Organizational behavior

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People

Make the Difference

What is organizational behavior and why is it

important?

What are organizations like as work settings?

What is the nature of management and

leadership in organizations?

How do we learn about organizational

behavior?

Organizational behavior

› Study of human behavior in organizations.

› An interdisciplinary field devoted to understanding individual and

group behavior, interpersonal processes, and organizational

dynamics.

*OB is a scholarly discipline devoted to scientific understanding of individuals and groups in

organizations and of the performance implications of organizational processes,

systems, and structures.

It is also a science, because it uses scientific research methods. It draws its knowledge

base from a variety of the behavioral and social sciences. These include psychology,

sociology, anthropology, political science and economics. OB integrates and applies

this knowledge to real world problems.

The ultimate goal of OB is to improve the performance of people, groups, and

organizations, and to improve the quality of work life overall.

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Scientific methods models

› Simplified views of reality that attempt to

identify major factors and forces underlying

real-world phenomena.

› Link presumed causes of events

(independent variables) with outcomes

(dependent variables).

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Figure 1.1 Common Scientific Research Methods in Organizational Behavior

*Common scientific research methods in organizational behavior.

A. Field Studies

B. Meta Analyses

C. Case Studies

Meta analyses uses statistical pooling from

results of different empirical studies. This

aggregating technique allows OB

researchers to generalize and apply the

conclusions to many OB situations.

Scientific thinking is important to OB:

› The process of data collection is controlled

and systematic.

› Proposed explanations are carefully tested.

› Only explanations that can be rigorously

verified are accepted.

*The science of OB focuses on applications that can make a real

difference in how organizations and people in them perform.

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Contingency thinking

› Seeks ways to meet the needs of different

management situations.

› Recognizes responses to solutions must be

crafted to best fit the circumstances and

people involved.

Evidenced-based management

› Uses hard facts and empirical evidence to make decisions.

› Evidence-based thinking manifests itself through a contingency

approach which researchers identify how different situations

can best be understood and handled.

*Although it is relatively easy to conclude that what works well in one culture

may not work as well in another, it is much harder to specify exactly how

cultural differences affect things like motivation, job satisfaction,

leadership style, negotiating tendencies, and ethical behavior.

Fortunately, OB now rich with empirically based insights into cross cultural

issues.

Modern workplace trends

› Commitment to ethical behavior.

› Broader views of leadership.

› Emphasis in human capital and teamwork.

› Demise of command-and-control.

› Influence of technology.

› Respect for new workforce expectations.

› Changing concept of careers.

› Concern for sustainability.

*The environment of change in which we now live and work calls for

lots of learning and continuous attention. The field of OB recognizes

these trends in what people expect and value in terms of human

behavior in organizations.

Organization

› A collection of people working together to

achieve a common purpose.

*This definition describes everything from clubs, voluntary

organizations, and religious bodies, to entities such as small and

large businesses, schools, hospitals, and government agencies.

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Organizational culture

› A shared set of beliefs and values within an organization.

› According to Meg Whitman, former eBay CEO, it is the “character” of the

organization.

› Organizational “fit” matches organizational culture and individual characteristics.

*Organizational cultures influence the way we feel and act in organizations. In cultures

that are more authoritarian and hierarchical, people are hesitant to make decisions

and take action on their own, so they tend to show little initiative and wait for

approval.

In other cultures, people can be extremely competitive and aggressive in the quest for

performance results and rewards.

And, still other cultures are know for their emphasis on speed and agility in dealing with

markets and environments, and in generating new ideas and innovations.

As for organizational fit, people who find a good fit tend to experience confidence and

satisfaction in their work. Those who find themselves in a bad fit may be more prone

to withdraw, experience work stress, and even become angry and aggressive due to

dissatisfaction.

Organizational climate

› Represents shared perceptions of members

regarding what the organization is like in

terms of formal and informal management policies and practices.

*In some organizational climates, relations among managers and

employees are relaxed and informal, with lots of free-flowing

communication. In other climates, managers act distant from

employees and emphasize formal work procedures and

interactions, with more structured and restricted communication.

Open systems › Obtain resource inputs from the environment and transform

human and material resource inputs into finished goods or

services.

*If everything works right, suppliers value the organization as their

customer and continue to provide needed resources, employees

value their work and infuse the transformation processes with their

energies and intellects, and customers and clients value the

organization‟s outputs enough to create a continuing demand for

them.

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*Organizations are open systems that create value while interacting with their environments.

This cycle is called a value chain.

Value Chain

› Sequence of activities that results in the

creation of good and services of value to

customers.

*Begins with the acquisition of inputs continues through their

transformation into product outputs, and ends when customers and

clients are well served. When the value chain is well managed, the

organization is able to sustain operations and, hopefully, prosper over

the long run. When the value chain breaks down due to input

problems, transformation problems, or output problems, an

organization‟s performance suffers and its livelihood may be may be

threatened.

Stakeholders

› People, groups, and institutions that are

affected by and thus have an interest or

“stake” in an organization‟s performance.

*It is common in OB to recognize customers, owners, employees,

suppliers, regulators, local communities, and future generation

among the key stakeholders of organizations.

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Describe an organization you have worked

for, or been a member of.

How was the culture constructive?

Defensive? Aggressive? Explain.

Workforce diversity

› Presence of Individual differences based on

gender, race and ethnicity, age, able-

bodiedness, and sexual orientation.

*Consultant R. Roosevelt Thomas makes the point positive

organizational cultures tap the talents, ideas, and creative

potential of all members.

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Multiculturalism

› Refers to pluralism and respect for diversity in the

workplace.

Inclusion › The degree to which an organization's culture respects and

values diversity.

*Multiculturalism is an attribute of organizations. It emphasizes pluralism,

and genuine respect for diversity and individual differences.

A key element in any organization that embraces multiculturalism is

inclusivity – the degree to which the culture embraces diversity and

is open to anyone who can perform a job, regardless of their

diversity attributes.

Your professor states: “One of your assignments this term is a

team project. Please select and sign up for a team project.”

Do you . . .

a) Signal your friends in the classroom, and agree to sign up

together for the same team.

b) Wait for everyone to sign up, and then decide.

c) Just pick a team randomly.

*Some of our unconscious biases against „others‟ can often limit

our experience. As we expand the boundaries of our comfort

zone, we open ourselves to new experiences. We grow

personally, professionally, and organizationally.

Manager

› Someone whose job it is to directly support the work efforts of others.

Effective manager

› Helps others achieve high levels of both performance and

satisfactions..

*Being a manager is a unique challenge with responsibilities that link closely

with the field of organizational behavior. At the heart of the matter

managers help other people get important things done in timely, high-

quality, and personally satisfying ways.

In today‟s work environment, this is accomplished more through helping and

supporting than through traditional notions of directing and controlling.

The word manager is increasingly being replaced by in conversations by

such terms as coordinator, coach or team leader.

The definition of an effective manager focuses attention on two key

outcomes, or dependent variables that are important to OB. They are task

performance and job satisfaction.

Task performance

› Quality and quantity of the work produced or the services

provided by an individual, team, or work unit, or

organization as a whole.

Job satisfaction

› Indicates how people feel about their work and the work

setting.

*Managers should be held accountable for both results.

Task performance speaks for itself. Taking care of job satisfaction today

can be considered an investment in tomorrow‟s performance

potential.

The management process.

› Planning

› Organizing

› Leading

› Controlling

*Planning – defining goals, setting specific performance objectives, and

identifying the actions needed to achieve them.

Organizing – creating work structures and systems, and arranging

resources to accomplish the goals and objectives.

Leading – instilling enthusiasm by communicating with others, motivating

them to work hard, and maintaining good interpersonal relations.

Controlling – ensuring that things go well by monitoring performance and

taking corrective action as necessary.

Managerial skills and competencies

Skill

› 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.

The relative importance of these skills varies across the different

levels of management.

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Technical skill

› Ability to perform specialized tasks.

Human skill

› Ability to work well with other people.

Conceptual skill

› Ability to analyze and solve complex problems..

*Technical skill is an ability to perform specialized tasks using knowledge or expertise

gained from education or experience.

Human skills are central to all aspects of managerial work and team leadership. A person

with good human skills have a high degree of self-awareness and a capacity for

understanding or empathizing with the feelings of others. People with this skill are able to

interact well with others, engage in persuasive communications and deal successfully with

disagreements and conflicts.

In addition to technical and human skills managers should be able to view the organization

or situation as a whole so that problems are always solved for the benefit of everyone

concerned. Conceptual skills involve the ability to see and understand how systems work

and how their parts are interrelated, including human dynamics. Conceptual skill is used to

identify problems and opportunities, gather and interpret relevant information and make

good problem-solving decisions.

Emotional intelligence

› Ability to understand and manage emotions

both personally and in relationships with others.

 Self-awareness

 Self-regulation

 Motivation

 Empathy

 Social skill

*Self-awareness – ability to understand your moods and emotions.

Self-regulation – ability to think before acting and control bad impulses.

Motivation – ability to work hard and persevere.

Empathy – ability to understand the emotions of others.

Social skill – ability to gain rapport with others and build good

relationships.

Human skills in emotional intelligence and interpersonal relationships

are essential to managerial success in managerial activities and

roles. Managers and team leaders need to develop, maintain, and

work well with a variety of people, both inside and outside the

organization. This can be done through task networks, social

networks or career networks. This, in turn, helps with building social

capital.

Social capital is a capacity to get things done due to relationships with

other people.

Ethical Management – includes ethics in

decision-making.

› Immoral manager

› Amoral manager

› Moral manager

 Practices ethics mindfulness.

An immoral manager chooses to behave unethically. She or he doesn‟t

subscribe to any ethical principles. An opportunity may be exploited

for purely personal or business gain (i.e. Bernard Madoff).

The amoral manager acts unethically at times but does so

unintentionally. The manager fails to consider the ethics of a

decision or behavior.

The moral manager incorporates ethics principles and goals into his or

her personal behavior. Ethical behavior is a goal, a standard, and

even a matter of routine; ethical reasoning is part of every decision,

not just an occasional afterthought.

Ethics mindfulness is an enriched awareness that causes one to behave

with an ethical consciousness from one decision or behavioral

event to another.

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*Moral leadership, ethics mindfulness, and the virtuous shift. Taken from Strategic Leadership of Ethical Behavior in Businesses.

Learning

› An enduring change in behavior that results

from experience.

*Today‟s knowledge-based world places a great premium on learning. Learners will have the ability to keep pace and succeed

in a high-tech, global, and constantly changing environment.

Life-long learning

› Continuous learning from day-to-day experiences.

*Experience is found in work events and activities, conversations with

colleagues and friends, counseling and advice provided by

mentors, success models, training seminars and workshops, and

other daily opportunities.

Life-long learning will in many respects be a key to personal and career

success.

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*Figure shows how the content and activities of the typical OB course can fit

together in an experiential learning cycle.

Experiential learning cycle: Experience > Reflection > Theory > Practice.

What are individual differences and why

are they important?

What is personality?

How are personality and stress related?

What are individual values?

Why is diversity important in the workplace?

Individual differences attempts to identify where

behavioral tendencies are similar and where they are different.

Capitalizing on differences requires an understanding of what they

are and valuing the benefits they can offer.

 Self awareness - being aware of one‘s own behaviors,

preferences, styles, biases, personalities, and so on.

 Awareness of others - being aware of the behaviors, preferences,

styles, biases, and personalities of others.

*The idea is that if we can figure out how to categorize behavioral

tendencies and identify which tendencies people have, we will be

able to more accurately predict how and why people behave as

they do.

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Components of Self

 Self-concept

 The view individuals have of themselves as physical, social, spiritual,

or moral beings.

 Self-esteem

 A belief about one‘s self worth based on overall self-evaluation.

 Self-efficacy

 A belief in one‘s ability to successfully accomplish a specific task.

*A person‘s self-concept is greatly influenced by culture.

Self-esteem is a belief about one‘s own worth based on an overall self-

evaluation. People high in self-esteem see themselves as capable,

worthwhile, and acceptable; they tend to have few doubts about

themselves. People who are low in self-esteem are full of self-doubt

and are often afraid to act because of it. While OB research has

shown that high self-esteem generally can boost performance and

satisfaction outcomes, it can also have drawbacks. For example,

when under pressure, people with high self-esteem may become

boastful and act egotistically. They may also be overconfident at

times and fail to obtain important information.

Self-efficacy, sometimes called the ―effectance motive,‖ is a more

specific version of self-esteem. You could have high self-esteem and

yet have a feeling of low self-efficacy about performing a certain

task, such as public speaking.

Nature versus Nurture

 Heredity (nature) consists of those factors that are determined at

conception, including physical characteristics, gender, and

personality factors.

 Environment (nurture) consists of cultural, social, and situational

factors.

*Heredity sets the limits on the extent to which our personality

characteristics can be developed; environment determines

development within these limits. For instance, a person could be

born with a tendency toward authoritarianism, and that tendency

could be reinforced in an authoritarian work environment. These

limits appear to vary from one characteristic to the next, and across

all characteristics there is about a 50–50 heredity–environment split.

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Personality

CHANGE SLIDE

Heredity:

Physical characteristics

Gender

Environment:

Cultural factors

Social factors

Situational factors

*Are we the way we are because of heredity—that is, genetic endowment—or

because of the environments in which we have been raised and live—cultural,

social, situational?

Personality

Combination of characteristics that capture

the unique nature of a person as that person

reacts to and interacts with others.

*Personality combines a set of physical and mental characteristics that

reflect how a person looks, thinks, acts, and feels.

Attempts are made to measure personality with questionnaires and

special tests. Frequently, personality can be inferred from behavior

alone. Either way, personality is an important individual

characteristic to understand. It helps us identify predictable

interplays between people‘s individual differences and their

tendencies to behave in certain ways.

“Big Five” personality dimensions

 Extraversion

 Being outgoing, sociable, assertive.

 Agreeableness

 Being good-natured, trusting, cooperative.

 Conscientiousness

 Being responsible, dependable, persistent.

*Standardized personality tests determine how positively or negatively an

individual scores on each of these dimensions. For instance, a person

scoring high on openness to experience tends to ask lots of questions

and to think in new and unusual ways.

You can consider a person‘s individual personality profile across the five

dimensions. In terms of job performance, research has shown that

conscientiousness predicts job performance across five occupational

groups of professions—engineers, police, managers, salespersons, and

skilled and semiskilled employees. Predictability of the other dimensions

depends on the occupational group. For instance, not surprisingly,

extraversion predicts performance for sales and managerial positions.

“Big Five” personality dimensions

Emotional stability

 Being unworried, secure, relaxed.

Openness to experience

 Being imaginative, curious, broad-minded.

Social traits

 Surface-level traits that reflect the way a person appears to

others when interacting in various social settings.

*An important social trait is problem-solving style. The problem-solving

style, based on the work of Carl Jung, a noted psychologist, is one

measure representing social traits. It reflects the way a person goes

about gathering and evaluating information in solving problems and

making decisions.

Problem-solving styles are most frequently measured by the typically

100-item Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), which asks individuals how

they usually act or feel in specific situations. Firms such as Apple, AT&T,

and Exxon, as well as hospitals, educational institutions, and military

organizations, have used the Myers-Briggs for various aspects of

management development.

Information gathering

Getting and organizing data for use.

Styles of information gathering range from sensation to intuitive.

*Information gathering involves getting and organizing data for use.

Styles of information gathering vary from sensation to intuitive. Sensation-

type individuals prefer routine and order and emphasize well-defined

details in gathering information; they would rather work with known facts

than look for possibilities. By contrast, intuitive-type individuals prefer the

―big picture.‖ They like solving new problems, dislike routine, and would

rather look for possibilities than work with facts. Sensation-type

individuals prefer routine and order and emphasize well-defined details

in gathering information. Intuitive-type individuals like new problems and

dislike routine. They are ‗big picture‘ people.

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*When the two dimensions (information gathering and evaluation) are combined, four basic

problem-solving styles result: sensation–feeling (SF), intuitive–feeling (IF), sensation–thinking

(ST), and intuitive–thinking (IT), together with summary descriptions as shown in the figure.

Evaluation in problem solving

 Making judgments about how to deal with information once it

has been collected.

 Styles of information vary from an emphasis on feeling to an

emphasis on thinking.

*The second component of problem solving, evaluation, involves

making judgments about how to deal with information once it has

been collected. Styles of information evaluation vary from an

emphasis on feeling to an emphasis on thinking. Feeling-type

individuals are oriented toward conformity and try to

accommodate themselves to other people. They try to avoid

problems that may result in disagreements. Thinking-type individuals

use reason and intellect to deal with problems and downplay

emotions.

Personal conception traits

The way individuals tend to think about their

social and physical settings, as well as their

major beliefs and their personal orientation

concerning a range of issues.

*Key traits are Locus of control, Proactive personality,

Authoritarianism/Dogmatism, Machiavellianism and Self-monitoring.

Locus of control

 The extent to which a person feels able to control his/her

own life.

 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.

Externals: more extraverted in their interpersonal relationships and more

oriented toward the world around them.

Internals: more introverted and oriented towards their own feelings and

ideas.

Proactive Personality – Disposition that identifies whether or not individuals act

to influence their environment.

 Show initiative

 Take action

 Persevere until meaningful change occurs

*In the ever more demanding world of work, many companies are seeking

individuals with more proactive qualities—individuals who take initiative

and engage in proactive problem solving. Research supports this, showing

that proactive personality is positively related to job performance,

creativity, leadership, and career success.

Other studies have shown that proactive personality is related to team

effectiveness and entrepreneurship. Moreover, when organizations try to

make positive and innovative change, these changes have more positive

effects for proactive individuals—they are more involved and more

receptive to change. This research is showing that proactive personality is

an important and desirable element in today‘s work environment.

Authoritarianism

 Tendency to adhere rigidly to conventional values and to

obey recognized authority.

Dogmatism

 Leads a person to see the world as a threatening place

and to regard authority as absolute.

*Authoritarians are concerned with toughness and power and oppose the use of subjective feelings. Superiors who

possess traits of dogmatism tend to be rigid and closed. At

the same time, dogmatic subordinates tend to want

certainty imposed upon them.

People with a high Machiavellian personality:

 Approach situations logically and thoughtfully.

 Are capable of lying to achieve personal goals.

 Are rarely swayed by loyalty, friendships, past

promises, or others‘ opinions.

 Are skilled at influencing others.

People with a low-Machiavellian

personality:

Accept direction imposed by others in

loosely structured situations.

Work hard to do well in highly structured

situations.

*Where the situation permits, a high Mach might be expected to

do or say whatever it takes to get his or her way. In contrast, a low

Mach will tend to be much more strongly guided by ethical

considerations and will be less likely to lie or cheat or to get away

with lying or cheating.

What are your Machiavellian tendencies?

Take the Mach test to find out.

http://www.salon.com/books/it/1999/09/13/machtest/

Self-monitoring

A person‘s ability to adjust his/her behavior to

external, situational (environmental) factors.

*High self-monitors are sensitive to external cues and tend to behave

differently in different situations. Like high Machs, high self-monitors can

present a very different appearance from their true self. In contrast, low

self-monitors, like their low-Mach counterparts, are not able to disguise

their behaviors—―what you see is what you get.‖

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.

Thus, they appear flexible and may be especially good at responding to

the kinds of situational contingencies emphasized throughout this book.

For example, high self-monitors should be especially good at changing

their leadership behavior to fit subordinates with more or less experience,

tasks with more or less structure, and so on.

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Emotional adjustment traits

How much an individual experiences distress

or displays unacceptable acts.

Type A orientation

Type B orientation

*Type A orientation is characterized by impatience, desire for

achievement, and perfectionism.

Type B orientation is characterized as more easygoing and less

competitive in relation to daily events.

Stress

A state of tension experienced by individuals

facing extraordinary demands, constraints, or

opportunities.

*Stress can be both positive and negative and is an important fact of life in

our present work environment. Individual needs, capabilities, and

personality strongly impact how constructively we deal with stress. Stress

can reach a destructive state more quickly, for example, when

experienced by highly emotional people or by those with low self-

esteem.

People who perceive a good fit between job requirements and personal

skills seem to have a higher tolerance for stress than do those who feel

less competent as a result of a person–job mismatch. This is a reason to

be careful about making sure you are a good fit with your organization.

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Source of stress

 Stressors

 The wide variety of things that cause stress for

individuals.

 Types of stressors

 Work stressors

 Life stressors

Work-related stressors:

 Task demands

 Role ambiguities

 Role conflicts

 Ethical dilemmas

 Interpersonal problems

 Career developments

 Physical setting

*Without doubt, work can be stressful, and job demands can disrupt one‘s

work-life balance. Work stressors can arise from many sources – from

excessively high or low task demands, role conflicts or ambiguities, poor

interpersonal relations, or career progress that is either too slow or too fast.

Life stressors

Family events

Economic difficulties

Personal affairs

*A less obvious, though important, source of stress for people at

work is the spillover effect that results when forces in their personal

lives ―spill over‖ to affect them at work. Since it is often difficult to

completely separate work and network lives, life stressors can

affect the way people feel and behave on their jobs as well as in

their personal lives.

Outcomes of Stress

 Constructive stress (or eustress)

 Occurs at moderate stress levels by prompting increased work effort, stimulating creativity, and encouraging greater diligence.

 Destructive stress (or distress)

 Dysfunctional levels of stress negatively impact both the individual and the organization.

*An outcome of extended distress is job burnout, which manifests as loss of

interest in and satisfaction with a job due to stressful working conditions. A

person who is ―burned out‖ feels exhausted, emotionally and physically,

and is less able to deal positively with work responsibilities and

opportunities. More extreme reactions sometimes appear in news reports

in the form of personal attacks and crimes at work known as ―desk rage‖

and ―workplace rage.

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.

Coping Mechanisms

Problem focused

 Manage the problem that is causing the distress.

Emotion focused

 Regulate emotions or distress.

o Positive ‗self talk‘ can help. (Dr. Shad Helmstetter, video, 7

min.)

*With rising awareness of stress in the workplace, interest is also

growing in how to manage, or cope, with distress. Coping is a

response or reaction to distress that has occurred or is threatened.

It involves cognitive and behavioral efforts to master, reduce, or

tolerate the demands created by the stressful situation.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvzfnm9uk-0&feature=related

 Personal wellness

 Involves the pursuit of one‘s job and career goals with the support of a

personal health management program.

 Employee assistance programs

 Provide help for employees who are experiencing personal problems

and related stress.

*The concept of personal wellness recognizes individual responsibility to

enhance and maintain wellness through a disciplined

approach to physical and mental health. It requires attention to such

factors as smoking, weight management, diet, alcohol use, and physical

fitness. Organizations can benefit from commitments to support personal

wellness.

Values

Broad preferences concerning appropriate

courses of action or outcomes.

Values influence attitudes and behavior.

Terminal values

Reflect a person‘s preferences concerning

the ―ends‖ to be achieved.

Instrumental values

reflect a person‘s beliefs about the means

for achieving desired ends.

*The concept of personal wellness recognizes individual responsibility to

enhance and maintain wellness through a disciplined approach to

physical and mental health. It requires attention to such factors as

smoking, weight management, diet, alcohol use, and physical

fitness. Organizations can benefit from commitments to support

personal wellness.

Maglino‘s categories of workplace values

Achievement

Helping and concern for others

Honesty

Fairness

*These four values have been shown to be especially important in

the workplace; thus, the framework should be particularly relevant

for studying values in OB.

Value congruence

Occurs when individuals express positive

feelings upon encountering others who

exhibit values similar to their own.

*Researchers have found greater follower satisfaction with the

leader when there was congruence in terms of achievement,

helping, honesty, and fairness values.

Think of a job you had in which you

excelled and were most productive.

Which of your individual values

contributed to this?

*Recognition of competence and accomplishment

Respect

Personal choice and freedom

Involvement at work

Pride in one‘s work

Quality of life

Financial security

Self development

Health and wellness

Culture

The learned, shared way of doing things in

a particular society.

*Geert Hofstede, a Dutch scholar and consultant, refers to culture as

the ―software of the mind,‖ making the analogy that the mind‘s

―hardware‖ is universal among human beings. But the software of

culture takes many different forms. We are not born with a culture;

we are born into a society that teaches us its culture. And because

culture is shared among people, it helps to define the boundaries

between different groups and affect how their members relate to

one another.

1) Power Distance

2) Uncertainty avoidance

3) Individualism-collectivism

4) Masculinity-femininity

5) Long-term/ short-term

orientation

 How willing are people to

accept status and power?

 How strongly do people prefer

structured organizations?

 Which is more valued – the

individual or the group?

 Are stereotypical male/female

traits valued?

 Save for the future and be

persistent, or ‗live for today‘?

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*When using the Hofstede framework, it is important to remember that the five dimensions are

interrelated, not independent. National cultures may best be understood in terms of cluster

maps or collages that combine multiple dimensions.

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*The figure shows a sample grouping of countries based on individualism–collectivism and

power distance. Note that high power distance and collectivism are often found together, as

are low power distance and individualism. Whereas high collectivism may lead us to expect a

work team in Indonesia to operate by consensus, the high power distance may cause the

consensus to be heavily influenced by the desires of a formal leader.

A similar team operating in more individualist and low-power-distance Great Britain or

America might make decisions with more open debate, including expressions of

disagreement with a leader’s stated preferences.

Workforce diversity

Refers to a mix of people within a workforce

who are considered to be, in some way,

different from those in the prevailing

constituency.

*Organizations have recognized the importance of embracing

policies and practices to diversify their workforces because it helps

enhance competitiveness, build talent, expand organizational

capabilities, and enhance access to markets (i.e., diverse customer

bases).

Benefits of diversity:

The benefits of diversity are achieved by

acknowledging the strengths diversity can

bring to organizations.

*Research shows that organizational creativity and innovation is

enhanced by heterogeneity. Think about it—if you need to be

creative, do you turn to people who think like you or to people who

can help you think differently?

2-41

 Race

 Gender

 Ethnicity

 Economic

 Education

 Disability

 Religion

Religion

Sexual Orientation

Marital Status

Parental Status

Military

Experience

Stereotyping

Occurs when people make a generalization,

usually exaggerated or oversimplified (and

potentially offensive), that is used to describe

or distinguish a group.

*Demographic characteristics may serve as the basis of stereotypes

that obscure individual differences and prevent people from getting to

know each others as individuals. Stereotypes may present an obstacle

that prevents an accurate assessment their performance potential.

Race and Ethnicity

 Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 protects individuals against

employment discrimination on the basis of race and color, as well

as national origin, sex, and religion.

*Title VII applies to employers with 15 or more employees, including state

and local governments. According to Title VII, equal employment

opportunity cannot be denied any person because of his/her racial

group or perceived racial group, his/her race-linked characteristics

(e.g., hair texture, color, facial features), or because of his/her

marriage to or association with someone of a particular race or color.

It also prohibits employment decisions based on stereotypes and

assumptions about abilities, traits, or the performance of individuals of

certain racial groups.

Organizations have acknowledged the social and business advantages

that are gained with a diverse, multicultural workforce. Maintaining

this diversity needed more than affirmative recruitment efforts.

Policies and practices of inclusion were developed that offer equal

opportunity for advancement to all levels of the organization.

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Gender

 Women bring a different set of skills and styles to the

workplace.

 “Leaking pipeline” #of women decreases the more senior the roles

become.

*Women leaders are beneficial because they encourage more women in the

pipeline and act as role models and mentors for younger women. Moreover,

the presence of women leaders sends important signals that an organization

has a broader and deeper talent pool, is an ―employer of choice,‖ and offers

an inclusive workplace.

Catalyst research finds that women consistently identify gender stereotypes as

a significant barrier to advancement. They describe it as the ―think-leader-

think-male” mindset: the idea that men are largely seen as the leaders by

default. Both men and women see women as better at stereotypically

feminine ―caretaking skills,‖ such as supporting and encouraging others, and

men as better at stereotypically masculine ―take charge‖ skills, such as

influencing superiors and problem solving—characteristics previously shown to

be essential to leadership.

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Sexual Orientation

 Attitudes toward gays and lesbians have steadily improved.

 Many states now have executive orders protecting the rights of gay

and lesbian workers.

*A 2010 Harris poll shows that 78 percent of heterosexual adults in the United

States agree that how an employee performs at his or her job should be the

standard for judging an employee, not one‘s sexual orientation, and 62

percent agree that all employees are entitled to equal benefits on the job,

such as health insurance for partners or spouses.

Many businesses are paying attention because statistics show that the gay

market segment is one of the fastest growing segments in the United States.

The buying power of the gay/lesbian market is set to exceed $835 billion by

2011.

Age  Diverse workforce (40% Baby Boomers, 36% GenXers, 16% Millennials).

 Generational mix provides an excellent example of diversity in action.

 Interesting discussion of this subject on current blogs. (e.g.

CNNMoney)

*Millennials can bring to the workplace is their appreciation for gender

equality and sexual, cultural, and racial diversity—Millennials embrace

these concepts more than any previous generation. Millennials also have

an appreciation for community and collaboration. They can help create

a more relaxed workplace that reduces some of the problems that come

from too much focus on status and hierarchy.

Boomers and Gen Xers bring a wealth of experience, dedication, and

commitment that contribute to productivity, and a sense of

professionalism that is benefiting their younger counterparts. Together,

Millennials and Gen Xers may be able to satisfy the Gen X desire for

work–life balance through greater demand for more flexible scheduling

and virtual work.

http://askannie.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2009/04/28/how-to-work-better-with-gen-y/

Disability

 Any form of impairment or handicap.

 Advocates are seeking new definition in order to

remove the stigma that has been associated with

the term ‗disability

*Americans with Disabilities Act is a federal civil-rights statute that

protect the rights of people with disabilities. The ADA has helped to

generate a more inclusive climate in organizations. Universal design

has resulted in greater access to buildings and work spaces.

Social Identity Theory

Developed to understand the psychological

basis of discrimination.

Categorizing yourself as a member of a social

group leads to ‗in-group‘ identification.

*Organizations may not intend to create discriminatory environments,

but having only a few members of a group may evoke a strong out-

group identity. This may make them feel uncomfortable and less a

part of the organization.

Organizations can create and support an environment of valuing

differences through such things as:

 Strong commitment from board and corporate officers.

 Influential mentors and sponsors to provide career guidance and help

with navigating politics.

 Opportunities for networking.

 Role models from same-gender, racial, or ethnic group.

 Exposure through high-visibility assignments.

 Reducing subtle and subconscious stereotypes and stigmas.

*Valuing diversity assumes that groups will retain their own characteristics

and will shape the firm as well as be shaped by it.

What are emotions and moods?

How do emotions and moods influence

behavior?

What are attitudes and how do they influence

behavior?

What is job satisfaction and why is it important?

Affect

Range of emotions and moods that people

experience in their life context.

 Emotions are strong positive or negative

feelings directed toward something or

someone.

*Affects have important implications not only for our lives in general but

also our behavior at work.

Emotions are usually intense and not long-lasting. They are always

associated with a source—someone or something that makes us

feel the way we do.

Emotional intelligence (EI)

Ability to understand emotions in ourselves

and others and to use that understanding to

manage relationships effectively.

*If you are good at knowing and managing your emotions and are

good at reading others’ emotions, you may perform better while

interacting with other people. This applies to work and life in

general, and to leadership situations.

*The four emotional intelligence competencies are self-awareness, social awareness, self-management,

and relationship management.

•Self-awareness - The ability to understand our emotions and their impact on us and others.

•Social awareness - The ability to empathize and understand the emotions of others.

•Self-management – The ability to think before acting and control disruptive impulses.

•Relationship management - The ability to establish rapport with others to build good relationships.

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Self-conscious emotions

Arise from internal sources (shame, guilt,

embarrassment, pride) and helps individuals

regulate their relationships with others.

Social emotions

Arise from external sources (pity, envy,

jealousy) and information.

Moods

Generalized positive or negative feelings

or states of mind.

*Moods can persist over time and can

affect an individual’s likeability and job

performance.

*In general, emotions are intense feelings directed at someone or something; they

always have rather specific triggers; and they come in many types—anger, fear,

happiness, and the like.

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*Moods tend to be more generalized positive or negative feelings. They are less

intense than emotions and most often seem to lack a clear source; it’s often hard to

identify how or why we end up in a particular mood. But moods tend to be more

long-lasting than emotions. 3-9

Joy

Sadness

Love Anger

Surprise

Fear

Major

Emotions

Emotion and mood contagion – spillover effects of one’s emotions and mood

onto others.

Emotional labor – relates to the need to show certain emotions in order to

perform a job well.

Emotional dissonance – emotions we actually feel are inconsistent with the

emotions we try to project.

*Evidence shows that positive and negative emotions are ―contagious‖ in

much the same ways, even though the tendency may not be well

recognized in work settings. The positive attitude of up beat leaders is often

reflected in their employees.

Emotional labor isn’t always easy; it can be hard to be consistently ―on‖ in

displaying the desired emotions in one’s work. If you’re having a bad mood

day or have just experienced an emotional run-in with a neighbor, for

example, being ―happy‖ and ―helpful‖ with a demanding customer might

seem a little much to ask.

Emotional dissonance often requires almost constant self-regulation to display

organizationally desired emotions in one’s job. Imagine, for example, how

often service workers struggling with personal emotions and moods

experience dissonance when having to act positive toward customers.

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Deep acting

Trying to modify feelings to better fit the

situation.

Surface acting

Hiding true feelings while displaying different

ones.

*Deep acting and surface acting are two terms reflecting ways of

dealing with emotional dissonance.

Display rules

The degree to which it is appropriate to

display emotions.

*Norms for emotional expression vary across cultures. Collectivist

cultures, such as Japan, emphasize group relationships. individual

emotional displays are less likely to occur and less likely to be

accepted in individualistic cultures.

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*Affective Events Theory summarizes the discussion of emotions, moods, and human behavior in

organizations. The basic notion of the theory is that our emotions and moods are influenced by

events involving other people and situations. Our emotions and moods, in turn, influence the

work performance and satisfaction of us and others.

Job Satisfaction

Job Performance

Work Environment:

•Characteristics of job

•Job demands

•Emotional labor

requirements

Work Events:

•Daily hassles

•Daily uplifts

Emotional

Reactions:

•Positive

•Negative

Personal

Predispositions:

•Personality

•Mood

Attitude

Predisposition to respond in a positive or

negative way to someone or something

in one’s environment.

*Attitudes are inferred from the things people say or through their

behavior. Attitudes are influenced by values and are acquired from

the same sources— friends, teachers, parents, role models, and

culture. Attitudes, however, focus on specific people or objects.

Cognitive component

 Reflects underlying beliefs, opinions, knowledge, or information a person possesses.

Affective component

 Specific feeling regarding the personal impact of the antecedent condition evidenced in the cognitive component.

Behavioral component

 Intention to behave in a certain way based on the

affect in one’s attitude.

*Cognitive component represents a person’s ideas about someone or

something and the conclusions drawn about them.

Affective component becomes the actual attitude.

Behavioral component is a predisposition to act, but one that may or may

not be implemented.

Cognitive dissonance

 Describes a state of inconsistency between an

individual’s attitudes and/or between attitudes and

behavior.

Cognitive dissonance can be reduced by:

 Changing the underlying attitude.

 Changing future behavior.

 Developing new ways of explaining or rationalizing the

inconsistency.

*The way we respond to cognitive dissonance is influenced

by the degree of control we seem to have over the situation

and the rewards involved.

Job satisfaction

 An attitude reflecting a person’s positive and negative feelings

toward a job, co-workers, and the work environment.

Job Involvement

 Extent to which an individual is dedicated to a job.

*Helping others realize job satisfaction is considered one hallmark of

effective managers. They create work environments in which

people achieve high performance and experience high job

satisfaction. This concept of job satisfaction is very important in OB.

Someone with high job involvement psychologically identifies with her

or his job, and, for example, would be expected to work beyond

expectations to complete a special project.

Organizational Commitment

 Degree of loyalty an individual feels toward an organization.

Rational Commitment – Reflects feelings that job serves one’s

financial, developmental, and professional interests.

Emotional Commitment – Reflects feelings that what one does is

important, valuable and of real benefit to others.

Employee Engagement – A positive feeling or strong sense of

connection with the organization.

*Research shows that strong emotional commitments to the organization are

much more powerful than rational commitments in positively influencing

performance.

Active employee engagement shows up as a willingness to help others, to

always try to do something extra to improve performance, and to speak

positively about the organization.

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The Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire (MSQ) and the Job

Descriptive Index (JDI) both address components of job satisfaction

with which good managers should be concerned.

Take the sample survey.

*The MSQ measures satisfaction with working conditions, chances for

advancement, freedom to use one’s own judgment, praise for

doing a good job, and feelings of accomplishment, among others.

The JDI measures five facets of job satisfaction.

http://www.bgsu.edu/departments/psych/io/jdi/page54696.html

Five facets of job satisfaction:  The work itself

 Quality of supervision

 Relationships with co-workers

 Promotion opportunities

 Rewards Pay

*• The work itself — responsibility, interest, and growth

• Quality of supervision — technical help and social support

• Relationships with co-workers —social harmony and respect

• Promotion opportunities — chances for further advancement

• Pay — adequacy of pay and perceived equity vis-à-vis others

Withdrawal behaviors

 Dissatisfied workers are absent more frequently, more likely to

quit, or at least on the lookout for different employment.

 Employee absenteeism and turnover can result in :

 Loss of experience

 Replacement costs for recruitment and training

*On this issue of turnover and retention, a survey by Salary.com

showed not only that employers tend to overestimate the job

satisfactions of their employees, they underestimate the amount

of job seeking they are doing… The report concluded that ―most

employers have not placed enough emphasis on important

retention strategies.‖

Organizational Citizenship

 A willingness to ―go beyond the call of

duty‖ or ― go the extra mile‖ in one’s work.

 Interpersonal organizational citizenship behaviors have

individuals doing extra things that help others.

 Organizational citizenship behaviors advance the

performance of the organization as a whole.

*You might observe interpersonal OCBs in a service worker who is

extraordinarily courteous while taking care of an upset customer, or

a team member who takes on extra tasks when a co-worker is ill or

absent. Examples of organizational OCBs are evident as co-workers

who are always willing Volunteers for special committee or task

force assignments, and those whose voices are always positive

when commenting publicly on their employer.

On the other hand, counterproductive workplace behaviors are

associated with some form of job dissatisfaction, they purposely

disrupt relationships, organizational culture, or performance in the

workplace.

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Relationship between job satisfaction and job

performance – three theories:

 Satisfaction causes performance.

 Performance causes satisfaction.

 Rewards cause satisfaction and performance.

*Three different positions have been advanced in the satisfaction–

performance relationship. The first is that job satisfaction causes

performance; in other words, a happy worker is a productive

worker. The second is that performance causes job satisfaction. The

third is that job satisfaction and performance influence one

another, and are mutually affected by other factors such as the

availability of rewards.

Theory: Satisfaction causes performance

 Managerial implication — to increase employees’ work

performance, make them happy.

 Job satisfaction alone is not a consistent predictor of work

performance.

*Even though some evidence exists for the satisfaction causes

performance relationship among professional or higher-level

employees, the best conclusion is that job satisfaction alone is not a

consistent predictor of individual work performance.

Theory: Performance causes satisfaction

 Managerial implication — try to create high performance as a

pathway to job satisfaction.

 Performance leads to rewards that, in turn, lead to satisfaction.

 Performance leads to satisfaction only if rewards are perceived

as fair and equitable.

*Research does find a link between individual performance

measured at one time and later job satisfaction.

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*The model suggests that performance leads to rewards that, in turn, lead to

satisfaction.

Theory: rewards cause both satisfaction and performance

 Managerial implication — right rewards allocated in the right

way will positively influence both performance and satisfaction.

 Performance contingency - size of the reward varies in

proportion to the level of performance.

*Research generally finds that rewards influence satisfaction while performance contingent rewards

influence performance. The prevailing management

advice is to use performance-contingent rewards well in

the attempt to create both.

If you won the lotto, would you ever work

again?

Consider the meanings we derive from

work (social identity, accomplishment,

achievement). How would you replace

these?

What is perception and why is it important?

What are the common perceptual

distortions?

What is the link between perception,

attribution, and social learning?

What is involved in learning by reinforcement?

Perception

 Process by which people select, organize, interpret,

retrieve, and respond to information from the world

around them.

*Perception serves as a screen or filter through which information

passes before it has an effect on people. Because perceptions are

influenced by many factors, different people may perceive the same

situation quite differently. And since people behave according to their

perceptions, the consequences of these differences can be great in

terms of what happens next.

4-4

*The figure shows substantial differences in how a performance appraisal discussion is

perceived by managers and their subordinates. These managers may end up not giving much

attention to things like career development, performance goals, and supervisory support since

they perceive these issues were adequately addressed at performance appraisal time. But the

subordinates may end up frustrated and unsatisfied because they perceive less attention was

given and they want more.

4-5

*Look at the small illustration in the figure. What do you see, faces or a vase? It depends on

which image is perceived as the background and which as the figure or object of our attention.

What do you see?

4-6

*The various stages of the perception process are presented in the figure. They show that

information processing during the perception process involves attention and selection,

organization, interpretation, and retrieval.

Influence

Factors Stages of Perception

Response (Feeling,

thinking, acting)

Interpretation Interpretation Organization Retrieval Attention and

Selection

Schemas/Scripts

Interpretation Interpretation Organization Attention and

Selection Interpretation Interpretation Organization

Attention and

Selection

Attention and selection

 Selective screening

 Lets in only a tiny portion of all the information available.

 Two types of selective screening

 Controlled processing

 Screening without conscious awareness

4-7

*Some of the selective screening that we do comes from controlled processing—consciously

deciding what information to pay attention to and what to ignore. Think, for example, about the

last time you were at a noisy restaurant and screened out all the sounds but those of the

person with whom you were talking.

Some screening also takes place without conscious awareness. We often drive cars without

thinking about the process; we’re aware of things like traffic lights and other cars, but we don’t

pay conscious attention to them. This selectivity of attention and automatic information

processing works well most of the time. But if a nonroutine event occurs, such as an animal

darting onto the road, you may have an accident unless you quickly shift to controlled

processing.

Schemas

Cognitive frameworks that represent

organized knowledge developed through

experience about a given concept or

stimulus.

*Even though selective screening takes place in the attention

stage, it‘s still necessary for us to organize information efficiently. This

is done to some extent through schemas. These are cognitive

frameworks that represent organized knowledge developed

through experience about a given concept or stimulus. We

commonly use script schemas, person schemas, and person-in-

situation schemas.

Script schemas

 A knowledge of framework that describes the appropriate

sequence of event in a given situation.

Self schema

 Contains information about a person‘s own appearance,

behavior, and personality.

4-9

*Script schema - For example, an experienced manager would use a script schema to think

about the appropriate steps involved in running a meeting.

Self schema - For instance, people with decisiveness schemas tend to perceive themselves in

terms of that aspect, especially in circumstances calling for leadership.

Person schema - The terms ―prototype‖ and ―stereotype‖ are often used in this regard. They

are abstract sets of features commonly

associated with members of a category, such as a ―good teammate‖ being intelligent,

dependable, and hard-working. Once formed, they are stored in long-term memory and

retrieved only when needed for a comparison of how well a person matches the schema’s

features.

Person schemas

 Refer to the way individuals sort others into categories such as types

of groups in terms of similar perceived features.

Person-in-situation schema

 Combines schemas built around persons and events.

4-10

*Person schema - The terms ―prototype‖ and ―stereotype‖ are often used in this regard. They

are abstract sets of features commonly associated with members of a category, such as a

―good teammate‖ being intelligent, dependable, and hard-working. Once formed, they are

stored in long-term memory and retrieved only when needed for a comparison of how well a

person matches the schema’s features.

Person-in-situation schemas combine schemas built around persons (self and person

schemas) and events (script schemas).

You have just been told that your job has

been ‗down-sized‘. This has never

happened to you before. Now what?

1) Take cues from your environment.

2) Pay attention to salient cues.

3) Create a new mental category (laid off).

4) Consider how others have responded.

Interpretation

Uncovering the reasons behind the ways stimuli

are grouped.

4-12

*Even if your attention is called to the same information and you organize it in the same way

your friend does, you may still interpret it differently or make different assumptions about what

you have perceived. As a team leader, for example, you might interpret compliments from a

team member as due to his being an eager worker; your friend might interpret the behavior as

insincere flattery.

Retrieval

Attention and selection, organization, and

interpretation are part of memory.

Information stored in memory must be

retrieved in order to be used.

*All of us, at times, have trouble retrieving information stored in our

memories. And memory decays, so that only some of the

information is retrieved. Schemas can make it difficult for people to

remember things not included in them.

Impression Management

 Systematic attempt to behave in ways that will

create and maintain desired impressions in the

eyes of others.

 When well done, impression management can

help us to advance in jobs and careers, form

relationships with people we admire, and even

create pathways to group memberships.

*The fact is that we already practice a lot of impression management

as a matter of routine in everyday life. Impression management is

taking place when we dress, talk, act, and surround ourselves with

things that reinforce a desirable self-image and help to convey that

same image to other persons.

One of the most powerful forces in impression management today

might be the one least recognized—how we communicate our

presence in the online world of social media.

4-14

Stereotypes

 Occur when we identify someone with a group or

category, and then use the attributes perceived to

be associated with the group or category to

describe the individual.

 Individual differences are obscured.

 Managers may not accurately understand the needs,

preferences, and abilities of others in the workplace.

*Although this makes things easier for us by reducing the need to deal

with unique individual characteristics, it is an oversimplification. Because

stereotypes obscure individual differences, we can easily end up missing

the real individual.

4-15

Common Stereotypes

Racial

Ethnic

Gender

Ability

Age

Halo effects

Occur when one attribute of a person or

situation is used to develop an overall

impression of the individual or situation.

*Like stereotypes, distortions are more likely to occur in the

organization stage of perception. Halo effects are common in our

everyday lives. Also, halo effects are particularly important in the

performance appraisal process because they can influence a

manager‘s evaluations of subordinates‘ work performance.

Selective perception

The tendency to single out those of a

situation, person, or object that for attention

those aspects of a situation, person, or

object that are consistent with one‘s needs,

values, or attitudes.

*Strongest impact occurs in the attention stage of the perceptual

process. This perceptual distortion was identified in a classic

research study involving executives in a manufacturing company.

Projection

The assignment of one‘s personal attributes

to other individuals.

*Likely to occur in the interpretation stage of perception. A classic

projection error is illustrated by team leaders who assume that the

needs of team members are the same as their own.

Projection can be controlled through a high degree of self-awareness

and empathy—the ability to view a situation as others see it.

Contrast effects

The meaning or interpretation of something is

arrived at by contrasting it with a recently

occurring event or situation.

*This form of perceptual distortion can occur, say, when a person

gives a talk following a strong speaker or is interviewed for a job

following a series of mediocre applicants. A contrast effect occurs

when an individual‘s characteristics are contrasted with those of

others recently encountered who rank higher or lower on the same

characteristics.

Self-fulfilling prophecy

 The tendency to create or find in another situation or

individual that which one expected to find in the first

place.

*Also called the ―Pygmalion effect.‖ Managers will find

that self-fulfilling prophecies can have both positive and

negative outcomes. In effect, they may create in work

situations that which we expect to find.

Think about the self-fulfilling prophecy. Which of

the following would not be a good idea?

a. Instill confidence in your staff.

b. Identify errors in employee‘s performance and

refer to them often.

c. Treat all new employees as if they are star

performers.

d. Set high performance goals.

*b. By repeatedly pointing out poor performance (without providing

remedies for improvement), managers may be unconsciously

conveying their expectations of continued poor outcomes.

Attribution

 Process of developing explanations or assigning perceived

causes for events. Can be classified as internal or external:

 Internal causes – Believed to be under an individual’s control.

 External causes – Seen as coming from outside a person.

*Attribution theory helps us understand how people perceive the causes

of events, assess responsibility for outcomes, and evaluate the personal

qualities of the people involved.

4-23

Distinctiveness

 Consistency of a person‘s behavior across different situations.

Consensus

 Likelihood of others responding in a similar way.

Consistency

 Whether an individual responds the same way across time.

*Distinctiveness: If Jake‘s performance is typically low, regardless of the

technology with which he is working, we tend to assign the poor

performance to an internal attribution—there‘s something wrong with Jake.

If the poor performance is unusual, we tend to assign an external cause to

explain it—there‘s something happening in the work context.

Consensus: If all the people using the same technology as Jake perform

poorly, we tend to assign his performance problem to an external

attribution. If others do not perform poorly, we attribute Jake‘s poor

performance to internal causation.

Consistency: If Jake performs poorly over a sustained period of time, we tend to

give the poor performance an internal attribution. If his low performance is

an isolated incident, we may well attribute it to an external cause.

4-24

4-25

*When managers were asked to identify, or attribute, causes of poor performance

among their subordinates, they most often blamed internal deficiencies of the

individual—lack of ability and effort, rather than external deficiencies in the

situation—lack of support.

Fundamental attribution error

 Tendency to underestimate the influence of

situational factors and to overestimate the

influence of personal factors when evaluating

someone else‘s behavior.

 ―Your poor performance is caused by you!‖

*When managers were asked to identify, or attribute, causes of

poor performance among their subordinates, they most often

blamed internal deficiencies of the individual—lack of ability

and effort, rather than external deficiencies in the situation—

lack of support. This demonstrates fundamental attribution error.

Self-serving bias

Tendency to deny personal responsibility for

performance problems but to accept

personal responsibility for performance

success.

 I received an “A” because I studied.

 I received a “D” because the exam was too hard.

*When asked to identify causes of their own poor performance,

managers mostly cited lack of support—an external, or

situational, deficiency. This demonstrates self-serving bias.

 Do not overlook the external causes of others‘ behaviors. (Identify and confront your stereotypes, your biases, your preconceived notions.)

 Evaluate people based on objective factors.

 Do not rush to judgment

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5ZljnMmrIs (5.13 sec)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5ZljnMmrIs

Cultural differences in attributions :

 Individualistic cultures - managers more likely to

attribute employee poor performance to internal

causes.

 Negative attributes – blame team-mates for

subordinates for performance problems.

 Collectivist cultures – overemphasize self-serving

bias; managers blame themselves for group‘s failure.

Social learning theory

Describes how learning takes place through the

reciprocal interactions among people, behavior,

and environment.

*An individual uses modeling or vicarious learning to acquire behavior by

observing and imitating others. The person then attempts to acquire these

behaviors by modeling them through practice.

In a work situation, the model may be a higher manager or co-worker who

demonstrates desired behaviors. Mentors or senior workers who befriend

younger and more inexperienced protégés can also be important models.

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*The symbolic processes shown in the figure are important in social learning. Words and

symbols used by managers and others in the workplace help communicate values, beliefs,

and goals and thus serve as guides to an individual’s behavior.

Self efficacy

A person‘s belief that he or she can perform

adequately in a situation.

Key factor in self-control.

*Closely associated with the concept of self-efficacy are such terms as

confidence, competence, and ability.

People with high self-efficacy believe that they have the necessary abilities for

a given job, that they are capable of the effort required, and that no

outside events will hinder them from attaining their desired performance

level. In contrast, people with low self-efficacy believe that no matter how

hard they try, they cannot manage their environment well enough to be

successful.

Reinforcement

The administration of a consequence as a

result of a behavior.

 Proper management of reinforcement can

change the direction, level, and persistence

of an individual‘s behavior.

Classical conditioning

A form of learning through association that

involves the manipulation of stimuli to influence behavior.

Stimulus

Something that incites action and draws

forth a response. *The Russian psychologist, Pavlov, ―taught‖ dogs to salivate at the

sound of a bell by ringing the bell when feeding the dogs. The sight

of the food naturally caused the dogs to salivate. Eventually, the

dogs ―learned‖ to associate the bell ringing with the presentation

of meat and to salivate at the ringing of the bell alone. Such

learning through association is so common in organizations that it is

often ignored until it causes considerable confusion.

Operant conditioning

The process of controlling behavior by

manipulating its consequences.

Considered ‗learning by reinforcement‘.

*You may think of operant conditioning as learning by

reinforcement. In a work setting the goal is to use reinforcement

principles to systematically reinforce desirable behavior and

discourage undesirable behavior.

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*Operant conditioning examines the antecedents to behavior, the behavior, and the

consequences. The antecedent is the condition leading up to or ―cueing‖ behavior. The figure

gives the example of an agreement with the boss to work overtime as needed. If the

employee actually does work overtime, this is the behavior. The consequence would be the

boss’s praise. In operant conditioning, this consequence strengthens the behavior and makes

it more likely when the antecedent next occurs.

Law of effect

 Behavior that results in a pleasant outcome is likely to be

repeated while behavior that results in an unpleasant

outcome is not likely to be repeated.

Extrinsic rewards

 Positively valued work outcomes that are given to the

individual by some other person.

*The implications of this law are rather straightforward. If you want more of a

behavior, you must make the consequences for the individual positive.

Extrinsic rewards become external reinforces or environmental consequences

that can substantially influence a person‘s work behaviors through the law

of effect

You work really hard at your job, and

are not rewarded. The ―law of

effect‖ would suggest that you will

a. Quit

b. Keep trying to impress the right people

*a. We are unlikely to keep trying if our efforts are continually

unrewarded.

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*Extrinsic rewards, such as pay and praise, are positively valued work outcomes that

are given to the individual by some other person. They become external reinforces or

environmental consequences that can substantially influence a person’s work behaviors

through the law of effect. As shown in the figure, some

of these rewards are contrived rewards that are planned, and have direct costs and

budgetary implications. Examples are pay increases and cash bonuses. Others are

natural rewards that have no cost other than the manager’s personal time and efforts.

Examples are verbal praise and recognition in the workplace.

Organizational Behavior Modification

(OB Mod)

 Involves the use of four basic reinforcement strategies:

 Positive reinforcement

 Negative reinforcement (avoidance)

 Punishment

 Extinction

Positive reinforcement

 Administration of positive consequences that tend to

increase the likelihood of repeating the desirable

behavior in similar settings.

 Law of contingent reinforcement – states a reward should be

given when the desired behavior occurs.

 Law of immediate reinforcement – states a reward should be

given as soon as possible after the desired behavior occurs.

*The law of contingent reinforcement – Example: a supervisor‘s praise should

be contingent on the worker‘s doing something identifiably well, such as

giving a constructive suggestion in a meeting. Also, the reward must be

given as soon as possible after the desired behavior. This is known as the law

of immediate reinforcement. Example: If the supervisor waits for the annual

performance review to praise a worker for providing constructive comments,

the law of immediate reinforcement would be violated.

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Shaping

Creation of a new behavior by the

positive reinforcement of successive

approximations to it.

*Managers can shape behavior by systematically reinforcing each

successive step that moves an individual closer to the desired

response. When used appropriately, this can be a powerful

management tool to increase positive organizational outcomes.

Continuous reinforcement

Administering a reward each time the desired

behavior occurs.

Intermittent reinforcement

Rewards behavior only periodically.

*In general, continuous reinforcement draws forth a desired behavior

more quickly than does intermittent reinforcement. But it is costly in the

consumption of rewards, and the behavior is more easily extinguished

when reinforcement is no longer present. Behavior acquired under

intermittent reinforcement is more resistant to extinction and lasts longer

upon the discontinuance of reinforcement. This is why shaping typically

begins with a continuous reinforcement schedule and then gradually shifts

to an intermittent one.

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*As shown in the figure, intermittent reinforcement can be given according to fixed or variable

schedules. Variable schedules typically result in more consistent patterns of desired behavior

than do fixed reinforcement schedules. Fixed- interval schedules provide rewards at the first

appearance of a behavior after a given time has elapsed. Fixed-ratio schedules result in a

reward each time a certain number of the behaviors have occurred. A variable-interval

schedule rewards behavior at random times, while a variable-ratio schedule rewards behavior

after a random number of occurrences.

Negative reinforcement

Uses withdrawal of negative consequences

to increase the likelihood of repeating the

desirable behavior.

 Also known as avoidance learning.

*The term negative reinforcement comes from this withdrawal of

the negative consequences. The strategy is also sometimes

called avoidance because its intent is for the person to avoid

the negative consequence by performing the desired behavior.

Punishment

The administration of negative

consequences or the withdrawal of positive

consequences to reduce the likelihood of a

behavior being repeated.

*There is evidence that punishment administered for poor

performance can lead to better performance without a significant

effect on satisfaction. But punishment seen by workers as arbitrary

and capricious leads to low satisfaction as well as low

performance.

Extinction

The withdrawal of the reinforcing

consequences in order to weaken

undesirable behavior.

*An example: Enya is often late for work and co-workers provide positive

reinforcement by covering for her. The manager instructs Enya‘s co-workers

to stop covering, thus withdrawing the positive consequences. This is a use

of extinction to try and get rid of an undesirable behavior.

Behavior modification techniques, when

utilized positively in organizations, can be

very powerful and effective in encouraging

desired performance.

Because of their potential power, they may lend

themselves to inappropriate or even unethical

uses. *The effective use of the four reinforcement strategies can help manage

human behavior at work. Testimony to this effect is found in the wide

application of these strategies in all sorts of work settings, and by the

number of consulting firms that specialize in reinforcement techniques.

Motivation Forces within the individual forces that

account for the direction, level, and persistence of a person’s effort expended at work.  Direction - an individual’s choice when

presented with a number of possible alternatives.

 Level - the amount of effort a person puts forth.

 Persistence - the length of time a person sticks with a given action.

Types of motivation theories

 Content theories

 Focus on individual needs – that is, physiological or

psychological deficiencies that individuals feel a

compulsion to reduce or eliminate.

 Process theories

 Focus on how cognitive processes as thoughts and

decisions within the minds of people influence their

behavior.

*Theories of both types contribute to our understanding of motivation to work. But

none offers a complete explanation.

The content theories try to explain work behaviors based on pathways to need

satisfaction and on blocked needs. Whereas a content approach may identify

job security as an important individual need, a process approach would probe

further to identify why the decision to seek job security results in certain work

behaviors.

5-3

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Theory

 Identifies five levels of individual needs.

Assumes that some needs are more

important than others and must be satisfied

before the other needs can serve as

motivators.

*Needs range from self-actualization and esteem at the top, to social,

safety, and physiological at the bottom.

Physiological needs must be satisfied before safety needs are activated

– safety needs must be satisfied before social needs are activated.

*The figure identifies five levels of individual needs. They range from self-

actualization and esteem

needs at the top, to social, safety, and physiological needs at the bottom.

The concept of a needs “hierarchy” assumes that some needs are more

important than others and must be satisfied before the other needs can

serve as motivators. For example, physiological needs must be satisfied

before safety needs are activated; safety needs must be satisfied before

social needs are activated; and so on.

Some research suggests that higher-order needs (esteem and self-

actualization) tend to become more important than lower-order needs

(psychological, safety, and social) as individuals move up the corporate

ladder. Studies also report that needs vary according to a person’s

career stage, the size of the organization, and even geographic

location.4 There is also no consistent evidence that the satisfaction of a

need at one level decreases its importance and increases the

importance of the next-higher need.

Equity Theory

Any perceived inequity becomes a motivating state of mind.

 People are motivated to behave in ways that restore or

maintain equity in situations.

 Foundation of equity is social comparison.

*Motivation is a function of how one evaluates rewards

relative to efforts made, and as compared to the rewards

received by others relative to their efforts made. A key word

in this comparison is “fairness.”

*Perceived inequity occurs when someone believes that the rewards received for

their work contributions compare unfavorably to the rewards other people appear to

have received for their work.

5-8

Individual Outcomes

Individual Efforts

Others’ Outcomes

Others’ Efforts

Equity restoration behaviors.

Reduce work inputs.

Change the outcomes received.

Leave the situation.

Change the comparison points.

Psychologically distort things.

Try to change the efforts of the comparison person.

5-9

*Research on equity theory indicates that people who feel they are overpaid

(perceived positive inequity) are likely to try to increase the quantity or quality of

their work, whereas those who feel they are underpaid (perceived negative inequity)

are likely to try to decrease the quantity or quality of their work.

Goal setting

The process of developing, negotiating, and

formalizing the targets or objectives that a

person is responsible for accomplishing.

*The basic precepts of goal-setting theory are an important source of

advice for managing human behavior in the work setting.

What is the link between motivation, rewards,

and performance?

What are the essentials of performance

management?

How do job designs influence motivation and

performance?

What are the motivational opportunities of

alternative work arrangements?

*The figure outlines an integrated model of motivation, one that ties together the basic

relationship of effort, performance, and rewards regarding the basic effort →

performance → rewards relationship. Note that the figure shows job performance and

satisfaction as separate but potentially interdependent work results.

6-3

The Integrated Model combines four key

theories of organizational behavior:

• Reinforcement – immediately rewarding positive behaviors with valued outcomes.

• Equity – assuring fairness in type and distribution of rewards.

• Content – acknowledging individual differences in motivational value

• Expectancy – creating a linkage among ‗effort→performance→reward

Intrinsic rewards

 Positively valued work outcomes that an individual receives

directly as a result of task performance.

Extrinsic rewards

 Positively valued work outcomes that are given to an individual

or group by some other person or source in the work setting.

*A feeling of achievement after completing a particularly challenging task with

a good person–job fit is an example of an intrinsic reward.

Examples might include things like sincere praise for a job well done or symbolic

tokens of accomplishment such as ―employee-of-the-month‖ awards.

Importantly too, anything dealing with compensation, or the pay and

benefits one receives at work, are positively valued work outcomes that the

individual receives directly as a result of task performance; they do not

require the participation of another person or source.

Pay for performance

 When pay functions well it can help organizations

attract and retain highly capable workers.

 Pay can also help satisfy and motivate workers to

work hard to achieve high performance.

 When something goes wrong with pay, negative

effects on motivation performance may occur.

*Research generally concludes that pay only serves as a motivator when high

levels of job performance are viewed as the paths through which high pay

can be achieved. This is the essence of performance-contingent pay or

pay for performance. It basically means that you earn more when you

produce more and earn less when you produce less.

Merit pay

 Compensation system that directly ties an individual‘s

salary or wage increase to measures of performance

accomplishments during a specific time period.

 Seeks to create a belief among employees that the way

to achieve high pay is to perform at high levels.

 Bonus – extra pay for performance that meets certain

benchmarks or is above expectations.

*A merit system should be based on realistic and accurate measures of

individual work performance.

The merit system should be able to clearly discriminate between high and

low performers in the amount of pay increases awarded. Finally, it is also

important that any ―merit‖ aspects of a pay increase are not confused

with across-the-board ―cost-of-living‖ adjustments.

A current challenges to the fair application of this system includes the

prevalence of task interdependence in the workplace.

Gain sharing

Gives workers the opportunity to earn more

by receiving shares of any productivity gains

that they help to create.

*Gain sharing plans are supposed to create a greater sense of

personal responsibility for organizational performance

improvements and increase motivation to work hard. They are also

supposed to encourage cooperation and teamwork to increase

productivity.

Profit-sharing plans

Reward employees for increased

organizational profits.

 Criticism: organizational profit increases and

decreases are not always a direct result of

employees‘ efforts.

*Profit-sharing plans reward employees based on overall organizational

profits: the more profits made, the more money that is available for

distribution to the employees through profit sharing.

Poor organizational profits in a time period may, for example, reflect

things such as general economic conditions, over which employees

have no control.

Stock Options

Provide employees with an opportunity to

buy shares of stock at a future date at a

fixed price.

*The expectation is that employees with stock options will be highly

motivated to do their best so that the firm performs well, because

they gain financially as the stock price increases. However, as the

recent economic downturn reminded us, the value of the options

an employee holds can decline or even zero out when the stock

price falls.

Employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs)

 Companies may give stock to employees,

or allow stock to be purchased by them at

a price below market value.

*The incentive value of the stock awards or purchases is like the

stock options. ―Employee owners‖ should be motivated to work

hard so that the organization will perform well, its stock price will

rise, and as owners they will benefit from the gains.

Skill-based pay

Rewards people for acquiring and

developing job relevant skills.

*Pay systems of this sort pays people for the mix and depth of skills they

possess, not for the particular job assignment they hold.

Some advantages of skill-based pay are employee cross-training —

workers learn to do one another‘s jobs; fewer supervisors—workers

can provide more of these functions themselves; and more

individual control compensation—workers know in advance what is

required to receive a pay raise.

*The foundation for any performance management system is performance measurement

as shown in the figure.

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Performance management involves two purposes:

 It serves an evaluation purpose when it lets people know

where their actual performance stands relative to

objectives and standards.

 It serves a developmental purpose when it provides insights

into individual strengths and weaknesses.

*If performance measurement is to be done well, managers must have good

answers to both the ―Why?‖ and the

―What?‖ questions. Evaluation purpose answers the ―Why‖ questions.

Developmental purpose answers the ―What‖ questions.

The foundation for any performance management system is performance

measurement, which must be measured in ways that are understood and

respected by those involved.

Performance Measurement

Output measures

 Assess actual work results.

Activity measures

 Assess work inputs in respect to activities tried and

efforts expended.

*Output measure example: A software developer might be measured on

the number of lines of code written a day or on the number of lines

written that require no corrections upon testing.

Activity measure example: The use of number of customer visits made per

day by a salesperson, instead of or in addition to counting the number

of actual sales made.

Performance appraisal

Formal procedure for measuring and

documenting a person‘s work performance.

*There are a variety of alternative performance measurement

methods. They each have strengths and weaknesses that make them

more appropriate for use in some situations than others.

*Comparative methods of performance measurement seek to identify one worker’s standing

relative to others. 6-17

Comparative Methods of Performance Appraisal

Ranking

Raters rank order individuals from best to worst on overall performance.

Paired Comparisons

Raters compare each person with every other person.

Forced Distribution

Raters place a specific proportion of employees into each performance standard

 Rating scales

 Graphic – Lists a variety of performance dimensions that an

individual is expected to exhibit.

 Behavioral – Adds more sophistication by linking ratings to specific

and observable job-related behaviors.

 Critical incident diaries

 Written records that give examples of a person‘s work behavior that leads to either unusual performance success or failure.

*Graphic rating scales allow the manager to assign the individual scores that an

individual is expected to exhibit.

Descriptions on a behaviorally anchored rating scale (BARS) include descriptions of

superior and inferior performance.

Critical incident diaries are an excellent resource for employee development and

feedback. Because it consists of qualitative statements rather than quantitative

ratings, it is more debatable as an evaluation tool.

*Example in the figure shows the primary appeal of graphic rating scales is ease of use.

But, because of generality they may lack real performance links to a given job.

6-19

*A sample BARS for a customer service representative is shown in the figure. Note the specificity

of the behaviors and the scale values for each. Similar behaviorally anchored scales would be

developed for other dimensions of the job. Even though the BARS approach is detailed and

complex, and requires time to develop, it can provide specific behavioral information useful for

both evaluation and development purposes.

6-20

360° Evaluation

Uses a combination of evaluations from a

person‘s bosses, peers, and subordinates, as

well as internal and external customers and

self-ratings.

*The 360 evaluation is very common now in horizontal and team-

oriented organization structures. The evaluation has also moved

online with software that both collects and organizes the results of

ratings from multiple sources.

Think of a performance management

discussion you have had with a

manager?

 Did you look forward to the meeting?

 Put yourself in the manager‘s place.

 What would you change about the procedure?

 Which evaluation tool will be most beneficial?

To be meaningful, an appraisal system

must be:

Reliable - provide consistent results each

time it is used for the same person and

situation.

Valid - actually measure dimensions with

direct relevance to job performance.

*Measurement errors can threaten the reliability or validity of

performance appraisals.

Measurement errors that can reduce the

reliability or validity of a performance measure:

 Halo error

 Leniency error

 Central tendency error

 Recency error

 Personal bias error

Job design

Process through which managers plan and

specify job tasks and the work arrangements

that allow them to be accomplished.

*One of the strongest influencers of motivation is a good ‗fit‘ between

the person, who offers individual skills and needs, and the job

requirements, which match up with those skills and needs.

The ―best‖ job design is always one that meets organizational

requirements for high performance, offers a good fit with individual

skills and needs, and provides valued opportunities for job

satisfaction.

6-26

*The figure shows three major alternative job design approaches, and also indicates

how they differ in how tasks are defined and in the availability of intrinsic rewards.

Scientific management

Sought to create management and

organizational practices that would increase

people‘s efficiency at work. *Taylor‘s approach was to study a job carefully, break it into its smallest

components, establish exact time and motion

requirements for each task to be done, and then train workers to do these

tasks in the same way over and over again.

Taylor‘s principles of scientific management can be summarized as follows:

1. Develop a ―science‖ for each job that covers rules of motion, standard work

tools, and supportive work conditions.

2. Hire workers with the right abilities for the job.

3. Train and motivate workers to do their jobs according to the science.

4. Support workers by planning and assisting their work using the job science.

6-27

Job simplification

 A scientific management approach to job design that

standardizes work procedures and employs people in clearly

defined and highly specialized tasks.

 Intent is to increase efficiency, but it may be decreased due to

the motivational impact of unappealing jobs.

*Example: machine-paced auto assembly line. Increases operating efficiency

by reducing the number of skills required to do a job, by being able to hire

low-cost labor, by keeping the needs for job training to a minimum, and by

emphasizing the accomplishment of repetitive tasks.

Disadvantages: lower work quality, high rates of absenteeism and turnover,

and demand for higher wages to compensate for unappealing jobs.

Technological improvements, in some industries, has caused reduction of

human labor.

6-28

Job enlargement

 Increases task variety by combining into one job two or more tasks that were previously assigned to separate workers.

Job rotation

 Increases task variety by periodically shifting workers among jobs involving different tasks.

*Sometimes called horizontal loading, this approach increases job breadth by

having the worker perform more and different tasks, but all at the same

level of responsibility and challenge.

Job rotation is also a form of horizontal-loading, the responsibility level of the

tasks stays the same. The rotation can be arranged according to almost

any time schedule, such as hourly, daily, or weekly schedules. An important

benefit of job rotation is training.

Job enrichment

The practice of enhancing job content by

building high content jobs full of motivating

factors such as responsibility, achievement,

recognition, and personal growth.

*This job-design strategy is the practical application of Herzberg‘s motivator-

hygiene (two-factors) theory of motivation.

The content changes made possible by job enrichment involve what Herzberg

calls vertical loading to increase job depth. This essentially means that

planning and evaluating tasks normally performed by supervisors are pulled

down into the job to make it bigger.

Job characteristics model

 Provides a data-based approach for creating job designs with good person-job fits that maximize the potential for motivation

and performance.

*Components of Job Characteristics Model:

Skill variety—the degree to which a job includes a variety of different

activities and involves the use of a number of different skills and talents.

Task identity—the degree to which the job requires completion of a ―whole‖

and identifiable piece of work, one that involves doing a job from

beginning to end with a visible outcome.

Task significance—the degree to which the job is important and involves a

meaningful contribution to the organization or society in general.

Autonomy—the degree to which the job gives the employee substantial

freedom, independence, and discretion in scheduling the work and

determining the procedures used in carrying it out.

Job feedback—the degree to which carrying out the work activities provides

direct and clear information to the employee regarding how well the job

has been done.

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6-32

*The shows how the Hackman and Oldham model informs the process of job

design. The higher a job scores on each of these five core characteristics, the

higher its motivational potential and the more it is considered to be enriched.

 When the core characteristics are highly enriched, three critical

psychological states are positively influenced:

 Experienced meaningfulness of work

 Experienced responsibility for work outcomes

 Knowledge of actual results of work activities

*Psychological Empowerment is a sense of personal fulfillment and purpose

that arouses one‘s feeling of competency and commitment to work. It

comes from three critical psychological states that have a positive impact

on individual motivation,

performance, and satisfaction: (1) experienced meaningfulness of the work,

(2) experienced responsibility for the outcomes of the work, and (3)

knowledge of actual results of the work.

Moderators that influence the degree of positive outcomes of enriched jobs:

 Employee growth-need strength is high.

 The employee has the required knowledge and skills.

 Employee is satisfied with the work context (salary, supervision, relationships).

*Hackman and Oldham suggest that enriched jobs will lead to positive outcomes

only for those persons who are a good

match for them, the person–job fit again. Moderator variables tied to ―fit‖ and the

job characteristics theory are:

 Growth-need strength - Degree to which a person desires the opportunity for self-direction, learning, and personal accomplishment at work.

 Knowledge and skill - People whose capabilities fit the demands of enriched jobs are predicted to feel good about them and perform well.

 Context satisfaction - The extent to which an employee is satisfied with aspects of the work setting such as salary levels, quality of supervision, relationships with

co-workers, and working conditions.

Managerial and global implications of

enriching jobs

Not everyone‘s job should be enriched.

Job enrichment can apply to groups.

*Experts generally agree that the job characteristics model and its

diagnostic approach are useful, although not perfect, guides to job

design. One note of caution is raised by Gerald Salancik and Jeffrey

Pfeffer, who question whether jobs have stable and objective

characteristics to which individuals respond predictably and

consistently. Instead, they view job design from the perspective of

social information processing theory. This theory argues that

individual needs, task perceptions, and reactions are a result of

socially constructed realities.

Alternative work arrangements

New work arrangements reshaping the

traditional 40-hour week.

Designed to provide work-life balance and

more ―family friendly‖ employers are

growing ever more apparent.

Compressed work weeks – any scheduling of work that allows a full

time job to be completed in fewer than the standard five days.

 Advantages

 For workers: added time off, increased leisure time,

lower commuting costs.

 For organizations: lower absenteeism and improved

recruiting of new employees.

 Disadvantages

 For workers: increased fatigue from the extended work

day and family adjustment problems.

 For organizations: work scheduling problems, customer

Flexible working hours

 Gives individuals a daily choice in the timing of their

work commitments.

 Advantages:

 For workers: shorter commuting time, more leisure time,

more job satisfaction, and greater sense of responsibility.

 For organizations: less absenteeism, tardiness, and

turnover; more commitment, and higher performance.

*This flexible work schedule is increasingly popular and is a

valuable alternative for structuring work to accommodate

contemporary family situations – from baby boomers attending

to needs of elderly relative to dual-career couples who are

juggling children‘s schedules as well as their own.

6-38

Job sharing

 One full-time job is assigned to two or more persons

who then divide the work according to agreed-upon

hours.

 Advantages:

 For workers: less burnout and higher energy level.

 For organizations: attracting talented people who

would otherwise be unable to work.

*Often, each person works half a day, but job sharing can also

be done on a weekly or monthly basis.

Work sharing

 Workers agree to cut back on the number of

hours they work in order to protect against

layoffs.

 Some employers may mandate a cutback due to

economic necessity.

Telecommuting - Work done at home or in a remote location via the use of computers and advanced telecommunication linkages with a central office or other employment location.

 Advantages:

 For workers: flexibility, comforts of home, and choice of work locations consistent with one‘s lifestyle.

 Disadvantages:

 For workers: isolation from co-workers, decreased identification with work team, family distractions.

*Technology has enabled yet another alternative work arrangement that is now highly visible in many employment sectors ranging from higher education to government, and from manufacturing to services.

6-41

Advantages of part-time work

 For workers: appeals to people who want to supplement other

jobs or do not want full-time work.

 For organizations: lower labor costs, ability to better

accommodate peaks and valleys of business cycle, can easily

release and hire as needs dictate.

Disadvantages

 For workers: added stress and potentially diminished

performance if holding two jobs, failure to qualify for benefits,

and lower pay rates than full-time counterparts.

› For organizations: when a person holds multiple part-time jobs,

the work burdens can be stressful; performance may suffer on

the job, and may have negative effects on family and leisure.

*The use of part- timers is growing as today‘s employers try to cut

back labor costs.

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Chapter 7

Teams in Organizations

Synergy is the goal

Chapter 7 Study Questions

What are teams and how are they used in organizations?

When is a team effective?

What are the stages of team development?

How can we understand teams at work?

Sons, Inc.

Why are teams important in

organizations?

Team

➢Group of people brought together to use complementary skills to achieve a

common purpose for which they are collectively accountable.

*Teams are important in work settings as well. And whether or not a team lives

up to expectations can have a major impact on how well its customers and

clients are served

Sons, Inc.

Why are teams important in

organizations?

Teamwork

➢Occurs when team members

accept and live up to their collective

accountability by actively working

together so that all their respective

skills are best used to achieve team

goals.

Sons, Inc.

Why are teams important in

organizations? What Teams Do

➢Teams that recommend things

▪Established to study specific problems and recommend solutions to them.

➢Teams that run things

▪Have formal responsibility for leading organizations and their component parts.

➢Teams that make or do things

▪Work units that perform ongoing tasks.

*Teams that recommend things typically work with a target completion date

and often disband once the purpose has been fulfilled. The teams include

task forces, ad hoc committees, special project teams, and the like.

Members of these teams must be able to learn quickly how to pool talents,

work well together, and accomplish the assigned task.

Teams that run things may exist at all levels of responsibility, from the

individual work unit composed of a team leader and team members to the

top-management team composed of a CEO and other senior executives.

Why are teams important in

organizations?

Formal teams

➢Created and officially designated to serve a specific organizational purposes.

➢May be permanent or temporary and vary in size and composition.

*Formal teams are created to solve specific problems or perform defined tasks

and are then disbanded once the purpose has been accomplished. Examples

include temporary committees and task forces.

Why are teams important in

organizations? Informal groups

➢Emerge and coexist as a shadow to the formal structure and without

any assigned purpose or

endorsement.

➢Types of informal groups

▪Friendship groups

▪Interest groups

*informal groups can be places where people join to complain, spread

rumors, and disagree with what is happening in the organization, they

can also be quite helpful. Informal networks can speed up workflows as

people assist each other in ways that cut across the formal structures.

They can also help satisfy unmet needs, for example, by providing

companionship or a sense of personal importance that is otherwise

missing in someone’s formal team assignments.

Why are teams important in

organizations?

Social network analysis – identifies the informal groups and networks of

relationships that are active in an organization.

*The analysis typically asks people to identify co-workers who most often help

them, who communicate with them regularly, and who energize and deenergize

them. When results are analyzed, social networks are drawn with lines running

from person to person according to frequency and type of relationship

maintained.

Sons, Inc.

Why are teams important in

organizations? Cross-Functional and Problem-Solving Teams

➢Cross-functional teams or task forces

▪Members brought together from different functional departments or work units to achieve

horizontal integration and better lateral relations.

➢Problem-solving teams

▪Created temporarily to serve a specific purpose by dealing with a specific problem or

opportunity.

➢Employee involvement team

▪Meet regularly to collectively examine important workplace issues

▪Quality circles meet periodically to discuss and make proposals for ways to improve quality.

*Members of cross-functional teams are expected to work together with a positive combination

of functional expertise and integrative team thinking. The expected result is higher

performance driven by the advantages of better information and faster decision making.

Why are teams important in

organizations?

Functional silos problem

➢Occurs when members of functional units stay focused on matters internal to

their function and minimize their interactions with members dealing with other

functions.

*Also called functional chimneys problem. The functional departments or work

teams create artificial boundaries, or ―silos,‖ that discourage rather than

encourage interaction with other units. The result is poor integration and poor

coordination with other parts of the organization. The cross-functional team is a

way to break down these barriers by creating a forum in which members from

different functions work together as one team with a common purpose.

Why are teams important in

organizations?

Employee involvement team

➢Teams whose members meet regularly to collectively examine important

workplace issues.

▪Quality circle - small team that meets periodically to discuss and develop

solutions relating to quality and productivity.

*Employee involvement teams might discuss, for example, ways to enhance

quality, better satisfy customers, raise productivity, and improve the quality of

work life. Such employee involvement teams are supposed to mobilize the full

extent of workers’ know-how and experiences for continuous improvements.

Sons, Inc.

Why are teams important in

organizations?

Self-managing teams

➢Teams are empowered to make the decisions needed to manage themselves

on a day-to-day basis.

➢Duties often replace those that were traditionally performed by the manager.

*Most self-managing teams include between 5 and 15 members. They need to

be large enough to provide a good mix of skills and resources but small enough

to function efficiently.

Sons, Inc.

Figure 7.2 Organizational and Management

Implications of Self-Managing Teams

*The figure shows that members of true self-managing teams make their own decisions about

scheduling work, allocating tasks, training for job skills, evaluating performance, selecting new

team members, and controlling the quality of work.

Why are teams important in

organizations?

Multiskilling

➢Team members are expected to perform many different jobs – even all the of

the team’s jobs – as needed.

*The expected benefits of self-managing teams include productivity and quality

improvements, production flexibility and faster response to technological

change, reduced absenteeism and turnover, and improved work attitudes and

quality of work life. But just as with all organizational changes, the shift from

traditional work units to self-managing teams may have its difficulties. It may be

hard for some team members to adjust to the ―self-managing‖ responsibilities.

Sons, Inc.

Why are teams important in

organizations?

Advantages of self-managing teams

➢Productivity and quality improvements.

➢Production flexibility and faster response to technological change.

➢Reduced absenteeism and turnover.

➢Improved work attitudes and quality of work life.

Sons, Inc.

Why are teams important in

organizations?

Disadvantages of self-managing teams

➢May be hard for some team members to adjust to the ―self-managing‖

responsibilities.

➢Higher-level managers may have problems dealing with the loss of the first-

line supervisors.

*Self-managing teams are probably not right for all organizations, work

situations, and people. They have great potential, but they also require a

proper setting and a great deal of management support. At a minimum, the

essence of any self-managing team—high involvement, participation, and

empowerment—must be consistent with the values and culture of the

organization.

Why are teams important in

organizations?

Virtual Team

➢Members convene and work together through computer

mediation rather than interacting face-to-face .

▪Can accomplish same tasks as face-to-face teams, but are free

from geographic barriers.

*Working in electronic space and free from the constraints of geographical

distance, members of virtual teams can do the same

things as members of face-to-face groups: share information, make decisions,

and complete tasks.

Why are teams important in

organizations?

Advantages of virtual teams

➢Brings together individuals who may be located at great

differences from one another.

➢Offers obvious cost and time efficiencies.

➢Focuses task accomplishment and decision making by

reducing the emotional considerations that may surface in

face-to-face meetings.

*Discussions and information shared among team members can also be

electronically stored for continuous access and historical record keeping.

Why are teams important in

organizations?

Disadvantages of virtual teams

➢Members of virtual teams can have difficulties establishing good working

relationships.

➢The lack of face-to- face interactions limits the role of emotions and non

verbal cues in the communication process.

Sons, Inc.

When is a team effective?

Effective Team

➢One that achieves high levels of task performance, member satisfaction, and

team viability.

When is a team effective?

Effective teams achieve high levels of:

➢Task performance

▪Members attain performance goals regarding quantity, quality, and timeliness of work

results.

➢Members satisfaction

▪Members believe that their participation and experiences are positive and meet

important personal needs.

➢Team viability

▪Members are sufficiently satisfied to continue working together on an ongoing basis.

*With regard to member satisfaction, an effective team is one whose members believe

that their participation and experiences are positive and meet important personal needs.

They are satisfied with their tasks, accomplishments, and interpersonal relationships.

When is a team effective?

Synergy

➢The creation of a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts.

➢Individual can accomplish more through teamwork than by working alone.

*The performance advantages of teams over individuals are most evident in

three situations. First, when there is no clear ―expert‖ for a particular task or

problem, teams tend to make better judgments than does the average

individual alone. Second, teams are typically more successful than individuals

when problems are complex and require a division of labor and the sharing of

information. Third, because they tend to make riskier decisions, teams can be

more creative and innovative than individuals.

When is a team effective?

Why teams are good for organizations

➢Teams are beneficial as settings where people learn from one another

and share job skills and knowledge.

➢The learning environment and the pool of experience within a team can

be used to solve difficult and unique problems.

➢Opportunities for social interaction within a team can provide individuals

with a sense of security through work assistance and technical advice.

➢Team members provide emotional support for one another in times of

special crisis or pressure.

➢Many contributions individuals make to teams can help members

experience self-esteem and personal involvement.

When is a team effective?

Common team challenges

➢Social loafing

➢Personality conflicts

➢Uncertainty over tasks or competing goals

➢Poorly defined agendas

➢Lack of motivation

➢Perceptions that team lacks purpose

Sons, Inc.

When is a team effective?

Social loafing

➢The tendency of people to work less hard in a group than they would

individually.

➢Reasons for social loafing

▪Individual contributions are less noticeable in the group context.

▪Some prefer to see others carry the workload.

When is a team effective?

Prevent social loafing

➢Keep group size small.

➢Redefine roles to make free riders more visible and peer pressures to

perform more likely.

➢Increase accountability by making individuals performance expectations

clear and specific.

➢Make rewards directly contingent on an individual’s performance

contributions.

When is a team effective?

Social facilitation theory

➢Tendency for one’s behavior to be influenced by the presence of others in a

group or social setting.

▪Positive result is extra effort when individual is proficient with the task at

hand.

▪Negative result when the task is unfamiliar or

a person lacks the necessary skills.

*The figure describes the five stages of team development as

forming, storming, norming, performing, and adjourning.

Figure 7.3:

Five Stages of Team Development

What are the stages of team

development?

Forming stage

➢Initial entry of members to a team.

➢Member challenges

▪Getting to know each other

▪Discovering what is considered acceptable behavior

▪Determining the group’s real task

▪Defining group rules

*During this stage, individuals 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?‖

What are the stages of group

development?

Storming stage

➢A period of high emotionality and tension among group members.

➢Member challenges

▪Hostility and infighting

▪Formation of coalitions and cliques

▪Clarification of members’ expectations

What are the stages of team

development?

Norming stage

➢The point at which the members really begin to come together

as a coordinated unit.

➢Member challenges

▪Holding team together may over supersede task accomplishment.

▪Sense of cohesiveness may discourage minority views.

▪Can result in false sense of team maturity.

What are the stages of team

development?

Performing stage

➢Marks the emergence of a mature, organized, and well-

functioning team motivated by group goals.

➢Member challenges

▪Continuing efforts to improve relationships and performance.

*Sometime called total integration. Team members should be able to adapt

successfully as opportunities and demands change over time.

*Criteria for measuring team maturity.

Figure 7.4

Team Maturity Criteria

What are the stages of team

development?

Adjourning stage

➢A well-integrated team is able to

▪Disband when its work is finished.

▪Work together in the future.

➢Particularly important for temporary teams.

*Team members must be able to convene quickly, do their jobs on a tight

schedule, and then adjourn—often to reconvene later if needed.

How can we understand teams at work?

The quality of inputs determine the eventual team effectiveness (TE).

TE =Quality of Inputs + (Process gains – Process losses)

Sons, Inc.

Open Systems Model of Team

Effectiveness

*The open systems model presented in the figure shows team effectiveness being

influenced by both inputs—―right players in the right seats,‖ and by processes—

―on the same bus, headed in the same direction.

How can we understand teams at work?

Team effectiveness is affected by the nature of the task

▪Different tasks place different demands on teams.

▪Well defined tasks contribute to effectiveness.

▪Team effectiveness is harder to achieve with complex tasks.

interaction.

oSuccess at complex tasks is a source of high satisfaction for team.

How can we understand teams at work?

Nature of task affects outcome

Technical demands of a task

▪The degree to which a task is routine or not, the level of difficulty

involved, and the information requirements.

Social demands of a task

▪Involve the degree to which the issues of interpersonal relationships,

ego, controversies, over ends and means, and the like that come into

play.

*Tasks that are complex in technical demands require unique solutions

and more information processing. Those that are complex in social

demands pose difficulties for reaching agreement on goals and

methods to accomplish them.

*As a team becomes larger, more people are available to divide up the work and

accomplish needed tasks. This can boost performance and member satisfaction, but

only up to a point. At some point, communication and coordination problems set in due

to the sheer number of linkages that must be maintained. Satisfaction may dip, and

turnover, absenteeism, and social loafing may increase. Even logistical matters, such

as finding time and locations for meetings, become more difficult for larger

teams.

How can we understand teams at work?

Team size

➢Can have an impact on a team’s effectiveness.

➢As team size increases, performance and member satisfaction increase up to a point.

How can we understand teams at work?

Team composition

➢The mix of abilities, skills, personalities, and

experiences that the members bring to the team.

*The basic rule of thumb for team composition is to choose members whose

talents and interests fit well with the tasks to be accomplished, and whose

personal characteristics increase the likelihood of being able to work well with

others.

How can we understand teams at work?

FIRO-B Theory (―fundamental interpersonal orientation‖)

➢Identifies differences in how people relate to one another in groups.

➢Individual difference determine needs to express and receive feelings of

inclusion, control, and affection.

*Developed by William Schultz, the theory suggests that teams whose

members have compatible needs are likely to be more effective than teams

whose members are more incompatible. Symptoms of incompatibilities include

withdrawn members, open hostilities, struggles over control, and domination by

a few members.

How can we understand teams at work?

Status

➢A person’s relative rank, prestige or social standing.

Status congruence

➢Occurs when a person’s position within the team is equivalent in status to

positions the individual holds outside of it.

*Any status incongruence may create problems.

Sons, Inc.

How can we understand teams at work?

Diversity and Team Performance

➢Team diversity – consists of different values, personalities, experiences, demographics, and cultures among members.

➢In homogeneous teams, members are very similar to one another.

➢In heterogeneous teams, members are very dissimilar, teamwork problems are more likely.

*When homogeneous team members are too similar in background, training, and

experience, they tend to underperform even though the members may feel very

comfortable with one another.

In heterogeneous teams, the mix of diverse personalities, experiences,

backgrounds, ages, and other personal characteristics may create difficulties as

members try to define problems, share information, mobilize talents, and

deal with obstacles or opportunities. Nevertheless, if—and this is a big ―if‖—

members can work well together, the diversity can be a source of advantage

and enhanced performance potential.

*Working through the diversity–consensus dilemma can slow team development and

impede relationship building, information sharing, and problem solving.

Researchers have found only a slight correlation between average or maximum

individual member intelligence and the collective intelligence of teams. But they found

strong correlations between collective intelligence and two process variables—social

sensitivities within the teams and absence of conversational domination by a few

members.

How can we understand teams at work?

Diversity-Consensus Dilemma

➢The tendency for diversity to make it harder for team members to work together, even though the diversity itself expands the skills and

perspectives available for problem solving.

Collective Intelligence

▪The ability of a group or team to perform well across a range of

tasks.

Figure 7.6: Member Diversity, Stages of Team

Development, and Team Performance

Sons, Inc.

How can we understand teams at work?

Group or team dynamics

➢Forces operating in teams that affect the way members relate to and work

with one another.

How can we create high performance

teams?

How can team processes be improved?

How can team communications be

improved?

How can team decisions be improved?

Characteristics of High Performance Teams

 Set a clear and challenging direction.

 Believe in the goals and motivated to work hard to accomplish

them.

 Turn a general sense of purpose into specific objectives.

 Set standards for measuring results and obtain feedback.

 Members have the right mix of technical, problem-solving and

interpersonal skills.

*The current focus on reality teams appeals to today’s work force. However,

no matter the type, all teams must possess the essential core requirements

of commitment to core values, goal attainment, and cooperative

contributions toward high performance.

Members of newly formed teams must learn how to work together while

passing through the stages of team formation. Team building is an

effective way to arrive at this goal.

Team Building

Collaborative way to gather and analyze

data about the team’s work. The goal is

improved teamwork and increased team

effectiveness.

*Should constitute an essential activity of any

team.

Step 1: Problem or opportunity

in team effectiveness

Step 2:

Data gathering

and analysis

Step 3: Planning for

team improvement

Step 4: Actions to improve

team functioning

Step 5: Evaluation of

results

*When team members notice an obstacle to their team effectiveness (lack of skill, technology,

resources, or the like), a plan is designed to uncover the root cause and address it. Various

data gathering techniques are used including questionnaires, interviews, or group discussions.

Team members collectively address questions that focus on the problem. For example, “How

well are we doing in meeting our goal? What is standing in our way?”

Teamwork Participation by all

members

Formal retreat approach

 Team building occurs during an offsite “retreat.”

Outdoor experience approach

 Members engage in a variety of physically

challenging situations that require teamwork.

Continuous improvement approach

 The manager, team leader, or group members take

responsibility for ongoing team building. *Team-building retreats offer opportunities for intense and concentrated efforts

to examine group accomplishments and operations. Often a consultant is

hired to assist with the team building process.

By having to work together in the face of difficult obstacles, team members

are supposed to experience increased self-confidence, more respect for

others’ capabilities, and a greater commitment to teamwork.

Continuous improvement of teamwork is essential to the themes of total

quality and total service management so important to organizations today.

New members may worry about:

Participation

Goals

Control

Relationships

Processes

*Special difficulties are likely to occur when members first get

together in a new group or work team, or when new members join

an existing one. Problems arise as new members try to understand

what is expected of them while dealing with the anxiety and

discomfort of a new social setting.

*The defense mechanisms of insecure new members may hinder team performance.

Teams must address the insecurities by discussions that include clarifying the team goals and

expectations and clarifying each member‟s role.

Tough Battler

• Acts aggressive

• Seeks authority

Friendly Helper

• Acts insecure

• Tries to be helpful

Objective Thinker

• Acts reflective

• Wants clear goals

Distributed leadership

 Sharing of responsibility for meeting group task and maintenance needs.

Task activities

 Various things members and leaders do that directly contribute to the

performance of important group tasks.

Maintenance activities

 Support the social and interpersonal relationships among team members.

*Sustained high performance requires meeting both task needs and

maintenance needs of team members.

Maintenance activities can include team members or leaders encouraging the

participation of others, trying to harmonize differences of opinion, praising

the contributions of others and agreeing to go along with the popular

course of action.

*Distributed leadership is the sharing of responsibility for meeting group task and maintenance

needs. Task activities directly contribute to the performance of important group tasks. While

maintenance activities deal with social and interpersonal relationships among team members.

• Offering ideas

• Clarifying suggestions

• Giving information

• Seeking information

• Summarizing discussion

Task Contributions

• Encouraging others

• Reconciling differences

• Expressing standards

• Offering agreement

• Inviting participation

Maintenance Contributions

Disruptive behaviors:

 Bullying and being overly aggressive toward other

members.

 Withdrawing and refusing to cooperate with others.

 Using the group as a forum for self-confession.

 Talking too much about irrelevant matters.

 Trying to compete for attention and recognition.

*In addition to helping meet a group’s task and maintenance needs, team

members share additional responsibility for avoiding disruptive behaviors

that harm the group process.

Role

 Set of expectations associated with a job or position

on a team.

. Role ambiguity

Occurs when a person is uncertain about his or her role and

what is expected.

*When team members are unclear about their roles or experience conflicting role

demands, performance problems can occur. Although this is a common problem,

it can be managed through awareness of role dynamics and their causes.

Role overload

Occurs when too much is expected of the individual.

Role underload

Occurs when too little is expected of the individual.

*Members of any group typically benefit from having clear and realistic

expectations regarding their expected tasks and responsibilities. This minimizes

the potential for role overload where team members may feel overwhelmed.

Or, for role underload where team members may feel underused.

Role conflict

 Occurs when a person is unable to respond to role

expectations that conflict with one another.

 Forms of role conflict

 Intrasender, Intersender, Person-role, Inter-role.

*The individual understands what needs to be done but for some reason

cannot comply.

The resulting tension can reduce satisfaction and affect both an

individual’s performance and relationships with other group members.

Role negotiation

Process for discussing and agreeing upon

what team members expect of one another.

Team members meet to discuss, clarify, and

agree on their individual role expectations

each holds for the other.

*Role negotiation can be used as a team

building activity for managing role dynamics.

Norms

 Represent ideas or beliefs about how members are expected to

behave.

 Considered rules or standards of conduct that are supposed to

guide members.

 Help members to guide their own behavior and predict what

others will do.

*Managers and leaders should help their groups adopt positive

norms that support organizational goals.

Norms help clarify the expectations associated with a person’s

membership in a group.

Key norms that can have positive or negative implications.

 Performance norms.

 Ethics norms.

 Organizational and personal pride norms.

 High-achievement norms.

 Support and helpfulness norms.

 Improvement and change norms.

*Groups also commonly have norms regarding how to deal with

supervisors, colleagues, and customers, as well as norms establishing

guidelines for honesty and ethical behaviors.

Norms are often evident in the everyday conversations and actions of

people at work.

*Team leaders can set the tone for group behaviors and expectations.

Positive role model

Set aside time to discuss goals

and norms

Select members who can and will live up to desired

norms

Reward and positively

reinforce desired behaviors

Leaders can

Influence

Norms

Cohesiveness

The degree to which members are attracted to

a group and motivated to remain a part of it.

There is a strong relationship between

cohesiveness, conformity to group norms, and

performance.

*Persons in a highly cohesive group value their membership and strive to

maintain positive relationships with other group members. In this sense,

cohesive groups and teams are good for their members.

*When the performance norms are negative in highly cohesive group, the power toward conformity

produces a „worst case‟ situation. The team is good for the members individually, but results in

poor performance for the group.

*Cohesiveness is high when teams members are similar in age, attitudes, needs and

backgrounds.

Inter-team dynamics

The relationships between groups

cooperating and competing with one

another.

*Organizations ideally operate as cooperative systems in which the

various components support one another.

In the real world, however, competition and intergroup problems often

develop within an organization and have mixed consequences.

Ways to achieve positive inter-team dynamics

 Refocusing members on a common enemy or goal.

 Negotiating directly.

 Engaging members, of different teams, in activities

learning how to work cooperatively together.

 Refocusing reward systems to emphasize

contributions to overall organizational performance

and on how much teams help one another.

*It is important to avoid win-lose reward systems in which one group

must lose something in order for the other to gain. Cooperation

tends to increase as interaction between groups increases.

To assure high performance, team interaction patterns

and communication networks must be aligned with

interaction patterns and team tasks.

 Centralized

 Decentralized

 Restrictive

*For an effective and high performing team, interaction

patterns and communication networks should fit with

assigned tasks. A common mistake teams make is not using

correct interaction patterns and communication networks.

Decentralized communication network

Members communicate directly, as needed,

and share information with one another.

*These structures are also called all-channel or star

communication networks. They work best for groups trying to

accomplish complex and non-routine tasks.

Centralized communication network

 Team leader acts as a central control point.

 Team leader collects and distributes information among

members.

 Members work independently. Results are passed to the team

leader and pooled to create finished product.

*Sometimes called wheel or chain communication networks. They work

best in teams when tasks are routine and/or easily subdivided.

In this type of co-acting team, it is usually the team leader who is most

involved in and informed about all aspects of the team’s work.

Restricted communication network

Subgroups disagree with one another’s positions.

Poor communication is characteristic of this type

of situation.

*As would be expected, limited and biased communication

between the counteracting groups often creates problems.

Proxemics involves use of space as people

interact.

 Architects and consultants that specialize in office

design help executives create spaces conducive to

intense communication and teamwork needed in

today’s work environment.

 Design of office space, and the size and availability

of meeting rooms can positively impact the

effectiveness of team communication.

*Businesses that have designed office space to encourage

communication include Sun Microsystems, Google and b&a

advertising.

Virtual communication networks

 Technology provide numerous resources for real time communication.

 Empowers team members to be in constant electronic contact with

one another or a central database.

 Online team building activities are critically important to high quality

results.

*Communication technologies provide team members various

opportunities to contribute to team performance and achieve results.

What innovations in electronic

communication do you predict in your

working lifetime?

Teams make decisions by choosing from alternative actions.

 Decision by lack of response

 One idea after another is suggested without any discussion-taking

place.

 Decision by authority rule

 The chairperson, manager, or leader makes a decision for the team.

 Decision by minority rule

 Two or three people are able to dominate or “railroad” the group

into making a decision to which they agree.

*The quality and timeliness of decisions made and the processes through

which they are arrived at can have an important impact on group

effectiveness.

 Decision by majority rule

 Formal voting usually takes place, or members may be

polled, publicly or confidentially, to find the majority

viewpoint.

 Decision by consensus

 Discussion leads to one alternative being favored by most

members and the other members agree to support it.

 Decision by unanimity

 All group members agree totally on the course of

action to be taken.

*Teams use various decision-making processes in choosing

alternative courses of action.

Assets and Liabilities of Consensus and Unanimity

 Advantages:

 More information, knowledge and expertise is applied to solve problem.

 Discussion leads to broader understanding of final decision.

 Increases acceptance and strengthens commitment of members to follow

through and support decision.

 Disadvantages:

 Imperfect decisions may result from social pressures to conform to group,

or undue influence of team leader.

 Team decisions take more time than individual decisions.

Groupthink

The tendency of members in highly cohesive

groups to lose their critical evaluative

capabilities.

*Desires to hold the group together and to avoid unpleasant

disagreements lead to an overemphasis on agreement and under

emphasis on critical discussion. The result can often be a poor

decision.

Avoiding groupthink

• Leader refrains from announcing any position.

• Every team member acts as critical evaluator.

• Different sub-groups explore same problems.

• Bring in outside experts to evaluate information, realism of goals, and plans for action.

• Assign someone to be a “devil’s” advocate at each team meeting. Rotate an appointed team "devil's advocate" so that no one particular person appears to dissent.

*Groupthink is a serious threat to the quality of decision making in groups. Leaders

and members alike should be alert to the symptoms of groupthink and be quick to

take any necessary action to prevent its occurrence.

Brainstorming

 Used in teams to actively generate as many ideas and alternatives as possible.

 All criticism is ruled out

 All ideas are welcomed

 Emphasis on creativity and imagination

 Quantity is wanted

 Building on others’ ideas or “piggy-backing” is encouraged

*IBM’s program, called Innovation Jam uses the brainstorming technique.

Everyone is encouraged to suggest how others’ ideas can be turned into new

ideas or how two or more ideas can be joined into still another new idea.

Think about how team cohesiveness and

groupthink might be related.

Can cohesiveness ever reduce groupthink?

 For example, when there is a cohesive team,

and members are familiar with each other, they

may be less likely to censor their opinions and

more likely to disagree.

 Agree or disagree?

Nominal group technique

Members are asked to respond individually

and in writing to a “nominal” question.

*Everyone is encouraged to list as many alternatives or ideas as

they can. Next, participants are asked to read aloud their

responses to the nominal question in round-robin fashion. The

recorder writes each response on large newsprint as it is offered. No

criticism is allowed. The recorder asks for any questions that may

clarify items on the newsprint.

Delphi technique

Involves generating decision-making

alternatives through a series of survey

questionnaires.

*In this procedure, a series of questionnaires are distributed to a

panel of decision makers, who submit initial responses to a decision

coordinator. The coordinator summarizes the solutions and sends

the summary back to the panel members, along with a follow-up

questionnaire. Panel members again send in their responses, and

the process is repeated until a consensus is reached and a clear

decision emerges.

What is involved in the decision-making process?

What are the alternative decision-making

models?

What are key decision-making traps and issues?

What can be done to stimulate creativity in

decision making?

Decision-making

The process of choosing a course of action

for dealing with a problem or opportunity.

*In our personal lives, at work, within teams, and in management in

general, a continuing stream of information, data, problems, and

opportunities fuel decision making.

Steps in Decision Making

 Recognize and define the problem

 Identify and analyze alternative courses of action.

 Choose a preferred course of action

 Implement the preferred course of action

 Lack-of-participation error – occurs when important

people are excluded from the decision-making process.

 Evaluate the results and follow-up as necessary.

*Rational decision model

Define Problem

Caution: Not too broad or

narrow

Caution: focus on

problem, not symptom

Caution: ID the right problem

Analyze Alter-

natives

Determine exact

information needed

ID effect on stakeholders

Make a Choice

Consider time, cost,

impact, and ethics

Who makes the decision?

(team or leader)

Take Action

Ensure that all affected parties have have input

Necessary to secure ‗buy in‘ from all

Evaluate Results

Have desired outcomes

been attained?

Has team performance

been effective?

9-5

Ethics

 The philosophical study of morality or standards regarding

good character and conduct.

Moral problem

 One that poses major ethical consequences for the decision

maker or for others.

*When we apply ethical reasoning to decisions made by individuals and

teams in organizations, the focus is

on moral problems and dilemmas that are associated with the decision-

making process.

It is possible to address a personal, management, or business problem and

not properly consider any moral problems

that might be associated with it. A preferred approach is to carefully

examine the consequences of each alternative for all decision

stakeholders, and make choices that minimize negative impact and

maximize respect for everyone‘s rights.

9-6

Moral dilemma

Decision maker faces two or more ethically

uncomfortable alternatives.

Either alternative is potentially beneficial

and harmful.

*Because moral dilemmas can be difficult to resolve, ethical reasoning

helps ensure that the decisions will be made with rigor and thoughtful

consideration. Indeed, a willingness to pause to examine the ethics of

a proposed decision may well result in a better decision, preservation

of respect and reputation for one‘s self and the organization, and

prevention of costly litigation and even jail.

*The figure links the steps in the decision-making process with corresponding issues of ethical

reasoning. The figure suggests, we are advocating that an ethical reasoning approach be

followed when decisions are made and that this approach be linked with each step in the

decision-making process. In other words, decision making is incomplete without ethical analysis.

• Carefully review for ethical dilemmas Define problem

• Consider implications for stakeholders, common good

Analyze Alternatives

• Choose best ‘ends’ and right ‘means‘ Make a Choice

•Utility, rights, justice, caring; transparency, public scrutiny Double check

• Assure consistency of intended and taken actions

Take Action

•Utility, rights, justice, caring; transparency, public scrutiny Double check

• Check actual ends and means vs. intended ends and means

Evaluate Results

•Utility, rights, justice, caring; transparency, public scrutiny Double check

e t

h i

c s

9-8

Ethical double checks

Criteria

 Utility – all stakeholders satisfied?

 Rights – are all rights and duties respected?

 Justice – is it consistent with cannons of justice?

 Caring – is it consistent with responsibility to care?

*The ethical double checks is a way of testing to make sure our decisions at

least meet personal moral standards. The recommended ethics double-

checks are accomplished by asking and answering two sets of

questions—criteria questions and spotlight questions.

Ethical Double Checks

 Spotlight Questions

o How would I feel if my family found out about this decision?

o How would I feel if the decision was published?

o What would the person you know or know of who has the strongest

character do in this situation?

*Spotlight questions basically expose a decision to public scrutiny and forces us

to consider it in the context of full transparency. They are especially powerful

when a person comes from a morally scrupulous family background or

social structure and prospects for shame would be very upsetting.

Programmed decisions

 Made as standardized responses to recurring situations and routine problems.

Nonprogrammed decisions

 Specifically crafted or tailored to fit a unique situation.

 Crisis decision – unexpected problem threatens major harm and disaster if

not resolved quickly and appropriately.

*Programmed decisions implement alternatives that are known to be appropriate for

situations that occur somewhat frequently. Examples might include teams that

review compensation or human resource policies for equity and justice,

or those that manage recurring projects.

Higher-level management teams generally spend a greater proportion of their

decision-making time on nonroutine problems, but teams at all levels face them

as well. An example is a marketing team that 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.

9-11

Decisions are made in the context of three

general environments.

Certainty

Risk

Uncertainty

A decision environment is certain

When information is sufficient to predict the

results of each alternative in advance of

implementation.

*Certainty is an ideal condition for managerial

problem solving and decision making. The

challenge is simply to locate the alternative that offers the best or ideal solution.

A decision environment is risky

When decision makers lack complete

certainty regarding the outcomes of various

courses of action, but they are aware of the

probabilities associated with their

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.

9-14

A decision environment is uncertain

 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 hunches.

Risk Management

Involves anticipating risks and factoring

them into decision making.

*The recent financial crisis has shown once again the fact that

many decisions are made in risk and uncertain environments. It has

also prompted renewed interest in risk management, something

often associated with insurance and finance. We use the term in

general management as well, focusing on anticipating risk in

situations and factoring risk alternatives into the decision-making

process.

*The classical decision model views people acting in a world of complete certainty, whereas

the behavioral decision model accepts the notion of bounded rationality and suggests that

people act only in terms of what they perceive about a given situation.

9-17

Classical decision model assumes a manager:

 Acts rationally and in a fully informed manner.

 Faces a clearly defined problem.

 Knows all possible action alternatives and their consequences.

 Chooses the optimum solution that give the

absolute best solution to the problem.

*This classical decision model fits the five-step decision-making

process described earlier. It is an ideal situation of complete

information where the decision maker moves through the steps

one by one in a logical fashion. And it nicely lends itself to

various forms of quantitative decision analysis as well as

tocomputer-based applications.

Behavior decision model

 Suggests that people act only in terms of their

perceptions, which are frequently imperfect.

Satisficing decisions

 Decision makers choose the first alternative that

appears to give an acceptable or satisfactory

resolution of the problem. *Behavioral scientists recognize that the human mind is a wonderful creation, capable

of infinite achievements. But they also recognize that human beings have cognitive

limitations—literally limits on what we are able to know at any point in time—that

restrict our information-processing capabilities.

The result is that information deficiencies and overloads compromise the ability of

decision makers to achieve complete certainty and otherwise operate according

to the classical model. They end up acting with bounded rationality in which things

are interpreted and made sense of as perceptions and only within the context of

the situation. They engage in decision making ―within the box‖ of a simplified view

of a more complex reality.

9-19

 Systematic

› Problem approach

utilizing a rational,

analytic thinking.

 Intuitive

› Problem approach that is flexible and spontaneous.

› A key element of decision-making under risky and uncertainty conditions.

Teams engage in two

cognitive processes:

Judgmental heuristics

Simplifying strategies or shortcuts used to

make decisions.

Make it easier to deal with uncertainty and

limited information common to problem situations.

*Judgment, or the use of one‘s intellect, is important in all aspects

of decision making. When we question the ethics of a decision, for

example, we are questioning the judgment of the person making it.

Research shows that people are prone to mistakes using biases that

often interfere with the quality of decision making.

9-22

 Availability

heuristic

› Involves

assessing a

current event

based on past

occurrences

that are easily

available in

one’s memory.

 Representativeness

heuristic

› Involves assessing

the likelihood that

an event will occur

based on its

similarity to one’s

stereotypes of

similar occurrences

13-

Availability heuristic: An example is the product development specialist who

decides not to launch a new product because of her recent failure with another

product offering. In this case, the existence of a past product failure has

negatively, and perhaps inappropriately, biased her judgment regarding how

best to handle the new product.

Representativeness heuristic: An example is the team leader who selects a

new member, not because of any special qualities of the person, but only

because the individual comes from a department known to have produced

high performers in the past. In this case, the individual’s current place of

employment—not his or her job qualifications—is the basis for the selection

decision.

Anchoring and adjustment heuristic

Involves assessing an event by taking an

initial value from historical precedent or

an outside source and then incrementally

adjusting this value to make a current

assessment. *An example is the executive who makes salary increase

recommendations for key personnel by simply adjusting their

current base salaries by a percentage amount. In this case, the

existing base salary becomes an ―anchor‖ that drives subsequent

salary increases. In some situations this anchor may be

inappropriate, such as in the case of an individual whose market

value has become substantially higher than is reflected by the base

salary plus increment approach.

Decision Bias

 Confirmation error – only seeking cues in a situation

that support a preexisting opinion.

 Hindsight error– overestimate the degree to which

an event that has already taken place could have

been predicted .

 Framing error - tendency to evaluate and resolve a

problem in the context in which it is perceived –

either positive or negative.

In choosing problems to address, try the following

checklist:

 What really matters?

 Might the problem resolve itself?

 Is this my or our problem?

 Will time spent make a difference?

*Not only do decision makers have to be on guard against errors caused by

heuristics and biases, but they also have to manage the decision-making

process itself by making the right decisions in the right way at the right. One

of the first issues is whether to actually address a decision situation. Most

people are too busy and have too many valuable things to do with their

time to personally make decisions on every problem or opportunity that

comes their way.

The effective manager and team leader knows when to delegate decisions to

others, how to set priorities, and when to abstain from acting altogether.

When faced with the dilemma of whether or not to deal with a specific

problem, asking and answering the four questions can sometimes help.

9-27

Authority decisions

Manager or team leader uses information

that he or she possesses and decides what

to do without involving others.

Consultative decisions

Manager or team leader solicits input from

other people and then, based on this

information, the decision maker arrives at a

final choice.

Team decisions

Group members work together to make the

final choice.

*True group decisions can be made by both

consulting with others and allowing them to help make the final choice.

Decision tree developed for managers by Vroom, Yetton, and Jago. It

provides a framework that managers can refer to.

Authority decisions: Variant 1  manager solves the problem or makes the

decision alone, using information available at that time.

Variant 2  manager obtains the necessary information from team members

then decides on the problem‘s solution. The team members provide the

necessary information from team members and then decides on the problem‘s

solution. Team members provide the necessary information but do not

generate or evaluate alternatives.

Consultative decisions: Variant 1  manager shares the problem with team

members individually, getting their ideas and suggestions without brining them

all together. The manager then makes the final decision.

Variant 2  manager shares the problem with team members, collectively

obtaining their ideas and suggestions. The manager then makes a decisions.

Team decisions: Classified as ―G‖, (team or consensus decision) – manager

shares the problem with team members as a total group and engages them in

consensus seeking to arrive at a final decision.

Escalating commitment

 Continuation and renewed effort on a previously chosen course

of action, even though it is not working.

 Avoid by:

 Setting limits on your involvement and commitment.

 Making your own decisions.

 Determining reasons for continuing a course of action.

 Considering costs of a course of action.

*Escalating commitments are a form of decision entrapment that leads people

to do things that the facts of a situation do not justify. We should be

proactive in spotting ―failures‖ and more open to reversing decisions or

dropping plans that do not appear to be working. But again, this is easier

said than done.

The tendency to escalate commitments often outweighs the willingness to

disengage from them. Decision makers may rationalize negative feedback

as a temporary condition, protect their egos by not admitting that the

original decision was a mistake, or characterize any negative results as a

―learning experience‖ that can be overcome with added future effort.

9-33

Creativity

Involves the generation of a novel idea or

unique approach to solving performance

problems or exploiting performance

opportunities.

*In a dynamic environment full of novel and challenging

problems as well as vague but intriguing opportunities, creativity in crafting decisions often determines how well

people, teams, and organizations do in response to complex

challenges.

Personal creativity drivers

Task expertise

Task motivation

Creativity skill set

Team creativity drivers

Decision techniques

Creative membership

External support

*Some of the other techniques used when teams are trying to become more

creative in decision making include:

• Associative play—making up and telling stories, engaging in art projects,

and

building toy models that come to mind when dealing with a problem.

• Cross pollination—switching members among teams to gain insights from

diverse interests, backgrounds, and experiences when working on problems.

• Analogies and metaphors—using analogies and metaphors to describe a

problem and open pathways to creative thinking.

9-37

An interesting site with simulations and

training on creative techniques and

ways to enhance your own individual

creativity.

Brainstorming.co.uk

http://www.brainstorming.co.uk/tutorials/creativethinkingcontents.html

What is the nature of conflict in

organizations?

How can conflict be managed?

What is the nature of negotiation in

organizations?

What are alternative strategies for

negotiation?

Conflicts occur whenever disagreements exist in a social setting or when emotional antagonisms create friction between individuals or groups.

 Substantive

 A fundamental disagreement over ends or goals to be

pursued, and the means for their

 accomplishment.

 Emotional

 Interpersonal difficulties that arise over feelings of anger,

mistrust, dislike, fear, resentment, and the like.

*Conflicts in teams, at work, and in our personal lives occur in at

least two basic forms—substantive and emotional. Both types

are common, ever present, and challenging.

"If I had a formula for bypassing trouble, I would not pass

it round. Trouble creates a capacity to handle it.

I don't embrace trouble; that's as bad as treating it as an

enemy.

…But I do say meet it as a friend, for you'll see a lot of it and

had better be on speaking terms with it."

—Oliver Wendell Holmes

Levels of Conflict in Organizations

Interpersonal

Can be caused by

rivalries; personality differences

Intrapersonal

Pressure from incompatible

(internal) goals or

expectations

Intergroup

Causes are substantive

(competition for resources) or emotional

Inter- organizational

Competition for market

10-5

Functional conflict

Results in constructive, positive benefits to

individuals, the team, or the organization.

Dysfunctional conflict

Destructive to an individual or team.

*There is no doubt that conflict in organizations can be upsetting

both to the individuals directly involved and to others affected by

its occurrence. It can be quite uncomfortable, for example, to work

in an environment in which two co-workers are continually hostile

toward each other or two teams are always battling for top

management attention.

*The two faces of conflict: functional conflict and dysfunctional conflict. 10-8

Potential benefits of functional conflict

Brings important problems to the surface so

they can be addressed.

Causes decisions to be carefully considered.

Increases amount of information used for

decision making.

Provides opportunities for creativity.

*An effective manager or team leader is able to stimulate constructive

conflict in situations in which satisfaction with the status quo inhibits

needed change and development.

10-9

Potential outcomes of dysfunctional conflict

 Diverts energies.

 Hurts group cohesion;

 Promotes interpersonal hostilities.

 Creates a negative environment.

 Can decrease performance and job satisfaction.

 Can contribute to absenteeism and job turnover.

*Managers and team leaders should be alert to destructive

conflicts and be quick to take action to prevent or eliminate

them—or at least minimize their disadvantages.

10-

Culture and conflict

 Culture and cultural differences must be considered for their

conflict potential.

 Sensitivity and respect when working across cultures can often

tap the performance advantages of both diversity and

constructive conflict.

*Among the dimensions of national culture, for example, substantial

differences may be noted in time orientation. When persons from short-

term cultures such as the United States try to work with persons from long-

term cultures such as Japan, the likelihood of conflict developing is high.

The same holds true when individualists work with collectivists and when

persons from high-power-distance cultures work with those from low-power

distance cultures.

People who are not able or willing to recognize and respect cultural

differences can contribute to the emergence of dysfunctional situations in

multicultural teams.

10-11

Conflict resolution

Situation in which the underlying reasons for

a given destructive conflict are eliminated.

*When conflicts go unresolved the stage is often set for future conflicts

of the same or related sort. Rather than trying to deny the existence

of conflict or settle on a temporary resolution, it is always best to

deal with important conflicts in such ways that they are completely

resolved. This requires a good understanding of the stages of

conflict, the potential causes of conflict, and indirect and direct

approaches to conflict management.

Conflict antecedents

Establish the conditions from which

conflicts are likely to emerge.

Perceived conflict

 When the antecedents become the basis for

substantive or emotional differences between

people or groups.

Felt conflict

 Conflict experienced as tension that motivates

the person to take action to reduce feelings of

discomfort.

Manifest conflict

 Expressed openly in behavior.

Conflict aftermath

 Removing or correcting antecedents.

Conflict suppression

 No change in antecedent conditions occurs even

though the manifest conflict behaviors may be

temporarily controlled.

*Conflict suppression is a superficial and often temporary state that

leaves the situation open to future conflicts over similar issues.

Although it is perhaps useful in the short run, only true conflict

resolution establishes conditions that eliminate an existing conflict

and reduce the potential for it to recur in the future.

10-16

Causes of conflict

 Vertical conflict

 Occurs between levels and commonly involves supervisor-subordinate

and team-leader disagreements over resources, goals, deadlines, or

performance results.

 Horizontal conflict

 Occurs between persons or group working at the same hierarchical

level.

 Line-staff conflict

 Involves disagreements between line and staff personnel over who has

authority and control over decisions on matters such as budgets,

technology, and human resource practices.

*The very nature of organizations as hierarchical systems provides a basis

for conflict as individuals and teams work within the authority structure.

Role ambiguity conflicts

 Occur when the communication of task expectations is

unclear or upsetting in some way.

Task and workflow interdependencies

 Occur when people or units are required to cooperate to

meet challenging goals.

Domain ambiguities

 Occur when individuals or teams lack adequate task

direction or goals and misunderstand such things as

customer jurisdiction or scope authority.

*Conflict is likely when individuals or teams are placed in ambiguous

situations where it is difficult for them to understand just who is

responsible for what, and why.

10-18

Resource scarcity

When resources are scarce, working

relationships are likely to suffer.

Power or value asymmetries

Occur when interdependent people or

teams differ substantially from one another in

status and influence or in values.

10-

*Conflict resulting from asymmetry can occur when a low-power person needs

the help of a high-power person who does not respond, when people who

hold dramatically different values are forced to work together on a task, or

when a high-status person is required to interact with and perhaps be

dependent on someone of lower status.

Resource scarcity is especially true in organizations that are experiencing

downsizing or financial difficulties. As cutbacks occur, various individuals or

teams try to position themselves to gain or retain maximum shares of the

shrinking resource pool. They are also likely to resist resource redistribution or

to employ countermeasures to defend their resources from redistribution to

others.

Conflict resulting from asymmetry is prone to occur, for example, when a low-

power person needs the help of a high-power person who does not

respond, when people who hold dramatically different values are forced to

work together on a task, or when a high-status person is required to interact

with and perhaps be dependent on someone of lower status.

15-

Indirect strategies:

Managed interdependence

 Decoupling, or taking action to eliminate or reduce the

required contact between conflicting parties.

 Buffering is another approach that can be used when the

inputs of one team are the outputs of another.

*The conflicting units can then be separated from one another, and each

can be provided separate access to valued

resources. Although decoupling may reduce conflict, it may also result in

duplication and a poor allocation of valued resources.

The classic buffering technique is to build an inventory, or buffer, between

the teams so that any output slowdown or excess is absorbed by the

inventory and does not directly pressure the target group. Although it

reduces conflict, this technique is increasingly out of favor because it

increases inventory costs. This consequence is contrary to the elements of

just-in time delivery, which is now valued in operations management.

10-21

Appeal to common goals

Focusing the attention of potentially

conflicting individuals and teams on one

mutually desirable conclusion.

*By elevating the potential dispute to a

common framework wherein the parties

recognize their mutual interdependence in

achieving common goals, petty disputes can be put in perspective.

Upward referral

 Problems are moved from the level of conflicting

individual or teams and referred up the hierarchy for

more senior managers to address.

Altering scripts and myths

 Superficial management managed by scripts, or

behavioral routines, that become part of the

organization’s culture.

*Managers removed from day-today affairs may fail to diagnose the

real causes of a conflict, and conflict resolution may be superficial.

By sticking with the script, expressing only low-key disagreement, and

then quickly acting as if everything has been resolved, for instance,

the managers publicly act as if problems are being addressed. Such

scripts can be altered to allow and encourage active confrontation

of issues and disagreements.

Lose-lose conflict

Nobody gets what he or she wants;

underlying reasons for remain unresolved.

Strategies include:

 Avoidance.

 Accommodation- playing down differences.

 Compromise- giving up something valued.

*The underlying reasons for the conflict remain unaffected, and

a similar conflict is likely to occur in the future. Lose–lose

outcomes are likely when the conflict management strategies

involve little or no assertiveness.

10-25

Win-Lose conflict

One party achieves its desires at the expense

and to the exclusion of the other party’s desires.

 Competition - achieve domination through force,

superior skill, or domination.

 Authoritative command – formal authority used to end

conflict.

*Win-lose conflict is a high-assertiveness and low- cooperativeness situation.

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. As a result,

future conflicts over the same issues are likely to occur.

Win-Win conflict

 Achieved by a blend of both high cooperativeness and high

assertiveness.

 Collaboration or problem solving

o involves recognition by all conflicting parties that something is

wrong and need attention. It Stresses gathering and evaluating

information in solving disputes and making choices.

*Win–win outcomes eliminate the reasons for continuing or resurrecting the conflict

because nothing has been avoided or suppressed. All relevant issues are raised and

openly discussed.

The ultimate test for collaboration and a win–win solution is whether or not the conflicting

parties see that the solution to the conflict (1) achieves each party’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. When success in

each of these areas is achieved, the likelihood of true conflict resolution is greatly

increased.

Collaboration and problem solving may not be feasible if the organization’s dominant

culture rewards competition too highly and fails to place a value on cooperation. 10-27

Think of a conflict you had with a co-

worker…

Was it handled directly or indirectly?

How was it resolved? Think about the

technique that was used.

Has the conflict re-appeared?

Negotiation

The process of making joint decisions when the

parties involved have different preferences.

*Negotiation has special significance in teams and work settings,

where disagreements are likely to arise over such diverse matters

as wage rates, task objectives, performance evaluations, job

assignments, work schedules, work locations, and more.

Substance goals

 Outcomes that relate to ―content‖ issues under

negotiation.

Relationship goals

 Outcomes that relate to how well people involved in

the negotiation and any constituencies they may

represent are able to work with one another once

the process is concluded.

Effective negotiation factors:

 Quality – negotiation results offer a ―quality‖

agreement that is wise and satisfactory to all sides.

 Harmony – negotiation is ―harmonious‖ and fosters

rather than inhibits good interpersonal relations.

 Efficiency - negotiation is ―efficient‖ and no more

time consuming or costly than absolutely necessary.

*Effective negotiation occurs when substance

issues are resolved and working relationships are

maintained or even improved.

Ethical aspects of negotiation

The motivation to behave ethically in

negotiations is put to the test by each party’s

desire to ―get more‖ than the other from the

negotiation and/or by a belief that there are

insufficient resources to satisfy all parties.

*Managers and others involved in negotiations should strive for

high ethical standards of conduct, but this goal can get sidetracked by an overemphasis on self interests.

*Managers and team leaders should be prepared to participate in at least four major

action settings for negotiations.

• Manager negotiates directly with one other person.

Two-party negotiation

• Manager is part of a team whose members are negotiating.

Group negotiation

• Manager is part of a group that is negotiating with another group.

Intergroup negotiation

•Each party represents a broader

constituency.

Constituency negotiation

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 Distributive

negotiation

› Focuses on positions

staked out or

declared by the

conflicting parties.

 Integrative

negotiation

› Sometimes called

principled

negotiation.

› Focuses on the

―merits‖ of the

issues.

*Managers and workers alike are constantly negotiating over not only just pay and

raises, but also such things as work goals or preferences and access to any variety

of scarce resources. These resources may be money, time, people, facilities,

equipment, and so on. In all such cases the general approach to, or strategy for, the

negotiation can have a major influence on its outcomes.

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Distributive negotiation  ―Who is going to get this resource?‖

 ―Hard‖ distributive negotiation (win/lose)

 Each party holds out to get its own way.

 ―Soft‖ distributive negotiation (lose/lose)

 One party tries to find the ways to meet the other’s desires.

*The hard approach may lead to a win–lose outcome in which one party

dominates and gains. Or it can lead to an impasse.

A soft approach leads to accommodation, in which one party gives in to

the other, or to compromise, in which each

party gives up something of value in order to reach agreement. In either

case at least some latent dissatisfaction is likely to develop. Even when

the soft approach results in compromise (e.g., splitting the difference

between the initial positions equally), dissatisfaction may exist since

each party is still deprived of what it originally wanted.

Bargaining zone

Range between one party’s minimum

reservation point and the other party’s

maximum reservation point.

*Classic two-party bargaining always involves the delicate

tasks of first discovering the respective reservation points

(one’s own and the other’s) and then working toward an

agreement that lies somewhere within the resulting

bargaining zone and is acceptable to each party.

Integrative negotiation

―How can the resource best be used?‖

Less confrontational than distributive negotiation.

Allows a broader range of alternative solutions

to be considered.

A win-win solution is possible. *At one extreme, integrative negotiation may involve selective

avoidance, in which both parties realize that there are more important

things on which to focus their time and attention The time, energy,

and effort needed to negotiate may not be worth the rewards.

Compromise can also play a role in the integrative approach, but it must

have an enduring basis. This is most likely to occur when the

compromise involves each party giving up something of perceived

lesser personal value to gain something of greater value.

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Foundations of Integrative negotiation

1. Attitudinal

 Willingness to trust, share information, and ask

concrete questions.

2. Behavioral

 Separate the people from the problem.

 Don’t allow emotional considerations to affect the

negotiations.

 Focus on common interests rather than solutions.

 Avoid premature judgments.

 Keep the identification of alternatives separate from their

evaluation.

 Judge possible agreements by set criteria or standards.

*During a negotiation all behavior is important for both its actual

impact and the impressions it leaves behind.

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3. Informational

 Each party must know what he or she will do if an

agreement can’t be reached.

 Each party must identify and understand their

personal interest in the situation.

 Each party must know what is really important to them

in the case at hand, and they must come to

understand the relative importance of the other

party’s interests.

*The information foundations of integrative agreements are

substantial. They involve each party becoming familiar with the

BATNA, or ―best alternative to a negotiated agreement.‖

•The pie can be expanded

―Fixed Pie” myth

•Taking a stand forces sticking to it.

•self-discipline is needed. Escalating

Commitment

•Always try to understand the merits of the other party’s position as well.

Overconfidence

•Seek to be understood, but also, to understand.

Too much telling and

not enough active listening

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Third party negotiations

 A neutral third party works with persons involved in a

negotiation to help them resolve impasses and settle

disputes.

Arbitration

 A neutral third party acts as a ―judge‖ and has the

power to issue a decision that is binding on all parties.

*Arbitration ruling takes place after the arbitrator listens to

the positions advanced by the parties involved in a dispute.

Mediation

A neutral third party tries to engage the

parties in a negotiated solution through

persuasion and rational argument.

*Mediation is a common approach in labor–management

negotiations, where trained mediators acceptable to both

sides are called in to help resolve bargaining impasses. Unlike

an arbitrator, the mediator is not able to dictate a solution.