Organizational Behavior - Exam #5

organizational culture

the set of shared, taken-for granted, implicit assumptions that a group holds and that determines how it perceives, thinks about, and reacts to its various environments

What are the four characteristics of organizational culture?

• shared concept

• learned over time

• influences our behavior at work

• impacts outcomes at multiple levels

What are the three levels of organizational culture?

• observable artifacts

• espoused versus enacted values

• basic underlying assumptions

observable artifacts

the physical manifestation of an organization’s culture

espoused values

explicitly stated values and norms that are preferred by an organization

enacted values

values and norms that are actually exhibited or converted into employee behavior

basic underlying assumptions

organizational values that have become taken for granted

What are the four functions of organizational culture?

• establish organizational identity

• encourage collective commitment

• ensure social system stability

• act as sense-making device

clan (collaborate) values

• internal focus, flexibility valued rather than stability & control

• achieving effectiveness by encouraging collaboration, trust & support

• employee-focused

means: cohesion, participation, communication, & empowerment

ends: morale, people, development, & commitment

adhocracy (create) values

• external focus and flexibility valued

• creation of new products and services

• culture adaptable, creative, and fast to respond to the marketplace

means: adaptability, creativity, & agility

ends: innovation, growth, & cutting-edge output

hierarchy (control) values

• internal focus, formalized and structured work environment

• stability and control valued over flexibility

• efficiency, timeliness, and reliability

means: capable processes, consistency, process control, & measurement

ends: efficiency, timeliness, and smooth functioning

market (compete) values

• strong external focus and stability and control valued

• competition

• strong desire to deliver results and accomplish goals

means: customer focus, productivity, & enhancing competitiveness

ends: market share, profitability, & goal achievement

What are the four types of organizational culture?

• adhocracy

• market

• clan

• hierarchy

What are the outcomes that are associated with organizational culture?

• is related to measures of organizational effectiveness

• employees are more satisfied and committed to organizations with clan cultures

• clan and market cultures are more likely to deliver higher customer satisfaction and market share

• innovation and quality can be increased by building characteristics associated with clan, adhocracy, and market cultures

• financial performance is not strongly related to organizational culture

• market cultures tend to have more positive organizational outcomes

subcultures

• often not a single homogeneous culture

• multiple of these that either intensify the existing cultural understanding and practices or diverge from them

What are the five main things that subcultures form around?

• functional or occupational groups or work roles

• divisions or departments

• geographical areas

• products, markets, & technology

• levels of management

What are the four truths of culture change?

• leaders are the architects and developers of organizational change

• changing culture starts with one of the three levels of organizational culture: artifacts, espoused vales, & basic underlying assumptions

• consider how closely the current change aligns with the organization’s vision and strategic plan

• use a structure approach when implementing culture change

vision

a long-term goal that describes what an organization wants to become

strategic plan

outlines the organization’s long-term goals and the actions necessary to achieve them

What are the 11 mechanisms for creating culture change?

• formal statements (ex. mission, vision, values, etc.)

• design of physical space (ex. among people and buildings, location of furniture, etc.)

• slogans, language, acronyms, and sayings (easy to remember)

• explicit rewards or status symbols (strong impact to embed culture)

• role modeling, training, or coaching

• stories, legends, or myths

• organizational activity and processes (leaders pay attention to those activities they can measure and control)

• leader reactions to critical incidents (people learn by watching the leaders)

• rites and rituals (used to celebrate important events)

• workflow and organizational structure (reducing organizational layers)

• organizational systems and procedures and goals (reflect values)

organizational socialization

the process by which a person learns the values, norms, and required behaviors that permit them to participate as a member of an organization

• effective onboarding programs result in increased retention, productivity, and rates of task completion for new hires

• managers need to help new hires integrate with the culture to overcome stress associated with a new environment

What are the three phases of the organizational socialization process?

• anticipatory socialization

• encounter

• change and acquisition

Phase 1: Anticipatory Socialization

• occurs before an individual actually joins an organization

• information learned about careers and organizations

• learned from: current employees, social media, & internet

• offers a realistic job preview

Phase 2: Encounter

• employees come to learn what the organization is really like

• organizations use onboarding programs to help employees integrate, assimilate, and transition to new jobs by making them familar with corporate policies, procedures, etc

Phase 3: Change & Acquisition

employees master important tasks and roles and adjust to their group’s values and norms

mentoring

the process of forming and maintaining intensive and lasting developmental relationships between a variety of developers and a junior person

coaching

a process that focuses on improving an individual’s behavior and performance to resolve work issues or handle specific aspects of the job and may be short term

What are the four phases of mentoring and embedding organizational culture?

• initiation

• cultivation

• separation

• redefinition

What are the two general functions of the mentoring process?

• career related: sponsorship, exposure, coaching, protection, etc.

• psycho-social related: role modeling, acceptance and confirmation, friendship, etc.

human capital

the productive potential of an individual’s knowledge, skills, and experiences

social capital

the productive potential resulting from relationships, goodwill, trust, and cooperative effort

What are the four steps to developing a mentoring plan?

• make it goal driven

• seek out those experienced in the areas in which you want to improve

• what value will you bring to the relationship?

• know when to move on

organization

a system of consciously coordinated activities or forces of two or more persons

• common among all organizations: coordination of effort, division of labor, aligned goal, and hierarchy of authority

What are the four basic dimensions reflected in organizational charts?

• hierachy of authority

• division of labor

• span of control

• line-staff positions

hierarchy of authority (unity of command principle)

specifies that each employee should report to only one manager

division of labor

what each person’s role is in the organization

span of control

the number of people reporting directly to a given manager

staff employees

do background research and provide technical advice and recommendations to their line managers

line managers

generally have the authority to make decisions for their units

What are the subsystems of an organization in an open system?

• goals and values

• technical

• structural

• psychosocial

learning organization

proactively creates, acquires, and transfers knowledge and changes its behavior on the basis of new knowledge and insights

organizational design

sets the structures of accountability and responsibility used to develop and implement strategies, and the HR practices and information and business processes that activate those structures

What are the three categories of organizational design?

• traditional

• horizontal

• open

traditional

• mid-1800s through 1970s

• focus was self-contrained within organization’s boundaries

• type: functional, divisional, and matrix

horizontal

• 1980s

• focus on team- and process-oriented

open

• mid-1990s

• focus on opened beyond organization’s boundaries

• types: hollow, modular, and virtual

What are the seven types of organizational structures?

• functional

• divisional

• matrix

• horizontal

• hollow or network

• modular

• virtual

functional structure

employees grouped according to the business functions they perform

pros: saves money, easy to apply

cons: works best in a stable environment

divisional structure

employees grouped based on similar products or services, customers, or clients, or geographic regions

pros: increased focus on customers and products & flexibility in decisions

cons: tend to focus on their own customer groups or products

matrix structure

• combines a vertical structure with an equally strong horizontal overlay

• generally combines functional and divisional chains of command to form a grid with two command structures

pros: combines advantages of functional and divisional

cons: violates unity of command, decision making is slow, political behavior is common, and requires a lot of communication

horizontal structure

teams or workgroups, either temporary or permanent, created to improve collaboration and work on common projects

pros: improves communication, more creative solutions, knowledge sharing, and faster product development

cons: lines of authority are not clear, requires employees to rise to challenges of empowerment

hollow or network structure

designed around a central core of key functions and outsources other functions to other companies or individuals who can do them cheaper or faster

pros: generate superior returns, focus on what they do best

cons: give up expertise and control when outsourced and have to get results from people without authority

modular structure

the company assembles product parts, components, or modules provided by external contractors

pros: cost savings, greater responsiveness, ability to switch vendors

cons: poor interfaces, poor quality collaboration

virtual structure

• members geographically separated, usually working with email and other forms of IT

• generally appears to customers as a single, unified organization with a real physical location

• can be either: internal or networked external

pros: ability to respond quickly, ability to provide product extension, low exit costs

cons: high level of communication needed, low trust, failure to promote strong employees

contingency approach (to designing organizations)

• organizations are often more effective when they are structured to fit the demands of the situation

• no one way is best

• key issues: strategy and goals, market uncertainty, decision making, size, etc.

• mechanistic: rigid bureaucracies with strict rules, narrowly defined tasks, and top-down communication, centralized decision making, and works best when environment is stable and certain

• organic: flexible networks of multitalented individuals who perform a variety of tasks, decentralized decision making, and works best when environment is unstable and uncertain

innovation

the creation of something new that makes money; it finds a pathway to the consumer

What are the two types of innovation?

• product innovation

• process innovation

product innovation

a change in the appearance of functionality/performance of a product or a service or the creation of a new one

process innovation

a change in the way a product or a service is conceived, manufactured, or distributed

What are the two focuses of innovation?

• improvement innovations

• new direction innovations

improvement innovations

target existing products, services, or processes

new direction innovations

create new markets and customers and rely on developing breakthroughs and inventing things that don’t currently exist

innovation system

a coherent set of interdependent processes and structures that dictates how the company searches for novel problems and solutions, synthesizes ideas into a business concept and product designs, and selects which projects get funded

assessing organizational effectiveness

• translating organizational vision, strategy, and goals into comprehensible performance metrics

• balanced scorecards (BSC) and other organizational dashboards (financial, custom, internal business process, and learning growth and development processes)

What are the external forces for change?

• can apply to the organization, competitors, or the entire industry

• dramatically affects why an organization exists and which markets it will participate in and how

• key forces: demographics, technological advancements, shareholder/customer/market changes, and social/political pressures

What are the internal forces for change?

• may be subtle (ex. low levels of job satisfaction)

• may manifest in outward signs: low productivity, increased conflict, or strikes

• key forces: HR issues & managerial behavior and decisions

What are the three general types of change?

• adaptive change

• innovative change

• radically innovative change

adaptive change

reintroducing a familar practice

innovative change

introducing a practice new to the organization

radically innovative change

introducing a practice new to the industry

Lewin’s Change Model

• unfreezing: create the motivation to change

• changing: introduce new information, models, & procedures

• refreezing: support & reinforce the change

What are the four systems model of change and what is the system?

assumes that any changes have a cascading effect throughout an organization

• inputs: must align with mission & vision

• outputs: represent the desired end results or goals

• strategic plans: outlines long-term direction & action steps

• target elements of change: used to diagnose problems & find solutions

Kotter’s Steps for Leading Organizational Change

provides specific recommendations about behaviors and activities needed to lead organizational change

What are the eight Kotter’s Steps?

• establish a sense of urgency

• create the guiding coalitation

• develop a vision and strategy

• communicate the change vision

• empower the broad-based action

• generate short-term wins

• consolidate gains and produce more change

• anchor new approaches in the culture

organizational development (OD)

planned change aimed at solving a specific issues

steps: 1. diagnosis 2. intervention 3. evaluation 4. feedback

resistance to change

any thought, emotion, or behavior tha does not align with real or potential changes to existing routines

• one of three possible influence outcomes including compliance and commitment

recipient characteristics of resistance to change

• dispositional resistance to change

• surprise and fear of the unknown

• fear of failure

• loss of status or job security

• peer pressure

• past success

change agent characteristics of resistance to change

• decisions that disrupt cultural traditions or group relationships

• personality conflicts

• lack of tact or poor timing

• leadership style

• failing to legitimize change

change agent-recipient relationship

resistance reduced when there is a positive, trusting relationship

stress

an adaptive response to environmental demands, referred to as stressors that produce adaptive responses: physical, emotional, and behavioral reactions

job stress

the harmful physical and emotional responses that occur when the requirements of the job do not match the capabilities, resources, or needs of the worker

eustress

stress assoicated with positive emotions and outcomes

cognitive appraisals

• primary appraisals are perceptions of whether a stressor is irrelevant, positive, or negative

• secondary appraisals are perceptions of how able you are to deal or cope with a given demand

coping strategies 

• control strategy consists of behaviors and cognitions that directly anticipate or solve problems

• escape strategies are those in which you avoid or ignore stressors

• symptom management strategies focus on reducing the symptoms of stress and include relaxation, meditation, medication, and exercise

overcoming resistance to change

• employees are more likely to resist when they perceive that the personal costs of change outweigh the benefits, so managers should provide as much info as possible, inform employees about their reasons, conduct meetings to address questions, and provide employees with opportunities to discuss

• this also helps build trust and improves the agent-recipient relationship

• organizational process and practices: avoid the assumption that people are cosciously resisting change, obtain employee feedback about their obstacles, and consider modifying the elements of change

contingency approach to resistance to change

• inspire

• recognize progress

• expect mistakes

• model, measure, and reward collaboration

• positivity

• goals and time

cognitive restructuring

can help you stop thinking pessimistically about an event or problem

• name the problem

• list your beliefs

• identify consequences

• formulate counterargument

• describe how energized and empowered you feel