Industrial Organizational Psychology (FINALS)

Organizational culture

A system of shared values, norms, and assumptions that guide members' attitudes and behaviors

Artifacts

The physical manifestation of the culture including open offices, awards, ceremonies, and formal lists of values

Espoused values and norms

The preferred values and norms explicitly stated by the organization

Enacted values and norms

Values and norms that employees exhibit based on their observations of what actually goes on in the organization

Assumptions

Those organizational values that have become so taken for granted over time that they become the core of the company's culture

Formal practices

compensation strategies like profit sharing, benefits, training and development programs, and even the use of teleconferencing to enable some employees to work from home

Informal practices

"open-door management" to promote upward communication and the sharing of ideas, employees helping each other, and employees of different ranks eating lunch together to share ideas.

Strong cultures

clarify appropriate behavior, are widely shared, and are internally consistent

Outer layers of the culture

Marketing strategies and customer service perceptions can change quickly

Conflict culture

Shared norms for managing conflict

Active conflict management norms

Resolve conflict openly

Passive conflict management norms

Avoid addressing conflict

Agreeable conflict management norms

Resolve conflict in a cooperative manner

Disagreeable conflict management norms

Resolve conflict competitively

Dominating conflict cultures

are active and disagreeable

open confrontations are accepted as well as heated arguments and threats

Collaborative conflict cultures

are active and agreeable.

Employees actively manage and resolve conflicts cooperatively to find the best solution for all involved parties

Avoidant conflict cultures

are passive and agreeable.

This type of culture strives to preserve order and control and/or to maintain harmony and interpersonal relationships.

Typical behaviors include accommodating or giving in to the other's point of view, changing the subject, or evading open discussion of the conflict issue.

often start at the top

Passive-aggressive conflict cultures

are both passive and disagreeable

Rather than dealing openly with conflict, this culture develops norms to handle it via passive resistance such as refusing to participate in conflict-related discussions, giving the silent treatment, withholding information, or withdrawing from work and from interactions with coworkers

Hospitals often have these cultures due to the many layers of authority and strong bureaucracy

Culture of inclusion

The extent to which majority members value efforts to increase minority representation, and whether the qualifications and abilities of minority members are questioned

Innovation

is the process of creating and doing new things that are introduced into the marketplace as products, processes, or services

Radical innovation (AKA disruptive innovation)

A major breakthrough that changes or creates whole industries

Systems innovation

Creates a new functionality by assembling parts in new ways

Incremental innovation

Continues the technical improvement and extends the applications of radical and systems innovations

Intrapreneurship

Entrepreneurial activity that takes place within the context of a large organization

The three elements of managing organization culture

(1) taking advantage of the existing culture,

(2) teaching the organizational culture

(3) changing the organization culture

Socialization

The process through which individuals become social beings

Organizational Socialization

The process through which employees learn about the firm's culture and pass their knowledge and understanding on to others

Organization

A goal-directed social entity with deliberate process and systems.

Organizational Goals

Objectives that management seeks to achieve in pursuing the firm’s purpose.

Organizational Structure

• The system of task, reporting, and authority relationships within which an organization does its work.

• Purpose of structure is to order and coordinate the actions of employees to achieve organizational goals.

• “Structure follows strategy.”

Organizational Design

The process of selecting and managing aspects of organizational structure and culture to enable the organization to achieve its goals.

Organizational Chart

• Diagram of the chain of command and reporting relationships in a company.

• Describes the structure of an organization.

Characteristics of Organizational Structure

division of labor, span of control, hierarchy, formalization, centralization

Division of Labor

The degree to which employees specialize.

Span of Control

The number of people reporting directly to an individual.

Hierarchy

• The degree to which some employees have formal authority over others.

• Establishes the “tallness” or “flatness” of an organizational chart.

Formalization

The extent to which organizational rules, procedures, and communications are written down and closely followed.

Centralization

The degree to which power and decision-making authority are concentrated at higher levels of the organization rather than distributed.

Centralized Organization

Concentrate power and decision-making authority at higher levels of the organization.

Decentralized Organizations

The authority for making decisions affecting an organization is distributed.

Mechanistic Organization

Rigid, traditional bureaucracies with centralized power and hierarchical communications.

Organic Organizations

Flexible, decentralized structures with less clear lines of authority, decentralized power, open communication channels, and a focus on adaptability in helping employees accomplish goals.

Determinants of Organizational Structure

business strategy, external environment, nature of the organization’s talent, organizational size, behavioral expectations, organizational change, production technology

Business Strategy

Being a low-cost producer would require a more hierarchical, rigid structure than would pursuing an innovation strategy.

External Environment

A rapidly changing environment requires a more flexible structure than a more stable environment.

Nature of the Organization’s Talent

If workers have professional skills (e.g., lawyers, scientists) and need to work together,  then a  flatter,  team-based structure would be more appropriate than a taller, bureaucratic structure.

Organizational Size

Larger organizations tend to have greater specialization, greater hierarchy, and more rules than do smaller firms.

Behavioral Expectations

If employees are expected to follow explicit rules and procedures, a hierarchical, centralized structure would be called for

Organizational Change

As the environment and business strategies change, organizational structures change too.

Production Technology

If the firm uses unit production and makes custom products, a flat structure with a low managerial span of control is most appropriate.

Unit Production

Producing in small batches or making one-of a-kind custom products.

Mass Production

Producing large volumes of identical products.

Continuous Production

Machines constantly make the product

Types of Organizational Structure

• prebureaucratic structure

• bureaucratic structure

Prebureaucratic Structure

Smaller organizations with low standardization, total centralization, and mostly one-on-one communication.

Bureaucratic Structure

An organizational structure with formal division of labor, hierarchy, and standardization of work procedures.

• employee knowledge and skills

• business function

• work process

• output

• client

• location

Employee Knowledge and Skills

Employees are grouped by what they know; for example, pharmaceutical organizations have departments like oncology and genetics.

Business Function

Employees are grouped by business function; for example, many organizations have departments of human resources, marketing, and research and development.

Work Process

Employees are grouped based on the activities they do; for example, a retailer may have different retail store and online departments reflecting two different sales processes.

Output

Employees are grouped based on the products or services they work on; for example, Colgate-Palmolive has two business divisions: One division includes oral, personal, and home-care products and the other focuses on pet nutrition.

Client

Employees are grouped based on the type of clients they serve; for example, Dell Computer has different departments supporting home, medium and small business, the public sector, and large business customers.

Location

Employees are grouped based on the geographical areas they serve; for example, many retailers including Lowe’s Home Improvement divide employees by regions.

Team-Based Structure

Horizontal or vertical teams define part or all of the organization

Lattice Structure

Cross-functional and cross-level subteams are formed and dissolved as necessary to complete specific projects and tasks.

Network Organization

A collection of autonomous units or firms that act as a single larger entity, using social mechanisms for coordination and control.

Virtual Organization

• An organization that contracts out almost all of its functions except for the company name and managing the coordination among the contractors.

• The underlying opportunity needs a quick response to maximize market response

Pros of Virtual Organization

• faster reaction time

• fewer mistakes

• quicker profits

• cross-functional team

Integrating Employees

• direct contact

• liaison role

• task force

• cross-functional team

Direct Contact

Managers from different units informally work together to coordinate or to identify and solve shared problems

Liaison Role

A manager or team member is held formally accountable for communicating and coordinating with other groups.

Task Force

A temporary committee formed to address a specific project or problem.

Cross-Functional Team

A permanent task force created to address specific problems or recurring needs.

Communities of Practice

Groups of people whose shared expertise and interest in a joint enterprise informally bind them together.

1. Start with a clear area of business need.

2. Start small.

3. Recruit management involvement.

4. Use technology that supports the community’s needs and that community members are able to use and are comfortable using.

5. Respect and build on informal employee initiatives already underway.

6. Celebrate contributions and build on small successes.

Effects of Restructuring on Performance

Restructuring efforts must focus on positioning the organization for the future. Restructuring also must address the real cause of whatever the organization wants to charge.

Communication

The transmission of information from one person to another
to create a shared understanding and feeling

communicare

to share or make common

Encoding

Converting a thought, idea, or fact into a message composed of symbols, pictures, or words

Message

The encoded information

Channel

The medium used to send the message

Decoding

Translating the message back into something that can be understood by the receiver

Feedback

A check on the success of the communication

The message receiver sends a new message back to the original sender, and the original sender assesses if the receiver understood the original message as intended.

Noise

Anything that blocks, distorts, or changes in any way the message the sender intended to communicate

Nonverbal Communications

Communications that are not spoken or written but
that have meaning to others

Body Language

A body movement such as a gesture or expression that conveys information to others

Verbal intonation

is the emphasis given to spoken words and phrases.

One-way communication

information flows in only one direction.

The sender communicates a message without expecting or getting any feedback from the receiver.

Two-way communication

Once a receiver provides feedback to a sender

Pooled interdependence

is when employees work independently and their output is combined into group output

Sequential interdependence

like in an assembly line, requires tasks to be performed in a certain order.

This increases the need for communication as individuals or groups are dependent on other individuals or groups for the resources they need to complete their own tasks.

Reciprocal interdependence

Requires constant communication and mutual adjustment for task completion, such as a cross-functional research and development team, or an event-planning team, and creates the highest potential for conflict.

this is the most interdependent way of doing work and has the highest communication needs.

Selective perception

occurs when we selectively interpret what we see based on our interests, expectations, experience, and attitudes rather than on how things really are.

Filtering

How we reduce the amount of information being received to a manageable amount

is essential to managers because it helps to reduce the amount of noise in the communication process.

It also amplifies relevant and accurate information and minimizes the rest

Information overload

When the amount of information available exceeds our ability to process it

Organizational barriers to communication

come from the hierarchical structure and culture of the organization

Higher-level executives, for example, typically focus on information related to bigger picture issues and business strategy, while lower-level employees focus on customer issues, production, and deadline

Low-context cultures

rely on the words themselves to convey meaning

communication tends to be more direct and explicit.

High-context cultures

rely on nonverbal or situational cues or things other than words to convey meaning

Communicating in high-context cultures like Asian or Arab cultures requires more trust and a greater understanding of the culture

managers tend to make suggestions rather than give direct instructions.

Active listening

Becoming actively involved in the process of listening to what others are saying and clarifying messages' meaning

Tips on Giving and Receiving Feedback (5)

Give feedback in private

Request permission

Try to preface a negative statement with a positive one.

Be specific but not overly harsh or negative.

Suggest specific changes that would help

Communication Skills (5)

Listening Skills

Giving and Receiving Feedback

Writing Skills

Presentation Skills

Meeting Skills

Information pull

Occurs when someone receives requested information