Chapter 16 Management

Encounter

the second stage of socialization when newcomers learn the tasks associated with the job, clarify their rolse, and establish new relationships at work This stage commences on the first day at work and is thought to encompass teh first six to nine months on the new job newcomers face task demands, role demands, and interpersonal demands during this period

How Leaders Hire and Fire Individuals

A powerful way that leaders reinforce culture is through the selection of newcomes to the organization With the advent of electronic recruitment practices, applicant perceptions of organizational culture are shaped by what the organization advertises on its recruitment website Typical perception-shaping mechanisms are organizatinoal values, policies, awards, and goals Just as newcomers learn culture from perusing corporate websites, leaders shape and communicate culture by the way they hire employees Many CEOs have a set of questions they like to use in interviews The way a company fires an employee and the rationale behind the firing also communicates theculture -some companies deal with poor performers by trying to find a place within the organization where they can perfrom better and make a contribution -other companies seem to operate under the philosophy that those who cannot perform are out quickly The reasons for termination may not be directly communicated to other employees, but curiosity leads to speculation Leaders play a critical role in shaping and reinforcing organizational culture -Managers need to create a positive culture through what thy pay attention to, how they react to crises, how they behave, the way they allocate rewards, and how they hire and fire employees transformational leaders create a more adaptive culture, which in turn increases business unit performance

Functions of Organizational Culture

In an organization, culture serves four basic functions -First, culture provides a sense of identity to members and increases their commitment to the organization. When employees internalize the values of the company, theyfind their work intrinstically rewarding and identify them with their fellow workers. As a result, motivation is enhanecd, and employees are more commited Second, culture provides a way for employees to interpret the meaning of organizational events. Leaders can use organizational symbols such as corporate logos to help employees understand the changing nature of their organizational identity. Sometimes symbols should remain the same to ensure that some things stay constant despite changing conditions. Other times symbols may have to change to reflect the new culture in the organization. Third, culture reinforces the values of the organization fourth, culture serves as a control mechanism for shaping behavior. Norms that guide behavior are part of culture, Thus, if the norm the company wants to promote is teamwork, then its culture must reinforce that norm. The company's culture must be characterized by open communication, cooperation between teams, and integration of teams. Some norms involve how to show emotion in acceptable or preferred ways.

Levels of Organizational Culture

Most definitions aree that there are several levels of culture and that these levels differ in terms of their visibility and their ability to be changed Culture has been viewed both as what defines the values of the organization and as a toolkit as how to behave in an organization Culture influences outcomes that an organization desires to achieve, as well as the processes necessary to achieve those outcomes Organizational (corporate) culture- is a pattern of basic assumptions that are considered valid and that are taught to new members as the way to perceive, think, and feel in the organization Edgar Schein suuggests that organizational culture has three levels -levels range from visible artifacts and creations to testable values to invisible and even preconcious basic assumptions -to achieve a complete understanding of an organization's culture, all three levels must be studied

Outcomes of Socialization

Newcomers who are successfully socialzied should exhibit good performance, high job satisfaction, and the intention to stay with the organization -they should exhibit low level of distress symptoms a high level of organizational commitment is also a mark of successful socialization -this commitment is facilitated throughout the socialization process by the communication of values that newcomers can buy into Successful socialization is also signaled by mutual influence; that is, the newcomers have made adjustments in the job and organization to accomodate thier knowledge and personalities Newcomers are expected to leave their mark on the organization and not be completely conforming When socialization is effectiv,e newcomers understand and adopt the organization's values and norms -this ensures that the company's culture, including its central values, surivves newcomers adopt the company's norms and values more quickly when they receive positive support from organizational insdiers -sometimes this is accomplished through informal social gatherings Socialization is not just the responsibility of the organization and the manage but of the employees as well Newcomers who are more curious and adaptable adjust to their new jobs more effecitively, leading to better performance Newcomers who have proactive personalities adjust more effectively to the organization because they are more likely to seek out the information they need to become socialized

Ceremonies and Rites

Relatively elaborate sets of activities that are repeatedly enacted on important occasions are known as organizational ceremonies and rites -these occasions provide opportunities to reward and recognize employees whose behavior is congruent with the values of the company Cermonies and rites send a message that individuals who both espouse and exhibit corporate values are heroes to be admired The ceremonies also bond organization members together

Merger or Acquistion

The blending of two distinct organizational culture may prove difficult despite good-faith efforts mergers that involve both organizational culture and national culture present many challenges -careful attention to cultural differences and thoughtful post-acquistion integration efforts are necessary to help manage acculturation stress alterations in culture may also be required when an organization employs people from different countries -research indicates that some organizational cutlrues actually enhance differences in national cultures It appears that employees enhance their national culture traditions even when working within a single organizational culture -this is more likely to occur when diversity is moderate When diversity is very high, employees are more likely to develop a shared identity in the organization's culture instead of relying on their own national culture

Developing an Ethical Organizational Culture

The culture of an organization can have profound effects on the ethical behavior of organizaton members Organizations in which supervisors and top managers act as role models of ethical behavior and create an openess to discuss ethical issues have fewer incidents of unethical behavior When a company's culture promotes ethical norms, individuals behave accordingly managers can encourage ethical behavior by being good role models for empoyees -they can institute the philosophy that ethical behavior makes good business sense and puts the company in congruence with the larger values of society -managers can also communicate that rationalizations for unethical beahaviors are not tolerated Employees who work in high-trust cultures enjoy their jobs more, are more aligned with their companies' purposes and values, and treat each other better because they have more empathy for each other -creating and nurturing a high-trust culture can pay off in higher productivity and more ethical behavior among employees A behavior that might be considered unethical is cyberloafing, or using the internet for personal business at work while pretending to do legitimate work, and it can cost millions of dollars in lost productivity -companies have tried all sorts of tactics to manage cyberloafing, including forbidding personal Internet use and turning off employees' Interet access One way to discourage cyberloafing is to promote an ethical corporate culture -this method works especially well in adhocracies, which are flexible, adaptable cultures with a lack of formal structure

Rites of renewal

emphasize change in the organization and commitment to learning and growth ex: opening a new corproate training center

Anticipatory Socialization

first stage of the socialization process encompasses all of the learnin that takes place prior to the newcomer's first day on the job, including the newcomer's expectations The two key concerns at this stage are realism and congruence Realism is the degree to which a newcomer holds realistic expectations about the job and organization -one thing newcomers should receive information about during entry into the organization is the culture -information about values at this stage can help nwcomers begin to construct a scheme for interpreting their organizational experiences -later, a deeper understanding of the organization's culture will be possible through time and experience in the organization -when organizations give realistic job previews that not only highlight major stressors but also teach various coping strategies to deal with them,newcomers feel less stressed and report higher levels of adjustment six and nine months postentry there are two types of congruence between an individual and an organization: congruence between the individual's abilities and the demands of the job, and the fit between the individual's values and the organization's values Organizations disseminate information about their values through their web pages, annual reports, and recruitment brochures Value congruence is particularly imortant for organizational culture -it is also important in terms of newcomer adjustment Newcomers whose values match the company's values are more satisfied with their new jobs, adjust more quickly, and say they intend to remain with the firm longers Newcomers will cope better throughout the socialization experience if they believe the organization has fufuiled its promises and met the newcomer's expectation

Changing Org Culture steps 4 and 5

involve shaping the workforce to fit the intended culture -first, the org can revise its selection strategies to more accurately reflect the new culture -second, the organization can identify individuals who resist the cultural change or who are no longer comfortable with the values in the organization -reshaping the workforce should be a gradual and subtle change that takes considerable time Evaluating the success of cultural change may be best done by looking at behavior cultural change can be assumed to be successful if the behavior is intrinsically motivated -if the new behavior were to persist even if rewards were not present, and if the employees have inernalized the new value system, tehn the behavior is probably intrinsically motivated if employees automatically respond to a crisis in ways consistent with the corporate culture, then the cultural chagne effort can be deemed successful Given the current business environemnt, managers may want to focus on three particular cultural modifications: (1) support for a global view of business, (2) reinforcement of ethical behavior, and (3) empowerment of employees to excel in product and service quality

Task Demands

involve the actual work performed Learning to perform tasks is related to the organization's culture In some organizations, where creativity is valued, newcomers are given considerable latitude to experiment with new ways to do thier job In others, newcomers are expected to learn the established procedures for their takss Early experiences w/ trying to master task demands can affect employees' entire careers

Role Demands

involve the expectations placed on newcomers Newcomers may not know exactly what is expected of them (role ambiguity) or may receive conflicting expectations from other individuals (role conflict) the way newcomers approach these demands depends in part on the culture of the organization - Are newcomers expected to operate with considerable uncertainty, or is the manager expected to clarify the newcomers' roles? Some cultures even put newcomers through considerable stress in the socialization process, including humility-inducing experiences, so newcomers will be more open to accpeting the firm's values and norms Long hours, tiring travel schedules, and an overload of work are examples of some socialization practices

Rites of enhancement

reinforce the achievement of individuals ex: awarding certificates to sales contest winners

Challenges to Developing a Positive, Cohesive Culture

Certain factors pose additional challenges to managers in their pursuit of positive, cohesive cultures: mergers and acquisitions, globalization, ethics, and empowerment and quality

Assessing Organizational Culture

Although some organizational scientists argue for assessing organizational culture with quantitative methods, others say that organizational culture must be assessed with qualitative methods Quantitative methods, such as questionaries, are valuable because of their precision, comparabilitiy, and objectivitiy Qualitative methods, such as interviews and observations, are valuable because of their detail, descriptiveness, and uniqueness Two widely used quantitative assesments are the Organizational Culture Inventory (OCI) and the Kilmann-Saxton culture-gap survey -both assess the behavioral norms of organizational cutlures, as opposed to the artifacts, values, or assumptions of the organization

Rites of conflict reduction

Dealing with conflicts or disagreements that arise naturally in organizations Ex: greivance hearings and the negotation of union contracts

Assumptions

Deeply held beliefs that guide behavior and tell members of an organization how to percieve situations and people At the deepest and most fundamental level of an organization's culture, they are the essence of culture Assumptions are so strongly held that a member behaving in a fashion that would violate them is unthinkable Another characteristic of assumptions is that they are unoncious -organizations may not be aware of their assumptions and may be reluctant or unable to discuss them or change them While unconcious assumptions often guide a firm's actions and decisions, some companies are quite explicit in their assumptions about employees Some companies operate under the assumption that work/life balance creates more satisfied and productive companies

The Adaptation Perspective

Its theme is that only cultures that help organizations adapt to environmental change are associated with excellent performance An adaptive culture is a culture that encourages confidence and risk taking among employees, has leadership that produces change, and focuses on the changing needs of customers Adaptive cultures facilitate change to meet the needs of three groups of constitutents: stockholders, customers, and employees Nonadaptive cultures are characterized by cautious management that tries to protect its own interests Adaptive firms show signficiantly better long-term economic performance in Kotter and Heskett's study When strong cultures focus intensely on adaptability, they can perform better financially Given that highperforming cultures are adaptive ones, it is important to know how managers can develop adaptive cultures

What Leaders Pay Attention To

Leaders in an organization communicate their priorities, values, and beliefs through the thems that consistnetly emerge from their focus -these themes are reflected in what they notice, comment on, measure, and control If leaders are consistent in their focus, employees recieve clear signals about what is important in the organization If, leaders are inconsistent, employees spend a lot of time trying to decipher and find meaning in the consistent signals

The Leader's Role In Shaping and Reinforcing Culture

Leaders play crucial roles in shaping and reinforcing culture The five most important elements in managing culture are (1) what leaders pay attention to, (2) how leaders react to crises, (3) how leaders behave, (4) how leaders allocate rewards, and (5) how leaders hire and fire individuas

Artifacts Example

Personal enactment Cermonies and rites Stories Ritual Symbols (visible but often not decipherable)

Basic assumptions Example

Relationship to environment Nature of reality, time, and space Nature of human nature Nature of human activity Nature of human relationships (taken for granted, invisible, preconcious)

Rites of passage

Show that an individual's status has changed ex: retirement dinners

Stories

Some researchers have argued that the most effective way to reinforce organizational values is through stories As they are retold, stories give meaning and identity to organizations and are especially helpful in orienting new employees part of the strength of organizational stories is that the listeners are left to draw their own conclusions- a powerful communication tool Some corporate stories even transcend cultural and political boundaries 1. Stories about the boss- these stories may reflect whether the boss is "human" or how the boss reacts to mistakes 2. Stories abotu getting fired- Events leading to employee firings are recounted 3. Stories about how the company deals with employees who have to relocate- These stories relate to the company's actions toward employees who have to move- whether the company is helpful and takes family and other personal concerns into account 4. Stories about whether lower-level employees can rise to the top- Often these stories describe a person who started out at the botom and eventually became the CEO 5. Stories about how the company deals with crisis situations- these stories show how the company overcomes obstacles 6. Stories about how status considerations work when rules are broken Information from these stories serves to guide the behavior of organization members To be effective cultural tools, stories must be creidble -stories that aren't backed by reality can lead to cynicism and mistrust Effective stories are not only motivational; they can also reinforce culture and create renewed energy

The Strong-Culture Perspective

States that organizations with strong cultures perform better than other organizations A strong culture is an organizational culture with a consensus on the values that drive the company and with an intensity that is recognizable even to outsidres A strong culture is deeply held and widely shared Strong cultures are thought to faciliate performance for three reasons -First, these cultures are characterized by goal alignment; that is, all employees share common goals - SEcond, strong cultures create a high level of motivation ebcause of the values shared by the members - Third, strong cultures provide control without the oppresive effects of a bureaucracy Two perplexing questions about the strongculture perspective are (1) what can be said about evidence showing that strong economic performance can create strong cultures, rather than the reverse, and (2) what if the strong culture leads the firm down the wrong path?

Developing an Inclusive Culture

Successful organizations promote cultures that value diversity and encourage inclusion Leader behavior drives an inclusive culture more strongly than policy statments Steps leaders can take to promote an inclusive workplace -ensure diversity in every meeting. diverse views lead to diverse ideas -be a role model of inclusive ehavior -adopt a "no tolerance" position for disresepctful behavior of any kind - take quick action to eliminate even subtle beahviors that lead to disrespect

Symbols

Symbols communicate organizational culture through unspoken messages Representative of organizational identity and membership to employees Personal enactment, rites and ceremonies, stories, rituals, and symbols serve to reinforce the values that are the next level of culture

Artifacts

Symbols of culture in the physical and social work environments Most visible and accesible level of culture Key to understanding culture through artifacts lies in figuring out their meanings Artifacts are also the most frequently studied manifestation of organizational culture, perhas because of their accesibility Examples of the artifacts of culture include personal enactment, cermonies and rites, stories, rituals, and symbols

Values Example

Testable in the physical environment Testable only by social consensus (greater level of awareness)

Organizational Culture Inventory

The OCI focuses on behaviors that help employees fit into the organization and meet the expectations of coworkers Using Maslow's motivational need hierarchy as its basis, it measures twelve cultural styles -the two underlying dimensions of the OCI are task/people and security/satisfaction -there are four satisfaction cultural styles and eight security cultural styles A self-report instrument, the OCI contains 120 questions -provides an individual assemsnet of culture and may be aggregated to the work group and to the organizational elvel -has been used in firms throughout North America, Western Europe, New Zealand, and Thailand, as well as in US military units, the Federal Aviation Administration, and nonprofit organizations

The Stages of the Socialization Process

The organizational socialization process is generally describd as having three stages: anticipatory socialization, encounter, and change and acquisition

Values

The second, deeper, level of culture Reflet a person's inherent beliefs of what should or should not be Often constantly articulated, both in conversation and in a company's mission statement or annual report May be a difference between a company's espoused values (what the members say they value) and its enacted values (values reflected in the way the members actually behave) how a firm promotes and publicizes its values may also affect how workers feel about their jobs and themselves -managers in organiztions that consistently communicated concern for workers' well-being and that focused on treating employees fairly reported feeling better about themselves and their role in the organization Treat employees like valuable team members, and they are more likely to feel like valuable team members Some organizational cultures are characterized by values that support healhy lifestyle behaviors When the workplace culture values workers' health and psychological needs, there is an enhanced potential for high performance and improved well-being

How Leaders React to Crises

The way leaders deal with crises communicates a powerful message about culture Emotions are heightened during a crisis, and learning is intense Difficult economic times present crises for many companies and illustrate their different values Some organizations avoid laying off workers at all costs -others, despite their claim that employees are important, quickly institute major layoys at the first signal of an economic downturtn Employees may perceive that the company shows its true colors in a crisis and thus pay careful attention to the reactions of their leaders

How Leaders Behave

Through role modeling, teaching, and coaching, leaders reinforce the values that support organizational culture Employees often emulate leaders' behaviors and look to the leadres for cues for appropriate behavior Many companies encourage employees to be more entreprenurial, using more iniative and innovation A study showed taht if managers want employees to be more entreprenurial, they must demonstrate such behaviors themselves -this is the case with any cultural value. Employees observe the behavior of leaders to find out what the organization values.

How Leaders Allocate Rewards

To ensure that values are accepted, leaders should reward behavior that is consistent with the values Some companies may claim that they use a payfor-performance system that distributes rewards on the basis of performance When the time comes for raises, however, the increaes are awarded according to length of service with the company Some companies may claim to value teamwrk -they form cross-functinoal teams and empower these teams to make importnat decisions -when performance is appraised, the criteria for rating employees focus on individual performance (sends a confusing signal about whether individual performance is valued or is teamwork the key)

Rites of integration

Unite diverse groups or teams within the organization and renew commitment to the larger organization ex: company functions such as annual picnics

Rites of degradation

Used to visibly punish persons who fail to adhere to values and norms of behavior ex: publicly replacing a CEO for unethical conduct or for failure to achieve organizational goals

Organizational Socialization

We have seen that leaders play key roles in shaping an organization's culture Another process that perpetuates culture is the way it is passed on from generation to generation of employees Newcomers learn the culture through organizational socialization- the process by which newcomers are transformed from outsiders to participating, effective members of the organization Cultural socialization begins with the carefful seletion of newcomers who are likely to reinforce the organizational culture Newcomers pass through the stressful socialization process

Kilmann-Saxton Culture-Gap Survey

focuses on what actually happens and on the expectations of others in the organization Two underlying dimensions are (1) technical/human orientation and (2) short-term vs. long-term time -with these two dimensions, the actual operating norms and the ideal norms in four areas are assessed -the areas are task support (short-term technical norms), task innovation (long-term techincal norms), social relationships (short-term human orientation norms), and personal freedom (long-term human orientation norms) Significant gaps in any of the four areas are used as a point of departure for cultural change to improve performance, job satisfaction, and morale like the OCI, the Gap Survey, as a self-report insturment, provides an individual assesment of culture and may be aggregated to the work group -has been used in firms throughout the US and in not-for-profit organizations

The Relationship of Culture to Performance

the effects of organizational culture are hotly debated by organizational behaviorists and researchers Seems that although managers attest strongly to the positive effects of culture in organizations, it is difficult to quantify these effects Three theories: strong-culture perspective, fit perspective, and the adaptation perspective

Triangulation

the use of multiple methods to measure organizational culture- to improve inclusiveness and accuracy in measuring the organizational culture Triangulation has been used by anthropologists, sociologists, and other behavioral scientists to study organizational culture - its name comes from the navigational technique of using multiple reference points to locate an object in the rehabiliation center study, the three methods used to triangulate on the culture were (1) obtrusive observations by eight trained observers, which provided an outsider perspective; (2) self-administered questionnaires, which provided quantitaitve insider information; and (3) personal interviews with the center's staff, which provided qualitiative contextual information the study showed that each of the three methods made unique contributions to the discovery of the rehabiliation center's culture -the complete picture could not have been drawn with just a single technique triangulation can lead to a better understanding of the phenonemenon of culture and is the best approach to assessing organizational culture

Change and Acquistion

third and final stage of socialization newcomers begin to master the demands of the job become proficient at managing their tasks, clarifying and negotating their roles, and engaging in relationships at work -the time when the socialization process is completed varies widely depending on the individual, the job, and the organization The end of the process is signaled by newcomers being considered by themselves and others as organizational insiders

Personal Enactment

Culture can be understood through an examination of the behavior of organization members When this behavior reflects the organization's values, it is called personal enactment In particular, personal enactment by the top managers provides insight into the organization's values Modeled behavior is a powerful learning tool for employees Individuals learn vicariously by observing others' behavior and patterning their own behavior similarly -in this way, culture can be an important leadership tool managerial behavior can clarify what is important and coordinate the work of employees in effect negating the need for close supervision

Rituals

Everyday, repetitive organizational practices are rituals Usually unwritten, but they send a clear message about "the way we do things around here" As everyday practices, rituals reinforce the organizational culture Insiders who commoly practice the rituals may be unaware of their subtle influence, but outsideres recognize it easily

Developing a Global Organizational Culture

The values that drive the organizational culture should support a global view of the company and its efforts Management should embody the shared values and reward employees who support the global view The values should be consistent over time -consistent values give an organization a unifying theme that competitors may be unable to emulate Because global corporations suffer from the conflicting pressures of centralization and decentralization, an overarching corporate culture that integreates the decentralized subsidaries in locations around the world can be an asset in the increasingly competitive global marketplace

Changing Organizational Culture

With rapid environmental changes such as globalization, workforce diversity, and technological innovation, the fundamental assumptions and basic values that drive the organziation may need to be altered Changing an organization's culture is feasible but difficult -one reason for the difficulty is that assumptions-the deepest level of culture- are often unconcious -another reason for difficulty is that culture is deeply ingrained and behavioral norms and rewards are well learned (employees must unlearn the old norms before they can learn new ones) managers who wnat to change the culture should look first to the ways culture is maintained There are two basic approaches to changing the existing culture: (1) helping current members buy into a new set of values (steps 1, 2, and 3) or (2) adding newcomers and socializing them into theo rganization while removing current members as appropriate (steps 4 and 5) First step s to change behavior in the organization -even if behavior does change, this change isn ot sufficient for cultural change to occur -behavior is an artifact (level 1) of culture -individuals may change their behavior but not the values that drive it Therefore, managers must use step 2, which is to examine the justifications for the changed behavior The third step, cultural communcation, is extremely important -all of the artifacts (personal enactment, stories, rites and ceremonies, rituals, and symbols) must send a consistent message about the new values and beliefs -crucial that the communication be credible; that is, managers must live the new values and not just talk about them -leaders should pay attention to the informal social networks more so than structural positions in leading organizational change (these informal network communication channels combined with employees' values, and beliefs that managers are highly committed to the change effort, can go a long way in making the change a success

The Fit Perspective

argues that a culture is good only if it fits the industry or the firm's strategy Three particular industry characteristics may affect culture" the competitive environment, customer requirements, and societal expectations a study of 12 large US firms indicated that cultures consistent with industry conditions help managers make better decisions. It also indicated that cultures need not change as long as the industry doesn't change. If the industr does change, however, many cultures change too slowly to avoid negative effects on firms' performance The fit perspective is useful in explaining shortterm perfomrance but not long-term performance -it also indicates that it is difficult to change culture quickly, especially if the culture is widely shared and deeply held. But it doesn't explain how firms can adapt to environmental change

Interpersonal Demands

arise from relationships at work Politics, leadership style, and group pressure are interpersonal demands All of them reflect the values and assumptions that operate within the organization -most organizations have basic assumptions about the nature of human relationships In the encounter stage, the expectations formed in anticpatory socialization may clash with the realities of the job -it is a time of facing the task, role, and interpersonal demands of the new job