Org Behavior Final Study

Network Breakdowns

Breakdowns in the communication network frequently occur in large organizations because so much information flows through those networks. Many things can interfere with the flow--mail can be misplaced, messages may not be received by those targeted, and people can forget to relay pieces of information. Larger organization have more problems because messages must flow through more people, increasing the probability that a message will be transmitted inaccurately at some point. Breakdowns can also involve technology.

Two-way communcation

Communication that includes feedback is referred to as two-way communication. If feedback is not present (resulting in one-way communication), the receiver may walk away with an entirely different interpretation from that intended by the sender.

Formal versus Informal (communication)

Interpersonal communication can be formal or informal. Formal communication follows the formal structure of the organization (e.g., superior to subordinate) and entails organizationally sanctioned information. A major drawback of formal communication is that it can be slow. Informal communication involves spontaneous interaction between two or more people outside the formal organization structure, for example communication between peers on their coffee break. The informal system frequently emerges as an important source of communication for organization members. Managers must recognize it and be sensitive to communication that travels through informal channels. In addition, managers may find that the informal system enables them to reach more members than the formal one. Another benefit of informal communication is that it can help build solidarity and friendship among associates.

Network Density

Networks can be characterized in terms of their _______________. In sparse networks, there are few connections among members. In dense networks, there are many connections.

Expressiveness

The amount and vividness of a person's communication. Descriptors include verboseness, conversational dominance, humor, and unpretentiousness.

Semantic Differences

_______ refers to the meaning people attach to symbols , such as words and gestures. Because the same words may have different meanings to different people, semantic differences can create communication problems. One reason for ___________ inside organizations relates to the proliferation of specialist. Specialist tend to develop their own jargon; such terminology may have little meaning or a different set of meanings to a person outside the specialist's field. A second reason for semantic differences relates to variance in cultural background.

Communication Technology

allows organizations and their members to communicate quickly, across nay distance, and to collaborate more effectively than ever before. Indeed, in order for organizations to remain competitive, they need to constantly keep up to date on modern communications technologies.

Decisions

choices. We may _______ every day. Each time we make a purchase, a decision is involved. ______ also important in organizations. Making decisions is one of the primary activities for senior managers. Senior managers make decisions related to things such as entering new businesses, divesting existing business, and coordinating the units of the firm. Other managers in the firm make decisions regarding how a unit should be evaluated. In a high-involvement organization, associates also make many important decisions. They may decide on scheduling of work, job-rotation schedules, vacation time, approaches to various tasks, and ways to discipline an individual for problem behavior. Overall, decision-making skills are critical to organizational effectivness.

Richness

describes the amount of information a medium can convey. ________ depends on: (1) the potential for immediate feedback, (2) the use of multiple cues, (3) the use of natural language (as opposed to numbers), and (4) the extent to which the communication has a personal focus. Face-to-face verbal communication is the richest medium.

Steps to Effective Listening

1. Stop talking 2. Pay Attention 3. Listen Empathetically 4. Hear before evaluating 5. Listen to the whole message 6. Send feedback

Group (Decision-Making Techniques)

Groups may flounder when given a problem to solve. It is important, therefore, to understand the techniques that can be used to encourage full and effective input and discussion before the group reaches a decision. Several techniques have been developed, including brainstorming, the nominal group technique, the Delphi technique, dialectical inquiry, and devil's advocacy.

Preciseness

The care that is put into communication. Descriptors include thoughtfulness, substantiveness, structuredness, and conciseness.

Avoiding Rumors

To avoid rumors in the workplace, managers are advised to provide honest, open, and clear information in times of uncertainty. Rumors should be addressed by those in a position to establish truth. Rumors also can be dealt with by placing restrictions on idle chatter, as some organziations have done.

Poor Listening Skills

A frequent problem in communication rests not with the sender but with the receiver. The receiver must listen in order to hear and understand the sender's message, just as the sender must listen to feedback from the receiver. Managers spend more than 50 percent of their time in verbal communication, and some researchers estimate that they spend as much as 85 percent of this time talking. This does not leave much time for listening and receiving feedback. Perhaps most importantly, it has been estimated that managers listen with only about 25 percent efficiency. Therefore, they hear and understand only 25 percent of what is communicated to them verbally. Poor listening is not conducive to high-involvement management, because it breaks down the communication process and limits information sharing.

Gather (and process information)

After the decision criteria have been identified, the decision maker must gather and process information to better understand the decision context and to discover specific alternatives that might solve the problem. First, a decision maker cannot choose an alternative that is better than the best alternative on the list. Therefore, careful attention to developing the list of alternatives is important.

Personal Space

All of us have a ____________ surrounding our bodies. When someone enters that space, we feel uncomfortable. The size of the ______ differs somewhat among individuals; it also differs by gender and across cultures. Women see to have smaller personal spaces than men. Similarly, the typical personal space in some cultures (such as some European and South American cultures) is smaller than in other cultures (such as the United States). Personal space affects, for example, how close together people stand when conversing. The difference in personal space can be a barrier to communication.

Individual (Decision Making)

Decision making is a cognitive activity that relies on both perception and judgment. If two people use different approaches to the processes of perception and judgment, they are likely to make quite different decisions, even if the facts and objectives are identical. Although many individual characteristics can affect an individual's decision process, the four psychological predispositions isolated by noted psychologist Carl Jung are of special importance for decision making in organizations. The factors that influence an individual's decision making, include degree of acceptable risk and cognitivie biases.

Basic Steps (in Decision Making)

Define the Problem Identify Criteria Gather and Evaluate Information List and Evaluate Alternatives Select Best Alternative Implement and Follow Up

Electronic Brainstorming (EBS)

IN a common version of ______________, group members sit around a table with computer stations in front of them. Each individual attempts to develop as many ideas as possible and enter them into a database. As an idea is entered, it is projected onto a large screen that everyone can see. Because there is anonymity, individuals feel less inhibited, and because there is less talking in the room, they are not distracted. Individuals can, however, build on the ideas of others as they appear on the screen.

Dialectical Inquire (Technique)

In its basic form, _____________ calls for two different subgroups to develop very different assumptions and recommendations in order to encourage full discussion of ideas. The two subgroups debate their respective positions. The _______________ requires group members to develop two distinct points of view. More specifically, one subgroup develops a recommendation based on a set of assumptions, and a second subgroup develops a significantly different recommendation based on different assumptions. Debate of the two opposing sets of recommendations and assumptions maximizes constructive conflict, and the resulting evaluation of the two points of view helps ensure a thorough review and also helps to promote the development of new recommendations as differences are bridged.

Information Distortion

It is common for information to be distorted, either intentionally or unintentionally. Unintentional distortion can occur because of honest mistakes or time pressure. On the other hand, intentional distortion often occurs because of competition between work units in an organization. Departments frequently have to compete for scarce resources in their operating budgets. Distortion or suppression of information can (and also) occur when a subordinate has more information than his manager. One study found that some subordinates misrepresent or suppress information about budgets when they have private information unknown to the manager. In addition, many subordinates suppress information related to poor outcomes or developing problems.

Evaluating Alternatives

Jung proposed that once information has been gather, decision makers again diverge in their approaches, tending to adopt either a thinking style or a feeling style to make judgments. There is no fixed relationship between a person's information-gathering style and his judgment style. A person using a sensing style of gathering information may use either a thinking or feeling style in evaluating and judging the alternatives. Similarly, an intuitive information gatherer may use either of the judgment styles. Managers and associates who us an impersonal, rational approach to arrive at their judgments are said to prefer a thinking style. Decision makers who use the thinking style to derive conclusions form their perceptions are objective, analytical, logical, and firm. People who use this style are concerned with principles, laws, and objective criteria. They find it easy to critique the work and behavior of others but are often uncomfortable dealing with people's feelings. Thinking prefer objective analysis and fair decisions based on standards and policies. They are able to discipline and reprimand people, even fire them, if necessary. They are firm and may seem detached and impersonal to subordinates. Their apparently detached nature is likely due to the organized and structured approach they prefer. They would seldom leap to a conclusion without fully evaluating a substantial number of alternatives. They are often conservative in their decisions. At the other extreme, people who prefer to rely on their emotions and personal, subjective judgments are said to use a feeling style. People concerned with feelings emphasize the maintenance of harmony in the workplace. Their judgments are influenced by their own or others' personal likes and dislikes. Such persons are subjective, sympathetic, and appreciative of their decisions. They also dislike decision problems taht would require them to say unpleasant things to people. Managers who use a feeling approach frequently give more weight to maintaining a friendly climate in the work group than to effective task achievement. These managers often interpret problems as having been caused by interpersonal factors rather than by other issues. Both the thinking and feeling styles are important in organizations. The thinking style is consistent with careful decision making, and a number of studies have shown this style to be effetive. Those who use the thinking style tailor their approach to selling based on circumstances and reported stronger performance. The feeling style, however, also can have positive effects. Concern for the feelings and morale of those around is important. To take advantage of the positive outcomes of each style and to balance the factors considered in a decision, a decision maker who emphasizes the feeling style should consult with one or more other who emphasize the thinking style. Similarly, decision makers who emphasize the thinking style should consult with those who use the feeling style. because most managers at all levels in an organizaition tend to emphasize the thinking style, they are likely to benefit from seeking out a feeling type. In addition, when a manager creates a team to address a problem and make a decision, he is likely to benefit from including both style on the team.

Body Language

Sometimes referred to as "kinesics" include facial expressions; the use of hands, arms, and legs; and posture

Communication

Successful communication occurs when the person receiving the message understands it in the way that the senior intended. Thus, communication does not end with the message sent. We also need to consider the message that is received

Horizontal Communication

Takes place between and among people at the same level, is also important but is frequently overlooked in the design of organizations. Coordination among organizational units is facilitated by horizontal communication. This frequently is achieved through face-to-face conversations, phone conversations, texts, and e-mail. Formal integrating positions may also be used to facilitate horizontal communication between units. These positions are often referred to as "boundary-spanning positions" because the position holders cross the boundaries that separate different units.

Impression Management

The degree to which calculated guardedness dominates a person's communication. Descriptors include charm, inscrutableness, ingratiation, and concealment.

Combat Gossip

To combat gossip, manager can include questions in 360-degree evaluations to identify individuals who habitually traffic in irrelevant, unsubstantiated information (360-degree evaluations are those that require inputs form bosses, peers, and any direct reports). Offenders can then be asked to end their dysfunctional behavior.

Network Effectiveness

To some degree, the ______________ of a network depends on situational factors such as type of work and goals of the unit or organization. For example, sparse highly centralized networks can be effective in accomplishing simple tasks. These structures promote efficiency, speed, and accuracy by channeling communication through a central person. On the other hand, dense networks with some degree of centralization in the leader role might be more effective for complex tasks. The well-connected network fits here. Communication among most or many parities facilitates trust and rich exchanges of information, which are helpful in solving complex problems. Also, having a leader with some degree of centrality is helpful to ensure that proper direction is given to the unit/organization and to ensure that a clear resolution point exists for disagreement Overall, independent of the situational context, reasonably dense networks with some degree of leader centrality tend to be the most effective. This is consistent with high-involvement management, where associates exist in a somewhat egalitarian system and have bounded authority to coordinate and solve problems among themselves.

Diversity-based Infighting

When groupthink is an issue, or or more members of the group typically act to surpress diverse ideas, and many members censor themselves. With the common information bias, individuals subconsciously focus on common information and ideas. Thus, in many group, diverse ideas are not discussed. In other groups, however, diverse ideas are emphasized. Although this is generally positive for group decision making, it can become extreme. Instead of creating rich discussions and insight, diverse ideas can create ill will and fractured groups. Such diversity-based infighting is likely to occur when individuals feel very strongly about their ideas and no mechanisms to channel disagreement in productive ways have been instituted. Mechanisms that can help channel diversity include formal brainstorming procedures and the formal use of devil's advocacy.

Common Information Bias

A bias in which group members overemphasize information held by a majority or the entire group while failing to be mindful of information held by one group member or a few members.

Intuition

A decision style focused on developing abstractions and figurative examples for use in decision making, with an emphasis on imagination and possibilities.

Sensing

A decision style focused on gathering concrete information directly through the senses, with an emphasis on practical and realistic ideas.

Thinking

A decision style focused on objective evaluation and systematic analysis.

Feeling

A decision style focused on subjective evaluation and the emotional reactions of others.

Span of Control

A manager's span of control is to the number of individuals who report directly to her. A broad span of control is possible when a manager can effectively handle many individuals, as is the case when associates have the skills and motivation they need to complete their tasks autonomously. Broad spans have advantages for an organization. First, they result in shorter hierarchies (see Exhibit 13-1), thereby avoiding communication and expense problems.8 Second, they promote high-involvement management because managers have difficulty micromanaging people when there are larger numbers of them. Broad spans allow for more initiative by associates.9 In making employment decisions, many individuals take these realities into consideration. Spans of control can be too broad, however. When a manager has too many direct reports, she cannot engage in important coaching and development activities. When tasks are more complex and the direct reports more interdependent, a manager often requires a relatively narrow span of control to be effective. It has been argued that a CEO's span of control should not exceed six people because of the complexity and interdependency of work done by direct reports at this level.10 0 0 Many older companies have removed layers of management and increased spans of control in recent years, whereas younger companies avoided unnecessary layers and overly narrow spans from the beginning.11 Because of their profound effects on behavior and attitudes among associates and managers, spans of control are of concern to many organizations such as PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).12 Through their Saratoga Institute, managers and consultants at PwC track spans of control in various industries and use the resulting insights in various reports and consulting engagements. They reported a few years ago that the median span for all managers in all industries was seven. An earlier Wall Street Journal report indicated an average span of nine. Yet, the Saratoga Institute reports that managerial spans of control have been increasing in recent years due to reductions in the number of managers in the recent global economic recession.13 In order to maintain efficiency and reduce their risks, spans of control have remained at higher levels even after the economy improved.

Mass Customization

A manufacturing technology that involves integrating sophisticated information technology and management methods to produce a flexible manufacturing system with the ability to customize products for many customers in a short time.

Competing

A party with a competing response attempts to win at the expense of the other party. Other names for this response include forcing and dominating. This style is useful when quick, decisive action is required, when an unpopular course of action must be taken, or when the other party would take advantage of noncompetitive behavior. For example, some countries have more lenient copyright laws than the United States, leading to a proliferation of imitative (knockoff) goods (such as fake Gucci purses, Adidas sneakers, and Rolex watches). The Calvin Klein Company used a competing conflict response in dealing with counterfeiters by establishing a worldwide network to investigate and take legal action against any organization counterfeiting its goods.70

Personal Appeal

A personal appeal tactic often focuses on the target's loyalty or affection. For example, an associate may remind targets about how he has always supported their ideas and causes before asking them to support his idea.

Social loafing

A phenomenon wherein people put forth less effort when they work in teams than when they work alone.

Reference point

A possible level of performance used to evaluate one's current standing.

Pressure

A pressure tactic involves threats, nagging, or demands as a means of influencing targets. For example, an associate who threatens to expose a target's secret if the target does not comply with her wishes is using pressure tactics.

Values

Abstract ideals that relate to proper life goals and methods for reaching those goals.

Communication climate

Associates' perceptions regarding the quality of communication within the organization.

Status Differences

Can result form dissimilarities in titles, offices, support resources, and even informal power. _________ can lead to problems of source credibility and can create problems that block upward communication. In some cases, for example, subordinates are reluctant to express an opinion that is different from their managers', and managers-- because of either time pressures or arrogance--may strengthen status barriers by not being open to feedback or other forms of upward communication.

Determining (the negotiation process)

Determine the timeline, place, and structure of the negotiation. Also, agreements should be made about confidentiality, the sharing of information, and how agreements will be approved. At this point, who will be present during the negotiation process should be clarified.

Top Management Support

Effective teamwork requires support form the top of the organization. All organizations that are known for their teamwork, such as Harley-Davidson, Whole Foods, Mayo Clinic, FedEx, and Boeing, have senior management teams that actively promote teamwork. Several management practices can help senior management to support team effectiveness. Make an explicit decision about using teams and tie the decision to business objectives. Have an explicit vision and strategic plan that serves as the basis for deterining desirable team outcomes. Actively include associates and managers at all levels in the decision-making process related to the use of teams. Use results-oriented measurement of team outcomes and expect all leaders in the organization to do the same. Actively manage and review support systems for teams.

Lateral Relations

Elements of structure designed to draw individuals together for interchanges related to work issues and problems.

Regret

Emotions appear to have important effects on decision making. In recent years, once of the most studied emotions has been regret. Regret is an aversive emotion involving self-blame that comes from unwanted outcomes. One possible reaction to thsi aversive emotion involves avoiding in the future a choice that has led to a poor otucomes (i.e, not repeating a choice associated with failure when faced with a similar decision situation in the future). Although this reaction often is appropriate, it can be dyfunctional.

Political Skill

Events from a few years ago at Morgan Stanley, the large financial services firm, illustrate the use of some of these political tactics.105 Over the five-year period ending in April 2005, Morgan Stanley stock lost one-third of its value, and the company was performing worse than its major competitors. In March 2005, a group of eight disgruntled Morgan Stanley ex-executives initiated a process intended to oust the CEO, Philip Purcell. Because they collectively owned only 1.1 percent of Morgan Stanley shares, they needed to convince other shareholders that Purcell should go.106 One action they took involved sending a letter to other shareholders blaming the company's poor performance solely on Purcell's leadership. Because there are likely to be many causes for an organization's poor performance, this statement can be seen as a legitimizing tactic because they state the cause of the problem with assumed expertise (substantial experience in Morgan Stanley and the industry). The ex-executives also personally courted shareholders, displaying ingratiation. Another tactic involved speaking passionately about the future of Morgan Stanley. This was done by Robert Scott, who was the ex-president and would-be-CEO of the company. Unfortunately for Scott, many investors were concerned only with short-term profit, so his inspirational appeal held little sway over investors. As one independent analyst noted, "People who hold those shares are going to want something concrete before they give up their votes"107; he suggested that the ex-executives use an exchange tactic instead. As of late April 2005, Purcell continued as CEO, but the walls were beginning to crumble. Many important Morgan Stanley executives and senior analysts were deserting for competitors, and a large shareholder publicly expressed support for the disgruntled former ex-executives. In June 2005, Purcell resigned.108 Research has examined the issue of who is better or more successful in behaving politically. One line of research has found that personality is related to the types of political tactics people are likely to use.109 For example, extraverts are likely to use inspirational appeals and ingratiation, whereas people high on conscientiousness are most likely to use rational appeals. Also, people have varying abilities to engage in political behavior. Some people are quite good at it, but others are more transparent in their actions, thus alerting the target to their intentions. Research has identified an individual difference known as political skill that affects the successful use of political tactics. Political skill is the ability to effectively understand others at work and to use this knowledge to enhance one's own objectives.110 People with strong political skills have the following qualities:111 They find it easy to imagine themselves in others' positions or take another's point of view. They can understand situations and determine the best response. They can adjust their behavior to fit the situation. They develop large networks and are known by a great many people. They can easily gain the cooperation of others. They make others feel at ease. Individuals with strong political skills can use them to the advantage of the organization (e.g., gaining the cooperation of diverse groups). Using political skills for one's own political gain, however, can harm the organization. Therefore, political skills can be positive, but only if used to achieve the appropriate goals.112

Satisfaction (and Commitment)

Even though quality is not consistently improved by group decision making, individual satisfaction and commitment to the final solution are often enhanced. These outcomes could result from several factors. First, group members might change their attitudes toward the various alternatives as a result of a the group's discussions. In addition, "team spirit" might develop as group members discover similarities among themselves. Finally, it simply may be that people who share in an important activity such as decision making feel more "ownership" of the decision than when they are excluded from it. Commitment as a result of sharing in decision making has been consistently demonstrated by research. World War 2: The implementation of the decision was more effective because the group has arrived at the decision. Members of the group had arrived at the decision. Members of the group were more satisfied and committed to it because it was their decision, not someone else's

Business Strategy

Firms must formulate business strategies in addition to corporate strategies. A business strategy is developed for a particular product/service market and is a plan of action describing how the firm will operate in a particular market.50 Business strategies are necessary to ensure effective competitive actions in the different markets in which a firm intends to operate. One popular competitive strategy involves maintaining low internal costs as a basis for low prices offered to customers. Consumers interested in buying the least expensive goods in a particular market are targeted. To effectively implement this strategy, efficiency and control are important inside the firm or division utilizing this approach, and a somewhat more mechanistic structure is useful, if not taken to an extreme.51 The structure used to implement a low-cost strategy often emphasizes functions, and the decisions are also centralized to maintain economies of scale in operations.52

Define the Problem

First, effective decision making begins with a determination of the problem to be solved. Problems are typically gaps between where we are today and where we would like to be tomorrow. Two individuals examining the same situation may see the problem differently. By broadening the problem you gain access to a larger range of alternative solutions. Overly narrows problem definitions are a chief concern in decision making, as they restrict options.

Upward Communication

Flows from associates to junior managers and from junior managers to senior managers, is necessary to provide feedback on downward communication and to provide ideas and information. It can, however, be difficult to achieve in an effective way. Thus, it is one of the less frequently used forms of communication in organizations. Common channels for upward communication include departmental meetings, "open-door" policies, suggestion boxes, attitude surveys, participation in decisions, grievance procedures, and exit interviews. Upward communication may be necessary for hierarchical superiors to monitor the ffectiveness of decisions, gather information on problems and opportunities, ensure that jobs are being done properly, and maintain morale among those lower in the organization. However, it will not occur in organizations where superiors give the impression that they do not want to hear negative feedback or where subordinates do not trust superiors and fear reprisals. Upward communication can also be costly to organizaitons because policies and procedures must be developed to carry it out and also because it requires managers' time.

Environment and Integration

Functional departments within a single-product firm or a division of a larger firm must be integrated. They must share information and understand one another in order to coordinate their work.64 Thus, organizations must be structured to provide the necessary information, or perhaps to reduce the need for it. Structural arrangements that address information needs are particularly important when the environment is uncertain. Useful arrangements include: (1) creation of slack resources, (2) creation of self-contained tasks, (3) investment in information technology, and (4) creation of traditional lateral relations.65 Exhibit 13-5 shows the relationship of these elements of organizational structure and information processing needs.

Rewards

If people are to work together effectively as a team, they must be rewarded as a team. Team members have little motivation to engage with and support one another if they are rewarded only for individual performance. Thus, it is important that the reward system for teams have multiple components, some of which reflect team performance and some of which reflect individual performance. Gain sharing at the team-level is one type of reward system for teams, where gains is efficiency or quality lead to financial rewards. overall, the stronger the interdependence among team members (e.g., disjunctive tasks), the greater the team-based compensation should be. Furthermore, if the teamwork requires cross-functional work and knowledge, team members may receive skill-based or knowledge-based pay. Such pay is determined by the skills and knowledge associates acquire rather than by how they perform on specific tasks. Finally, team-based pay should be provided only for those aspects of performance under the team's control.

Socialization (High-involvement Organization)

In a high-involvement organization, socialization is usually an easier task, as the process begins before employment, during the selection process. Most applicants are rigorously screened with the purpose of discouraging those who may not fit the culture. For example, at Southwest Airlines, the socialization process begins well before the applicant is hired. Applicants are exhaustively screened by a number of interviewers. The interview team does not oversell Southwest but describes both the advantages and disadvantages of working for the firm. The purpose is to make sure that the applicant's values and objectives mesh with those of the airline.105 The process has been highly effective, as Southwest's culture is often given credit for the company's success. Integrating new associates into the organization's culture is important, especially for maintaining the culture. Research has shown that organizations with highly integrative cultures, whether they are focused on associate development and harmony or customer orientation and innovation often perform better than organizations that pay less attention to their cultures.106

Blogs

In many cases, organizations have been creating ________ to provide information related to advertising and corporate decisions and to seek information related to consumer thinking in the general marketplace.

Subcultures

In the organizational context, groups that share values that differ from the main values of the organization.

Lose-Lose

In this conflict outcome, neither party gets what was initially desired. In situations involving verbal aggression, lose-lose outcomes are often seen. The aggressor often fails to obtain an initially desired goal such as a promotion or continued employment, and he also frequently fails to obtain true satisfaction through the aggressive behavior. The aggrieved sometimes fails to achieve desired peace in the workplace, and can suffer negative consequences beyond that.

Increasing Specializations (benefits)

Increasing specializations has many positive benefits, but it also creates a greater potential for dysfunctional conflict. Specialist frequently view issues from different perspectives. They also often differ with regard to time perspectives and goals. For example, within a human resource unit the training specialist may have different perspectives relative to the compensation specialists. Also, a research and development department often operates within a long-term time frame because developing a product and preparing it from manufacture often require several years. However, a production department operates within a much shorter time frame, perhaps a few weeks (the time required to produce the products for a given order.) Conflict can result when the research and development department is late in developing and testing product prototypes, thereby creating scheduling delays for the production department.

Norms

Informal rules or standards that regulate the team's behavior.

Norms

Informal rules or standards that regulate the team's behavior. _____- tend to emerge naturally in a team and are part of the team's mental model, although occasionally they are systematically recorded. Norms serve the purpose of regulating team members' behavior and providing direction. When individual team members violate team norms, some type of punishment or sanction is usually applied. Team norms can become very powerful and resistant to change. Witness a situation such as a regular team meeting, or even a college class, where everyone stis in the same seat at every meeting. Although norms allow teams to function smoothly, they can sometimes be harmful to team members. Research on the causes of eating disorders in young women illustrate this fact. Because norms are not always positive, it is important that teams develop norms that foster team productivity and performance and promote the welfare of individual members.

Culutral Differences (Nonverbal Communication)

Members of different cultures vary a great deal in how they present themselves and in their norms for nonverbal communication. One aspect of nonverbal communication appears to be the same for all human beings. People of all cultures seem to discern and label facial expressions showing certain basic emotions in the same way. These basic emotions include fear, disgust, surprise, happiness, and anger. Therefore, people in a variety of countries are all likely to recognize a smile as a sign of happiness and a scowl as a sign of disgust.

Adjourning

Most teams experience some sort of end. Individual members may leave, or the team may be formally disbanded when its mission has been accomplished. Thus, teams ultimately go through a fifth stage, ___________, when individuals begin to leave the team and terminate their regular contact with other team members. Adjourning can result from volunatry actions on the part of team members, as when individual take jobs with other organizations or retire. It can also result from actions over which team members have little control, such as reassignments by the parent organization or the end of a project. When several members of a cohesive team leave in a short period of time, the remaining members often experience feelings of loss, and the team becomes less cohesive and less structured, until it no longer exists, unless new members replace the members who have left. In this instance, the team is similar to a new team, and the process of team development is likely to begin again.

Growth

Relates to increases in sales as well as associates and managers.

Destructive Individual Roles

Roles involving self-centered behaviors that put individual needs and goals ahead of the team.

Personality (Type A Personality)

The Type A personality trait has been linked to increased conflict. People with Type A personalites are competitive, aggressive, and impatient. One study found that managers with Type A personalties reported more conflict with suboridnates. Becuuse people with Type A personalities are more competitive, they are more liekly to perceive others as having competing goals, even when this is not the case.

Power

The ability to achieve desired outcomes.

Political Skill

The ability to effectively understand others at work and to use this knowledge to enhance one's own objectives.

Departmentalization

The grouping of human and other resources into units, typically based on functional areas or markets.

Paralanguage

refers to how something is said, such as how tone of voice, pitch of voice, and silence are used.

Virtual Teams

A _____________ is made up of associates who work together as a team but are separated by time, distance, or organizational structure. The benefits of virtual teams are obvious--they allow people who are physically separated to work together. VIrtual teams, however, have been shown to be less effective than face-to-face teams in many instances. There are several reasons for this outcome. First, because fewer opportunities exist for informal discussions, trust can be slower to develop among virtual team members. Second, virtual team members rely on communication channels that are less rich than face-to-face interactions. Consequently, misunderstandings are more likely to occur among team members. Third, it is more difficult for virtual teams to develop behavioral norms that are strongly shared. Finally, it is easier for some members to be free riders (those who do not contribute effectively to the team's work), thereby causing frustration among other team members. Thus, it is very important that virtual teams be managed well, because they have a tendency to fall apart if care is not taken to maintain the team.

Confirmation bias

A cognitive bias in which information confirming early beliefs and ideas is sought while potentially disconfirming information is not sought.

Ease-of-recall bias

A cognitive bias in which information that is easy to recall from memory is relied upon too much in making a decision.

Sunk-cost bias

A cognitive bias in which past investments of time, effort, and/or money are heavily weighted in deciding on continued investment.

Anchoring bias

A cognitive bias in which the first piece of information that is encountered about a situation is emphasized too much in making a decision.

Communication

A common cause of dysfunctional conflict is poor communication, which can lead to misunderstandings and allow barriers to be erected. Probably the easiest way to prevent conflicts is to ensure good communication. Both too little and too much communication can lead to conflict. On the one hand, when there is too little communication, individuals do not know enough about each other's intentions, goals, or plans. Coordination becomes difficult, and misunderstandings are more likely to occur, which can lead to dysfunctional conflict. On the other hand, too much communication can also result in information overload and misunderstandings that cause conflict.

Dense networks

A communication network in which most or all network members communicate with many other members.

Sparse networks

A communication network in which most or all network members communicate with only a few other members.

Decentralized networks

A communication network in which no single network member dominates communications.

Centralized networks

A communication network in which one or a few network members dominate communications.

Consulation

A consultation tactic requires getting the target to participate in the planning or execution of whatever the politician wants accomplished. For example, a unit manager who wants to implement a specific strategy would consult associates and supervisors to gain their support for her plan. These consultations, though, may be quite cynical because the manager is not really interested in anyone's input.

Devil's advocacy

A group decision-making technique that relies on a critique of a recommended action and its underlying assumptions.

Dialectical Inquiry

A group decision-making technique that relies on debate between two subgroups that have developed different recommendations based on different assumptions.

Coalitions

A group whose members work together to actively pursue a common interest.

Delphi technique

A highly structured decision-making process in which participants are surveyed regarding their opinions or best judgements.

Legitimizing

A legitimizing tactic involves making a request seem legitimate or official. For example, an associate who wants to complete a project in a certain manner will try to convince targets that this is "how management wants it done."

Strategic Contingencies Model of Power

A model holding that organizational units and people gain power by being able to address the major problems and issues faced by the organization.

Punctuated Equilibrium Model (PEM)

A model of team development that suggests that teams do not go through linear stages but that team formation depends on the task at hand and the deadlines for that task.

Avoiding

A party who exhibits an avoiding response neglects both his own concerns and those of the other party. An avoiding style may be necessary to allow emotions to cool down or as a means of delaying decisions until effective solutions can be found. IBM has avoided conflict by refusing to do business in countries that allow bribery of public officials.7

Risky shift

A process by which group members collectively make a more risky choice than most or all of the individuals would have made working alone.

Normal group technique

A process for group decision making in which discussion is structured and the final solution is decided by silent vote.

Brainstorming

A process in which a large number of ideas are generated while evaluation of the ideas is suspended.

Conflict

A process in which one party perceives that its interests are being opposed or negatively affected by another party.

Socialization

A process through which an organization imparts its values to newcomers.

Negotiation

A process through which parties with different preferences and interests attempt to agree on a solution.

Rational Persuasion

A rational persuasion tactic involves using logical arguments or factual information to persuade targets that the persuader's request will result in beneficial outcomes. For example, a sales associate who is the number-one seller may tell her boss all the benefits of switching to a purely commission-based compensation system while ignoring the potential disadvantages.

Anger

A second often-studied emotion. This emotion is widely beleived to have important effects on decision making. First, ___________ may cause decision makers to be superficial gathers and evaluators of information. Second, ______ may lead to an enhanced willingness to take risks, particualrly in comparison to the effects that other negative emotions have on risk taking. (e.g., fear)

Product Differentiation

A second popular competitive strategy involves product/service differentiation. Consumers are targeted who are willing to pay more for a product/service that is different in some meaningful way (higher quality, superior technology, faster availability). To effectively implement this strategy, flexibility and initiative are useful for staying ahead of the competition, and a more organic structure can be helpful in supporting these needs.53 To be effective, each strategy requires a unique set of internal resources (e.g., human capital, as illustrated in the Experiencing Organizational Behavior on IDEO) that can be used to effectively implement the strategy.54 In the Experiencing Organizational Behavior segment, IDEO illustrates four key points. First, this firm shows how a differentiation strategy can be used in the business of designing products and services. IDEO has distinguished itself through its unique approach to working with clients, and it promotes the innovation and initiative required to maintain its edge by using an organic structure. Second, the firm highlights the fact that companies occasionally supplement their internal human capital as they work to create a competitive advantage in the marketplace. All or most of IDEO's clients have talented associates and managers. Yet, on occasion they still need outside assistance. Third, IDEO promotes design thinking throughout their and their clients' organizations. In so doing, innovation is integrated into the organization's culture and DNA. Finally, the IDEO case again illustrates the value of teams with diverse members, as explained in Chapters 2 and 11. Teams provided invaluable help for IDEO and its client firms to implement a strategy of innovation designed to create or maintain a competitive advantage. A more advanced form of the divisional structure, strategic business units (SBUs) is sometimes used for more complex firms. Large firms with multiple diversified businesses sometimes group their businesses into SBUs. At General Electric, for example, businesses are grouped into SBUs that include GE Advanced Materials, GE Commercial Finance, GE Consumer Finance, GE Consumer and Industrial Products, GE Energy, GE Healthcare, GE Infrastructure, GE Insurance Solutions, GE Transportation, and NBC Universal.55 A business strategy is then formulated for each separate SBU, thus allowing the complex organization to be more effectively managed. The key to developing effective strategies for each SBU is the appropriate grouping of businesses. Each group must have commonalities among its businesses for a coherent strategy to be developed. These commonalities may correspond to market relatedness, shared technology, or common distinctive competencies.56

Divisional Form (Benefits and Drawbacks)

A second, related benefit is rapid response to changes in the industry that call for a coordination response across function (sometimes referred to as cross-functional). Because associates and managers in the various functional areas coordinate more effectively, response times are often faster. A third benefit is tailoring to the different product/service or geographical markets. This occurs because the people in each division are dedicated to their own markets.16 The divisional form is not without its drawbacks, however. Two of the most important are (1) lack of collaboration across the product/service or geographic markets (individuals in one division can become isolated from those in other divisions) and (2) diseconomies of scale within functional areas (individuals in a given functional area but working on different markets cannot share resources as they can in the functional structure).17 As described in the Exploring Behavior in Action feature, FedEx developed a diverse set of businesses offering a portfolio of services. To manage these businesses efficiently and to offer customers the most effective services, FedEx implemented a divisional structure.

Diversity-based infighting

A situation in which group members engage in unproductive, negative conflict over differing views.

Groupthink

A situation in which group members maintain or seek consensus at the expense of identifying and debating honest disagreements.

Integrative Bargaining

A strategy that: (1) involves a collaborative, win-win approach and (2) tends to be used when the nature of the problem permits a solution that is attractive to both parties.

Distributive Bargaining

A strategy that: (1) involves a competing, win-lose approach and (2) tends to be used when one party's goals are in direct conflict with the goals of another party.

Leadership

A team's internal leadership is crucial for the effectiveness of the team. Team leaders can naturally emerge, or they can be assigned based on special skills or authority. Successful team leaders must fulfill three roles. The first role, team liaison, requires the leader to network with information sources both inside and outside the team, creating a bridge bewteen the two. Outside sources include suppliers, clients, customers, other teams, and higher levels of management. In the liaison role, a team leader also acts as a representative of the team and watches out for the team's interests. In essence, the team leader connects the team to the outside world.

Cultural Audit

A tool for assessing and understanding the culture of an organization.

Win-Win

A win-win situation occurs when both parties get what they want. Consider a situation in which a union bargains for increased pay, but management does not have the resources to increase pay. A win-win situation would occur if the union decided to accept specific productivity incentives. Increases in productivity would be accompanied by cash bonuses, thus increasing union members' pay to the levels they desired in the first place. Management would win because productivity (and consequently profit) would be expected to increase, which would in turn, cover the higher pay. Exhibit 12-3 depicts the five conflict outcomes.

Style (Decision-Making)

According to Jung's theory, an individual's predispositions can affect the decision process at two critical stages: (1) the perceiving of information and (2) the judging of alternatives. Decisions, then reflect the person's preferences for one of two perceptual styles and one of two judgment styles. Although some have questioned the usefulness of Jung's ideas, research has offered reasonable support for those ideas, and assesment tools based on his work are very popular in the corporate world.

Attitudinal Structuring

Activities aimed at influencing the attitudes and relationships of the negotiating parties.

Affective Criteria

Adresses the question of whether team members have a fulfilling and satisfying team experience. One important affective criterion is the team's affective tone, or the general emotional state of the team. It is important that the team, as a whole, have a positive, happy outlook on their work. Unfortunately, it is easy for even one member to contaminate the mood of a team. The team's emotional tone influences the way it communicates as well as its cohesion.

Moods

Affective states that correspond to general feelings disconnected from any particular events or stimulus in the workplace. ________ typically are described in generic terms such as positive or negative, good or bad. ______ appears to have important effects on decision making, but those effects are complex and not fully understood at this point. On the one hand, individuals in positive moods may exhibit more breadth in ideas considered, which can create more exploration and creativity, and even more risk taking. If recent outcomes have been favorable. These effects of mood are positive in situations calling for fresh ideas or bold steps On the other hand, individuals in positive moods may neglect the details of decision situations. This could lead to poor outcomes when such details are crucial.

Easy of Recall Bias

Affects the amount and type of information that is gathered and evaluated. In the context of this bias, a decision maker gathers information from his own memory and relies on information that he can easily recall. Unfortunately, easily recalled information may be misleading or incomplete. Vivid and recent information tends to be easily recalled but may not be indicative of the overall situation.

Growth

Almost all types of organizations use growth as a measure of success. Awards are given for growth, such as the Growth Strategy Leadership Award given by the consulting firm Frost and Sullivan.37 Under some circumstances, senior leaders are even willing to trade profits for increasing sales. Growth can be achieved through internal development or by external acquisition. Although the internal growth strategy is an attractive option, growth by external acquisition is popular with many companies.38 Cisco Systems, a maker of telecommunication equipment, is known for its frequent acquisitions.39 Acquisition is often a faster method of achieving growth, but it does carry some risk, in part because cultural differences between firms often cause difficulties in the post-acquisition integration of operations.40 Some firms that have diversified through multiple acquisitions later retrenched and sold off prior acquisitions because of poor performance.41 Each of these two growth strategies has implications for structure. For example, firms using an internal-growth strategy are likely to have larger marketing and research and development (R&D) departments. It is also probable that authority for decisions is decentralized to the heads of these departments. In contrast, firms following an external acquisition strategy are likely to have the more well-developed financial and legal functions required to analyze and negotiate acquisitions. These firms may even have a separate specialized planning and acquisitions department. For example, given the number of acquisitions completed by FedEx over time, the company likely has enriched these functions.

Need for Values (That Benefit the Organization)

Alternative mechanisms are used to ensure that individuals are working for the good of the organization. These mechanisms include selection systems, socialization schemes, and leadership processes. Selection systems should be designed to identify individuals who share the values of the organization. Socialization schemes, discussed later in this chapter, should be designed to further shape values and to promote a shared vision of the organization's future. Similarly, strong leadership at the top of the firm instills shared purpose among managers and associates. Shared values and vision act as guides to behavior, and reduce the chances of lower-level managers and associates acting in ways that are counterproductive. Reward systems also are used to promote appropriate behavior. Although lower-level managers and associates may not realize it, powerful forces guide their behavior in organizations characterized by relative freedom of thought and action. Over time, the value of unleashing human capital throughout an organization became widely recognized. Today, senior leaders in modern organizations tend to favor more organic structures. Although this is positive, given that organic structures are closely aligned with high-involvement management, there are situations in which some aspects of this approach are not appropriate.

Associate Involvement (in Managerial Decisions)

Although associate in high-involvement firms make many important decisions, other decisions remain for managers to address, perhaps with the assistance of associates. For these latter decisions, managers must determine the correct level of associate involvement in the decision-making process. If the manager can diagnose the nature of the problem, he can determine the degree to which a group of associates should participate. The Vroom-Yetton model requires the manager first to diagnose the problem situation and then to determine the extent to which associates will be involved in the decision-making process. The optimal extent of involvement depends on the probable effect participation will have on: (1) the quality of the decision, (2) the acceptance or commitment subordinates exhibit when implementing the decision, and (3) the amount of time needed to make the decision. There are several levels of involvement, ranging from the manager's making the decision alone to a fully participation group approach. Vrooom and Yetton suggest that managers can determine the best strategy for associate participation by asking seven diagnostic questions. This procedure yields a decision tree that indicates the most effective level of participation. It is not always necessary, however, to ask all seven questions to determine the level of involvement because some branches of the decision tree end after a few questions are asked. Research has supported the Vroom-Yetton method. The method predicts the technical quality, subordinate acceptance, and overall effectiveness of final solutions. The Vroom-Yetton model is useful not only for lower-level managers deciding on the appropriate level of involvement for associates but also for generals deciding on the level of involvement for subordinate officers and for senior managers deciding on the level of involvement for those who report directly to them.

Group Decision (Making Pitfalls)

Although group decision making can produce positive outcomes, the social nature of group decisions sometimes leads to undesired results. In fact, group dynamics that occur during decision making often prevent full discussion of facts and alternatives. Group norms, member roles, dysfunctional communication patterns, and too much cohesiveness may deter the group, thereby producing ineffective decisions. Researchers have identified several critical pitfalls in decision-making groups. These include groupthink, common information bias, diversity-based infighting, and the risky shift.

Using Decisions Styles

Although it may seem that decision-making styles are fixed, there is some flexibility in the styles used by managers and associates. As stated by Jung and later researchers, a decision style is simply a preference. Many experienced decision makers are able to adjust their styles as need dictates, at least to some degree.

Need for Structure

Although substantial freedom may exist, it is not unlimited, nor should it exist without alternative mechanisms designed to ensure that managers and associates are working for the common good of the organization. First, even in relatively organic firms there is some standardization, and some decisions are made by middle and senior-level managers. At Southwest Airlines, pilots and flight attendants have more freedom than at other airlines, but they still must follow applicable laws and safety rules.32 Interestingly, research shows that new-venture firms need structure and thus often are more successful if their organization structure is less organic.33 In addition, new-venture firms often are "boundaryless" in that they must operate in networks to gain access to needed resources. Although these alliances may be critical to their survival, it can be difficult for them to break into an existing network of relationships. Working across these organizational boundaries requires that they not be too standardized or formalized. They need flexibility. In addition, the structure should allow for appropriate levels of transparency in associates' productivity while guarding against too much oversight.34

Accommodating

An accommodating response is the opposite of a competitive style. A person using an accommodating response will forgo his own concerns so that the concerns of the other party can be met. For example, when someone has to work on a holiday, a particular associate may agree to be that person so that a co-worker can have the holiday off, in order to avoid conflict. An accommodating style may be used by a party who believes that he cannot win. It may also be useful when the issue is less important to one party than to the other. An individual or unit can adopt an accommodating style in return for a favor at a future time.

Communication audit

An analysis of an organization's internal and external communication designed to assess communication practices and capabilities and to determine needs.

Synergy

An effect wherein the total output of a team is greater than the combined outputs of individual members working alone.

Ingratiation

An ingratiation tactic makes the target feel good by flattering or helping him. For example, a person may tell a colleague how valuable he is before asking for his support.

Inspirational Appeal

An inspirational appeal tactic is used to generate the enthusiasm and support of targets by appealing to their important values and ideals. For example, to obtain a target's support for her new web-based advertising plan, a person may appeal to an ecology-conscious target by explaining how electronic advertising saves trees as opposed to advertising in newspapers and magazines.

Self-contained tasks

An integration technique whereby a department is given resources from other functional areas in order to reduce the need to coordinate with those areas.

Slack Resources

An integration technique whereby a department keeps more resources on hand than absolutely required in order to reduce the need for tight communications and coordination with other departments.

Ambidextrous Organizations

An organization structure that balances formalization and standardization to help to achieve efficiency and flexibility.

Role of Strategy

An organization's task environment is composed of customers, suppliers, competitors, government regulatory agencies, and perhaps unions. These are external components with which the organization frequently interacts and that have an effect on the organization.35 Organizations adapt to their environments through formal strategies. In turn, these strategies affect the organization's structure.

Information Technology

An overall set of tools, based on microelectronic technology, designed to provide data, documents, and commentary as well as analysis support to individuals in an organization.

Anchoring Bias

Another bias where decision makers place too much emphasis on the first piece of information they encounter about a situation. This initial information then has undue influence on ideas, evaluations, and conclusions. Even when decision makers acquire a wide range of additional information (thereby avoiding the confirmation bias), initial information can still have too much influnece.

Team Viability (Outcome-- for the future)

Another important outcome criterion is _____ that is, the ability of the team to remain functioning as long as needed. Research has shown that teams have a tendency to burn out over time. One study, for example found that the performance of research-and-development teams peaks at around years 2 to 3 and shows significant declines after year 5. This decline in performance can be due to team members becoming to complacent and mired in old routines, or to breakdowns in communication among team members. Often, teams are created to deal with changing environments and uncertainty.

Direction Setting

Another leader role involves ________. The leader must help to ensure the development of a direction for team action. This means that the leader must guide the development of action plans based on the long-term organizational goals and strategies developed by senior managers. Finally, team leader must ensure operational coordination. This role represents the management of the team's work and processes. The major responsibilities of this role involve the various contributions; monitoring team performance and suggesting or making necessary changes if feedback indicates problems; and facilitating a psychological climate that will enable the team to function effectively.

Self Management

Another reaction to regret involves self-managment. This reaction can protect the ego of the decision maker. When engaged in self-management, decision makers may: 1. Attempt to reverse the decision 2. Run from the decision by denying responsibility for it. 3. Argue that other alternative choice would not have led to a better outcome. 4. Attempt to suppress self-knowledge of the unwanted outcome. 5. Engage in after-the-fact justifications of the decision by using, for example, a self-affirmation such as "I did the best that I could."

Nominal Group Technique

Another technique used to overcome some of the inhibited forces in group decision making is called _______________. This technique shares some features of brain-writing and electronic brainstorming. In its basic form, it calls for a decision meeting that follows four procedural rules. 1. At the outset, individuals seated around a table write down their ideas silently and without discussion. 2. Each member presents one idea to the group. After the initial round has been completed, each member presents a second idea. The process is repeated until all ideas have been presented. No group discussion is permitted during this period. 3. After the ideas have been recoreded on a blackboard or a large flipchart or in a computer database for projection, the members discuss them. The major purpose here is to clarify and evaluate. 4. The meeting concludes with a silent and independent vote or ranking of the alternative choice. The group decision is determined by summing or pooling these independent votes. The nominal group technique eliminates a great deal of interaction among group members. Discussion and interaction occur only once during the entire purpose. Even the final choice of an alternative occurs in silence and depends on an impersonal summing process. Proponents of this technique believe that inhibitions are overcome at crucial stages, whereas group discussion occurs at the time it is needed for evaluation. Research has suggested that the technique yields better results than a standard group brainstroming session.

Personality (Dispositional Trust)

Another type of personality characteristic likely to influence how people experience and react to conflict is ___________. People who are low in trust are less likely to cooperate with others and less likely to try to find mutually beneficial solutions when conflict arises. When people are high in trust, they are more likely to concede to another party during conflicts, especially when it appears that the other party is upset or disappointed. High-trust individuals are more likely than others to become vulnerable because they have positive expectations about the motives of others.

Negotiation (long-term relationship)

Apart from the issues directly under negotiation, there is often the long-term relationship between parties to consider. Most often during negotiations, the parties desire to remain friendly, trustful, and respectful of each other. For example, if a company was negotiating with an environmental group and the negotiations turned hostile, future relationships between the two groups would remain antagonistic. The company might do only what is absolutely required to meet the terms of negotiations and fail to develop new ways in which to protect the environment. The environmental group might then give only a weak endorsement to the company or refuse to work with it on environmental practices. The activities aimed at influencing the attitudes and relationships of the negotiating parties are referred to as attitudinal structuring.

Coalition

As discussed above, a coalition tactic is used when people with common interests join together to pursue their interests. For example, a coalition might be represented by ethnic and minority group members who band together to promote organizational diversity.

Increased Specialization

As organizations become larger and more diverse, they require more ___________ for effective operations. For example, smaller organizations may have general human resource managers who perform most or all of the human resource management functions, but larger organizations frequently have specialist for employment, labor relations, training, compensation, and affirmative action. This situations represents specializations within one function.

Values

As suggested throughout this discussion of structure and culture, the fit between an individual and the organization has important implications for satisfaction, commitment, intent to turnover, and job performance.115 Values are abstract ideals related to proper life goals and methods for reaching those goals. As such, individual values often underlie groups of attitudes. Although people may have thousands of attitudes, most likely they have only a few-dozen values.116 Thus, values are more general than attitudes and form the basis for how we should behave. For example, we could have the underlying value that family time is highly important and a corresponding negative attitude toward a colleague who works most nights and many weekends. Values emerge as individuals mature and as they develop the ability to form general concepts from their accumulated experiences. Also, during value formation, the value judgments of people we respect influence the nature of our values. Finally, as discussed in Chapter 2, national and ethnic culture affects the development of values. Once formed, values serve as frames of reference that help guide people's behavior in many different contexts. Values can be modified or refined as a result of new experiences but are much more resistant to change than are attitudes. Thus, individuals will not change their values to join a particular organization. Rather, they make choices based on the agreement between their personal values and those of the organization. Many organizations try to select new associates who share the values consistent with their organizational culture.

Conflict Escalation (and Outcomes)

As we have just seen, conflict has many causes, and they are often interrelated. For example, structural factors such as specialization are related to differences in goals and perceptions. The physical environment can cause conflict because it can interfere with communication. However a conflict begins, though, there are only a certain number of ways in which it can end. Fortunately, most cases of conflict are resolved, although not necessarily in a manner satisfactory to both parties (as in the earlier example, where two vice presidents were in conflict and one was fired by the CEO). In this section, we discuss conflict escalation and then focus on conflict outcomes.

Identity Groups

Associates often form groups based on their social identities, such as gender identity, racial identity, or religious identity. These groups are referred to as ___________. Individuals belong to many identity groups that are not based on membership in the work organization. (e.g., Hispanic, female, Catholic). Thus, any member of a team is also a member of several identity groups. Effective team performance can be more difficult to achieve when team members belong to different identity groups or when their identification with these groups conflicts with the goals and objectives of the team. For example, suppose most of the members of a team are white North Americans who prefer a decision-making process in which all arguments are open and group members are encouraged to debate and question each other publicly. Some of the team members, however, identify with the Japanese culture, in which publicly contradicting someone is viewed as impolite. These team members will likely find the team's decision-making process to be uncomfortable and disrespectful, and they may not participate. Thus, team functioning will be impaired.

Closing the Deal

At this stage, both parties should be quite clear about the conclusion of the negotiations and the particulars of the final agreement. Final agreements should be formalized and it should be made clear what each party's responsibility is in implementing the agreement. This process appears to be quite strict. However, it should be followed in any formal negotiation, ranging from negotiating one's pay increase to negotiating major merger and acquisition deals. In the Managerial Advice feature, we explore a common type of negotiation scenario—that of negotiating one's salary when taking a new job.

Team Effectiveness

Because outcome by itself is not enough, team effectiveness is measured on several dimensions: knowledge criteria, affective criteria, and outcome criteria. A final consideration in team effectiveness is whether a team is even needed to perform the work, or whether the work is best performed by individuals.

Associates (negotiate)

Before closing this section on negotiation, it is important to point out that associates negotiate all the time in everyday work life. When we think of negotiations, we tend to think of formalized negotiations such as labor-management bargaining or merger-and-acquisition talks. However, negotiations take place whenever there are two or more parties who need to come to an agreement about a proposed course of action. Negotiation is just a means of trying to influence others to obtain outcomes that one desires. Thus, a major issue that underlies all negotiations as well as conflict situations is power.77 When two parties try to influence each other to attempt to maximize their own outcomes or attain a target outcome, the issue of power can be critical to resolving the conflict.

Organizational Politics

Behavior that is directed toward furthering one's own self-interests without concern for the interests or well-being of others.

Reference Points

Beyond general risk-taking propensity, __________ play an important role in many decisions. A ___________ can be a goal, an minimum acceptable level of performance, or perhaps the average performance level of others, and it is used to judge one's current standing. If a particular individual's current position in an ongoing activity is below his __________., he is more likely to take a risk in an attempt to move above the __________. If his current position is above the _______, he is less likely to take risks. Each individual chooses, consciously or unconsciously, his own reference point in a given situation. Two different students are likely to have different minimally acceptable performance levels for a class, and these different levels can serve as their respective reference points.

Centralization (Versus Decentralization)

Both centralization and decentralization of authority can cause conflict, but each causes a different form of conflict. At the level of the overall organizations, centralized authority means that one individual makes decisions for all units or that one higher unit makes decisions for all other units. Centralization can lessen dysfunctional conflict between units because all units are more likely to share the same goals and perspectives in a centralized system. However, conflict between individuals and their supervisions wihtin units or between individual units and the decision-making unit can arise because individuals and units have less control over their own work situations. A recent study of advertising agencies demonstrated these effects.

Goals

By definition, when individuals have competing or contrary goals, they often engage in conflict. In addition, certain aspects of individual goals make conflict more likely.51 Associates with lofty goals, rigid goals, or competitive goals are more likely to experience conflict, especially when they are strongly committed to the goals. Differences in goals can result from structural characteristics of the organization, such as increased specialization and interdependency. Recall our earlier example of the merit system for state-government employees. The merit system has the goal of ensuring that only qualified candidates are on the eligible-for-hire list and that all applicants are given a fair chance. A state agency wants qualified applicants for a job opening, but it also needs the position filled quickly so that the required work is done. It takes time to be fair to all and to be cautious about who is on the eligible list, which can delay getting the list to the state agency. Meanwhile, the agency may have a vacant job and a work backlog during the delay. In this case, differences in goals generate conflict. As the difference between the goals of two units becomes greater, the likelihood that conflict will occur increases. Organizations with structures that align individual and subgroup goals with those of the organization experience less conflict.52

Differing Perceptions

Caused by differing frames of reference. Our expectations or frames of reference can influence how we recall and interpret information.

Sunk Cost Bias

Causes decision makers to emphasize past investments of time and money when deciding whether to continue with a chosen course of action. Decision makers are reluctant to walk away from past investments, preferring to build on them and make them successful. Decision makers should, however, treat a past investment as a sunk cost--a cost that is unrecoverable and irrelevant-- and focus on the future costs and benefits of continued investments. The power of the sunk-cost bias is illustrated through its role in the deaths of a number of Mt.Everest climbers. Fortunately, the effects of this bias are normally much less sever than death. Yet, the sunk-cost bias can have significant effects on organizational performance.

Cognitive Factors

Certain beliefs and attitudes can lead to conflict. Two such cognitive factors involve differing expectations and one party's perceptions of the other party.

Decisions

Choices of actions from among multiple feasible alternatives.

Affect (organizational Cultures)

Clearly, organizational cultures affect managers' and associates' behaviors and thus organizational performance. The core values of an organization serve to attract new associates who share similar values or at least are comfortable with the organization's values.98 For example, research has shown that organizational culture affects the extent to which associates are willing to accept changes in an organization.99 Specifically, associates who perceive an organizational culture that positively values human relations are more willing to participate in and accept changes made by the organization.100 In addition, other studies have shown that when the organizational culture promotes respect for people, associates are more likely to view relationships with leaders more positively, to trust others, and to perceive that the organization treats associates fairly.101 Therefore, such cultures are likely to support an organization's competitive advantage because of a motivated workforce and low turnover among associates.

Collaborating

Collaborating responses are attempts to fully meet the concerns of both parties. To use a collaborating response, the parties must work together to identify solutions in which both parties can win.72 This type of response is most likely to result in the win-win outcome described earlier. A collaborating response is best used when both parties' concerns are too important to ignore and when the objective is to learn and to gain commitment.

Encourage Feedback Related to Understanding

Communication should be a two-way process. To ensure that the received message is interpreted as intended, feedback from the recipient is necessary. Some guidelines that individuals can use to obtain feedback are as follows: Ask recipients to repeat what they have heard Promote and cultivate feedback, but don't try to force it. Reward those who provide feedback and use the feedback received. For example, thank people for providing feedback. Respond to feedback, indicating whether it is correct. In other words, obtain feedback, use it, and then feed it back to recipients.

Upward communication

Communication that flows from subordinate to superior.

Downward communication

Communication that flows from superior to subordinate.

Formal Communication

Communication that follows the formal structure of the organization (e.g., superior to subordinate) and entails organizationally sanctioned information.

Informal Communication

Communication that involves spontaneous interaction between two or more people outside the formal organization structure.

Horizontal communication

Communication that takes place between and among people at the same level.

Nonverbal communication

Communication that takes place without using spoken or written language, such as communication through facial expressions and body language.

Direction (of Organizational Communication)

Communication within organizations can occur in any of three directions: downward, upward, or horizontally.

Emotions

Complex subjective reactions that have both a physical and mental components. Also affective states corresponding to specific feeling, such as anger, that tend to be associated with particular events, people, or other stimuli.

Compromising

Compromising responses are those in which a party tries to partially meet both his own concerns and those of the other party. A compromising response is best used when the parties are of relatively equal power, when temporary settlements to complex problems are required, when there is time pressure, and as a backup when collaboration (described next) is unsuccessful.

Suggestions (for selecting team members)

Conduct a team work analysis to identify the knowledge, skills, and abilities needed to perform both individual task work and team work. Carefully consider who is to do the assesment of potential team members', knowledge, skills and abilities and who will decide whom to select. It is often useful to have existing members of the team itself (if any) involved in the selection process. Tailor the selection process to the type of team. For example, personality tests may be appropriate for service teams but not for senior management teams. Consider political issues. It may be important to have members representing different constituencies on a team. For example, a university's internal review board that evaluates whether faculty research is ethical in its treatment of human subjects often includes a community member who does not have ties to the university community and does not do research.

Personal Conflict

Conflict that arises out of personal differences between people, such as differing values, personal goals, and personalities.

Procedural Conflict

Conflict that arises over how work should be completed.

Dysfunctional Conflicts

Conflict that interferes with performance. Conflict can be dysfunctional for several reasons. First, conflict with important constituencies can create doubt about the organization's future performance in the minds of shareholders, causing stock prices to drop. Second, conflict can cause people to exercise their own individual power and engage in political behavior directed toward winning the battle at any cost rather than attaining broader organizational goals. Third, Conflict can have negative effects on interpersonal relationships. Finally, it takes time, resources, and emotional energy to deal with conflict, both on an interpersonal and and organizational level. Thus, resources that could be invested in achieving the organization's mission are used in efforts to address the conflict. Managers have rated conflict management as equal to or higher in importance than planning, communicating, motivating, and decision making.

Substantive Conflict

Conflict that involves work content, tasks, and task goals.

Functional Conflict

Conflict that is beneficial to organizational goals and objectives.

Dysfunctional Conflict

Conflict that is detrimental to organizational goas and objectives.

Causes (of Dysfunctional Conflict within Organizations)

Conflict within organizations can be caused by many factors, which are frequently interrelated. To manage conflict effectively, managers should understand the causes of conflict and be able to diagnose them. Some of the more common causes are structural factors, communication factors, cognitive factors, individual characteristics, and the history of relations between the parties.

Emotions

Correspond to more specific feelings that are often tied to particular events, people, or other stimuli. Also, _________ typically are described in terms of discrete forms, such as fear and anger. Research in the field of organizational behavior has increasingly emphasized moods and emotions in the workplace;

Organizational Culutre

Culture is closely related to most other concepts in the field of organizational behavior, including structure, leadership, communication, groups, motivation, and decision making.87 Culture is affected by and can also affect these other areas of organizational functioning and it is related to social, historic, and economic issues as well.88 Thus, it is an important and encompassing concept. Google's organizational culture is described in the Experiencing Organizational Behavior feature. Google's culture is highly informal, with a decentralized structure designed to enhance associates' creativity. Google must be doing something right because it is a highly successful company. Its culture and structure, along with its interrelated management model, have attracted significant human capital, which is one of the reasons for its success. Google's approach is highly similar to a high-involvement organization. Organizational cultures are based on shared values, as described earlier.89 As noted, culture begins with shared values, which then produce norms that govern behavior. Behavior produces outcomes that are reinforced or punished, thereby bolstering the culture. Thus, any culture, positive or negative, becomes self-reinforcing and difficult to change. The process of culture development and reinforcement is shown in Exhibit 13-7.

Decentralization

Decentralized authority means that each unit manager can make important decisions. Although decentralized authority can reduce conflict between superiors and subordinates within a unit, because subordinates are usually given more control over their work situations, it also creates the potential for more conflict between units because decisions made by one unit may conflict with decisions made by another. Futhermore, these decisions may reflect biased perceptions associated with the separate units. Shared cultural values and strong information flows can prevent these problems, but the potential for difficulties remains.

Departmentalization

Departmentalization describes the approach used in grouping resources within an organization. As highlighted in the opening case, one of the two basic options is the functional form of departmentalization, in which resources related to a particular functional area are grouped together (see Exhibit 13-2). The functional form provides several potential advantages, including deep specialized knowledge in each functional area (because functions are the focus of the firm) and economies of scale within functional areas (resources can be shared by all individuals working within each functional area).14 This form, however, also has a potential major weakness: managers and associates in each functional department can become isolated from those who work in other departments, which harms coordinated action and causes slow responses to major industry changes that require two or more functional areas to work together.15 Lateral relation mechanisms, discussed in a later section, can help to overcome this weakness.

Personality (differences)

Differences in personality across people can also facilitate conflict. People high in conscientiousness plan ahead, are organized, and desire feedback. While working on a project, a person high in conscientiousness wants to plan the project out, start early, set clear goals, and consistently seek feedback. Someone who is low in conscientiousness may see these actions as unnecessary, creating the potential for procedural conflict. Note that it is not the degree of conscientiousness per se that leads to conflict here; it is the difference in this trait between two people who must work together.

Forming Stage

During the _______ stage, associates come to teams without established relationships but with some expectations about what they want in and from the team. The new team members focus on learning about each other, defining what they want to accomplish, and determining how they are going to accomplish it. Sometimes personality conflicts or disagreements arise about what needs to be done or how the team should go about doing it.

Negotiating the Agreement

During this stage the actual negotiation takes place and negotiation strategies and tactics are used.

Technology (and Structure: A Manufacturing Framework )

Early work on the relationship between technology and organization structure focused on manufacturing technology: small-batch production, mass production, and continuous-process production.70 This research found that technological complexity influenced structure and that effective organizations exhibited matches between technology and structure.71 Today, new types of technology are being used in smaller and larger manufacturing operations alike. Technology can equalize the competition between smaller and larger organizations. The use of advanced manufacturing technology (AMT), computer-aided design (CAD), and computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) helps firms of all sizes to customize their strategies by manufacturing products of high variety at lower costs and to commercialize new products in a shorter amount of time.72 These technologies have been integrated to create forms of "mass customization." Mass customization is a process that integrates sophisticated information technology and management methods in a flexible manufacturing system with the ability to customize products in a short time.73 Organizations using mass customization need a more flexible and organic structure.74 Perhaps one of the newest technologies with potential to transform many industries is 3D printing. This technology allows individuals to design and produce products that they desire. However, businesses can do the same in larger quantities. It easily allows for customization. In fact, some have predicted that this technology has the potential to "revolutionize" the homebuilding industry.75

Role of Environment

Environmental forces account for many differences between organizations, and they have a marked effect on the way organizations conduct business.57 Because organizations must obtain their inputs from the external environment, their relationships with suppliers and customers are critical. They also must satisfy governmental regulations, adapt to changes in the national and world economies, and react to competitors' actions.

Roles

Expectations shared by group members about who is to perform what types of tasks and under what conditions.

Task Structure

Finally, we consider how individual inputs are combined to achieve the team's product. The manner in which this is done places a limit on how well the team can perform. We can classify how inputs are combined by determining whether as task is additive or compensatory and whether it is disjunctive or conjunctive. Additive tasks are those in which individual inputs are simply added together-- for example, inputting data. When members' inputs are additively combined, team performance is usually better than the best individual's performance. Compensatory tasks are those in which members' individual performances are averaged together to arrive at the team's overall performance. For example, members of a human resource management team might individually estimate future labor demands in the organization, and the total projection might be based on the average of the managers' estimates. Team performance on this type of task is likely to be better than the performance of most of the individual members. Disjunctive tasks are those in which teams must work together to develop a single, agreed-on product or solution. A jury decision is an example of a disjunctive task. Usually, disjunctive tasks result in team performance that is better than that of most of the individual members but not as good as the best member's performance (i.e., not as good as the best member's inputs/ideas). Conjunctive tasks are those in which all members must perform their individual tasks to arrive at the team's overall performance. Examples of conjunctive tasks are assembly line and trucks moving in a convoy. Teams working on conjunctive tasks cannot perform any better than their worst individual performers. For example, an assembly line cannot produce goods at a rate faster than the rate at which its slowest member performs.

Formal Negotiation Process

For formal negotiations, there are generally four stages that a negotiation process should follow: 1. Preparation 2. Determining the Negotiaton Process 3. Negotiating the Agreement 4. Closing the Deal

Organizations

For over 100 years, social science research has focused on studying collections of people interacting together. it is often said that human beings are social animals and that we seek out interactions with others. Organizations provide many opportunities for such interactions. Business transactions such as planning and coordinating require that individuals interact. Also, because associates are assigned to work units on the basis of their work skills and backgrounds. Furthermore, organizations frequently structure work so that jobs are done by associates working together. Two terms are used to define these clusters of associates: groups and teams.

Four Types (of Culture)

Four types of culture result from different combinations of these dimensions (see Exhibit 13-8): Clan. Strong value is placed on flexibility and discretion with a focus inside the organization. Leaders tend to be mentors and coaches. Effectiveness is evaluated in terms of the cohesion and morale of individuals inside the firm and tacit knowledge held. Overall, the organization tends to be a friendly place to work, with a great deal of commitment and loyalty. Hierarchy. Strong value is placed on control and stability, with a focus inside the organization. Leaders tend to be monitors and organizers. Effectiveness is measured in terms of efficiency and orderly coordination. The organization tends to be a formal and standardized place to work, with emphasis on explicit knowledge.95 Market. Strong value placed on control and stability with a focus outside the organization. Leaders tend be driven and competitive. Effectiveness is measured in terms of goal achievement and beating the competition in the marketplace. The organization can be a difficult place to work because there is a constant focus on results and doing better than colleagues. Adhocracy. Strong value placed on flexibility and discretion with a focus outside the organization. Leaders tend to be entrepreneurial and innovative, perhaps even visionary. Effectiveness is evaluated in terms of creativity and leading-edge innovation in the marketplace. The organization tends to be a vibrant place to work, with significant risk taking.

Identity groups

Groups based on the social identities of members.

Informal groups

Groups formed spontaneously by people who share interests, values, or identities.

Formal groups

Groups to which members are formally assigned.

Business Strategy

How a firm competes for success against other organizations in a particular market.

Hybrid Forms

Hybrid forms also exist, with some functional areas divided across divisions, while others remain intact at the corporate level, often for cost reasons. Network organizations are another option, where many or most functional areas are outsourced to other organizations.18 Homebuilders are usually network organizations, as they often do not complete their own architectural work and typically outsource to subcontractors much of the actual construction work. Nike is generally considered to be a network organization because it outsources manufacturing and other types of work. Most multinational firms are structured as network organizations with decentralized, autonomous subsidiaries in different countries and multiple suppliers in different regions of the world.19 The network approach has been emphasized by a number of firms in recent years, at least to some degree. Its chief benefit lies in allowing a firm to focus on what it does best while outsourcing the rest.20 Quality control, however, is sometimes an issue, and coordination of internal and external efforts is often a substantial problem. Effective information technology that facilitates coordination across organizational boundaries is crucial.

Divisonal Form

If an organization has multiple products or services or operates in multiple geographical areas, it can group its resources into divisions (see Exhibit 13-3). The divisional form offers several benefits, such as better coordination among individuals in functional areas. Functional resources have been divided among the divisions, and associates and managers in the smaller functional departments within each division tend to coordinate with one another relatively easily. With smaller departments, people tend to be closer to one another, and there are fewer barriers (formal or informal) to direct communication.

Social Facilitation Effect

Improvement in individual performance when others are present.

Win-Lose (or Lose-Win)

In either of these outcome scenarios, one party's concerns are satisfied, whereas the other party's concerns are not. This type of outcome is obviously not advantageous for the losing party, and it often is not particularly advantageous for the organization. Such outcomes can be difficult to avoid, however. When conflicts involve "zero-sum," or distributive issues, one party can gain only at the expense of the other. This can cause each party to attempt to fully satisfy its concerns at the expense of the other party. For example, consider a situation in which two opposing parties are competing for a limited number of resources. The more of the resources one party obtains, the less of the resources the other party obtains. When United Airlines fought its unions following the 9/11 attacks on New York, distributive issues were at the heart of the conflict.67 Each dollar obtained by the unions for salaries and pension benefits represented a dollar out of the pocket of the airline.

Interdependency

In most organizations, work must be coordinated between/among units and between/among individuals inside those units. The more interdependent units or individuals are, the more the potential for dysfunctional conflict exists. A good example of interdepedence can be found within state governments. Many state employees work under what is referred to as a merit system. This system is designed to alleviate political patronage; employment is based on a person's merit. A human resource management agency based on the merit system is used to screen applicants for state employment and to maintain lists of those who are eligible for certain jobs within state government. When a state agency has a job opening, it must request a list of eligible applicants from the merit system. The state agency, then, depends on the merit system, and the merit system exists to serve state agencies. if the merit system is slow in responding to a request, conflict can occur.

Time Pressures

In most organizations, work needs to be done under deadlines, which creates time pressures and constrain an individual's ability to communicate. When people are under tine pressure, they sometimes do not carefully develop a message before sending it. In addition, the pressure of a deadline often does not allow time to receive feedback, so the sender might not know whether the receiver accurately perceived the message.

Summary (Comments on Structure)

In summary, corporate strategy and organizational size have strong effects on the structural characteristics of organizations—those that determine the shape and appearance of the hierarchy. Corporate strategy is a particularly strong determinant of departmentalization, and size is an especially strong determinant of height and spans of control. Business strategy, environmental uncertainty, and technological nonroutineness have strong effects on unit structuring within organizations, as well as the overall structure of the organization. An important study has shown how business strategy, environmental uncertainty, technological nonroutineness, and structure work together to influence performance in organizational units as well as in small organizations. In this study, strong performance was associated with consistency among these factors: Uncertain environments led to strategies based on differentiation and innovation, which, in turn, led to nonroutine work, all of which were matched by organic structure. More certain environments led to strategies based on low costs and efficiency, which, in turn, led to routine work, all of which were matched by a less organic structure. Other studies have provided similar results, suggesting that managers in effective firms create consistency across strategy, environment, technology, and structure.

Social Facilitation

In the late 1890's Normal Triplett, a bicyclist and early social scientist, noticed that cyclsist performed better racing against others than when they were timed cycling alone. This effect--that is, when the presence of others improves individual performance--has been termed the _______________. _____ suggests that teamwork can lead to increased performance because others are present. Several reasons for the social facilitation effect have been suggested. One is that the presence of human beings create general arousal in other human beings. This general arousal then leads to better performance. Another explanation is that the presence of others arouse evaluation apprehension, so that people perform better because they think they are being evaluated. Whatever the reasons, social facilitation seems to occur only when people are performing well-learned, simple, or familiar tasks. The presence of others can actually decrease performance on tasks that are compelx or unfamiliar. For example, someone who is not accustomed to giving speeches is likely to perform when speaking in front of others relative to practicing alone. Further, social faciliation seems to occur mostly for people who are extraverted and high in self-esteem. These positive attributes make the presence of others a positive force.

Performing Stage

In this stage, team members are more committed to the team, focus on task performance, and are generally more satisfied with the team experience.

Individual Characteristics

Individual characteristics that may lead to conflict include personality factors, differences in the value placed on conflict, and differences in goals.

Strategic Contingencies (Model of Power)

Individuals and organizational units can also obtain power by being able to address the strategic problems that an organization faces. This is referred to as the strategic contingencies model of power.90 For example, when an organization is in a highly innovative industry, where success depends on being able to develop new products, the research and development (R&D) department and its key people have a great deal of power. The R&D unit has the knowledge (human capital) critical for the success of the firm's strategy to produce innovations and compete effectively in its industry. Consider the pharmaceutical industry. Pharmaceutical firms must introduce valuable new drugs regularly, especially as their patents on current drugs expire. Without new drugs, their revenues will decrease, and the firms will eventually die. The knowledge and expertise needed to develop new drugs is very important to the company strategy. Thus, the R&D units in pharmaceutical firms often have significant power. Essentially, these units control resources that are valuable to the organization.91 Units or individuals may obtain power, then, by identifying the strategic contingencies faced by an organization and gaining control over them. For example, in the United Airlines situation discussed earlier in this chapter, management (which controls the financial resources) gained more power by arguing that financial difficulties were critical and could be solved only by the unions' agreement to salary and pension concessions. However, the unions (which control the human capital in some ways) gained power by highlighting the importance and sensitivity of operations. They did this through disruptive work slowdowns. The most immediate problem for the organization, then, was to get its flights running on schedule again. The strategy of operating flights on time and satisfying customers was negatively affected by the union's exercise of its power. Thus, the unions controlled the most important resources for the strategy and had more power at that point. If units or people are able to identify the contingencies important to the organization's strategy and performance and control them, they should be able to maintain their bases of power. They can then use that power to require the organization to act in ways that benefit them. Take, for example, an athletic department that brings a great deal of alumni money to its university. Because of its ability to provide the university with financial resources, the athletic department has power. The department then uses that power to demand that the university provide more resources to the athletic department. In so doing, the athletic department gains even more power. Strategic contingency power is related to dependency.92 Dependency occurs when a unit or person controls something that another unit/person wants or needs. For example, in the popular TV show The Sopranos, all the gangsters were dependent on Tony Soprano, the mob boss. Because Tony controlled all of the mob's "businesses" (such as phone-card fraud rings and truck-hijacking operations), the gangsters were able to make a living only if Tony allowed them to operate one of these businesses. Beyond dependency, a key source of power in the structural contingencies model is the ability to cope with uncertainty.93 Uncertainty creates threats for the organization. Anyone who can help reduce this uncertainty by addressing key issues will gain power. In the opening case, it was implied that environmental organizations have achieved greater power and influence with businesses. There are several reasons for this, including the uncertainties of tougher environmental regulations and the growing public concern with environmental issues. Environmental organizations gain power because they can help businesses deal with these uncertainties. Another source of power involves being irreplaceable.94 One of the power moves made by Michael Eisner at Disney was to avoid developing a succession plan. After all, if no one was prepared to replace him, the board would be unlikely to ask him to resign.95 In contrast, Jack Welch, the former CEO of General Electric, announced 10 years before stepping down that finding a successor was the most important job he had to do.96 Finally, strategic contingency power can result from controlling the decision process, either by setting parameters on the types of solutions that are acceptable or by controlling the range of alternatives to be considered.97 For example, consider a class project in which student project teams must choose a company to analyze. If a team member states that he knows what types of projects the professor prefers and what types of projects have received good grades in the past, he can gain a great deal of control over the group's decision making regarding the type of project on which they will work.

Previous Interactions

Individuals who have experienced conflict in the past are more likely to experience it in the future.56 Previous conflict can influence the probability of future conflict in several ways. First, the parties often engage in the same conflict-inducing behaviors. Second, the parties likely distrust one another. Third, they may expect conflict, and this expectation may become a self-fulfilling prophecy. Think of the old story of the warring Hatfield and McCoy families. These two families had been fighting so long that younger members of each family did not know what had caused the initial conflict. All they had learned was to engage in conflict with the other family. Later in the chapter we discuss the negotiation process, which is an illustration of how associates and managers attempt to resolve conflict. Negotiation situations are influenced by the negotiators' previous interactions. Research has shown that negotiators' history of negotiation in terms of the quality of deals they arranged influences how they negotiate in other situations—even if they are negotiating with a different person.57 Negotiators who have a history of not being able to reach a satisfactory conclusion during previous negotiations are much more likely to reach unfavorable solutions in future negotiations than those who have had a successful negotiation history.

Cognitive Biases

Individuals, often make mistakes in decision making. Although carelessness, sloppiness, fatigue, and task overload can be contributing factors, some mistakes are caused by simple cognitive biases. Some biases represent mental shortcuts. Although these shortcuts can be harmless and save time, they often cause problems. Being aware of their existence is an important step in avoiding them.

Gossip

Information that is presumed to be factual and is communicated in private or intimate settings.

Interdependency

Interdependeny can result from limited resources or from required coordination in the timing and sequencing of activities. All organizations have limited resources and attempt to find the most efficient way to divide the resources and accomplish tasks.

Socialization

Interestingly, socialization can bridge some differences between newcomer preferences and organizational structure and between newcomer values and organizational culture. Socialization achieves this function by highlighting how a person's preferences and values may fit in unseen or partial ways. To some small degree, socialization also may alter a newcomer's preferences. In one study based on the socialization framework presented earlier, individuals exposed to strong socialization efforts exhibited more congruence between their personal attributes and the organization's structure and culture. (This was true even after taking into account the initial level of congruence.)120 Although personal fit with structure and culture is important, two issues must be addressed. First, an organization that hires only those who fit existing organizational characteristics may find it difficult to make major changes when they become necessary.121 With individuals throughout the organization sharing preferences and values, the organization may be resistant to change. To remain adaptive, an organization may want to hire a few key individuals who do not fit. Their ideas may prompt reflection and thereby help the organization to change if necessary. These issues are addressed more fully in Chapter 14. Second, an organization that hires only those who fit may inadvertently discriminate against minorities or foreign nationals.122 Such an organization fails to experience the benefits from having a multicultural workforce, as discussed in Chapter 2. Perhaps the best advice is to hire for fit, but with a relatively broad definition of fit, allowing exceptions and a specific plan for nurturing the exceptions, no matter what their differences.123

Team Composition

Is important because it addresses who members of the team are and what human resource (skills, abilities, and knowledge) they bring to the team. When managers assign associates to teams, they often make three questionable assumptions, which can lead to mistakes. 1. They assume that people who are demographically similar and share beliefs will work better together, and so they attempt to compose teams that are somewhat homogeneous in these areas. 2. They assume that everyone knows how or is suited to work in a team. 3. They assume that a larger team size is always better.

Cost

It is also inevitable that group decision making costs more than individual decision making. Time costs money, especially when expensive managers and associates are involved. The additional time must be multiplied by the number of members in the group and their respective financial compensation levels to arrive at the total cost. The additional cost of group decision making can be substantial. Therefore, managers must determine whether the decision is important enough to warrant the extra cost.

Tecnology

It is important that teams have access to the ____ they need to do their work. This includes the technology necessary to carry out tasks (such as tools and computer software) and also technology to help team members coordinate their work. Many technologies are designed to help teams communicate and interact more fully and efficiently. Also important for success, team members should have input into the adoption or development of communication technologies.

Organizational Size (Role)

It is not surprising that size has implications for organizational structure.79 As an organization grows, it generally becomes taller; otherwise, the average span of control for managers becomes too large. As organizations increase in size, formalization also tends to increase to help maintain order. However, centralization tends to decrease, as senior managers cannot comprehend all of the organization's work and make all decisions. The most important measure of size is the number of associates and managers. Research shows that managerial decisions regarding structure are based on the factors that are most salient to managers. Because people are highly important to most managers, managerial decisions on structure are often influenced by the number of people for whom the managers have responsibility.80 A common outcome of larger organizations and the heightened formalization and standardization that accompanies growing size is inertia.81 Large, formal organizations often have more standardized policies and routines for managers and associates to follow. These attributes often produce a resistance to change and thus lower innovation. Yet, innovation is a critical component of competitiveness for most organizations in our current global economic environment. The potential for inertia in large organizations and the need for innovation have led to the development of ambidextrous structures and practices.

Subcultures

It is possible for subcultures to develop in an organization, particularly when no dominant organizational culture exists or when the organization is diverse and geographically dispersed.110 Subcultures are based on values shared by a group rather than by an organization as a whole. Some of the values of the subculture are similar to and others are dissimilar from the organization's values and the values of other groups. The existence of subcultures complicates the development and management of an organizational culture. In large, diverse organizations, some researchers advocate viewing organizational culture as a system of integrated subcultures rather than a unified set of values.111 In such cases, senior managers need to understand each subculture, ensure that it is appropriate for its market segment, and decide whether it fits with critical organizational values. Thus, a manager's purpose is to encourage the integration of critical organizational values in each subculture. It is possible for a subculture to include values that are counter to those of the overall organization. Such a counterculture may be difficult to manage. Although a counterculture often creates problems, it can also produce positive outcomes. For example, a counterculture can induce a revolution, forcing change in a staid, outmoded culture. It also may encourage the development of new and creative ideas not allowed by existing norms of the organizational culture.112 It is also possible that some subcultures are related to national culture. This may be even more likely in large countries where there are several regional cultures that differ in some values (e.g., China, United States). Research has shown that attributes of national culture (e.g., extent of collectivism) interact with managerial actions such as rewards provided to affect how associates react to the organization (e.g., their commitment to the organization).113 However, some research has found that national culture has only a small influence on organizational culture.114 The Managerial Advice segment provides an example of a misfit between a key manager and the company's culture. Bob Nardelli was hired as CEO of The Home Depot to make some changes. He did so, but went further than desired by the board. His changes strongly revised the culture of the firm, making it control-oriented, thereby losing the entrepreneurial spirit among store managers and associates. While Home Depot likely needed better control systems, Nardelli's changes went too far. Although Home Depot has made several positive changes since Nardelli's departure, the effects of his tenure as CEO have been long lasting. The person who replaced him as CEO, Frank Blake, has rejuvenated the firm and appears to be a much better fit. This example shows the importance of a person—organization fit, discussed next.

Cultural Fluency

Language fluency is one dimension of what is known as ________ the ability to identify, understand, and apply cultural fluency but is not enough by itself.

Environment (and Basic Structure)

Managers must closely monitor their organization's external environment. However, some environments are more difficult to monitor than others because they are more uncertain (complex and changing). A number of researchers have found that the degree of environmental uncertainty experienced by managers is related to the type of structure an organization utilizes. This is especially important today because of the high uncertainty of environments in which many organizations must operate.58 Classic research indicated that effective organizations exhibit a match between environmental characteristics and organizational structures.59 Although the evidence is not entirely consistent, a number of other researchers have found similar results, using mostly small organizations or units of larger ones.60 The classic study reported the following important findings: Effective organizations experiencing high environmental uncertainty tend to be more organic because lower-level managers and associates must be able to think for themselves. They must be able to respond to events quickly. Effective organizations experiencing low environmental uncertainty tend to be less organic. Middle and senior-level managers, in conjunction with operations specialists, can create efficient and effective rules and operating procedures. They can gain sufficient insight to understand and anticipate most situations that will arise and carefully create procedures to handle those situations. It is important to understand the reasons for differences in functional departments within an organization. Because separate departments focus on different areas of the external environment, they often exhibit different types of structure. R&D, for example, is focused on technological advances and the changing pool of knowledge in the world. The relatively high level of uncertainty involved often requires a more organic structure with longer time horizons for decision making and planning and a greater emphasis on interpersonal relationships to promote information sharing and knowledge development. They need to seek information and knowledge from external as well as internal sources.61 In contrast, the accounting function is focused on more slowly evolving developments in accounting standards. The relatively low level of uncertainty generally supports use of a less organic structure, with shorter time horizons and lower emphasis on interpersonal relationships. In effective organizations, then, differences in the level of uncertainty in subenvironments create differences in functional departments. Recent work suggests that environmental uncertainty also affects the way resources should be managed in organizations. For example, organizations operating in uncertain environments need to constantly enrich their current capabilities and even create new ones. Thus, they continuously train their managers and associates to upgrade their skills and are on the lookout for new associates with "cutting-edge" knowledge that can add to the organization's stock of knowledge. They also need to search for opportunities in the environment and to engage in entrepreneurial behavior to maximize the use of their capabilities to provide products and services that create value for their customers.62 IDEO, as explained in the Experiencing Organizational Behavior feature, is helping firms to be more entrepreneurial and create products that are valued by their customers. The research suggests that managers must continuously scan their firm's external environment to identify factors that may affect how the firm should act. Their scanning behavior is even more important in dynamic environments.63

Cultural Audits

Managers must understand and monitor their organization's current culture to develop and effectively manage it.107 Thus, a cultural audit should be conducted periodically. This type of audit is an analysis designed to uncover shared values and beliefs in an organization. It should identify the strengths and weaknesses of the current culture with respect to the support it provides for the achievement of the organization's goals.108 The following five steps may be used in conducting a cultural audit:109 Analyze the process and content of the socialization of new associates and managers (interview those directly involved in socialization). Analyze responses to critical incidents in the organization's history (construct an organizational biography from documents and interviews of past and present associates and managers). Analyze the values and beliefs of culture creators (founders) and carriers (current leaders) (observe and/or interview the founders and current leaders). Explore anomalies or puzzling features discovered in other analyses (initiate joint problem-solving sessions with current leaders in the organization). Examine the linkage of the current organizational culture to its goals. A cultural audit is a complex and sometimes lengthy process that should be conducted only after careful planning and preparation. The results of an audit might indicate a culture that is not well developed or might disclose the presence of subcultures. An underdeveloped culture poses less of a problem than one that is dysfunctional, fully developed, and self-reinforcing, because the less-developed culture can be more easily influenced and its path altered if necessary.

Informal Groups

Many groups are not formally created by management but arise spontaneously as individuals find others in the organization with whom they wish to interact. These informal groups form because their members share interests, values, or identities. Membership in an informal group depends on voluntary commitment. Members are not assigned, and they may or may not share common tasks or task goals. They do, however, share other social values and attitudes, and their group goals are often related to individual social needs. For example, groups of employees may gather to go to Happy Hour on Friday afternoons or to play in a fantasy football league. The informal group may exist regardless of any formal purpose, and it endures as long as social satisfaction is achieved. Because of their various characteristics, informal groups are not considered teams. Both formal and informal groups exist within organizations.

Size

Many studies have examined the relationship between team size and team performance, and two lines of thought have emerged based on the research. The first suggests that the relationship between team size and team performance is shaped like an inverted U. As teams become larger, the diversity of skills, talents, ideas, and individual associate inputs into the task is greater, leading to improved performance. however, as the number of team members continues to increase, the difficulty of ensuring cooperation and coordination also increase. At some point, the effort that goes into managing the team outweighs the benefits of having more members, and team performance begins to decline. The second idea suggests that performance increases linearly with team size without ever showing a downturn. This linear relationship, however, most likely results when a team finds a way to avoid the problems associated with too many members, such as social loafing, poor coordination, and worsening communication. Thus, the actual relationship between team size and performance probably depends on team skill at process management, and it also no doubt depends on factors such as the scope of the task or the complexity of the environment. When task scope and environmental complexity are high, more team members are needed for task accomplishment and strong performance. Overall, there is no single ideal number of team members for all situations.

Storming Stage

Marked by conflict among team members. If the team is to be successful, team members need to resolve or manage personal conflicts and work through substantive and procedural conflicts in order to reach sufficient agreement on desired performance outcomes and processes. In working through substantive and procedural conflicts, the team will come to some understanding concerning desired outcomes, rules, procedures, and norms for team behavior.

Nature of the Problem

Members of a group typically have more information and ideas than does a single individual. If the information and ideas are discussed and integrate, group decisions will often be better informed than individual decisions. Many groups, however, have difficulty managing their collective knowledge. Group think and common information bias can prevent information from coming to the surface. Diversity-based infighting and the risky-shift can prevent sound integration of information. However, the decision-making techniques discussed in this chapter, such as devil's advocacy, can help the group to overcome these negative social forces and create high-quality decisions. The nature of the problem being examined should be considered in choosing the approach to use. Complex problems that require many different types of input tend to be solved more effectively by groups than by individuals. Deciding whether to develop a new product may require specialized knowledge of production facilities, engineering and design capabilities, market forces, government legislation, labor markets, and financial considerations. Thus, a group should be better at making this decision. In a key study focused on new-product decision making, groups were in fact more effective than individuals. Deciding how to handle dynamic situations where a decision elicits a response from competitors also may require different types of inputs. In studies of situations, groups have been found to be more effective than individuals.

Cognitive biases

Mental shortcuts involving simplified ways of thinking,

Individual Barriers

Most commonly cited barriers to effective communication. These factors include differing perceptual bases, semantic differences, status differences, consideration of self-interest, poor listening skills, and issues related to personal space.

Negotiation Strategies

Negotiators typically emphasize one of two strategies.74 The distributive bargaining strategy involves a competing, win-lose approach. It tends to be used when one party's goals are in direct conflict with the goals of another party. For example, if a buyer and a supplier are negotiating over the price of a product, the higher the agreed-upon price, the bigger the win for the supplier and the bigger the loss for the buyer. On the other hand, the integrative bargaining strategy involves a collaborative, win-win approach. This strategy tends to be used when the nature of the problem permits a solution that is attractive to both parties. Sometimes what appears to be a distributive situation at the beginning can be turned into an integrative strategy by broadening the issues under consideration. For example, if the above buyer were to also offer the supplier bigger orders and offer to buy additional products in return for a lower price on the product under negotiation, then an integrative solution could be reached. The buyer would get a lower price; the supplier would get increased volume, an issue that it feels much more strongly about. Depending on what type of strategy a negotiator is using, different types of tactics are appropriate and likely to be effective.

Cultural Socialization

Newcomers are taught an organization's culture through socialization—the imparting of the organization's values. Socialization can take several forms. Based on groundbreaking work by noted culture researchers John Van Maanen and Ed Schein, researchers have focused on three sets of issues: context, content, and social dynamics.103

TIme

Not surprisingly, groups typically take more time to reach decisions than do individuals. There are several reasons for this difference. Many social needs are met by the group (exchanging greetings, talking about the weekend, and so forth) The time required to meet these needs increases the time needed to reach a decision. More ideas and opinions are held by the members of a group vs. a single individual, and discussing these increases the time required. The use of techniques such as brainstorming and dialectical inquiry also adds to the time required. Arrangements for the group meeting place, format, and assembly must be made, taking more time. Managers must consider the importance of time in their decisions, as well as the potential quality of the decisions. Some decisions must be made immediately. In other situations, time may be available for decision making. When time is an important consideration, the manager may elect to do one of the following: Make the decision alone Use the group for advice only Use an already-existing group to minimize the arrangement time Use a majority-decision rule rather than requiring unanimity. Use the nominal group technique to reduce lengthy discussion time.

Substantive Conflicts

Occur when a team member disagrees with another's task-related ideas or analysis of the team's problems or plans. For example, a design team whose task is developing a better product may disagree about whether they should focus on making the product more attractive or making it easier to use. Substantive conflicts can often lead to greater creativity and innovation, if they do not become personal conflicts.

Procedural Conflicts

Occur when team members disagree about policies and procedures. That is, they disagree on how to work together. For example, a member of a virtual team may believe that the correct way to work as a team is to check in by e-mail with other members at least twice a day. Furthermore, he may believe that team members immediately to such e-mails. Other team members, however, may believe that checking in so frequently is a waste of time and may want to contact others only when necessary. Group norms develop as a way to avoid procedural conflicts. Teams may also develop specific policies or rules to avoid conflicts of this kind. Depending on the specific type, conflict can have negative or positive consequences for team effectiveness. On the one hand, personal conflict tends to be negative because it interferes with cooperation and a healhty task focus. On the other hand, substantive conflict can be positive, particularly for tasks involving creativity and innovation. This type of conflict generates multiple ideas and sets the stage for the best ones to be to be emphasized. Openly confronting and discussing the different task ideas is important, however. Ignoring differences of opinions is less helpful. Overall, substantive conflict can be beneficial when teams cooperatively problem solve, develop positive norms, and create a consistent team mental model. Effective leadership as well as strong team orientations among team members help to create these beneficial circumstances. Procedural conflict has been studies as often as the other two types of conflict, but it seems to have negative effects if not adequately addressed.

Confirmation Bias

Often has strong effects on the type of information gathered. This bias leads decision makers to seek information that confirms beliefs and ideas formed early in the decision process. Rather than also search for information that might disconfirm early beliefs, as a thorough decision process requires, individual's subconsciously seek only information that supports their early thinking. Failing to look for disconfirming informaiton is particulaly likely if a decision maker is revisiting a decision that has already been made and partially or fully implemented.

Competing Values (Model of Culture)

One of the most popular models of culture in business firms is the competing values model, in which two value dimensions are central.94 The first dimension relates to the value placed on flexibility and discretion versus stability and control. In some organizations, managers and associates believe in the power and usefulness of flexibility and discretion, while in other organizations individuals believe in the power of a stable work situation where control is strongly maintained. Ambidextrous organizations, described earlier, achieve a balance in these values through the culture and structure. The second dimension relates to the value placed on an internal focus coupled with integration versus an external focus coupled with differentiation in the marketplace. In some organizations, associates and managers prefer to focus internally; in other organizations, individuals have an external orientation.

Acceptability (outcome-- of team outputs)

One outcome criterion is the __________ of team outputs to those who depend on the team, whether inside or outside of the organization. This criterion is often expressed in terms of the the quantity and/or quality of the team's output. .The outcome should reflect synergy. In the Starbucks case, customer satisfaction with the quality of service, quality of coffee and food products, and length of wait might be assessed.

Differentiation

Organizations can add new can add new functional areas as they serve a more diverse public. Dividing up the work in this manner is referred to as __________. Effective organizations become more _______ as they grow larger or as their external environment becomes more complex.

Elements

Organizations usually possess elements of all four cultural types. In fact, organizations need all four, because morale, innovation, success relative to competitors in the marketplace, and efficiency are all important for long-term performance and survival.96 In most cases, however, an organization emphasizes one cultural type over another. Each culture can be useful as a point of emphasis, depending on circumstances. Hierarchy, for example, might be emphasized in an organization pursuing a low-cost business strategy in all of its product lines. In such an organization, however, managers must be careful not to allow the emphasis on hierarchy to become too great. If hierarchy is overemphasized, it will be difficult to incorporate the decision- and team-related aspects of high-involvement management.97 Furthermore, research suggests that the hierarchy culture can reduce commitment and satisfaction. Market culture could be useful in industries that are highly competitive. Clan culture is often more useful for organizations operating in regulated industries or in small, new-venture firms where working with good colleagues and positive working relationships are emphasized more than financial compensation. Google has used such a culture since its beginning. However, even as a large, more established organization, Google continues to use this culture successfully. Adhocracy might be emphasized in an organization pursuing the differentiation strategy in its product lines.

Factors (demographic and belief diversity)

Overall, the effects of demographic and belief diversity on team performance seem to depend on several factors. Type of task: Diversity seems to have more positive effects when the team's tasks require complex problem solving such as that demanded by the pursuit of innovation and creativity. Type of Diversity: If team members are diverse on factors that lead them to have different performance goals or levels of commitment to the team, then the relationship between diversity and performance can be negative. Fault Lines: If team members exhibit diversity along two or more dimensions and those dimensions converge, then diversity can be negative. Time: Diversity can have negative effects in the short run but positive effects in the long run. Outcome: Diversity may have a positive effect on performance but a negative effect on members' reactions to the team and subsequent behaviors, such as turnover.

Referent Power

People are said to have referent power when others are attracted to them or desire to be associated with them. For example, it has been found that executives who have prestigious reputations among their colleagues and shareholders have greater influence on strategic decision-making processes in their firms.87 Referent power is the most resilient type of power because it is difficult to lose once it has been achieved. In addition, referent power can be used to influence a wide range of behaviors.88

Formal Groups

People become members of formal groups because they are assigned to them. Thus, in our terminology, teams are formal groups. To complete their tasks, members of these teams must interact. They often share similar task activities, have complementary skills, and work toward the same assigned goals. They recognize that they are part of the team, and the team exists as long as the task goals remain. Examples of such teams are a faculty department, a highway crew, a small unit of production workers in an aircraft plane, and an assigned project team for class.

Legitimate Power

People derive legitimate power (or formal authority) from the positions they hold in the organization. Legitimate power is narrow in scope because it can be applied only to acts that are defined as legitimate by everyone involved. For example, after being elected to a second term in 2004, President George W. Bush replaced many of the cabinet members from his first term. This was an exercise in legitimate power because the president has the formal authority to choose his cabinet members. However, when Attorney General Alberto Gonzales fired many U.S. attorneys, he came under fire because he was viewed as not having the legitimate authority to do so, and his motives were questioned.84

Responses to Conflict

People respond to conflict in different ways. One person might try to win at all costs, whereas another person might try to ensure that both her own concerns and those of the other party are addressed. There are five potential responses to conflict, as well as situations in which each response is appropriate.68 Each of these responses is described in terms of assertiveness and cooperativeness.69 Here, assertiveness refers to the extent to which a party tries to satisfy his, her, or its own concerns. Cooperativeness refers to the extent to which a party attempts to satisfy the other party's concerns.

Differing Expectations

People sometimes differ in their expectations about jobs, careers, and managerial actions. A common example of such differences involves professional associates. (such as research scientists, accountants, or attorneys). Professional associates often perceive themselves as being loyal to their professions and define their careers as extending beyond a particular organization. In so doing, they focus on those activities valued by the profession, which the management of the organization does not necessarily value. This can lead to lower organizational loyalty and potentially to conflict between these associates and management. If the differences in expectations are great and conflict ensures, the associates may even leave the organization. Thus, managers must be aware of this potential problem and work to reduce differences in expectations.

Differences (Across people in the perceived value of conflict)

People vary in the degree to which they value conflict. Some people think conflict is necessary and helpful, whereas others avoid it at all costs. There are important cultural differences as well in the way people view conflict.48 People in Western cultures tend to view conflict as an inevitable and sometimes beneficial aspect of life. Those in some Asian cultures (such as Chinese) believe that conflict is bad and should be avoided.49 These value differences make it more difficult to resolve conflicts when the parties are from different cultures. Value differences are most likely to get in the way of conflict resolution when the parties have a high need for closure.50 That is, when people desire for there to be closure to a situation, they will resort to their strongest cultural norms to guide their decision making. So an American with a high need for closure might seek out solutions that put her at the best advantage for prevailing, whereas a Chinese associate with a high need for closure would focus on avoiding the conflict and maintaining harmony.

Coalitions

Political behavior can occur at several levels. At the individual level, it involves an associate or manager who uses politics to suit his best interests, such as an individual who attempts to take sole credit for a project that was jointly completed. Political behavior at the group level often takes place in the form of coalitions. Coalitions are groups whose members act in an integrated manner to actively pursue a common interest. For example, when a new CEO must be chosen for an organization, groups of shareholders may act together to influence the board of directors' choice of a particular successor. Politics can also occur at the organizational level, such as when particular organizations hire lobbyists who try to influence congresspersons' votes on issues important to that organization.103

Political Tactics

Political tactics can also be aimed at any target. Upward political influence refers to individual or group influence on someone in a superior position, such as a manager. Lateral politics refers to attempts to influence targets at the same hierarchical level. Finally, downward influence refers to attempts to influence those lower down in the hierarchy. What do politics look like in organizations? In other words, what do people do to engage in political behavior? A great deal of research has examined the political tactics used within or by organizations.104 These tactics include the following:

Legitimate Power

Power derived from position; also known as formal authority.

Bases (of Individual Power)

Power in organizations can come from many sources. John French and Bertram Raven developed one of the most commonly used typologies for describing the bases of power.83 It includes five categories: legitimate power (formal authority), reward power, coercive power, expert power, and referent power.

Expert Power

Power resulting form special expertise or technical knowledge.

Referent Power

Power resulting from others' desire to identify with the referent.

Reward Power

Power resulting from the ability to provide others with desired outcomes.

Coercive Power

Power resulting from the ability to punish others.

History

Previous relationships between two parties can influence the likelihood of conflict in the future. Past performance and previous interactions are two such relationship factors.

Preparation

Prior to the negotiation, each party outlines the specific goals he or she hopes to achieve. At this point, negotiators must determine their best alternative to a negotiated agreement (BATNA). This is crucial for identifying the least that the negotiator is willing to accept. Also, during the preparation stage, negotiators should engage in self-analysis and opponent analysis. It is important for negotiators to understand their own tendencies and behavior during negotiations as well as those of the other party. At this stage, the following questions should be asked about the other party: What is the other party's position and power? Must the other party confer with other people to make concessions? What does the other party consider a "win"? What is the history of the other party's negotiating style? Does she tend to focus on the distributive strategy or rely on the integrative strategy?

Personal Conflict

Refers to conflict that arises out of personal and relationship differences between people-- differing values, personal goals, personalities, and the like. Individuals involved in personal conflict often report disliking one another, making fun of one another, having problems with each other's personalities, or perceiving each other as enemies. Personal conflict is likely to result in poor performance. This form of conflict creates distrust, misunderstanding, strain, and suspicion, and reduces goodwill. As a result, associates have trouble focusing their attention fully on their job responsibilities and find it difficult to work together toward organizationally relevant goals.

Cohesion

Refers to members' attraction to the team. Interpersonal cohesion is the team members' liking or attraction to other team members. Task cohesion is team members' attraction and commitment to the tasks and goals of the team. Team cohesion is an important criterion because research indicates that cohesion affects team performance outcomes and viability. Furthermore, members of cohesive teams are more likely to be satisfied with their teams than are members of noncohesive. Cohesive teams are likely to have strong performance when there is tak cohesion. When there is only interpersonal cohesion, performance may be low. In fact, if team members really like each other and enjoy spending time together but are not committed to their organizational tasks and goals, they could perform worse than if they were not interpersonally cohesive. Backing-up behavior may be one of the strongest indicators of team effectiveness, because not only is everyone on the team doing his or her share, but each member is willing to take on others' work when assistance is needed or to fill in any gaps. Teams that engage in backing-up behavior are displaying the spirit or high-involvement engagement by going beyond what is merely necessary to get the job done.

Team Structure

Refers to the ongoing means of formal coordination. How tasks are grouped is one key issue. For example, consider a bank with a loan department and a collection department (each department can be considered a team). One department is assigned tasks related to making loans, such as credit analysis, interest computation, loan closing, and filing. These are somewhat dissimilar tasks, but they form a sequential chain related to the lending process--loans cannot be closed until credit analysis has been performed and interest computed. Thus, grouping the tasks in one department under one leader makes sense. The other department is assigned phone collections, field collections, and repossessing tasks. These tasks are less sequential but they are very similar to one another. Task similarity is another basis for grouping tasks under one leader. Beyond grouping together tasks and the individuals assigned to them, it is necessary to use additional structural methods to coordinate the efforts of individuals within a particular team. Otherwise, tasks may not be performed in the best manner possible, and employees may duplicate their efforts or work against each other. Important aspect of team structure include roles, norms, and task structure.

Regulate (Information Flow and Timing)

Regulating the flow of information can help to alleviate communication problems. Regulating flow involves discarding information of marginal importance and conveying only significant information. That is, an individual should not pass on irrelevant information, or else important message may be buried by information overload or noise. The proper timing of messages is also important. People are more likely to be receptive to a message and to perceive it accurately at certain times and not at other times. Thus, if an individual has an important message to send, she should not sent it when recipients are about to leave work, are fully engaged in some other task, or are receving other communications.

Diversification

Related to the number of different product lines or service areas in the organization.

Communication Networks

Represents patterns of communication (who communicates with whom). Thus, they correspond to the structure of communication flows in the organization and they affect coordination, innovation, and performance. Networks can be characterized in terms of their density, centralization, and effectiveness and outcomes.

Personal Values

Research has shown that basic personal values affect individual reactions to job situations.118 Our satisfaction with the type of work we do, the rules imposed by the organization, career advancement opportunities, and other organizational factors are evaluated in terms of our values. Workers' reactions to jobs in different cultures may vary because of differing basic value systems. For example, the basic value systems in the United States emphasize self-reliance and initiative, whereas in Japan, basic value systems emphasize self-sacrifice, obedience, and cooperation. As explained in Chapter 3, this difference has implications for how high-involvement management systems should be designed and implemented in different cultures. When an individual's values and preferences do not fit prevailing structural arrangements, she may be a less-satisfied and a less-positive contributor to the organization. Similarly, and perhaps more importantly, when an individual's values are not congruent with the organization's culture, problems are likely to develop. In fact, when the lack of fit is between the CEO and the organization's culture, the problems are likely to be more severe, as in the case of The Home Depot and Bob Nardelli. The outcomes are consistent with a great deal of research suggesting that similarity in values and goals attracts individuals to one another and to organizations.119 Job applicants as well as associates and managers in an organization should assess applicant fit with structure and culture prior to making final employment decisions. Selection for fit is a key aspect of high-involvement management, as discussed in Chapter 1.

Structuring Characteristics

Research has shown that organizational structure is a determinant of performance.21 It does so through its influences on behavior, policies, and managerial actions. Whereas, structural characteristics indirectly affect behavior, structuring characteristics relate to policies and approaches used to directly prescribe the behavior of managers and associates. This second category of structure includes centralization, standardization, formalization, and specialization.

Empowerment (Virtual Teams)

Research has shown that the effectiveness of virtual teams increases as a function of the number of face-to-face meetings members actually are able to have. Also, virtual teams in which members have a great deal of empowerment (authority to make their own decisions and act without supervision) are more effective than virtual teams with little empowerment. The impact of empowerment becomes even more important when virtual teams have little face-to-face interaction. Further, virtual teams are more effective when led by transformational leaders. In fact, transformational leadership (involving vision, attention to collective interests, and lofty aspirations) may be more important for the success of virtual teams than for the success of face-to-face teams. This type of leadership facilitates the development of trust, positive team norms, and commitment to the team and team task, each of which is particularly difficult in virtual situations. Finally, virtual teams may perform better when members enhance social relationships by playing on-line games together. (e.g., Scavenger Hunt, Everquest) and when they are taught specific collaboration skills (e.g., active listening, balancing advocacy of ideas with inquiries into what other think of those ideas). When implemented properly, virtual teams can increase productivity and save companies millions of dolars.

Social Loafing

Research suggests that the simple act of grouping individuals together does not necessarily increase their total output; in fact, people working together on a common task may actually perform at a lower level than they would if they were working alone. This phenomenon is called ________ or shirking, and it can obviously result in serious losses. There are three primary explanations for the social loafing effect. First, if individual outputs are not identifiable, associates may shirk because they can get away with poor performance. Second, if associates when working in teams, expect their teammates to loaf then they may reduce their own efforts to establish an equitable division of labor. In this case, individual team members do not have a team identity and place their own good (working less) over the good of the team. Finally, when many individuals are working on a task, some individuals may feel dispensable and believe that their own contributions will not matter. This is likely to happen when individuals think that they have low ability and cannot perform as well as other team members. Social loafing can occur in any team at any level in an organization. And because social loafing clearly results in lower performance, it is a serious problem. At the least, when social loafing occurs, the organization's human capital is underutilized. Fortunately, managers can use several methods to address this problem. First they can make individual contributions visible. This can be accomplished by using smaller rather than larger teams, using an evaluation system where everyone's contributions are noted, and/or appointing someone to monitor and oversee everyone's contributions. The second thing that can be done is to foster team cohesiveness by providing team-level rewards, training members in teamwork, and selecting "team players" to be on the team.

Personal Conflict

Results when team members simply do not like each other. As we might expect, people assigned to a team are more likely to experience this sort of conflict than are, people assigned to a team are more likely to experience this sort of conflict than are people who choose to belong to the same informal group. Personal conflict may be based on personality clashes, differences in values, and differences in likes and dislikes. No disagreement over a specific task issue is necessary for personal conflict to occur.

Task Roles

Roes that require behaviors aimed at achieving the team's performance goals and tasks.

Socioemotional Roles

Roles that require behaviors that support the social aspects of the organization.

Satisficing decisions

Satisfactory rather than optimal decisions.

Goals (of the task)

Second, we consider the goals of the task. Tasks with a quantity goal are called maximization tasks. Examples of maximization tasks include producing the most cars possible, running the fastest, and selling the most insurance policies. Tasks with a quality goal are referred to as optimization tasks. Optimization tasks often require innovation and creativity. Examples of optimization tasks include developing a new product and developing a new marketing strategy. Diverse teams tend to perform better on optimization tasks.

Factors (Affecting Organizational Structure)

Senior managers must choose the structures to use for their firms. Middle and lower-level managers often are involved in these choices and play a key role in the implementation of the choices. Factors that should be considered in designing the structure of the firm include strategy, external environment, internal technology, and organizational size.

Team Orientation

Some individuals are better at working on teams than others because they like working on teams and have the requisite skills. ________ refers to the extent to which an individual works well with others, wants to contribute to team performance, and enjoys being on a team. When a team comprises many members who have a positive team orientation, that team will adapt and perform better than a team whose members do not have such an orientation.

Common Information Bias

Some information a group might consider in making a decision may be held by one or a few group members. Other pieces of information are held by most or all group members. __________________ leads groups to unconsciously neglect information held by one group member or a few members while focusing on more commonly held information in the group, thereby neglecting potentially important issues and ideas. The common information bias defeats one of the presumed advantages of group decision making--the availability of unique information, ideas, and perspectives brought to the process by individual group members. The following study illustrates this phenonmen. First, managers were asked to evaluate PeopleSoft as an alternative to the firm's existing accounting and enterprise management software. Next, these managers assembled to discuss whether adopting PeopleSoft would be positive for the firm. Concerns and ideas held by one or a few members received less attention than concerns and ideas held by most or all group members, resulting in a very limited dicussion.

Diversity

Some studies have found negative effects for demographic diversity, others have found positive effects, and still others have found no effect. Another type of diversity that can impact team performance corresponds to differences in important beliefs among team members. Much of the research on belief diversity has taken place in the context of senior management teams, exploring how differences in beliefs regarding the attractiveness of various strategies/ goals impact management-team performance and, consequently, firm performance. Consistent with research on demographic diversity, the impact of belief diversity on performance has been mixed.

Moods

States corresponding to general positive or negative feelings disconnected from any particular event or stimulus.

Modern Organization

Structural and structuring characteristics combine to create very different types of organizations. Some in the field of organizational behavior label the two fundamental types organic versus mechanistic.27 Essentially, many firms desire to have a learning organization that requires a structure more similar to an organic organization.28 Other labels include boundaryless versus traditional to make the similar distinctions.29 In all cases, the more flexible empowering type of structure (i.e., organic, learning, or boundaryless) is associated with fewer management levels; broader spans of control; and lesser amounts of centralization, standardization, formalization, and specialization. Departmentalization at the top of the firm can be either functional or divisional. The flexible approach provides freedom for lower-level managers and associates to think for themselves, to communicate with anyone who could be helpful, and to try new ideas. They also have the autonomy to provide specialized attention to multiple stakeholders (e.g., shareholders, customers, alliance partners, government units, etc.).30 Such learning organizations are ambidextrous, which allows them to exploit the knowledge they currently hold and explore for new knowledge that will help them to either sustain a current competitive advantage or create a new one.31

Structural Characteristics

Structural characteristics, as mentioned, relate to the basic shape and appearance of an organization's hierarchy. The shape of a hierarchy is determined by its height, spans of control, and type of departmentalization.

Divisible tasks

Tasks that can be separated into subcomponents.

Unitary tasks

Tasks that cannot be divided and must be performed by an individual.

Optimization tasks

Tasks with a quality goal.

Maximization tasks

Tasks with a quantity goal.

Communication

Team members must communicate to effectively coordinate their productive efforts. Task instruction must be delivered, results must be reported, and problem-solving discussions must take place. Because communication is crucial, teams create many formal communication processes, which may include formal reports (such as profit- and loss- statements), work schedules, interoffice memoranda, and formal meetings. But informal communication also is necessary. Associates need and want to discuss personal and job-related problems with each other. Informal communication is natural consequence of group processes. The effectiveness and frequency of communication are affected by many of the same factors that lead to group formation. For example, frequency of communication is partially the result of the opportunity to interact. People who share the same office, whose jobs are interconnected, and who have the same working hours are likely to communicate more frequently. Thus, the opportunity to interact leads to both group formation and frequent communication. This is why virtual teams are more likely to be effective when they occasionally have more face-to-face interaction. In addition to task performance, communication frequency and effectiveness are related to team member satisfaction, particularly in cohesive teams. Increased communication enhances team members' satisfaction with their membership on the team. Also, communication becomes more rewarding as team membership increases in importance and satisfaction to associates. Thus, communication is both a cause and a consequence of satisfaction with the team.

Task cohesion

Team members' attraction and commitment to the tasks and goals of the team.

Interpersonal Cohesion

Team members' liking or attraction to other team members.

Team Roles

Team roles are expectations shared by team members about who will do what and under which conditions. Roles can be formally assigned, or they can be informally adopted by team members. Some members primarily serve in leadership roles, and others take the roles of followers. The leadership role does not need to be formally assigned or to be a function of formal authority. Leaders can emerge informally in groups. Apart from leadership roles, all teams need to have members fulfilling both task roles and socioemotional, or expressive roles. Task roles involve behaviors aimed at achieving the team's performance goals and tasks. Socioemotional roles require behaviors that support the social aspects of the team. A team member may also emphasize destructive individual roles, which involve behaviors that place that individual's needs and goals above those of the team. As we would expect, these roles impede team performance rather than facilitate it. As a team becomes more stable and structured, the roles of individual members often become resistance to change. Group social pressures tend to keep members in their place, and the team resists outside forces that would change members' roles, even if these roles were not the ones assigned by the formal organizsation.

Functional Teams

Teams can be distinguished by the work they do and the purposes they serve. Types of functional teams include the following: Production teams-- groups of associates who produce tangible products (e.g., automotive assemblers or a team of restaurant chefs) Service teams-- groups of associates who engage in repeated transactions with customers (e.g., sales teams or Starbucks baristas) Management teams-- groups of managers who coordinate the activities of their respective units (e.g., senior management teams) Project teams-- group of associates (often from different functional areas or organizational units) who temporarily serve as teams to complete a specific project (e.g., new-product development teams) Advisory teams-- groups of associates formed to advise the organization on certain issues (e.g., disability groups that advise on the technical aspects of various products)

Synergy

Teams can create synergy for several reasons including greater goal commitment, a greater variety of skills and abilities applied to task achievement, and a greater sharing of knowledge. However, teamwork can also lead to poorer performance than individuals working alone. In addition to performing their regular work-related tasks and achieving organizational goals, team members must also deal with any interpersonal problems that arise, overcome the propensity to be lazy that some individuals might exhibit, coordinate tasks between/among individuals and implement effective communication within the team. The extra "teamwork" can be quite substantial and can produce a significant process loss, which is the difference between actual and potential team performance. If teams are not able to achieve synergy, less positive outcomes will result.

Virtual teams

Teams in which members work together but are separated by time, distance, or organ.

Teams (not all stages)

Teams may not go through all stages described in all situations. For example, the members of a newly formed team who belong to the same organization may already know each other. They are more likely to be familiar with performance expectations and may even share similar work-related values. Thus, the forming and storming stages are not needed. Furthermore, the nature of the team's work can influence the formation of the team. Most research on Tuckman's stage theory has focused on simple teams that worked on a single project and whose members were relative strangers. Thus, the theory may not apply to teams that work on complex projects or that have members who have had a long history together.

Information Systems

Teams must have the necessary information to act, but they frequently need more information than they possess. Teams can also suffer from receiving too much information. Often, information technology can provide people with a flood of information. Too much information creates overload. In such situations, associates may not know to which information they should attend. They may become overwhelemd and attend to only a portion of the information, or perhaps attend to none of it, or they may even shut the system down entirely. A related problem is information unavailable in the form most useful to the team. To address this problem, it is important that teams have "user-friendly" information systems.

Needed (Is the Team Needed?)

Teamwork has become very popular in business, as well as other types of organizations. However, is teamwork always the best way to accomplish a job? According to Jon Katzenbach, Some situations do not call for teamwork and are better handled by individuals working alone. He argues that because teams are popular, managers often "jump on the team bandwagon" without giving a thought to whether a team is needed in the first place. He offers the following dagnostic checklist to determine whether a team should be created: Does the project really require collective work? If the work can be done by individuals working alone without need for integration, teamwork is not necessary and merely adds to the burden by creating additional coordination tasks. Do team members need to focus on collective work a significant portion of the time? Can they instead focus on different aspects of the project most of the time? If the latter, then it might be more efficient to assign specific duties to individuals, rather than make the team responsible for all duties. Do people on the team hold one another accountable? Mutual accountability signals greater commitment to the team. If there is a situation where these criteria are not met, then perhaps it is better to not use a team to accomplish the job.

Physical Layout

The ___________ of work environments can produce dysfunctional conflict through several mechanisms. Conflict can arise when associates must work too closely together. Associates sometimes work in small, crowded cubicles that do not allow for privacy or personal space-- a phenomenon sometimes termed the "Dilbertization effect" Associates in such environments experience a stressful type of interdependency. Because everyone is continuously in view and can be easily overhead when talking, even in private conversations, conflict can arise. Conflict is especially likely if associates are unaware of the effect their behavior is having on others around them. For example, someone with a loud phone voice can be particularly irritating to co-workers. Futhermore, such enviornments do not allow associates to handle sensitive matters in private, a situation that can further increase conflict. Overall, positive face-to-face collaboration that could ease conflict and generate synergies i snot necessariily facilitated.

Cultural fluency

The ability to identify, understand, and apply cultural differences that influence communication.

Cross-Cultural Barriers

The business world is becoming more global, increasing the amount of regular cross-cultural communication. Effective cross-cultural communication is necessary for the financial success of international ventures. Communication problems cause many expatriate managers to fail in their international assignments, leading to the removal of the manager or the failure of the international ventures. These failures cost multinational corporations billions of dollars. Cross-cultural barriers involve lack of language fluency or a broader lack of cultural fluency. Those who learn the local language often earn more respect within the culture. Because many products are sold internationally, language is very important consideration in product names and slogans.

Power

The concept of power is one of the most pervasive in the study of organizational behavior.78 Power is generally defined as the ability to achieve desired outcomes.79 Power can also be thought of as the ability of one person to get another person to do something.80 Thus, any time someone persuades another person to do something, he or she is exercising power. For example, a coach who requires players to do pushups is exercising power. An administrative assistant who has the boss change her schedule to accommodate an associate is also exercising power. Often, power is thought to be negative. However, little would be accomplished if power were not exercised on a regular basis.81 Whether or not the exercise of power is harmful depends on the intent of the person holding the power. A manager who exercises power to meet organizational goals is using power in a positive, productive way. In contrast, a manager who exercises power to promote personal interests, at the expense of others, is misusing power. Power exists on different levels. Individuals and organizational units can have power. For example, a student body president can have power to influence university policy. Powerful units such as academic departments that bring in a great deal of external money can also influence university policy, as can the alumni association. It is generally easy to identify people in an organization or social unit who have power.82 Think of an organization to which you belong, for example, and identify who has the power in that organization.

Self Contained Tasks

The creation of self-contained tasks reduces the need for interdepartmental processing of information. This approach provides departments with more of the resources they need to do the job. For example, a department's tasks might require the help of a design engineer and a process engineer on a part-time basis. So rather than consulting with a group of design engineers to whom various departments would come when they needed help, a department would have access to its own design engineer who would also assist with nonengineering work as time permitted. This method reduces the need for coordination between groups (e.g., the engineering group and other groups needing engineering services) and thereby reduces information-processing requirements.

Slack Resources

The creation of slack resources reduces the need for interdepartmental information processing. Departments can operate more independently. Examples of slack resources include having extra time to complete tasks that other departments need as inputs and maintaining large inventories of raw materials provided by others. Although these extra resources reduce information exchange needs, they are costly.

Environmental Uncertainty

The degree to which an environment is complex and changing; uncertain environments are difficult to monitor and understand.

Specialization

The degree to which associates and managers have jobs with narrow scopes and limited variety.

Centralization

The degree to which authority for meaningful decisions is retained at the top of an organization.

Formalization

The degree to which rules and operating procedures are documented on paper or in company intranets.

Standardization

The degree to which rules and standard operating procedures govern behavior in an organization.

Process Loss

The difference between actual and potential team performance that is caused by diverting time and energy into maintaining the team as opposed to working on substantive tasks.

Training

The existence of thousands of team training programs and methods, speaks to the critiality of adequate training. Team training generally focuses on four different types of skills (1) interpersonal skills, especially communication, supportiveness and trust; (2) problem-solving skills, which allow team members to identify problems, generate solutions, and evaluate solutions; and (3) goal-setting skills, and (4) role-clarification skills, which allow members to articulate role requirements and responsibilities. A great deal of research has been done on the effectiveness of team training in improving team performance. This research show that training has positive but somewhat weak effects on performance outcomes while having stronger positive effects on team members' evaluations of their team. We should not that most of this research has been conducted on intact teams whose members had considerable experience working together. As a result, these teams had existing structures, roles, and norms, which probably made them more difficult to change. Training is likely to have a greater impact on the performance of newly formed teams.

Team Orientation

The extent to which an individual works well with others, wants to contribute to team performance, and enjoys being on a team.

Technology and Structure: A Broader Framework

The link between technology and structure using a broader view of technology is useful in both manufacturing and service organizations. In this view, technology is defined as the number of different problem types that are encountered over time (task variability) and the degree to which problems can be solved using known steps and procedures (task analyzability).76 Based on these two dimensions, he delineated four types of technology: Routine: There is little variation in the fundamental nature of problems encountered over time, but any new problems can be solved using readily available methods. Craft: There is little variation in the fundamental nature of problems encountered over time, but any new problems often require a novel search for unique solutions. Engineering: There is significant variation in the fundamental nature of problems encountered over time, and new problems can be solved using readily available methods. Nonroutine: There is significant variation in the fundamental nature of problems encountered over time, and new problems often require new methods to find unique solutions. Exhibit 13-6 provides examples of organizations with these types of technologies. To be most effective, firms should match their structure to the technology used. Nonroutine organizations should adopt an organic structure; craft and engineering organizations should adopt a moderately organic structure; and routine organizations should adopt the least organic structure.77 Essentially, as routineness increases, organic structures become somewhat less useful. These technology concepts can be applied to an organization as a whole or to units within the organization. For example, the technology of W. L. Gore, the maker of GORE-TEX fabric, can be described as a mixture of routine and craft technology at the firm level, but its R&D area can be described as nonroutine. Any unit can be assessed with respect to task variability and task analyzability and placed into one of the four technology categories. A number of studies have shown that technology influences structure at the unit level and that effective units exhibit a significant match between technology and structure.78

Communication Medium (or communication channel)

The manner in which a message is conveyed.

Team Development

The nature of interactions among team members changes over time. Teams behave differently when they meet for the first time relative to when they have been together long enough to be accustomed to working together. At the beginning of a team's life cycle, members may spend more time getting to know each other becomes more focused on performance. According to Bruce Tuckman's group development model, teams typically go through four stages over their life cycle: forming, storming, norming, and performing.

Identify Criteria

The next step in decision making, identification of decision criteria, requires the decision maker to determine exactly what is important in solving the problem. Decision criteria determine what information the decision maker needs to collect in order to evaluate alternatives, and they help her explain the choice that she ultimately males. Failure to thoroughly identify important criteria results in faulty decision making

Height

The number of hierarchical levels in an organization, from the CEO to the lower-level associates.

Span of control

The number of individuals a manager directly oversees.

Personal Growth

The opportunity for personal growth provided by participation in group decision making is a benefit that is often overlooked. Advancement in a career depends on the ability to learn new skills. One of the important skills to be learned is how to make decisions, and participation in group decision making may be an ideal opportunity for individuals to acquire this skill.

Corporate Strategy

The overall approach an organization uses in interacting with its environment. The emphasis is placed on growth and diversification.

Perceptions (of the Other Party)

The perceptions that one party holds about another can set the stage for conflict. One person may perceive that another has extremely high goals and that these goals will interfere with their own goal attainment.

Structuring Characteristics

The policies and approaches used to directly prescribe the behavior of managers and associates.

Conflict Escalation

The process whereby a conflict grows increasingly worse over time.

Feedback

The process whereby a receiver encodes the message received and sends it or a response to it back to the original sender.

Decoding

The process whereby a receiver perceives a sent message and interprets its meaning.

Encoding

The process whereby a sender translates the information he or she wishes to send in a message

Personality

The relationship between members' personalities and team performance can be quite strong, but the exact relationship depends on the type of task that the team is trying to accomplish. Researchers have several ways of determining the personality of the team; however, all methods are based on aggregating individuals' scores. The personality traits that have important effects on team performance include agreeableness (the ability to get along with others and cooperate) and emotional stability ( the tendency to experience positive rather than negative emotions). Also, the greater the degree of conscientiousness among team members, the higher the team's performance tends to be. This is particularly true when the team's task involves planning and performance rather than creativity. It appears that agreeable team members contribute to team performance by fulfilling team maintenance roles, whereas conscientious team members perform critical task roles. Finally, team-level extraversion and openness to experience can be positively related to performance in situations requiring nonroutine decision making and creative tasks.

Hierarchy

The reporting relationships depicted in an organization chart.

Negotiation

The resolution of conflict often requires negotiations between the conflicting parties. Negotiation is a process through which two or more parties with different preferences and interests attempt to agree on a solution through back-and-forth communication. Furthermore, the parties are committed to achieving a peaceful means of dispute resolution.73 In the resolution of conflict, the parties often engage in informal or formal bargaining that requires them to react using compromise, collaboration, accommodation, or competition. Although each party usually approaches negotiations with the intent to gain the most benefits for its side, for negotiations to be successful all parties must bargain in good faith. Managers should build their skills in negotiation because they will be called on to negotiate in many situations. The political skills explained later can be useful to managers in negotiations if they use them for the benefit of the organization to achieve a negotiated agreement whereby both or all parties gain benefit and agree to abide by the decision. Depending on the circumstances, a manager can serve as a mediator or an arbitrator in negotiations. A mediator acts as a neutral third party who facilitates a positive solution to the negotiations, whereas an arbitrator acts as a third party with the authority to require an agreement. In reality, managers often serve in both roles simultaneously, and require tact and strong interpersonal skills to achieve negotiated agreement in a conflict situation. The skills and means of negotiation depend on the negotiator's bargaining strategy.

Substantive Conflict

The second type of conflict, occurs over work content, tasks, and tasks goals. In essence, differing opinions exist for task-related issues. ____________ often lead to problems and poor performance, but it is possible for such conflicts to create positive outcomes, if managed correctly. More specifically, moderate levels of substantive conflict can actually increase performance. Even somewhat higher levels might lead to creative, positive outcomes if collaborative problem solving is emphasized. This seems most likely when personal conflict is low. In a recent study, substantive conflict was found to yield open discussions and strong decisions when personal conflict was low, but to yield rigidity and poor decisions when personal conflict was high.

Communication

The sharing of information between two or more people to achieve a common understanding about an object or situation.

Organizational Culture (Strength)

The strength of an organization's culture is based to some degree on the homogeneity of associates and managers and the length and intensity of shared experiences in the organization.90 The longer a culture is perpetuated, the stronger it becomes because of its self-reinforcing nature. An organization's culture not only reinforces critical values but also important behaviors. For example, Google's culture could be described as a learning culture in which new knowledge is created or acquired externally and diffused internally.91 This knowledge is then applied to create innovative services for Google's markets and customers. Organizational culture also affects an organization's ability to resolve problems and to create change. For example, in an open culture in which managers and associates are engaged (i.e., a high-involvement organization), more alternatives are likely to be generated and considered to resolve problems. Also, the open communication can help to resolve conflicts if they exist.92 In addition, the openness of communications between managers and associates (exemplified by Google) and transparency because of the high involvement makes all participants more open to change. And, by participating in creating the change, managers and associates are more likely to be committed to it.93

Fundamental Elements (of Organizational Structure)

The structure of an organization can be described in two different but related ways. First, structural characteristics refer to the tangible, physical properties that determine the basic shape and appearance of an organization's hierarchy,3 where hierarchy is defined in terms of the reporting relationships depicted in an organization chart. Essentially, an organization's structure is a blueprint of the reporting relationships, distribution of authority, and decision making in the organization.4 These characteristics influence behavior, but their effects are sometimes subtle. Second, structuring characteristics refer to policies and approaches used to directly prescribe the behavior of managers and associates

Structural Characteristics

The tangible, physical properties that determine the basic shape and appearance of an organization's hierarchy.

Procedural Conflict

The third type of conflict, concerns how work should be completed. _____ occurs, for example, when students working together on a project disagree about who will work on which parts of the project or whether they should meet face to face or communicate by e-mail. Unresolved procedural conflict has been found to negatively affect performance. If individuals cannot decide who should be responsible for completing a task or how it should be done, there is little chance that they will accomplish their goals or even complete the project.

An Example of Power

The use of different power bases is not mutually exclusive. Associates and managers can use multiple bases at one time. The past CEO of Disney, Michael Eisner, is an example of someone who drew power from a variety of sources.89 During the years of Eisner's reign at Disney (1984-2006), the entertainment giant went through a number of ups and downs. Owing to Eisner's efforts in his early years, the company's performance improved dramatically. In later years, Disney experienced a number of complex issues: hostile takeover threats; the acquisition of Miramax Studios and Capital Cities/ABC; conflict with Bob and Harvey Weinstein of Miramax; a successful alliance with Pixar Animation studios; the dissolution of the alliance with Pixar; the very public and contentious resignation of Jeffrey Katzenberg as president of Disney; constant battles with Disney family member Roy Disney; and the expensive hiring and resignation of Eisner's friend, Michael Ovitz. For a long time, Eisner was incredibly successful in maintaining power over Disney, despite opposition from shareholders, other Disney companies, the Disney family, and even his own executives. How did he do it? Numerous reports exist about Eisner's strategies for increasing and holding his power. First, Eisner had a great deal of legitimate power. He was both the chairman of the board of directors and the CEO. These positions allowed him to make managerial decisions while at the same time having the authority to evaluate those decisions. He also had the power to hire and fire executives and board members, almost guaranteeing that he was surrounded by people who supported him. This led to complaints by Eisner's detractors that he dominated the board by filling it with his own people, who often did not work in the best interests of other shareholders. A second way in which Eisner obtained power was by lavishing attention on board members, important investors (like Warren Buffett and Sid Bass), members of the Disney family, and even the widows of former executives. In this way, he was able to curry favor with important Disney stakeholders. Eisner was also a genius at using information. He wooed board members to support him by constantly supplying them with information. He stated, "If I filled them in, made them my partner, if things didn't go so well, the likelihood of, 'I told you so' and those kind of reactions would not exist." At the same time, he controlled communication between executives and board members so that any disagreements, important discussions, or decisions had to go through him. When Eisner wanted to fire Michael Ovitz only months after hiring him, he went through elaborate procedures, talking to board members without Ovitz's knowledge and spreading the word that Ovitz wasn't working out. Another way that Eisner maintained power was to divide those who might oppose him and to make himself indispensable. He encouraged and allowed rivalries between executives and board members to develop so that other important decision makers were unable to form a cohesive unit. He also refused to train or plan for who would succeed him in the chairman and CEO roles, thus making his departure a problem for Disney. 0 0 Finally, Eisner maintained power by restricting the power of others. One of the reasons that the Weinstein brothers wanted to separate Miramax from Disney was that Eisner tried to stop them from releasing the movie Fahrenheit 911, which was critical of the Bush administration. Ovitz's experiences seem to be parallel. According to Michael Ovitz, Eisner implied in the hiring process that the chief financial officer and the corporate operations chief would report to Ovitz. However, Ovitz soon learned at a dinner party that both of these men would report to Eisner. By March 2004, Disney shareholders had become highly dissatisfied. Led by Roy Disney, among others, they participated in a 43 percent no-confidence vote to oust Eisner as the chairman of the Disney board. One of the major factors leading to this vote was the $140 million severance pay package that Eisner gave to Ovitz after Ovitz had been at Disney for only 15 months. Shareholders argued that they had not been given enough information about this deal and that the cost was detrimental to the company. They believed that Disney board members had buckled under Eisner's pressure at shareholders' expense. By December 2005, Eisner had stepped down as chairman; however, he stated that he planned to remain as CEO of Disney until his retirement in 2006. It appears that Michael Eisner's use of power was sometimes inappropriate. This was a special concern because Eisner was both chairman and CEO of Disney. Thus, he already had significant legitimate power. Furthermore, his position also gave him reward power throughout the entire company. This entailed not only control of financial rewards but also the ability to give attention and information to those who valued inclusion. Because of his efforts in turning around Disney after he became CEO, many perceived him to have expert power. In addition, his prominent position afforded him referent power. His actions regarding Michael Ovitz suggest that he used coercive power as well. He fired Ovitz but only after conducting a negative campaign with members of the board of directors. He then gave Ovitz an exceptionally large severance pay package. It seems that Eisner may often have acted in his own best interests and not in the best interests of the company or its shareholders. This story perhaps suggests why Disney's performance suffered during the last years of Eisner's reign.

Conflict Outcomes

There are five ways in which conflict can end in terms of how the outcome satisfies each party's concerns, interests, or wishes: lose-lose, win-lose, lose-win, compromise, and win-win.

Groups and Teams Defined

There are many definitions for both group and team, with most researchers, using the terms interchangeably. Four our purposes, a group can be defined in general terms as "two ore more interdependent individuals who influence on another through social interaction. In this chapter, however, our focus is more specific: we are mainly interested in teams--groups of individuals working toward specific goals or outcomes. The common elements in the definition of a team are as follows: 1. Two or more people, 2. with work roles that require them to be interdependent, 3. Who operate within a larger social system (the organization), 4. performing tasks relevant to the organization's mission, 5. with consequences that affect others inside and outside the organization, 6. and who have membership that is identifiable to those who are on the team and to those who are not on the team. This definition helps us understand what a team is and is not. For example, mere assemblies of people are not teams. A crowd watching a parade is not a team because the people have little, if any, interaction, nor are they recognized as a team. A collection of people who interact with and influence each other, such as a soroity or a book club, can be thought of as a general group. When the goals of a group become more specific, such as winning a game, we refer to the group as a team.

Reasons (TO make Satisfactory decisions rather than optimal)

There are two important reasons that people often make satisfactory decisions rather than optimal, maximizing ones. First, we do not have the capability to collect and process all of the information relevant for a particular decisions. In theory, the number of alternatives that could be considered for most decisions is very large, as are the number of people who could be consulted and the number of analyses that could be completed. However, most of us, and certainly managers, lack the time and other resources required to complete these activities for most decisions. Consider the simple situation of hiring an individual to head a new public relations unit. Second, we often display a tendency to choose the first satisfactory alternative discovered. Because we are busy and typically want to conserve the resources used in making any one decision, we often stop searching when we find the workable alternative. Research has indicated, however, that some individuals are more likely to choose the first satisfactory option. Some continue to search for additional alternatives after encountering the first satisfactory one, thereby increasing their odds of finding a better solution. Interestingly, these individuals tend to be less satisfied with their choices, perhaps because they are more aware of the complexities and risks in decisions situations.

Types of Conflict

Three types of conflict occur in the workplace: personal conflict, substantive conflict, and procedural conflict. Unresolved personal conflict and procedural conflict tend to be dysfunctional, but ongoing or periodic substantive conflict can prove constructive.

Managing (for effective teams)

To experience the potential gains of teamwork, organizations must provide support for teams to work effectively. An organization cannot simply declare that it will increase the level of teamwork without planning, training, selecting, and rewarding people for teamwork. Following are several "best practices" for managing effective teams.

Selection (of Team Members)

Traditionally, it is recommended that organizations select team members who have the knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform their individual jobs and have values that fit well with the organizational culture. However, team members must also fill other roles. For example, they may perform teamwork roles, such as energizing the team or soliciting and elaborating on the ideas of others. Furthermore, because teamwork often involves a variety of activities, a broader set of skills may be necessary for team-based jobs. Thus, team selection needs to consider more factors than selection for traditional jobs.

Group

Two or more interdependent individuals who influence one another through social interaction.

Team

Two or more people with work roles that require them to be interdependent, who operate within a larger social system (the organization), performing tasks relevant to the organization's mission, with consequences that affect others inside and outside the organization, and who have membership that is identifiable to those on the team and those on the team.

Value (of Individual versus Group Decision Making)

Under the proper conditions, group decision making should increase the number of ideas generated and improve the evaluation of alternatives. Such outcomes are desirable because they generally produce better decisions. However, our earlier discussion of group decision making suggested that these results are guranteed. Furthermore, the generation of idea and their evaluation are not the only outcomes from group decision making. Commitment and satisfaction of participants must also be considered. Important considerations for judging the overall value of group decision making as opposed to individual decision making include the time needed to reach the decision, the costs of making it, the nature of the problem, the satisfaction and commitment of employees affected by the decision, and opportunities for personal growth.

Information Technology

Unlike the two elements of structure just discussed, information technology facilitates the processing of information rather than reducing the need to process it. This technology can help to transfer information up and down the hierarchy as well as horizontally from department to department. E-mail, web-based discussion boards, chat rooms, and Twitter are examples of simple tools that facilitate communication and coordination. These tools facilitate collaboration among individuals to solve problems and complete tasks, and they help leaders manage the semiformal organization (social networks among associates and managers).66 An information repository is a more complex tool for integration. Such a repository requires individuals in various departments to deposit documents, data, and commentary in an open-access central database. An enterprise resource planning (ERP) system is an even more complex tool. ERP systems provide a common set of planning and analysis capabilities across departments, as well as a platform for electronically sharing evolving plans and analyses. This type of system has provided important benefits in the integration of departments,67 particularly when the system has been explicitly designed to support the organization's strategy. In addition to facilitating integration across existing departments in an organization, information technology has helped to flatten organizations and has promoted project-based and team-based structures.68 Shorter hierarchies are consistent with high-involvement management because they push decision authority to the lowest levels of the organization and increase the speed and quality of decisions as a result. Such hierarchies would not be possible, however, without information technology to ensure that associates and lower-level managers have the information they need to make sound decisions. Project-based structures utilize individuals from various departments to work in teams focused on complex projects requiring intense and integrated efforts. In some cases, these individuals are temporarily assigned to a project on a full-time basis. In other instances, individuals participate part-time as project members and part-time as members of their functional departments. In both cases, information technology ensures that project participants working on different aspects of the overall project understand the goals and activities of those working in other areas. Without sophisticated information technology, individuals could not integrate the various aspects of the project as effectively or as rapidly, resulting in some complex projects not being undertaken and others being handled more slowly through the traditional hierarchy.

Rumors

Unsubstantiated information of universal interest.

Exchange

Using an exchange tactic, a person volunteers a favor in order to gain a favor in return. This is exemplified by the old axiom, "I'll scratch your back if you'll scratch mine."

Values (Two Dimensions)

Values develop along two dimensions: (1) the types of personal goals that one ought to have and (2) the types of behaviors that one ought to use in reaching those goals.117 These two dimensions are sometimes referred to as the end-means dimensions of values. Thus, individuals may develop an end value that they should seek a life of prosperity and a means value that they should be ambitious and hardworking to achieve that goal. These values complement each other by specifying a general goal in life and identifying acceptable behaviors for reaching it. A list of "end" values and "means" values is shown in Exhibit 13-9.

Group Decision Approach

When a group decision approach is to be used, the manager must determine how much agreement should exist within the group. Must all the members agree on the decision, or will the manager accept the decision even though some members disagree? Typically, managers seek either a majority or a unanimous decision from the decision-making group. Seeking agreement from a majority has several advantages over seeking unanimous agreement, including increased speed and reduced risk of impasse. Trying to obtain unanimity, however, generally creates more discussion and often causes group members to explore the assumptions that underlie the positions and preferences held within the group. Managers must balance these factors when deciding which approach to use for group decision making.

Organizational Politics

When conflict is present in organizations, associates are likely to engage in political behavior. Indeed, politics are a fact of life in most organizations.98 Organizational politics corresponds to behavior that is directed toward furthering one's own self-interests without concern for the interests or well-being of others.99 The goal of political behavior is to exert influence on others. One survey of top-level executives and human resource managers indicated that organizational politics are on the rise.100 Seventy percent of survey respondents said that they had been harmed by the political behavior of others and 45 percent said they had gained power and influence by acting politically. Further, a recent synthesis of past research showed that politics in an organization is significantly related to stress and counter-productive work behaviors.101 We now discuss the specifics of political behavior.102

Past Performance

When individuals or groups receive negative feedback because of poor past performance, they often perceive it as a threat.53 When a threat is perceived, individuals frequently attempt to deal with it by becoming more rigid, exerting more control over deviant group members and ideas, and restricting the flow of communication.54 When people become more rigid and communicate less, personal, substantive, and procedural issues can become heated. Thus, when past performance is poor, the chances for conflict are greater.5

Conflict

When the behavior or beliefs of a team member are unacceptable to other team members, conflict occurs. Several types of intragroup (within-team) conflict exist; they include personal conflict (sometimes referred to as relationship conflict), substantive conflict (sometimes referred to as task conflict), and procedural conflict (sometimes referred to a sprocess conflict).

Factors (Affecting Team Effectiveness)

When used properly, teams can yield great performance benefits to organizations. Teams can create synergy for several reasons, including greater goal commitment, a greater variety of skills and abilities applied to task achievement, and a greater sharing of knowledge. However, teamwork can also lead to poorer performance than individuals working alone. In addition to performing their regular work-related tasks and achieving organizational goals, team members must also deal with an interpersonal probelms that arise, overcome the propensity to be lazy that some individuals might exhibit, coordinate tasks between.among individuals, and implement effective communication within the team. This extra "teamwork" can be quite substantial and can produce a significant process loss, which is the difference between actual and potential team performance. If teams are not able to achieve synergy, less positive outcomes will result. To ensure that the benefits of teamwork outweigh the costs that occur from it, teams must be structured and managed properly. Literally thousands of studies in almost every type of organizational context have examined factors that influence team effectiveness. We focus on three factors; team composition, team structure, and team porcesses.

Norming Stage

Where team members cooperate with each other and become more cohesive. Once the team has established norms and is working as a cohesive whole.

Risk-taking propensity

Willingness to take chances.

Role of Technology

Within an organization, technology refers to the knowledge and processes required to accomplish tasks. It corresponds to the techniques used in transforming inputs into outputs. The relationship of technology and structure has been described in several ways, as discussed below.

Support Systems

_______ allow a team to function well. ___ include technology, information systems, selection processes for team members, training procedures, rewards, and leadership.

Knowledge Criteria

________ reflects the degree to which the team continually increases its performance capabilities. Teams are more effective when team members share their knowledge with one another and develop a collective understanding of the team's task, tools and equipment, and processes, as well as the team's mental model. Shared mental models allow team members to have common expectations and agreed-on course of action, improve information processing and decision making, and facilitate problem solving. Another knowledge- based criterion for team effectiveness is team learning-- the ability of the team as a whole to learn new skills and abilities over time. Clearly, in the class project example just discussed, this criterion was not met.

PEM (Punctuated Equilibrium Model)

__________ of team development provides an alternative view of development over time. This model suggests that teams do not go through linear stages but that team formation depends on the deadlines for the task at hand. The PEM is essentially a two-stage model representing two periods of equilibrium "punctuated" by a shift in focus. In the first stage, team members get to know one another and engage in norming activities. The focus of this stage is the development of socioemotional roles. When the deadline for the team's work approaches, the team undergoes a dramatic change in functioning. This is the point at which the "punctuation" occurs. After this point is reached, the team refocuses its activities on performing the task. Thus, the focus shifts to task roles. This model contrasts with Tuckerman's stage model because it suggests that team life-cylce stages are determined by temporal aspects of the task, not by social dynamics within the team. Overall, research suggests that the PEM model best describes the development of new teams working on a very specific, clearly time-bounded task.

Task Structure

____________ has been shown to be an important determinant of how teams function and perform. Several typologies have been proposed for categorizing tasks. One of the most popular typologies emphasizes the following: (1) whether tasks can be separated into subcomponents, (2) whether tasks have quantity or quality goals, and (3) how individual inputs are combined to achieve the team's product. First, then, we consider whether ta task can be broken down into parts. Tasks such as playing baseball, preparing a class project, and cooking a meal in a restaurant are divisible tasks, because they can be separated into subcomponets. Thus different individual associates can perform different parts of the task. Unitary tasks cannot be divided and must be performed by a single individual. Examples of unitary tasks are reading a book, completeing an account sheet, and talking to a customer on the phone. If a particular goal or mission requires the completion of unitary tasks, it may not be advantageous for a team to complete the mission.

Organizational Barriers

____________ to effective communication include information overload, information distortion, jargon, time pressures, cross-cultural barriers, and breakdowns in the communication network.

Team Composition

____________________ is important because it addresses who members of the team are and what human resources (skills, abilities, and knowledge) they bring to the team. When managers assign associates to teams, they often make three questionable assumptions, which can lead to mistakes. 1. They assume that people who are demographically similar and share beliefs will work better together, and so they attempt to compose teams that are somewhat homogeneous in these areas. 2. They assume that everyone knows how or is suited to work in a team. 3. They assume that a larger team size is always better.

Self Managed Teams

____________________ teams have a great deal of autonomy and control over the work they do. Usually, self-managing teams are responsible for completing a whole piece of work, an entire project, or a significant portion of a product or service delivery process. For example, rather than working only on one part of an automobile, a self-managing auto-assembly team might build the whole automobile or a significant portion of it. Although a self-managing team typically has formal supervision from above, the supervisor's role is to facilitate team performance and member involvement rather than to direct the team. The members of the team make important decisions that in other types of teams are made by the supervisor, such as assigning members to specific tasks, setting team performance goals, and even deciding the team's pay structure. Team members are also held more accountable for team performance. Self-managed work teams can lead to many benefits, including more satisfaction for workers, lower turnover and absenteeism, increased productivity, and higher-quality work. These benefits result because members of self-managed work teams are more engaged in their work and more committed to the team. However, the effectiveness of self-managed teams can be thwarted by several factors, including leaders who are too autocratic.

Conflict

a process in which one party perceives that its interests are being opposed or negatively affected by another party.

Expert Power

arises from special expertise or technical knowledge that is valuable to others or the organization. Expert power is limited by the degree to which this expertise is irreplaceable. For example, an associate can gain power by becoming the only person in the unit who knows how to use certain software. However, if others learn to use the software, this person's power will be diminished.

Ambidextrous Organizations

balance the formalization and standardization that help to achieve efficiency and the flexibility required to explore new ideas and opportunities necessary to be innovative.82 The intent is to achieve efficiency to exploit the firm's current capabilities and simultaneously explore to learn new capabilities, discover new technologies, and develop new products and services.83 To do so first requires top management to have a shared vision of an ambidextrous organization and to develop an incentive system to reward the achievement of both exploitation and exploration. This often requires transformational leadership (as discussed in Chapter 8) and design thinking, such as that promoted by IDEO.84 Another dimension involved in building an ambidextrous organization is the structure. Often, firms trying to achieve the needed balance maintain some parts of the organization with formalized routines but then also develop semi-autonomous units that have significant freedom to explore new ideas and unique approaches to problems.85 These approaches allow the organization to unbundle operations and processes to manage the costs of operations but also pursue the development of technological innovations. This type of organization, structure, and leadership is becoming more common.86

LeakyBehavior

behaviors that we cannot control. People may be more likely to express their true feelings through nonverbal means rather than through verbal means, which are easy to control.

Interpersonal Communication

direct verbal or nonverbal interaction between two ore more active participants.

Standardization

efers to the existence of rules, standard operating procedures and routines.24 When standardization is high, managers and associates are expected to follow prearranged approaches to their work. Under these circumstances, their behavior is very predictable. Although standardization is sometimes necessary for efficiency and safety, it reduces opportunities for individual initiative, creativity, and self-directed collaboration with others inside and outside the organization. Thus, it can negatively affect motivation and satisfaction for many.

Lateral Relations

elations among departments are based on the need for coordinating their various tasks. Because lateral relations increase information flow at lower levels, decisions requiring interdepartmental coordination need not be referred up the hierarchy. Lateral relations are traditional elements of structure used to help organizations process more information. These relations may be facilitated by information technology but often are based on face-to-face communication. A number of alternative lateral processes can be used. Listed in order of least complex to most complex, they are as follows: Direct contact involves two individuals who share a problem and work directly with one another to solve it. Liaison roles are temporary coordination positions established to link two departments that need to have a large amount of contact. Task forces are temporary groups composed of members from several departments who solve problems affecting those departments. Teams are permanent problem-solving groups for continuous interdepartmental problems. Integrating roles are permanent positions designed to help with the coordination of various tasks. Managerial linking roles are integrative positions with more influence and decision-making authority. Matrix designs establish dual authority between functional managers (e.g., marketing manager, engineering manager) and project or product managers (e.g., working across subsidiaries operating in different countries).69

Coercive Power

exists when one person believes that another person has the ability or perceived ability to punish people. Coercive power is usually considered a negative form of power; thus, its use should be limited. Overuse or inappropriate application of this type of power can produce unintended results. For example, associates might respond with negative or undesired behaviors. Like reward power, coercive power can be derived from informal as well as formal sources. For example, an associate who spreads negative gossip about others may have coercive power because others fear that he will spread negative gossip about them.85 Coercive power is limited by the fact that those being influenced must be highly dependent on the person wielding the power.86

Diversification

has also been a common and popular corporate strategy. Diversification involves adding products or services different from those currently in the firm. Firms may diversify for several reasons, but the primary one is to reduce overall risk by decreasing dependency on one or a few product markets.42 That is, if demand for one of the firm's products falls, the other products might continue to sell well, providing protection for the bottom line.43 Firms may also diversify the geographic markets they serve by entering new foreign markets.44 Most companies start out as single-product firms, which are firms where more than 95 percent of annual sales come from one product. Dominant-product firms obtain 70 to 94 percent of their sales from one product. Most companies following a diversification strategy move on to become related-product firms, where less than 70 percent of annual sales come from one product and the various products are related to one another. The most diversified firms are classified as unrelated-product firms. In these firms, less than 70 percent of annual sales come from any one product, and the firm's various products are unrelated to the primary core business.45 As firms become more diversified, research suggests that they should adopt the divisional form.46 In other words, they should develop divisions for each of their end-product businesses. Also, as firms become more diversified and divisionalized, authority should be delegated to the divisions.47 Matches between diversification and structure are shown in Exhibit 13-4. Single-product and most dominant-product firms should use a functional structure, where the major units of the organization are based on the functions performed (marketing, production, finance) rather than on products. Related-product and most unrelated-product firms should use a divisionalized structure. Large, highly diversified unrelated-product firms may use a holding company structure, in which the operating divisions are extremely autonomous.48 Firms with functional structures are sometimes referred to as U-form (unitary) organizations and firms with divisionalized structures as M-form (multidivisional) organizations.49 Over time, FedEx changed from a single-product firm to a related-product firm. As such, it implemented the divisional structure and decentralized primary authority to make decisions to the heads of each division. Because the businesses are all related, the corporate office coordinated activities across the divisions to offer customers the full portfolio of FedEx's services (as described in the Exploring Behavior in Action feature).

Formalization (and Specialization)

is a closely related phenomenon; it is the degree to which rules and procedures are documented. Specialization is the degree to which managers and associates have narrow jobs that use focused skills; usually, these jobs offer little variety. As discussed in Chapter 6, narrow jobs can negatively affect motivation, satisfaction, and performance for individuals who want to be challenged and to grow in the workplace. Yet, in some self-managed teams with associates having higher levels of specialization, some degree of formalization can produce positive results.25 Alternatively, specialization is less appropriate where tasks are interdependent requiring coordination across them to be completed effectively.26

Corporate Strategy

is the overall, predominant strategy of the organization. It determines the direction for the total organization. Senior managers formulating corporate strategies focus on the organization's stockholders and other critical external constituents. Their strategies can be oriented toward growth, diversification, or both.36

Conflict Escalation

is the process whereby a conflict intensifies over time. Escalation is characterized by several features. Tactics become increasingly severe on both sides, and the number of issues grows. In addition, the parties become more and more deeply involved in the conflict. Eventually, as their goals shift from caring about their own welfare and outcomes to trying to harm the other party, they lose sight of their own self-interests.58 Many reasons have been proposed for conflict escalation. Some experts feel that escalation is inevitable unless direct measures are taken to resolve the conflict.59 Others believe that conflicts do not have to escalate. Rather, there are certain general conditions that make escalation more likely. These include the following: Cultural differences exist between the parties.60 The parties have a history of antagonism.61 The parties have insecure self-images.62 Status differences between the parties are uncertain.63 The parties have informal ties to one another.64 The parties do not identify with one another.65 One or both parties have the goal of escalating the conflict in order to beat the other party.66 Conflict escalation might involve overt expressions of aggression. This aspect of escalation may be one-sided, where one party becomes more hostile than the other(s). These issues are taken up in the next Experiencing Organizational Behavior feature.

Compromise

occurs when both parties give in to some degree on an issue or set of issues. Had management at United Airlines been willing to agree to somewhat less drastic pay cuts, then the unions in exchange could have moderated their demands in other strongly contested areas, such as pensions. Indeed, compromise was actually achieved several times during the travails at United. For example, a compromise resulted in employees' accepting more substantial pay cuts than they wanted while management agreed to more employee stock ownership than it wanted. Compromise can be a desirable solution to conflict.

Social Dynamics

refer to whether newcomers experience serial or disjunctive processes and whether they are exposed to an investiture or a divestiture approach. Newcomers experiencing a serial approach have experienced organizational members as role models. The disjunctive process does not formally establish contact with experienced associates and managers, forcing newcomers to make sense of the situation on their own. With the investiture approach, positive social support is provided from the beginning rather than negative information through a hazing process. The combination of serial and investiture techniques yields better socialization experiences.

Centralization

refers to the amount of decision-making authority that is held at the top of the organization.22 In centralized organizations, top-level managers retain most authority, leaving less for mid- and lower-level managers and very little for associates. This is not consistent with high-involvement management, and research suggests that centralized organizations generally perform less well.23 There are several conditions, however, that call for a significant degree of centralization.

Height

refers to the number of levels in the organization, from the CEO to the lower-level associates. Tall hierarchies often create communication problems, as information moving up and down the hierarchy can be slowed and distorted as it passes through many different levels.6 Managers and associates can be unclear on appropriate actions and behaviors as decisions are delayed and faulty information is disseminated, causing lower satisfaction and commitment. Tall hierarchies also are more expensive, as they have more levels of managers.7

Context

refers to whether newcomers are exposed to key values through a collective or an individual process, and whether they experience a formal or an informal approach. In a collective process, all newcomers experience the same socialization events (videos, senior leadership greetings, exercises, receptions, stories, and so on). In an individual process, the experiences are unique. With a formal approach, newcomers learn about the organization away from the jobs they will be taking (off-the-job learning and training), whereas an informal approach puts them in their jobs immediately (on-the-job learning and training). To maximize absorption of an organization's values, a collective, formal approach may be best. This approach ensures that newcomers are exposed to a standard set of tactics in a focused manner away from the pressures of the new job. Bain and Company, a management consulting firm, illustrates this approach. It uses a formal standard induction program to provide specific training and to build cohesiveness and a sense of identity with the firm. This is supported by excellent materials on the Bain website that explain the company's culture and provide consultants' journals with valuable information on the jobs the new recruits will likely hold. In the program and on the website, information is provided to reinforce the idea that senior colleagues serve as mentors and coaches.

Content

refers to whether newcomers are provided information on the probable sequence of development activities and job rotations for the first year or two in the organization, and whether they are given specific information on the likely duration of each activity. With detailed information on upcoming development activities, newcomers experience less uncertainty. They have a better sense of where they are going in the organization. When information provided to newcomers conveys a variable and random situation (no set sequence of development activities and no estimates of duration times), newcomers are less able to discern a clear path to success and advancement. This latter situation can create dissatisfaction and commitment issues.

Reward Power

results when one person has the ability or perceived ability to provide another with desired outcomes (i.e., the person controls or is believed to control desired resources). In the long run, reward power is limited by the person's actual ability to supply desired outcomes. For example, a supervisor may have power because she can assign pay raises to associates. However, if the company has a bad year, and the supervisor is not permitted to give pay raises, then she loses this source of power. Reward power is not limited to formal sources, such as the supervisor's power to give raises; it can also come from informal sources. For example, an administrative assistant who often controls his boss's schedule may then reward associates with access to the boss.

Natural Conflict (over salary)

the natural conflict over salary and its resolution are important to both the organization and the individual involved. Jane negotiated a higher salary before accepting the job offer, but Rob did not do so. Therefore, even though Rob and Jane had equal qualifications, they were compensated differently. Furthermore, assuming that they perform at equal levels over time and thus receive the same percentage pay increases, the gap between Jane's salary and Rob's will grow. Furthermore, although the organization may save almost $14,700 over a five-year period, it may also lose a productive associate. Rob is likely to be unhappy about the difference in pay if he discovers it (which is likely). As we explained in Chapter 6, in the discussion of equity theory, Rob will feel that he is not being treated equitably. Consequently, he might search for a job with another organization. Unfortunately, if it leads to conflict between Rob and the organization, he is likely to depart for a job elsewhere. In this case, the organization loses valuable human capital.

Optimal (versus Satisfactory Decisions)

A decision maker typically wants to make an effective decision. We define an effective decision as one that is timely, acceptable to those affected by it, and satisfactory in terms of the key decision criteria. although the systematic, logical process may not be ideal in all situations, such as when a decision must be made very quickly, it does serve a useful framework for producing effective decisions. The process of making decisions is not as simple, however, as it may seem from reviewing standard decisions--making steps, liek those in the exhibit. Each step is more complex than it appears on the surface. Furthermore, individuals and groups cannot always make decisions that maximize their objectives, because to make such decisions we must have complete knowledge about all possible alternatives and their possible alternative, but it is unlikely that we actually would have complete knowledge for any real-world decisions. Thus we tend to make satisficing decisions, or what many psychologists and economists refer to as boundedly rational decisions.

Communciation breakdown

All parts of the communication process are important. A communication breakdown can occur in any part of the process. For example, information must be encoded into a message that can be understood as the sender intended. In addition, some forms of media may not be as effective as other in communicating the meaning of a particular message.

Technology Isseus

Although the adoption of communication technologies and the new forms of communication they support can be beneficial, new communication technologies can also create issues for organizations and individuals. One common problem is misuse of new technology. For examples, many newer forms of technology make it easier to leak private or secrete information to an unintended audience, often with unintended consequences. Another common problem is technology failure. Reliance on new technology creates difficulties when the technology fails and redundant systems are not in place. A third common problem is information overload. Personal privacy is also a concern. Personal privacy concerns that did not exist 20 years ago are now very apparent for job applicants.

(Communication Climate (Improve)

An organization's ______________ corresponds to associates' perceptions of the quality of communication within the organization. The _______________ is important because it influences the extent to which associates identify with their organization. Organizations can overcome communication barriers by establishing a communication climate where mutual trust exists between senders and receivers, communication credibility is present, and feedback is encouraged. Managers should also encourage a free flow of downward, upward, and horizontal communication. People must be comfortable in communicating their ideas openly and in asking questions when they do not understand or they want to know more. information should be available and understandable. People in organizational units should be allowed to develop their own communication systems independently for an effective communication climate.

Communication Audits (Conduct)

Analyzing the organization's communication needs and practices through periodic communication audits is an important step in establishing effective communication. A communication audit examines an organization's internal and external communication to assess communication practices and capabilities and to determine needs. Communication audits can be conducted in-house (e.g., by the human resource management department) or by external consulting firms. Communication audits often are used to ascertain the quality of communication and to pinpoint any deficiencies in the organization. Audits can be conducted for the entire organizsation or for a single unit within the organization. Communication audits usually examine the organization's communicaiton philosophy and objectives, existing communication programs, and employee attitudes toward existing communications. The following is a recommended method for conducting a communication audit.: 1. Hold a planning meeting with all major parties to determine a specific approach and gain commitment to it. 2. Conduct interviews with top management. 3. Collect, inventory, and analyze communication material. 4. Conduct associate interviews. 5. Prepare and administer a questionnaire to measure attitudes toward communication. 6. Communicate survey results

Eight Symptoms (of Groupthink)

At least eight specific symptoms are associated with groupthink: 1. Self-Censorship: Group members who recognize flaws or errors in the group position tend to remain quiet during group discussions and avoid issues that might upset the group. 2. Pressure: Group members apply pressure to any member who expresses opinions that threaten group consensus and harmony. 3. Unanimity: Censorship and pressure lead to the illusion of unanimous support for the final group decision. Members who have been quiet are assumed to be in complete agreement, which further discourages consideration of other decision alternatives. 4. Rationalization: Many group members build complex rationales that effectively discount warnings or information that conflicts with their thinking. Thus, sources of negative information are discredited in group discussions. Such actions often narrow the decision alternatives considered. 5. Invulnerability: Group members may develop an illusion of invulnerability, which causes them to ignore any dangers. As a result, they become overly optimistic and take unwarranted risks; the group seriously overestimates its collective wisdom. 6. Mindguards: Certain group members take on the social role of "mindguard." They attempt to shield the group from any facts, criticism, or evaluations that may alter the illusion of unanimity and invulerability. 7. Morality: Most group members believe in the morality of the group's position. The members may even speak about the inherent morality of what they are doing and the immorality of opposing views. This can result in decisions that ignore ethical and legal issues as viewed by the broader society and lead to negative consequences for others. 8. Stereotypes: Group members may develop negative stereotypes of other people and groups. These stereotypes can protect their own position and block the possibility of reasonable negotiations with outsiders.

Delphi Technique

Brainstorming and the nominal group techniques generally require group members to be in close physical proximity (seated around a table, for example). However, groups using the _______________ do not meet face-to-face. Instead, members are solicited for their judgement at their various homes or places of business. IN the most common approach, group members respond to a questionnaire about the issue of interest. Their responses are summarized and the results are fed back to the group. After receiving the feedback, individuals are given a second opportunity to respond and may or may not change their judgements. Some Delphi approaches use only two sets of responses, whereas others repeat the question--summary--feedback process several times before a decision or conclusion is reached. The final decision is derived by averaging or otherwise combining the members' responses to the last questionnaire; often, the members' responses become more similar over time. Although some research has been supportive of this technique, it is a highly structured approach that can inhibit some types of input, especially if some individuals feel constrained by the particular set of questions posed. Even so, the Delphi technique is an option to consider, especially when members of the group are geographically dispersed.

Devil's Advocacy

Calls for an individual or subgroup to argue against a recommended action put forth by other members of the group. Thus, both dialectical inquiry and devil's advocacy use "constructive" conflict. Proponents assert both are learning-oriented approaches because the active debates can help the group to discover new alternatives and to develop a more complete understanding of the issues involved in the decision problems. Devil's advocacy, requires the group to generate only one set of assumptions and a single recommendation, which are then critiqued by the devil's advocate (or advocates) Research on these techniques suggests that both are effective in developing high-quality solutions to problems. At the same time, however, they can result in somewhat lower levels of group satisfaction than approaches such as brainstorming. This outcome is probably due to the intragroup conflict that can arise when these methods are used. Still, both approaches are apt to be effective in controlling undesirable group phenomena that supress the full exploration of issues. Because both approaches aim to create constructive conflict through assigned roles, they are not likely to cause major dissatisfaction among group members.

Groupthink (no guarantee a poor decision)

Does not guarantee a poor decision but simply increase the likelihood of such a result. When good judgment and discussion are suppressed, the group can still be lucky. However, because the purpose group decision making is to increase the likelihood of a good decision, managers must take steps to reduce groupthink.

Proactive (Encourage Individual Actions)

Each individual can help to overcome communication barriers on a day-to-day. Experts recommend the following ways to improve interpersonal communications. (1) Know your audience, (2) Select an Appropriate Communication Medium, (3) Regulate Information Flow and Timing, (4) Encourage Feedback Related to Understanding, (5) Listen Actively

Select (an Appropriate Communication Medium)

Earlier, we discussed how various communication media differ in richness. When messages are complex and/or important, use of rich media, such as face-to-face communication, should be considered. Also, when dealing with complex/important information, it can be beneficial to use several media--for example, by following face-to-face communication with an email message summarizing the discussion.

Rumors

Effective communication is crucial in implementing the organization's strategy. However, there is a downside to informal interpersonal communication--rumors and gossip. Rumors entail unsubstantiated information of universal interest. People often create and communicate rumors to deal with uncertainty.

Brainstrorming

For major decisions, it is usually important to generate a wide variety of new ideas during the data-gathering and alternative-generation phases of decision making. Increasing the number of ideas during these phases helps ensure that important facts or considerations are not overlooked. Unfortunately, if the group evaluates or critiques each new idea as it is introduced in a group meeting, individual members may withhold other creative ideas because they fear critical comments. In contrast, if ideas are not evaluated immediately, members may offer a number of inputs, even if they are uncertain of the value of their ideas. This is the essence of brainstorming. Brainstorming within groups has the following basic features: Imagination is encourage. No idea is too unique or different, and the more ideas offered the better. Using or building on the ideas of others is encouraged. There is no criticism of any idea, no matter how bad it may seem at the time. Evaluation is postponed until the group can no longer think of any new idea. Why is group brainstorming often less effective than individual brainstorming? One problem may be that group members believe criticism will not be entirely eliminated but will simply remain unspoken. In other words, if a member contributes a unique idea, she may believe that others are silently ridiculing it. Another problem may be that some group members are simply distracted by the significant amount of discussion in a group brainstorming session. Two techniques may be helpful in overcoming the problems of standard group brainstorming: (1) brain-writing, and (2) electronic brainstorming (EBS)

Nonverbal Communication

Forms include facial expressions, tone of voice, personal appearance, contact or touch, and various mannerisms. In general ________________ fall into three categories: body language, paralanguage, and gestures. Between 60 to 90 percent of all interpersonal communication is nonverbal. Nonverbal communication is imporatn because, along with the sender's verbal expressions, it provides information about the person's attitudes and emotional or mental state. This communication can also provide a useful form of feedback. Facial expressions can show whether the receiver understands the sender's message and how he or she feels about it. Because nonverbal behavior is more difficult to control than verbal behavior, it an reveal whether a person is lying. In the area of business negotiations it is particularly important that people be able to read body language to identify when others are being deceptive. It is also important for negotiators to be aware of their own nonverbal cues.

Brain-Writing

In a common version of ________, group members stop at various points in a group meeting and write down all of their ideas. Then the written ideas are placed on a flipchart or whiteboard by an individual assigned the task of pooling the written remarks. By moving from an oral to a written approach, and by introducing anonymity, this method makes many individuals feel less inhibited. Furthermore, less talking takes place in the room, so distractions are reduced.

Individual Outcomes (network structure)

In addition to effects on unit or organizational performance, network structure affects ___________. In sparse networks many individuals do not directly communicate with one another. this creates an opportunity for information brokerage, where one or more members of a network act as a conduit or go-between for information exchanges between members without direct ties. Individuals who broker a number of relationships tend to have more positive outcomes in terms of power, job performance, and financial compensation, even after controlling for factors such as hierarchical level and education. Importantly, brokers in networks are not necessarily in formal leadership positions.

Information Overload

In our present-day organizations, managers and associates are frequently burdened with more information than they can process. This overload occurs for several reasons. First, organizations face higher levels of uncertainty because of escalating change and turbulence in the external environment, so they obtain more information to reduce the uncertainty. Second, the increasing complexity of tasks and organizational structures creates a need for more information. Again, organizations employ more specialist to provide the needed information, placing greater information-processing burdens on organizational members. Third, ongoing developments in technology increase the amount of information available to associates and managers. When associates and/or managers are overloaded with information, they cannot process all of it. Instead, they may try to escape the situation, or they may prioritize information so that some is attended to and the rest is ignored. Selecting only a portion of the available information for use, however, can result in inaccurate or incomplete communication in the organizational context. One way in which organizations are trying to deal with the overload caused by electronic messaging and e-mail is by adopting newer, web-based interactive technologies for internal communications. These include blogs, wiki sites, and social networking sites. With this technology, messages are all posted in one place, avoiding redundancy.

Gathering Information

Individuals may differ in how they gather information to use in making decisions. Gather information involves perceptual processes. Some individuals prefer information that is concretely grounded and readily accessible through the five basic senses, whereas others prefer abstractions and figurative examples as sources. An associate or manager who relies on facts gathered directly by the five senses is said to use a sensing style. Such a person believes in experience and typically wants to focus on rules and regulations, step-by-step explanations, and fact checking. Decision makers who use a sensing style are concerned primarily with developing a factual database that will support any resulting decision. People who prefer this style of gathering information see themselves as practical and realistic .They work steadily in the early stages of the decision process and enjoy the information-gathering stage. Such persons observe the actual situation very carefully: specific details, concrete examples, real experiences, practicalities, and literal statements. They are down-to-earth people who believe that creativity involves much effort. Decision makers who use the intution style dislike details and the time required details and often perceive information in large chunks. A decision made using this style is often based on imagination. Intuitive people believe that creativity comes from inspiration rather than concentrated effort. Although this second style may appear to be illogical and risky, many consultants and senior managers believe that it can be an effective approach. Managers with good intuition may be better able to cope with rapid change and crisis situations. They frequently have a vision for the future and can react quickly to urgent needs. Overall, both the sensing and intuition styles of perception can be effective, but their effectiveness may vary depending on the context. The sensing style may be most appropriate for jobs where routine decisions are typical. Individuals with a sensing style used more information and made better choices. The intuition style may be most approptiate for jobs where novel decisions and a need for creativity are common. Specific situations in which the intuition style may prove valuable include the following: When a high level of ambiguity exisits When few or no precedents exist When facts are limited WHen facts don't clearly indicate which way to go When time is limited and there is pressure to make the right decision WHen several plausible alternative solutions exist with good arguments for each.

Gossip

Information that is presumed to be factual and is communicated in private or intimate settings. often, ______ is not specifically work-related and focuses on things such as others' personal lives. Furthermore, ____ usually reflects information that is third-hand, fourth-hand, and even farther removed from the person passing it along. ____ can cause problems for organizations because it reduces the focus on work, ruins reputations, creates stress, and sometimes leads to legal problems. People are thought to engage in gossip in order to gain power or friendships or to enhance their own egos.

Communication Media

Interpersonal communication can be based on many different media, and different media vary in degree of richness. Research has ordered common communication media in terms of richness. In order of richest to least rich, they are: 1. Face-to-face communication 2. video conferencing (such as Skyping) 3. Phone or radio communication 4. Electronic messaging (such as email and instant messaging) 5. Personal written text (such as letters, notes, and memos) 6. Formal written text (such as reports, documents, bulletins, and notices. 7. Formal numerical text (such as statistical reports, graphs, and computer printouts) For a particular communication task, choosing from among available media involves a trade--off between the richness of a medium and the cost (especially in time) of using it.

Communicaiton Styles

Interpersonal communication is based on the styles of the various participating parties, where ______ refers to the way a person typically sends information. _____ can be defined with a respect to a number of different dimensions, but research has suggested that six dimensions are most important: (1) Expressiveness, (2) Preciseness, (3) verbal aggressiveness, (4) Questioning orientation, (5) Emotionality, (6) Impression management. An individual's style should be appropriate to the type of work that he or she is doing.

Consideration of Self Interest

It is not uncommon for firms to request information from managers about their unit's performance. Data such as forecasts of future activity, performance standards, and recommendations on capital budgets are often used in determining the managers' compensation. Research shows that where data accuracy cannot be independently verified, managers sometimes provide information that is in their own self-interest. Although they might not intentionally distort the information that is sent, they might provide incomplete data, selecting only information that is in their own best interest.

Risky Shift

Most decisions involve some degree of risk. Because decision-making groups are composed of individuals, it would seem that risk taken by a group should be the same as the average risk that would have been taken by the individual group members acting alone. But the social forces involved in group decisions make this assumption incorrect. Contrary to expectations, groups consistently make riskier decisions than individuals. This finding has since been called the risky shift phenomenon. Group decisions seem to shift toward increased risk more often than toward increased cautiousness. The most powerful explanation involves diffusion of responsibility. Because individual group members believe that no single person can be blamed if the decision turns out poorly, they can shift the blame entirely to others (the group). This diffusion of individual responsibility may lead members to accept higher levels of risk in making a group decision.

Network Centralziation

Networks can also be characterized in terms of their _______________. In centralized networks, all communications pass through a central point or points, so that one or a few members of the network control most of the information exchanges. Traditional organizational hierarchies, where subordinates communicate mostly or only with their bosses, who in turn communicate with their bosses, represent centralized networks. Companies in which units do not communicate with one another but only with a central headquarters, which then simultanesouly coordinates all the units, are also centralized. In decentralized networks, no single member of the network dominates information exchanges. The circle and the well-connected networks are examples. In the circle, each member of the network talks with two others, and no one member dominates. In the well-connected network, on member of the network communicates with each of the other four, but those other four members all communicate with almost everyone else. Centralization is somewhat higher in the well-connected network relative to the circle, but it is not excessively high.

Specialty Area Jargon

One problem in large, complex organizations concerns the proliferation of specialists. Specialists are highly knowledgeable within their own fields but often have limited understanding of other fields. In addition, they often have their own "language," or jargon. It may be difficult for two specialists in different fields to communicate effectively with one another because of use of different terminology.

Know Your Audience

People often engage in what communication expert Virgil Scudder refers to as "me to me to me" communication. With this phrase, scudder is describing communicating with others as if you were communicating with yourself. Such communication assumes that others, share your frame of reference, and in the absence of feedback, that people interpret the message as you intend.

Listen Actively

Poor listening skills are a common barrier to effective communication. Listening is not a passive, naturally occurring activity. People must actively and consciously listen to others in order to be effective communicators. IN a recent study based on data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, active listening was ranked first in terms of skills valued in job categories expected to grow the most between 2012 and 2022.

Downward Communication

Refers to communication from senior managers to junior managers and from junior managers to associates, is necessary to provide job instructions, information on organization policies, and performance feedback. ________ can also be used to inform those at lower levels about the organization's goals and about changes faced by the organization. Downward communication, however is frequently deficient in this regard. Lower-level managers and associates often complain about the lack of information on goals and changes being made in the organization.

Degree (of Acceptable Risk)

Risk exists when the outcome of a chosen course of action is not certain. Most decisions in business carry some degree of risk. In choosing between less and more risky options, an individual's risk-taking propensity, or willingness to take chances, often plays a role. Two persons with different propensities to take risks may make vastly different decisions when confronted with identical decision situations and information. One who is willing to face the possibility of loss. In making decisions, individuals with lower risk-taking propensities may collect and evaluate more information. They may even collect more information than they need to make the decision. Managers with low risk-taking propensity used more information and made decisions more slowly. Although informaiton is important, managers and associates with low risk-taking propensities must avoid becoming paralyzed by tring to obtain and consider too much detailed information. Conversly, those with high risk-taking propensities must avoid making decisions with too little information.

360 Degree Feedback

Some time ago, organizations began to use communication from all three directions in the area of performance appraisal. Almost all Fortune 500 companies use 360-degree multi-rater feedback to evaluate senior managers. Such feedback includes performance appraisals from peers (horizontal communication), subordinates (upward-communication), and superiors (downward communication) Evaluations from customers/clients and suppliers are also sought in some cases. There are, however, some problems with 360-degree feedback. One problem with subordinate evaluating superiors is that retaliation for negative performance evaluations can occurs. Another problem is that peers may be politically motivated to either overrate or underrate their co-workers. Thus, it is usually recommended that upward and horizontal appraisals be used only for training and development purposes and that superiors' evaluations be given more weight when appraisals are used to make personnel decisions. However, if superiors do take their own 360-degree feedback seriously, and change their behavior as a result of feedback form subordinates and peers, the loyalty of subordinates will also increase.

Implement (and Follow Up)

The decision-making process does not end when the decision is made. The decision must be implemented, and the decision maker must follow up and monitor the results to ensure that the adopted alternative solved the problem. By monitoring the outcomes, the decision maker may determine that the chosen alternative did not work. A new problem then must be solved.

Questioning Orientation

The degree to which curiosity is emphasized. Descriptors include inquisitiveness, unconventionality, agrumentativeness, and philosophicalness.

Verbal Agressiveness

The degree to which personal opinions and positions are advocated. Descriptors include authoritarianism, derogatoriness, angriness, and unsupportiveness.

Best Alternative (Select the)

The next step in the decision-making process involves evaluating all relevant alternatives. To complete this step, the decision maker assesses each alternative using each criterion. After evaluating each alternative, the decision maker chooses the alternative that seems to best satisfy the criteria, thereby solving the problem in the best manner possible.

Organizational communication

The purpose of _______________ is to facilitate the achievement of the organization's goals. This form of communication involves the use of communication networks, policies, and structures.

Emotionality

The reflection of stress or sadness in communication. Descriptors include worrisomeness, tension, sentimentality, and defensiveness.

Communciation Process

The starting point in the communication process is the sender--the person who wishes to communicate a message. To convey information, the sender must first encode it. The encoded message is then sent through a communication medium, or communication channel, to the intended receiver. Once the message has been received, the receiver must decode it. To ensure that the meaning the receiver attaches to the message is the same as the one intended by the sender, feedback is necessary.

Techniques ( best choice)

The techniques for group decision making explained above are more concerned with increasing the number of ideas generated than with directly improving the quality of the final solution. Although having a greater number of ideas the possibility that a superior alternative will be identified, other techniques can help the group find the best choice. Two key approaches are dialectical inquiry and devil's advocacy. These approaches counter the tendency of groups to avoid conflict when evaluating alternative courses of action and to prematurely smooth over differences within the group when they occur.

Group Decision Making

We often view decision making as an individual activity, with thoughtful individuals making good or bad organizational decisions. But it is common for a number of people to participate in important organizational decisions, working together as a group to solve organizational problems. This is particularly true in high-involvement organizations, where associates participate in many decisions with lower-level and middle-level managers and where lower-level and middle-level managers participate in decisions with senior-level managers. In high-involvement organizations, teams of associates also make some decisions without managerial input. In this way, human capital throughout the organizational is utilized effectively. Because the purpose of group decision making is to arrive at a preferred solution to a problem, the group must use the same basic decision-making process-define the problem, identify criteria, gather and evaluate information, list and evaluate alternatives, and choose the best alternative and implement it. On the other hand, groups are made up of multiple individuals, resulting in dynamics and interpersonal processes that make group decision making different from decisions making by an individual. For instance, some members of the decision group will arrive with their own expectations, problem definitions, and predetermined solutions. These characteristics are likely to cause some interpersonal problems among group members. Also, some members will have given more though to the decision situation, engagement may differ across members, and so on. Thus, a group leader may be more concerned with turning a collection of individuals into a collaborative decision--making team with the development of individual decision-making skills.

Groupthink

When group members maintain or seek consensus at the expense of identifying and earnestly debating honest disagreements, ___________ is said to occur. Focusing too much attention on consensus, especially early in a decision process, can result in a faulty decision. Many important ideas and alternative courses of action may not be seriously considered. This type of group phenomenon can occur under a number of different conditions, including the following: Group members like one another and therefore do not want to criticize each other's ideas. Group members have high regard for the group's collective wisdom and therefore yield to early ideas or the ideas of a leader. Group members derive satisfaction from membership in a group that has positive self-image and therefore try to prevent the group from having any serious divisions. In essence, then, a variety of factors can cause group members to avoid surfacing divergent opinions and ideas within the group. Groupthink may be most likely when a group that has a positive image is under threat, such as when a management team faces a tough competitior or when a presidential administration faces possible military engagement.

Virtual Social Worlds

have also been added to the technology arsenals of a number of companies. Unlike social media such as YouTube, Facebook, or Wikipedia, ___________________ offer real-time interactions where people exist in a three-dimensional setting as self-generated representations of themselves (i.e., avatars). Participants can communicate using voice rather than text, utilize virtual equipment of all kinds, walk around in cleverly constructed settings, and sit down with others in venues such as cafes. Providers of ___________ such as Econd Life and Spoton3d have created sophisticated interactive systems that at being used by companies such as IBM for conferences, team meetings, and training. Using the virtual approach can help individuals whoa re shy to engage more fully, and it can dramatically reduce travel costs when participants live in different parts of th ecountry or world.

Gestures

signs used to convey specific meanings (such as making a circle with your fingers to indicate "okay" or shrugging your shoulders to indicate "I don't know").