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Organizational Behavior

Introduction
Organizational Behavior (OB) is the study and application of knowledge about how people, individuals, and groups act in organizations. It does this by taking a s y s t e m a p p r o a c h . That is, it interprets people-organization relationships in terms of the whole person, whole group, whole organization, and whole social system. Its purpose is to build better relationships by achieving human objectives, organizational objectives, and social objectives. As you can see from the definition above, organizational behavior encompasses a wide range of topics, such as human behavior, change, leadership, teams, etc. Since many of these topics are covered elsewhere in the leadership guide, this paper will focus on a few parts of OB: elements, models, social systems, OD, work life, action learning, and change.

Elements of Organizational Behavior


The organization's base rests on management's philosophy, values, vision and goals. This in turn drives the organizational culture which is composed of the formal organization, informal organization, and the social environment. The culture determines the type of leadership, communication, and group dynamics within the organization. The workers perceive this as the quality of work life which directs their degree of motivation. The final outcome are performance, individual satisfaction, and

personal growth and development. All these elements combine to build the model or framework that the organization operates from.

Models of Organizational Behavior


There are four major models or frameworks that organizations operate out of:
o

Autocratic - The basis of this model is power with a managerial orientation of authority. The employees in turn are oriented towards obedience and dependence on the boss. The employee need that is met is subsistence. The performance result is minimal.

Custodial - The basis of this model is economic resources with a managerial orientation of money. The employees in turn are oriented towards security and benefits and dependence on the organization. The employee need that is met is security. The performance result is passive cooperation.

Supportive - The basis of this model is leadership with a managerial orientation of support. The employees in turn are oriented towards job performance and participation. The employee need that is met is status and recognition. The performance result is awakened drives.

Collegial - The basis of this model is partnership with a managerial orientation of teamwork. The employees in turn are oriented towards responsible behavior and selfdiscipline. The employee need that is met is selfactualization. The performance result is moderate enthusiasm.

Although there are four separate models, almost no organization operates exclusively in one. There will usually be a predominate one, with one or more areas over-lapping in the other models.

The first model, autocratic, has its roots in the industrial revolution. The managers of this type of organization operate out of McGregor's Theory X. The next three models begin to build on McGregor's Theory Y. They have each evolved over a period of time and there is no one "best" model. The collegial model should not be thought as the last or best model, but the beginning of a new model or paradigm.

Social Systems, Culture, and Individualization


A social system is a complex set of human relationships interacting in many ways. Within an organization, the social system includes all the people in it and their relationships to each other and to the outside world. The behavior of one member can have an impact, either directly or indirectly, on the behavior of others. Also, the social system does not have boundaries...it exchanges goods, ideas, culture, etc. with the environment around it. Culture is the conventional behavior of a society that encompasses beliefs, customs, knowledge, and practices.

It influences human behavior, even though it seldom enters into their conscious thought. People depend on culture as it gives them stability, security, understanding, and the ability to respond to a given situation. This is why people fear change. They fear the system will become unstable, their security will be lost, they will not understand the new process, and they will not know how to respond to the new situations. Individualization is when employees successfully exert influence on the social system by challenging the culture.
Impact Of Individualization On A Organization _______________________________ High | | | | | | | | | | Conformity | Creative | | | Individualism | | | | Socialization |_______________|_______________| | | | | | | | | | | Isolation | Rebellion | | | | | | | Low |_______________|_______________| Low Individualization High

The chart above (Schein, 1968) shows how individualization affects different organizations:
o o o o

Too little socialization and too little individualization creates isolation. Too high socialization and too little individualization creates conformity. Too little socialization and too high individualization creates rebellion. While the match that organizations want to create is high socialization and high individualization for a creative

environment. This is what it takes to survive in a very competitive environment...having people grow with the organization, but doing the right thing when others want to follow the easy path.

This can become quite a balancing act. Individualism favors individual rights, loosely knit social networks, self respect, and personal rewards and careers. It becomes look out for number 1! Socialization or collectivism favors the group, harmony, and asks "What is best for the organization?" Organizations need people to challenge, question, and experiment while still maintaining the culture that binds them into a social system.

Organization Development
Organization Development (OD) is the systematic application of behavioral science knowledge at various levels, such as group, inter-group, organization, etc., to bring about planned change. Its objectives is a higher quality of work-life, productivity, adaptability, and effectiveness. It accomplishes this by changing attitudes, behaviors, values, strategies, procedures, and structures so that the organization can adapt to competitive actions, technological advances, and the fast pace of c h a n g e within the environment. There are seven characteristics of OD:
1. Humanistic Values: Positive beliefs about the potential of employees (McGregor's Theory Y). 2. Systems Orientation: All parts of the organization, to include structure, technology, and people, must work together. 3. Experiential Learning: The learners' experiences in the training environment should be the kind of human

problems they encounter at work. The training should NOT be all theory and lecture. 4. Problem Solving: Problems are identified, data is gathered, corrective action is taken, progress is assessed, and adjustments in the problem solving process are made as needed. This process is known as Action Research. 5. Contingency Orientation: Actions are selected and adapted to fit the need. 6. Change Agent: Stimulate, facilitate, and coordinate change. 7. Levels of Interventions: Problems can occur at one or more level in the organization so the strategy will require one or more interventions.

Quality of Work Life


Quality of Work Life (QWL) is the favorableness or unfavorableness of the job environment. Its purpose is to develop jobs and working conditions that are excellent for both the employees and the organization. One of the ways of accomplishing QWL is through job design. Some of the

options available for improving job design are:


o

Leave the job as is but employ only people who like the rigid environment or routine work. Some people do enjoy the security and task support of these kinds of jobs.

o o o

Leave the job as is, but pay the employees more. Mechanize and automate the routine jobs. And the area that OD loves - redesign the job.

When redesigning jobs there are two spectrums to follow job enlargement and job enrichment. Job enlargement adds a more variety of tasks and duties to the job so that it is not as monotonous. This takes in the b r e a d t h of the job. That is, the number of different tasks that an employee performs. This can also be accomplished by job rotation. Job enrichment, on the other hand, adds additional motivators. It adds d e p t h to the job - more control, responsibility, and discretion to how the job is performed. This gives higher order needs to the employee, as opposed to job enlargement which simply gives more variety. The chart below (Cunningham & Eberle, 1990) illustrates the differences:
Job Enrichment and Job Performance _______________________________ Higher | | | Order | | Job | | Job | Enrichment | | Enrichment | and | | | Enlargement | | | | Accent on |_______________|_______________| Needs | | | | | | | Routine | Job | | Job | Enlargement | | | |

Lower | | | Order |_______________|_______________| Few Many Variety of Tasks

The benefits of enriching jobs include:


o o o o o o o o

Growth of the individual Individuals have better job satisfaction Self-actualization of the individual Better employee performance for the organization Organization gets intrinsically motivated employees Less absenteeism, turnover, and grievances for the organization Full use of human resources for society Society gains more effective organizations

There are a variety of methods for improving job enrichment:


o

Skill Variety: Perform different tasks that require different skill. This differs from job enlargement which might require the employee to perform more tasks, but require the same set of skills.

Task Identity: Create or perform a complete piece of work. This gives a sense of completion and responsibility for the product.

o o o

Task Significant: This is the amount of impact that the work has on other people as the employee perceives. Autonomy: This gives employees discretion and control over job related decisions. Feedback: Information that tells workers how well they are performing. It can come directly from the job (task feedback) or verbally form someone else.

Action Learning
An unheralded British academic was invited to try out his theories in Belgium -- it led to an upturn in the Belgian economy. "Unless your ideas are ridiculed by experts they

are worth nothing," says the British academic Reg Revans, creator of action learning [L = P + Q] -- learning occurs through a combination of programmed knowledge (P) and the ability to ask insightful questions (Q). Action learning has been widely used in Europe for combining formal management training with learning from experience. A typical program is conducted over a period of 6 to 9 months. Teams of learners with diverse backgrounds conduct field projects on complex organizational problems requiring use of skills learned in formal training sessions. The learning teams then meet periodically with a skilled instructor to discuss, analyze, and learn from their experiences. Revans basis his learning method on a theory called "System Beta," in that the learning process should closely approximate the "scientific method." The model is cyclical - you proceed through the steps and when you reach the last step you relate the analysis to the original hypothesis and if need be, start the process again. The six steps are:
o o o o o o

Formulate Hypothesis (an idea or concept) Design Experiment (consider ways of testing truth or validity of idea or concept) Apply in Practice (put into effect, test of validity or truth) Observe Results (collect and process data on outcomes of test) Analyze Results (make sense of data) Compare Analysis (relate analysis to original hypothesis)

Note that you do not always have to enter this process at step 1, but you do have to complete the process. Revans suggest that all human learning at the individual level occurs through this process. Note that it covers what Jim Stewart (M a n a g i n g C h a n g e T h r o u g h T r a i n i n g a n d D e v e l o p m e n t , 1991) calls the levels

of existence:
o o o

We think - cognitive domain We feel - affective domain We do - action domain

All three levels are interconnected -- e.g. what we think influences and is influenced by what we do and feel.

Change
In its simplest form, discontinuity in the work place is "change." Our prefrontal cortex is similar to the RAM memory in a PC -- it is fast and agile computational device that is able to hold multiple threads of logic at once so that we can perform fast calculations. However it has its limits in that it can only hold a handful of concepts at once. In addition, it burns lots of high energy glucose (blood sugar), which is expensive for the body to produce. Thus when given lots of information, such as when a change is required, it has a tendency to overload and being directly linked to the amygdala (the emotional center of the brain) that controls our fight-or-flight response, it can cause severe physical and psychological discomfort. Our prefrontal cortex is marvelous for insight when not overloaded. But for normal everyday use, our brain prefers to run off its "hard-drive" -- the basal ganglia, which has a much larger storage area and stores memories and our habits. In addition, it sips rather than gulps food (glucose). When we do something familiar and predictable, our brain is mainly using the basal ganglia, which is quite comforting to us. When we use our prefrontal cortex, then we are looking for fight, flight, or insight. Too much change

produces fight or flight syndromes. As change agents we want to produce "insight" into our learners so that they are able to apply their knowledge and skills not just in the classroom, but also on the job. And the way to help people come to "insight" is to allow them to come to their own resolution. These moments of insight or resolutions are called "epiphanies" -- sudden intuitive leap of understanding that are quite pleasurable to us and act as rewards. Thus you have to resist the urge to fill in the entire picture of change, rather you have to leave enough gaps so that the learners are allowed to make connections of their own. Doing too much for the learners can be just as bad, if not worse, than not doing enough. Doing all the thinking for learners takes their brains out of action which means they will not invest the energy to make new connections.

Organizational Behavior
Introduction
Organizational Behavior (OB) is the study and application of knowledge about how people, individuals, and groups act in organizations. It does this by taking a s y s t e m a p p r o a c h . That is, it interprets people-organization relationships in terms of the whole person, whole group, whole organization, and whole social system. Its purpose is to build better relationships by achieving human objectives, organizational objectives, and social objectives.

As you can see from the definition above, organizational behavior encompasses a wide range of topics, such as human behavior, change, leadership, teams, etc. Since many of these topics are covered elsewhere in the leadership guide, this paper will focus on a few parts of OB: elements, models, social systems, OD, work life, action learning, and change.

Elements of Organizational Behavior


The organization's base rests on management's philosophy, values, vision and goals. This in turn drives the organizational culture which is composed of the formal organization, informal organization, and the social environment. The culture determines the type of leadership, communication, and group dynamics within the organization. The workers perceive this as the quality of work life which directs their degree of motivation. The final outcome are performance, individual satisfaction, and personal growth and development. All these elements combine to build the model or framework that the organization operates from.

Models of Organizational Behavior


There are four major models or frameworks that organizations operate out of:
o

Autocratic - The basis of this model is power with a managerial orientation of authority. The employees in turn are oriented towards obedience and dependence on the boss. The employee need that is met is subsistence.

The performance result is minimal.


o

Custodial - The basis of this model is economic resources with a managerial orientation of money. The employees in turn are oriented towards security and benefits and dependence on the organization. The employee need that is met is security. The performance result is passive cooperation.

Supportive - The basis of this model is leadership with a managerial orientation of support. The employees in turn are oriented towards job performance and participation. The employee need that is met is status and recognition. The performance result is awakened drives.

Collegial - The basis of this model is partnership with a managerial orientation of teamwork. The employees in turn are oriented towards responsible behavior and selfdiscipline. The employee need that is met is selfactualization. The performance result is moderate enthusiasm.

Although there are four separate models, almost no organization operates exclusively in one. There will usually be a predominate one, with one or more areas over-lapping in the other models. The first model, autocratic, has its roots in the industrial revolution. The managers of this type of organization operate out of McGregor's Theory X. The next three models begin to build on McGregor's Theory Y. They have each evolved over a period of time and there is no one "best" model. The collegial model should not be thought as the last or best model, but the beginning of a new model or paradigm.

Social Systems, Culture, and Individualization


A social system is a complex set of human relationships interacting in many ways. Within an organization, the social system includes all the people in it and their relationships to each other and to the outside world. The behavior of one member can have an impact, either directly or indirectly, on the behavior of others. Also, the social system does not have boundaries...it exchanges goods, ideas, culture, etc. with the environment around it. Culture is the conventional behavior of a society that encompasses beliefs, customs, knowledge, and practices. It influences human behavior, even though it seldom enters into their conscious thought. People depend on culture as it gives them stability, security, understanding, and the ability to respond to a given situation. This is why people fear change. They fear the system will become unstable, their security will be lost, they will not understand the new process, and they will not know how to respond to the new situations. Individualization is when employees successfully exert

influence on the social system by challenging the culture.


Impact Of Individualization On A Organization _______________________________ High | | | | | | | | | | Conformity | Creative | | | Individualism | | | | Socialization |_______________|_______________| | | | | | | | | | | Isolation | Rebellion | | | | | | | Low |_______________|_______________| Low Individualization High

The chart above (Schein, 1968) shows how individualization affects different organizations:
o o o o

Too little socialization and too little individualization creates isolation. Too high socialization and too little individualization creates conformity. Too little socialization and too high individualization creates rebellion. While the match that organizations want to create is high socialization and high individualization for a creative environment. This is what it takes to survive in a very competitive environment...having people grow with the organization, but doing the right thing when others want to follow the easy path.

This can become quite a balancing act. Individualism favors individual rights, loosely knit social networks, self respect, and personal rewards and careers. It becomes look out for number 1! Socialization or collectivism favors the group, harmony, and asks "What is best for the

organization?" Organizations need people to challenge, question, and experiment while still maintaining the culture that binds them into a social system.

Organization Development
Organization Development (OD) is the systematic application of behavioral science knowledge at various levels, such as group, inter-group, organization, etc., to bring about planned change. Its objectives is a higher quality of work-life, productivity, adaptability, and effectiveness. It accomplishes this by changing attitudes, behaviors, values, strategies, procedures, and structures so that the organization can adapt to competitive actions, technological advances, and the fast pace of c h a n g e within the environment. There are seven characteristics of OD:
1. Humanistic Values: Positive beliefs about the potential of employees (McGregor's Theory Y). 2. Systems Orientation: All parts of the organization, to include structure, technology, and people, must work together. 3. Experiential Learning: The learners' experiences in the training environment should be the kind of human problems they encounter at work. The training should NOT be all theory and lecture. 4. Problem Solving: Problems are identified, data is gathered, corrective action is taken, progress is assessed, and adjustments in the problem solving process are made as needed. This process is known as Action Research. 5. Contingency Orientation: Actions are selected and adapted to fit the need. 6. Change Agent: Stimulate, facilitate, and coordinate

change. 7. Levels of Interventions: Problems can occur at one or more level in the organization so the strategy will require one or more interventions.

Quality of Work Life


Quality of Work Life (QWL) is the favorableness or unfavorableness of the job environment. Its purpose is to develop jobs and working conditions that are excellent for both the employees and the organization. One of the ways of accomplishing QWL is through job design. Some of the options available for improving job design are:
o

Leave the job as is but employ only people who like the rigid environment or routine work. Some people do enjoy the security and task support of these kinds of jobs.

o o o

Leave the job as is, but pay the employees more. Mechanize and automate the routine jobs. And the area that OD loves - redesign the job.

When redesigning jobs there are two spectrums to follow job enlargement and job enrichment. Job enlargement

adds a more variety of tasks and duties to the job so that it is not as monotonous. This takes in the b r e a d t h of the job. That is, the number of different tasks that an employee performs. This can also be accomplished by job rotation. Job enrichment, on the other hand, adds additional motivators. It adds d e p t h to the job - more control, responsibility, and discretion to how the job is performed. This gives higher order needs to the employee, as opposed to job enlargement which simply gives more variety. The chart below (Cunningham & Eberle, 1990) illustrates the differences:
Job Enrichment and Job Performance Higher Order _______________________________ | | | | | Job | | Job | Enrichment | | Enrichment | and | | | Enlargement | | | | |_______________|_______________| | | | | | | | Routine | Job | | Job | Enlargement | | | | | | | |_______________|_______________| Few Many Variety of Tasks

Accent on Needs

Lower Order

The benefits of enriching jobs include:


o o o o o o

Growth of the individual Individuals have better job satisfaction Self-actualization of the individual Better employee performance for the organization Organization gets intrinsically motivated employees Less absenteeism, turnover, and grievances for the

organization
o o

Full use of human resources for society Society gains more effective organizations

There are a variety of methods for improving job enrichment:


o

Skill Variety: Perform different tasks that require different skill. This differs from job enlargement which might require the employee to perform more tasks, but require the same set of skills.

Task Identity: Create or perform a complete piece of work. This gives a sense of completion and responsibility for the product.

o o o

Task Significant: This is the amount of impact that the work has on other people as the employee perceives. Autonomy: This gives employees discretion and control over job related decisions. Feedback: Information that tells workers how well they are performing. It can come directly from the job (task feedback) or verbally form someone else.

Action Learning
An unheralded British academic was invited to try out his theories in Belgium -- it led to an upturn in the Belgian economy. "Unless your ideas are ridiculed by experts they are worth nothing," says the British academic Reg Revans, creator of action learning [L = P + Q] -- learning occurs through a combination of programmed knowledge (P) and the ability to ask insightful questions (Q). Action learning has been widely used in Europe for combining formal management training with learning from experience. A typical program is conducted over a period of 6 to 9 months. Teams of learners with diverse backgrounds conduct field projects on complex organizational problems requiring use of skills learned in

formal training sessions. The learning teams then meet periodically with a skilled instructor to discuss, analyze, and learn from their experiences. Revans basis his learning method on a theory called "System Beta," in that the learning process should closely approximate the "scientific method." The model is cyclical - you proceed through the steps and when you reach the last step you relate the analysis to the original hypothesis and if need be, start the process again. The six steps are:
o o o o o o

Formulate Hypothesis (an idea or concept) Design Experiment (consider ways of testing truth or validity of idea or concept) Apply in Practice (put into effect, test of validity or truth) Observe Results (collect and process data on outcomes of test) Analyze Results (make sense of data) Compare Analysis (relate analysis to original hypothesis)

Note that you do not always have to enter this process at step 1, but you do have to complete the process. Revans suggest that all human learning at the individual level occurs through this process. Note that it covers what Jim Stewart (M a n a g i n g C h a n g e T h r o u g h T r a i n i n g a n d D e v e l o p m e n t , 1991) calls the levels of existence:
o o o

We think - cognitive domain We feel - affective domain We do - action domain

All three levels are interconnected -- e.g. what we think influences and is influenced by what we do and feel.

Change

In its simplest form, discontinuity in the work place is "change." Our prefrontal cortex is similar to the RAM memory in a PC -- it is fast and agile computational device that is able to hold multiple threads of logic at once so that we can perform fast calculations. However it has its limits in that it can only hold a handful of concepts at once. In addition, it burns lots of high energy glucose (blood sugar), which is expensive for the body to produce. Thus when given lots of information, such as when a change is required, it has a tendency to overload and being directly linked to the amygdala (the emotional center of the brain) that controls our fight-or-flight response, it can cause severe physical and psychological discomfort. Our prefrontal cortex is marvelous for insight when not overloaded. But for normal everyday use, our brain prefers to run off its "hard-drive" -- the basal ganglia, which has a much larger storage area and stores memories and our habits. In addition, it sips rather than gulps food (glucose). When we do something familiar and predictable, our brain is mainly using the basal ganglia, which is quite comforting to us. When we use our prefrontal cortex, then we are looking for fight, flight, or insight. Too much change produces fight or flight syndromes. As change agents we want to produce "insight" into our learners so that they are able to apply their knowledge and skills not just in the classroom, but also on the job. And the way to help people come to "insight" is to allow them to come to their own resolution. These moments of insight or resolutions are called "epiphanies" -- sudden intuitive leap of understanding that are quite pleasurable to us and act as rewards. Thus you have to resist the urge to fill in the entire picture of change, rather you have to

leave enough gaps so that the learners are allowed to make connections of their own. Doing too much for the learners can be just as bad, if not worse, than not doing enough. Doing all the thinking for learners takes their brains out of action which means they will not invest the energy to make new connections.

Motivation & Leadership


A person's motivation is a combination of desire and energy directed at achieving a goal. Influencing someone's motivation means getting them to want to do what you know must be done. A person's motivation depends upon two things:
o

The strength of certain needs. For example, you are hungry, but you must have a task completed by a nearing deadline. If you are starving you will eat. If you are slightly hungry you will finish the task at hand.

The perception that taking a certain action will help satisfy those needs. For example, you have two burning needs - the desire to complete the task and the desire to go to lunch. Your perception of how you view those two needs will determine which one takes priority. If you believe that you could be fired for not completing the task, you will probably put off lunch and complete the task. If you believe that you will not get into trouble or perhaps finish the task in time, then you will likely go to lunch.

People can be motivated by such forces as beliefs, values, interests, fear, and worthy causes. Some of these forces are internal, such as needs, interests, and beliefs. Others are external, such as danger, the environment,

or pressure from a loved one. There is no simple formula for motivation -you must keep a open viewpoint on human nature. There is a complex array of forces steering the direction of each person and these forces cannot always be seen or studied. In addition, if the same forces are steering two different people, each one may act differently. Knowing that each person may react to different needs will guide your decisions and actions in certain situations.

As a leader you have the power to influence motivation. The following guidelines (U.S. Army Handbook, 1973) form a basic view of motivation. They will help guide your decision making process: Allow the needs of your team to coincide with the needs of your organization. Nearly everyone is influenced by the needs for job security, promotion, raises, and approval of their peers and/or leaders. They are also influenced by internal forces such as values morals, and ethics. Likewise, the organization needs good people in a wide variety of jobs. Ensure that your team is trained, encouraged, and has opportunities to advance. Also, ensure that the way you conduct business has the same values, moral, and ethic principles that you seek in others. If you conduct business in a dishonest manner, your team will be dishonest to you, for that will be the kind of people that you will attract. Reward good behavior. Although a certificate, letter, or a thank you may seem small and insignificant, they can be powerful motivators. The reward should be specific and prompt. Do not say something general, such as "for doing a good job," rather cite the specific action that made you believe it was indeed a good job. In addition, help those who are good. We all make mistakes or need help on occasion to achieve a particular goal. Set the example. You must be the role model that you want others to grow into. Develop morale and esprit de corps. Morale is the mental, emotional, and spiritual state of a person. Almost everything you do will have an impact on your organization. You should always be

aware how your actions and decisions might affect it. Esprit de corps means team spirit - it is defined as the spirit of the organization or collective body (in French it literally means "spirit of the body"). It is the consciousness of the organization that allows the people within it to identify with and feel a part of. Is your workplace a place where people cannot wait to get away from; or is it a place that people enjoy spending a part of their lives? Allow your team to be part of the planning and problem solving process. This helps with their development and allows you to coach them. Secondly, it motivates them -- people who are part of the decision making process become the owners of it, thus it gives them a personal interest in seeing the plan succeed. Thirdly, communication is clearer as everyone has a better understanding of what role they must play as part of the team. Next, it creates an open trusting communication bond. They are no longer just the doers for the organization -- they are now part of it! Finally, recognition and appreciation from a respected leader are powerful motivators. Look out for your team. Although you do not have control over their personal lives, you must show concern for them. Things that seem of no importance to you might be extremely critical to them. You must be able to empathize with them. This is from the German word, e i n f u h l i n g , which means "to feel with", or the ability to perceive another person's view of the world as though that view were your own. The Sioux Indian Tribal Prayer reads, "Great Spirit, help us never to judge another until we have walked for two weeks in his moccasins." Also note that empathy differs from sympathy in that sympathy connotes spontaneous emotion rather than a conscious, reasoned response. Sympathizing with others may be less useful to another person if we are limited by the strong feelings of the moment.

Keep them informed. Keeping the communication channel open allow team members to have a sense of control over their lives. Make their jobs challenging, exciting, and meaningful. Make each feel like an individual in a great team, rather than a cog in a lifeless machine. People need meaningful work, even if it is tiring and unpleasant; they need to know that it is important and necessary for the survival of the organization. Counsel people who behave in a way that is counter to the company's goals. All the guidelines before this took the positive approach. But, sometimes this does not always work. You must let people know when they are not performing to an acceptable standard. By the same token, you must protect them when needed. For example, if someone in your department is always late arriving for work and it is causing disruptions, then you must take action. On the other hand, if you have an extremely good department and once in a while a person is a few minutes late, then do the right thing - protect the person from the bureaucracy!

Informed Acquiescence Vs. Value-Based SelfGovernance


The most common form of culture in modern organizations is often referred to as "informed acquiescence." They are rule-based in that the workers learn the rules and agree to abide by them. Rules work their way from the top-down in a fairly controllable and predictable manner. Thus a large organization becomes management-orientated and in turn, a bureaucracy. And it is this bureaucracy that tends to slow things down.

However, many of the leading organizations are becoming more "value-based self-governance" in that rather than the workforce being governed by "should," they act upon "can" (Seidman, 2007). They have a small core set of rules that are valued by the workforce. Rather then being motivated to do better, they are inspired. Motivation

is controlled somewhat by outside factors, while inspired (similar to "esprit") is more inside the individual (soul or spirit) and is usually considered the greatest motivator. Being freed from the crippling pace of bureaucracy, value-based companies operate and move faster. Probably no organization is solely one or the other, yet the better and faster ones are closer to being value-based. Nordstrom is perhaps the best known example of an organization that leans heavily towards value-based self-governance. For example, Nordstrom's rule is to "Use good judgement in all situations." Employees are encouraged to ask questions from anyone because they believe that all information should be accessible to everyone, regardless of seniority or status.

Counseling

Counseling has a powerful, long-term impact on people and the effectiveness of the organization. Counseling is talking with a person in a way that helps him or her solve a problem. It involves thinking, implementing, knowing human nature, timing, sincerity, compassion, and kindness. It involves much more that simply telling someone what to do about a problem.

Leaders must demonstrate the following qualities in order to counsel effectively.


o

Respect for employees - This includes the belief that individuals are responsible for their own actions and ideas. It includes an awareness of a person's individuality by recognizing their unique values, attributes, and skills. As you attempt to develop people with counseling, you must refrain from projecting your own values onto them.

Self-Awareness - This quality is an understanding of yourself as a

leader. The more you are aware of your own values, needs, and biases, the less likely you will be to project your feelings onto your employees.
o

Credibility - Believability is achieved through both honesty and consistency between both the leader's statements and actions. Credible leaders are straightforward with their subordinates and behave in such a manner that earns the subordinates' respect and trust.

Empathy - or compassion entails understanding a subordinate's situation. Empathetic leaders will be better able to help subordinates identify the situation and then develop a plan to improve it.

The reason for counseling is to help employees develop in order to achieve organizational goals. Sometimes, the counseling is directed by policy, and at other times, leaders should choose to counsel to develop employees. Regardless of the nature of the counseling, leaders should demonstrate the qualities of an effective counselor (respect, self-awareness, credibility, and empathy) and employ the skills of good communication.

While the reason for counseling is to develop subordinates, leaders often categorize counseling based on the topic of the session. Major categories include performance counseling, problem counseling, and individual growth counseling (development). While these categories help leaders to organize and focus counseling sessions, they must not be viewed as separate and distinct types of counseling. For example a counseling session which mainly focuses on resolving a problem may also have a great impact on improving job performance. Another example is a counseling session that focuses on performance may also include a discussion of opportunities for growth. Regardless of the topic of the counseling session, you should follow the same basic format to prepare for and conduct counseling.
Steps for counseling 1. Identify the problem. Ensure you get to the heart of the problem. Sakichi Toyoda, the founder of Toyota, invented a technique called the Five Whys. When confronted with a problem you ask "why" five times. By the time the fifth why is answered, you should be at the root cause of the problem. For example:

Tom's work has not up to standards o o o o o Why? - After discussing it with Tom it turns out he has too much of a workload Why? - Tom is considered one of the experts, hence he often gets extra work dumped on him Why? - Susan, the other expert, was promoted and no one else is capable of replacing her Why? - We failed to train and develop the other team members Why? - We did not see the necessity of cross-training

2. Analyze the forces influencing the behavior. Determine which of these forces you have control over and which of the forces the worker has control over. Determine if the force has to be modified, eliminated, or enforced. 3. Plan, coordinate, and organize the session. Determine the best time to conduct the session so that you will not be interrupted or forced to end too early. 4. Conduct the session using sincerity, compassion, and kindness. This does not mean you cannot be firm or in control. Your reputation is on the line; the problem must be solved so that your department can continue with its mission. Likewise, you must hear the person out. 5. During the session, determine what the worker believes causes the counterproductive behavior and what will be required to change it. Also, determine if your initial analysis is correct. 6. Try to maintain a sense of timing of when to use directive or nondirective counseling (see below). 7. Using all the facts, make a decision and/or a plan of action to correct the problem. If more counseling is needed, make a firm time and date for the next session. 8. After the session and throughout a sufficient time period, evaluate the worker's progress to ensure the problem has indeed been solved. There are two types of counseling - directive and nondirective. In directive counseling, the counselor identifies the problem and tells the counselee what to do about it. Nondirective counseling means the counselee identifies the problem and determines the solution with the help of the counselor. The counselor has to determine which of the two, or some appropriate combination, to give for each situation. For example, "Put that cigarette out now as this is a nonsmoking area," is a form of directive counseling. While a form of nondirective counseling would be, "So the reason you are not

effective is that you were up late last night. What are you going to do to ensure that this does not affect your performance again?"

Hints for counseling sessions:


o o o

Let the person know that the behavior is undesirable, not the person. Let the person know that you care about him or her as a person, but that you expect more from them. Do not punish employees who are unable to perform a task. Punish those who are able to perform the task but are unwilling or unmotivated to succeed.

o o o

Counseling sessions should be conducted in private immediately after the undesirable behavior. Do not humiliate a person in front of others. Ensure that the employee understands exactly what behavior led to the counseling or punishment. Do not hold a grudge. When it is over, it is over! Move on!

Performance Appraisals
Skills + Knowledge + Attitudes = Observable Behavior Observable Behavior = Performance Appraisal Rating If you don't keep score, you're only practicing." - Vince Lombardi Performance Appraisals (often called reviews, evaluations, or assessments) are the measurement of a specific range of skills, knowledge, and attitudes in relation to certain objective standards. The ratings are based upon observations or empirical data in relationship to a set of predefined standards. Although we sometimes make decisions based upon our own personal feelings or gut-level instincts, appraisals must be based upon how well a person has performed to a set standard. He who stops being better stops being good. - Oliver Cromwell The objective of performance appraisals is to help employees improve their performance and grow as individuals so that the organization can meet its present and future goals in a timely and cost effective manner. Is this how most organizations use them? No. They are used for protection against lawsuits, to justify different levels of pay increases, or to provide once-a-year feedback. In other words, a lot of managers and supervisors view them as an additional burden required by Human Resources. When in fact, they should be viewed as a performance tool. Just as a leader uses speaking

skills to encourage the troops and analytical skills to forecast budgets; performance appraisals should be used to encourage great performance and create goals to improve weak competencies.

For many, the performance appraisal is tied in to their pay as a reward system. Tony Hope, a visiting professor at the French Business school INSEAD, spoke of rewards at the Institute of Personnel and Development's Compensation conference. He believes that we need to stop this practice as trust and commitment cannot be fostered while cost-control imperatives dominate organizational thinking. "Just as we have seen that knowledge workers don't respond to a regime of command and control in management style, so they won't perform according to pay systems that are individually based," says Professor Hope, "Organizations must hang on to their best people and these people are exactly those that are least impressed by internal competition within tight budgets...New and powerful forces that are shaping organizations mean that people management professionals are going to have to find ways of collectively rewarding effort. It will be less pay for performance and more pay for participation." Performance appraisals are normally given at annual or semi-annual time periods. They need to provide specific feedback to the individual as to what competencies need improvement:
o o o o

Skills - What areas do I need to train in? Knowledge - What areas do I need to learn more about? Attitude - Are my inner drives coinciding with the organization's goals? Rewards - What am I doing right so I can do more of it? (we all like pats on the back)

Performance Appraisals do not take the place of daily feedback mechanisms. If an individual is shocked or surprised by the evaluation that he or she has received, then you as a leader have not performed your job. An evaluation is the overall scorecard that sums up a person's performance over the rating period, while daily one-on-ones, meetings, and other feedback devices are the tools that leaders use to motivate their employees on to higher performance.

The performance appraisal or evaluation is one of the most powerful motivational tools available to a leader. It has three main objectives:
o

To measure performance fairly and objectively against job requirements. This allows effective workers to be rewarded for their efforts and ineffective workers to be put on the line for poor performance.

To increase performance by identifying specific development goals. "If you don't know where you are going, any road w i l l t a k e y o u t h e r e " - Lewis Carrol. The appraisal allows the worker to target specific areas for job growth. In addition, it should be a time to plan for better performance on the job.

To develop career goals so that the worker may keep pace with the requirements of a fast paced organization. More and more, every job in an organization becomes more demanding with new requirements. Just because a worker is performing effectively in her job today, does not mean she will be able to perform effectively tomorrow. She must be allowed to grow with the job and the organization.

A lot of people consider giving performance appraisals as being quite uncomfortable. However, it is not the judging of people that is really uncomfortable, rather it is the judging of bad performance that is uncomfortable. Thus, eliminate poor performance in the first place, and performance appraisals become a lot more pleasant to give. Now of course you are not going to eliminate poor performance completely; however, with a little bit of planning it can be greatly reduced.

Performance has often been described as "purposeful work" -- that is, a job exists to achieve specific and defined results. And what bad performers really do is perform "work activities" (busy work), rather than activities that contribute to effective performance. The first step in performance planning is to determine the results that you want the performer to achieve. After all, workers generally want to know what they need to do, how well you need them to do it, and how well they are actually doing it (feedback). In addition, a worker should not walk blindly into a performance

appraisal. Past counseling sessions, feedback, and one-on-ones should give her a pretty clear understanding of what to expect from the appraisal. If you blind-side her, you have not done your job as a leader. Helping your team grow is not a once or twice yearly task, but a full-time duty. The appraisal should be a joint effort. No one knows the job better than the person performing it. By turning the appraisal into a real discussion, rather than a lecture, the leader may learn some insightful information that could help boost his or her performance in the future. Before the meeting, have the worker complete her own self-appraisal. Although you might think they will take advantage of this by giving themselves unearned high marks, studies have shown that most workers rate themselves more critically than the leader would have.

Should Performance Appraisals be Scrapped?


There has been some talk of completely doing away with performance appraisals as they sometimes do more harm than good. Yet performance appraisals are tools and like any other tool, they can be used correctly or incorrectly. Part of the problem might be with its name -- "Performance Appraisal," which has sort of a judgmental sound to it. Perhaps "Performance Planning and Review" might be a better term for it.

Part-time employees at Trader Joe's are reviewed every three months, which is an unusually frequent rate of evaluation (Speizer, 2004). In addition, the part-time employees of Trader Joe's are paid higher wages, as are their full-time workers, than what you will find in the normal grocery store (an average of $16 per hour vs $12).

What is interesting about all of this is that they have been bought three times, and NOT because they are losing money -- they make more money per square foot of business than the average grocery store. The new leadership teams have never said that they need to pay them what the rest of the industry pays. Why? Because they see the value in their workers! Rather than giving lip-service to "employees our are most valuable asset," they actually walk-the-talk. Yet, one of the arguments for scrapping performance appraisals is that ALL workers' pay should be aligned with the labor market -- they do not deserve annual pay raises as it inflates the wage and salary structure. Traditionally, roles have remained the same while goals change (Buchen, 2004). Yet, due to the rapid changes that occur on a day-today basis, the roles are actually changing, even though they might remained fixed on paper. Performance appraisals often fail to factor in the changing relationships between goals and roles that are often in a high state of metamorphosis. That is, our attention remains fixed on steadfast goals, while ignoring ever-changing roles. This type of thinking shows up in a lot of industries as they view their workers' jobs as set roles, even though the world is rapidly changing. For example, the 2004 grocery strike in California forced many shoppers to look at alternatives, thus they started shopping at Traders Joe's (who were not part of the strike). And many of these shoppers

never went back to their regular stores (who see their employees playing traditional roles) because they enjoy the experience they have at Trader Joe's. Yet Trader Joe's was not always like this -- it started out more like a Seven-Eleven, but because of the competition it went in search of its present niche and recognized along the way that its employee's roles also needed to change. So even though they still deal in the same commodity as the larger grocery stores -- food -they not only changed the way they bought food (goal), but also in they way they deliver that food to the customer (role). Thus, the real argument is not really about scrapping Performance Appraisals, but rather ensuring that once goals are set, that all roles are properly accounted for so that the target can indeed be met.

Group behavior in sociology refers to the situations where people interact in large or small groups. The field of group dynamics deals with small groups that may reach consensus and act in a coordinated way. Groups of a large number of people in a given area may act simultaneously to achieve a goal that differs from what individuals would do acting alone (herd behaviour). A large group (a crowd or mob) is likely to show examples of group behaviour when people gathered in a given place and time act in a similar wayfor example, joining a protest or march, participating in a fight or acting patriotically. Special forms of large group behaviour are:

crowd "hysteria" spectators - when a group of people gathered together on purpose to participate in an event like theatre play, cinema movie, football match, a concert, etc. public - exception to the rule that the group must occupy the same physical place. People watching same channel on television may react in the same way, as they are occupying the same type of place - in front of television - although they may physically be doing this all over the world.

Group behaviour differs from mass actions which refers to people behaving similarly on a more global scale (for example, shoppers in different shops), while group behaviour refers usually to people in one place. If the group behaviour is coordinated, then it is called group action. Swarm intelligence is a special case of group behaviour, referring to the interaction between a group of agents in order to fulfil a given task. This type of group dynamics has received much attention by the soft computing community in the form of the particle swarm optimization family of algorithms.

Negotiation is a dialogue intended to resolve disputes, to produce an agreement upon courses of action, to bargain for individual or collective advantage, or to craft outcomes to satisfy various interests. It is the primary method of alternative dispute resolution. Negotiation occurs in business, non-profit organizations, government branches, legal proceedings, among nations and in personal situations such as marriage, divorce, parenting, and everyday life. The study of the subject is called negotiation theory. Those who work in negotiation professionally are called negotiators. Professional negotiators are often specialized, such as union negotiators, leverage buyout negotiators, peace negotiators, hostage negotiators, or may work under other titles, such as diplomats, legislators or brokers. Negotiation typically manifests itself with a trained negotiator acting on behalf of a particular organization or position. It can be compared to mediation where a disinterested third party listens to each sides' arguments and attempts to help craft an agreement between the parties. It is also related to arbitration which, as with a legal proceeding, both sides make an argument as to the merits of their "case" and then the arbitrator decides the outcome for both parties. Negotiation involves three basic elements: process, behavior and substance. The process refers to how the parties negotiate: the context of the negotiations, the parties to the negotiations, the tactics used by the parties, and the sequence and stages in which all of these play out. Behavior refers to the relationships among these parties, the communication between them and the styles they adopt. The substance refers to what the parties negotiate over: the agenda, the issues (positions and - more helpfully - interests), the options, and the agreement(s) reached at the end. Skilled negotiators may use a variety of tactics ranging from negotiation hypnosis, to a straight forward presentation of demands or setting of preconditions to more deceptive approaches such as cherry picking. Intimidation and salami tactics may also play a part in swaying the outcome of negotiations.
[edit] The advocate's approach

In the advocacy approach, a skilled negotiator usually serves as advocate for one party to the negotiation and attempts to obtain the most favorable outcomes possible for that party. In this process the negotiator attempts to determine the minimum outcome(s) the other party is (or parties are) willing to accept, then adjusts their demands accordingly. A "successful" negotiation in the advocacy approach is when the negotiator is able to obtain all or most of the outcomes their party desires, but without driving the other party to permanently break off negotiations, unless the best alternative to a negotiated agreement (BATNA) is acceptable. Traditional negotiating is sometimes called win-lose because of the assumption of a fixed "pie", that one person's gain results in another person's loss. This is only true, however, if only a single issue needs to be resolved, such as a price in a simple sales negotiation.
[edit] The "win/win" negotiator's approach

During the early part of the twentieth century, academics such as Mary Parker Follett developed ideas suggesting that agreement often can be reached if parties look not at their stated positions but rather at their underlying interests and requirements to reach a decision that benefits both parties.

In the 1970s, practitioners and researchers began to develop win-win approaches to negotiation. Win-win is taken from Economic Game Theory, and has been adopted by negotiation North American academics to loosely mean Principled Negotiation. Getting to YES was published by Roger Fisher and William Ury as part of the Harvard negotiation project. The book's approach, referred to as Principled Negotiation, is also sometimes called mutual gains bargaining. The mutual gains approach has been effectively applied in environmental situations (see Lawrence Susskind and Adil Najam) as well as labor relations where the parties (e.g. management and a labor union) frame the negotiation as "problem solving". If multiple issues are discussed, differences in the parties' preferences make winwin negotiation possible. For example, in a labor negotiation, the union might prefer job security over wage gains. If the employers have opposite preferences, a trade is possible that is beneficial to both parties. Such a negotiation is therefore not an adversarial zero-sum game. There are a tremendous number of other scholars who have contributed to the field of negotiation, including Gerard E. Watzke at Tulane University, Sara Cobb at George Mason University, Len Riskin at the University of Missouri, Howard Raiffa at Harvard, Robert McKersie and Lawrence Susskind at MIT, and Adil Najam and Jeswald Salacuse at The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.[citation needed]

[edit] Emotion in negotiation


Emotions play an important part in the negotiation process, although it is only in recent years that their effect is being studied. Emotions have the potential to play either a positive or negative role in negotiation. During negotiations, the decision as to whether or not settle, rests in part on emotional factors. Negative emotions can cause intense and even irrational behavior, and can cause conflicts to escalate and negotiations to break down, while positive emotions facilitate reaching an agreement and help to maximize joint gains. Affect effect: Dispositional affects affect the various stages of the negotiation process: which strategies are planned to be used, which strategies are actually chosen,[1] the way the other party and its intentions are perceived,[2] the willingness to reach an agreement and the final outcomes.[3] Positive affectivity (PA) and negative affectivity (NA) of one or more of the negotiating sides can lead to very different outcomes.
[edit] Positive affect in negotiation

Even before the negotiation process starts, people in a positive mood have more confidence,[4] and higher tendencies to plan to use a cooperative strategy.[1] During the negotiation, negotiators who are in a positive mood tend to enjoy the interaction more, show less contentious behavior, use less aggressive tactics[5] and more cooperative strategies.[1] This in turn increases the likelihood that parties will reach their instrumental goals, and enhance the ability to find integrative gains.[6] Indeed, compared with negotiators with negative or natural affectivity, negotiators with positive affectivity reached more agreements and tended to honor those agreements more.[1] Those favorable outcomes are due to better decision making processes, such as flexible thinking, creative problem solving, respect for others' perspectives, willingness to take risks and higher confidence.[7] Post negotiation positive affect has beneficial consequences as well. It increases satisfaction with achieved outcome and influences ones desire for future interactions.[7] The PA aroused by reaching an agreement facilitates the dyadic relationship, which result in affective commitment that sets

the stage for subsequent interactions.[7] PA also has its drawbacks: it distorts perception of self performance, such that performance is judged to be relatively better than it actually is.[4] Thus, studies involving self reports on achieved outcomes might be biased.
[edit] Negative affect in negotiation

Negative affect has detrimental effects on various stages in the negotiation process. Although various negative emotions affect negotiation outcomes, by far the most researched is anger. Angry negotiators plan to use more competitive strategies and to cooperate less, even before the negotiation starts.[1] These competitive strategies are related to reduced joint outcomes. During negotiations, anger disrupts the process by reducing the level of trust, clouding parties' judgment, narrowing parties' focus of attention and changing their central goal from reaching agreement to retaliating against the other side.[5] Angry negotiators pay less attention to opponents interests and are less accurate in judging their interests, thus achieve lower joint gains.[8] Moreover, because anger makes negotiators more self-centered in their preferences, it increases the likelihood that they will reject profitable offers.[5] Anger doesnt help in achieving negotiation goals either: it reduces joint gains[1] and does not help to boost personal gains, as angry negotiators dont succeed in claiming more for themselves.[8] Moreover, negative emotions lead to acceptance of settlements that are not in the positive utility function but rather have a negative utility.[9] However, expression of negative emotions during negotiation can sometimes be beneficial: legitimately expressed anger can be an effective way to show one's commitment, sincerity, and needs.[5] Moreover, although NA reduces gains in integrative tasks, it is a better strategy than PA in distributive tasks (such as zero-sum).[7]
[edit] Conditions for emotion effect in negotiation

Research indicates that negotiators emotions do not necessarily affect the negotiation process. Albarracn et al. (2003) suggested that there are two conditions for emotional effect, both related to the ability (presence of environmental or cognitive disturbances) and the motivation:
1. Identification of the affect: requires high motivation, high ability or both. 2. Determination that the affect is relevant and important for the judgment: requires that either the motivation, the ability or both are low.

According to this model, emotions are expected to affect negotiations only when one is high and the other is low. When both ability and motivation are low the affect will not be identified, and when both are high the affect will be identify but discounted as irrelevant for judgment.[10] A possible implication of this model is, for example, that the positive effects PA has on negotiations (as described above) will be seen only when either motivation or ability are low.
[edit] The effect of the partners emotions

Most studies on emotion in negotiations focus on the effect of the negotiators own emotions on the process. However, what the other party feels might be just as important, as group emotions are known to affect processes both at the group and the personal levels. When it comes to negotiations, trust in the other party is a necessary condition for its emotion to

affect,[2] and visibility enhances the effect.[6] Emotions contribute to negotiation processes by signaling what one feels and thinks and can thus prevent the other party from engaging in destructive behaviors and to indicate what steps should be taken next: PA signals to keep in the same way, while NA points that mental or behavioral adjustments are needed.[7] Partners emotions can have two basic effects on negotiators emotions and behavior: mimetic/ reciprocal or complimentary.[3] For example, disappointment or sadness might lead to compassion and more cooperation.[7] In a study by Butt et al. (2005) which simulated real multi-phase negotiation, most people reacted to the partners emotions in reciprocal, rather than complimentary, manner. Specific emotions were found to have different effects on the opponents feelings and strategies chosen:

Anger caused the opponents to place lower demands and to concede more in a zero-sum negotiation, but also to evaluate the negotiation less favorably.[11] It provoked both dominating and yielding behaviors of the opponent.[3]. Pride led to more integrative and compromise strategies by the partner.[3] Guilt or regret expressed by the negotiator led to better impression of him by the opponent, however it also led the opponent to place higher demands.[2]. On the other hand, personal guilt was related to more satisfaction with what one achieved.[7] Worry or disappointment left bad impression on the opponent, but led to relatively lower demands by the opponent.[2]

DECISION MAKING

Decision making can be regarded as an outcome of mental processes (cognitive process) leading to the selection of a course of action among several alternativ. Every decision making process produces a final choice.[1] The output can be an action or an opinion of choice. Decision making can be regarded as an outcome of mental processes (cognitive process) leading to the selection of a course of action among several alternativ. Every decision making process produces a final choice.[1] The output can be an action or an opinion of choice.

Conflict resolution is any reduction in the severity of a conflict. It may involve conflict management, in which the parties continue the conflict but adopt less extreme tactics; settlement, in which they reach agreement on enough issues that the conflict stops; or removal of the underlying causes of the conflict. The latter is sometimes called resolution, in a narrower sense of the term that will not be used in this article. Settlements sometimes end a conflict for good, but when there are deeper issuessuch as value clashes among people who must work together, distressed relationships, or mistreated members of ones ethnic group across a bordersettlements are often temporary.

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