel-
opment are examples of processes in organizations. Sometimes, understanding process
problems such as breakdowns in communication and decision making will result in a
more accurate understanding of organizational behavior than will simply examining
structural arrangements.
The pattern of basic assumptions used by individuals and groups to deal with the orga-
nization and its environment is called its culture. In straightforward terms, the organiza-
tion’s culture is its personality, atmosphere, or “feel.” The culture of an organization
defines appropriate behavior and bonds; it motivates individuals; and it governs the way a
company processes information, internal relations, and values. It functions at all levels
from the subconscious to the visible. A firm’s culture has been likened to one of those ink-
blots in which we see what we want to see.7 A firm’s culture results in shared thoughts,
feelings, and talk about the organization.8 Nike employees share norms about the dress
code, business practices, and promotion systems. Wal-Mart associates share emotions
about working for the chain and coming to work on time with a positive attitude. It’s the
sharing that bonds employees together and creates a feeling of togetherness.9
Cultures of organizations can be positive or negative. An organization’s culture is posi-
tive if it helps improve productivity. A negative culture can hinder behavior, disrupt group
effectiveness, and hamper the impact of a well-designed organization.
Effective managers know what to look for in terms of structure, process, and culture and
how to understand what they find. Therefore, managers must develop diagnostic skills;
they must be trained to identify conditions symptomatic of a problem requiring further
attention. Problem indicators include declining profits, declining quantity or quality of work,
increases in absenteeism or tardiness, and negative employee attitudes. Each of these prob-
lems is an issue of organizational behavior.
The Blending of the Art and Science of Organizational Behavior
There is no set of universal prescriptions that can predict every behavior, team outcome, or
organizational phenomenon. People are typically unique and unpredictable in some aspects
of their behavior. In physics there are laws, formulas, and mathematical procedures that
apply to a wide range of situations. The speed of a vehicle traveling down a hill can be
calculated, and the answer applies to similar hills, cars, and conditions.
Organizational behavior is not as stable or predictable as physics. OB is different because
it deals with human beings in work settings. The body of OB knowledge is being expanded
by researchers as they study and report on individual, group, and organizational behavior.
The art of organizational behavior application is beginning to blend with empirically-based
research.
Managers carry out roles that can be successfully accomplished if they skillfully apply
the best available knowledge to the situation at hand. These views of the work of manage-
ment suggest that art and science can be blended to solve problems. Therefore, effectively
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Chapter 1 Managing Effective Organizations 9

Research and Managers:

OB AND YOUR CAREER Perfect Together!

Many managers make decisions based on intuition and “gut
feel.” Some of these same managers avoid or undervalue
suggestions and tips that originate from empirical studies
conducted by researchers from such entities as business
schools and/or consulting practices. Although we see the
value of intuition, we also feel that science can help manag-
ers make better decisions at the workplace. Examples of
research findings include:
1. Goal setting is an effective way to improve employee
performance.
2. Structured interviews (i.e., ask the same job-related ques-
tions of each candidate, use benchmark scoring, etc.)
have been found to be more valid than unstructured job
interviews.
3. Intelligence is a good predictor of job performance.
What’s the bottom line? New and experienced managers alike
can be more successful if they take the time to learn and apply
some of the key research findings from the management and
organizational behavior literatures. Such articles can be found
with a few keyword searches using a university library busi-
ness database or a search engine like Google Scholar. One tip
is to look for recent summary articles that review the manage-
ment and organizational behavior research over the past 10 years
or so. Get ahead by being informed!
Sources: John Humphreys, Jennifer Oyler, Mildred Pryor, and Stephanie
Haden, “Lost in Translation: From B-School to Business,” The Journal of
Business Strategy, 31, no. 2, (2010): 13–17; Robert J. Grossman, “Close the
Gap Between Research and Practice,” HRMagazine, November 2009,
pp. 31–36; Sara L. Rynes, Tamara L. Giluk, and Kenneth G. Brown, “The
Very Separate Worlds of Academic and Practitioner Periodicals in Human
Resource Management: Implications for Evidence-Based Management,”
Academy of Management Journal 50, no. 5 (2007), pp. 987–1008.

managing in any situation or organization requires the deft touch of an artist and excellent
execution of specific and proven behaviors. As the OB and Your Career above suggests,
managers who ignore science or art are not likely to be effective or respected.10
To be and remain effective, managers must apply knowledge. The application and exe-
cution of knowledge can be designated as competencies. Included in these important com-
petencies are intellectual capability, a systems orientation, interpersonal skills, flexibility,
and self-motivation.

A Model for Managing Organizations:

Behavior, Structure, and Processes
The Organization’s Environment
Within a society, many factors influence an organization, and management must be respon-
sive to them. Every organization must respond to the needs of its customers or clients, to
legal and political constraints, and to economic and technological changes. Environmental
forces interact with organization factors.
Economic and market circumstances and technological innovations make up an organi-
zation’s environment, as do federal, state, and local legislation and political, social, and
cultural conditions external to the organization. Together, these components of an environ-
ment influence how an organization operates and also how it is structured.
Managers increasingly work in an unpredictable economic environment. It is now im-
portant for managers to respond quickly to changing economic conditions in other coun-
tries. Also, the dramatic and unexpected consequences of technological innovations require
astute management attention and action. For example, since the transistor was invented in
1947, digital technology has been evolving faster and computing devices are getting
smaller, cheaper, and more powerful. These devices, combined with databases, multimedia
interfaces, and software, are affecting every profession, company, and business practice.
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10 Part One Introduction

Increased government regulations have affected management’s actions in production

and employment practices. Foreign trade tariffs, occupational safety and health guidelines,
and equal employment opportunities influence the way a firm conducts business.

Behavior within Organizations

The Individual
Individual performance is the foundation of organizational performance. Understanding
individual behavior is therefore critical for effective management, as illustrated in the fol-
lowing account:

Ted has been a field representative for a major drug manufacturer since he graduated from
college seven years ago. He makes daily calls on physicians, hospital, clinics, and pharmacies.
Ted’s sales of his firm’s major drugs have increased, and he has won three national sales awards
given by the organization. Yesterday, Ted was promoted to sales manager for a seven-state
region. He’ll no longer be selling but instead will be managing 15 other representatives. His
sales team includes men and women, Caucasians, Hispanics, Blacks, and Asians. Ted accepted
the promotion because he believes he knows how to motivate and lead salespeople. He
comments, “I know the personality of the salesperson. They are special people. I know their
values and attitudes and what it takes to motivate them. I know I can motivate a sales force.”

In his job, Ted will be trying to maximize the individual performances of 15 sales represen-
tatives. In doing so, he will be dealing with several facets of individual behavior.

Individual Characteristics Because organizational performance depends on individual

performance, managers such as Ted must have more than a passing knowledge of the
determinants of individual performance. Psychology and social psychology contribute
relevant knowledge about the relationships among attitudes, perceptions, personality, val-
ues, and individual performance. Learning to manage cultural diversity, such as that found
among Ted’s 15 sales representatives, has become increasingly important in recent years.
Managers can’t ignore the need to acquire and act on knowledge of the individual charac-
teristics of both their subordinates and themselves.

Individual Motivation Motivation and ability to work interact to determine performance.

Motivation theory attempts to explain and predict how individuals’ behavior is aroused,
sustained, and stopped. Unlike Ted Johnson, not all managers and behavioral scientists
agree on what is the best theory of motivation. In fact, the complexity of motivation may
make an all-encompassing theory of how it occurs impossible. But managers must still try
to understand it. They must be concerned with motivation because they must be concerned
with performance.

Rewards and Appraisal One of the most powerful influences on individual performance is
an organization’s reward system. Management can use rewards to increase current employees’
performance. It can also use rewards to attract skilled employees to the organization.
Performance appraisals, paychecks, raises, and bonuses are important aspects of the
reward system, but they aren’t the only aspects. Ted makes this point clear in the preceding
account when he states, “I know what it takes to motivate them.” Performance of the work
itself can provide employees with rewards, particularly if job performance leads to a sense
of personal responsibility, autonomy, and meaningfulness. These intrinsic rewards are also
supplemented with extrinsic rewards, or what an organization, a manager, or a group can
provide a person in terms of monetary and nonmonetary factors.
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Chapter 1 Managing Effective Organizations 11

Groups and Interpersonal Influence

Group behavior and interpersonal influence are also powerful forces affecting organiza-
tional performance, as the following account shows:
During her two and one-half years as a teller in a small-town bank in Fort Smith, Arkansas,
Kelly developed close friendships with her co-workers. These friendships existed outside the
job as well. Two months ago Kelly was promoted to branch manager. She was excited about
the new challenge. She began the job with a great deal of optimism and believed her friends
would be genuinely happy for her and supportive of her efforts. But since she became branch
manager, things haven’t been quite the same. Kelly can’t spend nearly as much time with her
friends because she’s often away from the branch attending management meetings at the
main office. Kelly senses that some of her friends have been acting a little differently toward
her lately.
Recently Kelly said, “I didn’t know that being a part of the management team could make
that much difference. Frankly, I never really thought about it. I guess I was naïve. I’m getting
a totally different perspective on the business and have to deal with problems I never knew
about.”

Kelly’s promotion has made her a member of more than one group. In addition to being
part of her old group of friends at the branch, she’s also a member of the management
team. She’s finding out that group behavior and expectations have a strong impact on indi-
vidual behavior and interpersonal influence.

Group Behavior Groups form because of managerial action and because of individual
efforts. Managers create work groups to carry out assigned jobs and tasks. Such groups,
created by managerial decisions, are termed formal groups. The group that Kelly manages
at her branch is a group of this kind.
Groups also form as a consequence of employees’ actions. Such groups, termed informal
groups, develop around common interests and friendships. Kelly’s bowling group is an infor-
mal group. Although not a part of the organization, groups of this kind can affect organiza-
tional and individual performance. The effect can be positive or negative, depending on the
group members’ intentions. If the group at Kelly’s branch decided informally to slow the
work pace, this norm would exert pressure on individuals who wanted to remain a part of the
group. Effective managers recognize the consequences of individuals’ needs for affiliation.

Intergroup Behavior and Conflict As groups function and interact with other groups,
each develops a unique set of characteristics, including structure, cohesiveness, roles, norms,
and processes. The group in essence creates its own culture. As a result, groups may cooper-
ate or compete with other groups, and intergroup competition can lead to conflict. If the
management of Kelly’s bank instituted an incentive program with cash bonuses to the branch
bringing in the most new customers, this might lead to competition and conflict among the
branches. Although conflict among groups can have beneficial results for an organization, too
much or the wrong kinds of intergroup conflict can have negative results. Thus, managing
intergroup conflict is an important aspect of managing organizational behavior.

Power and Politics Power is the ability to get someone to do something you want done or
to make things happen in the way you want them to happen. Many people in our society
are uncomfortable with the concept of power. Some are deeply offended by it. This is be-
cause the essence of power is control over others. To many Americans and a growing num-
ber of people around the world, this is an offensive thought.
But power does exist in organizations. Managers derive power from both organizational
and individual sources. Kelly has power by virtue of her position in the formal hierarchy of
the bank. She controls performance evaluations and salary increases. However, she may
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 DANCE ON STILTS AT THE GIRLS’ UNYAGO, NIUCHI

Newala, too, suffers from the distance of its water-supply—at least

the Newala of to-day does; there was once another Newala in a lovely
valley at the foot of the plateau. I visited it and found scarcely a trace
of houses, only a Christian cemetery, with the graves of several
missionaries and their converts, remaining as a monument of its
former glories. But the surroundings are wonderfully beautiful. A
thick grove of splendid mango-trees closes in the weather-worn
crosses and headstones; behind them, combining the useful and the
agreeable, is a whole plantation of lemon-trees covered with ripe
fruit; not the small African kind, but a much larger and also juicier
imported variety, which drops into the hands of the passing traveller,
without calling for any exertion on his part. Old Newala is now under
the jurisdiction of the native pastor, Daudi, at Chingulungulu, who,
as I am on very friendly terms with him, allows me, as a matter of
course, the use of this lemon-grove during my stay at Newala.
 FEET MUTILATED BY THE RAVAGES OF THE “JIGGER”
(Sarcopsylla penetrans)

The water-supply of New Newala is in the bottom of the valley,

some 1,600 feet lower down. The way is not only long and fatiguing,
but the water, when we get it, is thoroughly bad. We are suffering not
only from this, but from the fact that the arrangements at Newala are
nothing short of luxurious. We have a separate kitchen—a hut built
against the boma palisade on the right of the baraza, the interior of
which is not visible from our usual position. Our two cooks were not
long in finding this out, and they consequently do—or rather neglect
to do—what they please. In any case they do not seem to be very
particular about the boiling of our drinking-water—at least I can
attribute to no other cause certain attacks of a dysenteric nature,
from which both Knudsen and I have suffered for some time. If a
man like Omari has to be left unwatched for a moment, he is capable
of anything. Besides this complaint, we are inconvenienced by the
state of our nails, which have become as hard as glass, and crack on
the slightest provocation, and I have the additional infliction of
pimples all over me. As if all this were not enough, we have also, for
the last week been waging war against the jigger, who has found his
Eldorado in the hot sand of the Makonde plateau. Our men are seen
all day long—whenever their chronic colds and the dysentery likewise
raging among them permit—occupied in removing this scourge of
Africa from their feet and trying to prevent the disastrous
consequences of its presence. It is quite common to see natives of
this place with one or two toes missing; many have lost all their toes,
or even the whole front part of the foot, so that a well-formed leg
ends in a shapeless stump. These ravages are caused by the female of
Sarcopsylla penetrans, which bores its way under the skin and there
develops an egg-sac the size of a pea. In all books on the subject, it is
stated that one’s attention is called to the presence of this parasite by
an intolerable itching. This agrees very well with my experience, so
far as the softer parts of the sole, the spaces between and under the
toes, and the side of the foot are concerned, but if the creature
penetrates through the harder parts of the heel or ball of the foot, it
may escape even the most careful search till it has reached maturity.
Then there is no time to be lost, if the horrible ulceration, of which
we see cases by the dozen every day, is to be prevented. It is much
easier, by the way, to discover the insect on the white skin of a
European than on that of a native, on which the dark speck scarcely
shows. The four or five jiggers which, in spite of the fact that I
constantly wore high laced boots, chose my feet to settle in, were
taken out for me by the all-accomplished Knudsen, after which I
thought it advisable to wash out the cavities with corrosive
sublimate. The natives have a different sort of disinfectant—they fill
the hole with scraped roots. In a tiny Makua village on the slope of
the plateau south of Newala, we saw an old woman who had filled all
the spaces under her toe-nails with powdered roots by way of
prophylactic treatment. What will be the result, if any, who can say?
The rest of the many trifling ills which trouble our existence are
really more comic than serious. In the absence of anything else to
smoke, Knudsen and I at last opened a box of cigars procured from
the Indian store-keeper at Lindi, and tried them, with the most
distressing results. Whether they contain opium or some other
narcotic, neither of us can say, but after the tenth puff we were both
“off,” three-quarters stupefied and unspeakably wretched. Slowly we
recovered—and what happened next? Half-an-hour later we were
once more smoking these poisonous concoctions—so insatiable is the
craving for tobacco in the tropics.
Even my present attacks of fever scarcely deserve to be taken
seriously. I have had no less than three here at Newala, all of which
have run their course in an incredibly short time. In the early
afternoon, I am busy with my old natives, asking questions and
making notes. The strong midday coffee has stimulated my spirits to
an extraordinary degree, the brain is active and vigorous, and work
progresses rapidly, while a pleasant warmth pervades the whole
body. Suddenly this gives place to a violent chill, forcing me to put on
my overcoat, though it is only half-past three and the afternoon sun
is at its hottest. Now the brain no longer works with such acuteness
and logical precision; more especially does it fail me in trying to
establish the syntax of the difficult Makua language on which I have
ventured, as if I had not enough to do without it. Under the
circumstances it seems advisable to take my temperature, and I do
so, to save trouble, without leaving my seat, and while going on with
my work. On examination, I find it to be 101·48°. My tutors are
abruptly dismissed and my bed set up in the baraza; a few minutes
later I am in it and treating myself internally with hot water and
lemon-juice.
Three hours later, the thermometer marks nearly 104°, and I make
them carry me back into the tent, bed and all, as I am now perspiring
heavily, and exposure to the cold wind just beginning to blow might
mean a fatal chill. I lie still for a little while, and then find, to my
great relief, that the temperature is not rising, but rather falling. This
is about 7.30 p.m. At 8 p.m. I find, to my unbounded astonishment,
that it has fallen below 98·6°, and I feel perfectly well. I read for an
hour or two, and could very well enjoy a smoke, if I had the
wherewithal—Indian cigars being out of the question.
Having no medical training, I am at a loss to account for this state
of things. It is impossible that these transitory attacks of high fever
should be malarial; it seems more probable that they are due to a
kind of sunstroke. On consulting my note-book, I become more and
more inclined to think this is the case, for these attacks regularly
follow extreme fatigue and long exposure to strong sunshine. They at
least have the advantage of being only short interruptions to my
work, as on the following morning I am always quite fresh and fit.
My treasure of a cook is suffering from an enormous hydrocele which
makes it difficult for him to get up, and Moritz is obliged to keep in
the dark on account of his inflamed eyes. Knudsen’s cook, a raw boy
from somewhere in the bush, knows still less of cooking than Omari;
consequently Nils Knudsen himself has been promoted to the vacant
post. Finding that we had come to the end of our supplies, he began
by sending to Chingulungulu for the four sucking-pigs which we had
bought from Matola and temporarily left in his charge; and when
they came up, neatly packed in a large crate, he callously slaughtered
the biggest of them. The first joint we were thoughtless enough to
entrust for roasting to Knudsen’s mshenzi cook, and it was
consequently uneatable; but we made the rest of the animal into a
jelly which we ate with great relish after weeks of underfeeding,
consuming incredible helpings of it at both midday and evening
meals. The only drawback is a certain want of variety in the tinned
vegetables. Dr. Jäger, to whom the Geographical Commission
entrusted the provisioning of the expeditions—mine as well as his
own—because he had more time on his hands than the rest of us,
seems to have laid in a huge stock of Teltow turnips,[46] an article of
food which is all very well for occasional use, but which quickly palls
when set before one every day; and we seem to have no other tins
left. There is no help for it—we must put up with the turnips; but I
am certain that, once I am home again, I shall not touch them for ten
years to come.
Amid all these minor evils, which, after all, go to make up the
genuine flavour of Africa, there is at least one cheering touch:
Knudsen has, with the dexterity of a skilled mechanic, repaired my 9
× 12 cm. camera, at least so far that I can use it with a little care.
How, in the absence of finger-nails, he was able to accomplish such a
ticklish piece of work, having no tool but a clumsy screw-driver for
taking to pieces and putting together again the complicated
mechanism of the instantaneous shutter, is still a mystery to me; but
he did it successfully. The loss of his finger-nails shows him in a light
contrasting curiously enough with the intelligence evinced by the
above operation; though, after all, it is scarcely surprising after his
ten years’ residence in the bush. One day, at Lindi, he had occasion
to wash a dog, which must have been in need of very thorough
cleansing, for the bottle handed to our friend for the purpose had an
extremely strong smell. Having performed his task in the most
conscientious manner, he perceived with some surprise that the dog
did not appear much the better for it, and was further surprised by
finding his own nails ulcerating away in the course of the next few
days. “How was I to know that carbolic acid has to be diluted?” he
mutters indignantly, from time to time, with a troubled gaze at his
mutilated finger-tips.
 Since we came to Newala we have been making excursions in all
directions through the surrounding country, in accordance with old
habit, and also because the akida Sefu did not get together the tribal
elders from whom I wanted information so speedily as he had
promised. There is, however, no harm done, as, even if seen only
from the outside, the country and people are interesting enough.
The Makonde plateau is like a large rectangular table rounded off
at the corners. Measured from the Indian Ocean to Newala, it is
about seventy-five miles long, and between the Rovuma and the
Lukuledi it averages fifty miles in breadth, so that its superficial area
is about two-thirds of that of the kingdom of Saxony. The surface,
however, is not level, but uniformly inclined from its south-western
edge to the ocean. From the upper edge, on which Newala lies, the
eye ranges for many miles east and north-east, without encountering
any obstacle, over the Makonde bush. It is a green sea, from which
here and there thick clouds of smoke rise, to show that it, too, is
inhabited by men who carry on their tillage like so many other
primitive peoples, by cutting down and burning the bush, and
manuring with the ashes. Even in the radiant light of a tropical day
such a fire is a grand sight.
Much less effective is the impression produced just now by the
great western plain as seen from the edge of the plateau. As often as
time permits, I stroll along this edge, sometimes in one direction,
sometimes in another, in the hope of finding the air clear enough to
let me enjoy the view; but I have always been disappointed.
Wherever one looks, clouds of smoke rise from the burning bush,
and the air is full of smoke and vapour. It is a pity, for under more
favourable circumstances the panorama of the whole country up to
the distant Majeje hills must be truly magnificent. It is of little use
taking photographs now, and an outline sketch gives a very poor idea
of the scenery. In one of these excursions I went out of my way to
make a personal attempt on the Makonde bush. The present edge of
the plateau is the result of a far-reaching process of destruction
through erosion and denudation. The Makonde strata are
everywhere cut into by ravines, which, though short, are hundreds of
yards in depth. In consequence of the loose stratification of these
beds, not only are the walls of these ravines nearly vertical, but their
upper end is closed by an equally steep escarpment, so that the
western edge of the Makonde plateau is hemmed in by a series of
deep, basin-like valleys. In order to get from one side of such a ravine
to the other, I cut my way through the bush with a dozen of my men.
It was a very open part, with more grass than scrub, but even so the
short stretch of less than two hundred yards was very hard work; at
the end of it the men’s calicoes were in rags and they themselves
bleeding from hundreds of scratches, while even our strong khaki
suits had not escaped scatheless.

NATIVE PATH THROUGH THE MAKONDE BUSH, NEAR

MAHUTA

I see increasing reason to believe that the view formed some time
back as to the origin of the Makonde bush is the correct one. I have
no doubt that it is not a natural product, but the result of human
occupation. Those parts of the high country where man—as a very
slight amount of practice enables the eye to perceive at once—has not
yet penetrated with axe and hoe, are still occupied by a splendid
timber forest quite able to sustain a comparison with our mixed
forests in Germany. But wherever man has once built his hut or tilled
his field, this horrible bush springs up. Every phase of this process
may be seen in the course of a couple of hours’ walk along the main
road. From the bush to right or left, one hears the sound of the axe—
not from one spot only, but from several directions at once. A few
steps further on, we can see what is taking place. The brush has been
cut down and piled up in heaps to the height of a yard or more,
between which the trunks of the large trees stand up like the last
pillars of a magnificent ruined building. These, too, present a
melancholy spectacle: the destructive Makonde have ringed them—
cut a broad strip of bark all round to ensure their dying off—and also
piled up pyramids of brush round them. Father and son, mother and
son-in-law, are chopping away perseveringly in the background—too
busy, almost, to look round at the white stranger, who usually excites
so much interest. If you pass by the same place a week later, the piles
of brushwood have disappeared and a thick layer of ashes has taken
the place of the green forest. The large trees stretch their
smouldering trunks and branches in dumb accusation to heaven—if
they have not already fallen and been more or less reduced to ashes,
perhaps only showing as a white stripe on the dark ground.
This work of destruction is carried out by the Makonde alike on the
virgin forest and on the bush which has sprung up on sites already
cultivated and deserted. In the second case they are saved the trouble
of burning the large trees, these being entirely absent in the
secondary bush.
After burning this piece of forest ground and loosening it with the
hoe, the native sows his corn and plants his vegetables. All over the
country, he goes in for bed-culture, which requires, and, in fact,
receives, the most careful attention. Weeds are nowhere tolerated in
the south of German East Africa. The crops may fail on the plains,
where droughts are frequent, but never on the plateau with its
abundant rains and heavy dews. Its fortunate inhabitants even have
the satisfaction of seeing the proud Wayao and Wamakua working
for them as labourers, driven by hunger to serve where they were
accustomed to rule.
But the light, sandy soil is soon exhausted, and would yield no
harvest the second year if cultivated twice running. This fact has
been familiar to the native for ages; consequently he provides in
time, and, while his crop is growing, prepares the next plot with axe
and firebrand. Next year he plants this with his various crops and
lets the first piece lie fallow. For a short time it remains waste and
desolate; then nature steps in to repair the destruction wrought by
man; a thousand new growths spring out of the exhausted soil, and
even the old stumps put forth fresh shoots. Next year the new growth
is up to one’s knees, and in a few years more it is that terrible,
impenetrable bush, which maintains its position till the black
occupier of the land has made the round of all the available sites and
come back to his starting point.
The Makonde are, body and soul, so to speak, one with this bush.
According to my Yao informants, indeed, their name means nothing
else but “bush people.” Their own tradition says that they have been
settled up here for a very long time, but to my surprise they laid great
stress on an original immigration. Their old homes were in the
south-east, near Mikindani and the mouth of the Rovuma, whence
their peaceful forefathers were driven by the continual raids of the
Sakalavas from Madagascar and the warlike Shirazis[47] of the coast,
to take refuge on the almost inaccessible plateau. I have studied
African ethnology for twenty years, but the fact that changes of
population in this apparently quiet and peaceable corner of the earth
could have been occasioned by outside enterprises taking place on
the high seas, was completely new to me. It is, no doubt, however,
correct.
The charming tribal legend of the Makonde—besides informing us
of other interesting matters—explains why they have to live in the
thickest of the bush and a long way from the edge of the plateau,
instead of making their permanent homes beside the purling brooks
and springs of the low country.
“The place where the tribe originated is Mahuta, on the southern
side of the plateau towards the Rovuma, where of old time there was
nothing but thick bush. Out of this bush came a man who never
washed himself or shaved his head, and who ate and drank but little.
He went out and made a human figure from the wood of a tree
growing in the open country, which he took home to his abode in the
bush and there set it upright. In the night this image came to life and
was a woman. The man and woman went down together to the
Rovuma to wash themselves. Here the woman gave birth to a still-
born child. They left that place and passed over the high land into the
valley of the Mbemkuru, where the woman had another child, which
was also born dead. Then they returned to the high bush country of
Mahuta, where the third child was born, which lived and grew up. In
course of time, the couple had many more children, and called
themselves Wamatanda. These were the ancestral stock of the
Makonde, also called Wamakonde,[48] i.e., aborigines. Their
forefather, the man from the bush, gave his children the command to
bury their dead upright, in memory of the mother of their race who
was cut out of wood and awoke to life when standing upright. He also
warned them against settling in the valleys and near large streams,
for sickness and death dwelt there. They were to make it a rule to
have their huts at least an hour’s walk from the nearest watering-
place; then their children would thrive and escape illness.”
The explanation of the name Makonde given by my informants is
somewhat different from that contained in the above legend, which I
extract from a little book (small, but packed with information), by
Pater Adams, entitled Lindi und sein Hinterland. Otherwise, my
results agree exactly with the statements of the legend. Washing?
Hapana—there is no such thing. Why should they do so? As it is, the
supply of water scarcely suffices for cooking and drinking; other
people do not wash, so why should the Makonde distinguish himself
by such needless eccentricity? As for shaving the head, the short,
woolly crop scarcely needs it,[49] so the second ancestral precept is
likewise easy enough to follow. Beyond this, however, there is
nothing ridiculous in the ancestor’s advice. I have obtained from
various local artists a fairly large number of figures carved in wood,
ranging from fifteen to twenty-three inches in height, and
representing women belonging to the great group of the Mavia,
Makonde, and Matambwe tribes. The carving is remarkably well
done and renders the female type with great accuracy, especially the
keloid ornamentation, to be described later on. As to the object and
meaning of their works the sculptors either could or (more probably)
would tell me nothing, and I was forced to content myself with the
scanty information vouchsafed by one man, who said that the figures
were merely intended to represent the nembo—the artificial
deformations of pelele, ear-discs, and keloids. The legend recorded
by Pater Adams places these figures in a new light. They must surely
be more than mere dolls; and we may even venture to assume that
they are—though the majority of present-day Makonde are probably
unaware of the fact—representations of the tribal ancestress.
 The references in the legend to the descent from Mahuta to the
Rovuma, and to a journey across the highlands into the Mbekuru
valley, undoubtedly indicate the previous history of the tribe, the
travels of the ancestral pair typifying the migrations of their
descendants. The descent to the neighbouring Rovuma valley, with
its extraordinary fertility and great abundance of game, is intelligible
at a glance—but the crossing of the Lukuledi depression, the ascent
to the Rondo Plateau and the descent to the Mbemkuru, also lie
within the bounds of probability, for all these districts have exactly
the same character as the extreme south. Now, however, comes a
point of especial interest for our bacteriological age. The primitive
Makonde did not enjoy their lives in the marshy river-valleys.
Disease raged among them, and many died. It was only after they
had returned to their original home near Mahuta, that the health
conditions of these people improved. We are very apt to think of the
African as a stupid person whose ignorance of nature is only equalled
by his fear of it, and who looks on all mishaps as caused by evil
spirits and malignant natural powers. It is much more correct to
assume in this case that the people very early learnt to distinguish
districts infested with malaria from those where it is absent.
This knowledge is crystallized in the
ancestral warning against settling in the
valleys and near the great waters, the
dwelling-places of disease and death. At the
same time, for security against the hostile
Mavia south of the Rovuma, it was enacted
that every settlement must be not less than a
certain distance from the southern edge of the
plateau. Such in fact is their mode of life at the
present day. It is not such a bad one, and
certainly they are both safer and more
comfortable than the Makua, the recent
intruders from the south, who have made USUAL METHOD OF
good their footing on the western edge of the CLOSING HUT-DOOR
plateau, extending over a fairly wide belt of
country. Neither Makua nor Makonde show in their dwellings
anything of the size and comeliness of the Yao houses in the plain,
especially at Masasi, Chingulungulu and Zuza’s. Jumbe Chauro, a
Makonde hamlet not far from Newala, on the road to Mahuta, is the
most important settlement of the tribe I have yet seen, and has fairly
spacious huts. But how slovenly is their construction compared with
the palatial residences of the elephant-hunters living in the plain.
The roofs are still more untidy than in the general run of huts during
the dry season, the walls show here and there the scanty beginnings
or the lamentable remains of the mud plastering, and the interior is a
veritable dog-kennel; dirt, dust and disorder everywhere. A few huts
only show any attempt at division into rooms, and this consists
merely of very roughly-made bamboo partitions. In one point alone
have I noticed any indication of progress—in the method of fastening
the door. Houses all over the south are secured in a simple but
ingenious manner. The door consists of a set of stout pieces of wood
or bamboo, tied with bark-string to two cross-pieces, and moving in
two grooves round one of the door-posts, so as to open inwards. If
the owner wishes to leave home, he takes two logs as thick as a man’s
upper arm and about a yard long. One of these is placed obliquely
against the middle of the door from the inside, so as to form an angle
of from 60° to 75° with the ground. He then places the second piece
horizontally across the first, pressing it downward with all his might.
It is kept in place by two strong posts planted in the ground a few
inches inside the door. This fastening is absolutely safe, but of course
cannot be applied to both doors at once, otherwise how could the
owner leave or enter his house? I have not yet succeeded in finding
out how the back door is fastened.

MAKONDE LOCK AND KEY AT JUMBE CHAURO

 This is the general way of closing a house. The Makonde at Jumbe
Chauro, however, have a much more complicated, solid and original
one. Here, too, the door is as already described, except that there is
only one post on the inside, standing by itself about six inches from
one side of the doorway. Opposite this post is a hole in the wall just
large enough to admit a man’s arm. The door is closed inside by a
large wooden bolt passing through a hole in this post and pressing
with its free end against the door. The other end has three holes into
which fit three pegs running in vertical grooves inside the post. The
door is opened with a wooden key about a foot long, somewhat
curved and sloped off at the butt; the other end has three pegs
corresponding to the holes, in the bolt, so that, when it is thrust
through the hole in the wall and inserted into the rectangular
opening in the post, the pegs can be lifted and the bolt drawn out.[50]

MODE OF INSERTING THE KEY

With no small pride first one householder and then a second

showed me on the spot the action of this greatest invention of the
Makonde Highlands. To both with an admiring exclamation of
“Vizuri sana!” (“Very fine!”). I expressed the wish to take back these
marvels with me to Ulaya, to show the Wazungu what clever fellows
the Makonde are. Scarcely five minutes after my return to camp at
Newala, the two men came up sweating under the weight of two
heavy logs which they laid down at my feet, handing over at the same
time the keys of the fallen fortress. Arguing, logically enough, that if
the key was wanted, the lock would be wanted with it, they had taken
their axes and chopped down the posts—as it never occurred to them
to dig them out of the ground and so bring them intact. Thus I have
two badly damaged specimens, and the owners, instead of praise,
come in for a blowing-up.
The Makua huts in the environs of Newala are especially
miserable; their more than slovenly construction reminds one of the
temporary erections of the Makua at Hatia’s, though the people here
have not been concerned in a war. It must therefore be due to
congenital idleness, or else to the absence of a powerful chief. Even
the baraza at Mlipa’s, a short hour’s walk south-east of Newala,
shares in this general neglect. While public buildings in this country
are usually looked after more or less carefully, this is in evident
danger of being blown over by the first strong easterly gale. The only
attractive object in this whole district is the grave of the late chief
Mlipa. I visited it in the morning, while the sun was still trying with
partial success to break through the rolling mists, and the circular
grove of tall euphorbias, which, with a broken pot, is all that marks
the old king’s resting-place, impressed one with a touch of pathos.
Even my very materially-minded carriers seemed to feel something
of the sort, for instead of their usual ribald songs, they chanted
solemnly, as we marched on through the dense green of the Makonde
bush:—
 “We shall arrive with the great master; we stand in a row and have
no fear about getting our food and our money from the Serkali (the
Government). We are not afraid; we are going along with the great
master, the lion; we are going down to the coast and back.”
With regard to the characteristic features of the various tribes here
on the western edge of the plateau, I can arrive at no other
conclusion than the one already come to in the plain, viz., that it is
impossible for anyone but a trained anthropologist to assign any
given individual at once to his proper tribe. In fact, I think that even
an anthropological specialist, after the most careful examination,
might find it a difficult task to decide. The whole congeries of peoples
collected in the region bounded on the west by the great Central
African rift, Tanganyika and Nyasa, and on the east by the Indian
Ocean, are closely related to each other—some of their languages are
only distinguished from one another as dialects of the same speech,
and no doubt all the tribes present the same shape of skull and
structure of skeleton. Thus, surely, there can be no very striking
differences in outward appearance.
 Even did such exist, I should have no time
to concern myself with them, for day after day,
I have to see or hear, as the case may be—in
any case to grasp and record—an
extraordinary number of ethnographic
phenomena. I am almost disposed to think it
fortunate that some departments of inquiry, at
least, are barred by external circumstances.
Chief among these is the subject of iron-
working. We are apt to think of Africa as a
country where iron ore is everywhere, so to
speak, to be picked up by the roadside, and
where it would be quite surprising if the
inhabitants had not learnt to smelt the
material ready to their hand. In fact, the
knowledge of this art ranges all over the
continent, from the Kabyles in the north to the
Kafirs in the south. Here between the Rovuma
and the Lukuledi the conditions are not so
favourable. According to the statements of the
Makonde, neither ironstone nor any other
form of iron ore is known to them. They have
not therefore advanced to the art of smelting
the metal, but have hitherto bought all their
THE ANCESTRESS OF
THE MAKONDE
iron implements from neighbouring tribes.
Even in the plain the inhabitants are not much
better off. Only one man now living is said to
understand the art of smelting iron. This old fundi lives close to
Huwe, that isolated, steep-sided block of granite which rises out of
the green solitude between Masasi and Chingulungulu, and whose
jagged and splintered top meets the traveller’s eye everywhere. While
still at Masasi I wished to see this man at work, but was told that,
frightened by the rising, he had retired across the Rovuma, though
he would soon return. All subsequent inquiries as to whether the
fundi had come back met with the genuine African answer, “Bado”
(“Not yet”).
 BRAZIER

Some consolation was afforded me by a brassfounder, whom I

came across in the bush near Akundonde’s. This man is the favourite
of women, and therefore no doubt of the gods; he welds the glittering
brass rods purchased at the coast into those massive, heavy rings
which, on the wrists and ankles of the local fair ones, continually give
me fresh food for admiration. Like every decent master-craftsman he
had all his tools with him, consisting of a pair of bellows, three
crucibles and a hammer—nothing more, apparently. He was quite
willing to show his skill, and in a twinkling had fixed his bellows on
the ground. They are simply two goat-skins, taken off whole, the four
legs being closed by knots, while the upper opening, intended to
admit the air, is kept stretched by two pieces of wood. At the lower
end of the skin a smaller opening is left into which a wooden tube is
stuck. The fundi has quickly borrowed a heap of wood-embers from
the nearest hut; he then fixes the free ends of the two tubes into an
earthen pipe, and clamps them to the ground by means of a bent
piece of wood. Now he fills one of his small clay crucibles, the dross
on which shows that they have been long in use, with the yellow
material, places it in the midst of the embers, which, at present are
only faintly glimmering, and begins his work. In quick alternation
the smith’s two hands move up and down with the open ends of the
bellows; as he raises his hand he holds the slit wide open, so as to let
the air enter the skin bag unhindered. In pressing it down he closes
the bag, and the air puffs through the bamboo tube and clay pipe into
the fire, which quickly burns up. The smith, however, does not keep
on with this work, but beckons to another man, who relieves him at
the bellows, while he takes some more tools out of a large skin pouch
carried on his back. I look on in wonder as, with a smooth round
stick about the thickness of a finger, he bores a few vertical holes into
the clean sand of the soil. This should not be difficult, yet the man
seems to be taking great pains over it. Then he fastens down to the
ground, with a couple of wooden clamps, a neat little trough made by
splitting a joint of bamboo in half, so that the ends are closed by the
two knots. At last the yellow metal has attained the right consistency,
and the fundi lifts the crucible from the fire by means of two sticks
split at the end to serve as tongs. A short swift turn to the left—a
tilting of the crucible—and the molten brass, hissing and giving forth
clouds of smoke, flows first into the bamboo mould and then into the
holes in the ground.
The technique of this backwoods craftsman may not be very far
advanced, but it cannot be denied that he knows how to obtain an
adequate result by the simplest means. The ladies of highest rank in
this country—that is to say, those who can afford it, wear two kinds
of these massive brass rings, one cylindrical, the other semicircular
in section. The latter are cast in the most ingenious way in the
bamboo mould, the former in the circular hole in the sand. It is quite
a simple matter for the fundi to fit these bars to the limbs of his fair
customers; with a few light strokes of his hammer he bends the
pliable brass round arm or ankle without further inconvenience to
the wearer.
SHAPING THE POT

SMOOTHING WITH MAIZE-COB

CUTTING THE EDGE

 FINISHING THE BOTTOM

LAST SMOOTHING BEFORE

BURNING

FIRING THE BRUSH-PILE

 LIGHTING THE FARTHER SIDE OF
THE PILE

TURNING THE RED-HOT VESSEL

NYASA WOMAN MAKING POTS AT MASASI

Pottery is an art which must always and everywhere excite the
interest of the student, just because it is so intimately connected with
the development of human culture, and because its relics are one of
the principal factors in the reconstruction of our own condition in
prehistoric times. I shall always remember with pleasure the two or
three afternoons at Masasi when Salim Matola’s mother, a slightly-
built, graceful, pleasant-looking woman, explained to me with
touching patience, by means of concrete illustrations, the ceramic art
of her people. The only implements for this primitive process were a
lump of clay in her left hand, and in the right a calabash containing
the following valuables: the fragment of a maize-cob stripped of all
its grains, a smooth, oval pebble, about the size of a pigeon’s egg, a
few chips of gourd-shell, a bamboo splinter about the length of one’s
hand, a small shell, and a bunch of some herb resembling spinach.
 Nothing more. The woman scraped with the
shell a round, shallow hole in the soft, fine
sand of the soil, and, when an active young
girl had filled the calabash with water for her,
she began to knead the clay. As if by magic it
gradually assumed the shape of a rough but
already well-shaped vessel, which only wanted
a little touching up with the instruments
before mentioned. I looked out with the
MAKUA WOMAN closest attention for any indication of the use
MAKING A POT. of the potter’s wheel, in however rudimentary
SHOWS THE a form, but no—hapana (there is none). The
BEGINNINGS OF THE embryo pot stood firmly in its little
POTTER’S WHEEL
depression, and the woman walked round it in
a stooping posture, whether she was removing
small stones or similar foreign bodies with the maize-cob, smoothing
the inner or outer surface with the splinter of bamboo, or later, after
letting it dry for a day, pricking in the ornamentation with a pointed
bit of gourd-shell, or working out the bottom, or cutting the edge
with a sharp bamboo knife, or giving the last touches to the finished
vessel. This occupation of the women is infinitely toilsome, but it is
without doubt an accurate reproduction of the process in use among
our ancestors of the Neolithic and Bronze ages.
There is no doubt that the invention of pottery, an item in human
progress whose importance cannot be over-estimated, is due to
women. Rough, coarse and unfeeling, the men of the horde range
over the countryside. When the united cunning of the hunters has
succeeded in killing the game; not one of them thinks of carrying
home the spoil. A bright fire, kindled by a vigorous wielding of the
drill, is crackling beside them; the animal has been cleaned and cut
up secundum artem, and, after a slight singeing, will soon disappear
under their sharp teeth; no one all this time giving a single thought
to wife or child.
To what shifts, on the other hand, the primitive wife, and still more
the primitive mother, was put! Not even prehistoric stomachs could
endure an unvarying diet of raw food. Something or other suggested
the beneficial effect of hot water on the majority of approved but
indigestible dishes. Perhaps a neighbour had tried holding the hard
roots or tubers over the fire in a calabash filled with water—or maybe
an ostrich-egg-shell, or a hastily improvised vessel of bark. They
became much softer and more palatable than they had previously
been; but, unfortunately, the vessel could not stand the fire and got
charred on the outside. That can be remedied, thought our
ancestress, and plastered a layer of wet clay round a similar vessel.
This is an improvement; the cooking utensil remains uninjured, but
the heat of the fire has shrunk it, so that it is loose in its shell. The
next step is to detach it, so, with a firm grip and a jerk, shell and
kernel are separated, and pottery is invented. Perhaps, however, the
discovery which led to an intelligent use of the burnt-clay shell, was
made in a slightly different way. Ostrich-eggs and calabashes are not
to be found in every part of the world, but everywhere mankind has
arrived at the art of making baskets out of pliant materials, such as
bark, bast, strips of palm-leaf, supple twigs, etc. Our inventor has no
water-tight vessel provided by nature. “Never mind, let us line the
basket with clay.” This answers the purpose, but alas! the basket gets
burnt over the blazing fire, the woman watches the process of
cooking with increasing uneasiness, fearing a leak, but no leak
appears. The food, done to a turn, is eaten with peculiar relish; and
the cooking-vessel is examined, half in curiosity, half in satisfaction
at the result. The plastic clay is now hard as stone, and at the same
time looks exceedingly well, for the neat plaiting of the burnt basket
is traced all over it in a pretty pattern. Thus, simultaneously with
pottery, its ornamentation was invented.
Primitive woman has another claim to respect. It was the man,
roving abroad, who invented the art of producing fire at will, but the
woman, unable to imitate him in this, has been a Vestal from the
earliest times. Nothing gives so much trouble as the keeping alight of
the smouldering brand, and, above all, when all the men are absent
from the camp. Heavy rain-clouds gather, already the first large
drops are falling, the first gusts of the storm rage over the plain. The
little flame, a greater anxiety to the woman than her own children,
flickers unsteadily in the blast. What is to be done? A sudden thought
occurs to her, and in an instant she has constructed a primitive hut
out of strips of bark, to protect the flame against rain and wind.
This, or something very like it, was the way in which the principle
of the house was discovered; and even the most hardened misogynist
cannot fairly refuse a woman the credit of it. The protection of the
hearth-fire from the weather is the germ from which the human
dwelling was evolved. Men had little, if any share, in this forward
step, and that only at a late stage. Even at the present day, the
plastering of the housewall with clay and the manufacture of pottery
are exclusively the women’s business. These are two very significant
survivals. Our European kitchen-garden, too, is originally a woman’s
invention, and the hoe, the primitive instrument of agriculture, is,
characteristically enough, still used in this department. But the
noblest achievement which we owe to the other sex is unquestionably
the art of cookery. Roasting alone—the oldest process—is one for
which men took the hint (a very obvious one) from nature. It must
have been suggested by the scorched carcase of some animal
overtaken by the destructive forest-fires. But boiling—the process of
improving organic substances by the help of water heated to boiling-
point—is a much later discovery. It is so recent that it has not even
yet penetrated to all parts of the world. The Polynesians understand
how to steam food, that is, to cook it, neatly wrapped in leaves, in a
hole in the earth between hot stones, the air being excluded, and
(sometimes) a few drops of water sprinkled on the stones; but they
do not understand boiling.
To come back from this digression, we find that the slender Nyasa
woman has, after once more carefully examining the finished pot,
put it aside in the shade to dry. On the following day she sends me
word by her son, Salim Matola, who is always on hand, that she is
going to do the burning, and, on coming out of my house, I find her
already hard at work. She has spread on the ground a layer of very
dry sticks, about as thick as one’s thumb, has laid the pot (now of a
yellowish-grey colour) on them, and is piling brushwood round it.
My faithful Pesa mbili, the mnyampara, who has been standing by,
most obligingly, with a lighted stick, now hands it to her. Both of
them, blowing steadily, light the pile on the lee side, and, when the
flame begins to catch, on the weather side also. Soon the whole is in a
blaze, but the dry fuel is quickly consumed and the fire dies down, so
that we see the red-hot vessel rising from the ashes. The woman
turns it continually with a long stick, sometimes one way and
sometimes another, so that it may be evenly heated all over. In
twenty minutes she rolls it out of the ash-heap, takes up the bundle
of spinach, which has been lying for two days in a jar of water, and
sprinkles the red-hot clay with it. The places where the drops fall are
marked by black spots on the uniform reddish-brown surface. With a
sigh of relief, and with visible satisfaction, the woman rises to an
erect position; she is standing just in a line between me and the fire,
from which a cloud of smoke is just rising: I press the ball of my
camera, the shutter clicks—the apotheosis is achieved! Like a
priestess, representative of her inventive sex, the graceful woman
stands: at her feet the hearth-fire she has given us beside her the
invention she has devised for us, in the background the home she has
built for us.
At Newala, also, I have had the manufacture of pottery carried on
in my presence. Technically the process is better than that already
described, for here we find the beginnings of the potter’s wheel,
which does not seem to exist in the plains; at least I have seen
nothing of the sort. The artist, a frightfully stupid Makua woman, did
not make a depression in the ground to receive the pot she was about
to shape, but used instead a large potsherd. Otherwise, she went to
work in much the same way as Salim’s mother, except that she saved
herself the trouble of walking round and round her work by squatting
at her ease and letting the pot and potsherd rotate round her; this is
surely the first step towards a machine. But it does not follow that
the pot was improved by the process. It is true that it was beautifully
rounded and presented a very creditable appearance when finished,
but the numerous large and small vessels which I have seen, and, in
part, collected, in the “less advanced” districts, are no less so. We
moderns imagine that instruments of precision are necessary to
produce excellent results. Go to the prehistoric collections of our
museums and look at the pots, urns and bowls of our ancestors in the
dim ages of the past, and you will at once perceive your error.
MAKING LONGITUDINAL CUT IN
BARK

DRAWING THE BARK OFF THE LOG

REMOVING THE OUTER BARK

 BEATING THE BARK

WORKING THE BARK-CLOTH AFTER BEATING, TO MAKE IT

SOFT

MANUFACTURE OF BARK-CLOTH AT NEWALA

To-day, nearly the whole population of German East Africa is
clothed in imported calico. This was not always the case; even now in
some parts of the north dressed skins are still the prevailing wear,
and in the north-western districts—east and north of Lake
Tanganyika—lies a zone where bark-cloth has not yet been
superseded. Probably not many generations have passed since such
bark fabrics and kilts of skins were the only clothing even in the
south. Even to-day, large quantities of this bright-red or drab
material are still to be found; but if we wish to see it, we must look in
the granaries and on the drying stages inside the native huts, where
it serves less ambitious uses as wrappings for those seeds and fruits
which require to be packed with special care. The salt produced at
Masasi, too, is packed for transport to a distance in large sheets of
bark-cloth. Wherever I found it in any degree possible, I studied the
process of making this cloth. The native requisitioned for the
purpose arrived, carrying a log between two and three yards long and
as thick as his thigh, and nothing else except a curiously-shaped
mallet and the usual long, sharp and pointed knife which all men and
boys wear in a belt at their backs without a sheath—horribile dictu!
[51]
Silently he squats down before me, and with two rapid cuts has
drawn a couple of circles round the log some two yards apart, and
slits the bark lengthwise between them with the point of his knife.
With evident care, he then scrapes off the outer rind all round the
log, so that in a quarter of an hour the inner red layer of the bark
shows up brightly-coloured between the two untouched ends. With
some trouble and much caution, he now loosens the bark at one end,
and opens the cylinder. He then stands up, takes hold of the free
edge with both hands, and turning it inside out, slowly but steadily
pulls it off in one piece. Now comes the troublesome work of
scraping all superfluous particles of outer bark from the outside of
the long, narrow piece of material, while the inner side is carefully
scrutinised for defective spots. At last it is ready for beating. Having
signalled to a friend, who immediately places a bowl of water beside
him, the artificer damps his sheet of bark all over, seizes his mallet,
lays one end of the stuff on the smoothest spot of the log, and
hammers away slowly but continuously. “Very simple!” I think to
myself. “Why, I could do that, too!”—but I am forced to change my
opinions a little later on; for the beating is quite an art, if the fabric is
not to be beaten to pieces. To prevent the breaking of the fibres, the
stuff is several times folded across, so as to interpose several
thicknesses between the mallet and the block. At last the required
state is reached, and the fundi seizes the sheet, still folded, by both
ends, and wrings it out, or calls an assistant to take one end while he
holds the other. The cloth produced in this way is not nearly so fine
and uniform in texture as the famous Uganda bark-cloth, but it is
quite soft, and, above all, cheap.
Now, too, I examine the mallet. My craftsman has been using the
simpler but better form of this implement, a conical block of some
hard wood, its base—the striking surface—being scored across and
across with more or less deeply-cut grooves, and the handle stuck
into a hole in the middle. The other and earlier form of mallet is
shaped in the same way, but the head is fastened by an ingenious
network of bark strips into the split bamboo serving as a handle. The
observation so often made, that ancient customs persist longest in
connection with religious ceremonies and in the life of children, here
finds confirmation. As we shall soon see, bark-cloth is still worn
during the unyago,[52] having been prepared with special solemn
ceremonies; and many a mother, if she has no other garment handy,
will still put her little one into a kilt of bark-cloth, which, after all,
looks better, besides being more in keeping with its African
surroundings, than the ridiculous bit of print from Ulaya.
MAKUA WOMEN