Exam 1 Org Comm

Positive feedback

Find new avenues of growth and development

Homeostasis

Self-regulation and ability to maintain a steady state

Orgs as dialogues

balanced comm in which each individual has a chance to speak and be heard ●A kind of collective mindfulness in which the interactants are more concerned about group effectiveness, than about individual ego or position. ●Requires that people "learn how to think together"

Equitable Transaction

all participants have the ability to voice their opinions and perspectives ❖Voice also refers to an employee's decision to speak up against the status quo rather than keep quiet or give up. if employees don't have chance to use voice, whistle blowing can occur

how do cultures begin?

birth: dominated by founders midlife:culture is fluid and evolving org maturity:emphasize not changing the best (yahoo)

practical view: jim collins & Jerry Porras

central views: >An organization's existence is dependent on its culture and will succeed if.... -It preserves its core values and purpose -Is open to change and opportunity -Institutes a cult-like culture -Has a clear vision for the future cult like culture: >Fervently held ideology -Employee behavior follows the ideology >Indoctrination -Instill culture in employees >Tightness of fit -Make sure all employees fit the culture >Elitism -Employees have a sense of belonging and superiority vision frame work core ideology: character of the org envisioned future: orgs view of achieved goals drawbacks: can be compared to actions of a dictator, leads to unethical practices

Psychological Contract

companies don't have much loyalty anymore (if i work hard, I will rise in hierarchy) new social contract: no guarantees for future (if work hard) have to move around jobs

Boundary Spanning

company employees who have direct contact with the public(1) They can access the opinions of people outside of the organization and can use that information to guide organizational decision making; (2) their awareness of subtle trends in the environment can serve as a warning system for environmental jolts; and (3) they serve as important representatives of the organization to its environment. hear what is working and whats not. build relationships with the customers

Morgan's diagnostic tool for assessment of system congruencies

contains org subsystems on the side: environment (stable and certain or turbulent and unpredictable) strategic (defensive operational goal setting or proactive creation of learning system) technological (routine, low discretion roles or complex, high discretion roles) human/cultural (economic/instrumental orientation to work or self actualizing orientation to work) structural (mechanical/bureaucratic or organic) managerial (authoritarian/democratic) then puts them on a scale based on each subsystem

Openness

Open to the environment

mindful communication

a mental and relational activity that is purposeful and strategic vs. mindless communication - comm is often mindless because of scripts (reserves energy) - more possibilities in our relationship with others (trust can be built when you act authentically) - promote and environment in which equitable exchange of ideas is possible - David Bohm: "Having thoughts" vs. "Thinking"

Bureaucracy (Max Weber)

a system of government in which most of the important decisions are made by state officials rather than by elected representatives classical management and bureaucracy: ◉The dislike of Particularism gave rise to the new system known as Bureaucracy ◉Under the system of classical management .Saw bureaucracy as technically superior to all other forms of organization at the time theory: ◉Task Specialization (Division of Labor) ◉Hierarchical of authority ◉Formal Selection ◉Rules and requirements ◉Impersonal ◉Career Orientation Implications for Organizational Communication: ◉Communication is seen as unproblematic ◉Used as a tool for issuing orders, communication, coordinating work efforts, and gaining employee compliance - did not believe bureaucracy as ideal but best for its time

Anthropomorphism

a technique in which a writer ascribes human traits, ambitions, emotions or entire behavior to animals, non-human beings, natural phenomena or objects. ex: "the "real" economy is suffering as much as the financial one"

Empathetic Conversation

ability to understand the world as another person understands it, empathy. collective mindfulness in orgs aka perspective talking people who struggle with this typically: . believe that their view of reality is the only correct view . Assume others opinions are mis-formed or misguided . Are obsessed with the correct right answer why this is critical in an org: 1.It promotes understanding among different departments. 2.Makes managing diversity and inclusion possible. 3.Acknowledges that even though individuals and groups might have different perspectives no single perspective is inherently better than another.

Symbolic Interactionism

stimulus->interpretation->response >Human beings act toward things on the basis of the meanings that the things have for them >The meaning of such things is derived from, or arises out of, the social interaction & communication that one has with others >These meanings are handled in, and modified through, an interpretive process used by the person in dealing with the things he/she encounters example: they make fast food logo colors similar (red & yellow) (ketchup & mustard)

descriptive approach

telling us what we do, do

Personal Mastery

All members share a personal commitment to learning and self-reflection.

Gareth Morgan: the organization as an organism

"Goals, Structures, and efficiency now become subsidiary to problems of survival and other more biological concerns" Population Ecology: Natural Selection Organizational Ecology: Survival of the fitting Coopetition: blend of cooperation and competition •Organizations as clusters of interrelated human, business, & technical systems that interact with the environment •Corporate survival -balance internal needs and adapt to the environment •Organic systems that remain open to new challenges

4 essential elements of SMA****IMPT

"One best way" based on time and motion studies 2. Scientific selection of workers: Match the worker to the job - Certain people are more suitable than others for certain jobs. 3. Scientific training and pay of workers 4. Inherent difference between management and workers: workers seen as machines, made efficient by removing wasted effort

Chester Barnard (1886-1961)

"Organizations by their very nature are cooperative systems and cannot fail to be so." systems of cooperation of human systems that are typically short lived. rare for a firm to lasty more than a century org that claims substantial age is the roman catholic church they are not long lived because they meet two criteria necessary for survival: effectiveness (as being able to accomplish stated goals) and efficiency functions of the executive (1938) authoritative comm Incentives

Father of human relations movement: Elton Mayo (1880-1949)

"Social Man" Era (1930-1950) - Society is comprised of groups, not isolated individuals○Group norms influence individual behaviors - Stressed the limits of individual rationality and the importance of interpersonal relations

Douglas McGregor's Theory X and Theory Y

(1) Theory X - the average human being has an inherent dislike of work and will avoid it if possible - Because of this dislike, most people must be coerced, controlled, directed or threatened with punishment to get them to put forth effort toward the achievement of organizational objectives - The average human being prefers to be directed, wishes to avoid responsibilities, has relatively little ambition, and wants security above all. ex: corporation that has a well established hierarchy (2) Theory Y - The expenditure of physical and mental effort in work is as natural as play or rest - External control and threat of punishment are not the only means for bringing about effort toward organizational objectives. - Commitment to objectives is a function of the rewards associated with the achievement. - The average human being learns not only to accept but also seek responsibility ex: company that has genuine passion; start up company like grassroots project -The basic assumptions involved are not collectively made by management, nor do these assumptions apply across the board to all employees. Rather, they are assumptions made by individual supervisors about individual employees. The supervisor then treats each employee in accordance with the assumption he has made about that employee. In turn, the behavior of the employee involved is in response to the way he is treated by the supervisor.

Hawthorne Effect

- Also called the Observer Effect - The tendency to perform better when believing that one is observed - Individuals modify or improve an aspect of their behavior in response to their awareness of being observed

Hawthorne Studies

- Conducted between 1924-1932 at Western Electrical Works - Aimed to find out what what environmental factors affect work productivity

Human Resources

- Contributions of all employees in reaching organizational goals - Maximize both organizational productivity and individual needs satisfaction - All people not just managers have untapped resources (obligation of managers to tap these) - Participative decision-making - More creativity Douglas McGregor, Abraham Maslow, Rensis Likert

Theory X

- Control - oriented bureaucratic - centralized decision making through management - pessimistic view of employees

newer applications of system theory

- Learning Organizations - Sensemaking - Loosely Coupled Systems

Incentives

- Money and other tangible inducements; - Personal non-material opportunities for distinction - Desirable physical conditions of work - Ideal benefactions, such as pride of workmanship etc. 2 ways of convincing subordinates to cooperate: tangible incentives and persuasion

Practical View

- Prescriptive approach guided principles: - Culture is an organizational feature that can be leveraged by managers to create more effective organizations - Culture is purposeful, can be strong, and is a rational instrument designed by top management to shape the behavior of employees in purposive ways concepts: - relationships can be created between cultural elements (stories, rituals) and organizational outcomes (org commitment) - Deal and Kennedy, Peters and Waterman culture is "the way things get done around here" - Companies with strong cultures can be highly profitable - Leaders help employees understand and work according to organization's vision and values Critique: -May require employees to give up freedoms in exchange for membership; May seem too controlling (Theory X), strong cultures can become addictive cultures, or abusive and dysfunctional

Results of Hawthorne Studies

- Psychological and Social factors play more of an important role than environmental ones for worker productivity - Communication and involvement from management can also benefit employees - Decisions that affect self interests can boost productivity

Four Seasons

- To All Our People - Past, Present, and Future - Who have created and will continue to maintain the success of Four Seasons - Four Seasons is the sum of its people - many, many good people.

effective comm varies by:

- company - industry - people involved - org culture

contexts are:

- complex - interpreted to make sense of what we see and hear - often constructed and evolve into reality - often taken for granted - circumstances involving values, norms, and individual preferences that impact our interpretations of the world (closely tied to our identities since we mature with a growing collection of contexts over time)

Learning Organizations: Peter Senge

- system thinking - personal mastery - flexible mental model - a shared vision - team learning shift of mind toward a more participative and holistic notion of effective organizing dialogue: - Starts with the willingness to challenge our own thinking, to recognize that any certainty we have is , at best, a hypothesis about the world (Senge, 1990, p. 277). - Dialogue could have more value on the communication process, and group members are thereby more willing to distance themselves from their own opinions and ideas in business

Approaches to Org Comm

- transactional process - info transfer - strategic control - balance of creativity & constraint - dialogues

Theory Y

- treats employees as valued human resources - employees possess high capacity to do a lot of things - optimistic views of employees

Newcomer Assimilation: Frederic Jablin

-Involves sensemaking: "How things really work around here." -Often involves a sense of urgency to understand the organizational context Newcomers assimilation is the process of understanding rules, norms and how things really work within an organization. "Because employees do receive information from multiple sources and look for many opportunities to identify with their new culte organizations should treat orientation as a set of multiple activities spread over a period of time and space rather than a discrete and formal event (Stephen & Dailey 2012) Sources of information: ◦Official company messages ◦Coworkers and peers ◦Supervisors ◦Customers and others outside the organization 3 phases: 1. Anticipatory Socialization nvocational , organizational 2. Organizational Assimilation 3. Transition to Full Member

Authoritative Communication

-Managers should obtain authority by treating subordinates with respect & competence. -Authority rests with the subordinate rather than superior. Subordinates comply when: >communication is understood >aligns with both personal and org interests >mentally & physically able to comply

elements of culture in org

-Metaphors -Rituals -Stories -Artifacts -Heroes and heroines -Performances -Values

4 different types of "systems" of organizations

-System I - exploitative/authoritative -System II - benevolent/authoritative -System III - consultative -System IV - participative

org culture perspectives: common characteristics

1. Culture is seen as patterns of behavior and their interpretation and is formed and transformed mainly by the process of communication. 2. Everyday communication is as important as other, more notable symbolic expressions, i.e., logos, annual reports, and infrequent rituals. 3. In addition to words and actions, all types of non-verbal communication such as machines, artifacts, and work processes are studied. 4. Culture is considered a nexus of national, local, familial, and forces outside the organization, requiring broader patterns of interaction within society. 5. The legitimacy of multiple motives for studying culture, from improving corporate performance to overthrowing existing power structures, is acknowledged.

dialogue: 4 levels of collaboration

1. Mindful communication 2. equitable transaction 3. Empathetic Conversation 4. Real Meaning

contingency theory based off

1. Organizations must balance differentiation and integration to be successful. 2. Groups that are organized to perform simpler, more certain tasks usually have more formal structure than groups focusing on more uncertain tasks 3. The time orientation of sub-groups is primarily dependent on the immediacy of feedback from their actions. 4. The goal orientation of sub-units is based relative to the part of the environment that affects them the most.

Levels of Culture

1. Surface Knowledge: Artifacts -Physical Space, layout -Technological Output -Written & Spoken Language -Methods of Communication -Behavior of Group Members 2. Daily Enactment: Values -Group members justify their actions and behaviors based on their values and beliefs. 3. Basic Underlying Assumptions -Assumptions determine how group members think, perceive, interpret, think, judge, and feel about things.

8 common principles of successful companies

1. a bias for action - active decision making - don't rely on a lot of info to make a decision - decision is quick and efficient 2. maintain close relations to the customers 3. autonomy and entrepreneuriship - empower employees - encourage them to take risks, be resposible for decisions and actions, innovation 4. productivity through people - quality members - cohesive work 5. hands on and value driven - strong core values 6. stick to the knitting (stick to what you know) 7. simple form and lean staff 8. simultaneous loose-tight properties -neither centralized nor decentralized in management style

Founding perspectives

>Classical - Historical backdrop but not "dead" subjects - Largely prescriptive (telling you what to do, what they should be doing) approaches >Human Relations - Spotlight on individual needs >Human Resources -Spotlight on role of employees contributing to organizational functions

Distributed intelligence

All members of the system play an important role in system's ongoing self-organization

Practical Implications

1.Importance of the environment in which organization exists - must organize with environment in mind: -Boundary Scanning -Changes in task, context -Bridging critical boundaries -Develop strategic responses 2)Organizations as sets of interrelated subsystems - Contain wholes within wholes - Individuals belong to groups, groups belong to departments, departments belong to divisions, divisions belong to organizations, etc. - Interdependence (pooled (everyone doing there own thing, then come together), sequential(do it in parts, need to do in sequence like an assembly line), reciprocal(everyone interacts at same time like brainstorming)) - Goals - Processes vs individuals 3) Feedback and Learning ►Feedback -Positive - deviation amplifying; new ways to grow -Negative - deviation counteracting, restore status quo ►Learning: Chris Argyris & Donald Schon -Single loop: most common, problem solving -Double loop: reevaluates & re frames goals, values 4) Open systems encourage Alignments between systems -Identify and eliminate dysfunctions -Openness -Requisite variety -Matching subsystems -Equifinality

Advantages of promoting dialogue in organizations

1.Increases employee satisfaction and commitment 2.Reduces turnover rates 3.Leads to greater innovation and flexibility within an organization

Disadvantages of promoting dialogue in organizations:

1.It can be time-consuming 2.May lead employees to assume that their ideas will be implemented 3.It may lead to a lack of closure or the feeling that no right answer can be found.

scientific management approach

>"Theoretical approach to organizations that emphasizes: - organizational design, - worker training for efficiency, - chains of command, - division of labor."

Elliot Jaques

>Association -Group of equals; equal distribution of power & authority -Best for idea generation, exploration of beliefs, professional colleagues >Bureaucracy -Hierarchy, chain of command, levels of power and control -Best to deliver goods and services -The problem is not that hierarchy doesn't work - we need to learn to use it properly

Classical Management Approaches

>Assumptions - Supervisors control workers - Workers are silent receptors of mgt info >Influenced by: - Industrial Revolution - Protestant Ethic and notion of hard work (Benjamin Franklin) - Divisions of labor, hierarchy, bureaucracy (Adam Smith, Karl Marx) - there's a best way & we are going to tell you what to do

Behaviorism

>Behaviorism: All behavior can be measured Stimulus ---->Response >B.F. Skinner: + behavior that is + reinforced will reoccur, esp. when intermittent >e.g. incentives such as raises in pay, equal working hours with superiors

Counterculture

>Behaviorists believed in malleability of human nature - we are all born equally in possibilities that can be shaped by the environment >Maslow believed human nature was not indefinitely malleable but each is born with needs that when allowed expression by the environment foster growth >Maslow - visions of individual potential "turning his back on more than 2 centuries of the opposite assumptions.

Taylorism = Fordism

>Both focused on understanding mass production and new methods that could make it more efficient. >Both cut costs, reduced judgment and skills needed by workers >Both reduced worker independence and thinking

F.W. Taylor's contribution to organizational theory:

>Clear delineation of authority and responsibility >Separation of planning from operations >Time and motion studies >Incentive schemes for workers >Task specialization >Eliminate uneven work >Reduce soldiering & Increase productivity

McDonalization

>Efficiency >Predictability >Calculability (quantity vs quality) >Non-Human vs. Human

Functions of the Executive (1938)

>Establishing and maintaining a system of communication >Securing essential services from other members >Formulating organizational purposes and objectives.

Maslow

>Eupsychian (moving towards psychological health or self-actualization) Management (Some examples of his 36 assumptions) - Assume everyone is to be trusted. - Assume in all your people the impulse to achieve... - Assume that there is no dominance-subordination hierarchy in the jungle sense or authoritarian sense (or "baboon" sense). - Assume the preference for working rather than being idle. - All human beings, not only eupsychian ones, prefer meaningful work to meaningless work. > Strongly influenced by McGregor's The Human Side of Enterprise (1960) >Belief that McGregor's had not gone far enough with Theory X and Theory Y.

Renisis Likert (1903-1981)

>Helped us understand high-involvement organizations and supportive relationships >All organizational interactions should support individual self-worth & importance -Focus on open communication -Foster supportive relationships >Likert defined 4 different types or "systems" of organizations: >Management's job: -Endorse open communication -Provide general employee oversight, not close supervision -Encourage collaboration to improve productivity

Early Perspectives (why study these?)

>Historical- explain past, reflect era when they emerged >Metaphorical - use language to describe processes >Points out functions we might miss >Might de-emphasize important aspects - 3 Ps > Partial- unanswered questions > Partisan- find info to confirm it > Problematic

hierarchy assets if used correctly

>Hold people accountable for getting work done >Place people w right competency at each organizational level >Allows separation of work by complexity

System III: Consultative

>Increased trust in employees from managers >Open communication exists >Decisional power lies at higher organizational levels >More cooperative teamwork (2) >Managers motivate through incentives: -Rewards -Potential involvement in projects/tasks -Occasional punishment famous leaders: steve jobs, bill gates, richard branson

Hierarchy drawbacks

>Inefficiency >Lack of initiative >Poor adaptability >Low Morale >Anti-creativity >Too many layers >Managers don't add real value

3 key points follet

>Leadership - Coactive" control NOT "coercive" control >Communication - Only cooperation among people working together in groups under visionary leadership produced excellence in the workplace, neighborhood or community >Manager and Worker -Relationships Empowering workers by providing them with shared information - (Democratic Ideals)

System II: Benevolent Authoritative

>Managers motivate through reward system >Increased two-way communication -Limited upward communication → criticism is not tolerated >Lower employee recommendations are not accepted >Employees compete for rewards (2)

Culture

>Meaningful order of persons & things revealed through a group's symbols >The collective programming of the mind which distinguishes one group or category of people from another - Hoffstede >A construct that is Not directly accessible to observation, but is inferable from behavior and useful in predicting behavior

System 1: Exploitative Authoritative

>Most stringent >Disconnect & lack of trust between managers & employees >Top-down organizational communication -One-way communication >Managers often motivate through fear Minimal teamwork, collaboration, & communication (2)

Classical approach to Org Design

>Organizational structure (orgs are like a machine) - Specialization of tasks (division of labor) - Network of parts & Departments .Focus on complementary functions >Patterns of Authority - Scalar chain of command (one man- one boss) >Efficiency - Standardization, precision (subordination of individual to interest of organization) - Replaceability >Predictability - Operates/is fixed by rules and standards

3 views of org culture

>Practical View >Interpretive View >Critical/Postmodern View

Harmful effects of bureaucracy

>Robert Merton identified what he saw as the dysfunctions of bureaucracy. >Bureaucracy stifles creativity with its sea of rules and SOPs. >It is also overly pragmatic and lacks a visionary element. >Occasionally rules dominate goals.

System IV: Participative

>Satisfactory for lower-level employees (3) >Active, transactional decision-making across organization levels >Open communication >Motivation through monetary rewards & goal-setting involvement >High levels of teamwork → increased satisfaction & productivity (2) famous leader: Mark Cuban (owner of NBA Dallas Mavs) believes that leaders should work as hard as those under them

Hierarchy: Stratified Employment

>System Tenets: -1 or more persons held accountable for the work of others -Employment is a function - at least 1 manager -Enforce accountability by the right to: . Veto appointments . Assign tasks . Evaluate performance . Remove person from role

Does bureaucracy theory hold up?

>There have been both theoretical and applied challenges to bureaucracy as the only model of formal organization in the modern world. >Horizontal models of formal organization >Decentralization of organizations >Postmodern organizations

4 componnts of strong cultures

>Values- beliefs and vision (3M: innovation, Prudential: stability) >Heroes - exemplify values of organization (Steve Jobs, innovation and market savvy) >Rites/Rituals - ceremonies to celebrate values (awards for new ideas, company picnic, ETMO) >Cultural network - institutionalize and reinforce values (newsletters, informal social interactions, etc)

Mary Parker Follett (1868-1933)

>Went against the norms of her time >Wanted to change the model of strict divisions of labor to a model of teamwork and open cooperation >Presented a new way of thinking of social processes -Human Relations Approach Accomplishments: - great women management gurus - Novel ideas about leadership, communication, social processes, and community - Social worker, author, speaker on democracy, human relations, political philosophy, psychology, organizational behavior & conflict resolution - One of the first women ever invited to address the London School of Economics - President Theodore Roosevelt's personal consultant on managing not-for-profit, non-governmental, and voluntary organizations

organizational culture is

A process that is socially constructed in everyday communicative behaviors among all members of the organization

Feedback

A system of loops that connect communication and action

2 types of context constraints

A. Contexts restrict expressions of "creativity and personal freedom." - Acceptable phrases for candor and content are different for professional circumstances than casual, friendly circumstances - Writing Center example ( how she talks to a person talking to her as a professional at the writing center will be different than how she would edit her friends paper B.Contexts enforce perceptions that mold how you understand reality. - The foundation for all interpretation

transactional process

All persons engaged in sending and encoding as well as receiving and decoding messages simultaneously assumptions: 1) Able to be senders and receivers, both people listening 2) Nonverbal communication can be received as a message 3) People describe the meaning, not just the words Effective communicators are clear and open in their efforts to promote understanding and shared meaning advantages: - Better understanding of message than just information transfer Better in terms of being a leader disadvantages - Wishful thinking about shared meaning between two people - Diverse viewpoints Cannot verify peoples communication examples: 1) Healthcare providers handing info of patients charts and effectively communicating with one another 2) Leadership transactions between them and their followers, gain a common understanding

dialogues

Balanced communication or communication in which each individual has a chance to both speak and be heard Assumptions: 1) Communication is conscious activity 2) Everyone has equal say Everyone embraces different views, not just their own advantages: - Has certain scripts for easy conversations - Reserve energy for more mindful communications Mindful communication leads to effective communication with deeper understanding of each other disadvantages: - Can put self in awkward situation if use wrong script Unempathetic people, don't embrace other peoples perspectives examples: 1) Saying the wrong script to a waiter making it an awkward encounter 2) In an organization can talk to a supervisor, but unlikely to go straight to the CEO to voice opinion

Transformation

Change energy taken into the system into a new form

In defense of the bureaucracy

Charles Perrow argues that the machine ought not to be blamed rather those that misuse it to further their personal goals.

Theoretical Assumptions

Classical: people are lazy and don't want to work human relations: people are tractable, docile gullible, uncritical, want to be led, want to feel united and bound to something bigger

information transfer

Communication as a pipeline through which info flows from one person to another assumptions: 1) Language allows us to transfer thoughts and feelings from one person to another 2) Speakers and writers put thoughts and feelings into words 3) Words contain those thoughts and feelings 4) Listeners or readers extract those thoughts and feelings from words advantages: -Clear one-way communication - Great for broadcast messaging to give to a big body of people disadvantages: - Miscommunication - Information Overload - Distortion Ambiguity example: 1) Giving instructions to a child 2) Students listening to a lecture

strategic control

Communication as a tool for influencing and shaping one's environment assumptions: 1) Everyone in org feels the same way Often used in crisis advantages: - Advances our appreciation of the subtleties of communication - Communication that serves your best interests - Goal attainment Through strategic ambiguity can promote unified diversity and facilitate organizational change Disadvantages: - Minimizes importance of ethics - Escape blame through strategic ambiguity Clouds issues related to cooperation, coordination, power and inequality, empathy, and the interdependent relationship of individuals and groups examples: 1) Writing and enforcing organizational policy 2) When your boss asks how you're doing and you say "I'm fine" even if you are actually tired and frustrated

Org Comm is Situated

Depends on the context; What works for one organization won't work for another

Negative Feedback

Deviations from the norm cause action to correct the deviation

Synergy

Dynamic interaction where the whole is greater than the sum of parts

Bureaucracy advantages

Efficiency, decision making, accountability and answerability, rules and regulations

Edgar Schein's 6 Formal Propositions of Org culture

Enactment 1. A pattern of Shared Basic Assumptions 2. Assumptions are invented, discovered, or developed by a given group Selection 3. The group learns to cope with its problems of external adaptation and internal integration 4. Ways of how the group worked well are to be considered valid Retention 5. These ways can be taught to new members of the group 6. Taught as the correct way to perceive, feel, and think in relation to the problems

Tendency of closed systems to deteriorate and run down

Entropy

Contingency theory

Environment may determine the structure of a system

Frederick Winslow Taylor (1856-1915)

Father of scientific management - orgs are inefficient and lack systematic management - best management is a true science, resting upon clearly defined laws , rules, and principles as a foundation

Equifinality

Many ways to arrive at the same end

Loosely Coupled Systems

Have lack of coordination, absence of regulations, highly connected networks with low feedback times, several means to product the same result Help organization by: allowing the org to persist though rapid environment fluctuations, improve the org sensitivity to enviro, allowing local adaptations to develop, allow sub-system breakdown without damaging the entire org, allow more self-determination by actors benefits: -response to change -Sensitive Sensing Mechanism -Localized adaptation -Breakdown -Autonomy disadvantages: -Situations where several means can produce the same result -Lack of coordination -Absence of regulations -Highly connect networks with very slow feedback times examples of tight: military, starbucks (same wherever you go) examples of loose: university with the different departments

Systems thinking

Homeostasis negative feeback feedback negative entropy requisite variety equifinality interdependence synergy transformation openness contigency theory positive feedback double loop learning distributed intelligence systems theory entropy

Peters and Waterman

In Search of Excellence ●Studied 62 financially successful companies ●Attempted to find similar patterns in these companies They concluded that all 62 companies had 8 common principles

Requisite variety

Internal complexity of a system: internal regulatory mechanisms must be as diverse as the system's environment

Org Comm is Perishable

Last year's communication may not work this year ex: cable bundles, streaming, real news, encyclopedias, deposit slips

Double loop learning

Learning to learn, questioning basic assumptions

Retrospective

Only after we perceive something, do we decide what happened

Systems theory

Organizational effectiveness depends on coordination of the total enterprise rather than individual components

pros and cons of maslows eupsychian management

PRO: Employees of award-winning organizations who work in rewarding and challenging positions may find it possible to align their personal development goals with customer service, intelligence gathering, or software engineering. CON: However, it is unlikely that all employees will have the opportunity to self-actualize. The maintenance crew, cafeteria employees, and mail room staff, for example, may find it difficult to "be all that they can be" while working monotonous or otherwise unsatisfying jobs.

Phases of Hawthorne Studies

Part 1: Illumination Experiments (1924-27) Part 2: Relay Assembly Test Room Study (1927-1929) Part 3: Mass Interviewing Program (1928-1930) Part 4: Bank Wiring Observation Room Experiment (1932)

Jerry Harvey

Prayers of Communication and Organizational Learning •Only way for organizations to learn is through "prayer" prayer encourages development and growth, people usually fear truth and have interrupted prayers that are full of lies and deception

Systematic Soldiering (Slacking)

Problem: Getting employees to work at max capacity at all times rather than minimum output level >Causes: ◦Full capacity may result in need for fewer workers ◦Piecework system of pay ◦Rule-of-thumb methods of training ◦Group Interactions

Bureaucracy Disadvantages

Red tape, bureaucratic delays, corruption, change of goals, paper work

Integrity requires:

Requires: •Mindfulness •Dialogue •Courage Respect others and respect yourself

Negative entropy

System's attempt to sustain itself by importing energy

Systems approach

Systems, organism metaphor: compare organizations to complex organisms that must interact with their environment Descriptive, explanatory approach to org comm

Ideal Bureaucracy

The ideal bureaucracy cannot be fully realized for several reasons It is not possible to rid all extra-organizational influences on member behavior Bureaucracy does not deal well with non-routine tasks people vary in terms of rationality

Balance of Creativity and Constraint

Thinking innovatively, being willing to reexamine taken for granted routines and practices, encouraging new ideas, but within the realm of society assumptions: 1) Behavior as an unresolvable, productive tension between creativity and constraint 2) Macro perspective: sees individuals as being molded, controlled, ordered, and constrained by society and by social institution 3) Micro perspective: sees individuals as active agents who create society and its social system advantages: - Have some creative freedom - Able to say your ideas disadvantages: - Rarely get the reality they set out to create - Too much constraint can cause problems Feel like the experience is not your own examples: 1) A restaurant owner opens a new restaurant, so they set out their norms and1) A restaurant owner opens a new restaurant, so they set out their norms and rules, but they still have to accommodate local government policies 2) Freedom of speech, but can't yell fire

Organizations

Types: . Size: small- flexible, entrepreneurial, speedy medium- no entrepreneurial or financial edge large- $$, deep pockets, reputation, hierarchy, slow . Urgent Organizations: companies whose main challenge is to shorten the time in which they develop new products and respond to customerdemands . Environment - turbulent - placid

Interdependence

Wholeness of the system and its environment and its interrelationships with individuals within the system (members depend on each other)

Interpretive View

descriptive approach - emergent, - complicated, - not unitary, - and often ambiguous. - It is not a thing that can or should be managed - b It is sensemaking in an organization guided principles: Culture is a process that is socially constructed in everyday communicative behaviors among all members of the organization concepts: -Culture cannot be managed, it emerges from symbolism or discourse -Leaders don't create cultures, members do - Meaning is created in dialogue, stories, and narratives - Schein - Critique: Different narrators tell different stories about the organization, based on their own interests and values; Little agreement on how to define symbolism. Inadequate exploration of power dimensions or change initiatives

Contingency Theory- Lawrence and Lorsch

developed an open systems theory of how organizations and organizational sub-units adapt to best meet the demands of their immediate environment and are also affected by their environment For a company to succeed, some of its members must spend a significant amount of time engaged in environmental scanning, the careful monitoring of competitors, suppliers, government legislation, global economics, new technologies, political developments, and consumer preferences. advanced examples: government, economy, great depression, foreign affairs simplistic examples: Students and their teachers relationships, Cars traveling on the road, College students going out ►Effective firms reach a higher quality of performance when adequate internal differentiation is achieved, depending on the organization's external environment ►The more homogeneous and stable the environment, the more formalized and hierarchical the form. ►Ecological perspective - those organizations that can best adapt to the environment will survive.

Dialogue and the Situated Individual

different circumstances create different expectations for acceptable actions and interpretations ●Someone who actively tries to balance the construction and maintenance of social realities that they experience in everyday life. ●As situated individuals, we create meaning from our various contexts and share these meanings with others over time. ●This is how we form relationships with others, build loyalties with organizations, how we find our purpose, etc. ●This becomes a balancing act when contexts contradict each other intrapersonally or interpersonally. The situated individual must manage the discrepancies to form interpretations. •Thoughts and actions are based on interpretation of contexts in learning about others •Always more than one context

3 parts of sensemaking model

enactment selection retention

Situated (contextual)

external internal personal

critical and postmodern views

guided priciples: Specifically looks at issues of power and domination associated with the development, maintenance, or transformation of a particular culture. concepts: - Culture is composed of ongoing dialogues that are variously complicit (participants accept or go along with the dominant interpretation or meaning) and engaged (participants challenge the dominant interpretation with an alternative explanation) - culture is a site of multiple meanings and organizational truths that change with one's perspective - Integration perspective: culture is consistent and clear; members agree about what to do and why; little ambiguity - Differentiation perspective: shows differences and asserts that cultural manifestations can be inconsistent with one another; subcultures may coexist in harmony, conflict, or indifference; org cultures are political domains that have trouble with genuine dialogue - Fragmentation perspective:ambiguity is inevitable and pervasive and is a necessary component of dialogue; consensus and dissensus coexist in a constant pattern of change

Human Relations (1924-1933)

influenced by historical events: - great depression - ww2 - new ways to understand human behavior >Influenced by the ideas of Symbolic Interaction >Importance of human needs in the workplace >Look at employee - manager relationship >Influence of individuals in organizations >Interpersonal needs of workers >Family metaphor Mary Parker Follett, Elton Mayo, Chester Barnard

Organizational Subsystems

inputs that energize the org: human, financial, info, material resources org outputs: goods, services, effectiveness, influence on future

Ideal managerial hierarchy

managers accountable for work of others, sustain team, set direction and get workers to follow top of hierarchy: More complex problems that need complex mental functioning Too many layers have little distinction therefore little value Too few layers have too big a jump and little value

Requisite Organization (Elliot Jaques)

org that improves the sense of well being & self actualization of employees (moral "rightness" component) How to Create moral organizations in society? What causes dysfunction? >Problem - poor structure & systems, not deficient employees >Fix system rather than employees >Employees work at full potential, efficiency, effectiveness, and job satisfaction: -capability matches job complexity, -Employees' capability match managers' to improve leadership/communication, -right number of organizational layers, -Defined managerial authority/accountability -Felt fair compensation re: job complexity

Barnard's definition of efficiency

organization as the degree to which that organization is able to satisfy the motives of the individuals.

Real meaning

philosophers such as Martin Buber (I-THOU) says understanding and empathy are not enough. Need genuine comm btw people that transcends differences and recognizes a common humanity openness to learn through dialogue revise how we see things

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

physiological (food, clothing), safety (shelter, security, employment), love/belonging(affection, respect), self-esteem (salary, rank, status), self-actualization (truth, justice, wisdom, meaning)

Karl Weick

sensemaking Models of Organizing (both DESCRIPTIVE): •Making sense of environmental uncertainties & reducing equivocality (sensemaking) •Loose vs. tight coupling

Reification

viewing an abstract, immaterial concept as if it were a concrete thing ex: justice is blind

Henry Fayol (1841-1925)

•First to develop comprehensive theory and guidelines for management as "Administrative Science" in General and Industrial Management, 1916 •Identified the need for teaching management in universities and colleges •Described how an organization "should be" run . five elements of classical management - broad admin theory

ethics is a system of

•Rules •Duties •Morality to guide behavior Doing things right Doing the right things

Self and Other

•We construct "others" in relation to our conception of self •Complex, dialogic - constrained by our culture, race, gender, subconscious, etc. •Self and others are partners in constructing meaning

Systems Thinking

■Combining holism and interdependence, systems thinking claims that for any one member to succeed, all members must succeed. ■Example: In nature, ecosystems have various elements such as air, water, movement, plants, and animals, they all work together to survive or perish.

A shared vision

■In learning organizations, tight hierarchical control is replaced by "concretive control"(Tompkins & Cheney, 1985), whereby members act in concert because they share a common organizational vision and understand how their own work helps build on that shared vision. ■Example: study groups in every classes, they do not have a physical leader or manager in the group, but they work together for finish their group project.

Flexible Mental Models

■Mental models are those patterns of belief that shape and limit an individual's interpretations and actions. In a learning organization, members engage in self-reflection, allowing them first to understand and then to change the mental models that tend to guide their thinking.

Team Learning

■Team members in a learning organization communicate in ways that lead the team toward intelligent decisions with an emphasis on dialogue as the key to team learning.

what is a system?

►A system is a complex set of relationships among interdependent components or parts ►It is greater than the sum of its parts ►Relationships are what make a system ►Open Systems interact with their environments

Social

►Actions and meanings have a social context even when we are alone ►Generalizations, prototypes, stereotypes and interdependencies simplify sensemaking

Plausibility rather than Accuracy

►Any map will do if it gets people orienting themselves and moving in their sensemaking ►Complete accuracy and full information are impossible ►Mental models need not be correct, just plausible, coherent and reasonable

Ongoing

►Communication is an ongoing process of making sense of circumstances and events ►Previous knowledge helps us to learn from and update actions and meanings

Environment

►Different environments favor different species of organizations -Consider Internet environment and .com businesses ►Different environments favor different methods of organizing -Predictability and "fast food" processes of management ►Congruence with the environment is key to success What is the fit?

Weick's use of System's Concepts

►Environment ►Interdependence of system components ►Requisite variety -Decision rules and structures used when equivocality is low -More complex communication cycles and systems needed for uncertain information environments

Sensemakings 7 characteristics

►Grounded in identity construction ►Retrospective ►Enactive of sensible environments ►Social ►Ongoing ►Focused on and by extracted cues ►Driven by plausibility rather than accuracy

Extracted cues

►If we notice sensory cues, we try to make sense of them - although we never have complete information ►We tend to make "bits" of data = entire situations and shape meanings of what we believe situation is

General Systems THEORY

►Ludwig von Bertalanffy, 1968 ►All phenomena can be viewed as a web of relationships among elements, or a system ►All systems have common patterns, behaviors, and properties that can be understood and used to develop greater insight into behavior

enactment

►Organizational environments are not only physical, but are information environments that do not exist out there in an objective manner ►We create environments through actions and patterns of attention and talking (enactment) ►In Enactment, different members give information different meanings, creating different information environments and provide the answer to the question, "What's the story?"

Weick's beliefs about sensemaking

►Organizations exist in highly complex environments ►Same facts can be interpreted in various ways by different observers ►Equivocality reduction: People organize to make sense of equivocal inputs and enact this sense back into the world to make the world more orderly

Katz and Kahn

►Published The Social Psychology of Organizations - helped us understand what people do to contribute to an organization's effectiveness ►Application of General systems theory to organizations as open systems with a focus on open systems of communication - Social not physical systems, created by people - Need of system for maintenance inputs to keep human variability in check

selection

►Reduce the number of possible meanings ►Use retrospective attention, mental models, articulation to reduce bracketed material ►Generate a plausible story that is tentative and provisional

Sensemaking activated by:

►Same or different? ►Action becomes disorganized ►Efforts are made to construct plausible sense of what is happening ►Plausibility normalizes the breach, restores the expectation, enables project/action to continue

Retention

►Selected story gains solidity ►When the story is retained it becomes more substantial as it relates to past experience, connects to significant identities, and is used as guidance for further action or interpretation

Enactive of sensible environments

►Take in cues as data and make sense of information that fits with the rest of one's concept of the situation ►How we respond to the cue further shapes the situation and our reality ►We create and then find what we expected to find Determines the basis for action

Sensemaking Key points

►What one expects is what one sees ►Important to make sense of the world, organize information & cause/effect to be comfortable ►How we decide what to "notice" and what to ignore (Cues we ignore do not actually exist for us) ►It's ongoing and retrospective ►It is how we develop plausible images that rationalize what people are doing

Grounded in identity construction

►Who we think we are (identity) shapes what we notice and how we interpret ►We "know" who we are by interactions with others ►If images of us change, identity may be destabilized and we are more receptive to new meanings ►When people face an unsettling difference, that difference often translates into questions such as who are we, what are we doing, what matters, and why does it matter? ►Recipe: How can I know what I think until I see what I say?

Characteristics of Organizational Bureaucracy According to W. Richard Scott (1981) 6 key elements of an ideal bureaucracy

◉A fixed division of labor among participants ◉A hierarchy of offices ◉A set of of general rules that govern performances ◉A rigid separation of personal life from work life ◉The selection of personnel on the basis of technical qualifications and equal treatment of all employees ◉Participants' view of employment as a career; tenure protecting against unfair arbitrary dismissal universalism vs. particularism

Real World App of Situated Individual

●Org Communication ○Organizations can shape their rhetoric and policies to best fit the values/contexts of their audiences → Maximizing profits and client satisfaction ●Everyday Life ○This theory ultimately recognizes that we are all complex individuals. It encourages us to connect with others in a more intentional manner.

Five elements of classical management

●Planning ●Organizing ●Commanding (goal setting) ●Coordinating ●Controlling (evaluating)

· Katherine Miller's 4 Categories of Fayol's Principles:

●Structure (scalar principle departmentalization): -Structure is composed of Fayol's scalar principle which instilled a strict hierarchy . each employee would have one boss and they were accountable for only one plan. -promoted division of labor through departmentalization. ●Power -Power is driven by ○Centralization of decision making . respect for authority - Fayol believed that discipline and obedience would result only if both principles were present. ●Reward -Fayol valued a stable workforce which he coupled with paying employees fairly as a reward for their work efforts -With this he was able to avoid recruitment costs and high turnover rates ●Attitude - Attitude was based on the belief that . employees should subordinate their personal interests . supervisors should promote positive employee morale - Fayol felt both efforts would help ensure fair organizational attitude