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Source:ISBN: 0077395573 | Title: Human Biology | Publisher: McGraw-Hill Higher Education
Explanation / Answer
Chapter 1 Managing Effective Organizations 5 As the opening vignette illustrates, the expectations of consumers are changing.Organizations must be prepared to deal with consumer needs for social responsibility, goodcitizenship, and responsible management and leadership. The array of stakeholders apply-ing pressure suggests that managing organizational behavior can be challenging andrewarding for managers. OB AT WORK Putting People First On December 11, 1995, a devastating fire swept through a millcomplex in the heart of Lawrence, Massachusetts. MaldenMills, one of the few remaining textile firms operating in NewEngland, owned the factory. The destruction threatened the1,400 jobs at the mill. Another 1,600 jobs at plants in the com-munity that did business with Malden Mills were also threat-ened. However, on the morning after the fire, the owner ofMalden Mills, Aaron Feuerstein, promised his employees that their jobs were secure. He decided that Malden Mills wouldrebuild the ruined plant and would continue to provide full pay-checks and medical benefits through the holiday season.The fire and its aftermath generated a lot of national atten- tion. Feuerstein’s actions were praised, and he was regardedas a sensitive, caring leader. A few months later, a welder at the plant praised Feuerstein, “. . . with what he’s doing withMalden Mills, it’s an honor to work in this place.”Feuerstein’s philosophy of putting people first is reflectedin his statement that I have a responsibility to the worker, both blue-collar andwhite-collar. I have an equal responsibility to the community.It would have been unconscionable to put 3,000 people on thestreets and deliver a deathblow to the cities of Lawrence andMatheren. Maybe on paper our company is worth less to WallStreet, but I can tell you it’s worth more. We’re doing fine. Putting people first was something that Feuerstein did withease. In a region of the United States that had witnesseddownsizing, reengineering, and outsourcing, Feuerstein’s be-havior was embraced, applauded, and held in high regard.Feuerstein had faith in his workers and showed how important they were to him.Since the fire, Malden Mills has fallen on hard times.Economic conditions in Lawrence have deteriorated for thefactories in the region. Unfortunately, the years after the firewere filled with debt and bankruptcy. Feuerstein was asked ifhe would do the same thing again. He said, “Yes, it was theright thing to do.”A memory that citizens will not forget, though, is howmanagers at Malden treated their employees after an un-fortunate fire. This memory continues to be a part of thehistory of the region even though the factories continue toclose down. Sources: Adapted from In Brief, Wall Street Journal , February 21, 2007,eastern edition, p. B.4;www.aish.com , accessed on April 2, 2007; Davis Bushnell, “Maneuvering for Control of Stronger Malden Mills,” Boston Globe, February 5, 2004, p. D1; “Malden Mills,” Industry Standard, July 24, 2001, p. 6;www.reputation-mgmt.com/malden.htm; and Richard K. Lester, The Productivity Edge (New York: Norton, 1998),pp. 213–14. Studying Organizational Behavior Why does Ric Nunzio always seem to hire older employees for his pizza parlor? Why isSelena Rodriguez the best decision maker in selecting what piece of equipment to purchasefor her glass manufacturing plant? Why does Val Kupolus always complain that he’s notpaid enough to sell produce at the Vilnius produce stand? Such questions are studied, ana-lyzed, and debated in the field called organizational behavior (OB) . The formal study of organizational behavior began between 1948 and 1952. This still-emerging field attemptsto help managers understand people better so that productivity improvements, customersatisfaction, and a better competitive position can be achieved through better managementpractices.The behavioral sciences—especially psychology, sociology, political science, and cul-tural anthropology—have provided the basic framework and principles for the field of organizational behavior. Each behavioral science discipline provides a slightly differentfocus, analytical framework, and theme for helping managers answer questions aboutthemselves, nonmanagers, and environmental forces (e.g., competition, legal requirements,and social/political changes). organizationalbehavior (OB) The field of study thatdraws on theory, methods,and principles fromvarious disciplines tolearn about individuals’ perceptions, values,learning capacities, andactions while working in groups and within the organization and toanalyze the external en-vironment’s effect on theorganization and its hu-man resources, missions,objectives, and strategies. 6 Part One Introduction The multidisciplinary definition of organizational behavior illustrates a number of points. First, OB indicates that behaviors of people operate at individual, group, and orga-nizational levels. This approach suggests that when studying OB we must identify clearlythe level of analysis being used—individual, group, organizational, or all three. Second,OB is multidisciplinary; it uses principles, models, theories, and methods from other disci-plines. The study of OB isn’t a discipline or a generally accepted science with an estab-lished theoretical foundation. It’s a field that only now is beginning to grow and develop instature and impact. Third, there’s a distinctly humanistic orientation within organizationalbehavior. People and their attitudes, perceptions, learning capacities, feelings, and goalsare important to the organization. Fourth, the field of OB is performance oriented . Why isperformance low or high? How can performance be improved? Can training enhanceon-the-job performance? These are important issues facing managers. Fifth, the externalenvironment is seen as having significant effect on organizational behavior. Sixth, becausethe field of OB relies heavily on recognized disciplines, the scientific method is importantin studying variables and relationships. As the scientific method has been applied to re-search on organizational behavior, a set of principles and guidelines on what constitutesgood research has emerged. 4 Finally, the field has a distinctive applications orientation; it concerns providing useful answers to questions that arise in the context of managingoperations. Organizational Behavior Follows Principles of Human Behavior The effectiveness of any organization is influenced greatly by human behavior. People area resource common to all organizations. The pizza parlor, the glass manufacturing plant,and the produce stand employ human assets and interact with people such as customers,suppliers, and job candidates.One important principle of psychology is that each person is different. Each has uniqueperceptions, personality, and life experiences. People have different ethnic backgrounds;different capabilities for learning and for handling responsibility; and different attitudes,beliefs, and aspiration levels. We’ve moved from an era in which large portions of theworkforce were middle-aged men who spoke only English to an era of diversity. Today’sworkforce doesn’t look, think, or act like the workforce of the past. 5 To be effective, man-agers of organizations must view each employee or member as a unique embodiment of allthese behavioral and cultural factors. Organizations Are Social Systems The relationships among individuals and groups in organizations create expectations forindividuals’ behavior. These expectations result in certain roles that must be performed.Some people must perform leadership roles, whereas others must participate in the roles of followers. Middle managers, because they have both superiors and subordinates, must per-form both roles. Organizations have systems of authority, status, and power, and people inorganizations have varying needs from each system. Groups in organizations also have apowerful impact on individual behavior and on organizational performance. Multiple Factors Shape Organizational Behavior A person’s behavior in any situation involves the interaction of that individual’s personalcharacteristics and the characteristics of the situation. Thus, identifying all of the factors istime-consuming and difficult; frequently, the task is impossible.To help us identify the important managerial factors in organizational behavior, weuse the contingency (or situational ) approach . The basic idea of the contingencyapproach is that there’s not one best way to manage; a method that’s very effective in one contingency approach Approach to managementthat believes there’s noone best way to managein every situation andmanagers must finddifferent ways that fitdifferent situations. Chapter 1 Managing Effective Organizations 7 situation may not work at all in others. The contingency approach has grown in popular-ity because research has shown that given certain characteristics of a job and certaincharacteristics of the people doing the job, some management practices work better thanothers. Thus, the Mexican glass manufacturing plant’s manager of operations faced witha poorly performing group doesn’t assume that a particular approach will work. Inapplying the contingency approach, he diagnoses the characteristics of the individualsand groups involved in the organizational structure, and his own leadership style, beforedeciding on a solution.Organizational behavior has evolved into an applied set of behavioral science concepts,models, and techniques. The predominant contributors to OB—psychology, social psychol-ogy, sociology, political science, and anthropology—have contributed to our understandingand use of OB in organizational settings. Figure 1.1 presents an illustration of some of themajor contributions of the behavioral sciences to the study and application of OB. FIGURE 1.1 Contributions to the Study and Application of OB GroupOrganizationField oforganizationalbehavior• Perception• Values• Attitudes• Learning• Job design• Individual differenceanalysis• Recruitment• Selection• Motivation• Stress• Reward systems• Evaluation and feedback• Organization theory• Organization culture• Group development• Group characteristics• Intergroup analysisand conflict• Power• Work teams• Self-managed teams• Change• Communication• Behavioral change• Attitude change• Group processes• Group effectiveness• Group decision making• Groupthink• Influence tactics• Power and ethics• Political strategies• Empowerment• Conflict resolution• Illusion of power• Cross-culturalcommunications• Cross-cultural analysis• Values and morals• Comparative analysisA science thatattempts to study,explain, and attimes modifybehavior.PsychologyThe study of groupbehavior and howpeople relate toeach other.SociologySocial psychologyA behavioral sciencearea that focuses onhow individualsinfluence each other.Political scienceThe study of thebehavior ofindividuals andgroups within apolitical framework. Behavior scienceTopic, model, technique contributedLevel of focus or analysis IndividualAnthropologyThe study of societiesto learn about values,attitudes, andbehavior of peoplewithin differentsettings, cultures,and countries. 8 Part One Introduction To help you learn how to manage individuals and groups as resources of organizations,this book focuses on the behavior of individuals and groups, organizational structure and job design, and processes. Developing the model presented in this book required the use of several assumptions. These assumptions are explained briefly in the following paragraphs,which precede the model. 6 Structure and Processes Affect Organizational Behaviorand the Emergent Culture An organization’s structure is the formal pattern of how its people and jobs are grouped.Structure often is illustrated by an organization chart. Processes are activities that givelife to the organization chart. Communication, decision making, and organization devel-opment are examples of processes in organizations. Sometimes, understanding processproblems such as breakdowns in communication and decision making will result in amore accurate understanding of organizational behavior than will simply examiningstructural arrangements.The pattern of basic assumptions used by individuals and groups to deal with the orga-nization and its environment is called its culture . In straightforward terms, the organiza-tion’s culture is its personality, atmosphere, or “feel.” The culture of an organizationdefines appropriate behavior and bonds; it motivates individuals; and it governs the way acompany processes information, internal relations, and values. It functions at all levelsfrom the subconscious to the visible. A firm’s culture has been likened to one of those ink-blots in which we see what we want to see. 7 A firm’s culture results in shared thoughts,feelings, and talk about the organization. 8 Nike employees share norms about the dresscode, business practices, and promotion systems. Wal-Mart associates share emotionsabout working for the chain and coming to work on time with a positive attitude. It’s thesharing that bonds employees together and creates a feeling of togetherness. 9 Cultures of organizations can be positive or negative. An organization’s culture is posi-tive if it helps improve productivity. A negative culture can hinder behavior, disrupt groupeffectiveness, and hamper the impact of a well-designed organization.Effective managers know what to look for in terms of structure, process, and culture andhow to understand what they find. Therefore, managers must develop diagnostic skills;they must be trained to identify conditions symptomatic of a problem requiring furtherattention. Problem indicators include declining profits, declining quantity or quality of work,increases in absenteeism or tardiness, and negative employee attitudes. Each of these prob-lems is an issue of organizational behavior. The Blending of the Art and Science of Organizational Behavior There is no set of universal prescriptions that can predict every behavior, team outcome, ororganizational phenomenon. People are typically unique and unpredictable in some aspectsof their behavior. In physics there are laws, formulas, and mathematical procedures thatapply to a wide range of situations. The speed of a vehicle traveling down a hill can becalculated, and the answer applies to similar hills, cars, and conditions.Organizational behavior is not as stable or predictable as physics. OB is different becauseit deals with human beings in work settings. The body of OB knowledge is being expandedby researchers as they study and report on individual, group, and organizational behavior.The art of organizational behavior application is beginning to blend with empirically-basedresearch.Managers carry out roles that can be successfully accomplished if they skillfully applythe best available knowledge to the situation at hand. These views of the work of manage-ment suggest that art and science can be blended to solve problems. Therefore, effectively structure Blueprint that indicateshow people and jobs aregrouped together in anorganization. Structureis illustrated by anorganization chart. processes Activities that breathelife into organizationstructure. Commonprocesses are communi-cation, decision making,socialization, and careerdevelopment.
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