What is the definition of organizational behavior and why is knowledge about this important? - Chapter 1

Organizational behavior is defined below and it is clear that this topic is important. Due to the many changes in the world outside of the organization, the way of working within the organization also changes. The behavior and performance of an organization are discussed below.

How can you define organizational behavior?

An organization is a group of people that work together to achieve individual goals or group goals. Individual goals are goals that members within the group aim to achieve like earning money, getting respect and so on. Examples of goals for an organization are profit, development of a particular drug or ensuring that a particular product is promoted. Organizations exist to offer resources and services. The quality of these goods and services are the result of the behavior and performance of the employees within an organization.

Organizational behavior (OB), is the study of factors that influence the behavior of individuals and groups within organizations and also the way an organization responds to their environment. The study of organizational behavior provides concepts and theories that help to understand, analyze and describe the behavior within organization and provides tools for making decisions in order to achieve organizational goals.

At what levels is behavior in organizations examined?

Behavior in organizations is examined at three levels: the individual, the group and the organization as a whole. Most research is focused on the characteristics of the individual. The effects of a team or group on OB are also examined. A group consists of two or more people who interact to achieve their goals. A team is a group in which the members work together intensively and develop a specific routine to achieve a common goal. A virtual team is a group in which the members collaborate intensively with the help of electronic tools and who may never meet each other in real life.

The number of group members, the group composition, the diversity of the group members and the tasks they have to perform influence not only the behavior of the group as a whole but also the behavior of the individuals within the group.

Two characteristics of an organization as a whole have important effects on the behavior of individuals and groups:

1. Organizational culture (values and beliefs). The organizational culture influences the attitudes of people and therefore their will to achieve goals.

2. Organizational structure. The main purpose of an organizational structure is to promote the hard work of people and to coordinate their efforts to ensure a high level of performance of the organization.

What is the relationship between organizational behavior and management?

The study of behavior in organizations has the goal to better understand behavior and on the other hand to provide insights that can be applied in achieving the organizational goals. A manager is someone who supervises the activities of one or more employees. Managers are expected to understand the behavior of their employees and respond appropriately to this behavior. A top management team consists of a number of senior managers who together determine the strategy of an organization/company with which the set goals can be achieved.

For managers, it must be a challenge to come up with good ideas for achieving organizational goals. The effectiveness of an organization (organizational effectiveness) means the ability of an organization to achieve the set goals. OB can prevent this using three techniques:

1. The manager can try to improve the self-confidence and/or beliefs of an employee so that he/she is able to produce more and be more satisfied with the work.

2. The manager can change the remuneration system, changing the employees' beliefs about the extent to which remuneration depends on their performance.

3. The manager can change the design of an employee's work and/or the rules and procedures to make tasks more attractive or easier.

An important challenge for all organizations is to encourage employees to do their work as effectively as possible for their own benefits, the benefit for their working groups and those for the organization.

Management functions

Management is the process of planning, organizing, managing and controlling the human, financial and material resources of an organization and other resources that are necessary for increasing the effectiveness of an organization.

Four functions of the management are:

1. Planning: Making the best strategies for achieving the set organizational goals. This is a difficult and complicated process because there is much uncertainty and therefore risks have to be taken when making decisions. OB can contribute to planning by showing how decisions can best be made.

2. Organizing: putting together a structure that defines how employees of an organization must work together to achieve organizational goals.

3. Leading: Encouraging and guiding individuals and groups so that everyone is on the same wavelength in achieving the goals of the organization. The way managers manage situations is changing more and more because employees often work in self-managed teams. These are groups of employees who have been given the authority and responsibility to manage different aspects of their own organization behavior.

4. Controlling, the tracking and evaluation of individual, group and organization performance in order to see if the set organizational goals are achieved. If this is not the case then action will be taken. The controlling function also ensures that managers can evaluate how they themselves perform in the area of planning, organizing and managing.

Management roles

Managers perform their above functions by taking on certain roles in organizations. A role means all kinds of behaviors and tasks that a person should perform because he or she holds a certain position in the group or organization.

According to Mintzberg there are 10 broad roles:

1. Figurehead, the person who takes on the visible role of a leader but does not have any authority, for example, give a speech or open a new building.

2. Leader; makes decisions and mobilizes people.

3. Liaison, coordinates the work of all managers under him.

4. Monitor; evaluates the work of others and keeps an eye on the market.

5. Disseminator; keeps the employees informed about the situation within the organization.

6. Spokesperson, speaks on behalf of the company to the general public

7. Entrepreneur; decides whether to expand the business and reserves money for certain projects.

8. Disturbance handler; solves problems/crises as quickly as possible.

9. Resource allocator; determines salaries, bonuses, and budgets of the various departments.

10. Negotiator; works with customers, distribution traders, etc. to resolve conflicts and build a long-term relationship.

Management skills

The study of organizational behavior not only provides managers with tools to improve their functions and roles but also to improve their own skills in managing organizational behavior.

A skill is the ability to act in a certain way so that this person can perform his or her role well. Managers need three skills to perform well as a manager:

1. Conceptual skills; the ability to analyze and diagnose situations and to see a clear distinction between cause and effect. Examples are 'planning' and 'organizing'.

2. Human skills; the ability to work with people, to guide them, to understand them and to control their behavior.

3. Technical skills; job-specific knowledge and techniques that a manager needs to be able to perform within his/her role. Examples are accounting, marketing, etc.

An effective manager must have all three characteristics. The absence of one or more characteristics causes the manager 's downfall.

What are the challenges for the management of an organization?

In recent decades, organizations face more and more challenges related to changes in the social and cultural environment, the global environment, the technological environment, and the working environment. In order to properly reflect the influence of changes in the environment on organizational behavior an open system approach is often used. In an open system, organizations use resources from their environment and convert these resources or change them into goods and services that are brought back into the environment where customers will buy them. An 'open system' consists of three phases:

1. Input stage: the organization extracts resources from the environment, such as using raw materials, hiring employees etc. Organizational procedure is a rule or a routine that an employee must adhere to in order to fulfill a certain task as effectively as possible.

2. Conversion stage: changing the 'inputs' and assigning a value to the 'inputs'.

3. Output stage: the organization brings back products and services to the environment.

Below is an explanation of the four most important challenges:

Challenge 1

An important challenge for organizations relates to the changing social and cultural environment. Changes occur in the way people live and work, changes in values, attitudes, and beliefs that are caused by the culture in a particular country and the characteristics of the inhabitants. A national culture is a collection of values that a society considers important and the norms that indicate which behavior is accepted or rejected. Organizations must be receptive to the changes in society because these changes affect all facets of the organization.

There are two major challenges for organizational behavior that arise from changes in the social and cultural environment, namely the impairment of ethical values and the greater diversity of employees in organizations.

1. Impairment of ethical values. Due to the many ethical scandals that recently occurred at many companies where managers enriched themselves, the development of organizational ethics within companies was considered very important. Ethics means the values, attitudes and moral rules that managers and employees should apply to analyze or interpret situations. On this basis, they must decide what is the "right" or appropriate way to act. Managers may have to deal with ethical dilemmas. This means that they are faced with the choice of choosing between ethical conduct and a course of action that will benefit them. Ethical organizational behavior is important for people's well-being. Well-being is determined by a feeling of happiness, health, and prosperity. Ethics also determines the social responsibility of an organization. These are the obligations of an organization towards people or groups that are directly affected by the actions of that organization.

2. Increasing diversity among staff. Diversity means individual differences arising from age, gender, race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, and socioeconomic background.

Three different challenges arise from this. To begin with, challenges that have to do with honesty and justice. Managers are challenged to distribute jobs, promotions, and rewards in an honest and equitable manner. Secondly, challenges that relate to decision making and performance. Here managers are challenged to take advantage of attitude differences and perspectives of people who differ in age, gender or race, in order to improve decision making and to increase the performance of the organization. Finally, the challenge of flexibility. The manager must be sensitive to the different needs of employees such as needing flexible hours or needing to work from home. This can improve the well-being of the employees.

Challenge 2

An important challenge has to do with a changing global environment. Many companies expand their activities to a global level. A global organization is an organization that manufactures or sells products in countries or regions around the world (Toyota, IKEA, Pepsi, Sony). Companies that operate worldwide are confronted with differences between countries and are challenged to use these differences to their advantage.

Companies have to consider many different factors when they operate worldwide. First, there is a difference in organizational behavior in different countries around the world. Secondly, there are problems with coordinating activities for example, decision-making becomes more difficult. Finally, one has to deal with the consequences for the company in their home country when it is decided to go abroad (outsourcing).

To start a successful organization abroad, time has to be spent on 'global learning'. 'Expatriate managers' are employees who live, work and are responsible for the company abroad developing relationships between organizations around the world. They can improve OB by:

1. Learning about 'low-cost inputs' and the places where they can best assemble their products.

2. Learning the skills that are provided by local employees.

'Global learning' is also important to find more effective methods to respond to a global crisis or disaster, this is called 'global crisis management'. Examples include dealing with natural or man-made disasters and geopolitical tensions.

Challenge 3

The rapid development in information technology (IT) has greatly changed organizational behavior and procedures. IT is the different types of computer and communication hardware and software, and the skills of their developers, programmers, managers, and technicians.

IT, first of all, affects the effectiveness of an organization. Through the internet (a global network of connected computers) and intranet (a network of IT in an organization that connects all members) more information is available and knowledge can be exchanged more easily and problems can be solved.

Routine work is taken over by the computer so that more time is left for other activities such as the development of new products. Through IT, a company can respond better to the needs of its customers (banks, for example, have introduced internet banking).

Second, IT plays an important role in stimulating creativity (the emergence of new, useful ideas) from people, groups and organizations. This can then result in innovations that benefit the end result (product or service) (innovations).

Challenge 4

In the last decades, globalization and IT have changed the relationship between organizations and their employees. The first major change in organizational behavior included downsizing. This is the process by which an organization fires managers and employees to save costs. Empowerment is the process whereby employees are given the authority to make important decisions and where they are responsible for the consequences. Secondly, there is an increase in temporary workers and temporary employees. More and more 'contingent workers' are also being used. 'Contingent workers' are temporary workers and do not receive benefits such as health insurance and/or pensions. The third change is outsourcing, redistributing certain work or an activity that was first carried out by the company itself, e.g. outsource the work to freelancers.

What are individual differences and why are they important to managers? - Chapter 2

Individual differences are the ways in which people differ from each other. Every member of an organization has its own way of behavior. It is important for managers to understand individual differences because they influence the feelings, thoughts, and behavior of employees. Individual differences can be divided into two categories:

• personality differences

• capacity differences

What is personality and how is it influenced?

Personality refers to the relatively stable patterns in the thinking, feeling, and behavior of a person. It is an important factor in explaining the behavior of people within an organization and in the favorable or unfavorable attitude towards the job and the organization.

Sources of personality

Personality is partly biologically determined (nature). There are no specific genes that determine personality, but twin research shows that approximately 50% of personality can be explained by hereditary factors.

The other half can be explained by life experience (nurture). Personality can change through experience but not in the short term. As the definition makes clear, it is after all relatively stable traits. Managers should therefore not set themselves the goal of changing the personality of employees, but personality can be used to understand behavior.

Situational influences on personality

A large amount of research shows that personality is a good predictive and explanatory factor for the thinking, feeling, and behavior of employees in the workplace. Personality, for example, influences work-related attitudes and behavior, such as career satisfaction and coping with work-related stress.

In addition to personality, however, the situation also affects attitudes and behavior. If the situational pressure is strong, personality has less influence on work-related behavior. Employees are not free in varying behavior in such situations and so personality is not decisive.

Both personality and situation factors can, therefore, influence behavior. Eventually, cognition, affect, and behavior are determined by the interaction between personality and situation. Effective managers understand this interaction and use it to help employees perform optimally.

What is the ASA model and what is it used for?

According to the attraction-selection-attrition (ASA) model of Schneider an organization attracts persons with corresponding personalities (attraction) and selects them (selection) while rejecting other types of personalities (attrition). As a result of the combination of attraction, selection, and attrition, a sort of 'typical' personality develops for a specific organization. ASA processes work in different ways. When hiring future employees, for example, people are unconsciously chosen to fit the current employees. In this way, the nature of the organization ultimately becomes a reflection of the typical personality of the employee.

Which personality traits are part of the Big Five?

The Big Five Personality Model consists of 5 personality traits (extraversion, neuroticism, altruism, conscientiousness, and openness) that in turn consist of specific sub-traits. These personality traits are at the top of the trait hierarchy. People can be placed on a continuum for each trait.

1. Extraversion is the tendency to experience positive affect and to feel good about the self and the world. Introversion - the other side of the continuum - is associated with less positive feelings and less social interaction. Extraversion is associated with more career satisfaction in the workplace.

2. Neuroticism means that there is a tendency to experience negative feelings about the self and the world. People with strong neurotic traits experience stress more quickly and are critical of themselves. This can be a vulnerability but also a force. Because of their critical attitude, they are driven to improve their performance and are able to reflect critically during group discussions. So it is not just a negative trait.

3. Altruism (agreeableness) refers to the property to be able to get along well with others. Low scorers on this personality trait are antagonistic and suspicious. In some cases, this property may be useful, for example in debt collecting where social skills are greatly needed.

4. Conscientiousness refers to care and perseverance. This is accompanied by orderliness and self-discipline. Conscientiousness is a good predictor for career success. It must be accompanied by the right skills for work and social competence.

5. Openness is the extent to which an individual is open to new experiences and risks, has broad interests and is original. This is an advantage in companies in which creativity and innovation are desired.

The Big Five personality model can be used to understand behavior and functioning on the work floor. It is important to realize that there is no such thing as a good or bad personality profile.

Other personality traits

In addition to the Big Five, there are various personality traits that are relevant to organizations.

Locus of control is the extent to which an individual believes to have control over the situation in which he/she is located. An internal locus of control means that events are attributed to personal factors and therefore that responsibility is taken for the consequences of their own behavior. An external locus of control means that events are attributed to situational factors. Employees with an internal locus of control need less supervision than employees with an external locus of control because they are more independent.

Self-monitoring refers to the extent to which a person actively tries to influence how he/she presents himself to others. A high degree of self-monitoring leads to strongly socially acceptable behavior. These people are often accommodating and good at impression management. High self-monitoring is associated with good adaptability, which is beneficial in situations where positive interaction with others is needed. Low self-monitoring is beneficial when open and honest feedback or criticism must be given.

Self-confidence/self-esteem (self-esteem) is the extent to which someone is satisfied with themselves and their own skills. Self-confidence has different implications for behavior in organizations. High self-esteem is related to choosing challenging work, setting high goals and stimulating the development of the organization.

What are type A and type B personalities?

The division between type A and B personality is known for the association between type A and the risk of cardiovascular disease. Type A can be described as ambitious, competitive and impatient. Type B can be described as having a relaxed and flexible attitude. Type A can be effective when high goals have to be achieved in a short time, but the disadvantage is that these people are less easy to handle.

Which three needs does almost everyone have?

According to McClelland, there are three characteristics that everyone has to varying degrees: the need for success, need for commitment and need for power.

Need for success is the desire to perform well in challenging situations and to meet a high standard. This need is related to setting clear goals, willingness to take responsibility for the outcomes and the desire to receive feedback. This also correlates with career success.

There is a need for solidarity in efforts to build and maintain good relationships with others. People who have a strong need for solidarity are good co-workers but it is not good if all employees in a team are like this because this can be at the expense of working effectively on tasks because everyone is then focused on 'keeping the peace'.

The need for power is the strong need for emotional and behavioral control over others. People who possess this property are often managers or people in leadership positions. For managers, a combination of a high need for success and a high need for power is the most effective.

What types of capacities can be distinguished?

The capacities of a person are the second category of individual differences and are decisive for the level of performance at work. Two types of capacities can be distinguished: cognitive capacities and physical capacities.

Cognitive capacities can be defined in various ways. The broadest definition is cognitive capacity as general intelligence. Under intelligence, there are different areas of cognitive functioning. According to research, cognitive ability is predictive of career success, provided that the type of cognitive ability is related to work. In order to understand the relationship between cognitive capacity and success, the abilities required for the specific work must, therefore, be identified.

In terms of physical capacity, a distinction can be made between motor capacity (the ability to deal effectively with objects) and physical capacity (condition and strength).

Both cognitive and physical capacity develop through a combination of hereditary factors (nature) and experience (nurture).

Tests for cognitive abilities have been developed to measure what is innate but it is known that these capacities change over time and under the influence of experience through (lack of or availability of) education and upbringing. Standard tests can thus be used as an indicator, but interpretation depends on issues such as ethics.

Physical capacity can best be measured by performing work-related physical activity.

Physical and cognitive abilities can decrease as a result of factors such as fatigue, drug or medicine use, illness, and stress. When suspected drug use occurs, tests can be performed, but limitations due to fatigue or illness can then be missed. Moreover, it often takes a long time to obtain the results. As a solution, fitness for duty tests have been developed to determine whether employees can safely carry out their jobs.

Emotional intelligence is a specific type of capacity. It refers to the ability to understand and deal with one's own and other's feelings. A high level of emotional intelligence is positively related to functioning and well-being at work. A low level of emotional intelligence can be restrictive.

For each specific job, only a selection of the discussed capabilities is relevant. Managers must ensure that employees have the capabilities required for the specific job. There are three fundamental methods for making the match between job and employee: selection, placement, and training. Upon selection, potential employees can be tested for the required characteristics. Upon placement, employees who are hired are placed in a suitable position within the organization may be promoted to higher positions. In training, the focus is on nurture instead of nature, and the capacities of the employee are strengthened.

Individual differences are the ways in which people differ from each other. Every member of an organization has its own way of behavior. It is important for managers to understand individual differences because they influence the feelings, thoughts, and behavior of employees. Individual differences can be divided into two categories:

• personality differences

• capacity differences

What is the influence of personal thoughts and feelings about work on organizational behavior? - Chapter 3

This chapter discusses the thoughts and feelings (the work values, work attitudes, moods, and emotions) that people have about work, their job, the organization in which they work and how these thoughts and feelings influence the organizational behavior. Study of the thoughts and feelings contribute to a better understanding and better management of organizational behavior.

What are work values?

work values are the personal views of an employee about what one expects to get from work and how one should behave at work. Expected rewards (outcomes) can be self-respect, money or status. These values are relatively static and are guidelines for behavior. work values can be divided into two categories, namely intrinsic and extrinsic work values.

• Intrinsic work values are the values that are related to the nature of the work itself, for example, learning new things, being challenged or being creative.
• Extrinsic values are values that are related to the impact of work, for example, a high reward, social contacts or time for your hobbies.

The importance of intrinsic values in relation to the extrinsic work values differs per person. Managers must take into account the work values of the employees if changes are made with regard to working hours, etc.

In addition to work values, there are also other values such as ethical values, moral rights values, utilitarian values, and justice values. Ethical values mean one's beliefs about what is right and wrong. Moral rights values are values that dictate that decisions must be made in such a way that the rights of the person affected by the decision are protected. Utilitarian values are values that dictate that decisions have to be made in such a way that the greatest number of people possible benefit from it. Justice values command that the consequences (both positive and negative) must be fairly distributed among all people who make the decision.

Codes of ethics consist of formal rules that are based on ethical values and beliefs about what is good and what is bad. Employees can use this code to make the right decision.

A whistleblower is a person who informs people with authority positions about illegal or unethical behavior in an organization.

What is meant by work attitudes?

Work attitudes are a collection of feelings, beliefs, and thoughts about how to behave in the workplace and within the organization. These attitudes are not as static as the work values. This is because people's jobs often change. Two work attitudes that influence organizational behavior are job satisfaction and organizational commitment.

Job satisfaction, the set of feelings and beliefs that people currently have about their job. People can have attitudes about their job as a whole, but also about certain aspects of it. Organizational commitment is the collection of feelings and beliefs that people have about the organization as a whole.

Work attitudes consist of three components: firstly an affective component (feelings), secondly a cognitive component (convictions about the job) and thirdly a behavioral component (ideas about expected behaviors).

What is the influence of certain moods and emotions during work?

Work moods indicate how people feel when they are actually working. Moods can change but can generally be categorized as positive or negative. This mainly affects the personality of the employee and the specific situation. Large life events, such as a marriage, but also small conditions, such as ambient noise, can affect someone's mood.

Workplace incivility is rude social interactions which reflect a lack of respect toward others. This can create a negative mood on the work floor, which in turn can result in reduced performance. Examples include: ignoring a colleague, refusing to help, sarcasm or negative comments.

Research shows that moods influence different aspects of organizational behavior, such as creativity and decision-making, and that they also depend on the situation in which the behavior occurs.

Emotions are short-lived intense feelings as a result of an event. Emotions can change into moods over time. Emotional labor is the work employees do in order to keep their feelings and experiences under control (think of a stewardess who has had a bad day, she will have to do her very best not to show this to the customers). The extent to which people experience positive, negative or neutral moods at work depends on their personality and the situation. A positive state of mind has a good influence on various issues, such as decision-making.

Emotional dissonance happens when employees are expected to express a certain emotion that they actually do not feel at that moment. For example, if an employee has to help a customer in a store, he is expected to behave in a friendly manner towards the customer, whatever his mood.

When employees of an organization share important values, have positive attitudes and experience positive moods, it is more likely that they will trust each other. Trust is a sign of belief in a certain person or group that it will never hurt you or harm you. Trust can improve collaboration between employees and so also the exchange of information needed for creativity and innovation.

How is job satisfaction influenced?

There are four factors that influence the level of job satisfaction:

1. Personality; the sustainable way in which a person thinks, feels and behaves. Personality is very important when answering the question of whether someone is happy with his work. It is also true that your genetics account for 30% of job satisfaction.

2. The work situation; this means the work itself, the working conditions, the way in which the organization treats its employees and all other aspects concerning the work and the organization.

3. Values; these have an impact on the level of job satisfaction because they reflect the employees' beliefs about the expected rewards of their work and how they should behave at work. For example, someone with strong intrinsic work values will be more satisfied with his poorly paid job than someone with low intrinsic labor values, because that person gets satisfaction from the work itself.

Conversely, someone with strong extrinsic labor values is more satisfied than someone with weak extrinsic labor values with a well-paid job, even if it is boring work.

4. Social influence; the influence that individuals or groups have on a person's behavior or attitudes. Coworkers, the group one belongs to and the culture in which someone grows up, all have the potential to influence the level of job satisfaction. Colleagues have a large influence on job satisfaction. Dissatisfied colleagues can especially influence the job satisfaction of newcomers. The group to which someone belongs is also of influence. For example, if you belong to a prosperous family, you are less satisfied with a job that pays less well. The job satisfaction is also determined by the culture. America is very individualistic, while Japan has a much more social attitude. The culture you come from gives you a certain view of yourself and thus also your job satisfaction.

Which theories about job satisfaction are there?

There are several theories about job satisfaction. Here are four.

1. The Facet Model of Job Satisfaction

This theory focuses mainly on the work situation by dividing the job into elements, job facets, and then looking at how satisfied an employee is at each job facet. The total job satisfaction of an employee is the sum of satisfaction on the different facets. The job facets differ in importance for each employee. Examples of work facets are creativity, recognition, independence, variation, etc.

2. Herzberg's Motivator-Hygiene Theory of Job Satisfaction

This theory focuses on the effects of certain work facets on job satisfaction. This theory is of the opinion that every employee has two types of needs:

• 'Motivator needs'; these needs have to do with the actual work and how challenging it is. If these needs are met then the employee will be satisfied, will not be satisfied than not.

• 'Hygiene needs'; these needs have to do with the physical and psychological context in which the work is carried out (e.g. salary, environment, etc.). If the hygiene needs are met, the employee will be satisfied.

According to Herzberg, an employee may be both satisfied and dissatisfied with their job at the same. For example, the employee might be satisfied because their motivator needs are being met but their hygiene needs are not.

Herzberg was also convinced that satisfaction and dissatisfaction are two different dimensions. One dimension is from satisfied to not satisfied and the other is dissatisfied to not dissatisfied.

3. The Discrepancy Model of Job Satisfaction

In order to determine how satisfied employees are with their jobs, employees compare their jobs with their ideal job. If the expectations of their ideal job are very high and these expectations do not match the job they currently have, then employees are dissatisfied.

4. Steady-State Theory of Job Satisfaction

According to this theory, every employee has a typical, characteristic and fixed level of job satisfaction, called steady-state/equilibrium.

Imagine you get a promotion, then you are more satisfied than before, but you always fall back into the equilibrium levels.

What are the consequences of job satisfaction?

No strong relationship has been demonstrated between job satisfaction and work performance. Research has shown that attitudes towards work such as job satisfaction, only affect work behavior when employees have the freedom to vary their behavior and when the worker's attitude is relevant to the behavior in question.

Satisfied employees are absent less often. Motivation to go to work can be influenced by the level of satisfaction, whether the organization has a very strict absence procedure, whether the work is interesting, etc. Whether you can go to work, is influenced by illness, accidents, transport problems, family problems, etc.

Staff turnover is the permanent withdrawal of an employee from an organization. High job satisfaction leads to low turnover. According to Mobley's model, work dissatisfaction triggers the turnover process and, conversely, people will begin to think about quitting their job.

Quitting a job yourself ('attrition') is a painless way for the organization to reduce the number of employees if, for example, things go badly with the organization.

'Organizational citizenship behavior' (OCB) is behavior that is not mandatory but is very important for an organization, such as helping a colleague, not stealing on the work floor etc. It seems that this behavior is influenced by attitudes such as job satisfaction.

The well-being of an employee means how happy, healthy, satisfied and prosperous the employee is. Job satisfaction contributes to the welfare of the employees.

What is organizational commitment?

Organizational commitment is the commitment of the employees to the organization. There are two types of organizational commitment:

• Affective commitment; this form of bonding occurs when the employee is happy that he/she may be an employee of the organization, when the employee believes in the organization and when the employee feels good about the organization and what it stands for.

They feel connected to the organization and want to do what is right for the organization.

• Continuance commitment; this form of commitment arises when it is very pricey (literally and figuratively) for the employee to leave the organization.

There are many factors that influence affective commitment, such as personality and the situation. After all, it is easier to be proud of your organization if it also does a good job. Affective bonding is more related to OCB than to work performance. Affective bonding also has a negative relationship with turnover: an effective bond with the organization ensures that they do not want to leave the organization; the other way around, the organization prefers not to let a person with a positive attitude go.

This chapter discusses the thoughts and feelings (the work values, work attitudes, moods, and emotions) that people have about work, their job, the organization in which they work and how these thoughts and feelings influence the organizational behavior. Study of the thoughts and feelings contribute to a better understanding and better management of organizational behavior.

How do perceptions and attributions help organize, understand and perceive? - Chapter 4

This chapter deals with how perceptions and attributions help to organize, understand and interpret what is observed and how managers can increase their skills by paying attention to the way they perceive and interpret. Furthermore, steps are discussed for the effective management of a diverse work floor.

What is perception?

Perception is the process of selecting, organizing and interpreting information that comes through the senses, to understand it and to form an opinion about it.

Perception consists of three components:

1. Receiver: he tries to understand the observations,

2. The target of the perception: this refers to the subject that the receiver tries to understand, such as a person, a group, an event, a sound, an idea or whatever is being watched,

3. Situation: the environment/situation in which the perception takes place.

The disadvantage of perception is that it isn't always 100% accurate because what is seen depends on how the person interprets the information.

Accurate perceptions are perceptions that come as close as possible to the truth which is the objective nature of the goal of perception but why are these so important? First and foremost, it is important for motivation and work performance, because if a manager observes accurately, he can respond well to his employees and in this way, he knows what leads to better performance and higher motivation. A second point is honesty and equality because you as an individual only perform at a high level if you feel that you are treated fairly and equally. The last argument is ethical accountability.

Objective observation is necessary to combat discrimination. This is especially important in today's global economy, where companies attract and employ workers from around the world.

What are the characteristics of the perceiver?

Information recipients do not passively process new information. Their experiences and knowledge (schemas), their needs and wishes ('motivational states') and their feelings ('moods') influence their perception of the goal.

A schema is an abstract knowledge structure that is in your memory and that makes it possible to organize and store the perceived subject ('target'). Newly perceived information about a particular topic activates the existing schemas on this topic and influences the processing of this new information. In addition, the schemas also determine what new information we pay attention to. They are very useful to process the incoming perceptions in a functional way but one has to look out for either making incorrect conclusions or making them too quickly as we trust past experience too much. Another disadvantage of schemas is that it takes a long time to change them.

A stereotype is a good example of a dysfunctional schema. A stereotype is a set of over-simplified and often inaccurate convictions about the typical behaviors attributed to a particular group. Employees must be careful not to stereotype.

The 'perceiver's motivational state' refers to the needs, values, and wishes of the perceiver at the time of perception. For example, perceiver's can see what they want to see through their motivation state, or hear what they want to hear. This often results in false perceptions.

The 'perceiver's mood' can also influence how something is understood. If the perceiver is in a good mood, he/she also perceives other people and situations as more positive.

What are the characteristics of the perceived target and environment?

As the characteristics of the perceiver influence the observations, the characteristics of the target and the environment also influence the perception.

The ambiguity of the target

Ambiguity provides too little clarity and thus makes it difficult to form a correct perception. The more unclear the observed subject, the greater the chance of errors in perception. When targets are ambiguous, members of an organization must be careful not to rely too much on the accuracy of their perceptions, and to collect as much information as possible to form an accurate perception.

The social status of the target

Social status refers to someone's real or perceived place in society or in an organization. If someone has a higher status, it is expected that the person is smarter, more responsible, has more input and more knowledge than someone with a lower status. This may also cause errors in perception.

Impression management by the target

Impression management is the attempt to control the perceptions and impressions of others. If this is done by the target of perception, it can cause errors in the perception. There are a number of ways in which a target can manage impressions:

• Behavioral matching; the target impersonates the behavior of the perceiver.

• Self-promotion; the target tries to present themselves in the most positive way.

• Conform to situational norms; a target follows the agreed rules for behavior in a given situation.

• Appreciating or flattering others; complimenting the perceiver. Works best if it is not too extreme and the perceiver is complimented on dimensions that are important to the perceiver.

• Stay consistent; what you say/believe you really have to do/believe. The verbal must correspond to the non-verbal.

Influence of the characteristics of the situation on perception

The situation and salience of the target of perception are important factors to provide the rest of the information in order to perceive the target correctly. The target can stand out because the target is an exception ('novel'), for example, one man in a whole group of women. The target can also stand out figuratively because everyone, for example, wears white and the target is wearing red. Finally, the target can stand out due to inconsistency because the target does not behave as everyone expects the person to, for example, they are normally very shy but at a party, they are very spontaneous.

What are the biases and problems in person perception?

Biases and problems with perception ensure that perception is never 100% objective. A bias is a systematic tendency to use or interpret information in a wrong way, resulting in false perceptions.

It is important for members of an organization to be aware of prejudices to avoid errors in evaluations and to be able to better understand each other and to better interact with each other. A number of common prejudices are discussed below:

• The primacy effect; the first piece of information that a recipient receives on the target (for example a gossip) has a large effect on the target's perception of the target.

• The contrast effect; the biased observation that arises when the perception of a target person is disturbed by perceptions that the observer has of others in the same situation.

• The halo effect; the general perception of a receiver over a target being in the way of the perception of the target on other dimensions. For example, someone can be very nice, but at the same time the person is always late because of this halo effect, an employer may, for example, make a mistake in giving them a promotion.

• Similar-to-me effect; the tendency of people to generally find people who look like them nicer. These people are seen more positively and are therefore more positively responded to.

• Average tendency bias; the tendency to see everyone as average. A disadvantage of this bias is that good employees are not rewarded and poor employees receive no feedback. A too strict approach can also have a demotivating effect. This is the 'bias due to the tendency to be strict or indulgent'.

• Knowledge-of-predictor bias; the favored perception that arises from the perceiver on the basis of certain information previously received and this influenced his/her perception of the target. As a result, this bias can have a self-fulfilling prophecy.

• Self-fulfilling prophecy; A prediction that comes true because the perceiver had already expected it to come true. The target will then act according to what was expected.

Attribution Theory

The Attribution Theory describes how people explain the causes of their own behavior and the behavior of others. People generally attribute behavior to external and internal causes.

External attributions are forces from the outside which affect behavior such as "I did not succeed, because the teacher did not allow me". Under internal attributions, causes are attributed to characteristics that a person attributes to himself, such as ability, effort, and personality.

The attributions that people make for their own behavior and that of others have much influence on their future behavior. Just as errors creep in with perception, there are also errors in attributions. Below are three attribution biases:

• Actor-observer effect; the tendency of people to attribute their own behavior mainly to external causes and the behavior of others due to internal causes.

• Fundamental attribution error; the tendency to attribute the behavior of others mainly to internal rather than to external causes.

• Self-serving attribution; the tendency of people to take credit for their success and not for their failure. People are more inclined to turn to their mistakes if they can prevent them in the future, for example, working harder or planning better.

How does effective management of a diverse work floor work?

There are four steps to make a diverse work floor work more effectively:

1. Ensuring diversity in top management; top managers have a lot of authority, power, and status within the organization, so if they support diversity, they encourage other employees to also stand behind diversity.

2. Training in diversity; there are many different types of diversity training programmes but they all come down to:

• Breaking through stereotypes.
• Bringing different backgrounds, experiences, and values of employees to attention.
• Showing employees how to deal with diversity-related conflicts.
• getting employees to understand each other.
• Education; offering additional education to be capable enough to manage, communicate and work with different employees and customers.

3. Mentoring; a process in which an experienced member of an organization (the mentor) gives advice to a less experienced member (the protégé) and helps him/her to do the right things for the organization.

There are two types of sexual harassment in the workplace. The first is 'quid pro quo sexual harassment'. In this kind of harassment, the employee is asked or forced to perform sexual acts in exchange for a reward or to avoid a negative consequence. The second form of sexual harassment is hostile work environment sexual harassment. This type of harassment is the constructing and maintaining a work environment that is intimidating and abusive. For example, sexually tinted insinuations are made on the work floor or sexual jokes are made etc.

In the workplace, steps must also be taken to prevent sexual harassment such as,

• Developing a regulation against sexual harassment that is supported by top management.

• Making this regulation clear to all members of the organization.

• Investigating sexually intimidating behavior with a fair complaints procedure.

• Taking proper action if sexual harassment has taken place.

• Providing training and information about sexual harassment.

This chapter deals with how perceptions and attributions help to organize, understand and interpret what is observed and how managers can increase their skills by paying attention to the way they perceive and interpret. Furthermore, steps are discussed for the effective management of a diverse work floor.

What do we mean by learning ability and creativity? - Chapter 5

Learning refers to a relatively permanent change in knowledge or behavior that is brought about by experience or practice. Three important elements of this definition are change, permanence, and experience.

What is operant conditioning?

One of the fundamental learning processes is B. F. Skinner's operant conditioning. According to this approach, operant conditioning is learned by experiencing the relationship between behavior and its consequences. In addition to consequences, antecedents also play a role in this learning process: instructions, rules, goals, advice and anything else that will help the employee realize what is right and what is wrong. Antecedents contribute in this way to the learning process through an educational role. The consequences of behavior can lead to two outcomes: an increase in desired behavior and a decrease in undesirable behavior.

An increase in desired behavior can be achieved through reinforcement, the process through which the chance of desired behavior increases by applying consequences that depend on the behavior because the consequences are made dependent on the behavior, the association between behavior and consequence develops.

The first step in the use of reinforcement is to identify the desired behavior. This seems obvious, but in practice often behavior other than the intended behavior is reinforced, for example, the behavior seems effective in the short term but in the long term it does not have the desired effect.

When the correct desired behavior is identified, the second step is to decide how to reinforce the behavior. This can be done in two ways: positive and negative reinforcement. Positive reinforcement means that there is a positive consequence of the desired behavior, such as a salary increase or promotion after delivering good work. Important for positive reinforcement is that there are individual differences in what is perceived as positive; the reinforcer must, therefore, be attuned to the individual.

Negative reinforcement means that a negative consequence is removed when desired behavior occurs, for example when a report is handed in on time the manager should stop complaining. The negative consequence of undesirable behavior is thus removed when the undesirable behavior turns into desired behavior. Negative reinforcement should not be confused with punishment (see below).

In both forms of reinforcement, it is important that the degree of excitation is in proportion to the magnitude of the behavior. Other guidelines when applying reinforcement are:

• Positive reinforcement is generally better than negative reinforcement

• The behavior to be confirmed must be carefully selected (first step)

• There must be balance in the emphasis on various desired behaviors

Reinforcement can take place on a continuous basis, for example, the behavior is always enforced when it occurs without exception. Another possibility is reinforcement on a partial basis, whereby the behavior is reinforced at intervals (a pause or a break between reinforcement). Continuous reinforcement leads to faster learning of desired behavior than partial reinforcement, but when it is stopped the behavior also disappears faster.

Furthermore, there are four possible methods of partial reinforcement:

• Fixed interval: the lapse of time between the moments of reinforcement is fixed

• Variable interval: the time interval between the moments of reinforcement varies

• Fixed ratio: Reinforcement depends on a fixed number of behaviors

• Variable ratio: Reinforcement is variable but averaged over the whole of behaviors

Which method one chooses depends primarily on practical considerations and has no significant influence on the effect of reinforcement; the effect depends on a clear relationship between behavior and consequence (reinforcement).

A specific form of reinforcement is shaping. This is the reinforcement of behavior that approaches the desired behavior. Shaping is an effective way of operant conditioning when it comes to complex behavior that requires knowledge and skills that the person learning the behavior does not yet have.

The second possible outcome of reinforcement is a decrease in undesirable behavior. This can be achieved by means of extinction and punishment.

Extinction means that unwanted behavior is reduced due to the elimination of the source of reinforcement. An example is to stop laughing at jokes that take too much time at meetings. It is important here that the source of reinforcement of undesirable behavior is correctly identified.

Punishment is the introduction of a negative consequence for undesirable behavior. In work-related situations, punishment can be applied for extremely undesirable behavior, such as sexual harassment or unsafe handling of dangerous machines. As with positive reinforcers, there are individual differences in what is experienced as a negative consequence.

Guidelines for using punishment in organizations are:

• Minimizing the emotional component (punish the behavior, not the person)

• Making sure that the punishment is experienced as a negative consequence by the individual

• Avoiding punishment in the presence of others

• Learning desired behavior instead of unwanted behavior

What does Organizational Behavior Modification (OB MOD) stand for?

OB MOD stands for the systematic application of operant conditioning principles in organizations. OB MOD consists of five steps:

1. Identifying the behavior to be learned

2. Measuring the baseline frequency in which the behavior occurs

3. Analyzing the antecedents and consequences

4. Intervening to change behavior by introducing operant conditioning principles (positive and negative reinforcement, extinction and punishment) and antecedents

5. Evaluating

After the evaluation, there are two possible outcomes:

• The intervention was successful: there is an increase in the desired behavior. The next step is to maintain the desired behavior, for example by stabilizing the level of reinforcement

• The intervention was not successful: the behavioral change did not occur. The next step may be to review and adjust the intervention, or to review the identification of the behavior again

OB MOD appears to be an effective method for improving productivity, punctuality, and safety for example. However, there is an ethical debate about the method. Proponents state that OB MOD has positive effects on the organization and its employees. Opponents believe that OB MOD is too controlling and deprives employees of their dignity, freedom of choice and individuality. Moreover, they argue that operant conditioning can lead to less initiative to conduct good behavior however this is not confirmed. There is no clear answer to the question of whether OB MOD is ethical. The counter-arguments are rebuttable and the application of OB MOD in organizations is bound by labor legislation but as a manager, it is important to realize that this ethical dilemma plays a role.

What is the Social-Cognitive Theory?

Operant conditioning involves an important part of the learning process but leaves out processes within the person. According to the Social-Cognitive Theory of Bandura, feelings, thoughts and the observation of the social environment play a crucial role in the learning process.

Cognitive processes are mental thought processes. In the field of social cognition, it concerns the processing of information from the social environment.

An important aspect of Social-Cognitive Learning Theory is observational learning (vicarious learning). This occurs when a person (the pupil) learns by observing the behavior from another (the model) and also sees that the behavior is reinforced. For observational learning, the following conditions must be met:

• The pupil must observe the model at the time the behavior takes place

• The student must correctly observe the behavior

• The student must remember the behavior

• The student must have the skills and abilities required for the behavior

• The student has to see that the model receives reinforcement

Observational learning plays an important role in organizations. This happens both consciously, for example in training sessions and unconsciously, for example, because employees see each other performing routines (taking a break at specific times) and copy professional skills from each other.

How can independent learning take place?

Independent learning can take place according to the Social Cognitive Theory through self-control. Self-control is self-discipline that ensures that a person can learn to behave themselves without involving another person or external pressure. The following conditions indicate self-control:

• The person is concerned with behavior that they would not usually want to perform and that is also not being reinforced externally (low-probability behavior). The distinction between pleasant and strenuous activities is important here.

• Self-reinforcers are consequences or rewards that the person applies to himself.

• The person consciously sets goals and determines when self-empowerment takes place.

• The person applies the reinforcer when a goal has been achieved.

The degree of self-control varies from person to person. When an employee exercises a high degree of self-control, the manager has to take a less active role in coaching work-related behavior.

What is self-efficacy and what role does this have in Social-Cognitive Theory?

An important factor in social-cognitive theory is self-efficacy, the extent to which a person believes in his or her capacity to perform a behavior. Self-efficacy influences the learning processes in three ways. Firstly, high self-efficacy leads to higher and more challenging goals. Secondly, a high self-efficacy leads to a greater effort and thirdly, high self-efficacy ensures more perseverance.

Self-efficacy is based on past performance, observations of behavior by others, verbal persuasion by others, and listening to one's internal physiological state.

What is experiential learning?

Experiential learning is the learning process that takes place by actively engaging with the behavior that is being taught. Some situations require practical execution of the behavior. Theoretical knowledge is then not enough and learning must then take place by doing.

What is meant by creativity?

Creativity is generating new and useful ideas. By 'new' what is meant is that the ideas represent new ways of thinking. By 'usable' what is meant is that the ideas potentially contribute to the functioning and well-being of an individual, group or organization. Creativity is accompanied by constant learning.

Innovation is related to creativity; it is the successful application of creative ideas.

The process of creativity includes a number of steps:

1. Recognizing the problem

2. Getting information

3. Producing ideas (potential solutions to the problem)

4. Selecting useful ideas

5. Implementing these ideas

The order of these steps is not fixed and not all steps need to be completed.

Creativity is by definition difficult to predict. There are individual differences in creativity, but situational factors can also lead to creativity so that people who are not so creative by nature can still bring forth creative ideas.

Although creativity is difficult to predict, there are a number of factors that contribute to creativity. There are three important personal factors. First, there are individual differences in personality and capacity. In terms of personality, Openness, one of the Big Five personality traits, is a predictive factor, as well as an internal locus of control and high self-esteem. In addition, the correlation between intelligence and creativity is high.

The second and third personal factors are work-related knowledge and intrinsic motivation.

Situational factors that contribute to creativity are the degree of autonomy, the form of evaluation, the reward system and the importance of the problem. Autonomy is the freedom and independence to make decisions and personal control over one's own work. The more autonomy, the more freedom for creativity.

With regard to the form of evaluation, feedback and encouragement are important however, there should not be too much criticism because this can lead to a reduction in risk-taking and thus to a reduction of creativity.

The reward system must not only reward correct and efficient behavior as there is no room for risks and therefore none for creativity either. Instead, it is important to encourage hard work and creativity so that employees have the opportunity to take risks to some extent and are willing to accept failure.

The importance of the problem speaks for itself; creativity can be intrinsically rewarding, but the motivation for creativity increases when employees feel that they are meaningful.

What is the process of organizational learning?

Organizational learning is the process whereby managers encourage all members of an organization to find new ways for the effective functioning of the organization. According to learning theorist Senge, there are five core activities that are essential for organizational learning:

• Stimulating skills management and self-efficacy

• Developing complex mental schemas about activities

• Promoting group and teamwork

• Conveying a collective vision

• Promoting system thinking

An important aspect of organizational learning is knowledge management. This means that the manager is able to ensure that the knowledge that employees acquire during their work they then share with each other. This knowledge is not always officially or consciously recorded. By stimulating the sharing of work-related knowledge, the entire organization can benefit from it.

Learning refers to a relatively permanent change in knowledge or behavior that is brought about by experience or practice. Three important elements of this definition are change, permanence, and experience.

What is the nature of work motivation? - Chapter 6

In this chapter, work motivation is examined in more detail. A distinction is made between motivation and performance and between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Different theories about work motivation try to explain how people are motivated. All these theories come with suggestions about how motivation can be increased.

What is work motivation?

Work motivation is the psychological forces that dictate the direction of one's behavior, the level of effort and the degree of endurance in an organization. Work motivation, therefore, consists of three important elements that are discussed in more detail below.

The direction of the behavior means what behavior an employee chooses from the many possible behaviors. The direction of behavior can be functional for the company if it contributes to achieving the goals of the organization. The behavior can also be dysfunctional and hinder the organization in achieving its goals.

The question is asked how committed an employee is to the chosen behavior. It is not enough for an organization to motivate people to perform certain behaviors but the organization must also motivate its people to work hard at these chosen behaviors.

And finally, there is the element of perseverance. How much perseverance does a person have when faced with different kinds of obstacles and difficulties?

Motivation and performance are two different aspects of behavior. Performing is an evaluation of a behavior a person carries out in, other words how good or bad the person performs his task. Motivation is just one factor of many that affect a person's performance. A high degree of motivation does not always have to result in good performance and vice versa.

A distinction is made between the origins of work motivation, namely intrinsic and extrinsic. Intrinsically motivated work behavior is behavior that is carried out for the behavior itself for example, if you really like your job. Extrinsically motivated work behavior is behavior that is shown to obtain material or social reward or to prevent punishment.

What are the theories of work motivation?

What motivates people? How can you motivate them? How can you keep them motivated?

Theories on work motivation provide answers to these questions by explaining why people behave as they behave. Four theories about motivation are discussed here. These are the Need Theory, the Expectancy Theory, the Equity Theory and the Organisational Justice Theory.

All these theories are complementary to each other so there is no 'best' theory.

1. Need Theory

What motivates an individual to work for an organization? According to the Need Theory, every employee has needs that he/she wants to satisfy and it is up to the manager to respond. A manager can/must, therefore, motivate people by satisfying their needs; the needs are therefore the source of motivation. Needs are things that are necessary for survival or things that benefit the individual.

There are different Need Theories which are discussed below:

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

According to Maslow's theory, people have five universal needs that they want satisfied:

1. Physiological needs: things like food, water, and shelter

2. Safety needs: the need for safety and stability for example, free from war

3. Social needs: interaction, friendships, and love

4. Self-esteem needs: self-confidence, respect, and recognition

5. Self-actualization needs: the feeling that you are at full potential

The needs differ in the order of importance. You must first satisfy a need (need 1) before you can go to the next need (need 2). Once a need is satisfied, it is no longer a source of motivation. Managers must first identify and satisfy the initial needs, then the second, then the third and so on. No level may be skipped!

Alderfer's ERG Theory

Existence needs are all needs referring to the need for survival such as water, food, clothing, etc. The relatedness needs must be provided which are in relation to communication with others, kinship, and other relationships. Finally, the growth needs everyone has the need to develop themselves. In Alderfer's ERG Theory you do not have to start at the bottom and you can skip a level. Multiple needs can also be motivating sources at the same time. He agrees with Maslow that if a lower need is satisfied the need for new needs will increase. According to Maslow, the satisfied needs are no longer a source of motivation but Alderfer does not agree with this. He believes that if you do your best to satisfy higher needs but it does not work out that your motivation to satisfy the lower needs increases.

Conclusion

Both theories are not yet free from all criticism. One of the criticisms is that it is unreasonable to expect that a relatively small amount of needs are arranged in a certain fixed order and that this is also the same for everyone. It is also unrealistic to expect that the different needs all provide motivation in the same order.

2. Expectancy Theory

The theory of expectation is a theory about work motivation that focuses on how employees make choices between alternative behaviors and the degree of commitment.

The question is whether the employee expects a better result if he puts in a lot of effort.

If an employee is convinced that he/she can not do this then the motivation to try it will be zero. Does the employee believe that performing at a certain level leads to a given level of performance? In general, employees are only motivated to perform at a certain level if this leads to a sought-after reward. Does the employee believe that performing at this certain level will result in the outcomes they want?

If the answer to the two above-mentioned questions is "yes" only then is the employee prepared to exert effort and perform. These must have a direct connection.

The theory of expectation identifies three important factors that determine the motivation of an employee. The first is the valence. How much is an outcome? This can vary in size, whether it is positive/negative and magnitude. The second is instrumentality. The relationship between work performance and the compensation can be measured on a scale. Finally, there is the expectancy. Faith is believed to be the connection between commitment and achievement. Expectation may also be measured on a scale. People will only be motivated by the thought that their efforts are rewarded.

If one of these three factors is 0 then the motivation is also 0! The Expectation Theory not only proposes that the reward should be based on commitment, but also that managers should do their best to ensure that this link is clearly visible to the employees.

3. Equity Theory

The Equity Theory is a theory of work motivation that focuses on the perceptions of employees of the fairness of the relationship between income and contributions.

Does the employee consider the remuneration as suitable and appropriate to the amount of energy and time they have put into the work? This is not the objective balance between effort and reward, people must experience the balance. It is also important for the motivation of the employee how his balance is in comparison with the people around him. These referees can be people who work in the same company or work somewhere else but it can also be yourself, for example, in comparison to another job. Fairness is experienced when the employee's ratio is equal to the ratio of the referent. This does not mean that the employee and his referent earn the same amount because it concerns the ratios; the relationship between efforts and rewards.

When the 'output' and 'input' ratios are not equal, one speaks of 'inequity'. There are two types of 'inequity':

1. 'Overpayment inequity': exists when an individual observes that their 'output/input ratio' is greater than the ratio of his or her referent.

2. 'Underpayment inequity': exists when an individual perceives that their 'output/input ratio' is less than the ratio of their referent.

There are several ways to restore equity:

• Employees can change their 'inputs' or 'outputs'.

• Employees can try to get the 'inputs' or 'outputs' from their referents change.

• Employees can change their observations about their inputs and outcomes.

• Employees can change the referent.

• Employees can leave their work or their organization or push the referent to leave his/her work.

4. Organizational Justice Theory

The organizational justice is the perception of the employee about the global honesty within the company. The Organizational Justice Theory does not refer to a single theory but rather describes a group of theories that focus on the nature, determinants, and consequences of organizational justice. The image of that justice is an important determinant for the motivation, attitude, and behavior of the employee.

There are four different forms of organization justice:

1. Distributive justice is the perceptual honesty about the distribution of outcomes in an organization, such as salary or promotions.

2. Procedural justice is the fairness of the procedures used to make decisions about the distribution of outcomes.

3. Interpersonal justice is the honesty of the interpersonal treatment that employees receive from their managers.

4. Informational justice is the perception of employees about the extent to which managers explain their decisions and the procedures they use for this.

Organizational justice is positively correlated with job satisfaction, organizational bonding, work performance, and OCB and negatively correlated with absence and turnover. If organizational justice is low, there is an increased chance of counterproductive work behaviors, an employee's behavior that hurts the organization's norms and values and can hurt the organization.

In this chapter, work motivation is examined in more detail. A distinction is made between motivation and performance and between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Different theories about work motivation try to explain how people are motivated. All these theories come with suggestions about how motivation can be increased.

How do you create a motivating work environment? - Chapter 7

This chapter discusses how an organization can create a motivating work environment by linking specific tasks to a job ('job design') and fulfilling general goals and personal goals ('goal setting') for the employees.

What are early approaches to job design?

Job design is the process of connecting specific tasks to specific jobs and deciding which techniques, tools, and procedures must be used to fulfill a certain task. Task design influences the motivation of the employees, the amount of effort they will show and how much they want to contribute to the organization. If the motivation is very high, this is beneficial for the organization because the efficiency of the organization increases.

Motivating employees to be interested in the organization may be increased by one of the three following methods. One of those ways is scientific management, devised by Taylor. With scientific management, attempts are made in various ways to increase the motivation of the employees and the efficiency of the organization. For this purpose, all sorts of procedures have been developed that increase the performance of the employees by means of 'job simplification' and 'job specialization'. 'Job simplification' is breaking up a job into smaller and identifiable tasks. 'Job specialization' is the assignment of small and simple tasks to the employees.

'Time and motion' studies are conducted. In these studies, the exact amount of time it takes and how you can best perform a specific task is measured.

The most common way to motivate an employee within scientific management is still to pay the employee.

For example, scientific management has made the mass production of affordable cars possible. Scientific management has, however, had a few serious drawbacks, starting with the emphasis on the extrinsic motivation of employees. In addition, employees feel that they have no control, they feel part of a big machine and they no longer have the possibility to learn or develop. Is money enough to motivate people?

Due to the fact that there were many disadvantages associated with scientific management, two procedures were devised that would make conditions more pleasant for employees, namely 'job enlargement' and 'job enrichment'. With ' job enlargement' the number of tasks the client must perform is increased. It is true that these tasks are of the same level of difficulty and that the employee has the same amount of responsibility. This is also called horizontal job loading. The idea is that you become more intrinsically motivated when you have more tasks.

Job enrichment is a supplement to job enlargement. By means of 'job enrichment' the employee is given more responsibility and therefore the employee has more control. This is also called vertical job loading. Job enrichment is mainly based on Herzberger's Motivator-Hygiene Theory. This theory says that an employee is mainly motivated and satisfied if he has a certain form of autonomy and is also responsible for their performance. The following four ways are the most common ways for employees to enrich jobs: let employees plan their own schedule, let them decide for themselves how to do their job, have them check their own work and let them learn new skills.

'Job enlargement' and 'job enrichment' are both aimed at increasing intrinsic motivation but this does not mean that both procedures ensure that the organization will be cheaper or work more efficiently. In any case, they ensure that the employees will be more satisfied and that, for example, there is less absenteeism.

What is the 'job characteristics model'?

A later job design approach is the job characteristics model. This approach to the task design process focuses on identifying traits that make the job intrinsically motivating and the consequences of this particular property. According to Hackman and Oldham, employees who are intrinsically motivated say they feel good when they perform at a certain level. This, in turn, means that they want to continue to perform at this level. So it is a process of self-reinforcement.

According to the job characteristics model, each job has five core dimensions that influence the intrinsic motivation of the employees:

1. Variation in skill; this means which skills and talents a person needs to be able to fulfill a particular job.

2. Task identity; to what extent someone works on one thing from the beginning to the end.

3. Task significance; the extent to which the job affects your own life and that of others within or outside the organization. The employee will be more satisfied and have a better feeling about himself if the job he/she has is important.

4. Autonomy; this refers to the extent to which the employee's job offers freedom and independence in planning and how the work is carried out.

5. Feedback; the amount of clear feedback the job provides to the employee about his/her performance. Getting clear feedback has a positive influence on intrinsic motivation.

The higher a job scores on each dimension, the greater the degree of intrinsic motivation. How much the employee experiences these five core dimensions (i.e subjective) ultimately indicates to what extent the employee is intrinsically motivated.

'Job crafting' is the process whereby employees change the tasks that may jeopardize their jobs, their vision of their jobs and who they are in contact with while carrying our these jobs. In this way, they try to make their work more attractive and meaningful and try to increase their intrinsic motivation.

Hackman and Oldham have developed a questionnaire (Job Diagnostic Survey) to measure employee's perceptions of every core dimension of their job. With this questionnaire, the potential motivation for a job can be calculated which gives the 'motivating potential score' ('MPS'). Table 7.2 in the book shows how the five aforementioned dimensions are measured.

The five core dimensions contribute to three important psychological states that determine how the employee responds to the job's interpretation: the experience that the work is meaningful, experience responsibility for the work results and knowledge of the results.

The psychological conditions are expressed in four important outcomes for employees and their organizations: high intrinsic motivation, good job performance, high satisfaction on the job and, finally, low absenteeism and staff turnover.

Individual differences between employees also play a role in the reactions to a specific task design. Three individual differences have been found that influence the relationships between the core dimensions and psychological conditions and the relationships between the core dimensions and the results. The nature of these relationships depends on the ' growth-need strength', knowledge and skills, and the satisfaction with the working conditions of the individual employee.

The 'growth-need strength' is the degree of importance that the employee places on the contributions of their job to his/her personal growth and development. Furthermore, employees need a certain level of knowledge and skills so that they can perform their job in a correct and effective manner. If this knowledge is not available, the intrinsic motivation and job satisfaction will suffer. Finally, the employee 's perceived satisfaction with their working conditions is mainly related to satisfaction with the extrinsic outcomes.

Research has shown that not only individual differences but also cultural differences influence the relations between the core dimensions and psychological states. Cultural differences can also influence the relationship between psychological states and performance.

A lot of research has been done into the different components of the job characteristics model and it must be concluded that modest support has been found for the model.

What is the social information processing model?

The last form of task design is the social information processing model (Pfeffer & Salancik). This model is based on the idea that information from other people and information about the employee's past behavior affects the perceptions of the employee and therefore also his/her reaction to the task design. The model wants to explain how two different people with the same job can have a different motivation level and different levels of satisfaction:

• Role of the social environment; the social environment in this context is everyone with whom the employee is or comes into contact with for his/her work. This social environment provides the employee with information on which aspects of the task design and rewards should be taken into account, or which aspects are of importance. In addition, the social environment also provides information about how the employee should assess at his/her performance. How the social work environment feels depends on the employee and also on what kind of employee they are. A temporary agency worker will find a different working environment and other aspects of interest than a permanent employee.

• Role of past employee behavior; the past employee's behavior has many implications for how the employee evaluates his own behavior and performance now, their level of intrinsic motivation and their level of satisfaction, especially when the behavior has been chosen and it has cost certain personal sacrifices.

Here is a brief summary and overview of task design models;

• 'Scientific management'; job simplification and job specialization with the goal of maximizing performance.

• 'Job enlargement' and 'job enrichment'; increasing simple tasks so that intrinsic motivation is increased.

• 'Job characteristics model'; it specifies the dimensions of jobs, which lead to a higher intrinsic motivation.

• 'Social information processing' model; the central issue here is how employees see their job and according to this model, it depends on the social environment and past behavior.

What are organizational goals?

Organizational goals describe the main goals of the organization: what the organization stands for and what the organization seeks to accomplish.

The 'social identity theory' explains how and why organizational goals can contribute to the motivation of the employees in the organization. According to this theory, people tend to divide themselves and others into social categories such as members of a certain group (e.g. a religious group, a political party or an organization). If people identify with an organization, they will see themselves as a member of the organization. This membership of the organization is a way in which they see themselves. Secondly, it ensures that employees keep their perspective on the goals of the organization, even if they're completing annoying or frustrating work. Their destination will then be the connection with their organization.

What is the goal-setting theory?

A goal is what a person tries to achieve through his/her behavior. The goal-setting theory focuses primarily on identifying the different types of goals that are most effective in producing a high level of motivation and achievement and also why these goals have these effects.

Which goals lead to high motivation and performance? Specific goals lead to better performance, in contrast to vague targets or no goals. Difficult goals lead to higher motivation and performance than (somewhat) easy goals. So if a goal is specific and difficult, it leads to higher performance and motivation.

How is it possible that goals influence the level of motivation and performance? By aiming for a certain goal, employees will show more commitment. In addition, they devise plans to fulfill the goals. Employees can also continue further if they encounter obstacles on the way to their goal. Finally, the employees take a much more focused approach with the adoption of a goal and therefore pay much more attention to what is really important.

There are, however, a few boundaries within the goal-setting theory. In fact, a difficult and specific goal does not lead to higher motivation and performance if employees do not have the skills and knowledge to work at such a high level. It is also the case that when employees are given a difficult task they must focus all their attention on the goals. The achievement of goals can also prevent a great deal of creativity, especially when creating a new product.

Management by objectives (MBO) is a goal-setting process in which a manager records goals with his/her boss and evaluates the extent to which the previously agreed goals have been achieved. This is done in three steps. The first step is the actual determination of the goal; what is the goal and how much time is given to it? The second step is the implementation of the goals. Here the manager can decide for himself how the goals should be achieved. Finally, there is the step of the evaluation.

Both task design and goal setting focus on how to motivate employees so that they want to commit themselves to the organization.

This chapter discusses how an organization can create a motivating work environment by linking specific tasks to a job ('job design') and fulfilling general goals and personal goals ('goal setting') for the employees.

Which aspects of the working relationship can contribute to the motivation of employees? - Chapter 8

This chapter discusses the most important aspects of the working relationship that can contribute to motivating the employee. The nature of the psychological contract between an individual and the organization is described. Furthermore, three factors are discussed that play a central role in the exchange relationship between individual and organization: performance evaluation, payment, and careers.

What is a psychological contract between the employee and the organization?

A psychological contract is the perception of the employee about his or her exchange relationship with an organization, about what he/she will receive from the organization in the field of remuneration and what he/she has to do in return for the organization.

In the formation of psychological contracts, three sources of information are used: direct communication with employees and supervisors, observations of what is actually going on in an organization and finally written documents.

Psychological contracts can already be formed before the employee is employed by the organization, for example during recruitment. A 'realistic job preview' (RJP) is an honest assessment of the advantages and disadvantages of a particular job and the organization. Once an employee is employed, communication is received directly from the other members of the organization. This forms the basis of the psychological contract. To keep employees satisfied and motivated, giving an RJP in advance is sensible.

By means of observation, information is obtained about how similar employees behave and are treated, how they work and how the managers behave. This changes the psychological contract.

Lastly, information is obtained through written documentation. You can think of, for example, the organization's website.

There are two types of psychological contracts: the transactional and the relational contracts. Transactional psychological contracts are usually short-term and very specific contracts that are flexible and contain few obligations. These contracts are mainly focused on extrinsic rewards such as salary. The relational psychological contracts, on the other hand, are of long duration, very general and the employee and the organization expect a lot from each other. With these contracts, extrinsic rewards are still important but here intrinsic rewards are also involved. The employee and the organization than have an effective relationship. Note that the perception of the employee determines what type of contract it is.

Due to a number of recent developments, such as massive redundancies and outsourcing of work to low-wage countries, researchers are wondering what the consequences are for the psychological contracts.

If a psychological contract is broken as a result of a failing organization that does not keep its promises the motivation and work of the employee will suffer. The employee will have a negative experience with their job and may even start looking for another job. The same uncertainty arises when it concerns psychological contracts from other employees, for example, if a company is going to outsource confidence in the organization then diminishes and the employee starts to worry about the future of his job.

If organizations want to take actions that could possibly damage the employee's psychological contract, the organization must do so cautiously. They have to make clear what the action is, why it is being taken and what the future might look like after the action. What is important is the way in which organizations deal with employees whose contracts have been broken. This affects the perception of all employees.

How can you evaluate performance?

Employees will be motivated to perform if they think managers can evaluate well. Motivation and work execution is of great importance for the effectiveness of an organization therefore, researchers have paid a great deal of attention to how work performance can be investigated.

Performance appraisal refers to evaluating work performance to stimulate the employee's motivation and work performance and to use the information obtained in making administrative decisions.

A beating evaluation gives the employee two important pieces of information. First of all, they learn how well they are doing with their work and also how much they contribute to the organization. Secondly, it becomes clear to the employee to what extent they put their attention and commitment in the right direction, on the right tasks. This evaluation provides the employees with feedback and this contributes to their intrinsic motivation.

Performance evaluation also provides information that can be used for administrative decisions. Firstly, performance evaluation can be used to decide the distribution of outcomes, such as salary or promotions equitably. Secondly, it can allow managers to make more efficient use of the skills of the employees. Thirdly, it can warn managers about problems in task design, motivation, and outcomes. Lastly, it helps employees plan their careers.

Managers can use the information on the performance evaluation for two purposes: first for developmental purposes (such as determining how you can motivate employees to perform at a high level, evaluating which weak point can be corrected by training) and secondly evaluating decision making purposes (such as deciding who gets promotion or which salary is appropriate).

A 'performance appraisal' system can be established. To develop an effective 'performance appraisal' system, choices have to be made. Four of these choices are discussed below: the extent to which formal and informal evaluations can be used, which factors must be evaluated, which evaluation methods should be used, and who will evaluate the work performance.

1. Mix of informal and formal evaluations

A formal evaluation refers to an evaluation that takes place at a fixed time, for example, every three years. Informal evaluations take place throughout the year. An employee is immediately alerted to errors or is immediately told that the work is done well. Large organizations often use formal evaluations and small organizations use informal evaluations. Nevertheless, a mix of both is recommended.

2. Which factors are evaluated?

You can evaluate different aspects of the work. The three most common are:

1. Traits of the employee; traits are often permanent and can not be changed quickly and they do not have to say anything about how someone does his/her work.

2. The behavior; in this aspect, attention is paid to their behavior at work. Managers can give employees instructions on which behavior they should change. The disadvantage of this is that sometimes you can achieve a goal with different behaviors, for example, one may reach a decision carefully through long term research and another may reach the same decision based on gut instinct.

3. The results; it looks at how much someone has produced or how the quality of his or her work. The disadvantage is that results are not always under the employee's control. Employees can, therefore, become so result-oriented that it does not benefit the quality of the work.

3. Methods of evaluation

If it is evaluated in an objective way then usually only the results are looked at. Subjective measurements are measurements based on an individual's traits. In a subjective way of evaluation, in addition to the results, the characteristics of the employee and his/her behavior are usually included in the evaluation. In this case, a number of scales can be used in the evaluation. The three most important ones are highlighted below.

1. Graphic rating scale; with this scale the work behavior is evaluated on a continuum. However, the work behavior to be evaluated (e.g. customer-friendliness) is not clearly defined.

2. Behavioral anchored rating scale (BARS); this allows you to evaluate specific work-related behavior. They are clearly defined behaviors but certain behaviors occur on more than one point on the scale.

3. Behavioral Observation scale (BOS); on this scale the frequency with which an employee performs a particular behavior is measured. It not only describes the behavior as BARS, but also its frequency. However, it is very time-consuming.

4. Who carries out the evaluation?

There are different forms of evaluation, such as a self-evaluation where you evaluate yourself. What is worth taking note of is that everyone judges themselves as above average. You can also be evaluated by peers like colleagues, this is called peer appraisal. Evaluation by superior people is called supervisor appraisal. In addition, there is the subordinate appraisal; here the assessment is completed by employees in regards to the manager.

Of course, customers or clients may also give their opinion with a customer/client appraisal.

Finally, there is the 360-degree appraisal. This means an evaluation is completed by everyone who has to deal with a certain employee such as their boss, colleagues, people who work under him/her and their clients. The evaluated people receive worthy feedback that can help them to improve their performance. The disadvantage of this evaluation is that it may become a bit of a popularity contest. Furthermore, for example, managers will be reluctant to take strict measures because they are afraid of bad evaluations. In any case, it is wise to keep evaluations anonymous, so everyone will fill out the survey with honesty.

How do pay and working relationships influence each other?

An accurate work evaluation is, therefore, motivating for the employee and helps to make administrative decisions. An area on which decisions are made is the distribution of rewards. Money, as a reward, is one of the most powerful resources to motivate. If possible, it must be based on performance.

Merit pay is pay given based on the quality of the performance. This enhances motivation more than a reward that is not based on performance. In times of economic crisis, it is often difficult to give a salary increase to good employees. The reward does not necessarily have to be money it may also be shares or holidays.

Performance reward is based on performance but on whose performance can it best be based: the individual, the group or the organization? If there is a clear division of roles within an organization, then the reward based on the individual 's performance is the best approach for higher motivation. Suppose, however, that the employees within an organization are very dependent on each other, for example through production line work, then the best approach for a higher motivation is group or organizational remuneration. When the effectiveness of an organization is related to how well the employees work together, the best way to increase motivation is also group or organizational remuneration but it is also possible to combine, for example, a group reward and an individual reward.

There are two forms of performance reward: salary increase and bonuses. Increasing the salary of an employee has the least influence on motivation. One reason for this is that the increase in salary is usually relatively small compared to the total salary. In addition, salary increases are only partially dependent on performance and, lastly, employees' salaries do not differ very much in comparison with the difference in performance levels.

On the other hand, a bonus has a much greater impact on the motivation level. The reason for this is that bonuses do not have limitations. The performance reward can be based on individual performance and performance of the organization. Two clear examples of performance-related pay plans based on individual performance are 'piece-rate pay' and 'commission pay'.

In a piece-rate pay plan, an employee is paid for each unit that he/she produces.

At commission pay, the employee's salary is a percentage of the total sales. There are two commission pay options, partially and completely. With partial commission, people receive a certain fixed amount and in addition a bonus that depends on how much is sold.

With full commission, the employee's salary is only dependent on the amount that is sold. The advantage to this is that employees are extremely motivated and the disadvantage is that there is little to no team spirit at all.

Pay plans where the remuneration depends on the performance of the organization and not the personal performance are called gain-sharing plans. An example is the Scanlon plan, here the idea is that employees get a part of the saved money if the costs are reduced. Another form is profit sharing where the employees receive part of the profit.

Differences in salary based on a difference in gender, race, religion, age, ethnic background or other non-performance related characteristics is completely unethical. Furthermore, there are more and more discussions about the huge difference in pay between managers and ordinary employees.

Comparable worth is the concept where those who have a similar job receive similar pay regardless of differences in the work and the personal characteristics of the employee. However, this is difficult to put into practice.

Careers

Not only is money used as a reward to increase motivation career opportunities may also act as a reward. This does not have to be career opportunities within the same company. When careers are effectively managed, an organization makes optimal use of the talents, motivation, and abilities of their employees, therefore, these employees will remain motivated to perform at a high level and this all helps to achieve the goals of the organization.

A career is the sum of all work-related experiences in a person's life. A career gives an intrinsic (donates personal satisfaction) and extrinsic (money for hobbies and maintaining family) motivation. There are different types of careers and these can be divided into four different categories:

1. Steady-state careers; a person's commitment to a certain job which is held through their entire life.

2. Linear careers; a person changes jobs and the new job is always of a higher position than the previous job. (This can be within one company, then you work up, but it can also be in several different companies)

3. Spiral careers; if a person always changes jobs and the new job is always of a higher position but fundamentally different.

4. Transitory careers; if someone changes jobs very often and these jobs all differ from each other.

A boundaryless career means that careers are not tied to one organization and that people have experience in many different environments.

A career takes place in a number of phases we will discuss these phases below:

1. Preparing for a job; one must decide what job they would like and then must begin gaining qualifications and experiences for a particular job. Personality, skills, attitudes, and values play a role in choosing a career.

2. Entering an organization; a suitable job is being looked for during this stage. A lot of information is sought and people try to apply. You only get a realistic idea about a job if the organization gives you a correct picture of the job, including all negative and positive characteristics.

3. Early career; this stage starts once you have received a job in the chosen career direction. At this stage, two different steps can be distinguished: 'establishment' and 'achievement'. During the first step of establishment you have to get used to everything, if you want to learn everything, you have to figure out what is expected of you and do your very best to integrate. This evolves into the achievement step. In this phase, you know how everything works within the organization and now you really want to contribute to the organization. This is often done by looking for a 'mentor' in the company and setting career goals. A career goal all the experiences, positions and jobs that someone wants to fulfill in his/her career.

4. Middle career; here you are usually on a career plateau. This means a position where your opportunities for promotion or a job with more responsibility become smaller and smaller. One reason for this may be that your knowledge and skills are obsolete for example this may be caused due to technological progress.

5. Late career; in the late-career, you encounter the same problems as in the middle of your career.

There are many challenges today for career managers within organizations. Three examples are ethical career management, career management that supports diversity, and career management in a society where both partners aspire to a career. Everyone within an organization must pursue his/her career ethically, based on honesty, trust, and open communication. Everyone must also have equal career opportunities within an organization independent of one's race, gender and age; so career management that supports diversity. The final challenge is career management in an era in which both partners aim for a career within a relationship. For example, organizations can take the following steps: limit as much moving/traveling as possible, allow flexible work agreements and organize childcare.

This chapter discusses the most important aspects of the working relationship that can contribute to motivating the employee. The nature of the psychological contract between an individual and the organization is described. Furthermore, three factors are discussed that play a central role in the exchange relationship between individual and organization: performance evaluation, payment, and careers.

How does stress arise, what are the consequences and how is it remedied? - Chapter 9

This chapter describes the nature of stress and the consequences of stress for people and organizations. In addition, the causes of stress and the steps that can be taken to deal with stress effectively are discussed.

What is the nature of stress?

Stress is experiencing possibilities (something that has the potential to be useful to a person) or threats (something that has the potential to damage the person) that are important to a person. Stress arises when the person feels that he/she can not deal effectively with the possibilities or threats. Stress has three aspects: possibilities/threats, importance and uncertainty. Stress is about the perception of these three aspects.

Stress is something very personal. Individual differences such as personality, talents and perceptions play a major role in determining the way employees respond to stress, to what extent they experience stress and how they think about possible sources of stress within an organization. Personality traits that are very susceptible to stress are: neuroticism, being introverted, low self-esteem and people who are not open to new experiences, and also people with a type A personality. In addition, ability can be a stress factor. People then experience stress because they think they can not do certain tasks. A lack of experience can also play a role in stress.

People react differently to stress, therefore, the consequences of stress are different for everyone. Stress can have physical consequences, psychological consequences and behavioral consequences.

In the case of physical complaints as a result of short term stress, one may think of abdominal pain, headache, poor sleep, sweaty hands, dizziness, etc. In the longer term, stress can lead to high blood pressure or heart attacks. But these are only examples because everyone responds differently physcially to stress.

Psychological effects of stress can be negative feelings, moods and emotions. Examples include being moody, anxious, worried, angry, bitter or hostile. Other psychological consequences are negative attitudes. Examples include: a negative view of different aspects of their job and organization, feeling undervalued or lack of control. A final psychological consequence of stress is a burnout. Burnout is psychological, emotional, or physical exhaustion. Burnout is a special psychological consequence of stress that arises when an employee experiences work stress day in day out for a longer period of time.

The consequences of stress that affect behavior are probably the most interesting for managers. It is important to make a distinction between stress and the level of performance. When there is more positive stress, the employee will be less bored and more motivated to perform at a high level. If this stress becomes too much, it can turn into negative stress and the employee will perform worse. The employee is then, as it were, paralyzed by the intense stress. The point when stress is too intense to continue to perform well is different for every individual. Behavior due to intense stress can be poor performance, contracted mutual relationships, employee turnover or absenteeism.

What causes stress?

What causes stress? Five potential stressors, or potential sources of stress, are discussed. Sources of stress can be: personal life, work related stressors, group and organization related stressors, the balance between work and life or and an uncertain environment.

The five potential stressors provide the three consequences of stress (physical, psychological and behavioral) through the personal experience of stress (perceptions, personality, skills and previous experiences).

1. Personal stressors. The home situation is very important for the employee, both during and outside of work. Major life events can cause a lot of stress, both positive and negative. Examples of positive life events are having a child or getting married. Examples of negative life events are the death of a family member, a divorce or a serious illness. Minor life events may include things like a speed penalty, going on holiday, fights, etc. The level of stress is determined by the stressors' intensity, how important these are for the person and the amount of stressful events that take place in a certain time frame.

2. Work-related stressors. There are many different work-related stressors. This can create a role conflict for stress. A role conflict occurs when certain requirements that a person must meet are in conflict with other requirements imposed on the same person. Role ambiguity often causes stress, especially among newer employees. Role ambiguity occurs when it is not clear to the employee what is expected of him/her or how they should do their work. Overload is when you as an employee have too many tasks you need to do. Of course there is also underload, this is the case if the employee has too little work, they may get bored. Promotions and other challenging assignments also cause stress because the employee then asks themself questions like "Can I do this?" and "Will it come to an end?". The last work related source of stress is the economic security and guarantee of work. Questions such as "Will I be fired?", "Will I get a salary increase?" and "Will the organization make or will not cut down?" also cause a lot of stress.

3. Group and organization-related stressors. Stress can also arise in the work group of the organization. Miscommunication, quarrels, and personal feuds are all sources of negative stress for employees. Due to the increasing globalization increases in cross-cultural teams with employees from different countries are emerging. Conflicts and misunderstandings due to cultural differences can sometimes be sources of stress (culture shock). Other sources of stress are uncomfortable working conditions (such as noise pollution, extreme temperatures, poorly developed supplies and machines), unsafe or hazardous work (e.g. working with chemicals or dangerous machines) or changes within a company.

4. Stressors that are the consequences of the balance between work and private life. Stress can arise if the obligations of the work conflict with the obligations at home. For example, it can sometimes be difficult to make long hours at work when there are children. The working generation of today is also called the sandwich generation because they often have to take care of children and their parents. Stress also develops when it is expected that you play a role that is in conflict with your own principles.

5. Uncertain environment. People can experience stress from uncertainties and crises from the wider environment in which organizations operate. For example, the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001 on the United States were a shock to everyone. Global instability and wars, outbreaks of deadly diseases, scandals involving top managers, and air pollution are all examples of what may cause uncertainty within an environment. This stress comes from powerlessness.

How do people and organizations deal with stress?

How people experience stress, positive or negative, depends on the way people cope with it. There are two basic ways to deal with stress: problem-oriented coping and emotion-focused coping.

Problem-oriented coping refers to the steps people take to deal directly with the source of the stress.

A strategy for dealing with overload, for example, is time management, a series of techniques that help people realize what tasks need to be completed within the given timeframe. A list of the tasks is first made, then priorities are set by arranging the tasks in order of importance and finally an estimate has to be made of the time required to carry out the tasks and follow the schedule. The pressure to complete many tasks in a short time ensures that many employees multitask. However, this is not always more efficient, certainly not for complex tasks. When two tasks have to be accomplished that rely on the same areas of work, less work can be done. For example, setting up a mail and at the same time having a conversation; both use your knowledge of language.

Get help from a mentor; because you get help and advice from someone, you experience less stress. The mentor is often another employee who has a lot of experience.

Another strategy is role negotiation, a process in which the employees actively try to change their role, so that there is less often an overload, underload, role ambiguity or role conflicts. For example, an employee can say "no".

The second way of dealing with stress, the emotion-focused coping style, refers to the steps people take to better deal with their stressful feelings and emotions and to keep them under control. This can be done in different ways: physical exercise, meditation, social support, and clinical help. Less functional ways to reduce stress is to use drugs or alcohol or each too much food. These create extra problems.

Organizations have the same coping strategies as individuals but these two coping strategies are filled in differently.

Problem-oriented coping strategy

The first is the problem-oriented coping strategy, only it consists of other methods:

• Job redesigning and rotating; jobs are designed differently, for example, reducing travel, and people rotate jobs within the company.

• Reducing uncertainty; by letting employees decide on certain matters and improving communication within the organization, you reduce uncertainty and with it, the stress level.

• Job security; it must be clear where one stands in the organization. Will they or will they not be fired? For employees with children it can be stressful to find good, safe and cheap childcare. The organization can set up a daycare of the children ('company day care').

• Flexible work schedules and job sharing; these have been created so that people can combine their work well with their responsibility at home.

• Telecommuting; there is the possibility for employees to work at home. This does not necessarily mean that the person always works at home, but the possibility is there and that gives a lot of flexibility and autonomy.

Emotion-oriented strategy

The second strategy for organizations is the emotion-oriented strategy. Organizations can help employees deal effectively with stressful feelings and emotions by, for example:

• Offering sports facilities before and after work or during lunch breaks.

• Organizational support; the extent to which an organization is committed to the welfare of its members, tries to help with problems and treats them fairly.

• Employee assistance programs; these tools help the worker through therapy and other professional help to help the employee with their problems such as alcohol use and family problems. What is important here is the confidentiality of care providers, so that employees do not have to worry about their job.

• Time off; it may be a few days, a longer period such as a week or a sabbatical (at least a few months off).

This chapter describes the nature of stress and the consequences of stress for people and organizations. In addition, the causes of stress and the steps that can be taken to deal with stress effectively are discussed.

How do groups develop and how do they influence individuals? - Chapter 10

This chapter deals with the nature and functioning of working groups and teams. It describes what a group is and how they emerge, the characteristics of a working group and how participation in a group influences individual behavior.

What do we mean by a group?

A group consists of 2 or more people interacting with each other to achieve a certain goal or fulfill certain needs. This does not mean that all goals are identical to each other. A group goal is the agreed common goal of all or most members of the group.

You have formal and informal groups. Formal groups are formed by managers to help the organization reach its goals. Informal groups emerge in organizations because members believe that being part of the group helps to achieve their goals or fulfill their needs.

You have four main forms of formal working groups. The first is a command group, this is a group of subordinates who all report to the same supervisor. Then you have a task force that comes together to achieve a specific goal. A team cooperates intensively and interacts strongly to achieve a joint group goal. After the goal is reached, the group is usually dissolved. Thirdly, the team, this is a formal group of people who work intensively together to achieve a common goal. Finally, you have a self-managed work team who does not have a manager or group leader. Here they are responsible for achieving the goals and for performing the leadership tasks.

You have two main types of informal work groups, the friendship group, and the interest group. A friendship group is a group of members of an organization that likes to interact and socialize with each other, even outside of work. The interest group has a common goal that members try to achieve by uniting their efforts.

Groups and their members have different challenges at different stages of development. According to Tuckman, groups go through 5 stages.

1. Forming: group members get to know each other and form a common mental attitude about what desirable behavior is.

2. Storming: a conflict where the members do not want to be controlled by the group and where they can disagree about who the leader of the group is or how much power the leader must have.

3. Norming: the members feel that they really belong to the group and there are close ties within the group.

4. Performing: employees work together to achieve their goals.

5. Adjourning: the group separates when the goals are reached.

Research has shown that it does not mean that all groups go through all stages, that all stages are completed one at a time or that the stages are all completed in this order.

What are the characteristics of working groups?

You have five group characteristics that influence the behavior of the members and the performance of the group as a whole.

• First, you have group size: When a group is small, the members of a group know each other better and interact more. The individual contribution is also clearer, information is shared more easily, and there is better identification with the group goals. Strong identification can lead to increased motivation, commitment to group goals, and higher levels of satisfaction. On the other hand, larger groups have more resources to achieve their goals. You can also distribute the work so that every employee receives a specific task and can improve at it. On the other hand, a large group is more difficult to coordinate.

• Then you have the group composition: Members of a homogeneous group have many characteristics in common and members of a heterogeneous group do not. On the one hand, people prefer to work with others who look like them. Therefore, members of homogeneous groups may share better information, have fewer conflicts and not many coordination problems. You can also expect that the levels of motivation and satisfaction are high. On the other hand, heterogeneous groups may make better decisions because members view something from different angles. They also have a variety of sources of information. It is becoming increasingly common for companies to assemble heterogeneous groups of experienced employees and young, new employees so that they can learn from each other.

• Third, there is group function: the work that a group contributes to achieving the organizational goals. The function of the group gives the members meaning and a goal to strive for. If members see how they influence other groups, they might be motivated to perform at a higher level.

• Then you have the group status: the generally implicit idea of the importance of what the group does in an organization. The more important the task of the group or the group function, the higher the status in an organization. Members of a group with high status are motivated to work hard because they see their work as important for the success of the organization.

• Next comes the group efficacy: the shared belief that members have about the group's ability to achieve the goals. Effectiveness is not an established belief but is formed over time when members work together. For example, group effectiveness can influence what intentions have members for the group, the effort that members make, how they tackle tasks, and their perseverance when things get more difficult.

If the effectiveness of the group is too low, the problems will have to be looked into. For example: if it lacks the group of skills, it can be trained or someone with a lot of skills can be hired. If the group does not succeed in working together, group training can help.

• Lastly, you have social facilities: the effect that the physical presence of others has on someone's performance. You have 2 types of social facilitation. Public effects are the effects of passive spectators on performance. Co-action effects are the effects of the presence of other group members on performance when they perform the same tasks as the individual. When individuals are stimulated by the presence of other group members in well-learned tasks or tasks that are often performed, the performance improves. But if individuals are stimulated by group members in difficult or new tasks, the performance becomes worse.

How do groups coordinate the behavior of their members?

There are three mechanisms by which groups coordinate the behavior of their members: role division, rules, and norms.

A role is a series of behaviors that are expected in a particular position in a group or organization. A role the behaviors expected of a person who holds a certain position within the organization. However, this individual also has rights or privileges. Roles facilitate the management of a group for various reasons. Firstly, roles tell people what they should be doing. An individual is also responsible for his or her behavior and there is a standard whereby other members can evaluate the individual. Lastly, role managers help determine how to reward members who demonstrate the behaviors of the roles.

There are also role relationships in a group. These are rules on how members must interact with each other in order to play their roles. In addition to regulations, informal role relationships can also arise. A role arises for a large part as the group interacts with each other. The process of taking initiative to create a role by assuming certain responsibilities that do not belong to the designated role is called role making. Role taking is the process of behaving towards the responsibilities of the designated role.

The written rules specify the behaviors that are required and the behaviors that are prohibited. The advantages of rules are that they convince group members to display behaviors that are effective for the group and the organization and so that they avoid behaviors that impede the goals. Also, rules facilitate the management and evaluation of behavior because members and managers know what is expected of them. In addition, it helps to clarify the evaluation of performance levels of individual group members because they can be compared with the rules. Finally, the rules help newcomers learn how to properly behave within their roles. Rules about the best way to perform a task are called standard operating procedures. These ensure that the group tasks are executed correctly and efficiently.

A group can make rules at any time during its development. A healthy group recognizes when a group needs a change of rules and also when they want to change the existing rules.

What are group norms and what are they for?

Standards are signals about the behavior expected from members. Group norms are informal rules about behavior. If members have a general idea about acceptable behavior, they can evaluate behavior and ensure that everyone follows the standards. These norms are endorsed by rewarding members who behave according to the group norms and by punishing members who behave differently.

Standards are developed to steer the behavior of members in a certain direction, leading to the performance of the group or organizational goals. If norms exist, members no longer have to think about how they should behave in a particular situation, standards give direction to their behavior. If people share the same standards, they can predict how others behave in a situation and anticipate.

Individuals adhere to group norms for various reasons:

• The first is compliance: you stick to the rules to get a reward or avoid punishment.

• The second reason is identification: you identify with defenders of the norm and therefore also stick to the norm because they do so.

• The last reason is internalization: to believe that the behavior determined by the norm is the right behavior. This is the strongest basis for someone to adhere to group norms.

Some members may behave differently from the norm without being punished. These individuals have often done much for the group in the past. They have idiosyncratic credit: the freedom to deviate from the norm without being punished.

Agreement is good if standards help a group to manage and influence the behavior of the members so that the group goals can be achieved. On the other hand, groups can also develop standards that are bad for the group's performance. If a member deviates from the norm, the group can respond in different ways. First, the group can try to change the behavior of the member. In addition, the group may reject or suspend the member. Finally, the group can change the norm, which is sometimes necessary if the norm is inappropriate.

Groups need agreement and deviation from the norm to achieve their goals and perform at a high level. Agreement ensures that the behavior of the members is controlled so that tasks are achieved.

Deviation is necessary to oversee the norms and they can be important for group effectiveness, therefore, how groups respond to deviant behavior is important. The best thing for a group is to listen to and evaluate all views on the applicable standard.

Group goals are not always in line with organizational goals. Managers can ensure that group norms are functional for the organization by ensuring that members are rewarded when the organization reaches its goals. Another way is to reward employees individually or by group-oriented pay. This avoids employees being unmotivated to perform and only doing the minimum amount of work.

What is socialization?

The ability of a group to manage the behavior of its members depends on the extent to which the newcomers within a group learn the roles, rules, and norms. The process whereby the newcomers learn this is called socialization.

John Van Mannen and Edgar Schein have developed a socialization model on how groups teach the newcomers the rules, roles, and norms. Role orientation is the way members of a group respond to different situations.

There are six socialization tactics to teach the newcomers the rules, roles, and norms and to influence role orientation:

• Collective versus individual tactics. In collective tactics, newcomers go through a general learning process that teaches standardized reactions for different situations. Individual tactics teach you individually how to behave.

• Formal versus informal tactics. With formal tactics, the newcomers are separated from the existing group during the learning process. With informal tactics, you learn during work.

• Sequential versus random tactics. With successive tactics, the newcomers are taught in which order they will carry out new behaviors. With random tactics, the order of the socialization process depends on the newcomer.

• Fixed against variable tactics. Established tactics indicate precise times for how long each new part of the training is spent. With variable tactics, the speed of socialization depends on the newcomer.

• Serial versus disjunctive tactics. In serial tactics, newcomers are socialized by existing group members. With separating tactics newcomers have to invent everything themselves and develop a way of behaving themselves.

• Divestiture versus investiture tactics. In the case of divestiture tactics, newcomers receive negative treatment from the existing members. With investiture tactics, newcomers immediately receive positive social support from the existing members.

• Collective, formal, sequential, set, serial and distant tactics lead to an institutionalized role orientation and individual, informal, random, variable, divorcing and honoring tactics to an individualized role orientation.

These tactics lead to two different role orientations: institutional and individual. With the institutional role orientation, newcomers learn to react in the same way to situations as the existing group. Newcomers with an institutional role orientation more often use role taking rather than role making. With an individual role orientation, individuals are taught that it is acceptable and appreciated when members are creative and experiment with changes in existing applications. These members use role-making more often than role-taking.

The greatest advantage of institutionalized role orientation may also be its greatest danger: the homogeneity it creates among its members. If all members have learned to look at things in the same way, learned the same roles, rules, and standards, the group may be reluctant to change and may not produce creative ideas. The survival of a group depends on the will to change if the environment changes.

Socialization helps groups reach their goals by controlling the behavior of members. Whether a group wants its members to follow the established way, or whether a group wants members to be creative in their work, to make this a reality, the behavior and actions of the members have to be managed.

This chapter deals with the nature and functioning of working groups and teams. It describes what a group is and how they emerge, the characteristics of a working group and how participation in a group influences individual behavior.

When and why do groups work more effectively than individuals? - Chapter 11

In the previous chapter, the nature and functioning of working groups were described. The previous chapter will be continued on in this chapter. It examines why and under what conditions a working group works more effectively than individuals. Factors that lead to problems are also discussed. Finally, four important working groups are discussed in detail.

What is understood by process loss, process gains, and potential performance?

Potential performance is the highest possible level of performance that a group can achieve at a certain time. Managers and working groups must ensure that the actual performance of a group is as close as possible to the potential performance.

Process losses are production problems that a group experiences through coordination and motivation problems. Process losses are an important factor if the actual performance is lower than the potential performance. Coordination problems arise when group activities are divided among the group members and their contributions are ultimately combined in the product or output. Sometimes process losses can also arise due to interpersonal difficulties between group members. You can see it as a formula: current group performance = potential performance - process losses.

Process gains are increases in the potential performance that are the result of new ways of motivating and coordinating the group members. Sometimes larger process gains can be achieved by encouraging a group to be more creative and willing to take risks.

In order to create or retain effective workgroups, managers must eliminate process losses so that the actual performance comes close to the potential performance, and create process gains by continuously increasing the potential performance.

Which aspects of groups affect group performance?

Different aspects of groups can influence group performance. A number of these are discussed below.

An example of an aspect that affects the effectiveness of a working group and which can lead to process losses is 'social loafing'. Social loafing occurs when individuals work in groups and the individuals' contribution is not clear. Social loafing is the tendency of individuals to focus less in a group than if they were alone. This happens for 2 reasons:

• People are most motivated to perform when they are valued for their work. In a group, it is difficult to determine who contributes what and therefore their individual rewards/compliments are not discussed. Also because members in a group sometimes think that their own contribution is unimportant or not really necessary. This reduces motivation.

• If social loafing occurs with one or more members, it may also happen with several members, this is called the sucker effect. This effect occurs when members who were originally motivated will start doing less effort because they see other members doing the same. They do not want to be used or seen as "suckers".

The tendency of people to engage in social loafing increases if the group also grows larger because the evaluation and identification of the work become more difficult. In addition, employees come to the conclusion faster that their efforts are not important or remain unnoticed when the group gets bigger.

Managers can reduce or eliminate social loafing by making the contribution of each individual identifiable. Secondly, by giving each member the feeling that his/her contribution is a valuable contribution to the group. This can be done by letting employees remember why their individual skills ensured that they were chosen as group members. Lastly, social loafing can be stopped by keeping the group as small as possible. Dividing the work between groups will keep the groups as small as possible.

How do task characteristics influence group performance?

Process losses can also arise due to the nature of the work if it is difficult to determine what exactly the employee's contribution to the work is.

James D. Thompson has developed a model in which managers can identify task characteristics that lead to process losses and in which the most effective ways are to motivate group members through rewards. This is based on task interdependence: how much influence the work of one member has on the work of the other member. You have three types of task interdependence: pooled, sequential, and reciprocal.

With pooled interdependence, each member makes a separate and independent contribution to the group's performance. The group performance is the addition of all the member's contributions.

A common problem of process losses with pooled interdependence tasks is the duplication of work but this coordination problem can usually be solved simply by clearly dividing the tasks. Motivation problems can easily be solved here by evaluating the individual contribution of each group member and rewarding them on this basis.

Sequential interdependence members have to perform specific behaviors in a predetermined sequence. The level of performance of one member affects all members that come afterward. Identifying individual performance is difficult because all members work together on the same end product. The overall group performance is determined by the performance level of the worst member. From this, it follows that the process losses are greater than with consistent mutual dependency.

Motivation problems and social loafing also occur because individual performance is difficult to recognize. This can be improved by carefully checking the work behavior of the members.

Another way is to form working groups consisting of members with the same level of performance. Finally, in some situations, it can also help to make the remuneration of the work dependent on the group's performance.

Process losses due to coordination problems may also occur. If, for example, an employee fails at the beginning of the process, the other employees cannot do anything. With multiskilled staff or rewarding loyal staff, efforts can be made to overcome these coordination problems.

With reciprocal interdependence, the activities of all members of the group are completely dependent on one another, with the result that the performance of any other member affects the group.

Process losses due to motivation and coordination problems are the greatest in this type of interdependence. This is because it is virtually impossible to evaluate individual input. The process losses can minimize managers by keeping the groups as small as possible, making it clear that each member makes an important and different contribution to the group and by making members feel responsible for the group goals.

To decrease social loafing, managers must make the remuneration dependent on the group's performance and encourage the members to increase performance each time through rewards.

Working groups based on mutual interdependence mainly suffer from coordination problems due to the recurrent unpredictability of the group relations and interactions. These problems can be met by keeping the groups as small as possible and by keeping the members as close together as possible so that when they need a contribution from another member, they have easy access to them. Furthermore, new technology, such as the smartphone, can be used to communicate quickly and easily. Lastly, groups can also create standards that state that members should help each other when needed.

If mutual task dependency runs from compatible to successive, to reciprocal, the chance of process losses increases because individual performance becomes increasingly difficult to recognize and greater coordination problems may arise. However, The chance of process profits is also growing due to synergy: members who work together produce more or better than the combined performances together.

What is the relationship between group cohesion and performance?

Group cohesion is the attractiveness of a group for members. If a group is very attractive to members, the individuals within the group will appreciate their membership and they want to stay with the group.

Several factors contribute to the level of cohesion.

• Group size: The smaller the group, the higher the cohesion and the less chance of conflict.

• Similarity/diversity of the group members: People deal best with and communicate most effectively with people who look a lot like themselves. For this reason, homogeneous groups have a higher cohesion. However, diversity can lead to a larger perspective and more sources to extract information from. If this leads to achieving group goals, heterogeneous groups can lead to cohesion.

• Competition between groups: Competition between groups helps cohesion if it motivates the group members to form a bond together to reach the group goals. On the other hand, too much competition can lead to dysfunctional behavior (like sabotaging others) and reduce effectiveness.

• Success: If groups are successful, they become attractive to other members and increase cohesion.

• Exclusivity: Exclusivity is determined by how difficult it is to be able to join the group, how people outside the group view the group members, the status of the group within the organization, and the privileges that the group has. If members have to go through a difficult initiation period, it is more appreciated to be a member of that group and cohesion is greater.

The consequences of group cohesion depend on the similarities between the group goals and the organization's goals. The consequences are discussed below.

If the group goals and organizational goals match, then the first consequence is the level of participation and communication in the group. If there is better cohesion, communication between members will also improve. Behavior that is positive for the group will occur faster and the exchange of information will improve. Too much communication, on the other hand, can be dysfunctional if you communicate too much about non-work-related topics.

The second consequence is the level of conformity to the group standards. Higher cohesion also ensures a higher conformity with the group standards. This is good because it helps the group to control the behavior of the members towards the group goals. Too much cohesion is not good because then all deviation from the group norms is rejected. The chance of improvement and growth of the organization is then small.

The third consequence is the achieved group goals. Groups with higher cohesion often have more motivation to perform and achieve group goals faster. In the case of too much cohesion, members are too focused on the group goals and forget that they are part of a larger whole: the organization. As a result, conflicts can arise with other groups, which does not benefit the organizational goals. This shows that an average level of cohesion is best for all aspects.

If the group goals and organizational goals do not match, then the consequences of group cohesion are almost always negative for the organization. In this case, group cohesion is dysfunctional because it helps the group achieve its goals at the expense of the organization's goals.

What types of working groups are there?

Four types of working groups are discussed here: top management teams, self-managed work teams, research and development teams, and virtual teams.

Top management

A ' top management team' is a team of managers who all report to the same Chief Executive Officer. This team influences the organizational performance because they set the goals that have to be achieved and indicate the means to achieve these goals. This requires intensive interaction and they are therefore characterized by a reciprocal group dependence. To keep the process losses as small as possible, the CEO must ensure that the groups are as small as possible, the members of the team know that the individual contributions are important, the group members are open and honest in their communication with other members, and the CEO must ensure that members are easily accessible when other members need them.

The best decisions of a 'top management team' are made when the team is heterogeneous and thus everyone provides different information. This also avoids 'groupthink', the pattern of wrong decisions by allowing members to be influenced by like-minded members who interpret the information and events in the same way.

Self-managed work teams

In a self-managed work team, the members themselves have the authority to lead the group and decide how the team will perform tasks. In this team, the tasks that a supervisor normally performs and manage alone are now done by the team with their own responsibility. This gives higher levels of motivation, performance, and satisfaction. This is due to the increased diversity of skills, task identity, task interest, autonomy, and feedback.

Variety of skills increases because members use a large number of skills in all activities that need to be done. Task identity and task importance are increased because the group performs all tasks that have to be done and get a good picture of the end product.

A self-managed work team must meet a few conditions.

• The group must first be truly self-managing, but many managers do not like to give away this authority.

• In addition, the work of a self-managed work team is most effective when the work is complex and it leads to a clear end product.

• Managers in the organization must also support the team, be committed to the team, coach the team and try to resolve conflicts.

• Members of the team must be selected well so that the team has the right skills and expertise.

• Lastly, members of the team must work together and want to be part of the team.

Research shows that members of a self-managed work team are averse to disciplining other group members. The success of the team depends on what value the members attach to the group and the status of the team in the organization.

Research and development teams

A research and development team (R & D) develops new products, especially in high-tech industries. Some R & D teams are cross-functional: group members each represent a different function in the organization that is needed to develop the product.

Skunk Works is an R & D team that was created to develop a new product and promote innovation in an organization. Members of Skunk Works often become very possessive about a product and feel completely responsible for the success or failure of a product. Skunk Work is effective in developing a new product.

Virtual teams

Lastly, you have a virtual team that communicates and interacts for a significant part electronically. There are 2 types of information technology that a virtual team uses. Firstly, synchronous technology allows the group members to communicate at the same time (eg consultation via Skype). Secondly, there is asynchronous technology. This means that communication does not take place at the same time for members (for example consultation via email).

Which technology members use depends on the mutual task dependency in a team. For example, teams that are reciprocally interdependent need synchronic technology more than teams that are mutually dependent.

Virtual teams are useful because you can use all the knowledge, expertise and experience of members, wherever the members are located. Virtual teams have the same problems as other teams such as social loafing and find a good balance between conformity and deviation. They also have other problems such as learning to trust each other and finding cohesion between members who hardly interact with each other. Because of this, team members sometimes make arrangements to do recreational things together to get to know each other better.

Research shows that some virtual teams can deliver the same performance as other teams, but that members are sometimes less satisfied with this way of working together and that cohesion is often lower here. Periodic 'face-to-face' appointments help to reduce this as well as recreational trips with the team.

In the previous chapter, the nature and functioning of working groups were described. The previous chapter will be continued on in this chapter. It examines why and under what conditions a working group works more effectively than individuals. Factors that lead to problems are also discussed. Finally, four important working groups are discussed in detail.

What is a leader and how do you become one? - Chapter 12

Leaders have a big influence on people, groups, and organizations. In this chapter, leadership is defined and different types of leaders are discussed. Furthermore, different approaches to leadership are discussed that attempt to explain why some people become leaders. After that, substitutes and neutralization of leadership are discussed. Finally, the latest research topics are discussed.

What is the definition of leadership?

Leadership is the ability of an individual to influence the other members of the group or organization and to help them achieve their goals. The leaders have a large influence. Leader effectiveness is the degree to which the leader actually manages to achieve the goals of the group or organization.

Formal leaders are managers who have been given legal guidance to exert influence to help achieve organizational goals. Informal leaders have not received formal authority, but sometimes exert the same influence on other members as formal leaders and sometimes even more. Often this is because these people have a certain skill or talent.

Early approaches to leadership

No single approach to leadership is the 'right' and 'only' approach. There are multiple approaches and complement each other.

Two early approaches to leadership were given by the trait approach and the behavioral approach.

1. The trait approach identifies the long-lasting personal characteristics that distinguish a leader from a follower and distinguishes an effective leader from an ineffective one. These characteristics are intelligence, task-relevant knowledge, dominance, self-confidence, energy/activity levels, stress resistance, integrity/honesty, and emotional maturity. Some properties are not clear whether people who possess these qualities become effective leaders, or that leaders take on these qualities after a long time (since properties can change over years).

2. The behavioral approach to leadership identifies the specific behaviors carried out by effective leaders. Researchers found that most of the behavior of leaders related to consideration or the initiation of structures. Leaders influence the people around them mainly through daily behavior and decisions.

Behavior which indicates that a leader has respect for his employees and trusts them is called having consideration. A leader who expresses this behavior shows his followers that he cares about their well-being and is involved in how they feel and what they think. The initiating of structures includes behaviors that leaders take on to ensure that the work is being completed and that the subordinates do their work well.

Consideration and initiating structure are both complementary and independent behaviors of a leader. They are complementary because leaders can express both behaviors. They are also independent because the extent to which a leader shows consideration does not say anything about the extent to which a leader initiate structures and vice versa.

The behavioral approach can also work through reward and punishment. Reinforcement increases the chance of desired behavior and punishment reduces the chance that undesirable behavior occurs.

• 'Leader reward behavior' occurs when a leader rewards a subordinate when they act on the desired behavior.

• 'Leader punishment behavior' occurs when a leader reacts negatively to a subordinate if the subordinate exhibits unwanted behavior.

The behavior of the leader can be measured with two questionnaires. The Leadership Behavior Description Questionnaire asks subordinates to indicate to what extent leaders exhibit behavior with regard to consideration and structure. The Leadership Opinion Questionnaire asks the leaders themselves to indicate which behaviors will lead to successful leadership with regard to consideration and structures.

Researchers have also developed methods for measuring rewarding behavior and beating behavior of the leader. The properties approach to leadership deals with how leaders are and the behavioral approach to leadership deals with what leaders do, yet not everything has been said about this. Both approaches fail to address the influence that the environment or situation has on leadership. The behavioral approach addresses which behaviors are effective, but lacks the point that behaviors are affected by the situation. The properties approach lacks the same, it is not explained that properties are effective in one situation, but ineffective in the other.

What does Fiedler's contingency theory of leadership involve?

Fiedler's contingency theory of leadership acknowledges that the leaders' effectiveness is determined by the characteristics of the leader and also by the situation in which they find themselves. It deals with why some leaders are more effective than others even though they have the same capabilities, and why a particular leader is effective in a particular situation but not in another.

Just like the characteristics approach, Fiedler also recognizes that personal characteristics influence the effectiveness of leaders. He identifies two leadership styles, relationship-oriented and task-oriented, and states that all leaders are characterized by one of these two styles. Leaders who are relationship oriented, like to be liked by their subordinates and develop good working relationships. Their second priority is that the work is done well. Leaders that are task-oriented want their subordinates to perform at a higher level and complete all their tasks. Maintaining good relationships with the subordinates is their second priority. Leadership style is difficult to change and remains the same in every situation. A different leadership style is needed for each situation, so organizations must either assign a specific leader to a specific situation or change the situation so that it can match the leader's characteristics.

A scale to measure the style is the least preferred employee scale (Least Preferred Co-employee scale, LPC). Leaders are asked to think about the employee they are least likely to work with and to indicate how the person scores on a number of dimensions. Relationship-oriented leaders (high LPC leaders) described their least preferred employee relatively positively. Task-oriented leaders (low LPC leaders) described this employee negatively.

Relationship-oriented leaders wanted to think positively about this employee because a positive view helps to create a good relationship. Task-oriented leaders, on the other hand, think negatively because the person makes it difficult to achieve the goals.

Fiedler further states that the situation varies in their favorability for managing. This is the degree of ease in which the situation allows you to easily lead people to a high level of performance and to meet their goals. According to Fiedler, three characteristics of the situation determine the degree of suitability: the relationship leader-employee, the structure of tasks, and the position power of the leader. The leader-employee relationship is good when employees trust their leader, appreciate and have faith in them, and when the situation is suitable for leading. The task structure is the extent to which the work to be performed by a group is clear. Task structure is high when there are specific goals and every employee knows how to achieve this. The position power is the amount of formal power that a leader has. The dominance of a leader is high when he has the power to reward or punish employees.

All combinations of suitability are possible: good and bad leader-employee relations, high and low structure of tasks, and high and low position power, which generate a total of 8 leadership situations that Fiedler calls octants. Situations suitable for leadership, for example, are situations in which leader-employee relationship is good, task structure is high and the position of power is also high.

The contingency model states that a leadership style is a long-term personal characteristic. Which style is most effective depends on the situation. An organization must assign leaders to situations where they are most effective, or change the situation to suit the leader. According to the theory, task-oriented leaders are most suitable in very suitable or very inappropriate situations for management. Relationship-oriented leaders would be more suitable in average suitable situations.

New contemporary approaches

Newer theories on leadership have been proposed in recent years. These theories are based on the conditions approach, just like Fiedler's model.

House's path-goal theory

House's path-goal theory describes how leaders can motivate their subordinates to achieve group goals and organizational goals, to perform at a high level, and the types of behaviors they can exhibit to help them. The path-goal theory states that effective leaders must follow three guidelines to motivate their subordinates based on the expectation theory of motivation (see also What is the nature of work motivation? - Chapter 6).

• The first guideline is to determine which outcomes subordinates at work should try to achieve, for example, which needs they try to satisfy. After this, the leader must have control over those outcomes and the possibility to give or not give those results.

• The second directive is to reward subordinates for performing at a high level by giving the results that the subordinate values.

• The third guideline is to make the subordinates believe that they can achieve the work goals and perform at a high level. Leaders can do this by showing the routes that can lead to the goal, by removing possible obstacles and by showing confidence in the capacities of the subordinate.

House also identifies four types of behaviors that leaders can express to motivate subordinates:

• Directive behavior (applying structure) shows which tasks have to be done and how subordinates have to do that.

• Supportive behavior (similar to consideration) indicates that the leader thinks of their well-being and does his or her best for them.

• Participative behavior allows subordinates to participate in decisions that affect them.

• Achievement-oriented behavior insists that subordinates do their best. This behavior is, among other things, setting high goals for subordinates, having high-performance expectations, and expressing confidence in their possibilities.

In determining what behavior the leader must exhibit, he or she must know the nature of the subordinate and the work that he or she does. For an employee who experiences a lot of stress, supporting behavior can be effective and for an employee who performs complex and difficult tasks, directive behavior can be effective.

The Vroom and Yetton model

The Vroom and Yetton model describes different ways in which leaders can make decisions and gives leaders guidelines for determining the extent to which subordinates should participate in decision making. Leadership can be increased by allowing subordinates to participate in decision making and problem-solving. Participation ensures that subordinates accept the decision or support the decision. Participation can also lead to better decisions if, for example, the subordinate has information that the leader does not have. By participating, the subordinate can also grow and develop in the profession and thus perform higher and create a higher level of satisfaction.

Participation can also have bad consequences, the biggest disadvantage is time. Another disadvantage is that the subordinate does not agree with the decision-making and starts to wonder how others do their work. This can lead to conflict and lower employee commitment. Given these advantages and disadvantages, Vroom and Yetton have created a model from which it can be determined to what extent and when subordinates should take part in making decisions.

First, the leader must determine whether an individual decision or a group decision must be made. Then they have a choice of 4 different styles of decision-making, which vary in the extent to which subordinates participate in the decision.

• Autocratic: The leader makes the decision without the participation of subordinates.

• Consultative: Subordinates have some influence, but the leader makes the decision.

• Group: The group makes the decision, the leader is just a group member

• Delegated: The leader gives all responsibility to make a decision to the subordinates.

The following criteria should be taken into consideration when choosing a style: the nature of the tasks to be performed by the subordinates, the level of interdependence of the task to be produced, and the characteristics of the subordinates, such as level of skills.

The leader-member exchange theory

The leader-member exchange theory describes the different relationships that can develop between a leader and subordinate and describes what the leader and subordinate give and receive from the relationship. The theory focuses on the leader-subordinate duo, which is the relationship between the leader and the subordinate in which they are seen as a pair.

The theory states that every leader-subordinate duo develops a unique relationship that arises from the interactions between the two. Even though each relationship is unique, the theory states that two types of relationships develop in a leader-subordinate duo. In some duos, subordinates have a special relationship with their leader, which is characterized by mutual trust, commitment, and commitment. Subordinates who develop such a relationship are in the so-called in-group.

Other subordinates have a more traditional relationship with their leader. In this duo, the leader relies on his authority and position in the organization to influence the subordinate and the subordinate is expected to perform the work in an acceptable manner and follow the rules of the leader. These subordinates are in the out-group and are often less satisfied and perform worse than subordinates in the in-group.

It turns out that leaders who have a good relationship with their own supervisor also develop good relationships with their subordinates themselves. It also appears that leaders with a good relationship with their supervisor advance faster in an organization. The best thing a leader can do is to develop a good relationship with as many subordinates as possible and place them in the in-group as they perform better on average and are more loyal than the out-group.

What are leadership substitutions and neutralizations?

Research shows that leadership can make a difference. But some researchers doubt that this is always the case. These researchers suggest that leaders sometimes have little effect on the attitude and behavior of their subordinates.

Steven Kerr and John Jermier argue that leadership substitutions and neutralizations sometimes cause the influence of leaders to diminish.

A leadership substitution is something that replaces the need for a leader and makes leadership unnecessary. For example, if someone has a high intrinsic motivation, he or she does not need to be told by a leader to work hard.

A leadership neutralization is something that prevents the leader from having an influence and nullifies all efforts of the leader. Characteristics of the subordinate, the work, the group, and the organization can all be potential neutralizations for leadership.

A substitution for leadership is therefore functional for an organization because it saves time for the leader to do other things but neutralizations are dysfunctional because the leader lacks influence.

Finally, some researchers believe that attribution errors and stereotypes can sometimes lead to employees having a distorted image of their leader. Subordinates sometimes want to believe that leaders can really make a difference and assign them qualities or powers that they do not actually possess. This is called the romance of leadership.

Which new research topics about leadership are there?

Research into leadership is continuous. This includes new research topics such as transformative and charismatic leadership, the effect of the leader's mood on his or her subordinates, and gender and leadership.

1. Transformational leadership

Bass has a theory about how leaders can influence and transform their subordinates and organizations. Transformational leadership occurs when a leader transforms his or her subordinates in three major ways and together results in trust in the leader, behaviors that lead to achieving the group goals or organizational goals, and motivation to perform at a high level.

• Transforming leaders increase the awareness of the value of the task and the importance of performing well.

• Transforming leaders make subordinates realize that it is important to grow, develop and perform personally

• Transforming leaders motivate their subordinates to work for the organization rather than exclusively for their own benefit.

How do leaders influence these subordinates to come to these changes? Transforming leaders are charismatic leaders: leaders who have a vision of how good things can be in an organization in contrast to how they are today. They can convey this vision well and with great enthusiasm. To convey this vision to subordinates, charismatic leaders have a high self-confidence that encourages subordinates to respect and admire the leaders.

Transforming leaders influence their subordinates by means of intellectual stimulation to become aware of the problems in the group and organization and by seeing these problems through a new perspective: the leaders perspective.

Transforming leaders also influence their subordinates by showing developmental consideration: behavior of a leader that is supportive and encouraging to the subordinates and gives them opportunities to develop and grow in a job, by learning new skills.

Transforming leadership must be distinguished from transactional leadership. In transactional leadership, leaders motivate their subordinates only by giving rewards for good performance and punishing poor performance. Transforming leaders can also display transactional behavior but they go a step further by involving the subordinates in his or her vision and putting personal interests in the interest of the organization. Transforming leadership leads to higher satisfaction and performance among subordinates and arouses their confidence.

2. Emotional intelligence

The mood of the leader can also be an important factor as to why certain leaders are effective and other leaders are not. Subordinates work and perform better if the leader is optimistic instead of pessimistic. However, little research has been done so far. The level of guidance also depends on emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence can help a leader to develop a collective vision shared by the entire organization and to encourage subordinates to work enthusiastically to achieve that vision. It can also help leaders to develop a meaningful identity for the organization and create an atmosphere of trust and collaboration. Finally, emotional intelligence can also help to remain flexible in rapidly changing environments.

3. Gender

In organizations, there are opinions about the differences between men and women. A general stereotype is that women are supportive, caring, and generally good at maintaining interpersonal relationships. Men are more task-oriented. If these stereotypes are true, gender has an effect on leadership.

However, research shows that when men and women have leadership positions, they behave in the same way. One difference is that women have a more democratic style and men have a more autocratic style. There are two potential explanations for this difference:

• The first is that the interpersonal skills of women are better than those of men.

• The other is that women in leadership positions face more opposition from subordinates than men. Gender stereotypes are the reason that a male leader is accepted faster than a female.

However, research shows that women may have better leadership qualities than men in certain aspects. It turns out that after evaluation by employees, supervisors, and subordinates, women generally get slightly better figures in areas such as communication and listening, work quality, and motivating others. On the other hand, men are slightly better at networking and often take every chance to show that they are leaders. It is important that leaders behave in an ethically and socially responsible manner, and they have an exemplary role. Nowadays even more attention is paid to choosing a leader than before. A leader must also be confident.

Leaders have a big influence on people, groups, and organizations. In this chapter, leadership is defined and different types of leaders are discussed. Furthermore, different approaches to leadership are discussed that attempt to explain why some people become leaders. After that, substitutes and neutralization of leadership are discussed. Finally, the latest research topics are discussed.

How do power, politics, conflict and negotiations affect organizations? - Chapter 13

What is the connection between power and politics?

Power is the ability of a person or group to cause another person or group to do things that they would otherwise not have done. Power is a means of managing and controlling organizational goals and activities.

Organizational politics are the activities undertaken by managers to increase their power and to pursue their goals in favor of their personal and group interests. On the one hand, the terms power and politics have a negative sound because people associate them with self-interest; managers who abuse power and politics act in favor of their own interests at the expense of others.

On the other hand, power and politics can help the organization. First because of the discussions that can arise as a result of different opinions about solutions. These discussions ensure better quality decision-making. This is called political decision-making.

Secondly, different perspectives can promote the change that the organization needs to adapt better to a changing environment. When coalitions, groups of managers with the same interests, lobby for an organization to use new strategies or change its structure, the use of power can lead to shifting the organization in other directions.

What are the sources of individual power?

People differ in the power they have over others. Where do these people get their power from and how do they get power? Individual power consists of formal power and informal power.

Formal individual power is the power obtained by the position of the person in the hierarchy of the organization. This power can be reflected in different ways.

• Legitimate power gives a person the legitimate authority to use and control the organization's resources to achieve organizational goals. Legitimate power is the ultimate source of a person's power in an organization. The greater the legitimate power of a manager, the more authority they have and the more responsible they are for the organization's performance and the use of the organization's resources.

• Reward power is the power to give wage increases, promotions, praise, interesting projects and other rewards to subordinates. The manager can use remuneration to influence and monitor the behavior of the subordinates, provided that employees appreciate the remuneration. The amount of rewards that an organization can give is usually limited.

• Coercive power is the power to give or withhold punishment. Since penalties have negative side effects, organizations usually have clear rules about how and when subordinates receive punishment. Equality is important when using this kind of power. It does not matter what kind of reward or punishment subordinates get, they compare it with the rewards and punishments that others get. If they feel unfairly treated subordinates may perform worse, be dissatisfied with their work, or quit.

• Information power is the power that one has by having access and having control over information. The more information a manager has, the better he or she can solve problems of subordinates. This increases the subordinates dependence on the manager. In the most effective organization, the managers make the information accessible to everyone. Subordinates, therefore, feel more responsible for the performance of the organization and they work with more motivation. Informal power is the power that derives from personal characteristics such as personality, skills and, capacities. Here are several sources that lead to this power: expert, referent, and charismatic power.

  • Expert power is the power one gets through superior skills or expertise in completing a task. Group members often come to these individuals for advice and thus become dependent on these individuals. Often people with expert power are promoted in the hierarchy of authority so that their informal power eventually becomes formal power.

  • Referential power is the power that people have because they are liked, admired and respected.

  • Charismatic power is an extreme form of referent power that the person obtains through his personality, physical skills or other skills that lead to others believing in this person and following him/her. When someone has charismatic power, legitimate power, reward power, and coercive power fall into nothingness because the followers let the charismatic ruler make the decisions such as defining the vision and goals of an organization and its members.

Charismatic power can also have a dark side if followers blindly follow the charismatic ruler and do not take personal responsibility for their actions because they think this leader knows what is best for the organization. It is only an advantage if there is also a formal hierarchy of authority to control the charismatic ruler.

Sources of power in a function or department

A department or function gains power when other departments or functions are dependent on the tasks they perform. An unforeseen event is an event or problem that could occur, so plans must be made for it. For this, the organization needs people and resources that can handle it.

A department or function has power over others if it has the ability to reduce the uncertainties of the others. Today, the ability to control information technology is a way to gain such power. A department or function is given power when it is irreplaceable, i.e. when no other department or function can take over its activities. How irreplaceable they are depends on how difficult it is to find a replacement for the department or position.

The power of a department or function also depends on its centrality in the organization. That means, how central the operations of this department or functions are in the organization and what role they play in the information flow. Central functions, of which many other functions or departments depend, have access to a lot of information and therefore have a lot of power in dealing with others. Many organizations use cross-functional teams to ensure that everyone shares valuable information. This promotes the speed of work with these teams.

The ability to manage and produce the resources for the organization is another source of power for departments and functions. The department that gives the organization the most profit becomes the most important department in an organization.

How can managers increase their power?

Organizational politics are activities that managers use to increase their power. Once this is achieved, they can use that power to influence decision making so that organizations strive for goals that match their individual, functional and departmental interests. One reason why so many people take part in organizational politics is because jobs are scarce and the competition for them is large. The higher the position, the harder it is to promote because the higher in the hierarchy, the fewer jobs.

Managers can use different tactics to increase their power:

1. The first tactic is by draining the sources of power in departments and functions. First, managers can make themselves irreplaceable, for example by developing a specialized skill. Secondly, a manager can specialize in an area of great importance for the organization so that he or she ultimately manages a crucial unforeseen event. In addition, a manager can make himself more important to the organization by taking on express responsibilities that bring him or her into contact with many functions or managers.

2. The second tactic is to recognize who has power. If a manager knows who has power, he or she knows who has to be influenced and on whom he or she has to make an impression. There are five factors that determine the relative power of managers in an organization.

• The sources of power, for example, expertise.

• The consequences of power. People who have the most power gain the most benefit from decisions made by the organization.

• The symbols of the power, such as working titles.

• Personal reputations. The reputation and trust that employees have in the manager also indicate that power they have to influence the decision-making process.

• The representative indicators. The organizational roles people play and the responsibilities that managers have are indications of power.

3. The third tactic is managing the agenda: determining which problems are addressed and which ones are ignored. In this way, powerful managers reduce the considerations of alternative choices.

4. The fourth tactic is to get an expert from outside. When there is a difference of opinion about goals or ideas people are often seen as politically motivated or motivated by self-interest. If a manager brings in an outside expert who is seen as a neutral observer, the manager can use this 'objective' view to support his or her own position.

5. The fifth tactic is making coalitions and alliances. In a coalition or alliance manager has more influence and he or she can gain more power in decision making.

Organizational policy management is primarily in the hands of the CEO because only the CEO holds legal power over all other managers. However, if the CEO is seen as weak, other senior managers will lobby for their own interests and compete against other managers for managing the sources.

Power struggles take power out of the organization, waste resources and divert the organization from the goals it wants to achieve. To combat power struggles, the organization must have a strong CEO who can balance and manipulate the power structure so that no manager or coalition becomes strong enough to threaten organizational interests.

What is an organizational conflict?

Organizational conflict is the struggle which arises out of self-interest and when the purposeful behavior of a person or group blocks the purposeful behavior of another person or group. Conflicts are inevitable but can often increase the performance of the organization if they are carefully managed and discussed.

The best level of conflict in an organization is an average level. In the first place, conflict can increase the performance of an organization by showing weaknesses in the organizational decision-making process, and so changes can occur to improve it. Managers can change the power structure and give the group that is good for the organization more power. But too much conflict is bad again and decreases performance because the conflict goes too far and the organization consists of two competing groups.

Managers must be aware of the sources that can cause conflict so that they can avoid them.

Three important sources of conflict and inter-group conflicts are differentiation, task relationships, and scarcity of resources:

1. Differentiation. Differentiation in an organization occurs when people and tasks are divided into functions and departments to produce goods and services. Breaking up the organization functions and departments creates conflict because it shows the different functional orientation and status inconsistencies.

   • Differences in functional orientation. Functions have different orientations and therefore they have different views on the organization's priorities. These differences can lead to conflict that can do much harm because it reduces the cohesion of the organization and reduces performance.

   • Status inconsistencies. If a group with a central function thinks that it has more status than other groups, it can undermine other groups. Also, the department does not take into account the needs of other functions and by failing to acknowledge this it blocks the goals of other functions. Even if functions see themselves as central and essential for the organization, they may try to achieve their goals at the expense of the less essential functions.

2. Task relations. Conflicts can arise because organizational tasks are connected and influence each other. Overlapping authority, mutual task dependency, and incompatible evaluation systems can stimulate conflicts between functions and departments.

   • Overlapping authority. If two different functions or departments require authority over the same task, a conflict can arise. Such confusion can arise, for example, if a growing organization has not yet fully established the relationships between different groups.

   • Mutual task dependency. The development or production of goods and services depends on the flow of work from one function to another: each function works with the contributions of the previous function. If a job does not do its job well, the next function can no longer do its job properly and conflict can arise. If mutual task dependency goes from merged, to successive to reciprocal, the potential conflict between departments and functions increases.

   • Incompatible evaluation systems. If an unjust evaluation system rewards one group of employees and another does not, this can cause conflict. This opportunity is increased with mutual task dependency, where individual performance is difficult to measure.

3. The scarcity of sources. If there are few sources (such as materials or finances) people and groups will have to fight for it and this can lead to conflict.

What are the stages in Pondy's model of organizational conflict?

Pondy views conflict as a dynamic process that consists of five successive stages.

1. Latent conflict is the first stage when there is no real conflict yet. The potential for conflict is there, because of the causes of conflict described above.

2. Perceived conflict is the second stage when an individual or group perceives that his goals are being counteracted by the actions of another individual or group. Each party looks for the principles of the conflict, defines why there is a conflict, analyzes how it has resulted in conflict and considers how it came about that there is a problem with another party or parties.

The conflict starts when different parties fight about the cause of the problem.

3. Felt conflict is the third stage of conflict when parties develop negative feelings about each other. Each group chooses a side, gets a counter-stance and blames the other group for the problem. When the groups fight to communicate their views, the whole problem is usually blown up.

4. Manifesting conflict is the fourth stage in which 1 party decides how to respond to the other party he sees as the source of the conflict and both parties try to oppose and violate each other. You can manifest it in different ways. Open aggression and violence can even occur. They may also no longer be able to work together and this can seriously affect the organization.

5. Conflict aftermath is the last stage when the conflict is solved in some way. Whatever the outcome (dismiss someone, reorganize the organization), it is almost certain that the conflict will occur again in a different context. This is called the aftermath and will influence how both parties look at things and respond to them. If a conflict for the manifestation stage is resolved through compromise or cooperation, the aftermath will be good for future working relationships. If, however, the conflict is resolved at a later stage, the cooperation between the two parties will not work out well.

How can it best be negotiated to resolve conflicts?

An important responsibility for a manager is to help in conflicts by having different individuals, departments or functions work together to resolve their disagreements.

Negotiation is a process in which groups with different interests make offers, accept offers and make concessions to resolve their differences. It is an important technique because it can lead to a compromise between groups.

Managers must help the parties not to view the situation as a competition; a win-lose situation. They have to change the situation so that both parties strive for a win-win situation.

Managing conflict at an individual level is aimed at changing the attitudes or behaviors of those in the conflict. If conflict comes from different personalities who do not understand the other person's vision, the organization can help by calling in outside help for advice. Education, sensitivity, and awareness training can help people to understand others who are not like themselves with diversity in the workplace.

If conflict comes from a general disagreement about how the work should be done or about the performance of the other, managers can help through a step-by-step negotiation method that solves the disagreement.

The steps are:

1. A manager addresses both employees in conflict and explains how their behavior affects the performance of their work and the other employees. Then the manager asks both employees to express their feelings about the conflict so that the manager and the other employee know how the employee sees the conflict.

2. The manager then writes a report about their positions so that they are linked and the main points of the conflict become clear.

3. The manager then discusses the facts from the report separately with both employees as a neutral third party in order to arrive at a solution that both employees accept.

4. The manager agrees with both employees to confirm the agreement and declares that they will come back to the manager if problems arise again.

If the conflict can not be solved, another solution is to have an employee posted. Promotion is also sometimes used to change attitudes. Lastly, the organization can fire people and accept other people who have no history with dysfunctional conflicts.

Managing conflict at a group level. Managing conflict at a group level is aimed at changing the attitudes or behavior of groups in conflict. Managers can physically separate the work groups so that they can no longer communicate face-to-face and thus no direct conflict can occur. However, often this solution only offers temporary solutions to the problem.

Direct negotiations between groups can be held with or without a third party negotiator: an outsider who is good at negotiating. Sometimes the general supervisor of the teams acts as a third party. If the third party acts as a mediator, he or she adopts a neutral attitude and helps the parties to reconcile their differences. If the parties can not find a solution, the third party can act as a leading figure, or judge, and impose a solution.

There are five basic ways in which negotiation can take place to resolve a conflict: compromise, cooperation, adaptation, avoidance, and competition:

1. First, you compromise. A compromise is a solution that is acceptable to both parties. This happens when the interest in achieving your own goals and other people's goals is average.

2. Parties can also collaborate. Each party not only tries to achieve its own goals, but also that of the other party. This happens when the interest in achieving your own goals and other people's goals is high. This is best for the organization because the parties are very motivated to work together.

3. Accommodation happens when one party allows another party to achieve its goals at the expense of their own goals. This happens when one party realizes that they do not have enough power and resources to win the conflict and so they let the other party win.

4. With avoidance, both parties deny the cause of the problem and pretend there is no problem. This happens when the interest in achieving your own goals and other people's goals is low. Adaptation and avoidance lead to major problems for the organization and for either one or both parties who are in conflict.

5. Lastly, you have competition ('competition') where both parties want to fulfill their own interests and have no interest in the other party. This happens when the interest in achieving your own goals is high and reaching someone else's goals is low.

There are six specific characteristics that a manager can use in negotiation to promote cooperation and compromise:

1. The emphasis on shared goals helps both parties to keep the bigger picture in mind which is the fact that they work for the organization and they must achieve their goals even though they disagree.

2. Both parties in conflict must continue to concentrate on the problem and not on each other personally.

3. Parties must concentrate on interests, not on requirements. Requirements are what a person wants, interests are why a person wants them. When people are in conflict, it is often impossible to meet both requirements. The underlying interests can often be achieved.

4. Create opportunities for joint profits. Try to achieve a win-win situation, instead of a win-lose situation.

5. Concentrate on what is fair, according to the fairness theory. This theory emphasizes the fair distribution of outcomes based on input and contributions that people make for the organization. The party that provides more input deserves more results.

Negotiations for union-management

Negotiations between trade unions and managers are one of the most common types of negotiation.

In a negotiation situation, two processes are engaged at the same time. In dividing negotiations, the parties negotiate how to distribute the sources, decide who gets what and how much. When conducting behavior, the parties try to influence the attitude of each other. Trade unions and management negotiators usually develop a long-term relationship with each other and try to work together because they know that trying to destroy each other works to everyone's disadvantage.

Power is the ability of a person or group to cause another person or group to do things that they would otherwise not have done. Power is a means of managing and controlling organizational goals and activities.

Organizational politics are the activities undertaken by managers to increase their power and to pursue their goals in favor of their personal and group interests. On the one hand, the terms power and politics have a negative sound because people associate them with self-interest; managers who abuse power and politics act in favor of their own interests at the expense of others.

On the other hand, power and politics can help the organization. First because of the discussions that can arise as a result of different opinions about solutions. These discussions ensure better quality decision-making. This is called political decision-making.

Secondly, different perspectives can promote the change that the organization needs to adapt better to a changing environment. When coalitions, groups of managers with the same interests, lobby for an organization to use new strategies or change its structure, the use of power can lead to shifting the organization in other directions.

What is the definition and function of communication? - Chapter 14

What is the definition of communication?

Communication is one of the most crucial aspects in the management of organizations. Effective communication has major consequences for the performance of individual employees, the group and the organization as a whole.

The definition of communication consists of two characteristics:

• Sharing information with others

• The mutual understanding of the information

Communication, therefore, refers to the sharing of information between two or more people or groups in order to develop a mutual understanding. If the information is not correctly understood, no effective communication has taken place. Note that mutual understanding does not necessarily mean that the parties involved agree. There is pure agreement in the interpretation of the information.

Which functions does communication have?

There are four main functions of communication:

1. The first function is to transfer knowledge. In an organization, employees must be provided with the right information to be able to carry out their work effectively. New employees, in particular, need new information about the organization and the work but also the most experienced employees need to be aware of changes in the work situation.

2. The second function is motivating employees. Motivation is a crucial determinant of work performance, and the role of communication in motivation is to create high, positive expectations for the employee. Managers can motivate employees by listening to their needs and expectations and responding to them by encouraging and confirming the employee's capabilities.

3. The third function is steering and coordinating group activities. The more employees in a group are interdependent, the more important and the more influence the communication has. By communicating about the division of roles, rules, norms and the importance of the task, a group can be effectively coordinated.

4. The fourth and final function is expressing feelings and emotions. Individual employees and groups generally function better when they can communicate their work-related feelings and understand each other.

What are communication networks?

Communication in organizations takes place at different levels, both within and between levels of the organizational hierarchy. A communication network is the system of routes where the flow of information can run within a group or organization. A communication network can take various forms:

• A wheel network means that most information runs through a central person. This central person receives information from all group members and is the only one who also conveys information to other members. Other group members do not communicate directly with each other. Wheel networks are most common in pooled task interdependence. This means that all members work independently of each other while the result depends on the sum of the work of all members together.

• A chain network is a network in which information is passed on from one person to another, in a fixed order. This type of networks occurs especially when there is sequential interdependence.

• In the circle network, people communicate among themselves and communicate with the most with the people who share common interests with them or who work directly next to them. This mainly occurs when communicating about shared interests, experience or expertise.

• In an all-channel network, all group members communicate with each other via all possible routes. You will find this network when there is a reciprocal task interdependence.

Another type of communication network is a network of the hierarchy of the organization, which can be mapped by formally specifying which supervisors communicate with which subordinates. In practice, communication networks often look different from the hierarchical networks, because informal information is often shared via other routes. This informal communication ensures that members of an organization can work effectively. According to Krackhardt and Hanson, there are three types of informal communication networks in organizations:

• The advisory network is used to obtain technical information.

• The trust network is used to share personal and sensitive information, for example about conflicts.

• The communication network is used to communicate about every day, work-related topics, such as administration or plans for a team outing.

What steps does the communication process consist of?

In the communication process, information is exchanged between two parties: the sender and the receiver. The sender is the person or group who wants or needs to share information with another person or group, and the recipient is the person or group for whom the information is intended. The message is the information that the sender must or wants to share with the receiver. An effective message has two properties: the message is complete and clear.

The communication process consists of the following steps:

1. Encoding: the station converts the message into words or symbols that the recipient can understand. The choice for the use of jargon is based on relevant or unrelated expertise of sender and receiver.

2. Determining the medium: the type of communication that is chosen to convey the message. Communication is made up of two components: verbal communication (sharing information by means of spoken and written language) and/or non-verbal communications (sharing information by means of body language, facial expressions, and clothing). Non-verbal communication contributes to the message, depending on the chosen medium.

3. Decoding: the receiver tries to interpret and understand the channel's message

4. The feedback loop: the receiver responds by deciding what message to send back to the sender. Again the steps are encoding, choosing the medium and decoding, but this time in the opposite direction (from original receiver to the original sender). The original sender can then determine whether the message has been received effectively.

What can disrupt effective communication?

During the communication process, there are several factors that can disrupt effective communication. This is called noise. There are six common communication problems in the context of organizations.

Six common communication problems

The first problem is filtering and information disruption. Filtering means that transmitters do not communicate part of the message because they assume that the recipient does not need the information or does not want to receive it (this is especially true for bringing bad news). However, this assumption is not always correct and can lead to incomplete information exchange. Information disruption is related to this and means that the meaning of the message is changed when the message is passed on by a chain of different people.

The problem of filtering and information disruption can be solved by creating trust and ensuring that bringing bad news does not lead to a sense of guilt on the part of the sender.

The second problem is poor listening behavior. This occurs when people attach more importance to sending messages than to receiving them. Certainly, in today's society with an abundance of information, good listening skills are of great importance for effective communication. Listening skills include behavior such as attention being fully focused on the sender, focusing on the message that is given at that moment, asking questions and summarizing or reformulating them in order to achieve a better understanding.

The third problem is a lack of feedback, which may mean that no feedback is given at all or that the feedback is given in the wrong way. The latter mainly occurs with negative feedback. Managers with good feedback skills take into account the vision and feelings of the recipient.

The fourth problem is spreading gossip and rumors. This usually takes place via informal communication paths and the risk of gossip and rumors is particularly high when information about threatening problems is withheld. This can be personal information about employees, groups within the organization or the organization itself.

The fifth problem is diversity. This involves diversity in vision and attitudes. The more diversity, the more difficult it can be to deal with this. Large companies nowadays use special training courses to deal with diversity. Such training can be designed in different ways: in some cases, a minority group within the organization is allowed to speak about their experiences and problems they encounter, in other cases employees from one group need to work together for a period with members of another group.

The sixth and final problem is caused by cultural and linguistic differences. The linguistic style of a person is a characteristic way of speaking and can differ within cultures, but especially between cultures. This can lead to misunderstandings.

What are communication mediums and how do you choose the best?

As described in the communication process, there are various possibilities regarding the medium. Every medium has advantages and disadvantages, so a balance has to be made to choose the best fit. An important feature of the medium is information richness: the amount of information a communication medium can carry and the extent to which the message is mutually understood by the sender and the receiver.

Face-to-face communication is the medium with the highest information density. There are two reasons for this: firstly there is both verbal and non-verbal communication, and secondly it makes direct feedback possible.

Electronically transmitted verbal communication means that information is transmitted through telephone lines. The information density is less high than in face-to-face because there is less non-verbal information but in the use of voice, there is still some degree of non-verbal communication. Direct feedback is not always possible, because voicemail falls under this medium.

Personal addressed written communication such as via letters and e-mails has a reasonable degree of information density and a good chance of effective communication because personal addressing makes it likely that the recipient reads and answers it. There is no question of non-verbal communication. There is also no direct feedback, but this can be an advantage when the time is needed to think about the message and the response.

Impersonal written communication has the lowest information density. It is not intended for a specific person and is mainly used when the sender must transmit the same information to a large number of recipients at the same time. The chance of feedback is small. Therefore, it is very important that the transmitter uses clear, non-ambiguous formulations.

The consideration when determining a medium has not only to do with information density but also with the time investment. In addition, a choice must be made from information on paper or electronic communication. Technological progress has led to a huge increase in possibilities for communication and also to faster and easier access to information. An organization must ensure that employees are not overwhelmed with excessive amounts of information.

What is conviction and why is it important?

Mutual understanding is not the only goal of communication. A second important goal is conviction: the intention to influence the goals and attitudes of the recipient. With conviction, the accuracy of the message is often less important than its shape.

Conviction is important in various situations. In organizations, this especially applies when the sender does not have formal authority and therefore has to use a different way to control the behavior of others. The effectiveness of conviction depends on five factors:

1. Features of the transmitter. The credibility, speaking and listening skills and emotional intelligence of the sender increase the success of conviction.

2. Active listening, in which the message is constantly evaluated in terms of meaning and consequences, intentions of the sender and inconsistencies in the content, influences the way in which the message is received. A transmitter of convincing communication is aware of this and responds to this.

3. The content of the message.

4. The medium of communication. Face-to-face communication is generally the most effective.

5. Features of the receiver.

What problems are there with communication in crisis situations?

Communication in crisis situations can cause problems for the hierarchy of the organization. Managers must be able to respond quickly and work closely with other managers. A predetermined plan for crisis situations can help in this, determining which role each team member has. Face-to-face communication is the most effective in crisis situations because it has the highest information density.

Problems can arise when a top manager has no clear authority about other managers of other organizations. There is then uncertainty about who should report to whom and who is responsible for which task. A second problem is that the responsibility for crucial decisions is often passed on to others. A third problem is that the gathering of information takes time, so unless a good plan for crisis situations is made, it can take too long to form an adequate response to the situation.

Communication is one of the most crucial aspects in the management of organizations. Effective communication has major consequences for the performance of individual employees, the group and the organization as a whole.

The definition of communication consists of two characteristics:

• Sharing information with others

• The mutual understanding of the information

Communication, therefore, refers to the sharing of information between two or more people or groups in order to develop a mutual understanding. If the information is not correctly understood, no effective communication has taken place. Note that mutual understanding does not necessarily mean that the parties involved agree. There is pure agreement in the interpretation of the information.

How do people make decisions? - Chapter 15

This chapter shows how people make decisions. First of all, the different types of decisions and the decision-making process are discussed. Next, 'biases' and problems in decision making are explained. Furthermore, the advantages and disadvantages of involving a group in the decision-making process and the techniques that a group can use in decision-making are explored. Finally, it discusses how a company can encourage learning in an organization to maintain and improve the quality of its decision-making.

What is decision-making?

Decision making is the process whereby members of an organization choose a specific course of action to respond to the possibilities and the problems.

Decisions in response to opportunities occur when members of an organization make choices that benefit them. An individual, group or organization can only achieve their full potential if they use every possibility to increase their effectiveness and efficiency.

Decision-making in response to problems occurs when an individual, group, organizational goals or performance are threatened.

In response to possibilities and problems, there are two types of decisions that can be made: unprogrammed decisions and programmed decisions:

• Unprogrammed decisions are made when members of an organization respond to new problems or opportunities. The members look for additional information to make the right choice.

• Programmed decisions are made in response to problems and opportunities that keep returning. A programmed decision is made using a Performance Program, a standardized sequence of actions to be followed automatically by members when encountering a specific problem or opportunity.

• Performance programs usually follow unprogrammed decisions. If a problem or possibility occurs more frequently, a programmed decision is required and a performance program is created.

Ethical decision making

A criterion of a satisfactory decision is that it is ethical. Ethical decisions promote well-being and do not cause harm to members of an organization or other people. However, it is often difficult to determine the boundary between ethical and unethical decisions. Some people make unethical decisions to improve themselves in the organization, but even people who strive for ethical decisions often suffer from ethical dilemmas.

For these dilemmas, a company can hire an ethics official who is responsible for developing ethical standards for decision making.

The official is also responsible for listening to employee complaining about unethical behavior, training employees to make ethical decisions, and preventing managers from making further unethical decisions.

How does the decision-making process work?

Two models of decision-making studied are the classical decision-making model and the administrative decision-making model of James March and Herbert Simon.

Classical decision-making model

The classical decision-making model is a prescriptive model: it describes how people should make a decision. The model is based on two assumptions:

1. People have access to all the information they need.

2. People make a decision by choosing the best solution for a problem or best reaction to an opportunity.

According to the classic model, one chooses a reaction to a problem or possibility by following four steps:

1. Make a list of all the alternative choices. These are the different reactions to problems or possibilities.

2. Make a list of all consequences for every possibility/problem. This is what happens when a reaction is chosen.

3. To arrange your own preferences for alternatives and consequences.

4. Selecting an alternative that leads to the best consequences.

However, this model is unrealistic. The assumption that one has all the information to make optimal decisions usually does not occur in organizations. Compared with how decisions are made in organizations, the first step does not correspond, because organizations often do not know all the alternatives. The second step does not match because people often do not know all of the consequences. The biggest problem with decision making is that often you do not know all the consequences of an alternative. The third step does not match because one is not always sure what he/she wants.

Due to the problems with these first three steps in the classical model, it is often not possible for members of an organization to make the best decisions. If they make a good decision, it is often not worth it the time or the costs.

Administrative decision-making model

The administrative decision-making model of March and Simon is descriptive: it explains how people actually make decisions in organizations. March and Simon emphasize that incomplete information and the cognitive skills and psychological state of members influence the decision-making process. In addition, members of an organization often make satisfactory decisions, instead of optimal ones.

According to the administrative model, one chooses a response to a problem or opportunity based on a simplified and rough idea of the situation which is the definition of the problem or opportunity of the decision maker. Decision makers can follow the steps of the classical model, but the information they use is based on their definition of the situation, which is the result of personal and situational factors.

Personal factors include the personality, skills, perceptions, experiences, and knowledge of the decision makers. Situational factors include the group, organization and the organizational and national culture that the decision maker is part of. Instead of making optimal decisions, members of an organization often engage in satisficing: they seek and choose acceptable reactions that are not necessarily the best responses.

March and Simon also recognize the limitations of decision-makers, in contrast to the classic model. Decision-makers are limited by limited rationality: the skill of reasoning that is limited by the limitations of the man himself. It is often impossible for decision-makers to simultaneously consider all the information that is relevant to a decision and at the same time use this information to make an optimal choice.

These limitations make it easier to understand why good and bad decisions are made and how decision-making can be improved. Good decisions are often made because decision-makers can identify the most important aspects. Bad decisions can be made by misjudging the situation. Decision makers need to consider how their personal preferences affect the way they see the possibilities and problems of their decisions or the potential effects of their decisions.

What are 'biases' and problems in decision-making?

Two major sources of errors in decision-making are first of all rules of thumb/shortcuts. These are practical but inaccurate rules, which people use to make decisions. Secondly, the human tendency to invest even more in bad decisions (escalation of commitment).

Rules of thumb/shortcuts

Heuristics are rules of thumb that people use to make decisions easier. People sometimes use them without being aware of it. They make matters easier and they can help in the decision-making process but they can also lead to 'biases': systematic errors in decision-making. Three common heuristics are availability heuristics, representative heuristics, and anchoring and adjustment heuristics.

• The availability heuristic results in thinking of an event that is easily remembered and which has occurred more often than an event that is less easily remembered. The availability heuristic can help decision making because events that occur more often are also easier to remember. Other factors may also determine availability. One such factor is the overestimation of the frequency of a lively or extreme event. Another is the overestimation of the frequency of new events.

• Representativeness heuristic states that similar events that took place in the past will predict the likelihood of an upcoming event. This heuristic can sometimes be a good rule of thumb because a similar event in the past is sometimes a good predictor of an event that has yet to come. However, this heuristic can also lead to ignoring important information about how often these types of events occur. A 'bias' that occurs in the representative heuristics is not taking into account the base rate. That is the actual frequency in which these events occur.

• The anchoring and adjustment heuristic reflects the tendency to make decisions based on adjustments of the initial amount. If the initial amount is reasonable, the anchored and adjusted heuristic is a good shortcut. If the initial amount is not reasonable, this leads to a bias in the decision-making process.

Escalation of commitment

The second source of errors in the decision-making process is the escalation of commitment, the tendency of decision-makers to invest more time, money or effort into something that turned out to be a bad decision. There are at least 3 reasons why this escalation occurs:

• Decision makers often do not want to admit to themselves that they have made a mistake.

• Given the scale of the money or resources that have already been lost, decision-makers believe that additional use of resources is right to compensate these losses. The costs that have already been incurred, however, are sunk costs: costs that can not be recovered.

• Decision makers take more risks if they see decisions in negative terms (for example as a way to recover money that is lost) than in positive ones (for example, to earn more money). Decision makers often use heuristics without noticing that they are doing so and escalation of commitment is also common when decision makers do not realize that they invest too much (or unnecessary) time, money and effort into a bad decision. Using IT can often help to reduce the effects of these biases and heuristics. IT systems contain a lot of information that managers can use to make decisions. For example, software programs can also produce graphs and tables, giving information more meaning. Also because IT can bind different managers to each other, it is less likely that mistakes are made. An enterprising resource planning (ERP) system is an intranet throughout the organization that allows the organization to bind and coordinate functional activities.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of group decision-making?

Groups make decisions more often in an organization than individuals. Group decision-making has advantages and disadvantages and other consequences.

Pros and cons

The benefits of group decision-making include the availability and diversity of members' skills, knowledge, and expertise. There is also an increased memory for facts, greater availability to correct errors, and a larger decision acceptance:

• Availability and diversity of skills, knowledge, and expertise of the members. If a decision requires skills, knowledge, and expertise, then group decisions have a clear advantage on an individual decision. The diversity of a group makes for thinking about different points of view. However, they can also pose a problem: various groups can often get along with each other less well. Many organizations therefore also have diversity training sessions in which members of an organization learn to understand each other.

• Increased memory for facts. Because a group can rely on the memory of all members, the problem of something being forgotten is reduced.

• Ability to recognize errors. If a group makes a decision, errors in that decision can be recognized and corrected by members of the group.

• Greater decision acceptance. The likelihood that employees will accept a decision is greater if they themselves have participated in the decision-making process.

Disadvantages of the use of groups in the decision-making process are the time it takes to make a decision and the potential for groupthink.

• Time to make a decision. For decisions with certain criteria, it takes less time for an individual to make a decision than a group and it often results in an equally good decision. Organizations must, therefore, use an individual instead of a group in the decision-making process if:

• An individual possesses all the skills necessary for making a good decision.

• An individual can gather all the information and think about it to come to a good decision.

• The acceptance of the decision of other members of the organization is not necessary or is likely to happen, whether or not they participate in the decision-making process.

• The potential for groupthink. Groupthink is a pattern of incorrect decision making that occurs in cohesive groups where members strive for agreement at the expense of accurately assessing whether the information is relevant to the decision. The unanimous support for a decision is often based on the exaggerated belief of the group members in the skills and moral status of the group. Even if the members have doubts about a decision, they often do not show it. A group leader can prevent groupthink by:

  • The group leader encouraging all group members to critically assess the alternatives, to express all doubts they have, and to accept criticism of their own ideas.

  • The group leader giving no opinion until the group members have discussed all alternatives and have formed an opinion themselves.

  • The group leader encouraging all group members to gather information that is relevant to the decision of people outside the group.

  • The group leader appointing one or two members to play the role of the 'devil's advocate'. This is a person who provides criticism and raises potential problems with every decision the group makes so that it can be determined whether this is really a problem for the decision.

• If an important decision has been made, a second meeting will be held. The second meeting can then be used to discuss doubts that have arisen in the time between the first and second meeting.

Other consequences

Three other consequences of group decision-making cannot be classified as advantages or disadvantages: diffusion of responsibility, group polarization, and the potential for conflict.

• Diffusion of responsibility. This means that the group as a whole is responsible for the decision instead of an individual. Sometimes when an important decision has to be made, it can be very stressful for an individual to bear all the responsibility. Often people are inclined to make a decision that they know will not come back to haunt them instead of making a decision that is best for the organization. Here the diffusion of responsibility is an advantage of group decision-making. Diffusion of responsibility can also be a disadvantage if group members do not take enough time or effort to make a decision because they are not individually responsible. This is related to 'social loafing'.

• Group polarization. This means that groups make more extreme decisions than individuals. Diffusion of responsibility is one explanation for why this happens. There are two other explanations for this. First, the knowledge that other members of the group have the same ideas leads to greater conviction of their position. Second, when members discuss the alternatives, some members of a group come up with convincing arguments for the favored alternative. This results in more confidence in a chosen alternative and thus the decision becomes more extreme.

• Potential for conflict. Groups differ in skills, knowledge, and expertise and these differences can lead to conflict if members opt for other alternatives. These conflicts can be an advantage if it leads to every alternative being carefully evaluated. It can also be a disadvantage if members become more interested in winning the fight than making a good decision.

The phenomenon of groupthink in decision-making mainly occurs in crisis situations when accurate information about events is missing and much is unclear. In groups where groupthink dominates, great pressure is exerted on unanimity. As a result, controversial opinions are not expressed and no questions are asked in the case of weak arguments and they avoid calling a halt to silly thinking. The top decision-makers prefer to share responsibility in crisis situations. It would be much better if techniques were applied in crisis situations like the 'devil's advocate', which criticizes the crisis plan. This can bring weaknesses to light and make better decisions.

Which techniques can be used in group decision-making?

There are various other techniques that ensure that groups make good decisions and avoid the drawbacks of group decisions. Three techniques are discussed here: brainstorming, the nominal group technique, and the Delphi technique.

Brainstorming

Brainstorming is a spontaneous, participatory, decision-making technique that groups use to produce many alternatives before a decision is made. A typical brainstorming process is according to 4 steps:

1. A member of a group describes the problem or the possibility.

2. Group members share their ideas with the rest of the group without critical evaluation.

3. Group members come up with more ideas and build on suggestions from each other.

4. A member of the group writes down all the ideas.

Yet research shows that individuals produce more ideas separately than in a brainstorming group. This is because although no criticism may be made, members of a group do not dare to express all ideas. In addition, production blockage occurs. Group members can not focus all their attention on producing ideas, because they also have to listen to ideas from others. As a result, members sometimes forget about ideas they had and because only one person can talk at a time, the number of ideas that are presented is limited. Electronic brainstorming can be a solution for a number of these problems.

Nominal group technique

The nominal group technique (NGT) can also be used to prevent production blockage and is a good way for groups to make a decision quickly.

A group member describes the problem or the possibility and all group members then get a certain time to write down all the ideas. This prevents production blockade and encourages group members to write down all ideas, no matter how bizarre they may sound. Then all ideas are discussed and each member makes a list of the most preferred ideas. This technique is useful when a decision needs to be made quickly. The technique is not useful if a decision requires a lot of information or if it is necessary that all, or most members agree with the decision.

Delphi technique

The Delphi technique is used when members never meet each other in real life.

A leader describes a problem to different experts and asks them to help them by completing a questionnaire and returning it. Then the leader summarizes all the ideas of the experts and sends them back with questions and this continues until there is an agreement between the experts about the right decision. This technique is useful because you can gather members around the world without having to meet each other. The disadvantages are that it takes a lot of time and the members can not interact with each other. All experts must also cooperate and take the time to answer all questions.

Total quality management

Total quality management (TQM) is a philosophy and a series of applications to improve the quality of the organization's goods and services and the efficiency with which they are produced.

Total quality management has two group decision-making techniques: comparative research ('benchmarking') and empowerment.

• Comparative research or benchmarking is selecting a high-performing group or organization that delivers goods or services to customers and then uses this group or organization as a model.

• Empowerment is the process of giving employees the authority to make decisions and be responsible for the outcomes.

What is organizational learning and what is the purpose of this?

Organizational learning is the process in which managers try to find ways to improve employee decision-making skills in order to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of an organization.

James March has devised two types of organizational learning strategies that can be applied to improve employee decision-making: exploration and exploitation.

• Exploration involves searching and experimenting with new types of forms of organizational behaviors and procedures to increase effectiveness.

• Exploitation includes finding ways to refine and improve existing organizational behaviors and procedures to increase effectiveness.

A learning organization is an organization that deliberately takes steps to let the learning processes of exploration and exploitation take place, by improving and maximizing the possibilities for this.

To create a learning organization, managers must encourage organizational learning at individual and group level. Principles for creating a learning organization have been developed by Peter Senge.

• Every person must develop a sense of personal mastery. This means that an organization must empower individuals to experiment and create and explore what they want.

• Part of developing personal mastery, and to give employees a clearer understanding of what's going on in a particular activity, organizations need to encourage employees to develop complex mental models that challenge them to find better or new ways to do a task. A learning organization can encourage employees to develop a complex mental model and personal mastery by giving them more responsibility for a decision. Employees can be cross-trained so that they can perform many different tasks, and the knowledge they gain from them can provide insight to improve working procedures. Also, a task that was normally done by different employees can now be done by one employee.

• At a group level, managers can promote organizational learning through the use of many different groups so that members can share their skills to solve a problem. This can also result in group routines that increase group effectiveness. This form of learning in a team is just as important or sometimes even more important than learning at an individual level because many decisions are made in a group.

• A learning organization can also be created by building a shared vision. This means that all members of an organization have the same vision or mental model to find solutions to problems or opportunities, and this binds them to the organization.

• The last principle of organizational learning is thinking systems. This principle emphasizes that in order to create a learning organization, managers must learn to recognize how individuals and groups influence each other.

This chapter shows how people make decisions. First of all, the different types of decisions and the decision-making process are discussed. Next, 'biases' and problems in decision making are explained. Furthermore, the advantages and disadvantages of involving a group in the decision-making process and the techniques that a group can use in decision-making are explored. Finally, it discusses how a company can encourage learning in an organization to maintain and improve the quality of its decision-making.

How is an organization structured? - Chapter 16

How do you design the structure of an organization?

With increasing competition, it is important for every organization to find new ways to function effectively. The process of designing the structure of an organization plays an important role in this. The structure of the organization is the formal system of role distributions where employees are coordinated and motivated so that they can work together to achieve the goal of the organization. The design of an organization is the process managers determine using various dimensions and structural components so that an organization can achieve its goals.

According to contingency theory, the structure of an organization must be tailored to the circumstances that most influence it and cause the most uncertainty. There are three important factors (contingencies) that influence the organization: the nature of the environment, technological developments, and the characteristics of human resources.

As far as the environment of the organization is concerned, social, cultural and global factors play a role. In general, in an environment that is changing rapidly, as is often the case in the current globalizing society, the decentralization of authority is the most effective. In a stable environment, the uncertainty is low and a hierarchical structure with a central authority is the most effective.

Technology includes the combination of skills, knowledge, and materials that an organization has at its disposal for the production and distribution of goods and services. The more complex an organization's technology is, the more difficult it is to regulate it. According to the contingency theory, a flexible structure is therefore desirable when using complex technology. According to Perrow, the complexity of the technology depends on the task variety and task analyzability. Task variety refers to the number of new problems that arise during work. Task analyzability is the extent to which programmed decisions are available to the people who work with them.

In addition, according to Woodward, the complexity depends on the use of machines. Small batch technology is a method that is used to produce small quantities of unique products by small groups of people. Mass production technology is a method whereby programmed machines perform the same processes time and time again. Continuous processes technology is a method whereby machines execute processes that are controlled by a computer system; people play a controlling role here in case of problems occurring in the production process.

Human resources also determine to a large extent the extent to which centralization or decentralization is desired. The more skills and cooperation among employees, the more decentralization and flexibility can be used. A harmonious working relationship between employees also increases flexibility.

On the basis of the three factors that determine the structure of an organization according to contingency theory, a distinction can be made between two types of structure. The first type is an organic structure, which promotes flexibility so that employees can initiate changes and react quickly. On the other hand, there is a mechanical structure, in which employees are sent to perform predictable and responsible tasks.

What are the pros and cons of grouping in positions and divisions?

In organizational design, a division into functions or divisions can be chosen.

A function is a group of people who perform the same type of tasks or have corresponding positions in an organization. A functional structure is an organizational structure in which people with the same functions, positions or skills are grouped.

The advantages of a functional structure are that people with the same function can easily communicate with each other, so that they can make decisions quickly. Moreover, they can learn from each other. In the area of motivation, supervisors can monitor and reinforce the individual performance. Employees can also monitor each other, and strong norms and values and group cohesion can also arise. Finally, a career ladder is created, which creates promotion opportunities and therefore motivation.

However, there are also disadvantages to a functional structure. First, the function groups of an organization may encounter difficulties when the number of different products or services increases. Secondly, coordination problems can arise when there is more diversity in consumer groups with different needs. Finally, it can be difficult to keep coordinating the function groups when an organization expands to different regions or countries.

A divisional structure then offers the solution. A division is a group of employees with different functions who work together to deliver a specific type of product or service. Organizations can choose from three types of divisional structures:

• A product structure, where each division specializes in a certain type of product or service

• A market structure, where each division focuses on a specific consumer group

• A geographical structure, where each division is focused on a specific region.

The advantages of a divisional structure are that the quality of the products and services increases as a result of the specialization per division, communication between functions on the professional field of the division is facilitated, and the skills and knowledge of people with different functions are combined. In the area of motivation, a divisional structure allows for corporate management, which means that a manager at a higher level has control over the various divisions. In addition, division managers have a high degree of autonomy. Finally, a division is closer to the consumer than a market structure or geographical structure.

There are also disadvantages to a divisional structure. First, the operating costs increase because the number of managers increases. Secondly, communication between managers at different hierarchical levels and different divisions can suffer. Finally, there can be competition and division between divisions.

When choosing one of the types of organizational structure, a balance must be made between the costs and benefits for the organization.

A third possibility in organizational design is the matrix structure, whereby employees are classified according to function as well as to the production team. This is the most flexible and complex possibility. With a matrix structure, each employee is led by two people: a job manager and a production team boss. Employees with two supervisors are called two-boss employees. An employee with a certain job can be deployed for various production teams; this is why the structure is so flexible.

The three main advantages of a matrix structure are that new products can be developed quickly, communication, and cooperation between employees is maximized, and innovation and creativity are strongly encouraged. On the other hand, a matrix structure also has disadvantages: role conflicts and ambiguity can arise and it can lead to a high degree of stress, resulting in job dissatisfaction among employees. Moreover, it can be difficult for employees to show their personal contribution.

How do you coordinate and integrate functions and/or divisions?

The second task in organizational design is the coordination and integration of functions and/or divisions. For coordination, it is important that a clear hierarchy of authority is developed. This is the division of authority between employees with different functions. The more hierarchical levels an organization has, the longer the span of control. The span of control is the number of employees who are subordinate to a specific manager. A larger number of levels in the hierarchy makes it easier to coordinate activities and functions and the span of control is narrower. A hierarchy with a large number of levels is a tall hierarchy; a small number of levels is called a flat hierarchy. As mentioned above, an increase in the number of levels can lead to better coordination, but the disadvantage of too many levels is that decision making takes too long because information has to be passed on too often. Information disruption can also occur. According to the principle of minimum chain of demand, an organization must strive for as few hierarchical levels as possible in order to function effectively.

To keep the hierarchy flat, decentralization can be used. This means that more managers are deployed at a lower level who each coordinate their own team. This makes it more flexible and an increase in motivation is possible. Disadvantages, however, are that there may be a divide in the pursuit of goals, at the expense of the goals of the organization. Communication between teams can also be a disadvantage caused by too much decentralization.

Managers who are on an equal level with each other have no authority over each other. They must, therefore, be coordinated in a different way. An important form of coordination at one hierarchical level is a mutual adjustment and the use of integration mechanisms. Mutual adaptation means that there is continuous informal communication between different functions with the aim of the organization in mind. To facilitate mutual adaptation, various integration mechanisms can be used:

• Direct contact, where managers solve common problems in an informal way, without the information having to go through the formal communication channels in the hierarchy. This is not always easy, because the goals of different groups do not always match each other. Facilitating direct contact can lead to a good working relationship in which the parties involved are willing to give and take.

• Liaison roles are tasks of functional managers with the formal responsibility to communicate with other managers. This means that they regularly have meetings to exchange information.

• Teams and task forces are groups of employees of different functions. Teams are permanent groups, while task forces are temporary and focused on solving a specific problem.

• Cross-functional teams consist of people with various functions who work full-time in the team to bring a new product or new service to the market. The difference with a 'normal' team is that people from an ordinary team also work full-time within a functional group or division, while people from cross-functional teams do not belong to another job group or division.

A final method for coordination and integration is standardization, where a standard procedure for common problems or occasions is developed. Standardization can take place in three stages:

1. Input: this includes the skills of employees, the quality of raw materials and the machines and computers used for the production process. Standardization takes place by drawing up quality conditions for raw materials and selecting them for job requirements for employees.

2. Conversion process: specifying the behavior expected of employees during the production process so that the goals of the organization can be achieved. Formalization is the use of rules and standard operating procedures (SOPs) to regulate the activities within an organization. Although rules are necessary to allow processes within the organization to run smoothly, problems can also arise, such as restraining creativity, reducing the quality of the products/services, and the emergence of a lot of resistance to change.

3. Output: this includes specifying the end product that is expected from employees.

What is the influence of developments in IT?

Developments in information technology (IT) have influence within and between organizations. Within organizations, communication and coordination are facilitated, so that mutual adjustment is stimulated. In addition, IT enables more decentralization, allowing flatter hierarchical structures. When making full use of IT for decentralization, a virtual organization is created, whereby employees are linked to a central database with which they work but have little or no direct contact with each other.

More outsourcing can take place between organizations with IT. When using outsourcing to its maximum, a network structure is created, in which the organization specializes in one activity in which they excel and outsource the other required activities to other specialized organizations.

With increasing competition, it is important for every organization to find new ways to function effectively. The process of designing the structure of an organization plays an important role in this. The structure of the organization is the formal system of role distributions where employees are coordinated and motivated so that they can work together to achieve the goal of the organization. The design of an organization is the process managers determine using various dimensions and structural components so that an organization can achieve its goals.

According to contingency theory, the structure of an organization must be tailored to the circumstances that most influence it and cause the most uncertainty. There are three important factors (contingencies) that influence the organization: the nature of the environment, technological developments, and the characteristics of human resources.

What is meant by an organizational culture? - Chapter 17

What does an organizational culture consist of?

Organizational culture consists of the norms and values that influence how employees think, feel and behave towards each other and towards people outside the organization. Values are general criteria and standards that people use to determine which types of behavior and situations are desirable and undesirable. Values can be divided into terminal and instrumental values. Terminal values determine the desired outcome of behavior. Instrumental values specify the desired form of behavior that must be followed up. Standards are specified to ensure that people follow the values. Norms are largely informal, which means that the most crucial standards are not documented. Instead, employees internalize the norms and values automatically during the socialization process.

How does the socialization process work?

The socialization process consists of both formal training programs of the organization and informal observations and cooperation that leads to the introduction and internalization of the organizational culture.

Every organization has its own rituals and stories. Rites of passage mark the entry, promotion, and departure of employees. Rites of integration such as team outings lead to building and reinforcing the bond between employees. Rites or enhancement offer the opportunity to publicly emphasize the contribution of individual employees and thus increase involvement and motivation.

Language also plays an important role in the socialization process. Every organization conveys a specific message through media reports, the type of language used at work and the name of the organization. Not only spoken language, but also the clothing style and appearance of the office is part of language, a kind of non-verbal communication.

How does organizational culture arise?

What does an organizational culture result from? There are four important factors that interact with each other in forming the culture.

The first factor consists of the characteristics of the people within an organization. This concerns both personality factors and professional characteristics. According to the ASA model, discussed extensively in an earlier chapter, an organization attracts certain types of people to create a typical organizational personality. The founder of an organization has a big influence on this. In this process, there is danger that the capacity to deal with change will be prevented. In addition, groupthink can arise if the similarities between the people within an organization are too strong.

The second factor is the ethics of an organization. The ethics of an organization consists of the moral values, ideas, and rules that are drawn up for dealing with people inside and outside the organization. Ethical values are an indispensable part of the organizational culture because they help determine how the members of the organization deal with specific situations. Ethical values are formed by social, professional and individual ethics.

The third factor in the development of the organizational culture is the working relationship. Factors that can strengthen working relationships are working towards a common goal and the possibility of promotion.

The fourth and final factor is the organizational structure. Different types of organizational structures lead to different organizational cultures. For example, a mechanistic structure leads to a conservative culture, while an organic structure leads to a culture characterized by autonomy and freedom.

Adaptivity

A distinction can be made between adaptive and inert organizational cultures. In an adaptive culture, norms and values help stimulate growth and change; an inert culture is an organization with norms and values that lead to stagnation and a lack of motivation. According to Peters and Waterman, there are three types of values that lead to an adaptive organizational culture: bias for action, having a mission, and a motivating way of working within the organization.

What is the influence of national culture?

The culture of an organization is significantly influenced by national culture. According to Hofstede, there are five dimensions on which national cultures differ from each other. The first dimension is individualism versus collectivism or the extent to which individual or collective achievements and interests come to the fore. The second dimension is power distance, which refers to the differences in well-being that are caused by physical and intellectual differences. The third dimension is a performance culture versus a caring culture, where a performance culture values competition, success, and personal responsibility, while in a caring culture the quality of life and care for the weak are central. The fourth dimension is uncertainty avoidance, characterized by rigidity and intolerance. The fifth and final dimension is long-term orientation versus short-term orientation, which means that goals in the field of work and life are focused on the short or long term.

Organizational culture consists of the norms and values that influence how employees think, feel and behave towards each other and towards people outside the organization. Values are general criteria and standards that people use to determine which types of behavior and situations are desirable and undesirable. Values can be divided into terminal and instrumental values. Terminal values determine the desired outcome of behavior. Instrumental values specify the desired form of behavior that must be followed up. Standards are specified to ensure that people follow the values. Norms are largely informal, which means that the most crucial standards are not documented. Instead, employees internalize the norms and values automatically during the socialization process.

How do organizations change and develop? - Chapter 18

What are the forces and resistance to change?

Change in an organization is the movement of an organization from the current state to a desired future state to increase its effectiveness. Organizations are currently in a changing environment where they have to constantly adapt to stay effective. Change occurs as a result of the action of different forces.

The first force is competition. An organization will not survive unless it adjusts and surpasses other organizations. To excel, an organization must constantly adopt the latest technologies. In order to excel in innovation, an organization must ensure that its employees share ideas and work together.

The second force consists of economic, political, and global forces. The economy and politics determine how and where an organization can sell products and services. Forming economic unions, such as the EU, can bring benefits for the protection of Member States.

The third force includes demographic and social forces. Society is increasingly recognizing minority groups that participate in the labor market, therefore, the coordination of various groups becomes increasingly important. Here too, adjustments need to be made. Empowerment of women, for example, is an important part of the management of an organization with various employees.

Finally, there are ethical forces that play a role. Some organizations hire a trusted person to whom the ethical problems of the organization can be entrusted.

Besides forces that facilitate change, there are also factors that lead to resistance to change. Research shows that the main reason for resistance to change is formed by organizational inertia: the tendency to maintain the status quo. Factors cause inertia to have an effect at an organizational, group, and individual level.

At an organizational level, power and conflict are important factors that impede change. Change sometimes happens at the expense of others, creating conflicts, and delaying decision-making. Another factor at the organizational level is the difference in functional orientation in which different function groups or divisions have conflicting perspectives on change. In addition, a mechanistic structure can be an impeding factor, because this structure requires employees to work in a predictable way, and breaking this routine is difficult. The organizational culture consisting of norms and values can also stop change.

At the group level, informally developed group norms are impeding factors. Group cohesion can also cause inertia. Although a certain degree of cohesion is positive, cohesion that is too strong may reduce work performance. A final factor is groupthink, a pattern of erroneous decision-making that is caused by very cohesive groups that ignore negative information to conform with the vision of other group members.

At the individual level, uncertainty, selective perception, and habits play a role in the resistance to change.

According to Lewin 's force field theory, forces, and resistance move in the opposite direction; until the moment that the forces in both directions are equally strong, there will be no change. Only when the facilitating forces become stronger than the resistance will change be brought about. Managers must, therefore, ensure that facilitating forces increase and resistance decreases.

What are evolutionary and revolutionary changes?

Change can be implemented in two ways: evolutionary and revolutionary. Evolutionary change refers to a gradual and incremental pattern with a narrow focus. Revolutionary change, on the other hand, is a fast, dramatic, broad-based approach.

There are two forms of evolutionary change. The first is the sociotechnical system theory, which refers to ideas about how organizations should choose specific operating systems that fit the technical nature of the work processes. By considering in advance how changes will affect group norms and group cohesion, resistance to change can be prevented. The second form of evolutionary change is total quality management. This refers to a constant effort of all functional groups to find new ways to improve the products/services of the organization. Here too, the emphasis is on the connection of technical and social systems. Forming cross-functional relationships is important in total quality management because work groups coordinate their work better. More and more organizations use total quality management but it does not always seem easy to let all employees take on a new vision of their role. It takes a lot of time and effort to implement this new method.

There are three forms of revolutionary change. The first is e-engineering. This includes the fundamental review and redesign of business processes with the aim of implementing drastic improvements in critical and modern performance measures such as cost, quality, service, and speed. A business process can be any activity that is indispensable for delivering high-quality products/services at a low price. The second form of revolutionary adjustment is restructuring. This refers to simplifying the organizational structure, for example by reducing the number of divisions or hierarchical levels. The third and final form is innovation. In innovation, creativity is stimulated to design new technologies and products and meet the needs of the consumer.

What is action research and what is it necessary for?

Before a change can be made, a good plan must be made. According to the force field theory, the change process consists of three stages:

1. Unfreezing

2. implementing the change

3. Refreezing

The resistance at different levels, as discussed above, can lead back to the old pattern in the third stage. The change will then not be retained successfully. Managers must therefore actively control the change process. In order to determine desired changes and plans, action research is required, a process that consists of five steps:

1. Diagnosis (determine status quo)

2. Determine the desired future state

3. Implementation of the action

4. Evaluation of the action

5. Institutionalization

How does organizational development work?

Organizational development is a collection of techniques and methods that managers can use in action research to increase the adaptability of the organization. The goal of organizational development is to improve the effectiveness of the organization and help people to express their potential to achieve their goals.

According to this method, there are various ways to deal with resistance to change:

• Information and communication: this reduces uncertainty

• Participation and empowerment: this creates involvement of all employees in decision making, which increases autonomy and motivation

• Facilitating changing working relationships and role distributions: this reduces stress, for example by offering training and free time to compensate

• Negotiate: this can reduce conflicts

• Manipulation: sometimes it is necessary to bring about acceptance in disadvantaged groups through manipulation

• Applying pressure: a way to bring about rapid change, but this is, of course, detrimental to the working relationships.

In addition to techniques that eliminate resistance, there are methods to promote change in organizational development:

• Counseling, in which the nature of one's own personality and that of others is examined in order to improve mutual interaction

• Sensitivity training, an intensive form of counseling in which members of a group learn how they come across to others and how they can deal with others more sensitively

• Process consultation, a technique whereby a manager learns to improve his or her interaction with other group members

• Teambuilding, a common method for strengthening relationships within a group

• Intergroup training, a step further than teambuilding, in which the cooperation between functional groups and divisions is strengthened

• Mirroring, where two interdependent groups examine the impression and relationships they have of/with each other to improve their cooperation

• Interventions at the level of the total organization, such as the confrontation meeting, where all managers come together to discuss whether the organization is effective and achieving its goals.

Change in an organization is the movement of an organization from the current state to a desired future state to increase its effectiveness. Organizations are currently in a changing environment where they have to constantly adapt to stay effective. Change occurs as a result of the action of different forces.