psicología de las organizaciones - UV

rationalist approach - scientific management (founder&assumptions)

• Taylor (engineer): start industrialization, efficiency is low and there is a need to increase the control over the behavior of people

• assumptions: interests of employees and employers run parallel (prosperity); scientific approach can be used to organize the work; there is a best way to do this

rationalist approach - scientific management (different from regular management)

• manager is able to use science to analyze each facet of employees’ work → this knowledge replaces worker decisions

• man. and work. work together to assure that insights are used (foremen)

• clear division of tasks man. and work.

• avoids arbitrary

rationalist approach - scientific management (specific aspects)

• rational analysis of tasks

• emphasis on measurement

• repetitive tasks

• tasks broken down into parts and regrouped to achieve highest efficiency

• economic motivation of employees reinforced (productivity and salary connected)

rationalist approach - scientific management (criticism)

• no consideration of psychological aspects of work

• mechanic view: workers are extension of machine

• money as only human motivation

• Kurt Lewin: lack of humanity

rationalist approach - scientific management (current approach)

• aka lean production approach/democratic Taylorism/Toyotism

• optimalization: achieve more with less resources (synergy; 2+2 > 4)

• security: focus on lifetime employment and cooperative man.-emp. relations

• team: isolation of workers is followed but together they are also a team achieving goals of the organization

• active, autonomous to some degree and individuals are responsible for quality control (and improvement)

rationalist approach - women in scientific management

Lilian Gilbreth

• economy of movements: time, motion and fatigue

• mother of scientific management

• researcher, consultant and prolific science communicator

• adviser of multiple US presidents

rationalist approach - bureaucratic tradition (founder&assumptions)

• Weber

• assumptions: macro-view approach (unlike Tsylorism, which is only focused on work → micro-view); bureaucratic organization is a demand of the modernism and the goal of efficiency of our system and ideally perfect because it changes criteria associated with tradition (unfair) and charisma (unstable); workers and groups under formal laws

• dominations: charismatic, traditional and legal (rational)

rationalist approach - bureaucratic tradition (main characteristics)

• activities (guided by standard and formal rules) are organized in tasks → tasks define positions (hierarchically)

• behavior of individuals is formal and impersonal

• work based on technical and professional qualifications

• ideally perfect bcs efficiency is protected by principles and routines

• challenge: combine law and flexibility over time → also considered in further structural approaches where structural contigency theory plays a role

rationalist approach - bureaucratic tradition (limitations)

• rigidity if bureaucracy is exaggerated

• dissemination of groups (in hierarchy) creates group interests and reduces efficiency

• rules reinforces minimum levels of individual performance (workers achieve less than possible) and closer supervision

humanist relations tradition (founder&experiments)

• Elton Mayo

• Hawthorne plant (Western Electric Company): experiment started out with the women who had to work in favorable experimental conditions → performance improved continually → introduction of less favorable conditions (decrease lights, fewer breaks, more humidity) → still higher productivity → not the physical conditions, but social climate influenced the performance

• 2nd Hawthorne surprise: groups naturally develop an informal social organization, with rules that can be more influental and incongruent with the formal rules; informal groups reward and punish their members

• organization can not protect itself from the motives, emotions and social relations of individuals and groups → the irrational variables

• basic needs: ?, identity, self-esteem, recognition

• opened the door to the study of emotions, motives, groups, leadership, etc.

humanist relations tradition (main points)

• instead of economic, logical and rational human → individual behavior based on emotions connected to the work situation

• personal relations create an informal structure with big impact on behavior

• start of organization as a social system

humanist relations tradition (criticism on Hawthorne experiments)

• absence of control groups

• lack of random sampling in interviews

• lack of control over the influence of the observer

human relations - women

Mary Parker Follett

• participatory management: managers should involve their subordinates in decision making (falicitate autonomy and happiness)

• no worker feels fully satisfied at work if not part of a group

• multidisciplinary team approach

• common goal but the artificial difference of management vs, workers darkens their relation

• power WITH vs power OVER

socio-technical approach (founder&assumptions)

• Trist (founder of the Tavistock institute)

• non-technological determinism: there is not one technology compulsory and universal in organizations → we can choose the alternative with better impact on the social system and quality of working life

• different ways to arrive to the same goal (inconsistent with principles of scientific management and bureaucratic tradition)

socio-technical approach - Tavistock

• mining: traditionally gotten by hand with small containers: personnel selection, team salary, 3 persons did all the 3 tasks, production and performance control → new technology: long wall (conveyor band), no teams, standardized tasks divided, external control (in line with Taylorism and bureaucratic)

• longwall led to lower performance, strikes, higher rates of absenteeism and sick leaves

• Trist and Bamforth: investigation of mines, observed one atypical mine where the longwall organization was not strictly implemented

• atypical mines: work organization similar to traditional system, group of miners responsible for the full work process, they exchanged tasks, organized their schedules themselves and defined a ‘fair’ compensation system themselves → combi mechanization and traditional organization → autonomous work groups

• results atypical mines: performance 25% higher, costs lower, absenteeism cut in half

socio-technical approach - contributions of the Tavistock episode

• one specific type of technology can accept different types of social organization of work

• participation beyond the paternalism (semi-autonomous groups and self-regulation)

• workers prefer meaningful and global tasks

human resource approaches - humanistic models (main principles)

• focus on relations between employees and organizations, including congruencies and discrepancies

• humanistic models indicated the gap between organizations and worker needs

assumptions

• organizations have psychological assumptions about humans that are not congruent with reality (theory X vs. Y), hindering development of workers and cooperation between employees and employers

• person has a need for self-actualization

• based on Maslow (physiological needs, safety, love and belonging, esteem, self-actualization) → deprivation or dissatisfaction of a need will lead to the domination of this need

human resource approaches - humanistic models (authors)

• McGregor, Likert, Argyris

• organizations assume that workers are motivated by basic needs; however, humans have these needs relatively satisfied and other more abstract needs are the motivating factors

• authors proposed actions such as:

goal-oriented management (aligning goals and workers’ needs), stimulation of participation, management centered on the employee concerns, reduction of hierarchical levels, increasing communication and coordination

McGregor: theory X and Y

X: humans avoid work and responsibilities and are passive and dependent

Y: if properly managed, humans don’t necessarily avoid work (natural activity like rest) nor responsibilities (like a bit of responsibility), humans take initiave

X is not true

human resource approaches - humanistic models (theoretical contributions)

• a more complex view of humans and their motivation, beyond Scientific Management

• emphasis on structural changes to stimulate participation

• influential in the study of positive psychology

human resource approaches - humanistic models (criticism)

• all organizations considered identical

• universality of hierarchy of needs questioned

• principles of humanistic models receive little clear or consistent support from research findings → it is too optimistic

equilibrium models - humanistic models (founders & assumptions)

• Barnard, Simon, March & Simon

• in contrast to the humanistic models, the equilibrium approach proposes an instrumental view of workers in their relations with organizations: partial involvement

• each participant and group receives inducements from the organization for their contributions

• individual continues to participate as long as inducements he/she receives are greater than own contribution → measured by individual itself in terms of own values (may be different than just economic)

• solvency (equilibrium) occurs as long as the organization can secure a sufficient flow of contributions by offering adequate inducements

• human being is semi-rational

critical approaches (antecedents: what is being questioned?)

• all previous models share a main assumption: the organization is an external reality that can be subjected to the design and management in order to achieve collective and shared goals

• critical: organization is not an external reality subjected to design and management of experts → instead, the organization is continuous process of creation with an active role for language, communication and sensemaking

political models - critical approaches

• softer side of critical approaches

• the organization consists of individuals with conflicting interests → creation of coalitions

• the dominant coalition has the greatest power in the articulation of objectives of the organization → the goal of the organization is the goal of the dominant coalition

• however: this is too pessimistic (power and politics have negative connotations)

ideology critique - critical approaches

• the domination and exploitation by owners and managers are central

• naturalization: organizations tend to be seen as natural and stable → reinforces status quo; however: organizations are socio-historical constructions

• universalization of managerial interests: interests of managers and owners have been generalized

• primacy of instrumental reasoning: this way the attention is focused on the ways objectives of managers and owners can be achieved

leadership is not

• one man band

• sacrifice syndrome (causing burn-out)

• charisma

• one person has all the answers

• always being firm and decisive

• a position

• based only on results

sacrifice syndrome which causes burn-out (what leadership is not)

• emotional exhaustion → irritability and reactivity

• depersonalization → negative emotional contagion (climate becomes tense, defensive or cynical)

• reduced self-efficacy → micromanagement (try to control everything as they lose confidence in their ability to sustain the system)

• Cristina Maslach coined the term burn-out

leader and leadership

• someone who influences people to complete tasks sucessfully and helps to achieve the goals of the organization

• what leaders do, the process of influencing a group to achieve goals

competency

• McClelland: an underlying characteristic of an individual that is casually related to criterion-referenced effective and superior performance in a situation

• Levy-Leboyer: behaviors, some people dispose of them better than others, they are even able to transform them and make them more effective for a given situation

• Spencer & Spencer: an individual characteristic that can predict behavior and performance that is effective or supportive in the work situation

• knowledge + skills + attitude

classic models of leadership

• innate personality traits and skills

• Stogdill found several personality traits (ambitious, flexible, creative, assertive, self-confident, energetic) and skills (conceptual and social skilled, diplomatic) describing leaders

• behavioral pattern (not about who you are, but how you behave)

• leadership can be learned

• Ohio University (50s, Stodgill, Fleishman)

• Michigan University (50s, Likert, Katz, Kahn): continuum job-oriented - employee-oriented leadership behavior

• Blake and Moutons managerial grid (1964): concern for people and concern for production

Ohio State Leadership Quadrants

• initiating structure and consideration

• high structure and high consideration: high followers’ satisfaction and performance

Blake and Moutons managerial grid (1964)

• concern for people and concern for production

• 1.9 high for people, low for production: country club management

• 1.1 low for both: impoverished management

• 5.5 middle of the road management

• 9.9 team management

• 9.1 authority compliance management

criticism on the classic models of leadership

• ignore the role of the situation

• focus too narrow

contingency leadership theory (Fiedler, 1967)

• leader-member relations (good-poor)

• task structure (how clear task is; high-low)

• position power (strong-weak)

• whether a task- or relationship-oriented leader results in the best performance, depends on the situation

situational leadership

• about readiness and maturity of the followers → leader has to alter his behavior to this

• technical and psychological (motivation, commitment) maturity

• types of performance readiness

R1. unable (low level of technical maturity) and unwilling (low psychological maturity); ‘I need clear structure and direction’ → telling or guiding: leader uses own base of experience to make decisions, provide direction and create movement

R2. unable but willing; ‘I am inexperienced, but highly motivated, so I need both encouragement and direction’ → selling or explaining: clarify decisions, recognize enthusiasm of follower

R3. able but unwilling; ‘I have a good understanding of what to do, but I need support’ → participating or involving: brainstorm alternatives together to try to come to alignment

R4. able and willing; ‘I am motivated, competent and confident’ → delegating or entrusting: leader trusts follower to use their own base of experience to complete task

ambidextrous leadership (March; Rosing, Frese & Bausch)

exploration-oriented behaviors

• dynamic or uncertain environments

• encourage innovation and experimentation, promote creativity and risk-taking

• failure is part of learning

• focus on long-term opportunities and adaptation

exploitation-oriented behaviors

• stable environments

• emphasize efficiency and execution, structure, control and standardization

• optimize existing processes and capabilities

• focus on goal attainment and performance consistency

full range leadership model (Avolio & Bass)

1. laissez-faire (Kurt Levin): absence of leadership, avoidance of decision-making, lack of direction

2. transactional: rewards conditioned on performance, monitoring and correcting errors, intervening only when a problem becomes serious

3. transformational: idealized influence (trust and identification), inspirational motivation (mission, guidance, meaning), intellectual stimulation (out of the box), individualized consideration

servant leadership

5 measurable dimensions

• altruistic calling: serve others, even at the expense of personal interests, putting followers’ needs ahead of ones own

• emotional healing: support followers with personal or emotional issues, promoting their psychological well-being

• wisdom: make sound, thoughtful decisions by integrating experience, reflection and understanding of followers’ needs

• persuasive mapping: leading through persuasion and reasoning, rather than coercion or formal authority

• organizational stewardship: commitment to the well-being and sustainability of the organization

organization culture according to Schein (iceberg)

• shared basic assumptions that the group learned as it solved its problems; worked well enough to be considered valid; taught to new members as the correct way to perceive, think and feel in relation to those problems

• measure via triangulation: interviews, questionairres (Schein hates these), observation

• not what we do, but the product of what we do: one of the strongest predictors of behavior

• continuous: both a cause and a product of how we perceive and interpret, how we think, how we (re)act

Schein’s iceberg model (1985)

above the surface: artifacts

• visible organizational structures, processes and behaviors

• physical spaces, language, symbols, history & myths, rituals & ceremonies, social interactions

under the surface: values

• strategies, goals, philosophies

• espoused: stated values that organization claims to uphold

• enacted: values demonstrated through behaviors

• gap between espoused and enacted indicates the level of organizational integrity

further down: underlying basic assumptions

• unconscious and take-for-granted beliefs, thoughts and feelings

• ultimate sources of values and action

Quinns competing values framework

• organizational culture

• quantitative

two fundamental dimensions of efectiveness

1. flexibility (adaptation, creativity, innovation, autonomy) - control (rules, order, predictability, efficiency)

2. internal orientation (cohesion, internal processes, interpersonal relationships) - external orientation (competitiveness, market results

• opposing ways to achieve valued outcomes

• measured by the competing values culture assessment

quadrants of Quinns Competing Values Framework

• flexible + internal oriented = Clan; human relations, e.g. family business

• flexible + external oriented = Adhocracy; start-ups, innovation

• control + external oriented = Competition; focus on goals, targets, e.g. bank

• control + internal oriented = Hierarchical; internal process, efficiency, regulations

factors affecting organizational culture

• policies, procedures, rules

• nature of the business (NGO, marketing)

• rewarding system

• HR practices

culture islands - challenges in organizational culture

horizontal isolation

• lack of communication between units

• ‘we don’t really have a lot in common with maintenance’

vertical isolation

• workers hide near-misses, don’t communicate new ideas, opinions, etc., they lose motivation, don’t extra engage, only comply

• ‘my boss is too busy to listen to me’

functions of organizational culture

adaptive natural process

• integration and adaptation

• decrease levels of uncertainty

• equality

• cultural identity, feeling of belonging

key aspects of organizational climate

1. reference: ‘my team/department/organization adapts quickly to changes’ → depends on questionairre

2. level of analysis: are we interested in individual perception or shared group perception; will all employees share the same perceptions? → climate strength

3. multifaceted nature: shared perceptions among members of an organization regarding its policies, procedures and organizational practices

levels of analysis - organizational climate

• psychological: individual perceptions of the characteristics of the context to which people belong; e.g. ‘my team adapts quickly to changes’

• aggregated: the result of averaging the individual perceptions of members of one group (climate has to be strong and this can’t be aggregated at a higher level than the referent)

• collective: aims to identify groups of organizational members who share similar perceptions (e.g. status, gender, education)

communication

• process by which one person interacts with another through a common code (message) and waits for the latter to issue a response

• different from information because there is feedback

• original idea encoded into language, than decoded by receiver to a transmitted idea

types of noise influencing communication

• physical (mechanical): traffic, noise

• physiological (limitations): illness, being tired

• psychological (cognitive): anxiety, stress, cocktail party effect

• semantic: ambiguous vocabulary, jargon

• cultural: verbal and non-verbal signs might mean different things

types of non verbal communication

• proxemic: ways in which people structure and use space in the process of interaction

• kinesics: study of body language and gestures

• paralinguistic: vocal elements in verbal messages (tone of voice, volume, fluency, speed, silences)

taxonomy of communication

• receiver type

• centralization

• formalization

• flow direction

• type of social structure

receiver type (taxonomy of communication)

internal

• informative (clarity) → establishes the framework

• command or instruction (include timely feedback) → activates action

• cultural transmission (mission, vision) → gives meaning

• conflict management (space for disagreement) → maintains stability

• alignment → directs collective effort

external

• increasing brand visibility

• reaching new customers

• bringing new info to the organization (external intelligence; e.g. share a coke)

• relationship with stakeholders

centralization (taxonomy of communication)

• highly centralized networks work best with routine tasks and simple problems

• decentralized networks work well with tasks requiring innovation

formalization (taxonomy of communication)

• formal: communication designed by the organization, structured

• informal: spontaneous communication (also the emotional spectrum)

flow direction (taxonomy of communication)

vertical

1. top-down

• leaders contact their subordinates

• functions: inform, coordinate, motivate

2. bottom-up

• change and initiatives

horizontal

• between members at the samen hierarchical level

• functions: coordinate, solve problems and manage conflicts

types of social structure (De Witte; taxonomy of communication): supportive

• flexible and individual-oriented

• lack of formal structure, informal, little meetings (lack of clear goals, postpone decisions)

• verbal notifications

• bottom-up

types of social structure (De Witte; taxonomy of communication): innovative

• flexible and organizational-oriented

• network with nodes based on know-how and skills or decentralized but delegated

• little monitoring, high expectations

• leadership 9-9

types of social structure (De Witte; taxonomy of communication): goal-oriented info flows

• control and organizational-oriented

• goal-based rewarding system

• a lot of meetings

types of social structure (De Witte; taxonomy of communication): respect for rules

• control and individual-oriented

• hierarchical structures

• authority and strong-centralization

• rules and procedures over objectives

• clear division of tasks, less accessible management

psychological safety in organizations (important)

assert belief among team members that the environment is safe for interpersonal risk-taking, such as speaking up, proposing new ideas, without fear for punishment or humiliation

programmed decisions

• routine tasks

• considerable reliance on past decisions

• followers

• fast

• low risk

non-programmed decisions

• creative tasks

• no guidance from past decisions

• owners

• slow

• high risk

the classical/rational model of individual decision making

• normative, reflecting the ideal way of making decisions (optimal decision)

• assumptions: decision maker

knows all alternatives, consequences and goals

has perfect knowledge

does not have cognitive limitations and time/economic constraints

• decision making is seen as a logical process with prescriptive steps

eight step decision-making process (rational)

1. monitor the decision environment

2. define the decision problem

3. specify decision objectives

4. diagnose the problem

5. develop alternative solutions

6. evaluate alternatives

7. choose the best alternative

8. implement the chosen alternative

why are rational models of individual decision making wrong?

research confirmed that humans are not able to process complex info → limited cognitive capacities, time/economic constraints → alternatives not analyzed deeply → satisfying (good-enough) decision is the only possibility

GDMS

general decision making styles

• avoidant

• rational

• intuitive

• dependent

• spontaneous

who came up with the bounded rationality model?

Herbert Simon and Kahneman

classic thinking

• vertical/debate

• confrontation, discussion

• win/lose arguments

parallel thinking

• organize group thinking by separating different types of reasoning that are usually mixed together

• recudes conflict and improves the quality of collective thinking

• more well-rounded decisions because you will have to look at the problem from multiple decisions

• base for thinking hats method (Edward de Bono)

Management Science approach model of decision-making

• similar to rational individual approach: structured, based on technology

• remove human element

• good when variables can be identified and measured

• often used in HR (using math to make decisions)

Carnegie model of decision-making

• decisions are not unilateral, there is not decision that is best for everyone (more realistic assumption)

• there is a need for bargain, because of ambiguity, inconsistent goals or a shortage of time, resources or mental capacity

• coalitions: managers talk to each other to gather more info → satisfying (to all members) rather than an optimal level of performance; problemistic search: look for a quick solution in the immediate environment

• uncertainty/conflict → coalition formation → search → satisfying decision behavior

• Herbert Simon and colleagues

differences between Management Science and Carnegie model

• MS has all info available, C does not

• MS decision making is costless, for C it is costly

• MS generates all possible alternatives, C only has generated a limited range

• MS solution is chosen by unanimous agreement, C bargains and compromises

• MS ends up with an optimal decision, C ends up with a satisfying one

Garbage Can model of decision making

• organisation is a garbage can with four independent streams of events, instead of a sequence of identifaction → solution

• problems - dissatisfaction with the current state

• potential solutions - ideas

• participants - different

• choice opportunities - right mix of three co-exist

the world becoming more and more VUCA - what does that mean?

volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous

contingency theory

managers analyze the environment and internal characteristics to achieve a better fit and performance

what do studies on organizational structures focus on?

• the analysis of the dimensions (authority centralization, structural complexity, formalization)

• basis often Webers’ hierarchy of authority

Aston studies: three dimensions of organizational analysis are identified

• authority centralization

• structural complexity

• formalization

centralized, dominated structures: inert and elitist

• inert power structure: they do not want power, but they just have it

• elitist power structure: they can’t have power

decentralized structures: fractional and pluralistic decentralized

• fractional power structure: power fractioned in groups

• pluralistic decentralized structure: individuals, both vertical and horizontal, have the power

formalization (main organizational dimensions)

• rules, norms and procedures are written down to formalize them

• these are designed to drive members’ behavior

• operative formalization: how production chain works; training

• regulatory formalization: about general organizational functioning; onboarding

structure with low formalization

organic

• relationships and autonomy

• interdisciplinary teams

• self-management, distributed power and responsibility

structure with high formalization

bureaucratic

• inter-functional rather than interpersonal relationships

• high functional interdependency

• management by hierarchy and the chain of command

complexity (one of the main organizational dimensions)

• set of structural units in which members are grouped

• indicators for vertical vs. horizontal complexity

indicators of the amount of vertical complexity

• the proportion of personnel responsable for coordinating, supervising and/or facilitating organizational tasks

• span of control: number of people that need to be supervised by an individual

• tall vs. flat structures

indicators of the amount of horizontal complexity

• level of education

• level of specialization

challenge of differentiation and intergration (complexity, main organizational dimensions)

differentiation

• process by which people and resources are assigned to organizational tasks and the dependencies between tasks and authority relationships are established to enable the achievement of organizational goals

integration

• process of coordinating various tasks, functions and divisions so that they work together and not for different purposes

complexity: forms of departmentalization

functional: horizontal complexity based on function

• risk of low cooperation and subcultures

complexity by processes

• e.g. production leads to different processes → more horizontal complexity

• high specialization

• difficult coordination

by products

• each product has their own subdepartments

• combination of functional and by processes

• big companies

• can lead to coordination and efficiency problems

by geographic areas

by clients