Organizational Behaviour Final

they have directly observed that __ __ does make a difference to their career success. __ __ is important because it helps to fulfill the need to understand and predict the world in which we live. ____ ___ theories help us to question and rebuild our personal theories that have developed through observation and experience. Some experts suggest that ____ ____ knowledge helps us to make sense of the world, not just what goes on inside organizations.

the greatest value of ____ ____ knowledge is that it helps people to get things done in organizations. Everyone in the organization needs to work with other people, and ___ ___ provides the knowledge and tools for working with and through others. Building a high-performance team, motivating co-workers, handling workplace conflicts, influencing your boss, and changing employee behaviour are just a few of the areas of knowledge and skills offered in organizational behaviour. No matter what career path you choose, you'll find that ___ ___ concepts play an important role in performing your job and working more effectively within organizations.

It is important for anyone who works in organizations, not just for managers. all employees are increasingly expected to manage themselves and work effectively with each other in the workplace.

it leverages human capital, employee commitment, creativity, visionary leadership, and corporate social responsibility. Numerous studies have reported that leadership, teamwork, employee engagement, and other ____ ___ ideas and practices discussed in this book tend to improve the organization's survival and success.

specific ___ ___ characteristics (employee attitudes, work-life balance, performance-based rewards, leadership, employee training and development, etc.) are important “positive screens” for selecting companies with the best long-term share appreciation.

the study of what people think, feel, and do in and around organizations. It looks at employee behaviour, decisions, perceptions, and emotional responses. It examines how individuals and teams in organizations relate to each other and to their counterparts in other organizations. OB also encompasses the study of how organizations interact with their external environments, particularly in the context of employee behaviour and decisions.

views organizations as complex organizations that "live" within an external environment. They depend on the external environment for resources, then use organizational subsystems to transform those resources into outputs, which are returned to the environment. Organizations receive feedback from the external environment to maintain a good "fit" with that environment. Fit occurs by adapting to the environment, managing the environment, or moving to another environment.

a system that depends on external environment for resources, which affect that environment through their output and consists of subsystems that transforms input into output.

Many companies have adopted the ______ _______ ____ __________: they try to support or "earn positive returns" in the economic, social, and environmental spheres of sustainability. Firms that adopt the ____ aim to survive and be profitable in the marketplace (economic), but they also intend to maintain or improve conditions for society (social) as well as the physical environment. Companies are particularly keen on becoming greener, that is, minimizing any negative effect they have on the physical environment.

OB knowledge should include three levels of analysis: individual, team, and organization.

Individual Level: includes the characteristics and behaviours of employees as well as the thought processes that are attributed to them, such as motivation, perceptions, personalities, attitudes, and values.

Team Level: the way people interact including team dynamics, team decisions, power, organizational politics, conflict and leadership.

Organizational Level: how people structure their working relationships and on how organizations interact with their environments.

Employees use information technology to perform their jobs away from the traditional physical workplace. The most common form of virtual work involves working at home rather than commuting to the office (often called telecommuting or teleworking, although experts use these terms less often now). Virtual work also includes employees connected to the office while travelling or at clients' offices. More than half of Canadian workers say they want to work at home some of the time, whereas less than 10 percent of Canadian employees actually do so. Several Canadian companies have developed opportunities for employees to work at home in response to this growing demand.

Reduces the time and stress of commuting to work and makes it easier to fulfill family obligations, such as temporarily leaving the home office to pick the kids up from school.

however, teleworking may increase stress for those who crave social interaction and who lack the space and privacy necessary to work at home.

the forces within a person that affect his or her direction, intensity, and persistence of voluntary behaviour.

Elements:

*

Direction refers to the path along which people engage their effort. People have choices about where they put their effort; they have a sense of what they are trying to achieve and at what level of quality, quantity, and so forth. In other words, this is goal-directed, not random

*

The second element called intensity, is the amount of effort allocated to the goal. Intensity is all about how much people push themselves to complete a task.

*

involves varying levels of persistence, that is, continuing the effort for a certain amount of time. Employees sustain their effort until they reach their goal or give up beforehand.

* a force that exists within individuals; it is not their actual behaviour.

Conscientiousness: people who are careful, industrious, reliable, goal-focused, achievement striving, dependable, organized, thorough, persistent, and self disciplined. Low - careless, less thorough, more disorganized, and irresponsible.

Agreeableness: includes the traits of being courteous, good-natured, empathic, and caring. Some scholars prefer the label "friendly compliance" for this dimension with its opposite being "hostile noncompliance".

Neuroticism: characterizes people with high levels of anxiety, hostility, depression, and self-consciousness.

Openness to Experience: the most complex and has the least agreement among scholars. It generally refers to the extent to which people are imaginative, creative, curious, and aesthetically sensitive. Those who score low on this dimension tend to be more resistant to change, less open to new ideas, and more conventional and fixed in their ways.

Extroversion: characterizes people who are outgoing, talkative, sociable, and assertive. The opposite is introversion which characterizes those who are quiet, shy, and cautious. Extroverts get their energy from the outer world wheras introverts get their energy from the internal world, such as personal reflection on concepts and ideas. Introverts do not necessarily lack social skills. Rather they are more inclined to direct their interests to ideas than to social events. Introverts feel quite comfortable being alone, wheras extroverts do not.

This model clusters the 57 specific values into 10 broad values categories: universalism, benevolence, tradition, conformity, security, power, achievement, hedonism, stimulation, and self-direction. For example, conformity includes four specific values: politeness, honouring parents, self-discipline, and obedience.These 10 broad values categories are further clustered into four quadrants. One quadrant, called openness to change, refers to the extent to which a person is motivated to pursue innovative ways. This quadrant includes the value categories of self-direction (creativity, independent thought), stimulation (excitement and challenge), and hedonism (pursuit of pleasure, enjoyment, gratification of desires). The opposing quadrant is conservation, which is the extent to which a person is motivated to preserve the status quo. The conservation quadrant includes the value categories of conformity (adherence to social norms and expectations), security (safety and stability), and tradition (moderation and preservation of the status quo).The third quadrant in Schwartz's circumplex model, called self-enhancement, refers to how much a person is motivated by self-interest. This quadrant includes the value categories of achievement (pursuit of personal success), power (dominance over others), and hedonism (a values category shared with openness to change). The opposite of self-enhancement is self-transcendence, which refers to motivation to promote the welfare of others and nature. Self-transcendence includes the value categories of benevolence (concern for others in one's life) and universalism (concern for the welfare of all people and nature).

A model of mutual understanding that encourages disclosure and feedback to increase our own open area and reduce the blind, hidden, and unknown areas.

Open area: info about you that is known to both you and others.

Blind area: info that is known to others but not to you.

Hidden area: Info known to you but unknown to others.

Unknown area: includes your values, beliefs, and experiences that aren't known to you or others.

Main objective is to increase the size of your open areas so that both you and your colleagues are aware of your perceptual limitations. Open area also increases feedback from others about your behaviour. This info helps you to reduce your blind area because others often see things in you that you do not see. Finally, the combination of disclosure and feedback occasionally produces revelations about info in the unknown area.

pg 79

Environmental Stimuli are received through our senses (hearing, feeling, seeing, smelling, and tasting). Most of the stimuli that bombard our senses are screened out, the rest are organized and interpreted. Selective attention and the emotional marker response. Process of attending to some info recieved by our senses and ignoring other info is called selective attention. Perceptual organization and interpretation. Selective attention is influenced by the characteristics of the person or object being percieved, particularly size, intensity, motion, repetition, and novelty. Selective attention is also influenced by the context in which the target is percieved such as when an accent sounds out of place. Characteristics of the perciever also influence selective attention, usually without the perceiver's awareness. When info is recieved through the sense, our brain quickly and nonconsciously assesses whether it is relevant or irrelevant to us and then attaches emotional markers (worry, happiness, etc) to that info. These emotional markers help us to store the info in memory; they also reproduce the same emotions when we are subsequently thinking about this information. Attitudes and Behaviour. One perceptual bias in selective attention is the effect of our assumptions and conscious anticipation of future events.

pg. 69

which says that people define themselves by the groups to which they belong or have an emotional attachment.

which states that, under certain conditions, people who interact with each other will be less prejudiced or perceptually biased against each other.

This represents your conscious positive or negative evaluations of the attitude object. This is calculated from your beliefs about something and if you believe something has negative consequences, you will form negative _____ toward this thing in general or in specifics. These ______ in turn motivate your behavioural intentions and which actions you choose depends on your past experience, personality, and social norms of appropriate behaviour.

Emotions and attitudes usually lead to behaviour and emotions play a central role in forming and changing employee attitude.

pg. 95

Three stages: alarm reaction, resistance, exhaustion.

Stage 1: Alarm reaction - occurs when a threat or challenge activates the physiological stress responses. The individual's energy level and coping effectiveness decrease in response to the initial shock.

Stage 2: Resistance - activates various biochemical, psychological, and behavioural mechanisms that give the individual more energy and engage in coping mechanisms to overcome ore remove the source of stress. To focus energy on the source of the stress, the body reduces resources to the immune system during this stage. This explains why people are more likely to catch a cold or some other illness when they experience prolonged stress. People have a limited resistance capacity, and if the source of stress persists, the individual will eventually move into the third stage, exhaustion.

Stage 3: Exhaustion - most of us are able to remove the source of stress or remove ourselves from that source before becoming exhausted. However, people who frequently reach exhaustion have increased risk of long term physiological or psychological damage.

pg. 109

Emotions and attitudes usually lead to behaviour and emotions play a central role in forming and changing employee attitude.

particular stress consequence that refers to the process of emotional exhaustion, cynicism, and reduced feelings of personal accomplishment. first stage, emotional exhaustion, is characterized by lack of energy, tiredness, and feeling that one's emotional resources are depleted. Followed by cynicism, an indifferent attitude toward work, emotional detachment from clients, and a tendency to strictly follow rules rather than adapt to others needs. Final stage of burnout (reduced personal accomplishment) entails feelings of diminished confidence in one's ability to perform the job well. Employees develop a sense of learned helplessness as they no longer believe their efforts make a difference.

pg 109

Also known as multisource feedback, this is a social form of feedback that has been widely used in organizations. As the name implies, multisource feedback is information about an employee's performance collected from a full circle of people, including subordinates, peers, supervisors, and customers. Tends to provide more complete and accurate information than feedback from a supervisor alone. It is particularly useful when the supervisor is unable to observe the employee's behaviour or performance throughout the year. Lower-level employees also feel a greater sense of fairness and open communication when they are able to provide upward feedback about their boss's performance. However, there are challenges: having several people review so many people can be expensive and time-consuming. With so many opinions, this process can produce ambiguous and conflicting feedback, so employees may require guidance to interpret the results. A third concern is that peers may provide inflated rather than accurate feedback to avoid conflicts during the forthcoming year. A final concern is that employees experience a stronger emotion when they recieve critical feedback from many people rather than just one person.

A motivation theory of needs arranged in a hierarchy whereby people are motivated to fulfill a higher need as a lower one becomes gratified.

Five basic needs: physiological (need for food, air, water, sheltar, etc), safety (need for security and stability), belongingness/love (need for interaction with and affection from others), esteem (need for self-esteem and social esteem/status), and self-actualization (need for self-fulfillment, realization of one's potential).

Identified the desire to know and the desire for aesthetic beauty as two innate drives that do not fit within the hierarchy. We are motivated by several needs simultaneously, but the strongest source is the lowest unsatisfied need at the time. As the person satisfies a lower-level need, the next higher need in the hierarchy becomes the primary motivator and remains so even if never satisfied.

Personalized Power: individuals who enjoy power for its own sake, use it to advance personal interests, and wear their power as a status symbol have a high need for this.

Socialized Power: desiring power as a means to help others. Leaders should have a high need for socialized rather than personalized power and should have a high degree of altruism and social responsibility and be concerned about the consequences of their actions on others.

E-to-P expectancy: the individual's perceived probability that his or her effort will result in a particular level of performance.

P-to-O expectancy: the perceived probability that a specific behaviour or performance level will lead to a particular outcome.

Outcome valances: the anticipated satisfaction or dissatisfaction that an individual feels toward an outcome.

E to P:

Select people with the required skills and knowledge, provide required training and clarify job requirements, provide sufficient time and resources, assign simpler or fewer tasks until employees can master them, provide examples of similar employees who have successfully performed the task, provide coaching to employees who lack self-confidence.

P to O:

Measure job performance accurately, clearly explain the outcomes that will result from successful performance, describe how the employee's rewards were based on past performance, provide examples of other employees whose good performance has resulted in higher rewards.

Outcome Valences:

Distribute rewards that employees value, individualize rewards, minimize the presence of countervalent outcomes.

pg. 133

Increase E-P: assure employees they have the necessary competencies, clear role perceptions, and the necessary resources to reach the desired level of performance. Match employees' competencies to job requirements and clearly communicate the tasks required for the job.

Increase P-O: measure employee performance accurately and distribute more valued rewards to those with higher job performance. Employees need to believe that higher performance results and higher rewards and see the connection between the two.

Increase Outcome Valences: individualize rewards, or where standard rewards are necessary, identify rewards that don't have negative outcome valence with some staff. Watch out for countervalent outcomes that may cancel any positive incomes.

The practice of systematically partitioning work into its smallest elements (job specialization) and standardizing tasks to achieve maximum efficiency.

strongest advocate was Frederick Winslow Taylor

Reward systems may have unintended, unexpected, and undesirable consequences/effects on employee behaviours.

??

pg 161

A job design model that relates the motivational properties of jobs to specific personal and organizational consequences of those properties. Identifies five core job dimensions that produce three psychological states. Employees who experience these psychological states tend to have higher levels of internal work motivation (motivation from the work itself), job satisfaction (particularly satisfaction with the work itself), and work effectiveness.

Core job characteristics lead to critical psychological states, which leads to outcomes.

Skill variety, task identity, and task significance lead to meaningfulness.

Autonomy leads to responsibility.

Feedback from the job leads to knowledge of results.

All of those lead to work motivation, growth satisfaction, general satisfaction, and work effectiveness.

There are individual differences of knowledge and skill, context satisfaction, and growth need strength between the core job characteristics and critical psychological states and the critical psychological states and the outcomes.

pg 164

the tendency to repeat an apparently bad decision or allocate more resources to a failing course of action.

Causes:

self-justification - decision makers want to appear rational and effective and will demonstrate the importance of a project by continuing to invest in it, whereas pulling the plug would indicate the project's failure and the decision maker's incompetence. especially evident when they are personally identified with the project, have staked their reputations to some extent on the project's success, and have low self esteem.

Prospect theory effect - natural tendency to experience stronger negative emotions when losing something of value than the positive emotions when gaining something of equal value. motivates us to avoid losses which typically occurs by taking the risk of investing more in that losing project. More painful to most people to stop a project because it is a certain loss.

Perceptual Blinders - decision makers do not see the problems soon enough. They nonconsciously screen out or explain away negative information to protect self-esteem. even when they can see something is wrong, the information is sufficiently ambiguous that it can be misinterpreted or justified.

Closing Costs - the financial, reputational, and other costs of terminating the failing project can also be a powerful incentive to continue investing in that project.

follow standard operating procedures; they have been resolved in the past so the optimal solution has already been identified or documented.

require all steps of the decision model because problems are new, complex, or ill-defined.

disciplined method for imagining possible futures. Involves thinking about what would happen if a significant environmental condition changed and what the organization should do to anticipate and react to such an outcome. useful for choosing the best solutions under possible scenarios long before they occur. Alternative courses of action are evaluated without the pressure and emotions that occur during real emergencies.

Redefine the problem: revisit old problems, ask others unfamiliar with the issue to explore the problem with you.

Associative play: storytelling and acting or morphological analysis - listing different dimensions of a system and the elements of each dimension and then looking at each combination

Cross Pollination: occurs when people from different areas of the organization exchange ideas or when new people are brought into an existing team. illustrates that creativity rarely happens alone.

bounded rationality: because people process limited and imperfect information and rarely select the best choice.

The rational choice paradigm also makes several assumptions about the human capacity to process information. It assumes that decision makers can process information about all alternatives and their consequences, whereas this is not possible in reality. Instead, people evaluate only a few alternatives and only some of the main outcomes of those alternatives.

A related problem is that decision makers typically evaluate alternatives sequentially rather than all at the same time. This sequential evaluation occurs partly because all alternatives are not usually available to the decision maker at the same time.25 Consequently, as a new alternative comes along, it is immediately compared to an implicit favourite—an alternative that the decision maker prefers and that is used as a comparison with other choices.

The rational choice paradigm assumes that organizational goals are clear and agreed-on. In fact, these conditions are necessary to identify “what ought to be” and, therefore, provide a standard against which each alternative is evaluated. Unfortunately, organizational goals are often ambiguous or in conflict with each other.

Although the implicit favourite comparison process seems to be hardwired in human decision making (i.e., we naturally compare things), it often undermines effective decision making because people distort information to favour their implicit favourite over the alternative choices. They tend to ignore problems with the implicit favourite and advantages of the alternative. Decision makers also overweight factors on which the implicit favourite is better and underweight areas in which the alternative is superior.

human beings have built-in decision heuristics that automatically distort either the probability of outcomes or the value of those outcomes. Three of the most widely studied heuristic biases are anchoring and adjustment, availability, and representativeness

Anchoring and Adjustment: we are influenced by an initial anchor point and do not sufficiently move away from that point as new information is provided.

Availability: the tendency to estimate the probability of something occurring by how easily we can recall those events. The problem is that how easily we recall something is due to more than just its frequency (probability).30 For instance, we easily remember emotional events (such as earthquakes and shark attacks), so we overestimate how often these emotional events occur. We also have an easier time recalling recent events.

Representativeness: we pay more attention to whether something resembles (is representative of) something else than on more precise statistics about its probability.

Rather than aiming for maximization, people engage in satisficing, they select an alternative that is satisfactory or good enough. People satisfice when they select the first alternative that exceeds a standard of acceptance for their needs and preferences. Partly occurs because alternatives present themselves over time, not all at once. Also, people lack the capacity and motivation to process the huge volume of info required to identify the best choice.

Satisficing is the main response to complex choices, but there is a more extreme response. When presented with a large number of choices, people often choose the least cognitively challenging alternative, they don't make any decision at all.

pg 189

groups of two or more people who interact and influence each other, are mutually accountable for achieving common goals associated with organizational objectives, and perceive themselves as a social entity within an organization. (created deliberately to serve an organizational purpose).

Task focused: clarifying the team's performance goals, increase the team's motivation to accomplish these goals, and establish a mechanism for systematic feedback on the team's goal performance.

Improve team problem-solving skills.

Clarify and reconstruct each member's perceptions of his or her role as well as the role expectations that a member has of other team members. Role definition also helps teams to develop shared mental models.

Most common type is aimed at improving relations among team members. Its objective is to help team members learn more about each other, build trust in each other and develop ways to manage conflict within the team.

A process that consists of formal activities intended to improve the development and functioning of a work team.

Begin with a sound diagnosis of the team's health and then choose team-building interventions that address weaknesses (needs to target specific problems). Make it an on-going process, continuous, not a one time shot in the arm. Also occurs on the job and organizations should encourage team members to reflect on their work experiences and to experiment with just-in-time learning for team development.

reduce the size of the team or measure each team member's performance. Help employees to find the task interesting or feel that their role to play is important. Support values of team membership and in working towards the team's objectives. (216)

the problem that occurs when people exert less effort and usually perform at a lower level when working in teams than when working along. tends to be more serious when the individual's performance is less likely to be noticed, such as when people work together in very large teams or when the team produces a single output. Less occurs when individual performance is likely to be noticed, which can be achieved by reducing the teams size.

Also depends on the employee's motivation to perform the work. less prevalent when the task is interesting because individuals are more motivated by the work itself to perform their duties.

norms regulate behaviour of team members

the informal rules and shared expectations that groups establish to regulate the behaviour of their members. Only apply to behaviour, not to private thoughts or feelings.

directly and indirectly reinforced; but team members often conform without direct reinforcement or punishment because they identify with the group and want to align their behaviour with the team's values.

develop because people need to anticipate or predict how others will react.

Evidence that the other person received and understood the transmitted message. May be a formal acknowledgement or indirect evidence from the reciever's subsequent actions. This segment also repeats the communication process. The _____ is encoded, transmitted, recieved, and decoded from the reciever to the sender of the original message.

Transmits the intended meaning.

Vital to all organizations, so much so that no company could exist without it. This is because organizations are groups of people who work interdependently toward some purpose. People only work interdependently when they can communicate with each other.

Plays a central role in organizational learning: it is the means through which knowledge enters and is distributed to employees.

Another function is decision making: it would be very difficult to make a decision without any info about the decision context, the alternatives available, the likely outcome of these decisions, or the extent to which the decision is achieving its objectives.

Another function is to change behaviour: we are trying to alter their beliefs and feeling and ultimately their behaviour.

Lastly, this supports employee well-being, it conveys knowledge that helps employees to better manage their work environment. The means through which their drives and needs are fulfilled: the drive to bond, to validate their self-worth, and to maintain their social identity.

the psychological, social, and structural barriers that distort and obscure the sender's intended message.

Changes due to internet:

- email becoming the main grapevine medium

- social networks are now global

- public blogs and forums extends gossip to everyone

Silent Authority: Influencing behaviour through legitimate power without explicitly referring to that power.

Assertiveness: Actively applying legitimate and coercive power by applying pressure or threats.

Information Control: Explicitly manipulating someone else's access to info for the purpose of changing their attitudes and behaviour.

Coalition formation: Forming a group that attempts to influence others by pooling the resources and power of its members.

Upward appeal: gaining support from one or more people with higher authority or expertise.

Persuasion: Using logical arguments, factual evidence, and emotional appeals to convince people of the value of a request.

Ingratiation/Impression Management: attempting to increase liking by, or perceived similarity to, some targeted person.

Exchange: promising benefits or resources in exchange for the target person's compliance.

Information is needed to collect certain amounts of data and to better help organizations learn more about what is going on in the organization. When information is collected, knowledge is gained and that knowledge can be used to better determine the correct path for an organization. Information that is passed through an organization is generally used to enlighten and educate to help improve the outlook of people who are within the organization. An open flow of information allows everyone within the organization to understand the way that things work.Knowledge is important for education and enlightenment. People must have a certain amount of knowledge of any one subject before they are able to be successful within an organization. This knowledge is only obtained by information which may have been garnered individually or may have been passed down throughout the organization. Knowing about a particular subject will allow every entity of an organization to be successful in that particular sector of the organizational patterns.

got from ask.com

Relates to Expert Power:

Prevention (prevent environmental changes from occurring), Forecasting (to predict environmental changes or variations), & Absorption (absorbing or neutralizing the impact of environmental shifts as they occur).

Sources of conflict (incompatible goals, differentiation, interdependence, scare resources, ambiguous rules, poor communication) to Conflict Perceptions and Emotions to Manifest Conflict (conflict style, decisions, overt behaviours) to Conflict Outcomes (Positive: better decisions, responsive organization, team cohesion. Negative: stress/low morale, turnover, politics, lower performance, distorted information).

Area between Conflict Perceptions and Emotions & Manifest Conflict is where conflict escalates.

Conflict is a series of episodes that potentially cycle into conflict escalation. It doesn't take much to start this cycle, just an inappropriate comment, a misunderstanding, or action that lacks diplomacy. This can cause the other party to perceive that conflict exists.

a process in which one party perceives that his or her interests are being opposed or negatively affected by another party. May occur when one party obstructs another's goals in some way, or just from one party's perception that the other party is going to do. Exists whenever one party believes that another might obstructs its effort, whether the other party actually intends to do so.

Incompatible Goals: the goals of one person or department seem to interfere with another person's or department's goals.

Differentiation: differences among people or work units regarding their training, values, beliefs, and experiences. can be distinguished from goal incompatibility in that two people may agree on a common goal but have different beliefs about how to achieve the goal. Intergenerational conflicts too.

Interdependence: the higher the level of task interdependence, the higher the conflict. There is a greater chance that each side will disrupt or interfere with the other side's goals. (pooled, sequential, and reciprocal).

Scarce Resources: generates conflict because each person or unit requiring the same resource necessarily undermines those who also need that resource to fulfill their goals.

Ambiguous Rules: or the complete lack of rules breeds conflict because uncertainty increases the risk that one party intends to interfere with the other party's goals. Also encourages political tactics and, in some cases, a free for all battle to win decisions in their favor. Clear rules let employees know what to expect from each other and have agreed to abide by the rules.

Communication Problems: Conflict occurs due to the lack of opportunity, ability, or motivation to communicate effectively. When two parties lack the opportunity to communicate, they tend to rely more on stereotypes to understand the other party in the conflict and since stereotypes are sufficiently subjective and emotions can negatively distort the meaning of an opponent's actions, thereby escalating perceptions of conflict. some people lack the skills that are necessary to communicate in a diplomatic, nonconfrontational manner. Arrogance can heighten the perception of the conflict. Also relationship conflict us uncomfortable so people are less motivated to communicate with others in a disagreement. Unfortunately, less communication can further escalate the conflict because each side has less accurate info about the other side's intentions. To fill in the missing pieces, they rely on distorted images and perceptions of the other party. Perceptions are further distorted because people in conflict situations tend to engage in more differentiation with those who are different from them. This differentiation creates a more positive self-concept and a more negative image of the opponent. (305)

Generally speaking, for every day disagreements between two employees, the mediation approach is usually the best because it gives employees more responsibility for resolving their own disputes. The third party representative merely establishes an appropriate context for conflict resolution. Although not as efficient as other strategies, mediation potentially offers the highest level of employee satisfaction with the conflict process and outcomes. When employees cannot resolve their differences through mediation, arbitration seems to work best because the predetermined rules of evidence and other processes create a higher sense of procedural fairness. Arbitration is also preferred where the organization's goals should take priority over individual goals.

Team leaders, executives, and co-workers regularly intervene in workplace disputes. Sometimes they adopt a mediator role, at other times they serve as arbitrators. Occasionally they begin with one approach and then switch to another. However, research suggests that people in positions of authority often adopt an inquisitional approach whereby they dominate the intervention process as well as make a binding decision. Managers tend to rely on the inquisition approach because it is consistent with the decision oriented nature of managerial jobs, gives them control over the conflict process and outcome, and tends to resolve disputes efficiently. However, inquisition is usually the least effective third-party conflict resolution method in organizational settings. One problem is that leaders who take an inquisitional role tend to collect limited info about the problem so their imposed decision may produce an ineffective solution to the conflict. Another problem is that employees often view inquisitorial procedures and outcomes as unfair because they have little control over this approach. In particular, the inquisitional approach potentially violates several practices required to support procedural justice.

Which is the most appropriate intervention method? Partly depends on the situation such as the type of dispute, the relationship between the manager and employees, and cultural values such as power distance.

Personality: the leader's higher levels of extroversion (outgoing, talkative, sociable, and assertive) and conscientiousness (careful, dependable, and self-disciplined).

Self-concept: the leader's self beliefs and positive self-evaluation about his or her own leadership skills and ability to achieve objectives.

Drive: The leader's inner motivation to pursue goals.

Integrity: The leader's truthfulness and tendency to translate words into deeds.

Leadership motivation: Leader's need for socialized power to accomplish team or organizational goals.

Knowledge of the Business: The leader's tacit and explicit knowledge about the company's environment, enabling the leader to make more intuitive decisions.

Cognitive and Practical Intelligence: The leader's above average cognitive ability to process info (cognitive intelligence) and the ability to solve real world problems by adapting to, shaping, or selecting appropriate environments (practical intelligence).

Emotional Intelligence: The leader's ability to monitor his or her own and other's emotions, discriminate among them, and use the information to guide his or her thoughts and actions.

(a theory identifying contingencies that either limit a leader's ability to influence employees or make a particular leadership style unnecessary?)

Directive leadership might be less important when performance-based reward systems keep employees directed toward organizational goals. Also, increasing employee skill and experience might reduce the need for directive leadership.

??

Views effective leaders as agents of change in the work unit or organization. They can create, communicate, and model a shared vision for the team or organization and they inspire followers to strive fort that vision.

Agents of change who energize employees to a new vision and corresponding behaviours.

Particularly important in organizations that require significant alignment with the external environment. Without them, organizations stagnate and eventually become seriously misaligned with their environments.

Identifies four leadership styles: telling, selling, participating, and delegating. Has four quadrants, with each quadrant showing the leadership style that is most appropriate under different circumstances.

Suggests that effective leaders vary their style with the ability and motivation (or commitment) of follower. Earliest versions compressed the employee's ability and motivation into a single condition called maturity or readiness. Most recent version uses four labels, such enthusiastic beginner and disillusioned learner.

Several studies have concluded that this model lacks empirical support. Only one part of the model apparently works, namely, that leaders should use telling (directive style) when employees lack motivation and ability. This relationship is also documented in path-goal theory. Most parts of this model do not represent reality very well.

?????????

__________ is about influencing, motivating, and enabling others to contribute toward the effectiveness and success of the organizations of which they are members. This definition has two key components. First, leaders motivate others through persuasion and other influence tactics. They use their communication skills, rewards, and other resources to energize the collective to achieve challenging objectives. Second, leaders are enablers. They arrange the work environment—such as allocating resources and altering communication patterns—so employees can achieve organizational objectives more easily.

Transformational leadership is currently the most popular leadership perspective but it faces a number of challenges. Some writers engage in circular logic: they define and measure transformational leadership by how well the leader inspires and engages employees rather than by whether they engage in behaviours we call transformational. This makes it impossible to evaluate transformational leaders because by definition and measurement, all transformational leaders are effective. Another concern, is that this transformational leadership is usually described as a universal rather than contingency oriented model. Transformational leadership is probably more appropriate when organizations need to adapt than when environmental conditions are stable. This style of leadership is relevant across cultures, however there may be specific elements of transformational leadership such as the way visions are formed and communicated, that are more appropriate in NA than other cultures.

Subdivided work leads to job specialization because each job now includes a narrow subset of the tasks necessary to complete the product or service. Job specialization leads to work efficiency. Job incumbents can master their tasks quickly because work cycles are very short. Less time is wasted changing from one task to another. Training costs are reduced because employees require fewer physical and mental skills to accomplish the assigned work. Finally, job specialization makes it easier to match people with specific aptitudes or skills to the jobs for which they are best suited.

companies create these when coordination is required among several work units. These people are responsible for coordinating a work process by encouraging employees in each work unit to share info and informally coordinate work activities. These people do not have authority over the people involved in that process, so they must rely on persuasion and commitment.

This results in having more employees per supervisor, more supervisors for each middle manager, and so on. This larger number of direct reports is possible only by removing layers of management. Having more workers assigned to each manager. Benefits: lower overhead costs because most layers of hierarchy consist of employees who actually make the product or supply the service rather than managers. Senior managers get higher-quality and more timely information from the external environment because information from front-line employees is transmitted faster up the hierarchy. Lower number of layers of management through which information must pass means that there is a lower probability that managers will filter out information that does not put them in a positive light. Increased employee empowerment and engagement because they focus power around employees rather than managers. Effects of delayering: Undermines managerial functions. companies need managers to translate corporate strategy into coherent daily operations. managers are needed to make quick decisions, coach employees, and help resolve conflicts.Increases workload and stress. Delayering increases the number of direct reports per manager and thus significantly increases management workload and corresponding levels of stress. Managers partly reduce the workload by learning to give employees more autonomy rather than micromanaging them. However, this role adjustment itself is stressful. Restricts managerial career development. Delayering results in fewer managerial jobs, so companies have less manoeuvrability to develop managerial skills. Promotions are also riskier because they involve a larger jump in responsibility in flatter, compared to taller, hierarchies. Furthermore, having fewer promotion opportunities means that managers experience more career plateauing, which reduces their motivation and loyalty. Chopping back managerial career structures also sends a signal that managers are no longer valued. “Delayering has had an adverse effect on morale, productivity and performance,”

the best-performing manufacturing operations today rely on self-directed teams, so direct supervision (formal hierarchy) is supplemented with other coordinating mechanisms. Self-directed teams coordinate mainly through informal communication and standardization, so formal hierarchy plays more of a supporting role.

Four contingencies: external environment, size, technology, and strategy.

EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENT: Four characteristics of external environments influence the type of organizational structure best suited to a particular situation: dynamism, complexity, diversity, and hostility.

Dynamic versus Stable Environments Dynamic environments have a high rate of change, leading to novel situations and a lack of identifiable patterns. Organic structures are better suited to this type of environment so that the organization can adapt more quickly to changes, but only if employees are experienced and coordinate well in teamwork. In contrast, stable environments are characterized by regular cycles of activity and steady changes in supply and demand for inputs and outputs. Events are more predictable, enabling the firm to apply rules and procedures. Mechanistic structures are more efficient when the environment is predictable, so they tend to work better than organic structures.

Complex versus Simple Environments Complex environments have many elements, whereas simple environments have few things to monitor.

Diverse versus Integrated Environments Organizations located in diverse environments have a greater variety of products or services, clients, and regions. In contrast, an integrated environment has only one client, product, and geographic area. The more diversified the environment, the more the firm needs to use a divisional structure aligned with that diversity.

Hostile versus Munificent Environments

Firms located in a hostile environment face resource scarcity and more competition in the marketplace. Hostile environments are typically dynamic ones because they reduce the predictability of access to resources and demand for outputs. Organic structures tend to be best in hostile environments. However, when the environment is extremely hostile—such as a severe shortage of supplies or lower market share—organizations tend to temporarily centralize so that decisions can be made more quickly and executives feel more comfortable being in control. Ironically, centralization may result in lower-quality decisions during organizational crises, because top management has less information, particularly when the environment is complex.

Organizational Size

Larger organizations should have different structures from smaller organizations. As the number of employees increases, job specialization increases due to a greater division of labour. The greater division of labour requires more elaborate coordinating mechanisms. Thus, larger firms make greater use of standardization (particularly work processes and outcomes) to coordinate work activities. These coordinating mechanisms create an administrative hierarchy and greater formalization. Historically, larger organizations make less use of informal communication as a coordinating mechanism. However, emerging information technologies and increased emphasis on empowerment have caused informal communication to regain its importance in large firms. Larger organizations also tend to be more decentralized. Executives have neither sufficient time nor expertise to process all the decisions that significantly influence the business as it grows. Therefore, decision-making authority is pushed down to lower levels, where incumbents are able to cope with the narrower range of issues under their control.

Technology

Technology is another factor to consider when designing the best organizational structure for the situation.77 Technology refers to the mechanisms or processes by which an organization produces its product or service. One technological contingency is variability—the number of exceptions to standard procedure that tend to occur. In work processes with low variability, jobs are routine and follow standard operating procedures. Another contingency is analyzability—the predictability or difficulty of the required work. The less analyzable the work, the more it requires experts with sufficient discretion to address the work challenges. An organic, rather than a mechanistic, structure should be introduced where employees perform tasks with high variety and low analyzability, such as in a research setting. The reason is that employees face unique situations with little opportunity for repetition. In contrast, a mechanistic structure is preferred where the technology has low variability and high analyzability, such as an assembly line. The work is routine and highly predictable, an ideal situation for a mechanistic structure to operate efficiently.

Organizational Strategy

refers to the way the organization positions itself in its setting in relation to its stakeholders, given the organization's resources, capabilities, and mission. In other words, strategy represents the decisions and actions applied to achieve the organization's goals. Although size, technology, and environment influence the optimal organizational structure, these contingencies do not necessarily determine structure. Instead, corporate leaders formulate and implement strategies that shape both the characteristics of these contingencies as well as the organization's resulting structure.This concept is summed up with the simple phrase “structure follows strategy.” Organizational leaders decide how large to grow and which technologies to use. They take steps to define and manipulate their environments, rather than let the organization's fate be entirely determined by external influences. Furthermore, organizational structures don't evolve as a natural response to environmental conditions; they result from conscious human decisions. Thus, organizational strategy influences both the contingencies of structure and the structure itself. If a company's strategy is to compete through innovation, a more organic structure would be preferred because it is easier for employees to share knowledge and be creative. If a company chooses a low-cost strategy, a mechanistic structure is preferred because it maximizes production and service efficiency. Overall, it is now apparent that organizational structure is influenced by size, technology, and environment, but the organization's strategy may reshape these elements and loosen their connection to organizational structure.

they offer the flexibility to realign their structure with changing environmental requirements. If customers demand a new product or service, the core firm forms new alliances with other firms offering the appropriate resources.

also offer efficiencies because the core firm becomes globally competitive as it shops worldwide for subcontractors with the best people and the best technology at the best price. Indeed, the pressures of global competition have made _______ _______ more vital, and computer-based information technology has made them possible

formal hierarchy: supervisors should closely monitor and coach employees. Based on the belief that managers simply can not monitor and control any more than five reporting employees closely enough. In other words, direct supervision.

Standardization of work processes: employees have precisely defined roles. This results in formalization.

division of labour results in more elaborate ___ ___ required. Larger firms make great use of standardization to coordinate work activities. These create an administrative hierarchy and greater formalization. Historically, larger organizations make less use of informal communication as a ____ _____. However, emerging information technologies and increased emphasis on empowerment have caused informal communication to regain its importance in large firms.

???

Supervisors closely monitoring and coaching employees.

Large organizations will ___________, that is, disperse decision authority and power throughout the organization because senior executives are not able to process all the decisions that significantly influence the business.

keep in mind that different degrees of _________ can occur simultaneously in different parts of an organization.

If you are too _____________, you can become too complicated—you get too much complexity in your production system.

the degree to which organizations standardize behaviour through rules, procedures, formal training, and related mechanisms.

In other words, companies become more _________ as they increasingly rely on various forms of standardization to coordinate work.

Older companies tend to become more __________ because work activities become routinized, making them easier to document into standardized practices. Larger companies also tend to have more _________ because direct supervision and informal communication among employees do not operate as easily when large numbers of people are involved. External influences, such as government safety legislation and strict accounting rules, also encourage formalization. ____________ may increase efficiency and compliance, but it can also create problems. Rules and procedures reduce organizational flexibility, so employees follow prescribed behaviours even when the situation clearly calls for a customized response. High levels of ______________ tend to undermine organizational learning and creativity. Some work rules become so convoluted that organizational efficiency would decline if they were actually followed as prescribed. ______________ is also a source of job dissatisfaction and work stress. Finally, rules and procedures have been known to take on a life of their own in some organizations. They become the focus of attention rather than the organization's ultimate objectives of producing a product or service and serving its dominant stakeholders.

Characterized by a narrow span of control and high degree of formalization and centralization. ___________ __________ have many rules and procedures, limited decision making at lower levels, tall hierarchies of people in specialized roles, and vertical rather than horizontal communication flows. Tasks are rigidly defined and are altered only when sanctioned by higher authorities.

Have the opposite characteristics. They operate with a wide span of control, little formalization, and decentralized decision making. Tasks are fluid, adjusting to new situations and organizational needs

____________ specifies how employees and their activities are grouped together. It is a fundamental strategy for coordinating organizational activities because it influences organizational behaviour in the following ways:

___________ establishes the chain of command—the system of common supervision among positions and units within the organization. It frames the membership of formal work teams and typically determines which positions and units must share resources. Thus, departmentalization establishes interdependencies among employees and subunits.

______________ focuses people around common mental models or ways of thinking, such as serving clients, developing products, or supporting a particular skill set. This focus is typically anchored around the common budgets and measures of performance assigned to employees within each departmental unit.

______________ encourages specific people and work units to coordinate through informal communication. With common supervision and resources, members within each configuration typically work near each other, so they can use frequent and informal interaction to get the work done.

Six types:

Simple structure: beginning of most companies. Typically have only a few employees and offer one distinct product or service. Minimal hierarchy. Employees report to the owners. Employees perform broadly defined roles because there are inefficient economies of scale to assign them to specialized jobs. The simple structure is highly flexible and minimizes the walls that form between employees in other structures. However, the simple structure usually depends on the owner's direct supervision to coordinate work activities, so it is very difficult to operate as the company grows and becomes more complex.

Functional Structure: organizes employees around specific knowledge or other resources. Creates specialized pools of talent that typically serve everyone in the organization. This provides more economies of scale than are possible if functional specialists are spread over different parts of the organization. It increases employee identity with the specialization or profession. Direct supervision is easier in functional structures because managers oversee people with common issues and expertise. Limits: Grouping employees around their skills tends to focus attention on those skills and related professional needs rather than on the company's product, service, or client needs. Unless people are transferred from one function to the next, they might not develop a broader understanding of the business. Compared with other structures, the functional structure usually produces higher dysfunctional conflict and poorer coordination in serving clients or developing products. These problems occur because employees need to work with co-workers in other departments to complete organizational tasks yet they have different subgoals and mental models of ideal work. Together, these problems require substantial formal controls and coordination when people are organized around functions.

Divisional Structure:organizes employees around geographic areas, outputs (products or services), or clients. geographic divisional structure organizes employees around distinct regions of the country or world. product/service divisional structure organizes employees around distinct outputs. client divisional structure organizes employees around specific customer groups.

Team Based: built around self-directed teams that complete an entire piece of work, such as manufacturing a product or developing an electronic game. This type of structure is usually organic. There is a wide span of control because teams operate with minimal supervision. In extreme situations, there is no formal leader, just someone selected by other team members to help coordinate the work and liaise with top management. Team structures are highly decentralized because almost all day-to-day decisions are made by team members rather than someone further up the organizational hierarchy. Finally, many team-based structures have low formalization because teams are given relatively few rules about how to organize their work. Instead, executives assign quality and quantity output targets and often productivity improvement goals to each team. Teams are then encouraged to use available resources and their own initiative to achieve those objectives.Team-based structures are usually found within the manufacturing or service operations of larger divisional structures.

Matrix Structure: organized around both functions (art, audio, programming, etc.) and team-based game development projects. Employees are assigned to a cross-functional team responsible for a specific game project, yet they also belong to a permanent functional unit from which they are reassigned when their work is completed on a particular project

organized around both functions (art, audio, programming, etc.) and team-based game development projects. Employees are assigned to a cross-functional team responsible for a specific game project, yet they also belong to a permanent functional unit from which they are reassigned when their work is completed on a particular project.

focuses employees on the final product yet keeps them organized around their expertise to encourage knowledge sharing.

A common error is the belief that everyone in a __________ __________l structure reports to two bosses.

usually makes very good use of resources and expertise, making it ideal for project-based organizations with fluctuating workloads. When properly managed, it improves communication efficiency, project flexibility, and innovation, compared to purely functional or divisional designs. It focuses employees on serving clients or creating products yet keeps people organized around their specialization, so knowledge sharing improves and resources are used more efficiently. The __________ __________ is also a logical choice when, as in the case of Procter & Gamble, two different dimensions (regions and products) are equally important. Structures determine executive power and what is important; the ________ _________ works when two different dimensions deserve equal attention.

Problems: it increases conflict among managers who equally share power. Employees working at the _____ level have two bosses and, consequently, two sets of priorities that aren't always aligned with each other.

The existence of two bosses can dilute accountability. In a functional or divisional structure, one manager is responsible for everything, even the most unexpected issues. But in a ________ structure, the unusual problems don't get resolved because neither manager takes ownership of them

designing and building a product or serving a client through an alliance of several organizations.

Companies are also more likely to form _________ _________ when technology is changing quickly and production processes are complex or varied

come close to the organism metaphor because they offer the flexibility to realign their structure with changing environmental requirements. If customers demand a new product or service, the core firm forms new alliances with other firms offering the appropriate resources.

also offer efficiencies because the core firm becomes globally competitive as it shops worldwide for subcontractors with the best people and the best technology at the best price. Indeed, the pressures of global competition have made network structures more vital, and computer-based information technology has made them possible.

Disadvantage: they expose the core firm to market forces. Other companies may bid up the price for subcontractors, whereas the short-term cost would be lower if the company hired its own employees to perform the same function. Another problem is that although information technology makes worldwide communication much easier, it will never replace the degree of control organizations have when manufacturing, marketing, and other functions are in-house. The core firm can use arm's-length incentives and contract provisions to maintain the subcontractor's quality, but these actions are relatively crude compared to maintaining the quality of work performed by in-house employees.

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consists of shared values and assumptions within an organization.

consists of shared values: which are values that people within the organization or work unit have in common and place near the top of their hierarchy of values.

Also consists of shared assumptions—a deeper element that some experts believe is the essence of corporate culture. Shared assumptions are unconscious, taken-for-granted perceptions or ideal prototypes of behaviour that are considered the correct way to think and act toward problems and opportunities. Shared assumptions are so deeply ingrained that you probably wouldn't discover them by surveying employees. Only by observing employees, analyzing their decisions, and debriefing them on their actions would these assumptions rise to the surface.

??Organizations differ in their cultural content, that is, the relative ordering of shared values.

organizational culture models and surveys are popular with corporate leaders faced with the messy business of diagnosing their company's culture and identifying what kind of culture they want to develop. Unfortunately, they also present a distorted view of organizational culture. One problem is that these models oversimplify the diversity of cultural values in organizations. The fact is, there are dozens of individual values, and many more combinations of values, so the number of organizational cultures that these models describe likely falls considerably short of the full set. A second concern is that organizational culture includes shared assumptions about the right way to do things, not just shared values. Most organizational culture measures ignore assumptions because they represent a more subterranean aspect of culture. A third concern is that many organizational culture models and measures incorrectly assume that organizations have a fairly clear, unified culture that is easily decipherable. This “integration” perspective, as it is called, further assumes that when an organization's culture changes, it shifts from one unified condition to a new unified condition with only temporary ambiguity or weakness during the transition. These assumptions are probably incorrect or, at best, oversimplified. An organization's culture is usually quite blurry, so much so that it cannot be estimated through employee surveys alone. As we discuss next, organizations consist of diverse subcultures because employees across the organization have different clusters of experiences and backgrounds that have shaped their values and priorities.

consists of shared values: which are values that people within the organization or work unit have in common and place near the top of their hierarchy of values.Also consists of shared assumptions—a deeper element that some experts believe is the essence of corporate culture. Shared assumptions are unconscious, taken-for-granted perceptions or ideal prototypes of behaviour that are considered the correct way to think and act toward problems and opportunities. Shared assumptions are so deeply ingrained that you probably wouldn't discover them by surveying employees. Only by observing employees, analyzing their decisions, and debriefing them on their actions would these assumptions rise to the surface.

the values that they want others to believe guide the organization's decisions and actions. usually socially desirable, so they present a positive public image.

Even if top management acts consistently with the_________ __________, lower-level employees might not do so. Employees bring diverse personal values to the organization and, as we discuss later in this chapter, some of these personal values conflict with the organization's ___________ _________.

the observable symbols and signs of an organization's culture, such as the way visitors are greeted, the organization's physical layout, and how employees are rewarded.

important because they represent and reinforce an organization's culture.

provide valuable evidence about a company's culture. An organization's ambiguous (fragmented) culture is best understood by observing workplace behaviour, listening to everyday conversations among staff and with customers, studying written documents and emails, viewing physical structures and settings, and interviewing staff about corporate stories. In other words, to truly understand an organization's culture, we need to sample information from a variety of organizational _________.

Four broad categories: organizational stories and legends, rituals and ceremonies, organizational language, and physical structures and symbols.

cultures can also persist in spite of senior management's desire for another culture. Furthermore, as mentioned in the previous section, an organization's dominant culture is not as unified or clear as many consultants and business leaders assume. Instead, organizations are composed of ____________ located throughout their various divisions, geographic regions, and occupational groups. Some _________ enhance the dominant culture by espousing parallel assumptions and values. Others differ from but do not oppose the dominant culture. Still others are called countercultures because they embrace values or assumptions that directly oppose the organization's dominant culture. It is also possible that some organizations (including some universities, according to one study) operate with ____________ and no decipherable dominant culture at all.

the programmed routines of daily organizational life that dramatize the organization's culture. They include how visitors are greeted, how often senior executives visit front-line staff, how people communicate with each other, how much time employees take for lunch, and so on. These ________ are repetitive, predictable, events that have symbolic meaning of underlying cultural values and assumptions.

Best to avoid a ________ ______. that companies with very strong cultures may be less effective than companies with moderately strong cultures.One reason why __________ ____ may undermine organizational effectiveness is that they lock people into mental models, which can blind them to new opportunities and unique problems. They overlook or incorrectly dismiss subtle misalignments between the organization's activities and the changing environment.The other reason why very strong cultures may be dysfunctional is that they suppress dissenting subcultural values. The challenge for organizational leaders is to maintain not only a strong culture but one that allows subcultural diversity. Subcultures encourage constructive conflict, which improves creative thinking and offers some level of ethical watch over the dominant culture. In the long run, a subculture's emerging values could become important dominant values as the environment changes. __________ _______ suppress subcultures, thereby undermining these benefits.

exists when employees are receptive to change—they assume that the organization needs to continuously adapt to its external environment and that they need to be flexible in their roles within the organization. At companies with an _________ _______, employees embrace an open-systems perspective, in which the organization's survival and success require ongoing adaptation to the external environment, which itself is continuously changing. They assume that their future depends on monitoring the external environment and serving stakeholders with the resources available. Thus, employees in ________ ________ have a strong sense of ownership. They take responsibility for the organization's performance and alignment with the external environment.In an adaptive culture, receptivity to change extends to internal processes and roles. Employees recognize that they need to satisfy stakeholder needs. This occurs by continuously improving internal work processes and by being flexible in their own work roles. The phrase, “That's not my job” is found in nonadaptive cultures. Finally, an adaptive culture has a strong learning orientation because being receptive to change necessarily means that the company also supports action-oriented discovery. With a learning orientation, employees welcome new learning opportunities, actively experiment with new ideas and practices, view reasonable mistakes as a natural part of the learning process, and continuously question past practices.

the process by which individuals learn the values, expected behaviours, and social knowledge necessary to assume their roles in the organization. __________ __________ can potentially change employee values to become more aligned with the company's culture, although this is much more difficult than is often assumed. More likely, effective socialization gives newcomers clearer understanding about the company's values and how they are translated into specific on-the-job behaviours. Along with supporting the organization's culture, ___________ helps newcomers adjust to co-workers, work procedures, and other corporate realities. Research indicates that when employees are effectively socialized into the organization, they tend to perform better, have higher job satisfaction, and remain longer with the organization.

a process of both learning and adjustment. It is a learning process because newcomers try to make sense of the company's physical workplace, social dynamics, and strategic and cultural environment. They learn about the organization's performance expectations, power dynamics, corporate culture, company history, and jargon. They also need to form successful and satisfying relationships with other people from whom they can learn the ropes. Thus, effective socialization enables new employees to form a cognitive map of the physical, social, strategic, and cultural dynamics of the organization without information overload. __________ __________ is also a process of adjustment, because individuals need to adapt to their new work environment. They develop new work roles that reconfigure their social identity, adopt new team norms, and practise new behaviours. Research reports that the adjustment process is fairly rapid for many people, usually occurring within a few months. However, newcomers with diverse work experience seem to adjust better than those with limited previous experience, possibly because they have a larger toolkit of knowledge and skills to make the adjustment possible.

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the stress that results when employees perceive discrepancies between their pre-employment expectations and on-the-job reality. ___________ ______ doesn't necessarily occur on the first day; it might develop over several weeks or even months as newcomers form a better understanding of their new work environment. ___________ _________ is common in many organizations. Unmet expectations sometimes occur because the employer is unable to live up to its promises, such as failing to provide challenging projects or the resources to get the work done. __________ _________ also occurs because new hires develop distorted work expectations through the information exchange conflicts described above. Whatever the cause, ________ _________ impedes the socialization process because the newcomer's energy is directed toward managing the stress rather than learning and accepting organizational knowledge and roles

Assimilation: Acquired company embraces acquiring firm's culture. Works best when firm has a weak culture.

Deculturation: Acquiring firm imposes its culture on unwilling acquired firm. Rarely works - may be necessary only when acquired firm's culture does not work but employees don't realize it.

Ingratiation: Merging companies combine the two or more cultures into a new composite culture. Works best when existing cultures can be improved.

Separation: Merging companies remain distinct entities with minimal exchange of culture or organizational practices. Works best when firms operate quite successfully in businesses requiring different cultures.

Shared values and assumptions are not easily measured through surveys and might not be accurately reflected in the organization's values statements. Instead, an organization's culture needs to be deciphered through a detailed investigation of artifacts. Artifacts are the observable symbols and signs of an organization's culture, such as the way visitors are greeted, the organization's physical layout, and how employees are rewarded. A few experts suggest that artifacts are the essence of organizational culture, whereas most others view artifacts as symbols or indicators of culture. In other words, culture is cognitive (values and assumptions inside people's heads) whereas artifacts are observable manifestations of that culture. Either way, artifacts are important because they represent and reinforce an organization's culture. Artifacts provide valuable evidence about a company's culture. An organization's ambiguous (fragmented) culture is best understood by observing workplace behaviour, listening to everyday conversations among staff and with customers, studying written documents and emails, viewing physical structures and settings, and interviewing staff about corporate stories. In other words, to truly understand an organization's culture, we need to sample information from a variety of organizational artifacts. four broad categories of artifacts: organizational stories and legends, rituals and ceremonies, organizational language, and physical structures and symbols.

Organizational Stories and Legends: Organizational stories and legends serve as powerful social prescriptions of the way things should (or should not) be done. They add human realism to corporate expectations, individual performance standards, and the criteria for getting fired. Stories also produce emotions in listeners, and this tends to improve listeners' memory of the lesson within the story. Stories have the greatest effect on communicating corporate culture when they describe real people, are assumed to be true, and are known by employees throughout the organization. Stories are also prescriptive—they advise people what to do or not to do.

Rituals & Ceremonies: Rituals are the programmed routines of daily organizational life that dramatize the organization's culture. They include how visitors are greeted, how often senior executives visit front-line staff, how people communicate with each other, how much time employees take for lunch, and so on. These rituals are repetitive, predictable, events that have symbolic meaning of underlying cultural values and assumptions. Ceremonies are more formal artifacts than rituals. Ceremonies are planned activities conducted specifically for the benefit of an audience. This would include publicly rewarding (or punishing) employees or celebrating the launch of a new product or newly won contract.

Organizational Language: The language of the workplace speaks volumes about the company's culture. How employees talk to each other, describe customers, express anger, and greet stakeholders are all verbal symbols of cultural values.
Physical Structures and Symbols: buildings both reflect and influence an organization's culture. The size, shape, location, and age of buildings might suggest a company's emphasis on teamwork, environmental friendliness, flexibility, or any other set of values. Even if the building doesn't make much of a statement, there is a treasure trove of physical artifacts inside. Desks, chairs, office space, and wall hangings (or lack of them) are just a few of the items that might convey cultural meaning.

Kurt Lewin's model of system-wide change that helps change agents diagnose the forces that drive and restrain proposed organizational change. One of the most widely respected ways of viewing the change process.

One side represents the driving forces that push organizations toward a new state of affairs. (new competitors or technologies, evolving workforce expectations, or a host of other environmental changes.) Corporate leaders also produce driving forces even when external forces for change aren't apparent. For instance, some experts call for “divine discontent” as a key feature of successful organizations, meaning that leaders continually urge employees to strive for higher standards or better practices even when the company outshines the competition. The other side represents the restraining forces that maintain the status quo. These restraining forces are commonly called “resistance to change” because they appear to block the change process. Stability occurs when the driving and restraining forces are roughly in equilibrium—that is, they are of approximately equal strength in opposite directions.

emphasizes that effective change occurs by unfreezing the current situation, moving to a desired condition, and then refreezing the system so it remains in the desired state. Unfreezing involves producing disequilibrium between the driving and restraining forces. As we will describe later, this may occur by increasing the driving forces, reducing the restraining forces, or having a combination of both. Refreezing occurs when the organization's systems and structures are aligned with the desired behaviours. They must support and reinforce the new role patterns and prevent the organization from slipping back into the old way of doing things. we use Lewin's model to understand why change is blocked and how the process can evolve more smoothly.

takes many forms, ranging from overt work stoppages to subtle attempts to continue the old ways. Subtle forms of resistance potentially create the greatest obstacles to change because they are not as visible.

Although change agents are understandably frustrated by passive or active ________________, they need to realize that __________ is a common and natural human response.

This is a resource in three ways. First, it is a signal—a warning system—that the change agent has not sufficiently addressed the underlying conditions that support effective organizational change. In some situations, employees may be worried about the consequences of change, such as how the new conditions will take away their power and status. In other situations, employees show resistance because of concerns about the process of change itself, such as the effort required to break old habits and learn new skills.Second, _________ should be recognized as a form of constructive conflict. Finally, it should be viewed in the context of justice and motivation. ___________ is a form of voice, so it potentially improves procedural justice. By redirecting initial forms of __________ into constructive conversations, change agents can increase employee perceptions and feelings of fairness. Furthermore, ______________ is motivational; it potentially engages people to think about the change strategy and process. Change agents can harness that motivational force to ultimately strengthen commitment to the change initiative.

________ involves producing disequilibrium between the driving and restraining forces. As we will describe later, this may occur by increasing the driving forces, reducing the restraining forces, or having a combination of both. ______________ occurs when the organization's systems and structures are aligned with the desired behaviours. They must support and reinforce the new role patterns and prevent the organization from slipping back into the old way of doing things. we use Lewin's model to understand why change is blocked and how the process can evolve more smoothly.

occurs when the driving forces are stronger than the restraining forces. This happens by making the driving forces stronger, weakening or removing the restraining forces, or combining both.The first option is to increase the driving forces, motivating employees to change through fear or threats (real or contrived). This strategy rarely works, however, because the action of increasing the driving forces alone is usually met with an equal and opposing increase in the restraining forces. A useful metaphor is pushing against the coils of a mattress. The harder corporate leaders push for change, the stronger the restraining forces push back. This antagonism threatens the change effort by producing tension and conflict within the organization.The second option is to weaken or remove the restraining forces. The problem with this change strategy is that it provides no motivation for change. To some extent, weakening the restraining forces is like clearing a pathway for change. An unobstructed road makes it easier to travel to the destination but does not motivate anyone to go there. The preferred option, therefore, is to both increase the driving forces and reduce or remove the restraining forces. Increasing the driving forces creates an urgency for change, while reducing the restraining forces lessens motivation to oppose the change and removes obstacles such as lack of ability and situational constraints.

Organizational change requires employees to have an urgency for change.24 This typically occurs by informing them about competitors, changing consumer trends, impending government regulations, and other driving forces in the external environment. These pressures are the main driving forces in Lewin's model. They push people out of their comfort zones, energizing them to face the risks that change creates. In many organizations, however, leaders buffer employees from the external environment to such an extent that these driving forces are hardly felt by anyone below the top executive level. The result is that employees don't understand why they need to change and leaders are surprised when their change initiatives do not have much effect.

Employee resistance should be viewed as a resource, but its underlying causes—the restraining forces—need to be addressed. As we explained earlier using the mattress coil metaphor, increasing the driving forces alone will not bring about change because employees often push back harder to offset the opposing forces. Instead, change agents need to address each of the sources of resistance. Six of the main strategies are outlined in Exhibit 15.2. If feasible, communication, learning, employee involvement, and stress management should be attempted first.31However, negotiation and coercion are necessary for people who will clearly lose something from the change and in cases where the speed of change is critical.

Unfreezing and changing behaviour won't produce lasting change. People are creatures of habit, so they easily slip back into past patterns. Therefore, leaders need to refreeze the new behaviours by realigning organizational systems and team dynamics with the desired changes.40The desired patterns of behaviour can be “nailed down” by changing the physical structure and situational conditions. Organizational rewards are also powerful systems that refreeze behaviours.41 If the change process is supposed to encourage efficiency, then rewards should be realigned to motivate and reinforce efficient behaviour. Information systems play a complementary role in the change process, particularly as conduits for feedback.42 Feedback mechanisms help employees learn how well they are moving toward the desired objectives, and they provide a permanent architecture to support the new behaviour patterns in the long term.

If all else fails, leaders rely on ______ to change organizations. ______________ can include persistently reminding people of their obligations, frequently monitoring behaviour to ensure compliance, confronting people who do not change, and using threats of sanctions to force compliance. Replacing people who will not support the change is an extreme step, but it is fairly common. Firing people is the least desirable way to change organizations. However, dismissals and other forms of __________ are sometimes necessary when speed is essential and other tactics are ineffective.

tries to break out of the problem-solving mentality of traditional change management practices by reframing relationships around the positive and the possible. It searches for organizational (or team) strengths and capabilities and then adapts or applies that knowledge for further success and well-being. __________ __________ is therefore deeply grounded in the emerging philosophy of positive organizational behaviour, which suggests that focusing on the positive rather than the negative aspects of life will improve organizational success and individual well-being. In other words, this approach emphasizes building on strengths rather than trying to directly correct problems. __________ _________ typically examines successful events, organizations, and work units. This focus becomes a form of behavioural modelling, but it also increases open dialogue by redirecting the group's attention away from its own problems. _________ _____________ is especially useful when participants are aware of their problems or already suffer from negativity in their relationships. The positive orientation of appreciative inquiry enables groups to overcome these negative tensions and build a more hopeful perspective of their future by focusing on what is possible.

Five principles:

Positive principle: focusing on positive events and potential produces more positive, effective, and enduring change.

Constructionist principle: how we perceive and understand the change process depends on the questions we ask and the language we use throughout that process.

Simultaniety principle: inquiry and change are simultaneous, not sequential.

Poetic principle: organizations are open books, so we have choices in how they may be percieved, framed, and described.

Anticipatory principle: people are motivated and guided by the vision they see and believe in for the future.

One ethical concern is the risk of violating individual privacy rights. The action research model is built on the idea of collecting information from organizational members, yet this requires that employees share personal information and emotions that they may not want to divulge.

Subtle forms of resistance potentially create the greatest obstacles to change because they are not as visible.

Should be viewed as a resource, rather than an impediment to change. It's a resource in three ways. First, it is a signal—a warning system—that the change agent has not sufficiently addressed the underlying conditions that support effective organizational change. In some situations, employees may be worried about the consequences of change, such as how the new conditions will take away their power and status. In other situations, employees show resistance because of concerns about the process of change itself, such as the effort required to break old habits and learn new skills.Second, __________ should be recognized as a form of constructive conflict. Recall from earlier chapters that constructive conflict can potentially improve decision making, including identifying better ways to improve the organization's success. However, constructive conflict is typically accompanied by dysfunctional relationship conflict. This appears to be the case when change agents see __________ to change as an impediment rather than a resource. They describe the people who resist as the problem, whereas their focus should be on understanding the reasons why these people resist. Thus, by viewing _________ as a form of constructive conflict, change agents may be able to improve the change strategy or change process. Finally, ____________ should be viewed in the context of justice and motivation. ___________ is a form of voice, so it potentially improves procedural justice (see Chapter 5). By redirecting initial forms of ____________ into constructive conversations, change agents can increase employee perceptions and feelings of fairness. Furthermore, ____________ is motivational; it potentially engages people to think about the change strategy and process. Change agents can harness that motivational force to ultimately strengthen commitment to the change initiative.

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Organizational change requires employees to have an _________________________. This typically occurs by informing them about competitors, changing consumer trends, impending government regulations, and other driving forces in the external environment. These pressures are the main driving forces in Lewin's model. They push people out of their comfort zones, energizing them to face the risks that change creates. In many organizations, however, leaders buffer employees from the external environment to such an extent that these driving forces are hardly felt by anyone below the top executive level. The result is that employees don't understand why they need to change and leaders are surprised when their change initiatives do not have much effect.

Customer-driven change: putting employees in direct contact with customers. Dissatisfied customers represent a compelling driving force for change because the organization's survival typically depends on having customers who are satisfied with the product or service. Customers also provide a human element that further energizes employees to change current behaviour patterns.

Without external forces: often need to begin the change process before problems come knocking at the company's door. that employees may see the burning-platform strategy as manipulative—a view that produces cynicism about change and undermines trust in the change agent. Also, the ________________ doesn't need to originate from problems or threats to the company; this motivation can also develop through a change champion's vision of a more appealing future. By creating a future vision of a better organization, leaders effectively make the current situation less appealing. When the vision connects to employee values and needs, it can be a motivating force for change even when external problems are not strong.

occurs when the driving forces are stronger than the restraining forces. This happens by making the driving forces stronger, weakening or removing the restraining forces, or combining both.The first option is to increase the driving forces, motivating employees to change through fear or threats (real or contrived). This strategy rarely works, however, because the action of increasing the driving forces alone is usually met with an equal and opposing increase in the restraining forces. A useful metaphor is pushing against the coils of a mattress. The harder corporate leaders push for change, the stronger the restraining forces push back. This antagonism threatens the change effort by producing tension and conflict within the organization.The second option is to weaken or remove the restraining forces. The problem with this change strategy is that it provides no motivation for change. To some extent, weakening the restraining forces is like clearing a pathway for change. An unobstructed road makes it easier to travel to the destination but does not motivate anyone to go there. The preferred option, therefore, is to both increase the driving forces and reduce or remove the restraining forces. Increasing the driving forces creates an urgency for change, while reducing the restraining forces lessens motivation to oppose the change and removes obstacles such as lack of ability and situational constraints.

the existing state of affairs

highly participative arrangements composed of people from most levels of the organization who follow the action research model to produce meaningful organizational change. They are social structures developed alongside the formal hierarchy with the purpose of increasing the organization's learning. Ideally participants in ________ ________ structures are sufficiently free from the constraints of the larger organization that they can effectively solve organizational issues.

an organizational change strategy that consists of system-wide group sessions, usually lasting a few days, in which participants identify trends and identify ways to adapt to those changes. Also known as search conferences and open-space technology

A problem focused change process that combines action orientation (changing attitudes and behaviour) and research orientation (testing the theory through data collection and analysis).

change process needs to be ________-oriented because the ultimate goal is to change the workplace. An ________ orientation involves diagnosing current problems and applying interventions that resolve those problems. On the other hand, the change process is a research study because change agents apply a conceptual framework (such as team dynamics or organizational culture) to a real situation. As with any good research, the change process involves collecting data to diagnose problems more effectively and to systematically evaluate how well the theory works in practice. Within this dual framework of action and research, the ______ _____ approach adopts an open-systems view. It recognizes that organizations have many interdependent parts, so change agents need to anticipate both the intended and the unintended consequences of their interventions. _________ ________ is also a highly participative process because open-systems change requires both the knowledge and the commitment of members within that system. Indeed, employees are essentially co-researchers as well as participants in the intervention. Overall, _______ _________ is a data-based, problem-oriented process that diagnoses the need for change, introduces the intervention, and then evaluates and stabilizes the desired changes.

1. Form client–consultant relationship.__________ _________ usually assumes that the change agent originates outside the system (such as a consultant), so the process begins by forming the client–consultant relationship. Consultants need to determine the client's readiness for change, including whether people are motivated to participate in the process, are open to meaningful change, and possess the abilities to complete the process.

2. Diagnose need for change. _________ __________ is a problem-oriented activity that carefully diagnoses the problem through systematic analysis of the situation. Organizational diagnosis identifies the appropriate direction for the change effort by gathering and analyzing data about an ongoing system, such as through interviews and surveys of employees and other stakeholders. Organizational diagnosis also includes employee involvement in agreeing on the appropriate change method, the schedule for the actions involved, and the expected standards of successful change.

3. Introduce intervention. This stage in the ____________ ________ model applies one or more actions to correct the problem. It may include any of the prescriptions mentioned in this book, such as building more effective teams, managing conflict, building a better organizational structure, or changing the corporate culture. An important issue is how quickly the changes should occur. Some experts recommend incremental change, in which the organization fine-tunes the system and takes small steps toward a desired state. Others claim that quantum change is often required, in which the system is overhauled decisively and quickly. Quantum change is usually traumatic to employees and offers little opportunity for correction. But incremental change is also risky when the organization is seriously misaligned with its environment, thereby facing a threat to its survival.

4. Evaluate and stabilize change. ___________ __________ recommends evaluating the effectiveness of the intervention against the standards established in the diagnostic stage. Unfortunately, even when these standards are clearly stated, the effectiveness of an intervention might not be apparent for several years or might be difficult to separate from other factors. If the activity has the desired effect, the change agent and participants need to stabilize the new conditions. This refers to the refreezing process that was described earlier. Rewards, information systems, team norms, and other conditions are redesigned so they support the new values and behaviours.

The __________ _________ approach has dominated organizational change thinking since it was introduced in the 1940s. However, some experts are concerned that the problem- oriented nature of __________ _________—in which something is wrong that must be fixed—focuses on the negative dynamics of the group or system rather than its positive opportunities and potential. This concern with ___________ __________ has led to the development of a more positive approach to organizational change, called appreciative inquiry