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This Document Contains Chapters 3 to 4 Chapter 3 Managing Communications Chapter Overview The purpose of this chapter is to discuss the general concept of communication in organization. First, communication is defined and the importance of communication is discussed. The eight steps of the communication process are then identified, followed by a discussion on communication barriers. Next, several communication symbols are presented and the different forms of organizational communication are discussed. The final part of the chapter discusses organizational grapevines and rumors. Chapter Learning Objectives After reading this chapter, students should understand 1. The two-way communication process 2. Barriers to communication 3. Factors leading to effective communication 4. Downward and upward communications problems 5. The roles of questioning and listening 6. Social networking tools 7. The impact of electronic communications 8. Organizational grapevines and rumors Discussion and Project Ideas The fundamental point about communication is that it is the process by which leadership takes action. If there is no communication, leadership ceases to exist. Communication is the medium or process by which all human interaction takes place; therefore, reasonably adequate communication is necessary for effective organizational behavior. The following exercises highlight many of the points made in the text. Note that another experiential exercise appears at the end of the chapter in the textbook. • The Process of Inference: Write the following case and the accompanying list of potential facts on the blackboard. Ask students to call out facts about the story that they believe are true as you write them on the board. Then ask students to indicate which facts they believe are correct by raising their hands. On Friday night Jack and his wife went down to the cottage. On Saturday, Mary had an accident at the beach. Jack was really upset because he didn’t think he would be able to drive his car back on Sunday night. The water and wet conditions were partially responsible for the accident on Saturday. Jack was able to borrow a car and drive his wife and two children to town Sunday. Potential facts: • Jack is married to Mary. • Jack drove to the beach Friday night. • Mary went to the beach Friday night. • Mary wrecked Jack’s car. • It was raining on Saturday. • Jack has two children. All of the above are inferences, not facts. For example, the story did not mention Jack’s wife’s name. His wife could be Sarah, and Mary might be Sarah’s sister, who lives at the beach. Similarly, the two children could be Sarah’s, and Jack’s car might have been left at the beach on the previous week. Nor does the phrase “wet conditions” prove rain. It could be that people had been tracking water in from the surf or had spilled something. • Give students the following paragraph, or make up one of your own, and ask them to simplify it. After each student has written a simplified version, have them read it out loud. Discuss the necessity of simple and clear communications. Notice: The purpose of the present notice is to notify all employees of Williams Manufacturing Company that henceforth prolonged absences of greater than one week will not be tolerated and the affected individuals will be subject to dismissal unless they immediately notify their respective supervisors and explain their absence. This notice does not apply to persons absent less than seven days. • This exercise is designed to demonstrate the amount of distortion which occurs as information is relayed through several sources. Begin the exercise by reading the following incident to a person in class, without other students listening. • “A yellow convertible was traveling south on Magnolia last night and hit a Westbound car at the intersection of Magnolia and Wentworth. The blond in the yellow convertible did not appear to be seriously injured, but she did go to the hospital complaining of a headache and a backache. The driver of the white car, a lawyer, followed the ambulance to the hospital. The other driver said she was going to sue for damages.” • • Have the first student relay this message verbally to another and have each recipient relay the message along so that it travels through the entire class. Have the last person in the chain of communication repeat the message to the class. Discuss the implications of this exercise for large organizations which have long chains of command. • • Draw several simple objects, such as a coffee cup, house, and a sailboat. Have one student go to the blackboard with his or her back facing the class and have a second student describe the drawing while the first attempts to draw it. The first student is not allowed to ask questions and the person describing the object is not allowed to name it. Next, do the same exercise but allow the person drawing the object to ask questions. Finally, allow both persons to communicate freely while facing each other. Discuss the exercise in terms of limitations subordinates often perceive in questioning and initiating contact with their supervisors. • • Social networking sites have become extremely popular over the last few years. What sites do the students belong to? How can belonging to these sites help or hinder their careers? • Lecture Outline Introduction • Communication is the ever-present activity by which people relate to one another and combine their efforts, and is necessary to perpetuate the health of the organization. • Managers need to engage in systematic and extensive communications in upward, downward, and lateral directions. o Listening skills that focus on the receiver—and a healthy dose of humility—remain highly important in the communication process. Communication Fundamentals • • Communication is the transfer of information and understanding from one person to another. o Its goal is to have the receiver understand the message as it was intended and to act upon the information. • Communication always involves at least two people—a sender and a receiver. • There is no effective communication until a message is received, read, and understood. • Communication is what the receiver understands, not what the sender says The Importance of Communication • Organizations cannot exist without communication. • If there is no communication, employees cannot know what their co-workers are doing, management cannot receive information inputs, and supervisors and team leaders cannot give instructions. o Coordination of work is impossible, and the organization will collapse for lack of it. o Cooperation becomes impossible, because people cannot communicate their needs and feelings to others. • Every act of communication influences the organization in some way. • When communication is effective, it tends to facilitate better performance and improve job satisfaction. • Open and candid communication is better than restricted communication. o This proposition is based on the contemporary desire for transparency in all organizations and at all levels. o If employees know the problems an organization is facing and hear what managers are trying to do, they will usually respond favorably. • To focus solely on communication with employees and ignore the needs of managers would be easy, but that approach would provide a limited view. • An executive summary is a useful tool for communicating both to employees and to busy superiors. o In its briefest form, an executive summary provides concise highlights of a longer document or set of reports, often as an aid to rapid decision-making. • Managers need timely and useful information to make sound decisions. The Two-Way Communication Process • The two-way communication process is the method by which a sender reaches a receiver with a message. o The process always requires eight steps, whether the two parties talk, use hand signals, or employ some advanced-technology means of communication (Figure 3.1). • • Develop an Idea o Step 1 is to develop an idea that the sender wishes to transmit. o This is the key step, because unless there is a worthwhile message, all the other steps are somewhat useless. • Encode o Step 2 is to encode (convert) the idea into suitable words, charts, or other symbols for transmission. o At this point, the sender determines the method of transmission so that the words and symbols may be organized in suitable fashion for the type of transmission. o The key to successful encoding lies in in the process of framing an issue for presentation. Framing uses rich, colorful, carefully chosen language to shape the perceptions, attitudes, and actions of the recipients • Transmit o When the message finally is developed, step 3 is to transmit it by the method chosen. o The sender also chooses a certain channel and communicates with careful timing. o The sender also tries to keep the channel free of barriers or interference, so that the message has a chance to reach the receiver and hold his or her attention. • Receive o Transmission allows another person to receive a message, which is step 4. o In this step, the initiative transfers to the receiver, who tunes in to receive the message. o If the message is oral, the receiver needs to be a good listener. o If the receiver does not function, the message is lost. • Decode o Step 5 is to decode the message so it can be understood. o Understanding can only occur in a receiver’s mind. o The receiver chooses whether to understand or not. o Many employers think that someone is sufficient, but the communication cannot proceed until there is understanding. • Accept o Once the receiver has obtained and decoded a message, that person has the opportunity to accept or reject it, which is step 6. o Acceptance is a matter of choice and degree, such that the receiver has considerable control over whether or not to embrace all the message or just parts of it. o Some factors affecting the acceptance decision revolve around: Perceptions of the message’s accuracy The authority and credibility of the sender The sender’s persuasive skills The behavioral implications for the receiver • Use o Step 7 in the communication process is for the receiver to use the information. o The receiver may discard it, perform the task as directed, store the information for the future, or do something else. • Provide Feedback o When the receiver acknowledges the messages and responds to the sender, feedback occurs. o Feedback completes the communication loop, because there is a message flow from the sender to the receiver and back to the sender, o Two-way communication, made possible by feedback, has a back-and-forth pattern. o If necessary, the sender should seek and request the feedback from the receiver. o When the two-way communication occurs, both parties experience greater satisfaction, frustration is prevented, and work accuracy is greatly improved. Potential Problems • Two-way communication is not exclusively beneficial. o Two people may strongly disagree about some item but not realize it until they establish two-way communication. When they expose their different viewpoints, they may become polarized, taking even more extreme positions. o When threatened with the potential embarrassment of losing an argument, people tend to abandon logic and rationality, and engage in defensive reasoning. • Another difficulty that may emerge is cognitive dissonance. o This is the internal conflict and anxiety that occurs when people receive information incompatible with their value systems, prior decisions, or other information they may have. o Since people do not feel comfortable with dissonance, they try to remove or reduce it. Perhaps they will try to obtain new communication inputs, change their interpretation of the inputs, reverse their decision, or change their values. They may even refuse to believe the dissonant input, or they may rationalize it out of the way. • Senders always need to communicate with care, because communication is a potent form of self-revelation to others as well as a source of possible evaluation. o Not only do people disclose something about themselves (content) when they speak, but others are judging them at the same time. o This creates pressure to engage in face-saving—an attempt to preserve or even enhance one’s valued self-concept (face) when it is attacked. o Sometimes people regret having said something that challenges people’s self-concept, personal image, or social honor. o Regrettable messages may include outright verbal blunders, personal attacks, stereotyped slurs, sarcastic criticism, or harmful information. • Another communication problem arises when individuals do not use the most appropriate tone (or words) when expressing their thoughts and feelings. o Employees are more likely (and willing) to speak up when they believe that their managers are open, receptive, and non-judgmental. o The positive effects of speaking up can include higher quality on decisions, better teamwork, and more effective organizational performance. o However, managerial receptivity depends on the nature of employee voice—the discretionary verbal behavior that is intended to be beneficial to the organization. o Voice can be classified as: Challenging—more extreme, questioning, and wave-making in nature, and characterized by hostile, tactless, and angry tones Supportive—tends to raise more gentle questions, suggest incremental changes, base proposals on evidence (versus speculation or opinion) and leave room for modification of proposals. Communication Barriers • Noise, or barriers to communication, may emerge in either the physical surroundings or within an individual’s emotions. • Personal Barriers o Personal barriers are communication interferences that arise from human emotions, values, and poor listening habits. o They may also stem from differences in education, race, sex, socioeconomic status, and other factors. o Personal barriers often involve a psychological distance—a feeling of being emotionally separated—between people that is similar to actual physical distance. Emotions act as perceptual filters in nearly all communications. People see and hear what they are emotionally tunes to see and hear, so communication is guided by their expectations. People communicate their interpretation of reality instead of reality itself. • Physical Barriers o Physical barriers are communication interferences that occur in the environment in which the communication takes place. o A typical physical barrier is a sudden distracting noise that temporarily drowns out a voice message. o Other physical barriers include distances between people, walls around a worker’s cubicle, or static that interferes with radio messages. o The study of spatial separation is called proxemics; it involves the exploration of different practices and feelings about interpersonal space vary within and across cultures. o In the United States, general practice allows: Intimate communications between close friends to occur at a very short range (6 to 18 inches). Personal distance for conversations with acquaintances at 3 to 4 feet. Social distance for work-related discussions with colleagues at 4 to 12 feet. Public communication with more impersonal and formal conversations at greater than 12 feet. • Semantic Barriers o Semantics is the science of meaning, as contrasted with phonetics, the science of sounds. o Nearly all communication is symbolic—that is, it is achieved using symbols (words, pictures, and actions) that suggest certain meanings. o Symbols must be decoded and interpreted by the receiver. o Semantic barriers arise from limitations in the symbols with which people communicate. Symbols usually have a variety of meanings, and people have to choose one meaning from many. This is particularly likely when communicators use jargon, which is the specialized language of a group. It can include the use of: Acronyms—first letter of each word in a phrase Slang—words unique to an age, or ethnic, or racial group Distinctive terms that are created by professional or interest group o Semantics presents a particularly difficult challenge when people from different cultures attempt to communicate with each other. Not only must both parties learn the literal meanings of words in the other language, they must also interpret the words within their context and the way in which they are used (tone, volume, etc.). o Whenever people interpret a symbol on the basis of their assumptions instead of the facts, they are making an inference. Inferences are an essential part of most communication. Since inferences can give a wrong signal, people must always be aware of them and appraise them carefully. When doubts arise, more information can be sought. Communication Symbols • Words o Words are the main communication symbol used at work. o The complexities of a single language are compounded when people from diverse backgrounds—such as different educational levels, ethnic heritages, or cultures—attempt to communicate. o Context—the environment surrounding the use of a word—helps managers make sense with words that have no single meaning while communicating with employees. Managers need to surround key words with the context of other words and symbols until their meanings are narrowed to fairly certain limits and potential confusion is minimized. Effective communicators are idea-centered rather than just word-centered. o Social Cues are positive or negative bits of information that influence how people react to a communication. Examples of social cues are job titles, patterns of dress, and the historical use of words in a particular region of the country or ethnic group. People’s susceptibility to being influenced by these cues varies, depending on the credibility of the source, their past exposure to the item, the ambiguity of the cue, and individual differences such as diverse cultural backgrounds. o Since the meaning of words is difficult to impart even with the use of context, a reasonable assumption is that if these symbols can be simplified, the receiver will understand them more easily. Further, if symbols of the type that receivers prefer are used, the receivers will be more receptive. This assumption is behind the idea of readability, which is the process of making writing and speech more understandable. o Monitoring readability and simplifying documents is a critical communication task. Since the main purpose of communication is to make ourselves understood, we must consider the needs of receivers and adapt our use of words to their level. Pictures o A second type of symbol is the picture, which is used to clarify word communication. o Organizations make extensive use of pictures, such as blueprints, progress charts, diagrams, causal maps, visual aids in training programs, etc. • Action (Non-Verbal Communication) o A third type of communication symbol is action, also known as nonverbal communication. For example, a handshake, a smile, a raise in pay, or being late for an appointment have meaning. o Two significant points about action are sometimes overlooked. Failure to act is an important way of communicating—a manager who fails to praise an employee for a job well done or fails to provide promised resources is sending a message to that person. Since people send messages by both action and inaction, they communicate almost all the time at work, regardless of their intentions. Actions speak louder than words—managers who say one thing but do another will soon find that their employees “listen” mostly to what they do. The manager’s behavior is the stronger social cue. o When there is difference between what someone says and does, a credibility gap exists. Communication credibility is based on three factors Trustworthiness Expertise Dynamism Although a manager’s credibility can take years to develop, only a few moments are required to destroy the trust that employees have. o An important part of nonverbal communication is body language, by which people communicate meaning to others with their bodies in interpersonal interaction. Body language is an important supplement to verbal communication in most parts of the world. Facial expressions are especially important sources of body language in work situations. Nonverbal cues can be either inadvertent, or intentional, thus adding complexity to the communication process. Other types of body language are physical touch, hand and hip movements, leaning forward or back, crossing one’s arms or legs, and sighing or yawning. Despite the wealth of data available from nonverbal cues, their interpretation is highly subjective and loaded with the potential for error. The Impact of Barriers on the Communication Process • Figure 3.3 suggests that the personal barriers have a pervasive effect on communications. • o Emotions can affect the development of an idea for presentation, the method and form of its transmission, how it is decoded, and whether it is accepted. o Listening skills have a powerful impact on the effectiveness of a message’s receipt and interpretation (decoding). o Feelings of psychological distance largely impact the receipt, acceptance, and usage of a message, in addition to the quality of feedback provided to the sender. o Physical barriers such as noise and geographical distance, primarily affect the transmission and receipt of messages. o Semantic issues and various communication symbols most often create problems in the encoding, decoding, and acceptance stages. • The overall message for managers is that barriers can—and do—affect the effectiveness of communications at all eight stages. Downward Communication • • Downward communication in an organization is the flow of information from higher to lower levels of authority. o Almost one-half of managerial communications are with subordinates, with the reminder divided among superiors, peers, and external recipients. • To communicate downward, some executives rely on colorful booklets, flashy PowerPoint presentations, and elaborately planned employee meetings. o These approaches, while attention-getting, often fail to achieve employee understanding—one of the goals of effective communication. • o Managers who communicate successfully are sensitive to human needs and open to true dialogue with their employees. Prerequisites and Problems • Part of management’s failure has been that it did not prepare for effective communication. • A solid foundation has four cornerstones that act as prerequisites for an effective approach: o Develop a positive communication attitude o Get informed o Plan for communication o Develop trust • Communication Overload o Managers give employees enormous amounts of information until employees find they are overwhelmed with data, but their understanding is not improved. What happens is a communication overload, in which employees receive more communication inputs than they can process or more than they need. The keys to better communication are timing and quality, not quantity. • Acceptance of a Communication o Acceptance of a message by the receiver is critical; without acceptance, communication breaks down. o Several conditions encourage acceptance of a communication: Acknowledged legitimacy of the sender to send a message Perceived competence of the sender relative to the issue Trust in the sender as a leader and as a person Perceived credibility of the message received Acceptance of the tasks and goals that the communication is trying to accomplish Power of the sender to enforce sanctions (either directly or indirectly) on the receiver Communication Needs • Managers think that they understand employees’ needs, but often their employees do not think so. o This causes downward communicators to be overconfident and probably not take enough care with their downward messages. • Job Instruction o One communication need of employees is proper instruction regarding their work. o Managers secure better results if they state their instructions in terms of the objective requirements of the job as well as the opportunities and potential problem areas. • Performance Feedback o Feedback helps employees know what to do and how well they are meeting their own goals. o Generally, performance feedback leads to both improved performance and improved attitudes. o Some dedicated employees engage in feedback-seeking behavior, in which they actively search for information about their prior performance and possible areas of improvement. Feedback-seeking individuals can actively monitor cues regarding their own performance and inquire about progress toward their goals. Employees are more likely to engage in feedback-seeking behavior if they have a strong competence motive, a powerful drive to self-evaluate, if they currently lack feedback from others, and if the results are not expected to threaten their self-esteem. • News o Downward messages should reach employees as fresh and timely news rather than as a stale confirmation of what already has been learned from other sources. o Contemporary methods include closed-circuit television, daily recorded voicemail messages that employees can receive by dialing a certain number, electronic mail systems, and Web sites. • Social Support o Another communication need that employees have at work is social support, which is the perception that they are cared for, esteemed and valued. o Employees report feeling a greater level of social support when managers communicate about task assignments, career subjects or personal matters; or provide performance feedback; or respond to questions raised. o It is the presence (and caring delivery) of communication, not the topic itself, that is most important for satisfying this particular need. Upward Communication • • If the two-way flow of information is broken by poor upward communication, management loses touch with employee needs and lacks sufficient information to make sound decisions. o It is therefore, unable to provide needed task and social support for employees. • Management needs to tune in to employees. o This process requires: Initiative Positive action Sensitivity to weak signals Adaptability to different channels of employee information An awareness and belief that upward messages are important Difficulties • Several problems plague upward communication, especially in larger, more complex organizations. o The first is delay, which is the unnecessarily slow movement of information up to higher levels. Indecisive managers hesitate to take a problem upward because doing so implies an admission of failure. o The second, and closely intertwined, factor is filtering. This partial screening out of information occurs because of the natural tendency for an employee to tell a superior only what the employee thinks the superior wants to hear. • An extreme example of filtering is organizational silence. o This is the conscious or unconscious withholding of information about potential problems or issues on the part of employees. o Organizational silence is usually caused by two compelling factors: Fear of negative repercussions for speaking up An assumption that one’s voice would not be heard anyway • There may be legitimate reasons for filtering the message. o The total message may be very lengthy, technically overwhelming, or the information may be speculative and require additional confirmation. o In some cases, the supervisor may have previously requested the employee to pass along only the highlights of a situation. • Sometimes, in an effort to avoid filtering, people bypass their superior, which means that they skip one or more steps in the communication hierarchy. • Another problem revolves around an employee’s legitimate need for a response. o Since employees initiate upward communication, they are now the senders, and they have strong expectations that feedback will occur (and soon). o If management provides a quick response, further upward messages will be encouraged. o Conversely, lack of immediate response suppresses future upward communications. • A final communication difficulty concerns distortion. o This is the willful modification of a message intended to achieve one’s personal objectives. o For example, some employees may exaggerate their achievements, hoping for more recognition or larger salary increases. o Any message distortion robs a manager of accurate information and the capacity to make enlightened decisions. o It represents unethical behavior that can destroy trust between two parties. Upward Communication Practices • A starting point for building better upward communications is to establish a general policy stating what kinds of upward messages are desired. o This could include areas where higher management is accountable, controversial topics, matters requiring managerial advice, requests for exception to corporate policy, or “bottom-up” recommendations for change. • In addition to policy statements, various practices are needed to improve upward communications. • Questioning o Managers can encourage upward communications by asking good questions. o Questions can take several forms, but the most common types are: Open questions—introduce a broad topic and give others an opportunity to respond in several ways. Closed questions—focus on a narrower topic and invite the receiver to provide a specific response. o No matter how well questions are asked, they are useless unless the questions are accompanied by skillful listening and the responses are probed for their meaning. • Listening o Active listening is much more than hearing; it requires use of the ears and the mind. Effective listening works on two levels—it helps receivers understand both the factual idea and the emotional message the sender intended. Managers who listen effectively send a key signal that they care about employees. Ten proven suggestions for active listening are given in Figure 3.4. • Employee Meetings o One useful method of building upward communications is to meet with small groups of employees In these “town hall” meetings employees are encouraged to talk about job problems, resource needs, and management practices that both help and interfere with job performance. The meetings attempt to probe in some depth the issues that are on the minds of employees. As a consequence (assuming follow-up action is taken), employee attitudes improve and turnover declines. • An Open-Door Policy o An open-door policy is a statement that encourages employees to come to their supervisor or to higher management with any matter that concerns them. Usually, employees are encouraged to see their supervisor first. The goal is to remove blocks to upward communication (physical, psychological, and social) o Although the manager’s door is physically open, psychological and social barriers exist that make employees reluctant to enter. Some employees do not want to admit that they lack information or have a problem. Others are afraid they will incur their manager’s disfavor if they raise disruptive issues. o An “open door” is even more effective when managers walk out through their own doors and interact directly with employees. This reinforces the open-door policy with a powerful social cue. • Participation In Social Groups o Informal casual recreational events furnish superb opportunities for unplanned upward communication. o Information gained on a spontaneous basis reveals true conditions better than most formal communications. o Upward communication is not the primary purpose of these events, but it can be an important by-product of them. Other Forms of Communication Lateral Communication • Managers engage in a large amount of lateral communication, or cross-communication, which is communication across chains of command. o It is necessary for job coordination with people in other departments. o It also is done because people prefer the informality of lateral communication rather than the up-and-down process of the official chain of command. o Lateral communication often is the dominant pattern within management. • Employees who play a major role in lateral communication are referred to as boundary spanners. o Boundary-spanning employees have strong communication links within their department, with people in other units, and often with the external community. o These connections with other units allow boundary spanners to gather large amounts of information, which they may filter or transfer to others. o This gives them a source of status and potential power. • Networks o A network is a group of people who develop and maintain contact to exchange information informally, usually about a shared interest. o An employee who becomes active in such a group is said to be networking. o Although networks can exist within as well as outside a company, usually they are built around external interests. o Networks help broaden the interests of employees, keep them more informed about new technical developments, and make them more visible to others. o Networks help employees learn who knows what and even who knows those who know. o An alert networker can gain access to influential people and centers of power by drawing upon common backgrounds, bonds of friendship, complementary organizational roles, or community ties. o Several practical suggestions for developing networks are provided in Figure 3.5. • • Social Networking and Electronic Communication • Social networking technologies are Internet sites and software programs that allow people to link together into some form of a virtual social community. o YouTube, Facebook, and MySpace are accessed by millions of viewers, and used to share personal information profiles and learn about others. o Wikis are Web pages that enable their users to add or modify contents; the most visible example of this is Wikipedia, which is a collaboratively created and constantly updated collection of 4 million articles in the English language. • Electronic Mail o Electronic mail (e-mail) is a computer-based communication system that allows people to send a message to someone—or to a hundred people—almost instantaneously. o Some electronic mail systems can send messages in various modes, and others can translate the message into a foreign language. o In surveys of employees, more than 80 percent of users report that the Internet has made them more productive at work. Most users receive more than 20 work-related e-mails every day, and the vast majority respond to each of them within 24 hours. o The primary advantages of electronic mail systems are their dramatic speed and convenience. o The major disadvantages include the: Loss of face-to-face contact Temptation to send flaming (spontaneous, emotion-laden) messages Risks of using acronyms and emoticons (keyboard versions of various psychological states) that will be misunderstood Associated difficulty of accurately conveying and interpreting emotions and subtleties in brief and somewhat sterile messages o The whole field of e-mail courtesy (“netiquette”) has sprung up, with a set of guidelines (Figure 3.6) emerging to help managers decide how best to proceed via e-mail. • Blogs o The past decade has produced rapidly increased interest in Web logs, or blogs. o These are online diaries or journals created and updated frequently by individuals to express their personal thoughts, musings, and commentaries on topics of interest to them, although they can also be produced by organizations, CEOs, and professional groups. o Often informative and sometimes amusing, blogs can be time-consuming if employees get “hooked” on reading them at work. o Other problems arise when employees themselves engage in blogging about their own companies, thus offering unofficial insider opinions about the organization that may be damaging to the company’s image. o As a result, some organizations have created policies restricting employee blogging activities. o Other companies have found blogs highly useful as a way of discovering what both customers and employees are thinking about them, as well as for facilitating intracompany communications and problem solving. o A special form of microblogging has emerged at Twitter.com. Twittering involves expressing oneself in a brief (maximum of 140 characters) message (a “Tweet”) in real time to a self-selected network of interested persons. • Telecommuting o Telecommuting allows telecommuters to accomplish all or part of their work at home, or at a satellite location, through computer links to their office. o Research suggests that the personal advantages of telecommuting include: Freedom from the distractions of the workplace A reduction in the time and money spent on commuting The opportunity to reduce expenditures for work-relevant clothing The opportunity to spend more time with family members or even to provide for their care at home o Corporate advantages include: Improved productivity (sometimes as much as 15 to 25 percent) Reduced space requirements The opportunity to hire key talent who will telecommute from a distant city Increased employee loyalty because the employer “went the extra mile” by setting up the system The capacity to accommodate disabled or chronically ill employees o It creates the following societal benefits too: Reduction in auto traffic and pollution Employment of people who are unable to work outside the home o The growth of telecommuting practices depends largely on the ability of managers to overcome their fear of a loss of direct control over employees they cannot visually monitor. o Other substantial problems include the: Possibility of being overlooked at promotion time through lesser daily visibility Risk of getting burned out from the temptation to put in more hours daily Temptation to engage in household activities instead of working Social isolation that at-home employees may feel o As a consequence of the physical isolation, telecommuters may feel: Out of touch with their regular (social) networks, unable to experience intellectual stimulation from their peers Removed from informal channels of communication Insulated from most sources of social support • Virtual Offices o Some companies have implemented virtual offices, in which physical office space and individual desks are being replaced with an amazing array of portable communication tools—electronic mail, cellular phones, voice mail systems, laptop computers, fax machines, etc. o Electronic communication tools allow employers to greatly reduce the office space needed for each employee, sometimes enabling them to replace dozens of desks with a single “productivity center” that employees can use for holding meetings, responding to mail, and accomplishing other short-term tasks. o One significant risk is the loss of an opportunity for social interaction; employees still need to gather informally, exchange ideas and experiences face-to-face, and develop a sense of teamwork. Informal Communication • • The grapevine is an informal communication system. o The term “grapevine” arose during the Civil War. o Intelligence telegraph lines were strung loosely from tree to tree in the manner of a grapevine, and wild grapevines grew over the lines in some areas. o Since messages from the lines often were incorrect or confusing, any rumor was said to be from the grapevine. o Today, the term applies to all informal communication, including company information that is communicated informally between employees and people in the community. • Although grapevine information tends to be sent orally, it may be written. o Handwritten or typed notes sometimes are used, but in the modern electronic office these messages typically are flashed on computer screens, creating an era of electronic grapevine. • Electronic grapevine will not replace the face-to-face grapevine for two reasons: o Not every employee has access to a network of personal computers at work. o Many workers enjoy the more personal social interaction gained through the traditional grapevine. Features of the Grapevine • The pattern that grapevine information usually follows is called a cluster chain, because each link in the chain tends to inform a cluster of other people instead of only one person. • In addition, only a few people are active communicators on the grapevine for any specific unit of information; these people are called liaison individuals. • The grapevine is often more a product of the situation than it is of the person. • Given the proper situation and motivation, anyone would tend to become active on the grapevine. • Some of the factors that encourage people to be active are listed in Figure 3.7. • Contrary to common perceptions, well over three-fourths of grapevine information is accurate. • The grapevine may be incomplete; it generally carries the truth but not the whole truth. • The grapevine is fast, flexible, and personal. o This speed makes it difficult for management to stop undesirable rumors or to release significant news in time to prevent rumor formation. • The grapevine is influential, both favorably and unfavorably. Rumor • The major problem with the grapevine—and the one that gives the grapevine its poor reputation—is rumor. o It is grapevine information that is communicated without secure standards of evidence being present. o It is the unverified and untrue part of the grapevine. o It could by chance be correct, but generally it is incorrect; thus it is presumed to be undesirable. • Rumor is primarily a result of both interest and ambiguity in a situation. • Since rumor largely depends on ambiguity and the interest that each person has, it tends to change (be filtered) as it passes from person to person. • People also add new details, often making the rumor worse, in order to include their own strong feelings, judgment, and reasoning; this process is called elaborating. • Types of Rumors o There are different kinds of rumors. Some are historical and explanatory; they attempt to make meaning out of incomplete prior events. Others are more spontaneous and action-oriented; they arise without much forethought and represent attempts to change a current situation. Occasionally, rumors are negative, such as those that drive a wedge between people or groups, destroy loyalties, and perpetuate hostilities. They may also be positive as when employees speculate about the beneficial effects of a new product just released. • Control of Rumor o Rumor should be dealt with firmly and consistently, but how and what to attack must be known. o Several ways to control rumor are summarized in Figure 3.8. • The best approach is to prevent it by removing its causes. Chapter 4 Social Systems and Organizational Culture Chapter Overview The key purpose of this chapter is to provide an understanding of the nature, operation, and impact of social systems within organizations. First an overview of the organization as a social system is presented, followed by a discussion of cultural change and cultural evolution. Particular attention is devoted to the origins of the work ethic, to current trends in that area, and to the notion of social responsibility. Next, role related concepts including role perceptions, mentors, role conflict, and role ambiguity and the role and importance of status relationships in organizations are described. The final section is devoted to a detailed discussion of organizational culture. Chapter Learning Objectives After reading this chapter, students should understand: 1. The operation of a social system 2. The psychological contract 3. Social cultures and their impact 4. The value of cultural diversity 5. Role and role conflict in organizations 6. Status and status symbols 7. Organizational culture and its effects 8. Fun workplaces Discussion and Project Ideas All organizational behavior takes place within a system of interdependent variables—this is the social system. It is important early in the course for students to conceive of human behavior within a system because this helps them to see the subject as a whole rather than a series of disconnected ideas. Systems concepts give totality and completeness to a subject and help us perceive order within a society that is so complex that it appears disorderly. Further, the social system has a major influence on the values that people hold and their behavior. The following exercises should help deliver these concepts to students. • Ask each student to write down on a blank sheet of paper a description of a typical day 10 years from now. Have the students small groups and read each other’s descriptions. Discuss the descriptions in terms of the work ethic. Is work a central part of their description? Are there implicit goals, objectives, and deadlines in the descriptions they provide? • Ask the students to form small groups and list all of the status symbols present in the classroom and university setting. Have a spokesperson for each group present the list to the remainder of the group. The symbols should include examples of both high and low status, differences in dress, differences in office locations, equipment, etc. • If you have a lot of determination, you might like to try this one. Come to class in a pair of cut-off jeans and sandals and sit in the back of the room. When class begins, refuse to lead the class, telling students that they are adults and have responsibility for their own learning. After about 10 minutes of discussion, some possible complaining, and confusion, assume your normal role. Lead a discussion on the need for roles, role ambiguity, need for status, and status symbols. • Have the students draw a diagram illustrating their various roles—like the one illustrated in Figure 4.2. Discuss the implications of different and widely divergent roles. • Have students list all the status symbols evident through out their organization. For example, assigned parking, corner office, flexible hours, etc. How do employees achieve these status symbols and does it create internal strife within the organization? Lecture Outline Introduction • • Companies like Google, Boston Consulting Group, etc. are often recognized for being some of the best companies to work for. o The organizational cultures at these firms are well-established, and often reflect the beliefs and values of the companies’ founders as well as those of the current staff. o Cultures provide both direct and indirect cues telling workers how to succeed: Direct cues include orientation training, policy statements, and advice from supervisors and peers. Indirect cues are more subtle, including inferences made from promotions and apparent patterns of acceptable dress. Understanding a Social System • A social system is a complex set of human relationships interacting in many ways. o Possible interactions are limitless. o Each small group is a subsystem within larger groups that are subsystems of even larger groups, and so on, until all the world’s population is included. • Two points stand out in the complex interactions among people in a social system. o The behavior of any one member can have an impact, directly or indirectly, on the behavior of any other. o Any social system engages in exchanges with its environment, receiving input from it and providing output to it (which then becomes input for its adjacent systems). • Social systems are open systems that interact with their surroundings. o Consequently, members of a system should be aware of the nature of the nature of their environments and their impact on other members both within and outside their own social system. Social Equilibrium • A system is said to be in social equilibrium when its interdependent parts are in dynamic working balance. • Equilibrium is a dynamic concept, not a static one. • A single event change or a series of rapid changes may throw an organization out of balance, seriously reducing its forward progress until it can reach a new equilibrium. o In a sense, when it is in disequilibrium, some of its parts are working against one another instead of in harmony. Functional and Dysfunctional Effects • A change has a functional effect when it is favorable for the system. • When an action or a change creates unfavorable effects for the system it has a dysfunctional effect. • A major management task is to appraise both actual and proposed changes in the social system to determine their possible functional or dysfunctional effects, so that appropriate responses can be anticipated and made. o Managers also need to predict both short-term and long-term effects, measure “hard” (e.g., productivity) and “soft” (e.g., satisfaction and commitment) criteria, and consider the probable effects on various stakeholder groups, such as employees, customers, and stockholders. • Employees can also have functional or dysfunctional effects on the organization. o They can be creative, productive, and enthusiastic and actively seek to improve the quality of the organization’s product or service. o On the other hand, they can be tardy, absent frequently, unwilling to use their talents, and resistant to organizational changes. • For employees to exhibit functional behaviors, they need to receive clear expectations and promises of reward. Psychological and Economic Contracts • When employees join an organization, they make an unwritten psychological contract with it, although often they are not conscious of doing so. • This contract is in addition to the economic contract where time, talent, and energy are exchanged for wages, hours, and reasonable working conditions (Figure 4.1). • If the organization honors only the economic contract and not the psychological contract, employees tend to have lower satisfaction because not all their expectations are being met. • To prevent breakdowns of the psychological contract, employers are urged to: o Help employees clarify their expectations and perceptions o Initiate explicit discussions of mutual obligations o Exercise caution when conveying promises o Provide candid explanations for broken promises o Alert employees to the realistic prospects of reneging • The psychological contract builds upon the concept of exchange theory. o This theory suggests that whenever a continuing relationship exists between two parties, each person regularly examines the rewards and costs of that interaction. o In order to remain positively attracted to the relationship, both parties must have a net positive ratio. Social Culture • • Whenever people act in accordance with the expectations of others, their behavior is social. • Social culture is an individual’s environment of human-created beliefs, customs, knowledge, and practices. • Social cultures are often portrayed as consistent within a nation, thereby producing a national culture. o Knowledge of social cultures is especially important because managers need to understand, appreciate, and respond to the backgrounds and beliefs of all members of their work unit. • People learn to depend on their culture. o However, this one-culture dependency may place intellectual blinders on employees, preventing them from gaining the benefits of exposure to people from other cultural backgrounds. o Employees need to lean to adapt to others in order to capitalize on the distinctive backgrounds, traits, and opportunities they present, while avoiding possible negative consequences. Cultural Diversity • Employees in almost any organization are divided into subgroups of various kinds. • Formation of groups is determined by two broad sets of conditions: o Job-related (organizationally created) differences and similarities, such as type of work, rank in the organization, and physical proximity to one another, sometimes cause people to align themselves into groups. o Non-job-related conditions (those related to culture, ethnicity, socioeconomics, sex, and race) arise primarily from an individual’s personal background; these conditions are highly important for legal, moral, and economic reasons. • In particular, the U.S. workforce has rapidly become much more diverse, with females, African Americans, Hispanics, and Asian immigrants bringing their talents to employers in record numbers. o This cultural diversity, or rich variety of differences among people at work, raises the issue of fair treatment for workers who are not in positions of authority. • Problems may persist because of a key difference in this context between discrimination and prejudice. o Discrimination is generally exhibited as an action, whereas prejudice is an attitude. o Either may exist without the other. • The law focuses on an employer’s actions, not feelings. o If actions lead to what is legally determined to be discriminatory results, such actions are unlawful regardless of the employer’s alleged good intentions. • A promising approach to overcoming discriminatory practices actually attempts to change the underlying attitudes, values, and beliefs. o Programs aimed at managing and valuing diversity build from a key premise—prejudicial stereotypes develop from unfounded assumptions about other and from their overlooked qualities. o Differences need to be recognized, acknowledged, appreciated and used to collective advantage. o All participants will need to explore their differences, learn from others, respect the value that others contribute, and use that information to build a strong organization. o This requires inclusion (an active desire to use diverse talents and strengths) and cultural competency (the skill to do so). Social Culture Values • The Work Ethic o For many years, the culture of much of the Western world has emphasized work as a desirable and fulfilling activity. o The result of this cultural emphasis is a work ethic for many people, meaning they view work as very important, morally correct, and as desirable goal in life. o They tend to like work and derive satisfaction from it. o They usually have a stronger commitment to the organization and its goals than do other employees, and are more diligent in carrying out their responsibilities. o In spite of its prevalence, the work ethic is a subject of continuing reflection, discussion, and controversy. o The available research indicates that two conclusions can be safely reached: The proportion of employees with a strong work ethic varies sharply among sample groups. Differences depend on factors such as personal background, type of work performed, and geographical location. The general level of the work ethic has declined gradually over many decades. The decline is most evident in the different attitudes between younger and older workers. Not only are younger employees not as supportive of the work ethic, but the level of support that young people once exhibited has dropped substantially. This decline carries serious implications for industrial productivity, especially as international competition intensifies. o Dramatic social changes have brought about the work ethic’s deterioration. Competing social values have emerged such as a leisure ethic, desire for community and connectedness, and entitlement. In addition, changes in social policy and tax laws have reduced incentives to work and occasionally even penalized hard work and success. • Social Responsibility o Every action that organizations take involves costs as well as benefits. o Social responsibility is the recognition that organizations have significant influence on the nation’s social system and that this influence must be properly considered and balanced in all organizational actions. o The presence of strong social values such as social responsibility has a powerful impact on organizations and their actions. It leads them to take a broader view of their role within a social system and accept their interdependence with it. Role • • A role is the pattern of actions expected of a person in activities involving others. o Role reflects a person’s position in the social system, with its accompanying rights and obligations, power and responsibility. • In order to be able to interact with one another, people need some way of anticipating others’ behavior. o Role performs this function in the social system. • A person has roles both on the job and away from it (Figure 4.2). o Each role calls for different types of behavior. o Within the work environment alone, a worker may have more than one role. Role Perceptions • Activities of managers and workers alike are guided by role perceptions—that is how they think they are supposed to act in their own roles and how others should act in their roles. • Since managers perform many different roles, they must be highly adaptive (exhibiting role flexibility) in order to change from one role to another quickly. • When a manager and employee interact, each one needs to understand four different role perceptions (Figure 4.3). • For a manager, two role perceptions are as follows: o The managers’ own role perception as required by the supervisory job being performed. o The managers’ perception of the role of the employee being contacted. • Two related role perceptions exist from the employee’s perspective: o The employees’ perception of manager’s role. o The employees’ perception of own role. • Unless roles are clarified and agree upon by both parties, conflicts will inevitably arise. Mentors • A mentor is a role model who guides another employee (a protégé) by providing historical perspectives and sharing valuable advice on roles to play and behaviors to avoid. • The advantages of successful mentoring programs include: o Stronger employee loyalty o Faster movement up learning curve o Better succession planning through development of replacements o Increased level of goal accomplishments • Some organizations assign protégés to mentors, but this practice can create problems of resentment, abuse of power, and unwillingness to serve. • Tips for protégés working with mentors are provided in Figure 4.4(a); tips for mentors are shown in Figure 4.4(b). • Mentors are usually older, successful themselves, and respected by their peers (influential). o They must be: Willing to commit time and energy to help another person move up the corporate ladder Able to communicate effectively and share ideas in a non-threatening manner Enjoy one-on-one development of others • Mentors are often not the employee’s direct supervisor; therefore, they can provide additional support to aid an employee’s career progress. • Several problems can arise in mentoring programs: o Some mentors are more effective role models than others. o Some protégés are more aggressive in seeking out the prime candidates for a mentor, leaving other protégés with less skilled mentors. o A mentor might provide inappropriate advice or inaccurate information to a protégé that actually hinders the employee’s development. o A special problem sometimes confronting women and minorities is the difficulty of finding successful role models from the same gender or ethnic group. o When gender differences exist in the mentor–protégé relationship, difficult issues sometimes arise, such as when one party exploits the other’s time and efforts, or when a legitimate but close emotional bond can stimulate rumors of an intimate relationship. o A protégé’s career might be stifled abruptly if the mentor is transferred or leaves the organization. • For these and other reasons, common practice is to have more than one mentor for each protégé, resulting in multiple relations from which the protégé can derive richer role perceptions and broader career advice. • Despite well-meaning attempts, efforts to establish mentoring relationships sometimes fail. • Reverse mentoring occurs when a person who has more general depth of experience requires assistance in an area of special expertise, and a newer employee can provide it. o It became popular largely due to the rapid expansion of various types of innovative digital technologies, associated apps and social media, and e-commerce. Role Conflict • When others have different perceptions or expectations of a person’s role, that person tends to experience role conflict. o Such conflict makes it difficult to meet one set of expectations without rejecting another. • Role conflict at work is fairly common. • Many employees experience role conflict from time to time and some feel role conflict is a frequent and serious problem. • Role conflict is most difficult for employees with many job contacts outside the organization—that is, with boundary roles. • Another type of role conflict arises between role expectations at work versus those from non-work activities. o When the demands from the non-work activities accumulate, there is often a potential spillover effect on one’s work life and job performance. o The work-family conflict that ensues can impact both domains and result in diminished job satisfaction, work performance, life satisfaction, and emotional exhaustion. Role Ambiguity • When roles are inadequately defined or are substantially unknown, role ambiguity exists, because people are not sure how they should act in situations of this type. • When role conflict and role ambiguity exist, job satisfaction and organizational commitment will likely decline. o On the other hand, employees tend to be more satisfied with their jobs when their roles are clearly defined by job descriptions and statements of performance expectations. Status • Status is the social rank of a person in a group. o It is a mark of the amount of recognition, honor, esteem, and acceptance given to a person. • Individuals are bound together in status systems, or status hierarchies, which define their rank relative to others in the group. o If they become seriously upset over their status, they are said to feel status anxiety. • Loss of status—sometimes called “losing face” or status deprivation—is a serious event for most people. • Since status is important to people, they will work hard to earn it. o If it can be tied to actions that further the corporate goals, then employees are strongly motivated to support their company. Status Relationships • High-status people within a group usually have more power and influence than those with low status. o They also receive more privileges from their group and tend to participate more in group activities. o They interact more with their peers than with those of lower rank. • Basically, high status gives people an opportunity to play a more important role in an organization. o As a result, lower-status members tend to feel isolated from the mainstream and show more stress symptoms than higher-ranked members. • In a work organization, status provides a system by which people can relate to one another as they work. o Without it, they would tend to be confused and spend much of their time trying to learn how to work together. Status Symbols • Status symbols are the visible, external things that attach to a person or workplace and serve as evidence of social rank. • There are a variety of symbols of status, depending on what employees feel is important (Figure 4.5). • When an employee gives unreasonable attention to status symbols, there is evidence of status anxiety, and this situation requires management attention. • Managers need to face the fact that status differences exist and must be managed successfully. Sources of Status • The sources of status are numerous, but in a typical work situation several sources are easily identified (Figure 4.6). o Education, job level, a person’s abilities, job skills, and type of work are major sources of status. o Other sources of status are amount of pay, seniority, age, stock options, method of pay (hourly versus salary), and working conditions. Significance of Status • Status is significant to organizational behavior in several ways: o When employees are consumed by the desire for status, it often is the source of employee problems and conflicts that management needs to solve. o It influences the kinds of transfers that employees will take, because they don’t want a low-status location or dead-end job assignment. o It helps determine who will be an informal leader of a group. o It serves to motivate those seeking to advance in the organization. o Some people are status seekers, wanting a job of high status regardless of other working conditions. Organizational Culture • • Social (national) culture creates the wide-ranging context in which organizations operate. o It provides the complex social system of laws, values, and customs in which organizational behavior occurs. • According to social psychologist Kurt Lewin, employee behavior (B) is a function of the interaction between personal characteristics (P) and the environment (E) around the person. o B = f (P,E) • Organizational culture is the set of assumptions, beliefs, values, and norms shared by an organization’s members. o This culture may have been consciously created by its key members, or it may have simply evolved over time. • Organizational culture surrounds and affects everything that happens in an organization. o Because it is a dynamic systems concept, culture is also affected by almost everything that occurs within an organization. • Organizational cultures are important to a firm’s success for several reasons: o They give an organizational identity to employees—a defining vision of what the organization represents. o They are also an important source of stability and continuity to the organization, which provides a sense of security to its members. o Knowledge of the organizational culture helps newer employees interpret what goes on inside the organization, by providing an important context for events that would otherwise seem confusing. o Cultures help stimulate employee enthusiasm for tasks. o Cultures attract attention, convey a vision, and typically honor high-producing and creative individuals as heroes. Characteristics of Cultures • Each organization has its own history, patterns of communication, systems and procedures, mission statements and visions, and stories and myths which, in their totality, constitute its distinctive culture. • Cultures are relatively stable in nature, usually changing only slowly over time. o Exceptions to this condition may occur when a major crisis threatens a firm or when two organizations merge with each other. • Most organizational cultures have historically been implicit and unconscious rather than explicit. • Most cultures are seen as symbolic representations of underlying beliefs and values. • Employees make inferences about organizational cultures from hearing stories about the way things are done, from reading slogans that portray corporate ideals, from observing key artifacts, or from watching ceremonies in which certain types of employees are honored. • Over time, an organization’s culture becomes perpetuated by its tendency to attract and retain people who fit its values and beliefs. • Several other dimensions of culture are important to note: o There is no one best culture for all firms. o Culture depends on the organization’s goals, industry, nature of competition, and other factors in the environment. o Cultures will be more easily recognized when their elements are generally integrated and consistent with each other. o Most members must at least accept, if not embrace, the assumptions and values of the culture. o Most cultures evolve directly from top management, who can have a powerful influence on their employees by what they say. However, management’s actions are even more important to watchful employees. o A culture may exist across an entire organization or it may be made up of various subcultures—the environment within a single division, branch, plant, or department. o Cultures have varying strengths—they can be characterized as relatively strong or weak, depending largely on the degree of their impact on employee behavior and how widely the underlying beliefs and values are held. • The effect of organizational culture on employee behavior is difficult to establish. o Some research indicates there is a positive relationship between certain organizational cultures and performance. Measuring Organizational Culture • Systematic measurement and comparison of cultures is difficult at best. o Most early attempts by researchers relied on examination of stories, symbols, rituals, and ceremonies to obtain clues and construct a composite (but subjective) portrait. o Others have used interviews and open-ended questionnaires in an attempt to assess employee values and beliefs. o In other cases, examination of corporate philosophy statements has provided insight into the espoused culture (the beliefs and values that the organization states publicly). o Another approach is to survey employees directly and seek their perceptions of the organization’s culture. o One of the more interesting methods is to become a member of the organization and engage in participant observation. • Any attempt to measure organizational culture can be only an imperfect assessment. o Such measurements are comparable to capturing only a single snapshot of the culture at a single point in time. o Many organizational cultures are in the process of changing and need to be monitored regularly and by a variety of methods to gain a truer picture. Communicating and Changing Culture • If organizations are to consciously create and manage their cultures, they must be able to communicate them to employees, especially the newly hired ones. • Examples of formal communication vehicles for transmitting organizational cultures include: o Executive visions of the firm’s future o Corporate philosophy statements o Codes of ethical conduct • Informal means involve: o Publicly recognizing heroes and heroines o Retelling historical success stories o Allowing myths to be exaggerated • Elements of the organization’s culture are also unintentionally communicated to employees in a variety of ways, such as when news of a manager’s error and an executive’s forgiveness of it are accidentally leaked throughout the firm. • Collectively, the cultural communication acts may be lumped under the umbrella of organizational socialization, which is the continuous process of transmitting key elements of an organization’s culture to its employees. o Socialization consists of both formal methods and informal means. • Viewed from the organization’s perspective, organizational socialization is like placing an organization’s fingerprints on people or stamping its own genetic code on them. • From the employee’s viewpoint, it is essential that they learn “the ropes” to survive and prosper within the firm. • Two powerful methods for communicating an organizational culture to new employees involve: o Signature experiences—clearly defined and dramatic devices that convey a key element of the firm’s culture and vividly reinforce the values of the organization. The culture is clearly imprinted in the new employee’s mind. Example of signature experiences are demanding selection procedures for new hires at Goldman Sachs. o Storytelling—managers are also encouraged to engage in storytelling as a way to forge a culture and build organizational identity. Good stories tap into emotions of an audience and have proven to be powerful ways to create shared meaning and purpose. Stories convey a sense of tradition, explain how past problems have been solved, convey personal frailty through tales of mistakes made and learned from, and enhance cohesion around key values. The most memorable stories entertain as well as inform, and uplift as well as and teach. The stories highlight purposeful plots and patterns that the organization cherishes, they point out consequences of actions, and they provide valuable lessons that carry forward the wisdom gained through previous years. • Individualization occurs when employees successfully exert influence on the social system around them at work by challenging the culture or deviating from it. o The interaction between socialization and individualism is portrayed in Figure 4.8, which shows the types of employees who accept or reject an organization’s norms and values while exerting various degrees of influence. o The two extremes—rebellion and total conformity—may prove dysfunctional for the organization and the individual’s career in the long run. o Isolation is seldom a productive course of action. o Creative individuals can infuse new life and ideas for the organization’s benefit. • Counterculture is a subgroup of individuals within the larger culture whose values, norms, and behavior are substantially different. o When this happens, a culture clash may arise, and the resultant conflict of values can be highly disruptive. Fun Workplaces • • A fun work environment is a unique and increasingly popular organizational culture in which supervisors encourage, initiate, and support a variety of playful and humorous activities. • A fun workplace has several key features: o It is easily recognized. o It means different things to various people. o It is relatively easy to create at work. o It elicits a broad range of personal and organizational payoffs. • Hundreds of approaches have been used to stimulate fun at work. o Key categories include unique ways to provide recognition for personal milestones, hosting of special social events, public celebrations of professional and departmental achievements, games and friendly competitions, entertainment, etc. • Specific tactics used in various organizations include dress up days, cartoons tailored to employees, exaggerated job titles, distribution of the “joke for the day”, or the use of modified board games and TV show formats to engage minds and stimulate creativity. • Employees like to work in an environment that satisfies their economic and security needs, makes them feel listened to, and recognizes their time, effort, and results. • Fun at work can help decrease stress, reduce boredom, stimulate friendships, increase satisfaction, and produce several beneficial physiological results for employees. • The organization benefits from a fun workplace culture, too. A comprehensive survey by the Society for Human Resource Management showed that as employee enthusiasm and creativity rise, attracting and retaining employees is easier, the company’s values and norms (culture) become clearer, and customer satisfaction improves as a reflection of how they are treated by energized employees. Instructor Manual for Organizational Behavior: Human Behavior at Work John W. Newstrom 9780078112829, 9781259254420
