Organizational Behaviour

Hailemichael Mulie (MBA, MA, M.COM, PhD)

 Chapter One
Meaning, Analysis and current status of OB

• Introduction: The study of Organizational Behavior (OB) is very

interesting and challenging too.
• It is related to individuals, group of people working together in
teams.
• The study of organizational behavior relates to the expected
behavior of an individual in the organization.
• No two individuals are likely to behave in the same manner in a
particular work situation.
• It is the human factor that is contributory to the productivity hence
the study of human behavior is important.
. Great importance therefore must be attached to the study.
Researchers, management practitioners, psychologists, and social
scientists must understand the very credentials of an individual, his
background, social framework, educational update, impact of social
groups and other situational factors on behavior.
 Definitions
• “OB is a field of study that investigates the impact that individuals,
groups and organizational structure have on behavior within the
organization, for the purpose of applying such knowledge towards
improving an organizational effectiveness”.
• The above definition has three main elements;
• first OB is an investigative study of individuals and groups, second, the
impact of organizational structure on human behavior third, the
application of knowledge to achieve organizational effectiveness.
• OB can be defined as – “the study and application of knowledge about
human behavior related to other elements of an organization such as
structure, technology and social systems (LM Prasad).
• Stephen P Robins defines “Organizational behavior as a systematic
study of the actions and attitudes that people exhibit within
organizations.”
• Organizational behavior (OB) is a field of study devoted to
understanding, explaining, and ultimately improving the attitudes and
 Contributing fields to OB/its relation with other fields
• Psychology: Psychology is an applied science, which attempts
to explain human behavior in a particular situation and
predicts actions of individuals.
• contributed towards various theories on learning,
motivation, personality, training and development, theories
on individual decision making, leadership, job satisfaction,
performance appraisal, attitude, ego state, job design, work
stress and conflict management.
• Sociology: Science of Sociology studies the impact of culture
on group behavior. Contributed to a large extent to the field
of group-dynamics, roles that individual plays in the
organization, communication, norms, status, power, conflict
management, formal organization theory, group forming
processes and group decision-making.
 Cont’d
• Social psychology: Working organizations are formal assembly
of people who are assigned specific jobs and play a vital role in
formulating human behavior. It is a subject where concept of
psychology and sociology are blend to achieve better human
behavior in organization.
• The field has contributed to manage change, group decision-
making, communication and ability of people in the
organization, to maintain social norms.

• Anthropology: It is a field of study relating to human activities

in various cultural and environmental frameworks. It
understands difference in behavior based on value system of
different cultures of various countries. The study is more
relevant to organizational behavior today due to globalization,
mergers and acquisitions of various industries.
 Challenges of Organization Behavior(OB)
1. Challenges at the Individual Level
• At the individual level, managers and employees need to
learn how to work with people who may be different from
themselves in a variety of dimensions, including personality,
perception, values, and attitudes.
• where employees have a variety of experiences and come
from several cultures.
• Individuals also have different levels of job satisfaction and
motivation, and these affect how managers manage
employees.
• For instance, some employees may be drug and alcohol
dependencies that affected their motivation and productivity.
• More organizations expect employees to be empowered and
to take on more responsibility than ever before.
 contd
2. Challenges at the Group Level
• The behavior of people in groups is more than the sum total of all the
individuals acting in their own way. People’s behavior when they are in a
group differs from their behavior when they are alone. Therefore, the next
step in developing an understanding of OB is the study of group behavior.
A. Working With Others
• Much of the success in any job involves developing good interpersonal, or
“people,” skills. “Human Skill”
B. Workforce Diversity
• Organizations are becoming more diverse, employing a greater variety of
people in terms of gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and age. A
diverse workforce includes, for instance, women, Aboriginal peoples, Asian,
Africa, Canadians, etc
• African Canadians, Indo-Canadians, people with disabilities, gays and
lesbians, and senior citizens. It also includes people with different
demographic characteristics, such as education and socio-economic status.
The ability to adapt to many different people is one of the most important
and broad-based challenges facing organizations.
 contd
3. Challenges at the Organizational Level
• OB becomes more complex when we move to the organizational
level of analysis. Just as groups are not the sum total of
individuals, so organizations are not the sum total of individuals
and groups. There are many more interacting factors that place
constraints on individual and group behavior.
A. Productivity
• An organization or group is productive if it achieves its goals and
does so by transferring inputs (labor and raw materials) to
outputs (finished goods or services) at the lowest cost.
• Productivity implies a concern for both effectiveness (achieving
goals) and efficiency (watching costs).
• The late management expert Peter Drucker stated that
effectiveness is “doing the right thing,” while efficiency is “doing
things right.”
 contd
B. Developing Effective Employees
• One of the major challenges facing organizations in the
twenty-first century is how to engage employees effectively
so that they are committed to the organization. We use the
term organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) to describe
discretionary behavior that is not part of an employee’s
formal job requirements, but that nevertheless promotes the
effective functioning of the organization. Recent research has
also looked at expanding the work on OCB to team behavior.
C. Global Competition
The world has come to do business under one umbrella.
• In recent years, businesses have faced tough competition
with world wide competitors. Therefore, to survive, they
have to reduce costs, increase productivity, and improve
quality.
 OB Past and Present Status
1. The Human Relations Movement
• Despite the economic progress brought about in part by Scientific
Management, critics were calling attention to the
"seamy/unpleasant side of progress," which included severe
labor/management conflict, apathy/lack of concern, boredom,
and wasted human resources. These concerns lead a number of
researchers to examine the discrepancy between how an
organization was supposed to work versus how the workers
actually behaved. In addition, factors like World War I,
developments in psychology (eg. Freud) and later the depression,
all brought into question some of the basic assumptions of the
Scientific Management School.
• One of the primary critics of the time, Elton Mayo, claimed that
this "alienation" stemmed from the breakdown of the social
structures caused by industrialization, the factory system, and its
related outcomes like growing urbanization.
 contd
• The credit of highlighting the importance of informal social
groups, good human relation, and the needs for
managerial motivation, participation,
better communication, good leadership and committee
management goes to this school of thought.
• McGregor’s theory ‘Y’ is heavily human relation oriented.
The theory made it explicit that group relationships are the
key to behavior.
• It throws light on how and why individuals and group
behavior influences workers motivation, supervision,
communication pattern and productivity.
• Human relations theories also helped to provide a better
explanation of why people in Organizations behave as they
do by stressing and exploring the role of group.
 The Hawthorne Studies (1939)

• The Hawthorne Studies were done at the Hawthorne Plant of the

Western Electric Company from the late 1920s to the mid-1930s.
The plant produced various parts for telephone switching systems.
• This research was a landmark work done in the social sciences in the
United States. The Hawthorne Studies were preceded and
stimulated by the illumination experiments done in the Hawthorne
Plant in the early 1920s. These studies were designed to determine
whether various lighting levels affected human productivity.
• The experimental design used a control group where lighting was
not varied.
• An experimental group experienced changes in light levels. The
results of the experiments baffled the investigators. They increased
the lighting and productivity went up. Then it was decreased, and
productivity went up. The lighting was severely reduced, and
productivity went up. The lighting for the control group was not
changed, but the groups’ productivity also increased.
 contd
• Eventually, the researchers concluded that simply being
part of the experiment, which focused new and greater
attention on the workers, increased productivity. Previously,
interaction between supervisors and coworkers was limited.
It had focused mainly on the work, not on the workers
themselves.
• Following the illumination experiments, several researchers
from Harvard University began studying some groups of
workers in the plant.
• Their goal was to understand the factors that contributed to
differences in human productivity. The researchers
concluded that a more empathic or people – oriented form
of management led to more productivity than a directive,
authoritarian, and money - oriented form of management.
 contd
• Some researchers doing secondary analyses of data published
in the original reports have come to varying conclusions. One
researcher found support for a driving form of management
and use of monetary incentives.
• He felt the researchers moved from presenting descriptive
results to promoting a new form of management. By
doing so, the original Hawthorne researchers went well beyond
the results of their research.
The importance of the Hawthorne went well beyond the results
of their research organizations should not be diminished by
disputes about research design and research results.
Although strong conclusions cannot be drawn directly from the
research studies were impetuses to further developing our
understanding about behavior in organizations.
 ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR IN THE 21ST CENTURY

• Information technology is a major force driving change. We are

experiencing the rapid integration of information across all industries
everywhere, yet it is still people who invent, direct, guide, and
manage change in their own careers and in the boundary less
organization. This text relates organizational behavior topics to
managing dynamic body of knowledge that can be used to
understand and manage a wide technological change as a driver of
performance and integration. “Business @ the speed of thought” is a
major factor of competitive advantage.
• Another set of success factors that lead to competitive advantage are
developing and sustaining world-class products and services with
Internet speed and meeting and exceeding customer demand.
Organizations are adapting by reengineering, reinventing,
restructuring, and rethinking their strategies, structures, and
expertise around web-based, Internet integrated business processes.
Not all organizations are changing at the same pace or on the same
scale.
 contd
• However, Internet-driven networks and software applications have
produced a type of “digital Darwinism”.
• 1. Internationalism : People and Situations: Internationalism is a relatively
new approach to understanding behavior in organizational settings.
• First presented in terms of interactional psychology, this view assumes that
individual behavior results from a continuous and multidirectional
interaction between characteristics of the person and characteristics of the
situation.
• More specifically, internationalism attempts to explain how people select,
Organization Behavior—Text and Cases interpret, and change various
situations.
 When people enter an organization, their own behaviors and actions
shape that organization in various ways. Similarly, the organization itself
shapes the behaviors and actions of each individual who becomes a part
of it.
• This interactionist perspective can be useful in explaining organizational
behavior.
 contd
• Organizational behavior is the study of human behavior in
organizational settings, the interface between human behavior and
the organization, and the organization itself. The study of
organizational behavior is important because organizations have a
powerful influence over our lives.
• ! Serious interest in the study of management first developed around
the beginning of this century.
• Two of the earliest approaches were scientific management (best
represented by the work of Taylor) and classical organization theory
(exemplified by the work of Weber) i.e. Bureaucracy.
• ! Organizational behavior began to emerge as a scientific discipline as
a result of the Hawthorne studies.
• McGregor and Maslow led the human relations movement that grew
from those studies.
• ! Contemporary organizational behavior attempts to describe, rather
than prescribe, behavioral forces in organizations.
 contd
• Ties to psychology, sociology, anthropology, political
science, economics, engineering, and medicine make
organizational behavior an interdisciplinary field.
• ! The basic concepts of the field are divided into
three categories : individual processes, interpersonal
processes, and organizational process and
characteristics.
• Those categories from the framework for the
organization of this book and Important contextual
perspectives on the field of organizational behavior
are the systems and contingency perspectives,
interactionalism, and contemporary applied
perspectives.
 Virtual Organization

• Virtual Organization popularly known as ‘E’ Organization will have the following
characteristics:
• 1. There are no generally accepted rules. There are no established and proven e-org
models or strategic plans. What worked in March may be scrapped in May. E-orgs in their
infancy and players are being forced toe experiment.
• 2. Victory goes to the quick. Fast to no longer fast enough. It used to be that the big
would eat the small. In an e-word, the fast eat the slow. Competition is forcing e-
organizations to make decisions quickly, develop new products and service in record time,
move into market fast, and be able to respond to competitive actions immediately.
• 3. Location doesn’t matter. In the past, the people you hired, the suppliers you used, and
the customers you serviced were largely defined by your geographic location. For instance,
you hired from the labor pool from Bangalore to New Delhi or from Hawassa- Addiss or
tried to entire prospective employees to move from where they lived to where your
organization was located.
• Now, through network linkages, employers in remote locations can have access to the best
and brightest. And talented people no longer have to move their residence to pursue job
opportunities in faraway places.
• 4. Integrated information is everything. Intranets, extranets and the internet have
changed the way that information can move inside organizations. Open and integrated
information systems allow bypassing of traditional organizational hierarchies; making it easy
for employees and managers alike to track projects, democratizing internal decision making;
and closely linking organizations to their suppliers, partners, and customers.
 Chapter Two : Individual Differences and Work behavior
Dealing with diversity and individual differences has to be included among the
most important issues challenging all managers.
Different Components of Individual Difference
Values and Attitudes
• Values can be defined as broad preferences concerning appropriate
courses of action or outcomes. As such, values reflect a person’s sense of
right and wrong or what “ought” to be.
• Sources and Types of Values
• Parents, friends, teachers, and external reference groups can all influence
individual values.
• The noted psychologist Milton Rokeach has developed a well-known set of
values classified into two broad categories.
• Terminal values reflect a person’s preferences concerning the “ends” to be
achieved; they are the goals individuals would like to achieve during their
lifetime.
• Instrumental values reflect the “means” for achieving desired ends. They
represent how you might go about achieving your important end states.
 Gordon Allport lassification of Values
• These values fall into six major types
• Theoretical—Interest in the discovery of truth through
reasoning and systematic thinking.
• Economic—Interest in usefulness and practicality, including
the accumulation of wealth.
• Aesthetic—Interest in beauty, form, and artistic harmony.
• Social—Interest in people( Affection) and love as a human
relationship.
• Political—Interest in gaining power and influencing other
people.
• Religious—Interest in unity and in understanding the
cosmos/heavens as a whole.
 2. Attitudes
• A simpler definition of attitude is a mindset or a tendency to act in a
particular way due to both an individual’s experience and temperament
( nature).
• Attitudes are influenced by values and are acquired from the same sources as
values: friends, teachers, parents, and role models. Attitudes focus on specific
people or objects.
• an attitude is a predisposition to respond in a positive or negative way to
someone or something in one’s environment.(like , dislike)
• A work-related attitudes.
1. The behavioral component is an intention to behave in a certain way based
on your specific feelings or attitudes.
• Attitudes and Cognitive Consistency Leon Festinger, a noted social
psychologist, uses the term cognitive dissonance to describe a state of
inconsistency between an individual’s attitudes and his or her behavior.
• Cognitive dissonance refers to any inconsistency that a person perceives
between two or more of one’s attitudes or between one’s behavior and
attitudes. E.g. smoking
2. The affective component of an attitude is a specific feeling regarding the
 Aptitudes, Abilities and Skills
• Aptitude represents a person’s capability of learning
something, whereas:
• ability reflects a person’s existing capacity to perform the
various tasks needed for a given job and includes both
relevant knowledge and skills.
• In other words, aptitudes are potential/likely abilities,
whereas abilities are the knowledge and skills that an
individual currently possesses.
• Aptitudes and abilities are important considerations for a
manager when initially hiring or selecting candidates for a
job.
 Managerial skills and competencies

• A skill is an ability to translate knowledge into action that results in a

desired performance. Robert Katz divides the essential managerial
skills into three categories: technical, human, and conceptual.
• Technical Skills A technical skill is an ability to perform specialized
tasks.
• Such ability derives from knowledge or expertise gained from
education or experience.
• This skill involves proficiency at using select methods, processes,
and procedures to accomplish tasks. Highly required at lower level
management.
• Human Skills Central to managerial work and team leadership are
human skills, or the ability to work well with other people. They
emerge as a spirit of trust, enthusiasm, and genuine involvement in
interpersonal relationships.

• .
 contd
• Conceptual Skills All good managers are able to view
the organization or situation as a whole and to solve
problems to the benefit of everyone concerned.
• It is a cognitive skill, highly required at top level mgmt.
• This capacity to analyze and solve complex and
interrelated problems is a conceptual skill.
• It involves the ability to see and understand how the
whole organizational system works, and how the parts
are interrelated.
• Conceptual skill is used to identify problems and
opportunities, gather and interpret relevant
information, and make good problem-solving decisions
that serve the organization’s purpose.
 Personality
• Definition: What is personality?
• Personality is a dynamic organization, inside the person, of
psychophysical systems that create the person’s characteristic patterns
of behavior, thoughts and feelings.( G.W. Allport, 1961).
• More or less stable, internal factors . . . make one person’s behavior
consistent from one time to another, and different from the behavior
other people would manifest in comparable situations. (Child, 1968)
• The term personality represents the overall profile or combination of
characteristics that capture the unique nature of a person as that
person reacts and interacts with others.

• Personality combines a set of physical and mental characteristics that

reflect how a person looks, thinks, acts, and feels.
• An understanding of personality contributes to an understanding of
organizational behavior in that we expect a predictable interplay
between an individual’s personality and his or her tendency to behave
in certain ways.
 Personality Determinants

• Brain storming/discussion point

• Is personality inherited hereditary
determined, or is it formed by experience?
• You may have heard someone say something
like, “She acts like her mother.” Similarly,
someone may argue that “mr Mohammed is
the way he is because of the way he was
raised. "what it Implies?
 contd
• These two arguments illustrate the nature/nurture controversy:
• Is personality determined by heredity, that is, by genetic
endowment, or by one’s environment? These two forces
actually operate in combination.
• Heredity consists of those factors that are determined at
conception, including physical characteristics, gender, and
personality factors.
• Environment consists of cultural, social, and situational factors.
• The impact of heredity on personality continues to be the
source of considerable debate.
• Perhaps the most general conclusion we can draw is that
heredity sets the limits on just how much personality
characteristics can be developed; environment determines
development within these limits.
 Traits and Classifications (Goldberg, 1993)
1. The Big five model or Taxonomy

• Extraversion vs introversion - Outgoing, Gregariousness (sociable)

Assertiveness (forceful) Activity (energetic) Excitement-seeking
(adventurous) Positive emotions (enthusiastic) Warmth (outgoing).
• Agreeableness vs. antagonism- good-natured, trusting, cooperative, Trust
(forgiving) Straightforwardness (not demanding) Altruism (warm)
Compliance (not stubborn) Modesty (not show-off/boasting) Tender-
mindedness (sympathetic).
• Conscientiousness vs lack of direction -Responsible, dependable,
persistent, Competence (efficient) Order (organized) Dutifulness (not
careless) Achievement striving (thorough) Self-discipline (not lazy)
Deliberation (not impulsive).

• Neuroticism vs Emotional stability - worried, insecure, Anxiety (tense)

Angry hostility (irritable) Depression (not contented) Self-consciousness
(shy) Impulsiveness (moody) Vulnerability (not self-confident)
• Openness to experience vs closed to experience - Imaginative, curious,
broad-minded, Fantasy (imaginative) Aesthetics (artistic) Actions (wide
interests) Feelings (excitable) Values (unconventional).
 2. social traits, personal conception traits, and
emotional adjustment traits,
A. Social traits are surface-level traits that reflect the way a
person appears to others when interacting in various social
settings.
• Sensation type people: prefer routine and order and
emphasize well-defined details in gathering information
• Institutive type people: - type individuals prefer the “big
picture.” They like solving new problems, dislike routine
information.
B. personal conception traits
• The personal conception traits represent the way
individuals tend to think about their social and
physical setting as well as their major beliefs and
personal orientation concerning a range of issues.
 Contd
Locus of Control The extent to which a person feels able to control his or
1.

her own life is concerned with a person’s internal–external orientation.

• People have personal conceptions about whether events are controlled
primarily by themselves, which indicates an internal orientation, or by
outside forces, such as their social and physical environment, which
indicates an external orientation. Internals, or persons with an internal
locus of control, believe that they control their own fate or destiny. In
contrast, externals.

2. Authoritarianism/Dogmatism: Both “authoritarianism “and “dogmatism

“deal with the rigidity of a person’s beliefs. A person high in
authoritarianism tends to adhere rigidly to conventional/conservative
values and to obey recognized authority.

• This person is concerned with toughness and power and opposes the
use of subjective feelings.
. Dogmatism: An individual high in dogmatism sees the world as a
threatening place.
 contd
• From an ethical standpoint, we can expect highly authoritarian
individuals to present a special problem because they are so
susceptible to authority that in their eagerness to comply they may
behave unethically. For example, Nazis who were involved in war
crimes during World War II were high in authoritarianism or
dogmatism.
3. Machiavellianism The third personal conceptions dimension is
Machiavellianism, which owes its origins to Niccolo Machiavelli.
(Italian) The very name of this sixteenth-century author evokes
visions of a master of guile, deceit, and opportunism in interpersonal
relations. Machiavelli earned his place in history by writing.

• The Prince, a nobleman’s guide to the acquisition and use of power.

The subject of Machiavelli’s book is manipulation as the basic means
of gaining and keeping control of others. From its pages emerges the
personality profile of a Machiavellian—someone who views and
manipulates others purely for personal gain.
 Machiavellianism: The personality characteristic of
Machiavellianism (Mach) is named after Nccolo Machiavelli,
who wrote in the sixteenth century on how to gain and use
power.
High in Machiavellianism:
An individual high in Machiavellianism is pragmatic, maintains
emotional distance.
High Machs manipulate more, win more, are persuaded less,
and persuade others more than do low Machs. It has been
found that high Machs flourish when they interact face to face
with others rather than indirectly;
In jobs that require bargaining skills (such as labor negotiation)
or that offer substantial rewards for winning (as in
commissioned sales), high Machs will be productive.
 contd
4. Self-Monitoring A final personal conceptions trait of special
importance to managers is self-monitoring.
Self-monitoring reflects a person’s ability to adjust his or her behavior
to external, situational (environmental) factors.
High self-monitoring individuals are sensitive to external cues and
tend to behave differently in different situations.
High self-monitors can present a very different appearance from their
true self.
In contrast, low self-monitors, aren’t able to disguise/mask their
behaviors— “what you see is what you get.” observe friends in
your office.
There is also evidence that high self-monitors are closely attuned to
the behavior of others and conform more readily than do low self-
monitors.
 C. Emotional adjustment traits

• The emotional adjustment traits measure how much an individual

experiences emotional distress or displays unacceptable acts. Often
the person’s health is affected. Although numerous such traits are
cited in the literature, a frequently encountered one especially
important for OB is the Type A/Type B orientation.
• Type A and Type B Orientation
Type A orientation are characterized by impatience, desire for
achievement, and perfectionism. tend to work fast and to be abrupt,
uncomfortable, irritable, and aggressive.
• Type A managers are detail oriented and with high performance
standard which leads resistance to change, overzealous/enthusiastic
control of subordinates, and various kinds of interpersonal
difficulties, which may even include threats and physical violence.
Type B orientations in contrast are characterized as more easygoing
and less competitive in relation to daily events. Type B managers tend
to be much more laid back and patient in their dealings with co-
workers and subordinates.
Type “A” & “B” Personality:

Type ‘A’s: A person with a Type “A” personality is “aggressively

involved in a chronic, incessant struggle to achieve more and
more in less and less time, and, if required to do so, against the
opposing efforts of other things or other persons”.

Type “A” Personalities are:

i. are always moving, walking, and eating rapidly;
ii. feel impatient with the rate at which most events take place;
iii. strive to think or do two or more things at once;
iv. cannot cope with leisure time;
v. measuring their success in terms of how many or how much
of everything they acquire.
 Perception
Definition: Perception
• Perception is the process by which people select, organize, interpret,
retrieve, and respond to information from the world around them.
• This information is gathered from the five senses of sight, hearing,
touch, taste, and smell.
• The perceptions or responses of any two people are also not
necessarily identical, even when they are describing the same event.
• Through perception, people process information inputs into
responses involving feelings and action. Perception is a way of
forming impressions about oneself, other people, and daily life
experiences. It also serves as a screen or filter through which
information passes before it has an effect on people.

• The quality or accuracy of a person’s perceptions, therefore, has a

major impact on his or her responses to a given situation. Perceptual
responses are also likely to vary between managers and subordinates.
 Factors influencing the perceptual process

• The factors that contribute to perceptual differences and the

perceptual process among people at work are summarized here
under
• The Perceiver A person’s past experiences, needs or motives,
personality, and values and attitudes may all influence the
perceptual process. A person with a strong achievement need
tends to perceive a situation in terms of that need. If you see doing
well in class as a way to help meet your achievement.
• The Setting The physical, social, and organizational context of the
perceptual setting also can influence the perceptual process.

• The Perceived Characteristics of the perceived person, object, or

event, such as contrast, intensity, size, motion, and repetition or
novelty, are also important in the perceptual process.
• Intensity can vary in terms of brightness, color, depth, sound, and
the like.
 Stages of the perceptual process
1. Attention and Selection Our senses are constantly bombarded with so
much information that if we don’t screen it, we quickly become
incapacitated with information overload. Selective screening lets in
only a tiny proportion of all of the information available.
2. Organization Even though selective screening takes place in the
attention stage, it is still necessary to find ways to organize the
information efficiently.
• Schemas help us do this. Schemas are cognitive frameworks that
represent organized knowledge about a given concept or stimulus
developed through experience. A mental model or
representation built up through experience about a
person, an object, a situation, or an event.”
• A self schema contains information about a person’s own appearance,
behavior, and personality. For instance, a person with a
decisiveness/certainity schema tends to perceive him or herself in
terms of that aspect, especially in circumstances calling for leadership.
 contd
• Person schemas refer to the way individuals sort others into
categories, such as types or groups, in terms of similar perceived
features. The term prototype, or stereotype, is often used to
represent these categories; it is an abstract set of features
commonly associated with members of that category.
• A script schema is defined as a knowledge framework that
describes the appropriate sequence of events in a given situation.
For example, an experienced manager would use a script schema
to think about the appropriate steps involved in running a meeting
or decision.
3. Interpretation Once your attention has been drawn to certain
stimuli and you have grouped or organized this information, the
next step is to uncover the reasons behind the actions.
That is, even if your attention is called to the same information and
you organize it in the same way your friend does, you may
interpret it differently or make different attributions about the
 Contd
• Retrieval So far, we have discussed the stages of the
perceptual process as if they all occurred at the same
time.
• However, to do so ignores the important component
of memory. Each of the previous stages forms part of
that memory and contributes to the stimuli or
information stored there.
• The information stored in our memory must be
retrieved if it is to be used. This leads us to the
retrieval stage of the perceptual process.
• All of us at times can’t retrieve information stored in
our memory. More commonly, our memory decays,
so that only some of the information is retrieved.
 Common Perceptual Distortions/errors

• 1. Stereotypes or prototypes
• Earlier, when discussing person schemas, we described
stereotypes, or prototypes, as useful ways of combining
information in order to deal with information overload.
• At the same time, we pointed out how stereotypes can
cause inaccuracies in retrieving information, along with
some further problems. In particular, stereotypes
obscure individual differences.
• that is, they can prevent managers from getting to know
people as individuals and from accurately assessing their
needs, preferences, and abilities.
• We compared these stereotypes with research results
and showed the errors that can occur when stereotypes
are relied on for decision making.
 2. Halo effects

• A halo effect occurs when one attribute of a person or situation

is used to develop an overall impression of the individual or
situation.
• Halo effects are common in our everyday lives. When meeting a
new person, for example, a pleasant smile can lead to a positive
first impression of an overall “warm” and “honest” person.
• The result of a halo effect is the same as that associated with a
stereotype, however: Individual differences are obscured.
• Halo effects are particularly important in the performance
appraisal process because they can influence a manager’s
evaluations of subordinates’ work performance.
• For example, people with good attendance records tend to be
viewed as intelligent and responsible.
 3. Selective perception
• Selective perception is the tendency to single out those aspects of
a situation, person, or object that are consistent with one’s needs,
values, or attitudes.
• Its strongest impact occurs in the attention stage of the perceptual
process.
• This perceptual distortion is identified in a classic research study
involving executives in a manufacturing company. When asked to
identify the key problem in a comprehensive business policy case,
each executive selected problems consistent with his or her
functional area work assignments.
• For example, most marketing executives viewed the key problem
area as sales, whereas production people tended to see the
problem as one of production and organization.
• These differing viewpoints would affect how the executive would
approach the problem; they might also create difficulties once
these people tried to work together to improve things.
 4. Projection
• Projection is the assignment of one’s personal attributes to other
individuals; it is especially likely to occur in the interpretation
stage of perception.
• It is the tendency for people to see their own traits/qualities in
others.
• A classic projection error is illustrated by managers who assume
that the needs of their subordinates and their own coincide.
• Suppose, for example, that you enjoy responsibility and
achievement in your work. Suppose, too, that you are the newly
appointed manager of a group whose jobs seem dull and routine.
• You may move quickly to expand these jobs to help the workers
achieve increased satisfaction from more challenging tasks
because you want them to experience things that you,
personally, value in work.
• If you project your needs onto the subordinates, individual
differences are lost. Instead of designing the subordinates’ jobs
to fit their needs best, you have designed their jobs to fit your
 5. Contrast effects

• Here, we show the perceptual distortion that can occur when, say, a person
gives a talk following a strong speaker or is interviewed for a job following a
series of mediocre/average applicants. We can expect a contrast effect to
occur when an individual’s characteristics are contrasted with those of
others recently encountered who rank higher or lower on the same
characteristics.
• Clearly, both managers and employees need to be aware of the possible
perceptual distortion the contrast effect may create in many work settings.
6. Prejudice
• Prejudice is an unfounded dislike of a person or group based on their
belonging to a particular stereotyped group. For instance, an individual may
dislike people of a particular religion, or state that she does not want to
work with someone of a particular ethnicity.
• Prejudice can lead to negative consequences in the workplace and, in
particular, to discrimination.
7. Similar to me mirrors: people use them selves as a benchmark in
perceiving others. This implies a similar to me mirrors.
 Perceptual Grouping
• Grouping is the tendency to curb individual stimuli in to meaningful
patterns. For example if we perceive objects or people with similar
characteristics, we tend to group them together and this organizing
mechanism helps us to deal with information in an efficient way rather
than getting bogged down and confused with so many details. Some
examples of groupings are;
A. Similarity: the principle of similarity states that, the greater the
similarity of the stimuli, the greater the tendency to perceive them as
common group. it is exemplified when objects of similar shape, size,
color tend to be group together.
Eg. Visitors to a certain plant with white hats and the supervisor with blue
hat, the employees can easily identify all the white hats as visitors.
B. Proximity: The law of nearness -all other things being equal, stimuli
that are near each other tend to be group together.
C. Closure: the principle of closure relates to the tendencies of people to
perceive objects as a whole, even when some parts of the object are
missing. E. g..Triangles, rectangles, circles w/c are not with full shape
 contd
• Continuity: continuity is related to closure but there is
some difference. Closure supplies missing stimuli,
where as the continuity principle says that a person
will tend to perceive continuous lines of pattern. The
continuity may lead to inflexible non creative thinking
on the part of the organizational participants.
• Only the obvious patterns or relationships will be
perceived.
• Because of this type of perception the inflexible
managers may require that employers follow a set
and step by step routine leaving no ground for
implementation of out of line innovative ideas.
 Motivation
• Meaning and Definition of motivation
• Motivation refers to forces within an individual that account for the
level, direction, and persistence of effort expended at work.
• Motivation is the set of processes that move a person toward a goal.
Thus, motivated behaviors are voluntary choices controlled by the
individual employee.

• Motivation is to inspire people to work, individually or in groups in the

ways such as to produce best results. It is the will to act. It is the
willingness to exert high levels of effort towards organizational goals,
conditioned by the efforts and ability to satisfy some individual need.
• It was once assumed that motivation had to be injected from outside,
but it is now understood that everyone is motivated by several
differing forces.
• Factors that affect work motivation include individual differences, job
characteristics, and organizational practices.
 Theories of Motivation

1. Content Theories
• The content approach emphasizes what motivates employees, focuses on
the assumption that individuals are motivated by the desire to fulfill inner
needs. Content theories focus on the needs that motivate people.
• Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs identifies five levels of needs, which are
best seen as a hierarchy with the most basic need emerging first and the
most sophisticated need last. People move up the hierarchy one level at a
time.
• Level I - Physiological needs are the most basic human needs. They
include food, water, shelter and comfort. The organization helps to satisfy
employees' physiological needs by a paycheck.
Level II - Safety needs are the desires for security and stability, to feel safe
from harm. The organization helps to satisfy employees' safety needs by
benefits, job security.
•
Level III - Social needs are the desires for affiliation. They include
friendship and belonging. The organization helps to satisfy employees'
social needs through sports teams, parties, and celebrations.
 contd
• Level IV - Esteem needs are the desires for self-respect and
respect or recognition from others. The organization helps to
satisfy employees' esteem needs by matching the skills and
abilities of the employee to the job.
Level V - Self-actualization needs are the desires for self-
fulfillment and the realization of the individual's full potential.
Eg. challenging and rewarding jobs
 Alderfer's ERG
Existence needs are the desires for material and physical well being.
These needs are satisfied with food, water, air, shelter, working
conditions, pay, and fringe benefits.

Relatedness needs are the desires to establish and maintain

interpersonal relationships. These needs are satisfied with
relationships with family, friends, supervisors, subordinates, and co-
workers.
Growth needs are the desires to be creative, to make useful and
productive contributions and to have opportunities for personal
development.
• The major conclusions of this theory are:
• In an individual, more than one need may be operative at the same
time.
• If a higher need goes unsatisfied then the desire to satisfy a lower
need intensifies.
 McClelland's Learned Needs
1. Achievement motivated people thrive on pursuing
and attaining goals. High-need achievers possess
these characteristics:
• 1. High-need achievers have a strong desire to
assume personal responsibility for performing a task
or finding a solution to a problem.
• Consequently, they tend to work alone rather than
with others. If the task requires the presence of
others, they tend to choose co-workers based upon
their competence rather than their friendship.
• 2. High-need achievers tend to set moderately
difficult goals and take calculated risks.
 contd
3. High-need achievers have a strong desire for performance
feedback.
• These individuals want to know how well they have done, and they
are anxious to receive feedback regardless of whether they have
succeeded or failed.

2. Power: motivated individuals see almost every situation as an

opportunity to seize control or dominate others. They love to
influence others. They like to change situations whether or not it is
needed. They are willing to assert themselves when a decision needs
to be made.
•
High-need for power people possesses the following characteristics:
• 1. A desire to influence and direct somebody else.
• 2. A desire to exercise control over others.
• 3. A concern for maintaining leader-follower relations.
 contd
3. Affiliation: motivated people are usually friendly and
like to socialize with others.
• This may distract them from their performance
requirements. They will usually respond to an appeal for
cooperation.
• High-need for affiliation people possesses the following
characteristics:
• 1. They have a strong desire for approval and
reassurance from others.
• 2. They have a tendency to conform to the wishes and
norms of others when they are pressured by people
whose friendships they value.
• 3. They have a sincere interest in the feelings of others.
 Herzberg's Two-Factor Theory
• describes needs in terms of satisfaction and dissatisfaction.
Frederick Herzberg examined motivation in the light of job content
and context.
• Motivating employees is a two-step process. First provide hygiene
and then motivators(job turn-ons). One continuum ranges from no
satisfaction to satisfaction.
• The other continuum ranges from dissatisfaction to no
dissatisfaction.
• Satisfaction comes from motivators that are intrinsic or job content,
such as:
achievement
– recognition
– advancement
– responsibility
– the work itself - growth
 contd
• Dissatisfaction occurs when the following hygiene factors,
extrinsic or job context, maintenance factors are not present
on the job and include:
pay
– status
– job security
– working conditions
– company policy
– peer relations
– Supervision
Herzberg uses the term hygiene for these factors because
they are preventive in nature.
They will not produce motivation, but they can prevent
motivation from occurring if they are absent.
Hygiene factors can be considered job stay-ons because they
encourage an employee to stay on a job.
contd
 “
Theory “X and Theory Y” of Douglas McGregor

McGregor, in his book “The Human side of Enterprise” states

that people inside the organization can be managed in two
ways.
The first is basically negative, which falls under the category X
and the other is basically positive, which falls under the
category Y.
After viewing the way in which the manager dealt with
employees, McGregor concluded that a manager’s view of
the nature of human beings is based on a certain grouping
of assumptions and that he or she tends to mold his or her
behavior towards subordinates according to these
assumptions.
• Under the assumptions of theory “X”:
 contd
• Employees inherently do not like work and whenever possible, will
attempt to avoid it.
• Because employees dislike work, they have to be forced, coerced or
threatened with punishment to achieve goals.
• Employees avoid responsibilities and do not work till formal directions are
issued.
• Most workers place a greater importance on security over all other
factors and display little ambition.
In contrast under the assumptions of theory Y:
• Physical and mental effort at work is as natural as rest or play.
• People do exercise self-control and self-direction and if they are
committed to those goals.
• Average human beings are willing to take responsibility and exercise
imagination, ingenuity and creativity in solving the problems of the
organization.
• That the way the things are organized, the average human being’s
brainpower is only partly used.
 Theory Z

• It is build on McGregor’s Theory Y. William Ouchi did not call his

theory “Z” as a follow on to McGregor’s “X” and “Y,” but as a polar
opposite to the typical American firm (Theory A theory).
• Theory Z companies have the following characteristics:
• Career paths wander around the firm across functions and
hierarchies.
• People in Theory Z firms possess great understanding of the total
firm.
• Decisions include a component of “suitability” and “corporate fit.”
This can only occur because of the cross-function training gained by
the wandering career paths.
• Organizational life is a life of interdependence. Each person relies on
others in the firm.
• Decisions result from a participative process.
• Extensive energy is expended to develop the interpersonal skills
necessary for effective group decision making.
 Contd

• Discussion point/ brainstorming

• Assess Your self in your organization with
theory of Y and Theory of X?
• Have you ever encounter with theory of Y and
Theory of X employees in your organization
• How do you describe them?
 Theory z contd
• People deal with people in the organization rather than one
position to another. Dealing with positions de-humanizes the
people. This is in contrast to the bureaucratic view of the position
as most important.
• People in Theory Z firms operate as clans. Individual performance
is not as important as group and team performance.
• Long-term employment and job security
• Collective responsibility
• Implicit, informal control with explicit, formalized measures
• Collective decision-making
• Slow evaluation and promotion
• Moderately specialized careers
• Concern for a total person, including their family
 2. Process Theories

• The process approach emphasizes how and why people choose

certain behaviors in order to meet their personal goals. Process
theories focus on external influences or behaviors that people
choose to meet their needs.
A. Vroom's Expectancy Model :The theory argues that the
strength of a tendency to act in a specific way depends on the
strength of an expectation that the act will be followed by a given
outcome and on the attractiveness of that outcome to the
individual. Expectancy theory says that an employee can be
motivated to perform better when there is a belief that the better
performance will lead to good performance..
Vroom’s Expectancy Theory states that behavior is a result of: (1) the
importance of a reward, (2) the extent that the behavior will result
in the reward, and (3) the likelihood that the reward will materialize.
Vroom uses the terms valence, instrumentality and expectancy to
describe his theory. Motivation = Valence Expectancy.
 contd
• The theory focuses on three things:
• Efforts and performance relationship (expectancy).
• Performance and reward relationship (instrumentality).
• Rewards and personal goal relationship (valence).
• Expectancy is the belief that efforts are linked to performance.
A person’s level of expectancy determines whether he or she
believes that a high level of effort will result in a high level of
performance.
• Instrumentality is a person’s perception about the extent to
which performance at a certain level will result in the attainment
of outcomes.
• Valence is the importance placed upon the reward. It refers to
how desirable each of the out comes available from a job or
organization is to a person.
 2.Equity Theory

• Equity is the perception of fairness involved in rewards given. A fair or

equitable situation is one in which people with similar inputs
experience similar outcomes.
• Employees will compare their rewards with the rewards received by
others for their efforts. If employees perceive that an inequity exists,
they are likely to withhold some of their contributions, either
consciously or unconsciously, to bring a situation into better balance.
• For example, if someone thinks he or she is not getting enough pay
(output) for his or her work (input), he or she will try to get that pay
increased or reduce the amount of work he or she is doing.
• On the other hand, when a worker thinks he or she is being paid too
much for the work he or she is doing, he or she tends to increase the
amount of work.
• Not only do workers compare their own inputs and outputs; they
compare their input/output ratio with the input/output ratio of other
workers.
contd
contd
 3. Reinforcement Theory

• The reinforcement theory, based on E. L. Thorndike’s law of effect,

simply looks at the relationship between behavior and its consequences.
This theory focuses on modifying an employee’s on-the-job behavior
through the appropriate use of one of the following techniques:
– Positive reinforcement rewards desirable behavior. Positive
reinforcement, such as a pay raise or promotion, is provided as a
reward for positive behavior with the intention of increasing the
probability that the desired behavior will be repeated.
– Negative reinforcement occurs when a person engages in behavior
to avoid unpleasant consequences or to escape from existing
unpleasant consequences.

– Punishment is an attempt to discourage a target behavior by the

application of negative outcomes whenever it is possible.
Punishment (threats, pay cut suspension) is an attempt to decrease
the likelihood of a behavior recurring by applying negative
consequences.
 4.Jeremy Bentham’s “The Carrot and the Stick Approach”

• Possibly the essence of the traditional view of people at work can be best
appreciated by a brief look at the work of this English philosopher, whose
ideas were also developed in the early years of the Industrial Revolution,
around 1800. Bentham’s view was that all people are self-interested and
are motivated by the desire to avoid pain and find pleasure.
• Any worker will work only if the reward is big enough, or the punishment
sufficiently unpleasant. This view - the ‘carrot and stick’ approach - was
built into the philosophies of the age and is still to be found, especially in
the older, more traditional sectors of industry.
• The various leading theories of motivation and motivators seldom make
reference to the carrot and the stick. This metaphor relates, of course, to
the use of rewards and penalties in order to induce desired behavior.
• It comes from the old story that to make a donkey move, one must put a
carrot in front of him or dab him with a stick from behind. Despite all the
research on the theories of motivation, reward and punishment are still
considered strong motivators. For centuries, however, they were too often
thought of as the only forces that could motivate people.
 contd
• At the same time, in all theories of motivation, the inducements of
some kind of ‘carrot’ are recognized.
• Often this is money in the form of pay or bonuses. Even though
money is not the only motivating force, it has been and will
continue to be an important one. The trouble with the money
‘carrot’ approach is that too often everyone gets a carrot,
regardless of performance through such practices as salary
increase and promotion by seniority, automatic ‘merit’ increases,
and executive bonuses not based on individual manager
performance.
• It is as simple as this : If a person put a donkey in a pen full of
carrots and then stood outside with a carrot, would the donkey be
encouraged to come out of the pen ?
• The ‘stick’, in the form of fear–fear of loss of job, loss of income,
reduction of bonus, demotion, or some other penalty–has been
and continues to be a strong motivator.
 contd
• Yet it is admittedly not the best kind.
• But fear of penalty cannot be overlooked. Whether managers are
first-level supervisors or chief executives, the power of their
position to give or with hold rewards or impose penalties of various
kinds gives them an ability to control, to a very great extent, the
economic and social well-being of their subordinates.
 Feed Back
Guidelines to Communicate Both Positive and Negative Feedbacks

• In a way that inspires your employees — not derails their productivity

and morale
• 1. Keep it objective.
• 2. Make it timely.
• 3. Be clear and specific.
• 4. Sincerely express your appreciation.
• 5. Do not be personal.
• 6. Watch absolute words and clichés.
• 7. Document.
• What to avoid when communicating a feedback
• “Psychobabble”
• 2. Inappropriate word usage
• 3. Body language
• 4. Rumors
 contd
• The Top Most Common Feedback Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
• 1. Leniency issues being easy going and feeling over humanity
• 2. Halo effect-
• 3. focusing on Recent issues
• 4. Exaggerated communication
Reward and Recognition is a multidimensional tool available to
supervisors that recognizes achievements and exceptional
performance, and encourages, motivates and retains employees.
• Exceptional Performance has three components.
• Firstly, exceptional performance is performance that is consistently
assessed as exceeding the objectives set through the Planning
Development and Review (PDR) process, the expectations of the
position as described in the position description (where applicable),
classification standards and the contract of employment.
 contd
• Exceptional performance is both the effort that
achieves outstanding and visible results, and the quiet
effort that is consistently applied, often supporting
and enabling others to succeed in their jobs.
• Secondly, exceptional performance includes the
demonstration of excellent job knowledge.
• And thirdly, exceptional performance includes
consistently upholding and modeling the values of the
University.
• Although most reward and recognition opportunities
will be identified through the PDR process, specific
accomplishments, activities or behaviors worthy of
reward will also occur outside the PDR process.
 Reward and recognition mechanisms

• Informal reward and recognition;

• Formal financial rewards;
• Formal University-wide awards;
• Extraordinary rewards.
• Informal Rewards may be monetary or non-monetary and are
spontaneous and sincere appreciation of individual or group efforts.
• Formal Financial Rewards are pre-determined rewards. They form
part of the overall conditions of service of staff and are used to
recognize employee performance and achievement, contributions and
accomplishments. Their application is covered by specific policies.
• Formal University-Wide Awards for excellence are by nomination,
and are assessed by a committee, with selection primarily evidence
based. The awards are usually presented at an annual ceremony.
• Extraordinary Rewards fall outside the formal range of rewarding
mechanisms and are awarded for performance and achievement that
has brought significant value to the organization.
 Organizational Misbehavior
• Classification of Organizational Misbehaviors (OMB)
• (a) Misbehaviors that are intended to benefit the self
• (OMB Type S). These misbehaviors are mostly internal to the
organization, and usually victimize the employing organization or its
members. Thus, such behaviors may have three categories of internal
targets:
• (1) the work itself (e.g., distorting data); (2) the organization's property,
resources, symbols or regulations (e.g., stealing and selling
manufacturing secrets); and (3) other members (e.g., harassing peers).
• An exception to the above is a behavior by a member that appears to
benefit the organization (e.g., overcharging customers), but is, in fact,
intended to eventually benefit the individual (e.g., gaining a promotion).
• (b) Misbehaviors that primarily intend to benefit the member's
employing organization as a whole (OMB Type O).
• Those misbehaviors (e.g., falsifying records in order to improve chances
of obtaining a contract for the organization), are mostly external in
nature, usually directed toward outside "victims" such as other
 Contd
• If the intention underlying this form of behavior is not primarily to
benefit the organization, but is self-serving (e.g., for career
considerations), it should not be classified as OMB Type O. More likely,
this would be OMB Type S.

• (c) Misbehaviors that primarily intend to inflict damage and be

destructive (OMB Type D). Targets of these behaviors could be as listed
above, both internal and external. Whereas the intentions underlying
TypeS and Type O misbehaviors are to benefit either the individual or
the organization, the intention behind OMB Type D is to hurt others or
the organization.

• Such intentional misbehaviors (e.g., sabotaging company-owned

equipment) may be perpetrated by members either on their own
initiative (e.g., as a revenge or a response to perceived or actual
mistreatment), or on behalf of "significant others" (e.g., interfering
with organizational operations to comply with Union's expectations).
 Management Interventions

• Management interventions are the actions taken by managers

(representing the organization) to prevent, control, or respond to harmful
misbehavior.
• three specific points for management intervention—A, B, and C. At point
A, management can carefully screen and refuse to hire “risky” individuals.
• Management can also intervene at other antecedent points: job, group,
and organization. The problem with interventions at these points is that
the person is already employed.
• The most efficient intervention point is during the pre-employment
phase.
• The intervention at B requires affecting the normative force, as well as
the instrumental force. The goal of this intervention point is to reduce the
possibility of a job, group, or organizational antecedent to trigger
misbehavior.
• For example, some organizations use mentor/advisor programs to provide
a role model of proper (normative) attitudes and behavior and
communicate through mentor–mentee discussions the consequences of
 contd
• The intention of an intervention at C shifts from prevention to
deterrence/avoidance. The manager works to reduce the
possibility of the intention to misbehave.
• A member of a team who values being part of the team may
learn that misbehavior could mean being transferred (control)
to another unit.
• She may decide that staying with the preferred unit is
important and elect to behave properly. The threat of a transfer
may be powerful enough to evoke/induce a change in behavior.
• These intervention points offer managers different
opportunities to reduce the incidence or at least consequences
or costs of misbehavior.
• Since every possible misbehavior can’t be discussed, we select
only a few. These have been selected because of the available
literature and current discussion of them in the academic and
popular press.
 Selected Misbehaviors
• Sexual harassment is an important topic and has been the subject
of a considerable amount of research in recent years. Sexual
harassment is a form of aggression as well as unethical behavior.
Broadly defined, this misbehavior is characterized by unwelcome
advances, requests for sexual favors,and other types of verbal,
psychological, or physical abuses. From a legal perspective, there
are several types of sexual harassment, including:
• Quid pro quo . “This for that”
• This form of sexual harassment occurs when an employee’s
compliance with requests for sexual favors are linked to
employment decisions (e.g., promotion or hiring).
• Hostile work environment. This sexual harassment occurs when
sex-related behavior interferes with an employee’s work
performance or creates an intimidating, hostile, or offensive
working environment.
• Psychological. This sexual harassment occurs when an employee
 Aggression and Violence
• The word aggression is used to describe many forms of behavior.
Concisely put,
• aggression at work is the effort of an individual to bring harm to
others with whom the person has worked or currently works at an
organization (i.e., current or past).
• The attempt to bring harm is intentional and includes psychological
as well as physical injury. There are over 2 million workplace
physical assaults annually.
• Workplace violence accounted for about 18 percent of all
workplace fatalities in 2010. According to the Occupational Safety
and Health Administration (OSHA), workers who do the following
activities are at an increased risk of being victims of workplace
violence: exchange money, make deliveries, work alone, work late
nights, or work in settings/ homes with extensive contact with the
public. High-risk occupations include: visiting nurses, psychiatric
evaluators, phone and cable TV installers, retail workers, and taxi
drivers.
 Bullying
• The notion of workplace bullying is being discussed and
studied more frequently; however, still only a limited number
of studies focus on bullying as misbehavior.

• Bullying/maltreatment is defined as repeated actions that are

directed toward another worker, which are unwanted, which
may be done deliberately or unconsciously, but clearly cause
humiliation and distress, and create an unpleasant work
setting.

Bullying differs from “normal” conflict with peers in that bullying

is characterized by an imbalance of power, strong emotional
reactions from the victim, a tendency to blame the victim, no
effort to resolve the conflict, and an attempt to gain control
through conflict.
 Incivility

• Workplace incivility involves acting rudely, discourteously, or in a

demeaning manner toward others.
• It is on the low end of the continuum of abuse. Incivility isn’t violence or
harassment, but it is a lack of respect for others. Incivility appears to be
proliferating outside and inside the workplace.
• It is important for individuals who are interacting, working together, to
conduct themselves in a civil way.
• It is also important for employees to treat customers or external
individuals interacting with an organization with respect. Being civil or
polite with regard to others in an organization constitutes what is called
organizational citizenship behavior (OCB).

• Incivility includes condescending/arrogant remarks, being disruptive in

meetings, ignoring others, insulting another person, being abrupt, giving
negative eye contact, not answering when asked a question, refusing to
say “thank you” or “please,” interrupting others when speaking, and
sending “flaming” e-mails, instant messages, or texts.
 contd
• Co-workers are incivil at work for a number of reasons.
Some have become so alienated that they feel no loyalty
to their work, colleagues, or the organization. In
addition, there may be fears of what the future holds.
• Will I even have a job tomorrow?
• Or the workload may be overwhelming. Downsizing,
outsourcing, managerial expectations, and pressure to
work harder and longer create an increased workload.
• Fraud
• Fraud is An intentional act of deceiving or
misrepresenting to induce another individual or group to
give up something of value.
 Substance Abuse at Work

• Substance abuse among workers represents billions of dollars in

organizational financial loss. Research in the U.S. workplace
suggests that alcohol use directly impacts approximately 19
million people; and illicit drug use at work affects an estimated 4
million individuals.
• Illicit drug use costs over $193 billion annually because of lost
productivity, premature and preventable health problems,
increased workers’ compensation claims, and behavioral
problems.
• A survey of full-time workers reported illicit drug users were more
likely than nonusers to have worked for three or more employers
in the past year, taken unexcused absences from work, and either
voluntarily left an employer or been terminated in the past year.
• Some substances not only are addictive, but also may be
dangerous to associated nonusers.
 Cyber slacking

• The Internet has provided a technology feature that has

enabled many employees to slack off their regular work.
Employees have used the Internet for prohibited non-
work usage.
• Surfing the Internet for personal reasons is apparently
widespread. In 2010, approximately 57 million Americans
visited social networking sites from work computers and
spent an average of 15 minutes on them per day.
• Lost productivity can be expensive. Some estimates put
the cost to businesses of such Internet misuse at $85
billion per year. 78 Personal e-mails, Face book updates,
online shopping, recreational surfing, listening to music,
vacation planning, and house or apartment hunting are
performed during working hours.
 Sabotage

• A potentially costly form of misbehavior is sabotage that involves

damaging or destroying an organization’s or colleague’s equipment,
workspace, data or relationships with key stakeholders like
customers.
• Sabotage is a tangible expression of aggression or violence.
Increasingly, co-workers are purposefully erasing databases and
destroying other items. Employee sabotage can range from simple,
prank like behaviors to vandalism to computer bombs. A recent
study of call center employees found that daily customer
mistreatment predicted employee sabotage against customers.
• Theft
• Theft is defined as the unauthorized taking, consuming, or transfer
of money or goods owned by the organization. This definition of
theft should indicate that stealing is not limited to tangible property.
Data, information, and intellectual property can and are stolen.
 Stress and Stress Management
• The processes of change and innovation often create new and
increased pressures on the people involved. Stress must be
understood as a state of tension experienced by individuals facing
extraordinary demands, constraints, or opportunities.
• . Sources of stress
• Any look toward your career future in today’s dynamic times must
include awareness that stress is something you, as well as others,
are sure to encounter.
• Stressors are the wide variety of things that cause stress for
individuals. Some stressors can be traced directly to what people
experience in the workplace, whereas others derive from non work
and personal factors.
• Work-Related Stressors Without doubt work can be stressful, and
job demands can disrupt one’s work-life balance.
 contd
These Includes;
• Task demands—being asked to do too much or being asked to
do too little.
• • Role ambiguities—not knowing what one is expected to do or
how work performance is evaluated.
• • Role conflicts—feeling unable to satisfy multiple, possibly
conflicting, performance expectations.
• • Ethical dilemmas—being asked to do things that violate the
law or personal values.
• • Interpersonal problems—experiencing bad relationships or
working with others who do not get along.
• • Career developments—moving too fast and feeling stretched;
moving too slowly and feeling plateaued.
• • Physical setting—being bothered by noise, lack of privacy,
pollution, or other unpleasant working conditions.
 Nonwork and Personal Stressors
• A less obvious, though important, source of stress for
people at work is the “spillover "or spread out effect
from forces in their non-work lives.
• Family events (e.g., the birth of a new child),
economic difficulties (e.g., the sudden loss of a big
investment), and personal affairs (e.g., a separation or
divorce) can all be extremely stressful.
• Since it is often difficult to completely separate work
and non-work lives, stress of this non-work sort can
affect the way people feel and behave on the job as
well as away from it.
• Another set of stressors includes personal factors,
such as individual needs, capabilities, and personality.
 General Sources of Stress

four basic sources:

• The Environment – the environment can bombard you with intense
and competing demands to adjust: weather, noise, crowding,
pollution, traffic, unsafe and substandard housing, and crime.
• Social Stressors – we can experience multiple stressors arising from
the demands of the different social roles we occupy, such as parent,
spouse, and employee. Some examples of social stressors include
deadlines, financial problems, job interviews, presentations,
disagreements, loss of a loved one, divorce, and
• Physiological – Situations and circumstances affecting our body can be
experienced as physiological stressors.: rapid growth of adolescence,
menopause, illness, aging, giving birth, accidents, lack of exercise, and
sleep disturbances.
• Thoughts – Your brain interprets and perceives situations as stressful,
difficult, painful, or unpleasant. Some situations in life are stress
provoking.
 Internal Sources of Stress and Anxiety

• Stressors are not always limited to situations

where some external situation is creating a
problem. Internal events such as feelings,
thoughts, and habitual behaviors can also cause
negative stress.
• Common internal sources of distress include:
• Fears (e.g., fears of flying, heights, public
speaking, chatting with strangers at a party)
• Repetitive thought patterns.
• • Worrying about future events (e.g., waiting for
medical test results or job restructuring)
• Unrealistic or perfectionist expectations.
 Habitual behavior patterns
Over scheduling
• Failing to be assertive
• Failing to set and maintain healthy boundaries
• Procrastination and/or failing to plan ahead
• Cognitive Aspects of Stress and Anxiety
• Anxiety is a feeling that we commonly
experience when faced with stressful life events.
• Anxiety can be one of the most distressing
emotions that people feel. It is sometimes called
“fear or nervousness”. Common reactions to
anxiety include:
 contd
• Physical Symptoms:
• • Sweaty palms
• • Muscle tension
• • Racing heart
• • Flushed/reddish cheeks
• Behaviors:
• • Avoiding situations where experiencing anxiety might occur
• • Leaving situations when feelings of anxiety begins to occur
• • Trying to do things perfectly or trying to control events to
prevent danger
• Moods:
• Nervous, Irritable, Anxious
• Panicky/scared, fearful etc.
 Contd
• Thoughts:
• Overestimation of danger, Underestimation of your ability to cope
Underestimation of help available, Worries and catastrophic thoughts.
• Stress and performance
• Stress isn’t always negative as an influence on our lives. It has two faces—
one positive and one negative. Constructive stress, or eustress, acts in a
positive way.
• Moderate levels of stress by prompting increased work effort, stimulating
creativity, and encouraging greater diligence.
• You may know such stress as the tension that causes you to study hard
before exams, pay attention, and complete assignments on time in a
difficult class.
• Destructive stress, or distress, is dysfunctional for both the individual and
the organization. Too much stress can overload and break down a person’s
physical and mental systems resulting in absenteeism, turnover, errors,
accidents, dissatisfaction, reduced performance, unethical behavior and
even illness.
 Stress Management
• Stress prevention is the best first-line strategy in the battle against stress. It
involves taking action to keep stress from reaching destructive levels in the first
place.
• Personal and non-work stressors must be recognized so that action can be
taken to prevent them from adverse impact.
• Persons with Type A personalities, for example, may exercise self-discipline;
supervisors of Type A employees may try to model a lower key, more relaxed
approach to work.
• Family problems may be partially relieved by a change of work schedule; the
anxiety caused by pressing family concerns may be reduced by simply knowing
that your supervisor understands.
• Once stress has reached a destructive point, special techniques of stress
management can be implemented.
• This process begins with the recognition of stress symptoms and continues
with actions to maintain a positive performance edge. The term wellness is
increasingly used these days. Personal wellness involves the pursuit of one’s
physical and mental potential through a personal health promotion program.
The concept recognizes individual responsibility to enhance and maintain
wellness through a disciplined approach to physical and mental health.
 Chapter Three
Group Behavior in Organizations

• Groups in Organizations
• A group may be defined as a collection of two or more people
who work with one another regularly to achieve common goals. In
a true group, members are mutually dependent on one another to
achieve common goals, and they interact with one another
regularly to pursue those goals over a sustained period of time.
• Groups are good for both organizations and their members,
helping to accomplish important tasks and to maintain a high-
quality workforce. Consultant and management scholar Harold J.
Leavitt is a well-known advocate for the power and usefulness of
groups.
• Recently, he has described “hot groups” that thrive in conditions
of crisis and competition and whose creativity and innovativeness
generate extraordinary returns.
 Unique contributions of groups

• Effective groups help organizations accomplish important tasks. In

particular, they offer the potential for synergy—the creation of a
whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. When synergy
occurs, groups accomplish more than the total of their members’
individual capabilities.
• Advantages of groups
• groups often have three performance advantages over individuals
acting alone.
• First, when there is no clear “expert” in a particular task or
problem, groups seem to make better judgments than does the
average individual alone. Second, when problem solving can be
handled by a division of labor and the sharing of information,
groups are typically more successful than individuals. And third,
because of their tendencies to make riskier decisions, groups can
be more creative and innovative than individuals.
• In addition, groups are important settings where people learn
 Their Problems
• At the same time that they have enormous performance
potential, groups can also have problems. One concern is social
loafing, also known as the Ringelmann effect.
• It is the tendency of people to work less hard in a group than
they would individually. Max Ringlemann, a German psychologist,
pinpointed the phenomenon by asking people to pull on a rope as
hard as they could, first alone and then in a group.
• He found that average productivity dropped as more people
joined the rope-pulling task. He acknowledged two reasons why
people may not work as hard in groups as they would individually:
• (1) their individual contribution is less noticeable in the context
of the group, and
• (2) they prefer to see others carry the workload.
 Types of Groups
• Formal groups
• There are many ways in the new workplace for groups to be used to great
advantage.
• A formal group is officially designated to serve a specific organizational purpose.
An example is the work unit headed by a manager and consisting of one or more
direct reports.
• Approved by the management, With formal leader
• Accountable to the mgmt, Cohesive, temporary or permanent
• Informal Group: Informal groups emerge without being officially designated by
the organization.
• They form spontaneously and are based on personal relationships or special
interests, and not on any specific organizational endorsement. They are
commonly found within most formal groups.
• Friendship groups, for example, consist of persons with natural affinities for one
another. They tend to work together, sit together, take breaks together, and even
do things together outside of the workplace.
• Interest groups consist of persons who share common interests. Promotion,
transfer or interests, such as community service, sports, or religion.
 Stages of Group formation and Development
• FORMING STAGE
• In the forming stage of group development, a primary concern is the initial entry
of members to a group. During this stage, individuals ask a number of questions as
they begin to identify with other group members and with the group itself.
• Their concerns may include: “What can the group offer me?” “What will I be asked
to contribute?” “Can my needs be met at the same time I contribute to the
group?” Members are interested in getting to know each other and discovering
what is considered acceptable behavior, in determining the real task of the group,
and in defining group rules.
• STORMING STAGE
• The storming stage of group development is a period of high emotionality and
tension among the group members. During this stage, hostility and infighting may
occur, and the group typically experiences many changes.
• Outside demands, including premature expectations for performance results may
create uncomfortable pressures. In the process, membership expectations tend to
be clarified, and attention shifts toward obstacles standing in the way of group
goals. Individuals begin to understand one another’s interpersonal styles, and
efforts are made to find ways to accomplish group goals while also satisfying
individual needs.
 contd
• NORMING STAGE
• The norming stage of group development, sometimes called initial
integration, is the point at which the group really begins to come together
as a coordinated unit.
• The turmoil of the storming stage gives way to a precarious balancing of
forces.
• With the pleasures of a new sense of harmony, group members will strive
to maintain positive balance.
• Holding the group together may become more important to some than
successfully working on the group’s tasks. Minority viewpoints, deviations
from group directions, and criticisms may be discouraged as group.
Though some immaturity prevails.
• PERFORMING STAGE
• The performing stage of group development, sometimes called total
integration, marks the emergence of a mature, organized, and well-
functioning group.
• The group is now able to deal with complex tasks and handle internal
 contd
• The structure is stable, and members are motivated by group
goals and are generally satisfied. Group members . A group
that has achieved the level of total integration typically scores
high on the criteria of group maturity.
• ADJOURNING STAGE
• A well-integrated group is able to disband, if required, when its
work is accomplished.
• The adjourning stage of group development is especially important
for the many temporary groups that are increasingly common in the
new workplace, including task forces, committees, project teams
and the like. Members of these groups must be able to convene
quickly, do their jobs on a tight schedule, and then adjourn—often
to reconvene later if needed. The members’ willingness to disband
when the job is done and to work well together in future
responsibilities, group or otherwise, is an important long-run test of
group success.
The difference between Groups and Teams
 Types of Teams
• Problem-solving teams
• One way organizations can use teams is in creative problem solving. The
term employee involvement team applies to a wide variety of teams
whose members meet regularly to collectively examine important
workplace issues. They discuss ways to enhance quality, better satisfy
customers, raise productivity, etc.
• A special type of employee involvement group is the quality circle or QC
for short.
• It is a small group of persons who meet periodically (e.g., an hour or so,
once a week) to discuss and develop solutions for problems relating to
quality, productivity, or cost. QCs are popular in organizations around the
world, but cannot be seen as panaceas for all of an organization’s ills.

• To be successful, members of QCs should receive special training in

group dynamics, information gathering, and problem analysis
techniques. Leaders of quality circles should also be trained in
participation and team building.
 Contd
• Cross-functional teams
• In today’s organizations, teams are essential components in the
achievement of more horizontal integration and better lateral
relations. The cross-functional team, consisting of members
representing different functional departments or work units, plays
an important role in this regard. Traditionally, many organizations
have suffered from what is often called the functional silos
problem.
• This problem occurs when members of functional units stay
focused on matters internal to the function and minimize their
interactions with members of other functions. In this sense, the
functional departments or work units create artificial boundaries
or “silos” that discourage rather than encourage more integrative
thinking and active coordination with other parts of the
organization.
• The new team-based organizations are designed
 contd
• Virtual teams
• Until recently, teamwork was confined in concept and practice to
those circumstances in which members could meet face-to-face.
Now, the advent of new technologies and sophisticated computer
programs known as groupware have changed all that.
• Virtual teams are ones whose members meet at least part of the
time electronically and with computer support, is a fact of life.
The real world of work in businesses and other organizations
today involves a variety of electronic communications that allow
people to work together through computer mediation, and often
separated by vast geographical space. Virtual teams offer a
number of potential advantages.
• They bring cost-effectiveness and speed to teamwork where
members are unable to meet easily face-to-face. They also bring
the power of the computer to bear on typical team needs for
 contd
• Self-managing teams
• A high-involvement work group design that is increasingly
well-established today is known as the self-managing
team.
• These are small groups empowered to make the decisions
needed to manage themselves on a day-to-day basis.
• Although there are different variations of this theme,
members of a true self managing work team make
decisions on scheduling work, allocating tasks, training for
job skills, evaluating performance, selecting new
• Team members, and controlling quality of work. Members
are collectively held accountable for the team’s overall
performance results.
 Effective Teams

• Rensis Likert and Douglas McGregor were the early writers who directed attention
to the importance of team functioning. They identified some characteristics of well
functioning effective teams.
• The atmosphere tends to be relaxed, comfortable and informal
• The team task is well understood and accepted by the members.
• The members listen well to each other and there is a lot of task relevant discussion
in w/c most members participating.
• People tend to express both their feelings and ideas too.
• Conflicts and disagreements are present but are centered on the ideas and
methods, not around personalities and people.
• The group is self conscious about its own operations.
• Decisions are usually based on consensus not on majority votes
• Some writers add some more characteristics of effective teams such as
• Have clear purpose defined and accepted mission, vision, goal and task
• participation
• civilized disagreeing
• open communication
• shared leadership
 Leadership in Organization

• Definitions:
• The ability to influence a group toward the achievement of goals.
• as the process by which an individual influences others in ways
that help attain group or organizational goals.
• Our definition implies that leadership is a two-way process. That
is, leaders both influences
• subordinates in various ways and are influenced by them. In fact,
it may be said that leadership exists only in relation to followers.
• Style of Leadership
• Brain Storming (Discussion) points
• Which leadership style is best in this contemporary Management
era?
• Autocratic, Democratic or Laissez-faire? And Why?
 Leadership Styles
• Autocratic: one man decision, power is in the hands of very few people in the
organization.
• An autocratic leader dictates tasks and timelines to a group and imparts a strong
focus on an objective. At best, the autocratic leader leads a team to success under
tight timelines and can be especially functional for a team with inexperienced
and/or unskilled members. At worst, the autocratic leader denies input from all
others and can dominate both task strategy and credit for success. Good for
theory of “y” employees
• Democratic: participatory, collective decision, collective risk,
• Should be skilled in conflict resolution skills.
• Laissez-faire: free-rein delegating to subordinates, less control, less
power.
• A “Laissez-Faire” leader gives little or no direction while providing
feedback when prompted/provoked by team members. At best, the laissez-
faire leader promotes an acute sense of competence and expertise in team
members and allows others to rise to their performance potential. At worst,
this style can lack accountability for team failures and not adequately
coach members to success who may be uncomfortable in a self-directed
 Chapter 6Leadership Theories

• The Trait Approach to Leadership

• The trait approach seeks to determine the personal qualities and
characteristics of leaders. This orientation implies a belief that
leaders are born rather than made - nature is more important
than nurture.
• It was believed that through this approach critical leadership
traits could be isolated and that people with such traits could
then be recruited, selected, and installed into leadership
positions. This approach was common in the military and is still
used as a set of criteria to select candidates for commissions.
• The problem with the trait approach lies in the fact that almost as
many traits as studies undertaken were identified.
• After several years of such research, it became apparent that no
consistent traits could be identified. Although some traits were
found in a considerable number of studies
 contd
• Traits
• - Adaptable to situations
• - Alert to social environment
• - Ambitious and achievement-orientated
• - Assertive- they are pushy, self confident
• - Cooperative – accommodating and supportive
• - Decisive- influential
• - Dependable- trust worthy and reliable
• - Dominant (desire to influence others)
• - Energetic (high activity level)
• - Persistent- continue
• - Self-confident
• - Tolerant of stress-emotionally stable
• - Willing to assume responsibility
 contd
• Skills
• - Clever (intelligent)
• - Conceptually skilled- cognitive knowledge manifold
view of their organization
• - Creative- innovative, feel change is the order of the
day, believe in continuous improvement,
• Diplomatic and tactful
• Fluent in speaking- good communication, persuasive
• Knowledgeable about group task
• Organized (administrative ability)
• Persuasive
• Socially skilled
 Contd
• The Behavioural School
• The results of the trait studies were inconclusive. Traits,
amongst other things, were hard to measure.
• How, for example, do we measure traits such as honesty,
integrity, loyalty, or diligence? Another approach in the study of
leadership had to be found.
• After the publication of the late Douglas McGregor's classic book
The Human Side of Enterprise in 1960, attention shifted to
‘behavioral theories’.
• McGregor was a teacher, researcher, and consultant whose work
was considered to be "on the cutting edge" of managing people.
• He influenced all the behavioral theories, which emphasize
focusing on human relationships, along with output and
performance.
 1. McGregor’s Theory X & Theory Y Managers

• Although not strictly speaking a theory of leadership, the leadership

strategy of effectively-used participative management proposed in
Douglas McGregor's book has had a tremendous impact on managers.
The most publicized concept is McGregor's thesis that leadership
strategies are influenced by a leader's assumptions about human nature.
• McGregor summarized two contrasting sets of assumptions made by
managers in industry.
• Theory X managers believes that:
• The average human being has an inherent dislike of work and will avoid it
if possible.
• Because of this human characteristic, most people must be coerced,
controlled, directed, or threatened with punishment(stick) towards
goals.
• The average human being prefers to be directed, wishes to avoid
responsibility, has relatively little ambition, and wants security above all
else.
• They are indolent –do-little, seek more supervision.
 contd
• Theory Y managers believe that:
• • The expenditure of physical and mental effort in work is
as natural as play or rest, and the average human being,
under proper conditions, learns not only to accept but to
seek responsibility.
• People will exercise self-direction and self-control to
achieve objectives to which they are committed.

• The capacity to exercise a relatively high level of

imagination, ingenuity, and creativity in the solution of
organizational problems is widely, not narrowly, distributed
in the population, and the intellectual potentialities of the
average human being are only partially utilized under the
conditions of modern industrial life.
 2. The Managerial Grid

• A Blake and Mouton described the two basic dimensions of

leadership as Concern for production and concern for
people. The term concern for, as used in the grid, is a
theoretical variable reflecting basic attitudes or styles of
control. It does not reflect actual production or effectiveness.
• The horizontal axis of the management grid represents
concern for production and the vertical axis represents
concern for mature and healthy relations among those
engaged in production.
• Each axis is on a 1 to 9 point scale, with 1 representing a
minimum interest or concern and 9 a maximum concern. The
Managerial Grid results in five basic styles of leadership: A
Production Pusher (9,1),D o-Nothing Manager
(l,1)Organization Man [5,5), Country Club Manager (1,9),and
Team Builder (9,9).
contd
 contd
A-Coordination(1,1)
• is known as Impoverished Management.
• The manager makes minimum efforts to get the required work
accomplished.
• Minimum standards of performance and minimum work
dedication.
• He wants just enough being done to get by.
• Is the “speak no evil, hear no evil, see no evil” approach
• B- Coordination( 9,1)
• Is known as Authority Compliance or Task management.
» Excellent work design.
» Efficiency in operations.
» Well established procedures.
» Orderly performance.
» Human elements interference to a minimum degree.
 contd
C-Coordinates(1,9)
• Is known as Country Club Management.
• Thoughtful attention is the needs of people.
• Personal and meaningful relationship with
workers.
• Friendly atmosphere and high morale.
• Loosely structured work design.
• Primary concern for people, production
secondary.
• Is a reverse of authority compliance
management.
• Assumes that contented people will
produce as well as contented cows.
• Is the “love conquers all” approach.
 contd
• D-Coordinates(9,9)
• Is known as Team Management.
• Ultimate in managerial efficiency.
• Work accomplishment from thoroughly committed people.
• Trustworthy and respectful atmosphere. Highly organized
task performances.
• Interdependence of relationships through a common stake in
organizational purpose.
• Maximum concern for people is based on the workers’ task-
related morale and not just good social relations.
• Maximum concern for production is based on decisions
arrived at with worker’s participation.
• Assumes that “one plus one can add up to three”.
 contd
• E-Coordinates(5,5)
– Known as Middle –of –the Road Management.
– Also known as dampened pendulum mgt style.
– Is concerned with balancing the necessity to get the work
done with balancing the necessity to get the work done
while maintaining worker morale at a satisfactory level.
– Moderate concern for both production and people.
– “Get results but do not kill yourself”
• The managerial grid provides a reasonable indication of the
health of the organization and the ability of the managers.
• The model assumes that there is one best or most effective
style of management, which is the style indicated by
coordinates (9, 9).
 contd
• It is the objective of all management to move as close to this style
as possible, because the managers who emphasize both high
concern for people and productivity are presumed to be more
successful.
• Accordingly, managers should be carefully selected and trained so
that they are able to coordinate people and tasks for optimum
benefit.
• It should be noted that although the team management and task
management are similar in their concern for production, their
ways of achieving production are vastly different.
• Similarly, although the team management and the country club
management are similar in their concern for people, their bases of
concern are different. Whereas the country club management
seeks to increase people’s morale based on non -work aspects of
the situation such as good social relations, the team management
seeks to increase workers’ task related morale.
• Lacks empirical evidences to support whether the team
 Fiedler's Contingency Model

• Fiedler's contingency theory postulates that there is no single best way for
managers to lead.
• Situations will create different leadership style requirements for a manager. The
solution to a managerial situation is contingent on the factors that impinge on the
situation. For example, in a highly routine (mechanistic) environment where
repetitive tasks are the norm, a relatively directive leadership style may result in
the best performance, however, in a dynamic environment a more flexible,
participative style may be required.
• Fiedler looked at three situations that could define the condition of a managerial
task:
• 1. Leader member relations: How well do the manager and the employees get
along?
• 2. Task structure: Is the job highly structured, fairly unstructured, or somewhere in
between?
• 3. Position power: How much authority does the manager possess? Do managers
really give authority and responsibility to middle and lower level managers?
• Managers were rated as to whether they were relationship oriented or task
oriented. Task oriented managers tend to do better in situations that have good
leader-member relationships, structured tasks, and either weak or strong position
power. They do well when the task is unstructured but position.
 The Hersey-Blanchard Model of Leadership

• This model posits that the developmental levels of a leader's

subordinates play the greatest role in determining which leadership
styles (leader behaviors) are most appropriate. Their theory is based on
the amount of direction (task behavior) and socio-emotional support
(relationship behavior) a leader must provide given the situation and the
"level of maturity" of the followers.
• Task behavior is the extent to which the leader engages in spelling out
the duties and responsibilities to an individual or group. This behavior
includes telling people what to do, how to do it, when to do it, where to
do it, and who's to do it. In task behavior the leader engages in one-way
communication.
• Relationship behavior is the extent to which the leader engages in two-
way or multi-way communications. This includes listening, facilitating,
and supportive behaviors.
• Maturity is the willingness and ability of a person to take responsibility
for directing his or her own behavior. People tend to have varying
degrees of maturity, depending on the specific task, function, or
objective that a leader is attempting to accomplish through their efforts.
 contd
• For Blanchard the key situational variable, when determining the appropriate
leadership style, is the readiness or developmental level of the subordinate(s). As
a result, four leadership styles result:
• Directing: The leader provides clear instructions and specific
direction. This style is best matched with a low follower readiness
level.
• Coaching: The leader encourages two-way communication and
helps build confidence and motivation on the part of the employee,
although the leader still has responsibility and controls decision
making. Selling style is best matched with a moderate follower
readiness level.
• Supporting: With this style, the leader and followers share decision
making and no longer need or expect the relationship to be
directive.
• Delegating: This style is appropriate for leaders whose followers are ready to
accomplish a particular task and are both competent and motivated to take full
responsibility. Delegating style is best matched with a high follower readiness
level.
 Servant Leadership Theory
• “The servant-leader is servant first…It begins with the natural
feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first. Then conscious
choice brings one to aspire to lead.” great leader is first
experienced as a servant to others, and that this simple fact is
central to his or her greatness. True leadership emerges from
those whose primary motivation is a deep desire to help
others.
• – The Servant As Leader by Robert Greenleaf, 1970.
• Servant-leadership is a practical philosophy for people who
choose to serve first, and then lead as a way of expanding
their service. Servant-leadership encourages collaboration,
trust, foresight, listening, and the ethical use of power and
empowerment.
 Characteristics critical to the development of servant-leaders:
1. Listening
• Leaders have been traditionally valued for
communication and decision making skills. Servant
leaders reinforce these important skills by making a deep
commitment to listening to others. Servant-leaders are
able to identify and clarify the will of a group by listening
to what is being said (and not). This also requires
attention to one’s own body, mind, and spirit.
2. Empathy
• Servant-leaders strive to empathize with others to accept
and recognize the unique skills, perspective, and
expertise of every member of the group. The best
intentions of team mates must be assumed, even when
 contd
3. Healing-remedial
• Healing is a powerful force for transformational learning. In “The Servant
as Leader,” Greenleaf writes, “There is something subtle communicated to
one who is being served and led if, implicit in the compact between the
servant-leader and led is the understanding that the search for wholeness
is something that they have.” potential for healing one’s self and others in
its practice.
4. Awareness
• External and internal awareness strengthens the servant-leader.
Committing to foster greater awareness can be scary, as Greenleaf
observed, “Awareness is not a giver of solace - it’s just the opposite. It
disturbs.” The pursuit, however, is the link to better service and leadership
through self-challenge and transformation.
• 5. Persuasion
• Servant-leaders rely on persuasion rather than authority to reach
decisions. Servant-leaders may convince others, rather than coerce.
• This offers a clear distinction between traditional leadership models and
servant-leadership. Concensus.
 contd
6. Conceptualization
• Servant-leaders exercise the ability to dream, the ability to look
at a problem or system from a conceptual perspective in order
to think beyond on-the-ground realities or challenges. Servant-
leaders seek the delicate balance between attention to
conceptual integrity and details.
7. Foresight
• Foresight enables servant-leaders to tap lessons from the past,
features of the present, and potential consequences for the
future. This practice is rooted in intuitive intelligence.
8. Stewardship
• Greenleaf’s view for all systems was that a CEO, staff, directors,
and trustees all play significant roles to hold their institution or
organization trustworthy and accountable to all of society for
the greatest good.
 contd
9. Commitment to the Individual Growth
• Servant-leaders must believe in the intrinsic value of every
person, beyond tangible contributions or performance.
Commitment to personal, professional, and spiritual growth
for each individual within the organization, system,
institution, or team is essential to the practice of servant-
leadership.
10. Building Community The contemporary shift from local
communities to larger institutions as the entities which all
those who work within the system, organization, institution,
or team shape human lives, and society, requires the
identification of new ways and appropriate means to build
community among individuals.
 Charismatic Leadership
• Followers make attributions of heroic or extraordinary leadership
abilities when they observe certain behaviors.
• Characteristics of Charismatic Leaders
• 1. Vision and articulation. Has a vision—expressed as an idealized goal
—that proposes a future better than the status quo; and is able to
clarify the importance of the vision in terms that are understandable
to others.
• 2. Personal risk. Willing to take on high personal risk, incur high costs
and engage in self-sacrifice to achieve the vision.
• 3. Environmental sensitivity. Able to make realistic assessments of the
environmental constraints and resource needed to bring about
change.
• 4. Sensitivity to follower needs. Perceptive of others’ abilities and
responsive to their needs and feelings
• 5. Unconventional behavior. Engages in behaviors that are perceived as
novel and counter to norms.
 Transactional Leaders

• Leaders who guide or motivate their followers in the

direction of established goals by clarifying role and task
requirements.
• Characteristics of Transactional Leaders
• Contingent Reward: Contracts exchange of rewards for
effort, promises rewards for good performance, recognizes
accomplishments.
• Management by Exception (active): Watches and searches
for deviations from rules and standards, takes corrective
action.
• Management by Exception (passive): Intervenes only if
standards are not met.
• Laissez-Faire: Abdicates responsibilities, avoids making
decisions.
 Transformational Leaders

• Leaders who provide individualized consideration and intellectual

stimulation, and who possess charisma.
• A transformational leader is an agent of change who attempts to
inspire the members of the organization to aspire to, and to achieve,
more than they thought was possible. Transformational leadership
emphasizes vision, development of the individual, empowerment of
the worker, and the challenging of traditional assumptions.
• The transformational leader normally has charisma, is motivational,
provides intellectual stimulation to workers, and gives individualized
consideration. As leadership theorist Jay Conger put it, "If you as a
leader can make an appealing dream seem like tomorrow's reality,
your subordinates will freely choose to follow you.'' Consider, for
example, the great visions expressed by the highly charismatic
leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., when he shared his vision of world
peace in his "I have a dream" speech, and President John F. Kennedy
when he shared his vision of landing a man on the moon and
returning him safely to earth before 1970.
 Characteristics of Transformational Leaders

• Charisma: Provides vision and sense of mission, instills

pride, gains respect and trust.
• Inspiration: Communicates high expectations, uses
symbols to focus efforts, and expresses important
purposes in simple ways.
• Intellectual Stimulation: Promotes intelligence, rationality,
and careful problem solving.

• Individualized Consideration: Gives personal attention,

treats each employee individually, coaches, and advises.
 Conflict and Conflict Management
• Discussion points
• Is conflict Important or not?
• What are the sources of conflicts in an
Organization?
 Introduction

• Conflict occurs whenever disagreements exist in a social situation over

issues of substance or whenever emotional antagonisms create frictions
between individuals or groups.

• Conflict is an inevitable part of personal, organizational and societal life.

We all experience conflict of one kind or the others in our life, group
organization and society, Conflicts arise due to competition, differences
in values, attitudes, experiences, goals and perception of limited
resources.
• In other situations, the manager or leader may act as a mediator, or
third party, whose job it is to resolve conflicts between other people. In
all cases, a manager and team leader must be comfortable with the
interpersonal conflict.

• This includes being able to recognize situations that have the potential
for conflict and to deal with these situations in ways that will best serve
the needs of both the organization and the people involved.
 Types of conflicts
• Conflict as it is experienced in the daily workplace involves at least
two basic forms. Substantive conflict is a fundamental disagreement
over ends or goals to be pursued and the means for their
accomplishment. A dispute with one’s boss over a plan of action to
be followed, such as the marketing strategy for a new product, is an
example of substantive conflict. When people work together day in
and day out, it is only normal that different viewpoints on a variety of
substantive workplace issues will arise. At times people will disagree
over such things as group and organizational goals, the allocation of
resources, the distribution of rewards, policies and procedures, and
task assignments. Dealing with such conflicts successfully is an
everyday challenge for most managers.
• By contrast, emotional conflict involves interpersonal difficulties that
arise over feelings of anger, mistrust, dislike, fear, resentment, and
the like. This conflict is commonly known as a “clash of personalities.”
Emotional conflicts can drain the energies of people and distract
them from important work priorities.
 contd
• Functional and Dysfunctional conflicts
• Conflict in organizations can be upsetting both to the individuals
directly involved and to others affected by its occurrence .
• Functional conflict alternatively called constructive conflict, results
in positive benefits to individuals, the group, or the organization.
On the positive side, conflict can bring important problems to the
surface so that they can be addressed.
• It can cause decisions to be considered carefully and perhaps
reconsidered to ensure that the right path of action is being
followed. It can increase the amount of information used for
decision making.
• And it can offer opportunities for creativity that can improve
individual, team, or organizational performance. Indeed, an
effective manager is able to stimulate constructive conflict in
situations in which satisfaction with the status quo inhibits needed
change and development.
 contd
• Dysfunctional conflict, or destructive conflict, works to the
individual’s, group’s, or organization’s disadvantage.
• It diverts energies,
• hurts group cohesion,
• promotes interpersonal hostilities,
• and overall creates a negative environment for workers.
• This occurs, for example, when two employees are unable to work
together because of interpersonal differences (a destructive
emotional conflict) or when the members of a committee fail to act
because they cannot agree on group goals (a destructive substantive
conflict).

• Destructive conflicts of these types can decrease work productivity

and job satisfaction and contribute to absenteeism and job turnover.
Managers must be alert to destructive conflicts and be quick to take
action to prevent or eliminate them or at least minimize their
disadvantages.
 Levels of conflict

• When dealing personally with conflicts in the

workplace, the relevant question becomes: “How
well prepared are you to encounter and deal
successfully with conflicts of various types?” People
at work may encounter conflict at the intrapersonal
level (conflict within the individual), the
interpersonal level (individual to- individual conflict),
the intergroup level, or the inter-organizational level.
• Some conflicts that affect behavior in organizations
involve the individual alone. These intrapersonal
conflicts often involve actual or perceived pressures
from incompatible goals or expectations of the
following types:
 1. Intrapersonal Level
• Approach–approach conflict occurs when a person must
choose between two positive and equally attractive
alternatives. An example has to choose between a valued
promotion in the organization or a desirable new job with
another firm.
• Avoidance–avoidance conflict occurs when a person must
choose between two negative and equally unattractive
alternatives. An example is being asked either to accept a job
transfer to another town in an undesirable location or to have
one’s employment with an organization terminated.
• Approach–avoidance conflict occurs when a person must
decide to do something that has both positive and negative
consequences. An example is being offered a higher paying
job whose responsibilities entail unwanted demands on one’s
personal time.
 2. Interpersonal conflict
• occurs between two or more individuals who are in
opposition to one another. It may be substantive or
emotional or both. Two persons debating each other
aggressively on the merits of hiring a job applicant is an
example of a substantive interpersonal conflict. Two persons
continually in disagreement over each other’s choice of work
attire is an example of an emotional interpersonal conflict.
3. Intergroup conflict that occurs among members of different
teams or groups can also have substantive and/or emotional
underpinnings. Intergroup conflict is quite common in
organizations, and it can make the coordination and
integration of task activities very difficult. The classic
example is conflict among functional groups or departments,
such as marketing and manufacturing, in organizations.
 4. Inter-organizational conflict
• is most commonly thought of in terms of the
competition and rivalry that characterizes firms
operating in the same markets. A good example is the
continuing battle between U.S. businesses and their
global rivals. But inter-organizational conflict is a
much broader issue than that represented by market
competition alone.
• Consider, for example, disagreements between
unions and the organizations employing their
members; between government regulatory agencies
and the organizations subject to their surveillance;
between organizations and those who supply them
with raw materials.
 Stages of Conflict

• Most conflicts develop in stages, as shown below, managers should

recognize that unresolved prior conflicts help set the stage for future
conflicts of the same or related sort. Rather than try to deny the
existence of conflict or settle on a temporary resolution, it is always
best to deal with important conflicts so that they are completely
resolved. Conflict antecedents establish the conditions from which
conflicts are likely to develop. When the antecedent conditions
become the basis for substantive or emotional differences between
people or groups, the stage of perceived conflict exists.
• Of course, this perception may be held by only one of the conflicting
parties. It is important to distinguish between perceived and felt
conflict.
• When conflict is felt, it is experienced as tension that motivates the
person to take action to reduce feelings of discomfort. For conflict to
be resolved, all parties should both perceive it and feel the need to do
something about it.
 contd
• When conflict is expressed openly in behavior, it is said to be
manifest. A state of manifest conflict may be resolved by
removing or correcting its antecedents. It can also be
suppressed. With suppression, no change in antecedent
conditions occurs; the manifest conflict behaviors are
controlled. For example, one or both parties may choose to
ignore the conflict in their dealings with one another.
Suppression is a superficial and often temporary form of
conflict resolution.
• Indeed, we have already noted that unresolved and
suppressed conflict fall into this category. Both may continue
to fester and cause future conflicts over similar issues. For the
short run, however, they may represent the best a manager
can achieve until antecedent conditions can be changed.
 Contd
• Latent conflict: It is the stage in which factors exist in the situation/
environment that may surface at any time. For example limited resources are
to be shared by many departments. Potential source of conflict is present in
the situation. It can erupt any time. Four surces of such conflict are : Scarce
resources, Drive for autonomy, divergence of goals& Role conflict
• Perceived conflict: At this stage people are aware that a conflict exists and
the other party may frustrate one's goal directed behavior. For example, if
quality manager is heard saying that we need to be more careful in certifying
product as we have received many complaints from dealer about quality of
the product.
• Overhearing this conversation production manager may become aware that
there is a conflict as our product has to pass stringent quality standards, thus
may reduce the volume of production. Thus production manager sees the
possibility of development of conflict between the two departments.
• Felt conflict: Parties to the conflict are emotionally aware that there is a
conflict and they experience stress anxiety, stress, and hostility. Managers of
quality and production once called in GM's review meeting , they may feel
the waves impending confrontations on production and quality issues and
may prepare to state their stands on the conflict mentally.
 contd
• Manifest conflict: At this stage open observable conflict is
visible. i.e two parties engage in behaviors w/c evoke
responses from each other. Quality manager now
communicates his concern to production manager regarding
the quality.
• Production manager may react to the same by asking for
specific data may or may not tribute to the usage obsolete
technology. But the fact is that conflict has come into open.
• Conflict aftermath: This is the fifth stage and ranges conflict
resolution to group dissolution and group may return to stage
one. This stage may have positive or negative repercussions.
• This is the stage where conflict resolution is attempted and
once conflict is some how resolved using various strategies,
parties to the conflict reach to stage where they are still left
with residual hostility which among other things become a
Figure Stage of conflict
 Conflict Management approaches
• There are two approaches: Preventive measures and
Curative Measures.
• Preventive Approaches; managers tries to design a situation
to restrict dysfunctional type of conflicts. The following are
some of the Strategies.
1. Establishing A common goal: the major reason conflict
happens is due to incompatible goals. Therefore managers
need to set up on w/c groups can agree and reestablish
valid communication b/n the groups.
2. Reduction in interdependence: the main reason for inter-
group conflict is interdependence among them. Eg. Line
and staff managers. Though interdependence can not be
avoided managers have to separating units physically
rather than separating units organizationally. (Temporarily).
 Cont’d preventive
3. Reduction in shared resources: Sharing scarce resources is another
possible conflict reason. Therefore, managers need to reduce the
sharing and make demarcations if possible. optimum allocation is best
alternative.
4. Trust and Communication: the greater the trust among the units of
group, the more open and honest the communication will be.
“Communication is a powerful tool”. To curtail misunderstandings and
common understanding of problems of each other.
5. Coordination: a proper coordination of groups and tasks reduce the
level of conflict.
6. Exchange of personnel: Personnel of conflicting units must be
exchanged for a specific period or in a permanent base.
7. Use of Superior Authority: If conflicts are not resolved by two members
or two groups it may be referred to a common superior who will
resolve the conflict by giving immediate decision.
8. Reorganizing of the Group: people who have some thing in common will
be grouped together in line with the organization goals and objectives.
 Curative Approaches

• The Figure bellow describes the five approaches to conflict

management from the perspective of their relative emphasis on
cooperativeness and assertiveness (the degree to which one party
satisfies his/her own concerns) and concern for relationship
(degree to which one tries to satisfy other party's concern
respectively) have in the relationship.
• Consultants and academics generally agree that true conflict
resolution can occur only when the underlying substantive and
emotional reasons for the conflict are identified and dealt with
through a solution that allows all conflicting parties to “win.”
• This important issue of “Who wins?” can be addressed from the
perspective of each conflicting party.
• (high on assertiveness, high on cooperativeness), accommodating
(low on assertiveness and high on cooperativeness), avoiding (low
on both cooperativeness and assertiveness), and compromising
(moderate on both cooperativeness and assertiveness).
 contd
• Lose–Lose Conflict ( Avoidance) Lose–lose conflict occurs
when nobody really gets what he or she wants. The
underlying reasons for the conflict remain unaffected and a
similar conflict is likely to occur in the future. Lose–lose
conflicts often result when there is little or no assertiveness
and conflict management takes these forms. Avoidance has
no use at first glance.
• Avoidance is an extreme form of inattention; everyone simply
pretends that the conflict does not really exist and hopes that
it will go away.
• Accommodation, or smoothing (win-win) as it is sometimes
called, involves playing down differences among the
conflicting parties and highlighting similarities and areas of
agreement. This peaceful coexistence ignores the real
essence of a given conflict and often creates frustration and
 contd
• Compromise occurs when each party gives up something of
value to the other. As a result of no one getting its full desires, the
antecedent conditions for future conflicts are established. Here
neither of the party win ,they sacrifice
• Win–Lose Conflict ( competing) In win–lose conflict, one party
achieves its desires at the expense and to the exclusion of the
other party’s desires. This is a high-assertiveness and low-
cooperativeness situation.
• It may result from outright competition in which a victory is
achieved through force, superior skill, or domination by one party.
It may also occur as a result of authoritative command, whereby
a formal authority simply dictates a solution and specifies what is
gained and what is lost by whom.
• Win–lose strategies fail to address the root causes of the conflict
and tend to suppress the desires of at least one of the conflicting
parties.
 contd
• Win–Win Conflict ( Collaborative) Win–win conflict is achieved
by a blend of both high cooperativeness and high assertiveness.
• Collaboration or problem solving involves recognition by all
conflicting parties that something is wrong and needs attention.
( benefiting both parties e.g. Merger)
• It stresses gathering and evaluating information in solving
disputes and making choices. Win–win conditions eliminate the
reasons for continuing or resurrecting the conflict since nothing
has been avoided or suppressed. All relevant issues are raised
and openly discussed.
• The ultimate test for a win–win solution is whether or not the
conflicting parties see that the solution (1) achieves each
other’s goals, (2) is acceptable to both parties, and (3)
establishes a process whereby all parties involved see a
responsibility to be open and honest about facts and feelings.
Figure: conflict management approaches
 Chapter Four
Organizational Process

• Organizational Communication
• Meaning and Definitions;
The word Communication is derived from a Latin word “cummunicare”
which means “to share”. Therefore, the word communication means
sharing of ideas, messages and words expressed through a language,
which is easily comprehensible to the listener. Communication starts
with a sender, who has a message to send to the receiver.
• Peter little: communication is the process by which information is
transmitted between individuals and/or organization so that an
understanding response results.
• W. H. Newman and C. F. summer: Communication is an exchange of
facts, ideas, opinions, emotions by two or more persons.
• Keith Davis: Communication is the process of passing information and
understanding from one person to another.
• American Management Association: Communication is any behavior
that results in an exchange of meaning.
 The communication process and components
• It is useful to think of communication as a process of sending and
receiving messages with attached meanings. The key elements in
the communication process are illustrated in Figure below they
include a source, who encodes an intended meaning into a
message, and a receiver, who decodes the message into a
perceived meaning.
• The receiver may or may not give feedback to the source.
Figure: The communication Process
 contd
• Sender (communicator): is the source of the message who initiates
the communication process. The sender is the one who has certain
ideas, information, feelings, attitudes, intentions, or emotions
which he or she wants to share with the receiver
• Encoding: is the process of selecting and organizing bits of
information into transmissible message language or symbol
• Message: the result of encoding is the message- either verbal or
non verbal. When you compose a message, you need to consider
what content to include, how the receiver’s frame of reference
• Channel: is the formal medium of transmission of the message.
• Decoding: is the process by which the receiver interprets the
message and translates it into meaningful information.
• Feed back: is a response from the receiver. It is the process of
checking and clarification by asking questions and repeating the
message to ensure that the encoding and decoding results in
mutual understanding of the message. Noise;: road block barrier of
 Contd
• Discussion Points
• What are the pros and cons of Feed back in organizational communication?
• Barriers to effective Communication
1. Physical Destructions
Any number of physical distractions can interfere with the effectiveness of a
communication attempt.(physical setting during communication such as distance
sitting arrangement, audience size, sound etc.
2. Semantic barriers to communication involve a poor choice or use of words and
mixed messages.
• A. “We solicit any recommendations that you wish to make, and you may be
assured that any such recommendations will be given our careful consideration.”
• B. “Consumer elements are continuing to stress the fundamental necessity of a
stabilization of the price structure at a lower level than exists at the present time.”
• One has to wonder why these messages weren’t stated more simply as: (A) “Send
us your recommendations. They will be carefully considered and (B)
• “Consumers want lower prices.” In this regard, the popular KISS principle of
communication is always worth remembering: “Keep it short and simple.”
 contd
• Mixed messages occur when a person’s words communicate one thing while
actions or “body language” communicates another. They are important to
spot since nonverbal can add important insight into what is really being said
in face-to-face communication.36 For instance, someone may voice a
cautious “Yes” during a business meeting at the same time that her facial
expression shows stress and she begins to lean back in her chair. The body
language in this case may suggest the existence of important reservations,
even though the words indicate agreement.
3. Cultural differences
• People must always exercise caution when they are involved in cross-cultural
communication—whether between persons of different geographical or
ethnic groupings within one country, or between persons of different national
cultures.
• A common problem is ethnocentrism—the tendency to believe one’s culture
and its values are superior to those of others. It is often accompanied by an
unwillingness to try to understand alternative points of view and to take the
values they represent seriously. This mindset can easily create
communication problems among people of diverse backgrounds.
 contd
• The difficulties with cross-cultural communication are
perhaps most obvious in respect to language differences.
Advertising messages, for example, may work well in one
country but encounter difficulty when translated into the
language of another. Problems may accompany with the
introduction of Ford’s European model, the “Ka,” in Japan. In
Japanese, Ka means mosquito and analysts wonder
• if a car that is named for a disease-carrying pest can ever sell
well. Gestures may also be used quite differently in the
various cultures of the world. For example, crossed legs in the
United Kingdom are quite acceptable, but are rude in Saudi-
Arabia. If the sole of the foot is directed toward someone
pointing at someone to get their attention may be acceptable
in Canada, but in Asia it is considered inappropriate.
 Contd
4. Filtering occurs when a sender manipulates information so that
the receiver will view it more favorably. For example, when a
manager tells a senior executive what the manager thinks the
executive wants to hear, the manager is filtering information.
• Does this happen much in organizations? Sure! As information
is passed up to senior executives, employees must condense
and summarize it so that those on top don’t become
overloaded with information.
• The personal interests and perceptions of what is important by
those doing the summarizing will result in filtering.
• The major determinant of filtering is the number of levels in an
organization’s structure.
• The more levels in an organization’s hierarchy, the more
opportunities there are for filtering information.
 contd
• 5. Absence of feedback
• One-way communication flows from sender to receiver only, as
in the case of a written memo or a voice-mail message. There is
no direct and immediate feedback from the recipient.
• Two-way communication, by contrast, goes from sender to
receiver and back again. It is characterized by the normal
interactive conversations in our daily experiences.
• Research indicates that two-way communication is more
accurate and effective than is one-way communication, even
though it is also more costly and time consuming. Because of
their efficiency, however, one way forms of communication—
memos, letters, E-mail, voice-mail, and the like are frequently
used in work settings.
• One-way messages are easy for the sender but often frustrating
for the receiver, who may be left unsure of just what the sender
means or wants done.
 Contd
• 6. Status effects: (hoarding and inferiority complex)
• Status differences in organizations create potential communication barriers
between persons of higher and lower ranks. On the one hand, given the
authority of their positions, managers may be inclined to do a lot of “telling”
but not much “listening.” On the other hand, we know that communication is
frequently biased when flowing upward in organizational hierarchies.
Subordinates may filter information and tell their superiors only what they
think the boss wants to hear.
• Whether the reason is a fear of retribution for bringing bad news, an
unwillingness to identify personal mistakes, or just a general desire to please,
the result is the same: The higher level decision maker may end up taking the
wrong actions because of biased and inaccurate information supplied from
below. This is sometimes called the MUM effect in reference to tendencies to
sometimes keep “mum” from a desire to be polite and a reluctance to transmit
bad news.
• To avoid such problems, managers and group leaders must develop trust in
their working relationships with subordinates and team members, and take
advantage of all opportunities for face-to-face communications. i.e.
Management by wandering around, or MBWA.
 contd
• 7. Information Overload
• Mountains of papers and much oral information tends
to be a barrier to communication. Too much
information is as danger as too little information since
it limits manager’s decision making process.
8. Distortion
• The quality and content of communication message
get lost as it passes through a long hierarchy or
communicated to many people in the organization.
 Strategies to Improve Communication Effectiveness in organizations

• Major strategies for improving communication effectiveness are the following:

•  Create an environment of trust and confidence
•  Be clear about the objectives of communication
• Encourage Open Feedback. In theory, it's simple: If accurate information is the
key to effective communication, then organizations should encourage feedback
since, after all, feedback is a prime source of information. However, we say "in
theory" because it is natural for workers to be afraid of the repercussions they
may face when being extremely open with their superiors.
• Likewise, high-ranking officials may be somewhat apprehensive about hearing
what's really on their workers' minds.
• In other words, people in organizations may be reluctant to give and to receive
feedback—a situation that can wreak/cause havoc/chaos on organizational
communication.
• These problems would be unlikely to occur in an organizational climate in
which top officials openly and honestly seek feedback and in which lower-level
workers believe they can speak their minds with impunity.
• Among these are the following:
 contd
• But how can this be accomplished? Although this is not easy,
several successful techniques for opening feedback channels
have been used by organizations.
• 360-degree feedback—Formal systems in which people at all
levels give feedback to others at different levels and receive
feedback from them, as well as outsiders—including customers
and suppliers.
• Suggestion systems—Programs that invite employees to submit
ideas about how something may be improved. Employees are
generally rewarded when their ideas are implemented.
• Corporate hotlines—Telephone lines staffed by corporate
officials ready to answer questions and listen to comments.
These are particularly useful during times when employees are
likely to be full of questions because their organizations are
undergoing change.
 contd
• Use Simple Language. No matter what field you're in, chances
are good that it has its own special language—also known as
jargon. Although jargon may greatly help communication
within specialized groups, it can severely interfere with
communication among the uninitiated.
• The trick to using jargon wisely is to know your audience. If
the individuals with whom you are communicating understand
the jargon, using it can help facilitate communication.
• However, when addressing audiences whose members are
unfamiliar with specialized language, simple, straightforward
language is bound to be most effective. In either case, the
rationale is the same: Know your audience. Although you may
be tempted to try to impress your audience by using big
words, you may have little impact on them and may even
appear condescending if they don't understand you.
 contd
• Avoid Overload. Imagine this scene: You're up late one
night at the end of the term as you're writing a paper
and studying for finals (or at least trying to) all at the
same time. Your desk is piled high with books when
your roommate comes in to explain what you should
do to prepare for the end-of-semester party.
• If this sounds at all familiar to you, then you probably
know only too well that it's unlikely that you'd be able
to give everything you're doing your utmost attention.
• After all, when people are confronted with more
information than they can process at any given time,
their performance tends to suffer. This condition is
known as overload.
 contd
• Walk the Talk. When it comes to effective communication,
action definitely speaks louder than words. Too often,
communication is hampered by the practice of saying one
thing but meaning another. And, whenever implicit messages
(e.g., "we may be cutting jobs") contradict official messages
(e.g., "don't worry, the company is stable"), confusion is
bound to result.
• This is especially problematic when the inconsistency comes
from the top. In fact, one of the most effective ways of
fostering effective organizational communication is for CEOs
to
• "walk the talk" that is, to match their deeds to their words.
After all, a boss would lose credibility if she told her
employees "my door is always open to you," but then was
never available for consultation. Good communication
 contd
• The external barriers of defective channels and
organizational systems are entirely the management’s
responsibility within the organization.
• The internal channels must be kept in good working
condition i.e. notice boards; information meeting must be
kept up to date.

•  The personal barriers can be overcome by making a

conscious effort to learn better methods and by training
for better communication.

•  Be sensitive to the communication situation and receiver

frame of reference
•  Listen emphatically
 Formal and Informal Communication
Formal channel of communication is established by the management
and formally shown in the charts of the organizations .It is the channel
which is deliberately and consciously established.
Formal channel is the line of communication for transmission of
messages and information officially within and outside the
organization. The formal communication channel is used to transmit
official messages, policies, procedures, directives, and job
instruction….
• Informal channel of communication known, as the grapevine is
communication that takes place without regard to hierarchical or task
requirements. Informal communication can be thought of as relating
to personal rather than positional issues.
• In other words Informal channel or the grapevine does not follow the
formal channels established by the management. This type of
communication arises on account of natural desire of people to
communicate each other and is the result of social interaction of
people.
 Characteristics of Informal Communication

•  It is very fast and spontaneous

•  It is not entirely reliable
•  Its messages are difficult to stop once they get started
•  It is accessible to everybody in that organization
•  It can be supportive or obstacle to the effort of management
Types of Grapevine Chains
• Single strand Chain: In this chain Person “A” tells to a single person “B”,
who tells it to a person “C” and so on
• The Gossip Chain: a person being the source of the information
transmits to many individuals.
• Probability Chain: here individuals are indifferent about to whom they
offer information. They tell people at random and those people intern
tell other at random.
• Cluster Chain: Here person “A” conveys the information to few selected
individuals, some of whom then inform a few selected individuals.
• Researches found that 75-95 informal communication is true
 Types of Formal Communication
• Downward Communication
• When vertical communication flows from a higher level to
one or more lower levels in the organization it is known as
downward communication. Downward communication flows
from the top of the organization and carries the message
that translates top management planning and decision
making into orders that direct office employee. Some
examples of downward communication are:
•  Information related to policies, rules, procedures,
objectives, and other type of plans
•  Work assignment and directives
•  Feedback about work performance
•  General information about the organization such as its
progress and status.
 contd
• Upward Communication
• The vertical flow of communication from, a lower level to higher levels in the
organization is called upward communication. This may take place from the
supervisor to middle level manager, from manager to general manager and
then from general manager to board of directors. It moves in the opposite
direction and is based up on the communication demand system designed by
• management to receive information from operational level. It helps managers
judge the effectiveness of downward communication and enables them to
learn about organizational problems. Major areas of information should be
communicated from lower level through upward communication are:
•  The activities of subordinates in terms of their achievement progress and
plans
•  Unresolved work problems in which subordinates may need help from
seniors
•  Suggestions (ideas) for improvement in offices or department/organization
•  The feelings of subordinates about their jobs, associates, working
environment and etc …
 contd
• Lateral Communication:
• It usually follows the pattern of workflow in an organization
occurring between members of work groups between one work
group and another between members of departments having the
same status.
• Its main purpose is to provide a direct channel for organizational co-
operation and problem solving.
• Diagonal Communication
• Diagonal communication refers to interchange of message among
two persons located at different levels of hierarchy and outside the
direct chain of command.
• It serves the purpose of coordination and integration and involves
by passing the chain of command as in the case of horizontal
communication.
• It is used to speed up information flow to improve understanding
and to coordinate for the achievement of organizational objectives.
 Decision Making In Organization
Formally defined, decision making is the process of choosing a course of action
for dealing with a problem or opportunity.
The five basic steps involved in systematic decision making are:
1. Recognize and define the problem or opportunity.
2. Identify and analyze alternative courses of action, and estimate their effects
on the problem or opportunity(cost-benefit).
3. Choose a preferred course of action (Best alternative).
4. Implement the preferred course of action.
5. Evaluate the results and follow up as necessary.
• We must also recognize that in settings where substantial change and many
new technologies prevail, this step-by-step approach may not be followed.
Occasionally, a nontraditional sequence works and yields superior
performance over the traditional view.
• We also think it is important to consider the ethical consequences of
decision making. To understand when and where to use the traditional or
novel decision techniques calls for a further understanding of decision
environments and the types of decisions to be made.
 Decision environments

• Problem-solving decisions in organizations are typically made under three

different conditions or environments: certainty, risk, and uncertainty.
• Certain environments exist when information is sufficient to predict the
results of each alternative in advance of implementation. When a person
invests money in a savings account, for example, absolute certainty exists
about the interest that will be earned on that money in a given period of
time. Certainty is an ideal condition for managerial problem solving and
decision making. The challenge is simply to locate the alternative offering
the best or ideal solution.
• Risk environments exist when decision makers lack complete
(information) certainty regarding the outcomes of various courses of
action, but they are aware of the probabilities associated with their
occurrence. A probability, in turn, is the degree of likelihood of an event’s
occurrence. Probabilities can be assigned through objective statistical
procedures or through personal intuition. For instance, managers can
make statistical estimates of quality rejects in production runs, or a senior
production manager can make similar estimates based on past experience.
Risk is a common decision environment in today’s organizations.
 Uncertain environments
• exist when managers have so little information on hand that they
cannot even assign probabilities to various alternatives and their
possible outcomes. This is the most difficult of the three decision
environments.
• Uncertainty forces decision makers to rely heavily on individual and
group creativity to succeed in problem solving. It requires unique,
novel, and often totally innovative alternatives to existing patterns of
behavior. Responses to uncertainty are often heavily influenced by
intuition, educated guesses, and hunch/get feeling. Furthermore, an
uncertain decision environment may also be characterized as a rapidly
changing organizational setting in terms of (a) external conditions,
• (b) The information technology requirements called for to analyze and
make decisions and (c) the personnel influencing problem and choice
definitions.
• This has been called an organized anarchy, a firm or division in a firm
in a transition characterized by very rapid change and lack of a
legitimate hierarchy and collegiality.
 .
Types of decisions

• The many routine and non-routine problems in the modern

workplace call for different types of decisions.
• Routine problems arise on a regular basis and can be addressed
through standard responses, called programmed decisions.
• These decisions simply implement solutions that have already
been determined by past experience as appropriate for the
problem at hand.
• Examples of programmed decisions are reordering inventory
automatically when stock falls below a predetermined level and
issuing a written reprimand/warning to someone who violates a
certain personnel procedure.
• Non routine problems are unique and new, having never been
encountered before.
• Because standard responses are not available, these
circumstances call for creative problem solving.
 contd
• These non programmed decisions are specifically crafted or tailored to
the situation at hand. Higher level managers generally spend a greater
proportion of their decision-making time on non routine problems.
• An example is a senior marketing manager who has to respond to the
introduction of a new product by a foreign competitor. Although past
experience may help deal with this competitive threat, the immediate
decision requires a creative solution based on the unique
characteristics of the present market situation.
• For firms in or characterized by “organized anarchy,” we also suggest
there is a third class of decisions called associative choices. Associative
choices are decisions that can be loosely linked to nagging continual
problems but that were not specifically developed to solve the
problem.
• Given the chaotic nature of the setting, the necessity to take action as
opposed to waiting, and the ability of employees to make nearly any
“decision” work, a stream of associative choices may be used to
improve the setting, even though the problems are not solved.
 Decision Making Models

• The field of organizational behavior historically emphasizes two

alternative approaches to decision making—classical and
behavioral.
• Classical decision theory models view the manager as acting in
a world of complete certainty.
• Behavioral decision theory models accept the notion of
bounded rationality and suggests that people act only in terms
of what they perceive about a given situation.
• Classical and behavioral decision theory
• Ideally, the manager faces a clearly defined problem, knows all
possible action alternatives and their consequences, and then
chooses the alternative that offers the best, or “optimum,”
solution to the problem. This optimizing style is an ideal way to
make decisions. This classical approach is normative and
prescriptive, and is often used as a model for how managers
should make decisions.
 contd
• Behavioral scientists are cautious about applying classical
decision theory to many decision situations.
• They recognize that the human mind is a wonderful creation,
capable of infinite achievements. But they also recognize that
human beings have cognitive limitations that restrict their
information-processing capabilities.
• Information deficiencies and overload compromise the ability of
decision makers to achieve complete certainty and otherwise
operate according to the classical model. Human decision makers
also operate with bounded rationality.
• Bounded rationality is a short-hand term suggesting that, while
individuals are reasoned and logical, humans have their limits.
Individuals interpret and make sense of things within the context
of their personal situation. They engage in decision making
“within the box” of a simplified view of a more complex reality.
 contd
• As a result, the classical model does not give a full and accurate
description of how most decisions are made in organizations.
• Therefore, Classical decision theory does not appear to fit today’s
chaotic world of globalizing high-tech organizations, yet it would be
a mistake to dismiss it and the types of progress that can be made
with classical models.
• As noted above, behavioral decision theory models accept the
notion of bounded rationality and suggest that people act only in
terms of what they perceive about a given situation. Because these
perceptions are frequently imperfect, most organizational decision
making does not take place in a world of complete certainty.
• Rather, the behavioral decision maker is viewed as acting most often
under uncertain conditions and with limited information.
Organizational decision makers face problems that are often
ambiguous, and they have only partial knowledge of the available
action alternatives and their consequences.
 contd
• This leads to a phenomenon which Herbert Simon has described as
satisfying—decision makers choose the first alternative that appears to give
an acceptable or a satisfactory resolution of the problem. As Simon states:
“Most human decision making, whether individual or organizational, is
concerned with the discovery and selection of satisfactory alternatives; only
in exceptional cases is it concerned with the discovery and selection of
optimal decisions.”
The garbage can model
• A third view of decision making stems from the so-called garbage
can/container model.
• In this view, the main components of the choice process—problems,
solutions, participants, and choice situations—are all mixed up together in
the “garbage can” of the organization.
• In many organizations where the setting is stable and the technology is well
known and fixed, tradition, strategy, and the administrative structure help
order the contents of the garbage can. Specific problems can be matched to
specific solutions, an orderly process can be maintained, and the behavior
view of decision making may be appropriate.
 contd
• But when the setting is dynamic, the technology is changing,
demands are conflicting or the goals are unclear, things can get
mixed up. More action than thinking can take place. Solutions
emerge as “potential capabilities”—capabilities independent of
problems or opportunities.
• Solutions often emerge not to solve specific problems but as
lessons learned from the experience of other organizations.
• These new solution/capabilities may be in the form of new
employees, new technical experts, consultants, or reports on best
practices. Many solutions might well be implemented even if they
cannot be tied to a specific problem.

• Solutions may also be implemented when no other solution has

solved a persistent, chronic problem. Although implemented
solutions change the organization, they are unlikely to solve
specific problems.
 contd
• The garbage can model highlights an important feature of decision
making in many large organizations. Choice making and implementation
may be done by quite different individuals.
• Often, the job of subordinates is to make the decisions of senior
managers work. They must interpret the intentions of their bosses as
well as solve local problems. Implementation becomes an opportunity
to instill many changes related to the choice of more senior executives.
So what is chosen gets implemented along with many other changes.
• The link between choice and implementation may become even weaker
when senior managers are vague or do not vigorously follow up on
implementation. The net result from those actually implementing the
decision is the appearance that what was chosen does not exactly
match what is implemented.
• There is a final aspect of the garbage can view. Many problems go
unsolved.
• That is, all organizations have chronic, persistent deficiencies that never
seem to get much better.
 Decision making errors/biases
1. Over confidence biases: it’s been said that “no problem in judgment &
decision making is more prevalent and more catastrophic than over
confidence. When we are given factual questions and asked to judge
probability that our answers are correct, we tend to be far too
optimistic.
from an organizational stand point one of the most important finding on
over confidence is those individuals whose intellectual and
interpersonal abilities are weakest are most likely to over estimate
their performance and abilities.
2. Anchoring: is the tendency to fixate on initial information and fail to
adequately adjust to subsequent information. This appears b/c our
mind gives disproportionate amount of information to the first
information it receives.
3. Confirmation biases: the rational decision making process assumes that
we objectively gather information.
But we don’t. We selectively gather it. Confirmation biases represent a
specific case of selective perception. We seek out information that
reaffirms our past choices, and discount information that contradicts.
 contd
4. Availability Bias: Many more people fear flying than fear driving in car. This is
because media gives much emphasis on air accident than car accidents as a
result we over state the risk of flying and under state the risk of car driving.
This illustrates availability biases, w/c is the tendency for people to base their
judgment on the information that is readily available.
5. Escalation of Commitment: another distortion that creeps in to decisions in
practice is the tendency to escalate commitment when make a series of
decisions. Escalation of commitment refers to stay on the decision even when
there is a clear evidence that is wrong.
E.g. A person dating a girl for many times that the relation is not going easy still
persist to marry her…
6. Random errors: Human beings have many difficulties with chance. most of us
believe that we have some control over our world and our destiny. Although
undoubtedly we can control a good part of our future through rational decision
making , the truth is that the world will always contain random events.
Our tendency we believe we can predict the out come of random events is
randomness error. Therefore, decision making becomes impaired when we try
to create meaning out of random events.
 contd
7. Winners curse:
argues the winning participants in a competitive auction
typically pay too much for the item. Some buyers may
under estimate and other over estimate the value of the
item and the highest bidder ( the winner)will be the one
who over estimate the most.
8. Hindsight biases:
is the tendency to believe falsely after the outcome of an
event is known that we have had accurately predicted the
outcome. When something happens and we have accurate
feedback on the outcome we seem to be pretty good at
concluding that the out come was obvious
Summary of Decision making errors
 Organization Structure, Job Design and Technology
Organizational Structure: (meaning & Definitions)
• Any organization when it starts has a small structure and it takes a mega
form as it develops. The development is both vertical and horizontal.
• Vertical structure indicates the line authority and reporting channel.
Horizontal structure indicates the division of work and specialization.
Tiers of organizational structure are indicative of power structure,
positions and its inter-se relationship, roles, channels of reporting,
delegation and accountability, grouping and dividing jobs and taks.

• According to Sheldon Organization is the process of combining the work,

which individuals and groups have to perform with the facilities
necessary for its execution, that the duties so performed provide the
best channels for the efficient, systematic, positive and coordinated
application of the available efforts.
• Koontz and Donnel have defined organizational structure as ‘the
establishment of authority relationships with provision for coordination
between them, both vertically and horizontally in the enterprise
Factors Affecting Organizational Structure
 The Organizational Environment

– The quicker the environment changes, the more problems

face managers.
– Structure must be more flexible (i.e., decentralized
authority) when environmental change is rapid.
Strategy
– Different strategies require the use of different structures.
• A differentiation strategy needs a flexible structure, low
cost may need a more formal structure.
• Increased vertical integration or diversification also
requires a more flexible structure.
Technology
– The combination of skills, knowledge, tools, equipment,
computers and machines used in the organization.
– More complex technology makes it harder for managers to
regulate the organization.
 contd
– Technology can be measured by:
• Task variety: the number of new problems a manager encounters.
• Task analyzability: the availability of programmed solutions to a
manager to solve problems.
• High task variety and low analyzability present many unique
problems to managers.
– Flexible structure works best in these conditions.
• Low task variety and high analyzability allow managers to rely on
established procedures.

Human Resources
– Highly skilled workers whose jobs require working in teams usually need
a more flexible structure.
– Higher skilled workers (e.g., CPA’s and doctors) often have internalized
professional norms and values.
– Managers must take into account all four factors (environment, strategy,
technology and human resources) when designing the structure of the
organization.
 Forms of Organizational Structure
(a) Mechanistic form of organizational structure. An
organizational structure
• based on formalized system that is relatively rigid in nature.
This is generally applicable to those organizations that are
not influenced by technological, product, market changes
and generally maintains a constant pattern.
• In mechanistic form of organizational structure, authority is
centralized at the top level of management and has a rigid
hierarchy of authority. Decision making is generally
reserved at the top level.
• The tasks are well defined so that the goals set by the top
level management are attained smoothly. The structure is
characterized by plenty of written orders and instructions.
 contd
• (b) Organic form of organizational structure. Organizations those are subject
to; change due to environmental factors like technology, market changes
and product development generally adopt organic form of organizational
structure. For example software industry. In such structures authority is
delegated to various functional levels/individuals.
• Decentralized decision making is practiced that allows people to make
their own decisions based on the environment and that they do not have
to look over their shoulders.
• There are very few levels of organizational hierarchy and existence of
flexible reporting system. Jobs are fairly well defined with few orders and
instructions. These days organic form of organizational structure is related
to work groups and teams working independently on a particular project
that report directly to top management.
• They are self-supervised, self-directed and self-controlled sub units that
are self-accounted for their performance and attainment of organizational
goals.
• The structure is more loose and subject to changes very frequently to
adopt to the environmental changes. It is highly flexible.
 Concepts of organizational structure
Organizational structure must necessarily be formed taking in to consideration the
organizational objectives it has to achieve. Vertical organizational structure
indicates among other factors the line authority and unity of command
principle of management.
Horizontal organizational structure could be simple or complex. It will depend
upon the complexity and the nature of work level and intensity of integration.
Let us therefore study some of the important concepts that are related to
organizational structure.
a. Centralization and Decentralization:
• Centralization refers to reservation of authority for decision making at top
level of management. Lower levels are responsible for implementing the
decisions. They are operators or implementers. Generally speaking, the
authority is not delegated to the lower levels.
• Subordinates carry out work to accomplish their assigned task. If there is a
block, hurdle/obstacle or operation is halted due to some reason, then the
matter is referred to an appropriate authority who has the power to take
appropriate decision to resolve the problem.
Level of authority for any decision-making is generally spelt out in organization’s
standing orders. Centralization is more pre-dominant to financial transaction.
 contd
• Decentralization on the other hand refers to authority being delegated
to various levels of organization for making appropriate decisions.
Centralization and decentralization is not opposite to each other but
two ends of continuum as under.
• When we say that the organization is decentralized, what it means is
that the authority for the decision making has been vested in
appropriate levels depending upon the ability of the individual.
• In decentralized organizations, individuals at lower levels are
authorized to make decisions pertaining to their jobs that give them
autonomy.
• Authority does not flow with the same rate to each of the levels of the
organization.
• It is important to understand that each level is having appropriate
authority for decision making when need arises and that one does not
have to wait for upper level to take decisions for you.
• Decentralization, commensurate with the need, ability of the individual
to shoulder the higher responsibilities is necessary.
 contd
b. Formalization
• Organizational structure is formed and displayed by various
ways. Organizational charts are generally used for providing a
picture of organization at a glance.
• They are indicative of level of authority, relationship (as it is
related to each other’s duties and responsibilities).
• These could be depicted in various forms
(a) Skeleton form, expressed only by lines.
(b) Function wise for each appointment.
(c) Indicating names along with designation.
• Depiction of organizational charts are important. What is
more important is the process of functioning, duties that
each of the individuals is required to perform in the
organization.
 Contd
c. Standardization
• Standardization involves repetitive and routine jobs. Jobs are formalized
so that every individual can undertake such standardized jobs without
additional training.
• A bit of briefing/explaining may be required. In manufacturing
organizations manufacturing of various standard parts is a common
phenomenon. In recent times standardization of process has become
important.
• For example “induction training”, where standard package of instructions
are imparted to new entrants in the organization. Such a process takes a
form of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs).
SOP relates to a standard approach towards a particular job, may be
reception procedure or send off procedure for an employee. SOPs also lay
down who is to officiate in case permanent incumbent proceeds on long
leave, course or on a permanent posting.
No fresh instructions are required in case of established, tried out time
tested SOPs. These cover administrative and all other departmental
 contd
d. Specilization
• When all related activities are put together in particular departments,
division of work takes place. Every department attempts to specialize in
the work assigned to them.
• Individual achieves expertise when he performs same job over and over
again. Principle of unity of direction must be achieved when jobs are
broken down in tiny compartments to achieve specialization.
• Individual doing a same job over a long period of time is likely to achieve
boredom, that must be avoided by rotating him within the department
on identical jobs.
• Variety is required to be achieved for higher job satisfaction. In research
and development department, jobs are not well defined. Though there is
specialist earmarked to do the job, it is not adequately defined, as it
cannot be broken down in pre-determined manner.
• Division of labor principle therefore is not applicable in R and D
department to a desired extent.
 Contd
e. Stratification
• Stratification is related to culture and power distance index between
various levels of organization, work groups or in the appointment
hierarchy.
• In bureaucratic organization, levels of command and control is well
defined, interaction between staff in minimal and restricted to one up or
one down levels.
• It is equally applicable to line personnel.
• In highly stratified organizations, office accommodation, cafeteria is
separately earmarked/ allocated for managers, supervisors and workers.
This leads to minimum level of communication and reduced interaction
between various levels of organization.
• Apart from leading to ego infatuations, it inhibits free flow of information,
supervisor-subordinate interaction.
• When such stratification culture penetrates deep into work setting, it
prohibits growth, creativity and innovation. A wide gap is created that is
marked by ‘we-they’ feeling. This phenomenon
• is not good for development of organization.
 Steps/process in designing Organizational Structure

1. Develop a clear mission statement for the organization. Focus the

organization structure around the mission statement.
2. The mission statement should include the inter-relationship
between workers at every level as well as inspiring innovation and
ensuring efficiency.
3. Decide whether the organization structure will be centralized and
formal or decentralized and informal. For centralized and formal
organizations, the organization structure takes more of a top-down
approach with strictly defined work roles.
For decentralized and informal organizations, there is more of a
cooperative approach with workers often performing a wide range
of functions.
4. The organization structure can be department based or based on a
particular project or process. Department -based organization
structure is often divided into line functions (such as manufacturing)
and staff functions (such as human resources).
 contd

5. Design the overall chain of command for the organization. If there is

a single overall director or leader, determine the title for that role. If
there are dual or multiple leaders, divide the overall company
function between the various roles in a way that there is a clear
unity of command.
6. Add subordinate roles to the chain of command. Determine the
process of reporting from subordinate to supervisor and make
allowances for special circumstances (such as an emergency).
Indicate if and how interactions across departments or projects will
take place.
7. Determine the authority and responsibility to be assigned to each
position in the organization structure. Attempt to achieve a
minimum of overlapping functions.
Also, attempt to minimize any possible confusion by subordinates
concerning which supervisors to consult with on specific issues.
 Types of Organizational Structures
1. Functional structure: people working together with similar
skills, tools or techniques to perform their jobs.
• Functional structure consists of departments such as

marketing, production, and finance HR. etc

• Pros -Workers can learn from others doing similar tasks.

- Easy for managers to monitor and evaluate

workers.
Cons- Hard for one department to communicate with
others.
- Managers can become preoccupied with their
department and forget the firm.
• An organizational structure composed of all the departments
that an organization requires to produce its goods or services.
 contd
2. Line Structure: This has a very specific line of command. The
approvals and orders in this kind of structure come from top to
bottom in a line. Hence the name line structure.
This kind of structure is suitable for smaller organizations. This is
the sort of structure allows for easy decision making, and is very
informal in nature. They have fewer departments, which makes
the entire organization a very decentralized one.
3. Line and Staff Structure: Line and structure combines the line
structure where information and approvals come from top to
bottom, with staff departments for support and specialization.
Line and staff organizational structures are more centralized.
Managers of line and staff have authority over their subordinates,
but staff managers have no authority over line managers and
their subordinates.
 Decision making is slow b/c of the no of layers &guidelines.
Figures
contd
 contd
4. Product Structure
– Managers place each distinct product line or business in its
own self-contained division.
– divisions created according to the type of product or service.
– Divisional managers have the responsibility for devising an
appropriate business-level strategy to allow the division to
compete effectively in its industry.
5. Market Structure
– Groups divisions according to the particular kinds of
customers they serve.
– Allows managers to be responsive to the needs of their
customers and act flexibly in making decisions in
response to customers’ changing needs
 Product structure example
CEO
Corporation

Corporate
M anagers

W ashing M achine Lighting T elevision

Division Division Division
 contd
6. Matrix Structure
– An organizational structure that simultaneously
groups people and resources by function and
product.
– This combines both the best of both worlds to make
an efficient organizational structure. This structure
is the most complex organizational structure.
7. Geographic structure: divisions based on the area of a
country/teritory or world served.
– large organizations have offices at different place, for
example there could be a north zone, south zone, west
and east zone. The organizational structure would then
follow a zonal region structure.
 Market structure
CEO
Corporation

Corporate
M anagers

Large Business Sm all Business Educational Individual

Custom ers Custom ers Institutions Custom ers
 Geographical Structure
CEO
Corporation

Corporate
M anagers

Northern W estern Southern Eastern

Region Region Region Region
 Job Design
• Job design – process by which managers decide
individual job tasks and authority.
• Job redesign – process by which managers
reconsider what employees are expected to do.
• The well-being of organizations and people
relates to how well management designs jobs.
• The issue of designing jobs has gone beyond the
determination of the most efficient way to perform
tasks
Conceptual Model of Job Design and performance
Job performance model
 Job design Models Contd
• The purpose of job analysis is to provide an objective
description of the job itself
• The result of job analysis is a job description.
• Job analysis gathers and identifies information about
three aspects of all jobs:
1. Job content: Refers to the activities required of the job
– factors that define the general nature of a job
• Can be described as
– broad in scope, or
– narrow in scope
2. Job requirements
3. Job context
 Functional Job Analysis
Describes job content in terms of:
1. What the worker does in relation to data, people, and jobs
2. What methods and techniques the worker uses
3. What machines, tools, and equipment the worker uses
4. What materials, products, subject matter, or services the
worker produces
• Job Requirements: Refer to education, experience,
licenses, and other personal characteristics an
individual needs to perform the job content.
• Position analysis questionnaire (PAQ), takes into
account human characteristics as well as task and
technological factors of jobs and job classes
 contd
The PAQ identifies and analyzes the following job aspects:
1. Information sources critical to job performance
2. Information processing and decision making critical to job
performance
3. Physical activity and dexterity required of the job
4. Interpersonal relationships required of the job
5. Reactions of individuals to working conditions
• Job context: refers to factors such as the:
– Physical demands and working conditions of the job
– Degree of accountability and responsibility
– Extent of supervision required or exercised
– Consequences of error
• Job context describes the environment within which the job is
to be performed
 Teams and Job Design key factors to Address
• Task variety. The extent to which team members
are given the opportunity to perform a variety of
tasks and use different skills.
• Task significance. The degree to which the
team’s work is valued and has significance for
both internal and external stakeholders of the
organization.
• Task identity. The degree to which a team
completes a whole and separate piece of work
and has control over most of the resources
necessary to accomplish its objectives
 Total quality management (TQM) and Job Design
• Total quality management (TQM) combines
technical knowledge and human knowledge.

• Managers who implement TQM, design jobs that

empower individuals to make important decisions
about product and service quality.

• The empowerment process encourages

participative management, team-oriented task
modules, and autonomy.
 Technology
• Technology exists at three levels (cont.)
Organizational level: the way an organization converts inputs into outputs
Mass production: the organizational technology based on
competences in using standardized, progressive assembly
process to manufacture goods
Craftwork: the technology that involves groups of skilled workers
who interact closely to produce custom-designed products.
Technology and Organizational Effectiveness
• Technology is present in all organizational activities:
– Input: allows each organizational function to handle
relationships with outside stakeholders so that the
organization can effectively manage its specific environment
– Conversion: transforms inputs into outputs
– Output: allows an organization to effectively dispose of
finished goods and services to external stakeholders
 Operations Technology

• Although the design of an organization should reflect its size, it

must also be adjusted to fit technological opportunities and
requirements.
• That is, successful organizations are said to arrange their internal
structures to meet the dictates of their dominant “technologies” or
work flows and, more recently, information technology
opportunities.
• Operations technology is the combination of resources,
knowledge, and techniques that creates a product or service output
for an organization.
• Information technology is the combination of machines, artifacts,
procedures, and systems used to gather, store, analyze, and
disseminate information for translating it into knowledge.
• For operations technology, two common classifications have
received considerable attention: Thompson’s & Woodward’s
classifications.
 Thompson’s view of technology

• James D. Thompson classified technologies based on the degree to

which the technology could be specified and the degree of
interdependence among the work activities with categories called
intensive, mediating, and long linked.
• Under intensive technology, there is uncertainty as to how to produce
desired outcomes.
• A group of specialists must be brought together interactively to use a
variety of techniques to solve problems. Examples are found in a
hospital emergency room or a research and development laboratory.
• Coordination and knowledge exchange are of critical importance with
this kind of technology.
• Mediating technology links parties that want to become
interdependent.
• For example, banks link creditors and depositors and store money and
information to facilitate such exchanges. Whereas all depositors and
creditors are indirectly interdependent, the reliance is pooled through
the bank.
 Woodward’s view of technology

• Joan Woodward also divides technology into three categories: small-

batch, mass production, and continuous-process manufacturing. In units
of small-batch production, a variety of custom products are tailor-made
to fit customer specifications, such as tailor-made suits. The machinery
and equipment used are generally not very elaborate, but considerable
craftsmanship is often needed. In mass production, the organization
produces one or a few products through an assembly line system. The
work of one group is highly dependent on that of another; the
equipment is typically sophisticated; and the workers are given very
detailed instructions.
• Automobiles and refrigerators are produced in this way. Organizations
using continuous-process technology produce a few products using
considerable automation. Classic examples are automated chemical
plants and oil refineries.
• From her studies, Woodward concluded that the combination of
structure and technology was critical to the success of the organizations.
When technology and organizational design were properly matched, a
firm was more successful.
 Advanced manufacturing technology
• Computer-aided design (CAD): an advanced manufacturing
technique that greatly simplifies the design process
– Computers can be used to design and physically manufacture
products
• Computer-aided materials management (CAMM): an
advanced manufacturing technique that is used to manage the
flow of raw materials and component parts into the conversion
process, to develop master production schedules for
manufacturing, and to control inventory
– Flow of inputs determined by customer demand.
• Just-in-time inventory (JIT) system: requires inputs and
components needed for production to be delivered to
the conversion process just as they are needed
– Input inventories can then be kept to a minimum
– CAMM is necessary for JIT to work effectively
– Increases task interdependence between stages in the
 Contd
• An advanced manufacturing technique that controls
the changeover from one operation to another by
means of commands given to the machines through
computer software
– Depends on computers programmed to:
• Feed the machines with components
• Assemble the product from components and
move it from one machine to another
• Unload the final product from the machine to the
shipping area
– Use of robots integral to CIM
---End----
 Chapter Four
Power and Politics in Organization

• Power: In OB, is defined as the ability to get someone to do

something you want done or the ability to make things happen
in the way you want them to.
• Power refers to a capacity that A has to influence the behavior
of B, so that B acts in accordance with A’s wishes. This definition
implies that there is a potential for power if someone is
dependent on another.
• The essence of power is control over the behavior of others.
Power is the force you use to make things happen in an
intended way, whereas influence is what you have when you
exercise power, and it is expressed by others’ behavioral
response to your exercise of power.
• Managers derive power from both organizational and individual
sources. These sources are called position power and personal
 Position power

• Three bases of power are available to a manager solely as a result of his

or her position in the organization: reward, coercive, and legitimate
power. ( bases of power)
• Reward power is the extent to which a manager can use extrinsic and
intrinsic rewards to control other people. Examples of such rewards
include money, promotions, compliments, or enriched jobs.
• Although all managers have some access to rewards, success in accessing
and utilizing rewards to achieve influence varies according to the skills of
the manager.
• Power can also be founded on punishment instead of reward. For
example, a manager may threaten to withhold a pay raise, or to transfer,
demote, or even recommend the firing of a subordinate who does not
act as desired.
• Such coercive power is the extent to which a manager can deny desired
rewards or administer punishments to control other people. The
availability of coercive power also varies from one organization and
manager to another. The presence of unions and organizational policies
 contd
• The third base of “position” power is legitimate/lawful power, or formal
authority.
• It stems from the extent to which a manager can use subordinates’
internalized values or beliefs that the “boss” has a “right of command” to
control their behavior.
• For example, the boss may have the formal authority to approve or deny
such employee requests as job transfers, equipment purchases, personal
time off, or overtime work.
• Legitimate power represents a special kind of power a manager has
because subordinates believe it is legitimate for a person occupying the
managerial position to have the right to command. If this legitimacy is
lost, authority will not be accepted by subordinates.

• One of the most important aspects of legitimacy is the access to and

control of information. Indeed, some observers believe that information
power should be listed as a separate source of power. In most
organizations, the “right” to know and use information is restricted and
 Personal power

• Personal power resides in the individual and is

independent of that individual’s position.
• Personal power is important in many well-managed firms.
Three bases of personal power are expertise, rational
persuasion, and reference (bases of personal Power).
• Expert power is the ability to control another person’s
behavior through the possession of acknowledge,
experience, or judgment that the other person does not
have but needs.
• A subordinate obeys a supervisor possessing expert
power because the boss ordinarily knows more about
what is to be done or how it is to be done than does the
subordinate.
• Expert power is relative, not absolute.
 contd
• Rational persuasion is the ability to control another’s behavior
because through the individual’s efforts, the person accepts the
desirability of an offered goal and a reasonable way of achieving it.
Much of what a supervisor does day today involves rational
persuasion up, down, and across the organization. Rational
persuasion involves both explaining the desirability of expected
outcomes and showing how specific actions will achieve these
outcomes.
• Referent power is the ability to control another’s behavior because
the person wants to identify with the power source. In this case, a
subordinate obeys the boss because he or she wants to behave,
perceive, or believe as the boss does. This obedience may occur, for
example, because the subordinate likes the boss personally( Role-
model e.g. My role- models OM teacher) and therefore tries to do
things the way the boss wants them done. In a sense, the
subordinate attempts to avoid doing anything that would interfere
with the pleasing boss–subordinate relationship.
 Tactics to gain Power
1. Bargaining: is the use of negotiation through the
exchange of benefit or favor. i.e. collective bargaining
b/n labor and management
2. Friendliness: a person can gain power over another
person by flattery(sweet talk) , creation of goodwill,
acting humble and being friendly.
3. Coalition: when two or more persons or groups
combine their efforts and energy for a common vested
interest/goal.
4. Co-optation : A group gives some of its important
positions members of the other groups or include
them in its policy- making committee. Hence, criticisms
and threats from other groups can be blunted/ dull.
 Contd
5. Reason: a person can use reasoning to gain
power. Reasoning consists of use of facts and data
to make logical or rational presentation of ideas.
To make decisions.
6. Assertiveness: the use of direct and forceful
approaches, pointing the rule needs compliance.
“Might is right”…if love can’t ruled out…
7. Higher Authority: some managers gain the
support of higher levels i.e. strong affiliation with.
8. Sanctions: consist of traditional reward and
punishment method. Eg. Gain through promising
or preventing pay raise, demoting or promoting.
 Power, Leadership, and Management
• Essential to leadership and management
• Much more than dominance. Capacity to get things done.
• Behavior of powerful leaders and managers
– Delegate decision authority
– See people’s talents as a resource- second line mgmt
– Can change people’s working conditions
– Get resources and information for work group
– Take risks, entrepreneurs.
– Press for innovations
– Share power widely
– Help develop people, reach their aspirations.
 Contd
• Behavior of powerless leaders and managers
– Supervise closely
– Do not delegate decision authority
– Often distrust subordinates
– See people’s talents as a threat belittling them, fear
– Stick to the rules
– Do not take risks risk averse
– Strongly focus on the work
– Protect his or her territory
Discussion Point share your experience or
observation of the above powerful and powerless
leaders in your organizations?
 Organizational Politics

• Any study of power and influence inevitably leads to the subject of

“politics.” For many, this word may conjure up thoughts of illicit
deals, favors, and special personal relationships.
• Perhaps this image of shrewd, often dishonest, practices of obtaining
one’s way is reinforced by Machiavelli’s classic fifteenth-century
work.
• It is important, however, to adopt a perspective that allows politics in
organizations to function in a much broader capacity.
• The two traditions of organizational politics
• There are two quite different traditions in the analysis of
organizational politics.
• One tradition builds on Machiavelli’s philosophy and defines politics
in terms of self-interest and the use of non sanctioned means.
• In this tradition, organizational politics may be formally defined as
the management of influence to obtain ends not sanctioned by the
organization or to obtain sanctioned ends through non-sanctioned
 contd
Managers are often considered political when they seek their own goals or
use means that are not currently authorized by the organization or that
push legal limits. Where there is uncertainty or ambiguity, it is often
extremely difficult to tell whether a manager is being political in this self-
serving sense.
• The second tradition treats politics as a necessary function resulting from
differences in the self-interests of individuals. Here, organizational politics
is viewed as the art of creative compromise among competing interests.
• In a heterogeneous society, individuals will disagree as to whose self-
interests are most valuable and whose concerns should therefore be
bounded by collective interests. Politics arise because individuals need to
develop compromises, avoid confrontation, and live together. The same
holds true in organizations, where individuals join, work, and stay
together because their self-interests are served.
• Thus, organizational politics is also the use of power to develop socially
acceptable ends and means that balance individual and collective
interests.
 The double-edged sword of organizational politics

• The two different traditions of organizational politics are

reflected in the ways executives describe their effects on
managers and their organizations.
• In one survey, some percent of those interviewed indicated that
organizational politics enhanced the achievement of
organizational goals and survival. Yet, some 44 percent
suggested that it distracted individuals from organizational
goals.
• In this same survey, 60 percent of respondents suggested that
organizational politics was good for career advancement; 39
percent reported that it led to a loss of power, position, and
credibility.
• Organizational politics is not automatically good or bad. It can
serve a number of important functions, including overcoming
personnel inadequacies, coping with change, and substituting
•
contd
Even in the best managed firms, mismatches arise among managers who
are learning, burned out, lacking in needed training and skills,
overqualified, or lacking the resources needed to accomplish their assigned
duties.
• Organizational politics provides a mechanism for circumventing these
inadequacies and getting the job done. Organizational politics can facilitate
adaptation to changes in the environment and technology of an
organization.
• Organizational politics can help identify such problems and move
ambitious, problem-solving managers into the breach. It is quicker than
restructuring.
• It allows the firm to meet unanticipated problems with people and
resources quickly, before small headaches become major problems. Finally,
when a person’s formal authority breaks down or fails to apply to a
particular situation, political actions can be used to prevent a loss of
influence.
• Managers may use political behavior to maintain operations and to achieve
task continuity in circumstances where the failure of formal authority may
 major techniques of organizational politics practices

Restricting access to information. Although people don't always engage in outright lying
and falsification, they may be inclined to control others' access to information in
ways that enhance their own power. For example, people may withhold information
that makes others look bad, avoid contact with others who are expected to press
them for things they don't want to say, and so on.
Cultivating a favorable impression. People interested in being highly influential tend to
go out of their way to engage in some degree of image building – attempts to
enhance the goodness of one's impressions on others. This may take the form of
associating oneself with others' successful accomplishments and drawing attention
to one's own successes.
Developing a base of support. To successfully influence others, it is often useful to gain
the support of others in the organization. With this in mind, managers may "lobby"
for their ideas before they officially present them at meetings, and "call in favors"
they have done for others in the organization.
Blaming and attacking others. A commonly used political tactic involves finding a
scapegoat— that is, someone to put blame on for some failure or wrongdoing.
Explaining that something is really someone else's fault, making another "take the
fall," gets the real culprit "off the hook" for it—until the truth comes out, of course.
Aligning with those more powerful. One of the most direct ways to gain power is by
associating oneself with those that are higher in power. This may be done by finding
 Tactics of gaining political power
1. Social Exchange – relies on the powerful norm of reciprocity in society,
where two people in a continuing relationship feel a strong obligation to
repay their social “debts” to each other.
2. Alliances/cooalitions – two or more persons join in a longer-term power
group to get benefits that they usually desire.
• Form around people inside and outside the organization
• Those believed important to person’s position

3. Identification with Higher Authority – gaining special privileges by

becoming identified with a powerful figure in the organization.
4. Selective Service – giving service selectively to gain support, often by
bending the rules.
5. Power and Status Symbols – acquiring power and status symbols that imply
that you are an important person in the firm.
6. Power Plays – aggressive tactic involving grabbing of power from others.
7. Networks – joining or forming interest groups that have a common
objective. The group operates on the basis of friendships and personal
 Contd
8. Co-optation: get support by putting possible opponents on a task force or advisory
board.
9. Reciprocity: It is good to help others. Accordingly, recognize those
members of the organization who will be more powerful in future. Help
them so that they reciprocate the same when you need their support.
Ethical Issues of political behavior in Organizations
• Utilitarian view: using power and political behavior to serve only one's
self-interest is unethical Political behavior that uses excessive
organizational resources to reach a personal goal is also unethical.
• Sense of justice strongly argues for fair treatment
• Giving preferential treatment to someone to build a sense of obligation
is unethical.
• Using power and political behavior that violates another person's rights
is unethical
• A political tactic such as co-optation can violate others' rights
• Co-opted individual, unless he or she understands the goal of the
political actor, has not consented to such influence.
 Guidelines for ethical political behavior
– Distinguishes organizational statesmanship from "dirty
politics"
– Behavior should serve people outside the
organization, beyond the single political actor
– Individuals should clearly know intent of actor; give
free consent to be influenced.

– Right of due process should not be violated while the

political behavior unfolds
– Administration of policies should allow fair treatment
of all affected people
-The End-
 Chapter Five
Organizational Culture and Change

• Organizational or corporate culture is the system of shared actions,

values, and beliefs that develops within an organization and guides the
behavior of its members.
• OC is the pattern of shared values, beliefs, and assumptions considered
to be the appropriate way to think and act within an organization. The
key features of culture are as follows.

• Levels of cultural analysis

• Three important levels of cultural analysis in organizations are:
observable culture, shared values, and common assumptions. These
levels may be envisioned as layers. The deeper one gets, the more
difficult it is to discover the culture.
• The first level concerns observable culture, or the way we do things
around here.” These are the methods the group has developed and
teaches to new members. The observable culture includes the unique
stories, ceremonies, and corporate rituals that make up the history of a
 contd
• The second level of analysis recognizes that shared values can play a
critical part in linking people together and can provide a powerful
motivational mechanism for members of the culture. Many
consultants suggest that organizations should develop a “dominant
and coherent set of shared values.”
• The term shared in cultural analysis implies that the group is a whole.
Every member may not agree with the shared values, but they have all
been exposed to them and have often been told they are important.
• At Hewlett-Packard, for example, “quality” is part of everyone’s
vocabulary/ language. The firm was founded on the belief that
everyone could make a creative contribution to developing quality
products.
• At the deepest level of cultural analysis are common assumptions, or
the taken-for-granted truths that collections of corporate members
share as a result of their joint experience. It is often extremely difficult
to isolate these patterns, but doing so helps explain why culture
invades every aspect of organizational life.
 Characteristics of Organizational Culture
• A good organizational structure has the following Characteristics.
1. Individual Autonomy: the degree of responsibility, freedom and
opportunities of exercising initiative that the individual have in the
organization.
2. Structure : the degree to w/c the organization creates clear
objectives, communication, performance expectations.
3. Management support: : the degree to w/c managers provide clear
communication, assistance, warmth and support to subordinates.
4. Identity: the degree to w/c members identify in with organization as
a whole rather than with their particular work group or field of
professional expertise.
5. Performance -reward system: the degree to w/c reward system in
the organization like increase in salary, promotion, transfer etc are
based on employee performance rather than seniority, nepotism or
any sort of artificial segregation.
 contd
6. Conflict Tolerance: the degree of conflict present in relationships
between colleagues and work groups as well as the degree to which
employees are encouraged to air conflict and criticisms openly
7. Risk tolerance: The degree to w/c employees are encouraged to be
innovative, aggressive and risk taking.
8. Communication patterns: the degree to w/c org. communications
are restricted to the formal hierarchy of authority.
9. Outcome orientation: the degree to w/c management focuses on
outcomes or results rather than the techniques and processes used
to achieve these outcomes.
10. People orientation: the degree to w/c the management decisions
take in to consideration the impacts of outcomes on people in the
orgs.
When we appraise the organization with the above characteristics we
will get the exact organizational Culture.
 The components of Culture
1. Values; are the beliefs as what is best for the organization that determine
what is good or bad right or wrong. Values may be expressed implicitly or
explicitly in the following ways.
- performance, competence, competitiveness, quality, customer service
teamwork etc.
2. Norms: are the “ought's” or “should be” of a behavior. They are
prescriptions for acceptable behavior. They are set of beliefs, feelings and
attitudes commonly shared by groups.
Therefore, organizational norms are the basis for predicting and controlling
the behaviors of members.
3. artifacts: are visible and tangible aspects of an organization that people can
hear, see, or feel which may include Environments, dressing styles, the
manner in w/c people can address each other.
4. Leadership styles: describes the approach the managers use to deal with
employees in the organization. The leader is central to the organizational
culture and the culture of the organization is likely to reflect the
personality of the leader.
 Dimensions of culture
A common misconception is that organizations have similar cultures w/c
means that individuals with d/t backgrounds or d/t levels in the
organization will tend to describe the organization culture in similar
fashion. But in reality it may not tend to happen and as a result there
may be a dominant and sub culture strong or weak culture.
The following are the different cultural dimensions.
1. Dominant vs Subculture: dominant culture is the set of core values
shared by a majority of organizational members. It is a macro level
that helps to guide the day to day behavior of employees. Where as
sub-culture is a set of values shared by small minority organizational
members. This arises as a result of problems and experiences that
are shared by members of the department or unit of the orgsn. In
the sub-culture the values of dominant culture are retained but
modified to reflect individuals unit’s distinct situation. E.g.
marketing dept may have its own sub-culture, purchasing dept
similarly.
 contd
2. Strong Culture vs. Weak culture: org culture may be strong or weak.
• Strong Cultures have the following features;
a. Have strong values and strong leadership
b. Widely shared high degree of organizational members with core
values.
c. Intensely held; organizational members have high degree of
commitment of core values.
. Strong culture with high sharedness and intensity reduces labor
turnover and increases positive employee’s attitude.
On the other hand it leads to high “group think”
3. Mechanistic Vs. organic Cultures: in the cultures of mechanistic the
values of bureaucracy and feudalism are exhibited. People restrict
their careers to their own specializations only and organizational
work is concerned as a system of narrow specialization. It follows a
flow of traditional authority from top to bottom.
Communication channels are well defined and prescribed.
 contd
• On the other hand organic culture just contrast of mechanistic
culture. where there is no prescribed communication channels,
departmental boundaries, strict hierarchies of authority and
formal rules and regulations. More stress is on flexibility ,
consultation, change and innovation.
4. Authoritarian vs Participative culture:
in authoritarian culture power is centralized and subordinates are
supposed to obey orders strictly.
Discipline is stressed and disobedience is severely punished. This
culture is based on the assumption that leader knows what is
good for the organization.
The participative culture is on based on the assumption that when all
the people working in the organization participate in decision
making.
Group problem solving, synergy the “we approach”.
 contd
• National Culture vs. Organizational culture
• Organizational culture is always influenced by national culture
irrespective of the origin company.
• In other words if there is a clash between national and
organizational cultures, the national ?? culture prevails.
• For example any company operating in India whether it is
Indian origin or foreign, observes the local culture.
• They declare the same holidays, celebrate the same festivals
and organize the same functions and cultural activities. As
reflected by Indian ethnos.
• How is culture starts founders?? Kroc. Kroc McDonalds co.
(Quality service and cleanness). TATA co. powerful and
successful cultures(honesty and fair dealing).
• Philosophies, principles and values are still alive in their
 Change in Organizations

• “Change” is the watchword of the day for many, if not most, organizations.
Some of this change may be described as radical change, or frame-breaking
change. Change: You are perhaps aware of the axiom that the only certainty
in the world is that there will be change.
• In this process of change, the Darwinian principles of adaptation and
natural selection are as true for the corporate world as they are for the
animate. `Survival of the fittest' is the unwritten but the radical rule of this
game
• This is change that results in a major overhaul of the organization or its
component systems. In today’s business environments, such radical changes
are often initiated by a critical event, such as a new CEO, a new ownership
brought about by merger or takeover, or a dramatic failure in operating
results.
• Another common form of organizational change is incremental change, or
frame-bending change. This type of change, being part of an organization’s
natural evolution, is frequent and less traumatic. Typical changes of this
type include the introduction of new products, new technologies, and new
systems and processes.
 contd
• Although the nature of the organization remains relatively the same,
incremental change builds on the existing ways of operating to enhance
or extend them in new directions. The capability of improving
continuously through incremental change is an important asset in
today’s demanding environments.

• The success of both radical and incremental change in organizations

depends in part on change agents who lead and support the change
processes.
• These are individuals and groups who take responsibility for changing
the existing behavior patterns of another person or social system.
Although change agents sometimes are hired as consultants from
outside the organization, any manager or leader in today’s dynamic
times is expected to act in a change agent capacity.
• Indeed, this responsibility is increasingly defined even more specifically
as essential to the leadership role. Simply put, being an effective
change agent means being a great “change leader.
 PLANNED AND UNPLANNED CHANGE
• Unplanned changes occur spontaneously or randomly. They may be
disruptive, such as a wildcat strike that ends in a plant closure, or beneficial,
such as an interpersonal conflict that results in a new procedure designed
to smooth the flow of work between two departments. When the forces of
unplanned change begin to appear, the appropriate goal is to act quickly to
minimize any negative consequences and maximize any possible benefits. In
many cases, unplanned changes can be turned into good advantage.

• planned change is the result of specific efforts by a change agent. It is a

direct response to someone’s perception of a performance gap—a
discrepancy between the desired and actual state of affairs. Performance
gaps may represent problems to be resolved or opportunities to be
explored.
• Most planned changes may be regarded as efforts intended to deal with
performance gaps in ways that benefit an organization and its members.
The processes of continuous improvement require constant vigilance to
spot performance gaps— both problems and opportunities—and to take
action to resolve them.
PHASES OF PLANNED CHANGE
 contd
• Unfreezing : As a practical matter, change does not occur in a
vacuum of no prior perspective. To the extent the new is different
from the old and the old-had value to the individuals, the old
patterns of perspective implies a questioning and doubting of
existing assumptions and feelings. For most change which is
significant, the unfreezing requires a loosening of emotional as well
as intellectual forces. Unfreezing involves the following steps:
• A) Recognizing the Driving Forces
• Recognizing major changes in the environment and problems
within the organization is the first step toward organizational
change. In many organizations, however, the need for change may
go unnoticed until a major problem strikes.
• B) Increasing the Driving Forces Once the need for change is
identified, it has to be communicated to people who are involved in
the changing process. Because if members know why the change is
needed, they are more likely to adopt it.
 contd
• The following strategies can be adopted to increase the -
acceptance of a change.
– Express the need for change
• People who will be affected by the change have to know the
change is needed. If they do not, they will hesitate to cooperate in
the change process.
• Communicate the potential benefit
• People have a tendency to ask, "what's in it for me?" Unless they
feel that the change will benefit them or that failure to change will
hurt them substantially, they are less likely to cooperate. If no
benefits can be identified, the costs of not changing must at least
be understood.
• Protect the interest of concerned people
• People fear change because it may cause them to lose their jobs,
income or status. Assurances of job security, income protection and
maintenance of status can increase the acceptance of change.
 contd
• Get people involved in the process
• Participation can help people accept change. Some individuals have a positive
outlook on change and when they participate, the progress of change is
facilitated.
• Communicate the progress of change
• In order to minimize fear of the unknown, the content and progress of change
must be communicated to employees. It is often difficult to know all the
potential consequences and influences of a given change, but, by keeping
employees informed of its progress, management can at least maintain a
climate of trust.
• Use a respected change agent
• The credibility and power of the change agent can facilitate the process of
change. The change agent must be familiar with the technical and behavioral
aspects of a given change and must be someone with an influence on
organizational functioning.
• Reinforce earlier changes
• When an organization undertakes a large scale change involving a series of
continual modification, it is important for people to see that earlier changes
 contd
C) Managing the Resisting Forces
• Most of the strategies designed to increase the driving forces are equally applicable for
reducing resisting forces to change.
• People resist change because they perceive that it can be harmful to them; thus, it is
essential that they be made aware of its need and benefit.
• Understanding the reason why people resist change can help you formulate a plan to reduce
the resistance.
• Moving
– In the moving or changing phase the individual is ready for new behavior and a change in
perspective.
– It is a time of trial and error learning, characterized by ambiguity and tentativeness.
– The phase is typically one of careful guidance by an authority, of learning the pieces of a
new pattern of behavior before the whole can be conceived.
– Moving or change involves changing the organizational components. Traditionally,
organizational change was thought to mean modifying only one subsystem of an
organization.
– For example if there was a change in technology, modifying a task was thought to be
sufficient. In recent years, however, more attention has been paid to larger-scale
organizational changes involving several organizational components. This approach is
based on the view that an organization is composed of four major components-task,
structure, technology and people and that a change in any one of them requires
changing the others
 contd
• Refreezing
• This phase involves the establishment of a new perspective compatible
with and leading to the new desirable behavior.
• In effect, the new part of one's total perspective is now established and
integrated so that it fits the whole. This makes it possible for the new
behavior to be accomplished as a matter of course. This is the period in
which the individual or group begins to enjoy the rewards for the new
behavior, either extrinsically in the form of social approval, monetary
reward and the like or intrinsically in the form of ego satisfaction, sense
of mastery and self-fulfillment.
• In order to continuously reinforce the newly acquired behavior, the
organization needs to maintain the organizational fit among various
components that are supportive of such behavior. Without such
organizational compatibility, the organization will encounter instability.
• 4. Feedback
Management of change requires feedback and follow-up actions that
change program is progressing in right direction without producing
 Individual Change and Organizational Change

• It may be useful to note the difference between individual change and

organizational change, although the two are interwoven.
• Individual change
• Is behavioral-determined by individual characteristics of members such as
knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, needs, expectations etc.
• It is possible to bring about a total change in an organization by changing
behaviors of individual members through participative-educative strategy.
• The degree of difficulty involved in the change and the time taken to
change will be primarily dependent upon what exactly is your target of
change.
• If your target of change is a person's knowledge, it would not be a very
difficult and time-consuming endeavor.
• Changing attitudes is usually considered more difficult and time taking
when compared to changing knowledge.
• Changing behavior is a still more time-taking and difficult task. We often
assume that having enough knowledge and a positive attitude towards
something will naturally result in changing behavior or modification
 Evolutionary Change and Revolutionary Change

• Look at the following exhibit on the stages of organization's change and

development. You will find that in each stage there are some critical
concerns and key issues which must be addressed to and satisfactorily
solved. The exhibit also shows the consequences if the concerns are not
met with satisfaction.
• In order to meet the critical concerns of each stage, organizations go
through some rapid, visible, shake-ups of their structure, policies,
procedures, techniques, personnel, etc.
• These changes in calmer moments of steady growth may be viewed as
revolutionary changes.
• You will be able to appreciate the difference between the two degrees of
change through yet another model of organization’s growth given below.
• It postulates that as an organization grows from young to mature stage,
tiny sized to giant size, it passes through five phases of evolution each of
which ends with a period of crisis and revolution.
• Evolutionary periods are characterized by the dominant management styles
used to achieve growth, while revolutionary periods are characterized by
the dominant problems that must be solved before growth continues.
contd
 contd
The first phase of a newly-born organization is characterized by:
– Creating a viable product in a promising market.
– The founders, who are usually technically brilliant and
entrepreneurially oriented, manage their endeavors themselves in
an ad hoc manner with little respect to any formal system of
communication and control.
– Their physical and mental energies are entirely absorbed in making
and selling.
– But as the organization starts growing from its tiny embryonic
stage, many managerial problems crop up, forcing the founders to
wonder as to who is going to lead the organization out of
confusion.
– By the end of the first phase, the crisis of leadership has emerged.
The solution usually lies in locating and installing a strong business;
manager who is acceptable to the founders and who can pull the
organization together.
 contd
When leadership crisis forces the founders to relinquish some of
their power to a professional manager, organizational growth is
achieved by direction through systematization of operating
procedures.
The manager is usually given a free hand and zealously accepts
most of the responsibility for initiating direction. But the lower
level supervisors are treated merely as functional specialists
devoid of any decision-making authority. In course of growth
for the organization, the lower level managers demand more
autonomy in decision-making and the stage is set for the crisis
of autonomy to come to the fore. The second phase of the
organization's growth is capped by this turmoil for autonomy.
• The crisis of autonomy is resolved through the delegation of
authority which helps in gaining expansion through heightened
motivation at lower ranges. But one serious problem that
eventually evolves is the loss of top management control over
highly diversified field of operations.
 contd
• The crisis of control emerges at the conclusion of phase three where
field managers run their own shows without aligning plans, money,
technology, or manpower with the rest of the organization. In order
to achieve more efficient allocation of organization's limited
resources, an elaborate network of coordinating mechanisms is
usually introduced at phase IV of 'the organization's growth.
• The organization becomes typically much more formalized;
rules, regulations and rigidities increase almost
exponentially. For some time, the new systems prove useful
for achieving growth through coordinated efforts. But soon
procedure takes precedence over problem-solving, the
chronic conflict between line and staff becomes acute. The
organization becomes too large and complex to be
managed through formal programms and rigid systems.
Thus begins the crisis of reshape.
 contd
• The fifth phase of an organization's growth is characterized by
strong inter-personal collaboration in order to overcome the
crisis of red tape and the widespread conflicts between
several subsystems. Developing the team becomes the theme,
social contra and self-discipline take over from formal control,
more flexible and behavioral approaches are adopted to attack
the problems of managing a large organization.
• What crisis do you anticipate at this phase of organization's
growth? Nobody seems to know the exact nature of this
future shock, as no organization has traversed so far. Some
authors feels that some problems may emerge centering
around the psychological saturation of employees who grow
emotionally and physically exhausted by the intensity of
teamwork and the heavy pressure for innovative solution.
 Antecedents of Organizational Change

• Reasons for which organizations change

• Some major antecedent conditions which serve as stimuli for changes
to be undertaken in an organization are discussed as bellow.
1. Growth and Decay
• Organization’s growth presents many problems and opportunities for
change. Decay too poses change problems. It leads to defensive,
restorative changes aimed at survival and the essential resumption of
growth.
• When growth occurs through internal vigor of product lines, services
or market penetration, change is gradual.
• Change is more extensive when growth occurs from mergers,
acquisitions or exceptionally rapid success of organizational activities.
• Mergers and acquisitions are undertaken for many reasons such as
consolidating or increasing capital, pooling management talent using
facilities more efficiently, increasing production and marketing
capacity and achieving vertical integration.
 contd

2. New Personnel
• Some change is inevitable because of internal factors such as death,
retirement, transfer, promotion, discharge, or resignation and
constantly changing elements in the external environment.
• One of the most frequent reasons for major changes in company
structure is a change of executives at the top. They usually begin by
examining the structure below them to see if it corresponds to their
ideas of what will be needed to do their job effectively. Upon taking
over a position at the top, a new manager may make sweeping
changes.
3. Change Agents
• Change Agent is the technical term for an organizational member
whose role involves the strategies and procedures for bringing about
change. Any individual can be a change agent at one time or another,
but many people have positions, tasks, or formal roles in which their
main assignments involve dealing with change.
 contd
• A change agent's formal role is primarily to plan and initiate
changes rather than to implement them. Change agents
serve as catalysts, interpreters, and synthesists. They often
work quietly behind the scenes to promote change.
• An interesting kind of change agent is often referred to as
"The Young Turk". Young Turks are new, usually young
employees, eager and ambitious, full of ideas for
improvement, and willing to be a bit pushy, and obnoxious,
or at least persistent, in trying their ideas.
• Organizations sensing the need for change often deliberately
appoint Young Turks to challenge the status quo. They are
not always popular with colleagues or even their bosses.
• The best of the Young Turks are those who have real talent
combined with a measure of tact and patience.
 contd
4. Declining Effectiveness
Decline in effectiveness is one of the reasons for change for
organizations.
• Organizations have a number of ways of "taking their pulse" by
looking at indicators from their own information systems.
– A business firm monitors data on sales, absenteeism, turnover,
scrap rates, manufacturing costs and numerous ratios of financial
measures.
– Some firms also conduct regular opinion surveys of their work
force.
– Others have systematic methods of obtaining feedback from
customers.
• In response to the information obtained through the above
methods, the organizations make the required changes in
organization to maintain the desired level of efficiency.
•
 contd
5. Change in Corporate Strategy
• An organization may undertake comprehensive changes even when no
indicators would suggest immediate problems in its performance.
• Forecasts of long run trend may prompt a decision to enter new markets, to
pursue a strategy of growth, to become less dependent on government, to
switch from a centralized to a decentralized structure, or to adopt new
technologies.
• All these strategic decisions have implications for changing the behavior of
people in their organization.
6. Crises
• Not infrequently, the occasion for organizational change is an unforeseen
crisis which makes continuation of the status quo unthinkable.
• The sudden death of a Chief Executive Officer, the resignation of key
members of a top management team, a strike by a critically important group
of specialized workers, loss of major client or suppliers on whom the
company has been dependent, a drastic cutback in budget, even
spontaneous civil disturbances directed against an organization force a
reorientation of the corporate posture and initiate a total revamping of
 contd
7.Personal Goals
• Leaders, interest groups and coalitions have their
own goals: to see the company become more
aggressive, to shape the organization around
some distinctive theme, to cast a particular
corporate image, to further some ideology or
philosophy.
• Seldom are these goals stated in precisely those
forms, at least for the record or for public
consumption. More frequently, they are clothed
in rationalizations about their presumed effect on
profit and service.
 Resistance To Change
• In organizations, resistance to change is any attitude or behavior
that indicates unwillingness to make or support a desired change.
Change agents often view any such resistance as something that
must be “overcome” in order for change to be successful. It is
helpful to view resistance to change as feedback that the change
agent can use to facilitate gaining change objectives. The essence of
this constructive approach to resistance is to recognize that when
people resist change, they are defending something important and
that appears threatened by the change attempt. Resistance to
change may be:
1. Resistance to the Change Itself Sometimes a change agent
experiences resistance to the change itself. People may reject a
change because they believe it is not worth their time, effort, or
attention. To minimize resistance in such cases, the change agent
should make sure that everyone who may be affected by a change
knows specifically how it satisfies the following criteria.
 contd
a. Benefit—The change should have a clear relative
advantage for the people being asked to change;
it should be perceived as “a better way.”
b. Compatibility—The change should be as
compatible as possible with the existing values and
experiences of the people being asked to change.
c. Complexity—The change should be no more
complex than necessary; it must be as easy as
possible for people to understand and use.
d. Trialability—The change should be something
that people can try on a step by- step basis and
make adjustments as things progress.
 Contd
2. Resistance to the Change Strategy Change agents must also be
prepared to deal with resistance to the change strategy. Someone
who attempts to bring about change via force–coercion, for
example, may create resistance among individuals who resent
management by “command” or the use of threatened punishment.
• People may resist a rational persuasion strategy in which the data
are suspect or the expertise of advocates is not clear. They may
resist a shared power strategy that appears manipulative and
insincere.
3. Resistance to the Change Agent Resistance to the change agent is
directed at the person implementing the change and often
involves personality and other differences. Change agents who are
isolated and aloof from other persons in the change situation, who
appear self-serving, or who have a high emotional involvement in
the changes are especially prone to such problems
 Strategies to Overcome Resistance to Change
Change is such a constant in today’s organizations that to
mention it is like telling an old and not‐very welcome joke at a
dinner party. Nevertheless, sometimes in a change effort, the
organization makes you the story‐teller.
• How then can you bring out that old saw in fresh and effective
ways? How can you help your workplace accept an impending
and unavoidable change? Here are some proven strategies that
can make you more successful at overcoming resistance to
change.
1. Address Personal Concerns First
• Most organizations justify the need for change by telling their
employees—the ultimate users of the change—all of the
wonderful things the change will mean for the organization.
This is a poor approach to getting audience buy‐in. When faced
with a change, people react first with their own concerns:
 contd
2. Link the Change to Other Issues People Care About
• The perceived need for a change can be increased by linking it to
other issues that people already care about (CRED, 2009). By
showing how a change is connected to issues of health, job
security,
• and other things that are already in the front of people’s minds,
you can make a change “more sticky” and less likely to be replaced
as new demands for their attention show up.
3. Tap into People’s Desire to Avoid Loss
• People are more sensitive to loss than to gain. This “negativity
bias” is a longstanding survival trait that has kept humans alive
throughout their development as a species. Historically, it was
always more important to avoid stepping on a snake than to find a
soft place to sleep.
• Therefore, rather than just telling people what they stand to gain
from a change, you may have a greater impact by telling them
 contd
4. Tailor Information to People’s Expectations
• People generally hold firm views of how the world works. These often
unconscious and invisible “mental models” govern much of people’s
thinking including how they perceive a potential change (Carey, S.,
1986; Morgan, M., Fischhoff, B., Bostrom, A., et al., 2002). For
example, they may tend to see a change as something good about to
happen (a promotion model) and willingly accept it, or they may see a
change as something bad about to happen (a prevention model) and
deal with it as an “ought to do” while focusing their energy on
avoiding loss (Cesario, Grant, and Higgins, 2004; Higgins, 1997, 2000).
You can provide all the logical arguments in the world in support of
your change, but if your arguments don’t match the basic assumptions
and rules to the way the person sees the world, you are unlikely to get
very far. To make matters worse, people hold fast to their current
beliefs, desires, or feelings; this “confirmation bias” means that if the
change you are promoting doesn’t appeal to their current beliefs,
desires, or feelings, you may have a hard time making any headway.
 contd
5. Group Your Audience Homogeneously
• Getting the message over to a group of people who share basic opinions
with regard to the change is easier than getting it over to a group of
people with diverse opinions. Whenever possible, divide your audience
into homogeneous groups insofar as their view of the change goes.
• Being smart about how you present your argument and evidence for
change.
6. Take Advantage of People’s Bias—Buy Now, Pay Later!
• People tend to see things that are happening now as more urgent than
those that will happen in the future (Weber, 2006). This tendency is
often referred to as “discounting the future.” For instance, when
presented with the option of getting $250 now or $366 in a year (a 46%
rate of interest), the average person will choose the $250 now (Hardesty
and Weber, 2009).
• This suggests that when trying to persuade others that a change is
necessary, even though the future threat and loss may be great, it is
desirable to emphasize that inaction now poses its own threat and loss.
 Contd
7. Make the Change Local and Concrete
• Often organizational changes are responses to some sort of threat. If that
threat is seen as more relevant to distant outsiders than to the people in the
organization, or if the threat is presented in the abstract, then the targeted
people will have little motivation to change (Leiserowitz, 2007).
• However, if you can demonstrate in concrete terms that the threat is local
and will have a real impact on the people you are trying to get to accept the
change, you may find it easier to persuade them to buy ‐in.
8. Appeal to the Whole Brain
• Often, when making a case for a change, change agents use lots of numbers,
charts, tables, etc. Such facts and figures appeal especially to one side of the
brain. But the human brain has two sides, and although they work together,
each has a different way of processing information. The left side is analytical
and controls the processing of quantitative information. The right side is
experiential and controls the processing of emotional information.
• Even for audiences where one side may dominate (e.g., engineers who favor
facts and figures), the most effective communication targets both sides of
the brain (Chaiken and Trope, 1999; Epstein, 1994; Marx, et.
 contd
9. Know the Pros and Cons of Your Change
• Not all changes are equal. Some are more beneficial, and some cause
more inconvenience and pain. Some characterstics
• Simple—Is your change complex or is it relatively simple to
understand and do?
• Compatible—Is your change compatible with what your users are
used to?
• Better—Does your change offer clear advantages over other
alternatives, including the status quo?
• Adaptable—Can people adapt your change to their own
circumstances or must they do it exactly the way you prescribe?
• Painful—Does your change alter social relationships in any way by
changing where people work, who they deal with, or how they spend
their time?
• Divisible—Can you break the change you offer into smaller parts or
phases, or must audiences implement it all at one time?
 Strategies of implementing change

1. The Tops-down Strategy

• The advocates of this strategy believe that, in general, people resist
changes and require direction and structure for their well being as well
as to work efficiently and effectively. The basic psychological contract
between employees and management, it is assumed, is one in which the
employee provides work, effort and commitment and expects in return
pay, benefits, and a clear definition of what is expected to be done. It
follows that it is the management's responsibility to design the changes
it deems appropriate and to implement these thoroughly but quickly by
directives from the top.
• 2. The Bottoms-up Strategy
• The advocates of this approach profess a more enlightened view of
human nature. They argue that people welcome change and the
opportunity to contribute to their own productivity, especially if the
change gives, them more variety in their work and more autonomy.
These managers assume people have a psychological contract which
includes an expectation that they be involved in designing change as well
 contd
• Contingency Approach
• According to the contingency school, the choice of an appropriate
strategy and the implementation diagnosis consists of assessing
eight independent variables or factors in the organizations. Based on
the diagnosis which evolves, the basic implementation strategy will
consist of selecting values along the continua for the three
dependent variables as shown at the bottom of Table below.
• Once the values of these variables have been located, and if the
answers to the diagnostic for the independent variables fall towards
the left of the continuum, then the implementation strategy would
also be leftwards. On the other hand, if the values of variables tend
towards the right side of continuum then the implementation
strategy would also be rightwards. Thus, for example, if there is very
little time available, the crisis or need for change is clear to all, it is a
small organization, and so on, the appropriate change strategy is
tops-down, directive, and fast.
 Learning Organizations
• A learning organization is one that is able to change
its behaviors and mind-sets as a result of
experience.
• ‘Organizational learning’ is a fighting process for
organizations in the face of swift pace of change
(Senge, 1990).
• In this battle managers are responsible for
increasing the awareness and the ability of the
organization members to comprehend and manage
the organization and its environment. In this way
they can make decisions that continuously secure
the organization to reach its goals.
 Characterstics of Learning Organizations
1. Adopt an organic, networked organizational form.
2. Encourage their employees to learn and to confront
their assumptions
3. Have employees who share a common vision
4. Have the capacity
• to adapt to unforeseen situations/calamities or changes
• to learn from their own experiences( past present)
• to shift their shared mindsets
• to change more quickly, broadly, and deeply than ever before.