OB

Ethics: definition

A branch of philosophy that considers questions about what is right and wrong (moral questions) and how we should behave. Varies over time, location and culture; its boundaries are elastic.

Ethics: unethical behaviour

Behaviour that is inconsistent with societal norms, values and beliefs.

Ethics: types of unethical behaviour

Unlawful behaviour, damaging the org / self-interest, corruption & nepotism, lying/cheating/stealing, discrimination, bullying, sexual harassment, failing to accept responsibility, tolerating an unethical culture.

Ethics: baseline compliance

Ethical behaviour that reaches minimum moral standards, e.g. honesty, obeying the law.

Ethics: pro-active ethics

Behaviour that exceeds moral minima, e.g. whistleblowing. Interpersonally difficult and personally risky (marginalisation, job loss).

Ethics: two categories of causes

Personal factors (micro) and structural/organisational factors (meso and macro).

Ethics: 5 personal factors

Greed/self-interest, hubris/ego, Dark Triad personality traits, moral disengagement, cognitive biases.

Ethics: hubris

Overinflated self-confidence leading individuals to believe corporate rules do not apply to them.

Ethics: Dark Triad

Narcissism (grandiosity, entitlement, need for admiration), Machiavellianism (manipulation, 'ends justify the means'), Psychopathy (no empathy, remorse or conscience).

Ethics: moral disengagement

The psychological process of convincing oneself ethical standards don't apply in a particular context, allowing bad acts without guilt.

Ethics: cognitive biases

Mental shortcuts or systematic errors in thinking, e.g. overconfidence, confirmation bias.

Ethics: 7 structural factors

Excessive power, rewards linked to unethical behaviour, low costs of unethical behaviour, unethical norms, shareholder orientation, lack of resources, lack of transparency.

Ethics: key structural quote

Even good employees can be driven to misconduct if the organisational environment is poorly designed.

Ethics: unethical norms

Unspoken cultural habits that dictate winning matters more than ethics.

Ethics: shareholder orientation

Prioritising short-term investor returns above all other stakeholders' wellbeing.

Ethics: lack of transparency

Operating in secrecy hides wrongdoing from internal and external oversight. Lecture example: Theranos.

Ethics: consequences of unethical behaviour

Can destroy orgs and careers, encourages others (ripple effect), harms wellbeing of members/stakeholders, damages environment, lowers motivation, hurts retention, networks and investment.

Ethics: 7 individual capacities

Moral awareness, moral identity, moral efficacy, moral courage, affect (empathy), perspective taking, moral reasoning.

Ethics: moral awareness vs moral identity

Awareness = sensitivity to ethical issues. Identity = importance of moral traits to your self-concept.

Ethics: moral efficacy vs moral courage

Efficacy = confidence in making ethical decisions. Courage = grit to stand up for principles despite adversity or risk.

Ethics: formal elements

Explicit, tangible systems on paper: codes and policies, communications, training, monitoring, rewards for ethical behaviour, penalties for unethical behaviour.

Ethics: informal elements

Implicit, unwritten norms: ethical leadership (role modelling), ethical culture, perception of fairness.

Ethics: key argument on formal vs informal

They must align. A formal code next to an informal 'win at all costs' culture produces highly unethical results.

Ethics: can unethical behaviour be eliminated?

No, it's a perennial problem. It can only be reduced and its consequences mitigated.

Ethics: decision tests

Utilitarian (greatest good for greatest number), Newspaper, Family, Mentor tests. Positive example: J&J Tylenol recall (James Burke, 1982).

Change: Lewin's three steps

Unfreeze > Change (movement) > Refreeze.

Change: unfreeze

The status quo is disturbed or 'melted' to prepare the org for change.

Change: refreeze

Solidifying the new state so people don't fall back into old systems and habits.

Change: force field analysis

Driving forces push for change, restraining forces resist. Equilibrium = equal. Best strategy: REDUCE restraining forces, not push harder on driving forces (which raises pushback).

Change: 4 external forces

Socio-cultural, technological, economic, political/legal.

Change: 5 internal forces

Performance outcomes, shareholder/stakeholder activism, internal processes, new management philosophy (culture/vision), new strategies.

Change: change agent definition

Any individual, group or team responsible for initiating, managing and facilitating organisational transformation; the catalyst that disrupts the status quo and guides employees through transition.

Change: what a change agent does

Identify forces, diagnose problem, decide objectives, generate solutions, champion the change, implement (unfreeze-change-refreeze), monitor and review.

Change: internal agent pros and cons

Pros: knows culture, politics, history, informal power, has trust. Cons: blinded by status quo, political bias, may lack change expertise.

Change: external agent pros and cons

Pros: objective, free of politics, fresh perspective, can deliver hard truths. Cons: lacks internal history, viewed with suspicion, expensive.

Change: 4 types of change agent

Visionary/Sponsor (CEO, board), Implementer (project manager), Facilitator (HR, change coach), Informal Champion (respected frontline staff).

Change: 5 change agent traits

High EQ, resilience and grit, strong communication, strategic networking, flexibility and adaptability.

Change: evolutionary vs revolutionary

Evolutionary: stable, changes parts, uses existing structure, incremental. Revolutionary: new equilibrium, transforms whole org, new structures, radical tech/products.

Change: 4 intervention types

Chaotic (unplanned, revolutionary), Systemic (planned, revolutionary), Transitory (unplanned, evolutionary), Adaptive (planned, evolutionary).

Change: systemic examples

Major new technology, privatisation, deregulation, entering a major new market.

Change: championing ways to overcome resistance

Learning & communication, involvement & participation, facilitation/support/stress management, negotiation.

Change: forceful ways to overcome resistance

Manipulation & co-optation, coercion, realigning staff profiles (dismiss resisters, hire adopters).

Change: 5 refreezing supports

Reward allocation system, transformational leadership, coalitions/social networks, effective transmission of new information, diffusion of the change effort.

Change: Six Silent Killers (Beer & Eisenstat 2000)

1 Management style too top-down or laissez-faire. 2 Unclear strategy/conflicting priorities. 3 Ineffective senior team. 4 Poor vertical communication. 5 Poor horizontal coordination. 6 Inadequate skills at lower levels.

Change: OFP fixes for each Silent Killer

1 Engage leadership. 2 Compelling business direction. 3 Effective management team. 4 Open dialogue. 5 Coordination. 6 Lower-down leadership.

Change: poor vertical communication

Frontline workers don't know the vision; executives don't know the real problems.

Change: Organisational Fitness Profiling

Systematic process to identify the Silent Killers and turn them into organisational strengths (Santa Rosa Systems Division reading).

Change: Microsoft example (Nadella 2014)

Unfreeze: admitted missteps, Hit Refresh. Change: Azure, open source. Refreeze: bonuses tied to growth mindset. Reduced restraining forces (stack ranking, know-it-all culture).

Culture: definition

'The way we do things around here.' Jaques (1952): the customary and traditional way of thinking and doing things, shared to a greater or lesser degree, which new members must learn to be accepted.

Culture: Schein's definition

The pattern of basic assumptions a group has invented/discovered/developed to cope with external adaptation and internal integration, that worked well enough to be taught to new members as the way to perceive, think and feel.

Culture: espoused vs in-use values

Espoused = stated (vision statements). In-use = actually enacted in behaviour.

Culture: 6 ways to identify culture

Observable symbols, physical layout, communication patterns, stories, practices & behaviours, values/beliefs/assumptions/feelings. Most visible to least visible (iceberg).

Culture: observable symbols

Logos, uniforms, rituals and ceremonies (performances with a beginning, end and defined roles). Deliberate, but can be hijacked or subverted.

Culture: stories

Legends, myths, anecdotes, jokes. Stories and jokes are often a form of resistance.

Culture: three theories

Integrationist (one unified culture, managed centrally), Differentiationist (multiple subcultures, managed differently), Critical (culture is control; should be resisted).

Culture: integrationist core claims

Uniform culture, strong is better, culture drives effectiveness (functionalist), shared values reduce need for rules, culture reproduced so org is stable and survives.

Culture: external adaptation consensus

How org operates in environment, goals, means, criteria for measuring results, repair strategies.

Culture: internal integration consensus

Common language, core values, boundaries (inside/outside), criteria for status/power/authority, friendships/relationships, resource allocation.

Culture: 5 ways managers engineer integrationist culture

Founders, selection, leadership, socialisation, rewards and punishments.

Culture: integrationist limitations

No evidence culture drives performance, strong cultures fail when markets change, successful firms don't always have strong cultures, strong cultures can be dysfunctional (Enron).

Culture: differentiationist core claims

Org is a cluster of subcultures; consensus only within subcultures; relations complementary, conflicting or independent; permeable boundaries; managed by middle managers; still functionalist.

Culture: horizontal vs vertical subcultures

Horizontal = functions/departments of equal status (marketing vs engineering). Vertical = status/hierarchy (management vs frontline).

Culture: Balkanisation

Subcultures become tribal and self-interested, putting unit goals over the common interest.

Culture: differentiationist strengths

Commitment to work group, meaningful to individual experience, allows adaptation, scope for middle managers.

Culture: differentiationist weaknesses

Unclear how subcultures fit together, conflict among subcultures, hard to move between units, Balkanisation.

Culture: critical theory

Other two theories are functionalist (culture as a manager's tool). Critical looks at how employees are affected, how power is embedded in culture, and strong culture as control.

Culture: critical strengths

Considers negative effects, shows hidden ways culture affects individuals, not having a culture isn't necessarily bad.

Culture: critical weaknesses

Not everyone perceives the culture negatively, some control is inevitable, cultural control may be less oppressive than other controls, limited practical guidance.

Culture: false consciousness

(Critical) workers accept their own exploitation under a strong unified culture.

Culture: fragmentation view

Ambiguity is the essence of culture; consensus is temporary and issue-specific; clarity is a managerial myth.

Power: definition

The capacity of a person, team or organisation to influence the behaviour of others in a conscious and deliberate way, to obtain the decision outcomes they want.

Power: three dimensions summary

1st: overt power, managing resources to DEFEAT resistance. 2nd: agenda-setting, managing processes to SIDELINE resistance. 3rd: ideological, managing meaning to PREVENT resistance. Increasingly invisible 1 to 3.

Power: 1st dimension features

A mobilises resources; B's opposition directly confronted; relatively visible; conflict overt. Based on dependency on scarce, valued resources.

Power: 9 first-dimension resources

Reward, coercive, authority, referent, expert, information, affiliation, group support, budgets/equipment.

Power: referent vs expert

Referent = personal rapport, charisma. Expert = can do what others can't; credibility, record of achievement.

Power: affiliation power

Connected to powerful people (political access).

Power: Pfeffer's blood transfusion problem

If an org desperately needs a resource to survive, whoever controls it holds immense leverage.

Power: why resources must be mobilised

Possessing a resource isn't enough; power is relational, context-specific and dynamic; a resource only gives power if valued in that situation.

Power: zero-sum view

1st dimension treats power as a fixed pie: one party's gain is another's equal loss.

Power: legitimate vs political

Senior managers explain 1st-dimension power away as legitimate authority; when others use it, it's dismissed as 'political'.

Power: 2nd dimension features

A manages decision-making processes ('rules of the game'); B's opposition sidelined/avoided; less visible; conflict sidelined (possibly only for a while).

Power: 4 ways to sideline in 2nd dimension

Control access to decision arena, the agenda, timing (when/how discussed), decision criteria (who votes).

Power: nondecision making

Bachrach & Baratz: issues and people threatening power-holders never reach the decision arena. Challenged Dahl, who said power was shared equally among groups with access.

Power: 3rd dimension features

A manages meaning so B wants what A wants; opposition pre-emptively eliminated; almost invisible; conflict averted UNTIL meaning is contested.

Power: how 3rd dimension works

Outcomes framed as legitimate, inevitable, natural or beneficial using symbols, language, buzzwords, framing, storytelling. Still conscious and deliberate.

Power: Google example

2023: fired 12,000 (1st). 2024-25: de-layering and offshoring removed power centres (2nd). 2025-26: staff accept displacement as 'technological destiny' (3rd).

Power: ethical imperative

Power imbalances create ethical forks re fairness, resource allocation and safety, so there is an ethical imperative to use power responsibly.

Micro: Taylor's 4 principles of Scientific Management

Job design, HRM (select and train), performance management (pay by output), development of management profession (authority via scientific impartiality).

Micro: legacy of Scientific Management

Separation of conception and execution, standardisation/deskilling, money as main motivator ('trained gorilla'), mechanistic view; ignores social side of work.

Micro: Human Relations School

Mayo / Hawthorne studies: orgs are social systems, work is a group activity, not just money that motivates.

Micro: key Hawthorne findings on group norms

Informal groups exert strong social control over members' work habits and attitudes; managers must recognise their influence on productivity ('ratebusters' over-produce, 'chiselers' under-produce).

Micro: group definition

Two or more people acting interdependently to achieve a common objective.

Micro: team vs group

Team = formal group created for an org objective; info shared and acted on, clear contribution, values synergy, clear objective.

Micro: Team Effectiveness Model

Design (task, size, composition), States (norms, cohesion, efficacy, trust), Processes (taskwork, teamwork, boundary spanning).

Micro: Tuckman's 5 stages

Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing, Adjourning.

Micro: Tuckman forming and storming

Forming: seek info on purpose, roles, norms. Storming: resist leader control, hostility; 'What's my role here?'

Micro: Tuckman norming and performing

Norming: camaraderie, shared standards; 'Can we agree on roles?' Performing: energy on the task; 'Can we do the job properly?'

Micro: avoiding getting stuck in storming

Normalise conflict, don't rush, be inclusive, ensure everyone is heard, remain positive, support all members.

Micro: Gersick's punctuated equilibrium

Project teams with deadlines: Phase 1 sets agenda/norms; MIDPOINT wake-up call disrupts equilibrium; Phase 2 renewed push to execute under time pressure.

Micro: task vs maintenance activities

Task = focus on the job. Maintenance (process) = internal processes, building common purpose and standards of behaviour.