What does the field of organizational behavior entail? - Chapter 1 (8)

Organizational behavior (OB) is the study of what people think, feel and do in and around organizations. It is studied how one can understand, predict and influence the behavior within organizations. Organizations are groups of people who work interdependently toward a certain goal.

Organizational knowledge is not only relevant for managers, but for all members within an organization. It is assumed that everyone is his own manager. This study is important because well-functioning workplaces, with (among others) performance-oriented rewards and good communication, lead to greater financial success.

Organizations are considered effective when they fit well into the external environment, when the subsystems together provide an effective workplace, when they are learning organizations and when they satisfy the stakeholders.

What is the role of technological change?

Technological changes have always been a powerful force in both organizations and society. They can stimulate productivity but also have a great influence on employees. Employees are sometimes completely replaced by technological changes (e.g. artificial intelligence, steam engines). Other technological changes such as the internet and the smartphone have also stimulated productivity, but have also improved the relationship between colleagues, customers and suppliers. Information technology is one of the most influential changes of this time. Social media is replacing the e-mail and the collaboration and communication between people will further change in the future. Information technology would also give employees a stronger voice through more direct contact and greater reach. However, this technology also created challenges such as creating longer working days and a general impairment of concentration.

What is the open system perspective?

The open system perspective assumes that organizations are constantly interacting with their environment. An organization is an open system that is influenced by its environment and vice versa. Using technology, certain inputs (raw materials, information, human resources, financial resources, equipment) are converted into outputs (products / service, employee behavior, profits / losses, waste / pollution) that are assessed by the environment, which again provide new input for the organization. This is a constantly ongoing process.

In addition to the 'fit' between organization and the external environment, the way in which the organization operates internally is of great importance. This involves looking at the extent to which the input is converted to the output, which is also called productivity. An important factor is how the subsystems are interdependent. If these have a high interdependence, they may be less effective. As soon as something goes wrong in one system, this immediately has consequences for the other systems.

Lean management strives to increase efficiency within organizations. This is done, among others, by constantly looking for opportunities to improve or speed up the production process.

What is the organizational learning perspective?

Organizational learning is a perspective of organizational effectiveness. It takes the view that organizations are effective when they find ways to acquire, share, use and store knowledge to promote the success of the organization. The knowledge within a company is called intellectual capital, which can be divided into human, structural and relationship capital. Human capital refers to the knowledge, skills and abilities of employees. Their talents are difficult to find, to be copied and to be replaced by technology. The structural capital refers to the knowledge captured and retained in an organization's systems and structures. The relationship capital is the value deriving from an organization's relationships with customers, suppliers and others who provide added mutual value.

The capacity to acquire, share and use knowledge in constant interaction with the environment is called organizational learning. In order to gather knowledge, information must be collected inside and outside the company. The organization must learn from external sources, discover new sources and be aware of new customer trends. The absorbing capacity stands for the possibility to recognize the value of new information, to implement it into the company and to use it for commercial purposes. This capacity completely depends on the existing knowledge within a company.

In addition, it is important to share this knowledge within the company. For this purpose, the intranet dispays a useful platform, where knowledge can be shared and stored. Further, organizations can stimulate informal online or face-to-face contact. An example of this is the composition of practical communities, in which groups of people with the same interest or expertise are linked. Generally, knowledge must be accessible and free to use.

The organizational memory describes the storage and preservation of the intellectual capital of a company. This memory can partly be found within the employees, but is also stored in the systems and structures of the company. To keep this memory, the company should try to keep the efficient employees within the company, for example by offering good working conditions. In addition, the company can systematically save the employees' knowledge before they leave the organization. A third option is to store the knowledge of employees within the structural capital.

What is the stakeholder perspective?

Satisfying stakeholders is an important part of an open organization (stakeholder perspective). The term stakeholders includes employees, shareholders and consumers. These stakeholders often have conflicting interests, which makes it important for an organization to find a balance and set priorities. Thereby, values ​​and ethical principles stand central.

There are five types of common work-related behaviors:

1. Task execution: Targeted behavior that supports the objectives of the organization. Changing inputs to successful outputs

2. Organizational citizenship: feeling connected to the organization and not just exercising a function

3. Counterproductive work behavior: Behavior that directly or indirectly causes damage to the organization

4. Staying with the organization: The above behaviors are important, but this is based on the condition that the employee also stays with the organization. Only then do the behaviors become really important

5. Presence at work: work dissatisfaction or stress often lead to more absence

In the workplace we can distinguish between four relatively new trends. Those are: globalization, workplace diversity, work-life balance and virtual work.

Globalization

Globalization refers to the emergence of economic, social and cultural ties between people from different parts of the world. Information technology and new transport systems make it possible to connect people across the planet. Criticism of globalization states that there is increased competition and that the work is being outsourced to low-wage countries, which decreases the employment in other countries. Also, the employees are expected to be more flexible than in the past.

Workplace diversity

Workplace diversity is often a reflection of the diversity we find in society. It can be divided into two separate dimensions:

1. The superficial level of diversity that refers to the demographic and physiological differences between people. This refers to, for example, race, ethnicity, gender and age.
2. The profound level of diversity where the psychological differences between individuals are represented, such as personality, faith, values ​​and attitudes.

Diversity can make it more difficult for the team to function properly, since differences between members of the team can lead to problems in decision making and team performance. On the other hand, diversity can also contribute positively to an organization, as for example a wider range of services can be offered because the organization is better attuned to the diversity of society. Considering a company's reputation, it is very important to stimulate this diversity in the workplace. Globalization and workplace diversity have caused two new trends: higher expectations in the workplace and increased flexibility in the workplace.

Work-life balance

The work-life balance refers to the balance between the business life and the private life of the employee. This balance is difficult to be kept, as shifts from 9 to 5 are often replaced by 24/7 shifts, expecting that people take their work home and are more flexible. This also introduces the new term employability, whereby employees are expected to not only do their work, but to constantly develop themselves by, for example, acquiring new competencies that meet the needs of the company. Hereby, employees are expected to take responsibility to constantly anticipate the development of the company. Contingent work is also increasingly implemented within companies. Hereby, the employee has no explicit or implicit contract for long-term service, but only a minimum number of hours in a non-systematic way. Examples include seasonal work and freelance employees. Different employees can be deployed for different tasks, which has the advantage that further costs for the employer are reduced. Such work is very attractive for contingent employees because they continue to do varied and interesting work. Nevertheless, they are more often victims of accidents in the workplace and often have lower loyalty and performance than regular employees. Moreover, contingent work can cause jealousy in the permanent team.

Virtual work

Virtual work is a form of labor in which employees perform their work in a different location than the traditional physical workplace. In telecommuting, the work is carried out at home instead of at the workplace. Virtual work can stimulate the work-life balance in a positive way and prevents time loss. However, personal life can suffer from telework when there is little room or opportunity to work from home. Virtual workers also indicate that they lack recognition and feel that they are socially isolated. Virtual teams are teams that work together without limitations of time, space and other organizational boundaries, primarily communicating through information technology.

Values ​​are stable, long-term views about what is important in society. They direct our choices and actions and ​​are therefore personal. However, there are also common values. Those are values ​​that are shared by a group of people. Values ​​are important in the workplace because it can stimulate employees to work towards a certain goal. Common values ​​become increasingly important because organizations are increasingly exposed to different forms of ethics.

Which principles underlie organizational behavior?

There are four different principles that underlie the study of organizational behavior, namely:

1. The multidisciplinary anchor: knowledge from various disciplines is used, including psychology, sociology and anthropology.

2. The systematic research anchor: this principle is based on systematic research methods. Both, quantitative and qualitative data are used. The former is based on the well-founded theory whereby there is a constant interaction between data collection and the development and testing of theories.

3. The contingency anchor: this is based on the idea that certain actions have different consequences in different contexts. Each context therefore requires a different approach. An attempt is made to find a good balance between specific and universal theories.

4. The multiple levels of analysis anchor: this is based on three different domains, namely the individual, the team and the organization. The individual refers to the characteristics and behaviors of individual employees and the underlying cognitive processes. An analysis of the team shows how the interaction between different employees takes place. The organization reflects the way people maintain their working relationships and how the company interacts with its environment.

Which individual behaviors, personality aspects and values are there? - Chapter 2 (8)

The MARS Model of individual behavior and results provides insights into the motives behind individual behavior and their results. The factors that influence individual behavior are motivation, ability, role perceptions and situational factors. These four factors have a combined influence on the eventual behavior and performance. They are again influenced by personal characteristics, including values, personality, perceptions, emotions, attitudes and stress.

Motivation refers to the direction, intensity and perseverance of voluntary behavior. The direction of the behavior is related to the objects or situations that someone puts energy into. The intensity relates to the effort someone makes in order to achieve this goal. Perseverance indicates the duration of this effort.

Abilities are both the innate and acquired capacities to bring a certain task to a success. Aptitude (talent) is the innate talent to learn a certain task faster or perform better. Learned capacities are the skills and knowledge that we obtained through a learning process. Competences are personal characteristics that lead to good performance. These are not only relevant for the person, but also for the rest of the group. To find the right people for a specific job there are three things that could be done, namely:

• Select job candidates for the competencies that are relevant to a certain job

• Provide training to applicants or current employees and thereby impart skills and knowledge

• Adapting the job to the capacities of the applicants or current employees. As soon as the old tasks are fully controlled, the job can be designed more complex

Also role perceptions are of great importance for the performance of the employee. Three processes precede a correct role perception. First of all, employees need to know which tasks they are expected to carry out. Further, they have to be able to rank these tasks by priority. Finally, they need to know what desirable behavior is expected of them to implement a particular task. Role perception is important because it reflects the extent to which employees know where to put energy into.

Situational factors refer to events that are beyond the control of the employee and can influence the behavior or performance. These factors can have a disruptive effect on the performance of a task, which suggests that these factors must be kept under control, if that is possible.

Which types of individual behavior are there?

Individual behavior can be categorized into five categories: task performance, organizational citizenship, counterproductive behavior, joining & staying with the organization and maintaining the attendance of employees.

• Task performance refers to goal-oriented behavior that someone has control over, which supports the organizational goals. Although we mainly think of the effective and accurate execution of work when talking about task performance, this is only one part of task-related behavior that supports organizational goals. A second part of task-related behavior is adaptability, and refers to the extent to which the employee responds to or deals with new circumstances and working patterns. A third type of task-related behavior is pro-activity. This is the extent to which an employee anticipates environmental changes and initiates new work patterns that are attuned to these changes.

• Organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs) concerns behavior that lies outside the official activities, but contributes to a positive social and psychological atmosphere of an organization. An example would be helpfulness or cooperation.

• Counterproductive work behaviors (CWBs) describes behavior that could possibly damage the company directly or indirectly. An example of this would be bullying or theft.

• Joining and staying with the organization: many employers have difficulty finding suitable applicants. In addition, it is difficult for companies to keep their employees. When employees resign, much of the knowledge and skills are lost, often leading to lower productivity, poorer customer service, etc.

• Maintaining work attendance: In addition to attracting and retaining employees, organizations must ensure that everyone arrives at his / her work on time. Although many organizational leaders are concerned about absenteeism, presenteeism is in some cases more serious: people go to work, despite illness, fatigue or personal problems (etc.) which then has a negative influence on the work that is done.

Which personality aspects in organizations are the most relevant?

Personality is a generally recognized predictor of most types of individual behavior. It summarizes the most stable personal characteristics of a person. Therefore, personality is increasingly tested for job applications. The term personality refers to the pattern of thoughts, emotions and behaviors that are special to a person. People exhibit many types of behaviors, thoughts and emotions which differ between people and make differences between them more obvious. Part of the personality is determined by the environment we grew up in and the experiences we have made. The other part consists of the genetic predisposition. Also nurture is an important determinant of personality.

The most relevant personality aspects are discussed in the Big Five personality dimensions. The five dimensions are:

• Conscientiousness: organized, goal-focused, thorough, methodical and disciplined.

• Agreeableness: trustful, gentle, helpful, good-natured, selfless, tolerant, and caring.

• Neuroticism: anxious, insecure, temperamental, aggressive, depressed and emotionally unstable.

• Openness to experience: imaginative, sensitive, flexible, creative, unconventional, autonomous and curious.

• Extraversion: outgoing, talkactive, energetic, sociable and assertive.

Personality traits are good at predicting a number of work-related behaviors, especially when discounting the influence of skills and other factors. Conscientiousness and emotional stability (which is a low score on neuroticism) are in most cases the best personality predictors of individual performance.

People with high emotional stability perform better in stressful situations. People with a high score on agreeableness are properly able to maintain good relationships and make compromises. People with a high score on conscientiousness set high goals, are motivated and characterized by high performance.

What is meant by the Jungian personality theory and the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator?

The five factor model of personality is supported by research, but is still not the most popular personality test in practice. The most popular test in practice is the Jungian personality theory which is measured through the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung suggested that personality is mainly represented by the individual's preferences of perceiving and judging information. The theory highlights the preferences of individuals for the way of information processing. First of all, a distinction is made between extraversion and introversion. The second distinction lies in the degree of sensitivity and intuition. Sensitive persons prefer quantitative data, on the basis of which they can quickly draw conclusions in a structured way. Intuitive people, instead, prefer subjective information that they process in an intuitive and non-systematic way. The third distinction is made between thinking and feeling people. Thinking people prefer causality and logical, systematic ways of processing information, while feeling types take more account of the extent to which choices can affect others. The last distinction is made between judging and perceiving types. Judging types want to have control over a situation and solve problems relatively fast. Perceiving types, on the other hand, prefer to keep their options open and want to react spontaneously to situations. Although the MBTI promotes the self-awareness of career development and mutual understanding, it is rather a popular than a valid measuring instrument.

What is the Schwartz's values circumplex?

In the Schwartz's values circumplex model, 57 specific values ​​are categorized into 10 general values. Those are: universalism, benevolence, tradition, conformity, security, power, achievement, hedonism, stimulation and self-direction. These 10 general categories are again clustered into four quadrants. The first quadrant, openness to change, refers to the extent to which someone is motivated to pursue an innovative approach. It includes the value categories self-direction, stimulation and hedonism. The opposite quadrant, conservation, refers to the extent to which someone is motivated to maintain the status quo. It includes the value categories of conformity, security and tradition. The third quadrant, self-enhancement, refers to the degree to which someone is motivated by self-interest. It includes the value categories of achievement, power and hedonism. The opposite quadrant, self-transcendence, refers to the motivation to promote the welfare of others and that of nature. It includes the value categories benevolence and universalism.

What is the link between different values and individual behavior?

Although people feel that they act consistently according to their hierarchy of values, there is often a 'decoupling' between personal values ​​and individual behavior. For example, the situation influences the link between values ​​and behavior. In this way a certain environment can unconsciously influence our behavior. Another factor is the awareness of the values. If we consciously consider our values ​​and understand their importance, we are more inclined to apply them.

Conformity of values ​​within an organization occurs when personal values ​​match the values ​​of the organization. This is called person-organization value congruence. When there is no congruence, this can lead to stress, low organizational citizenship and job dissatisfaction.

Nevertheless, different values ​​within a company can have a positive effect if they lead to different perspectives that can promote decision-making. Too much agreement can also have a negative effect on the creativity within a company.

With the espoused-enacted value congruence the values ​​that are claimed to be used are actually complied with. This is of great importance as an incongruence in this area can increase mistrust towards a person. It is also important that there is agreement between the values ​​of an organization and the values ​​of the society in which this organization is located.

A third category, organization-community values ​​congruence, refers to the correspondence of an organization's values with the values ​​of the society in which it does business.

What are the three ethical principles?

The most important characteristics in a leader are ethics and trust. Ethics refers to the moral principles and values ​​that determine whether certain actions and their outcomes are right or wrong. There are three different ethical principles:

1. Utilitarianism: the assumption that we must make the choices that lead to the most satisfactory results for the stakeholders. This principle focuses on the consequences of our actions. A disadvantage of this principle is that it is almost impossible to make choices that have a positive outcome for all stakeholders.

2. Individual rights: the assumption that everyone has certain rights that direct his / her actions in a certain direction. This can be divided into legal rights (regulated by law) and human rights (based on specific norms in a society, such as education and knowledge). Criticism of this principle is that a number of legal rights are in conflict with each other.

3. Distributing justice: the assumption that people who are consistent in their characteristics should also receive the same treatment. Conversely, people who are different must also be treated differently. An example of this is positive discrimination, in which the less fortunate receive better treatment than the more fortunate.

Which factors influence ethics?

There are three factors that influence ethics. The first one is the moral intensity. This is the degree to which a certain issue demands the application of principles. When an ethical issue has a high moral intensity it has strong ethical implications that usually affect many people. Therefore, the decision maker needs to carefully apply ethical principles to make the best decision. The second factor that influences ethics is called moral or ethical sensitivity. People with a high moral sensitivity are usually more empathetic and have more knowledge about the situation. There are four factors that can predict and change one's moral sensitivity:

1. Empathy

2. Expertise or knowledge of prescribed standards and rules

3. Direct experience with moral dilemmas and a person's mindfulness

4. View values ​​per culture

This can be seen, for example, in the differences between individualistic and collectivist cultures. Individualistic cultures place great value on independence and to stand out from the rest. Collectivist cultures attach more value to the group harmony. They often hold values ​​such as tradition, certainty and conformity. Yet, it does not have to exclude the other. People who value the group do not necessarily attach less value to personal freedom and development.

A third factor that influences ethics is situational factors. It is important to recognize and prevent the situational factors that contribute to unethical behavior within an organization, in order to create more room for ethical behavior. In order to achieve a high degree of ethics within a company, it is important that there are shared values ​​and a strong corporate culture. Leaders can also function as an example.

How do values differ across cultures?

Cultures also differ in the degree of power distance. In some cultures, authorities are more accepted than in others. In the former, there is a great power distance. The employees accept unequal power relations and feel more comfortable when they receive orders. In the second case, when authorities are not accepted that much, there is a small power distance. In these cultures, it is assumed that there is a mutually dependent relationship between employer and employee.

Uncertainty avoidance can also vary per culture. People who easily accept ambiguity do in general have low uncertainty avoidance. Conversely, when people have a lot of difficulty with ambiguity, they are said to have a high uncertainty avoidance.

The achievement-nurturing orientation reflects a competitive versus cooperative view of relations with other people. People with a high achievement-orientation value assertiveness, competition and materialism. People with a high nurturing-orientation value harmonious relationships in which they invest a lot.

How do we perceive ourselves and others in organizations? - Chapter 3 (8)

How do we perceive ourselves?

The self-concept of employees is becoming increasingly important within organizations. The self-concept is about how people think about themselves and evaluate themselves. It is a complex construct which consists of many factors. Further, it can be either consistent or inconsistent. The self-concept is clear if it can be well defined, consistent and stable over a longer period of time. It usually becomes clearer as one gets older. An important ingredient of self-concept is self-enhancement. If people feel valued and receive positive feedback from the environment, this will promote their self-concept. In the workplace this can work out positively because employees feel better about themselves and therefore do their work with more pleasure (and are therefore more motivated). However, it can also work out negatively, for example, if you overestimate yourself and make wrong decisions. People are not only motivated by self-enhancement, but also by self-verification which refers to the confirmation and maintaining of the current self-concept. Self-verification has implications for organizational behavior:

1. it affects the perception process: people are better able to remember feedback that matches the self-concept

2. the clearer a person's self-concept is, the less likely he / she is to adopt feedback that contradicts the self-concept

3. people prefer to interact with other people who confirm their self-concept

By which factors is self-evaluation determined?

Almost everyone strives for a positive self-concept. Some people, however, give themselves a more positive evaluation than others. This self-evaluation is determined by three factors:

• Self esteem: the extent to which people like themselves, respect and are satisfied with themselves.

• Self-efficacy: the extent to which the person expects to successfully complete a task.

• Locus of control: to what extent the person feels that he or she has control over his or her life. People with an internal locus of control believe that they themselves are the ones who influence their lives, while people with an external locus of control attribute the events to the outside world.

What does the social self concept consist of?

The social self concept consists of a personal identity (also called internal self-concept) and a social identity (also called external self-concept). The personal identity is what makes a person unique and different from others, whereas the social identity describes the similarities with others. The social identity theory states that people explain their characteristics on the basis of their personal characteristics and the social groups to which they belong. The social identity of a person is a complex hierarchy of different group memberships that vary in their importance. The extent to which a certain group membership predominates depends on the context. When there are many members from other groups, the group membership is emphasized. People have a great need for a high status and will therefore identify themselves faster with groups that have a higher status.

How do we perceive the world around us?

Perception describes the process of incoming information which helps us to make sense of the world around us. Perception determines which information is relevant, how it is to be ranked and how it can be rearranged with the existing knowledge. When we interact with the environment, some information is selected and other information is ignored. The selected information is then organized and interpreted. This information again influences our conscious emotions and behavior towards certain objects.

Selecting information is called selective attention. Selective attention is influenced by the characteristics of the person who perceives and the characteristics of the object or person being observed. The extent to which the observed object or person attracts attention depends on its size, intensity, movement, repetition, age and context. Characteristics of the observer, such as emotions, also affect selective attention. When information reaches the observer's brain, it is determined in a short period of time to what extent this information is relevant. The relevant information is then linked to our emotions, where it is quickly determined whether this information is positive or negative for us. Subsequently, these emotions compete with each other to the extent that they receive our conscious attention. Selective attention is also determined by the expectations of the observer. Expected information can ensure that other, unanticipated information receives less attention.

A selective focus bias is the influence of our assumptions and expectations on future events. Things that we expect are more obvious. These expectations and assumptions can cause us to overlook potential important information. Another selective attention problem is the preference for confirmation (confirmation bias). This refers to the unconscious tendency to ignore information that is in conflict with one's own decisions, beliefs ​​and assumptions. Confirming information is accepted faster on the other hand.

Categorical thinking is an unconscious process in which people and objects are organized and stored in the long-term memory. In this way, objects or persons who have a certain correspondence are placed in the same category. Thereby, any missing information can be filled with the information one already has. Moreover, it causes that people (incorrectly) see patterns in things that may only be accidental.

Mental models are internal representations of the world around us that lead our behavior and preferences. Those mental models help us to fill in the missing pieces of information and to see patterns in different things. A disadvantage of mental models is that these mental folders make it impossible to see things in different ways. Moreover, they block our ability to recognize new information. These disadvantages can be reduced by constantly critically examining our mental models and stimulating diversity on the work floor.

What are specific perceptual processes and problems?

Stereotyping is a process in which all members of a certain group are assigned the same characteristics. Those characteristics are then automatically transferred to anyone we believe is a member of that group. Stereotyping is a natural process that offers people the opportunity to understand the world around them in a simple and quick way. After all, it is impossible to remember all the unique characteristics of each person. Moreover, people have a great need to understand and anticipate the behavior of others. Apart from that, stereotyping makes a major contribution to our self-perception and social identity. The own group is more positively evaluated, whereas the other groups are subjected to more negative stereotypes.

Stereotyping causes a number of problems, which also apply to the work field. A negative stereotype about people within a particular job may be a reason to avoid that job. Moreover, it can lead to discrimination. Another problem is the fear of an individual to confirm a negative stereotype. When an individual tries to prevent a negative stereotype, this often costs energy and attention. This again reduces performance and may confirm the stereotype itself. Unintentional systemic discrimination refers to the use of stereotypes to describe the ideal candidate for a job. Anyone who does not meet that ideal does not have a chance to get this job. In addition, stereotyping can lead to prejudices, in which unfounded emotions and attitudes arise in relation to a member of a certain group. It is very difficult to prevent certain stereotypes from being activated. Nevertheless, the use of these stereotypes can be limited. Training that stimulates awareness of diversity attempts to uncover certain unjust stereotyping and emphasizes the benefits of diversity.

What is the attribution theory?

The attribution process theory determines whether the cause of a particular event is attributed to the person (internal) or to the situation (external). Internal factors refer to capabilities and motivation, whereas external factors refer to the accessibility of resources, other people or luck. People rely on the three following attribute rules to assess whether a person's behavior and performance are primarily caused by their personal characteristics or by environmental factors: consistency, distinctiveness, and consensus. There is a high consistency when a person has acted in the same way as he/she did in the past. A distinctive feature is spoken of when someone acts the same way in different situations. Consensus refers to the question if other people would act in the same way in a comparable situation.

Attributions help us to establish causality. They also influence our decisions and actions, as poor performance has a greater impact when assigned to internal factors than when attributed to external factors.

The self-serving bias refers to the process in which positive outcomes are attributed to internal factors and negative outcomes to situational factors.

The fundamental attribution error (also called correspondence bias) states that certain behavior is incorrectly attributed to the person instead of the situation. This happens quite often because observers are not aware of the external factors that are responsible for the behavior. Moreover, we often assume that people can overpower situational factors, while in fact they can not.

What is meant by the self-fulfilling prophecy?

The self-fulfilling prophecy refers to the phenomenon that our expectations about another person make that person act in a way that is consistent with our expectations. In other words, our expectations can influence reality. For example, a supervisor forms expectations about an employee. Those expectations then affect the supervisor's behavior toward the employee. The supervisor's behavior affects the employee's ability and motivation (and self-confidence). Finally, the employee's behavior becomes more consistent with the supervisor's initial expectations. The effects of these expectations are greatest at the beginning of the working relationship. Moreover, it is more powerful when different people have the same expectation. Performance in the past also plays an important role, whereby people with low performance are more sensitive to such expectations.

Positive organizational behavior focuses on the qualities of the employees, rather than on the negative aspects. Perception and communication hereby play an important role. A manager with a positive mind can also make a major contribution to this behavior.

What are other perceptual effects?

The halo effect occurs when the general impression of a person, based on one character trait, makes us (incorrectly) attribute other character traits to him / her as well. For example, if someone always gets high grades for exams and suddenly makes a mistake at another exam, this error will be seen as a mistake. Although person is seen as intelligent, he / she does not have to be equally strong in every part. The projection deviation (false concensus effect) is the overestimation of the assumption that other people think, act and feel the same as we do.

The effect of the first impression, also called the primacy effect, occurs during a first impression. We form an opinion based on the first information we receive about someone or something. This first impression is difficult to be changed, especially when it comes to negative impressions. Negative impressions are attributed to internal rather than external factors. The effect of the last impression, the recency effect, occurs when people remember the most recent information better than information that was built-up before.

How can perceptions be improved?

There are three potentially effective ways to improve an objective perception. The first is the awareness of perception errors. This allows people to be made aware of their thoughts and actions. Secondly, self-awareness can be improved: when people are aware of their own values ​​and attitudes, they are also better able to recognize and accept others'. The Johari Window is becoming an increasingly popular model to explain this principle (see below for an explanation). Third, there is the contact hypothesis. This hypothesis states that stereotyping can be reduced through meaningful interaction. A condition for this interaction is that it takes place on a frequent basis and everyone has an equal status. Also, the parties should be motivated and supposed to have a common goal. It is also important that people can empathize with each other (empathy). Empathy refers to understanding and empathizing with the feelings, thoughts and behaviors of someone else. It can be divided into a cognitive aspect (cognitive awareness of someone else's situation) and an emotional aspect (experiencing feelings of others). Empathy is strengthened by regular feedback.

The Johari Window is a model of self-awareness and mutual understanding which divides information about a person into four 'windows': open, blind, hidden and unknown - based on whether your own values, beliefs and experiences are known to you and to others. The open area includes information about yourself that is known to others and to yourself. The blind area includes information which is visible to others but not to you. The hidden area contains information that is visible to yourself, but not to others. The unknown area contains information that is not known to you and not to others. The Johari Window tries to increase the open spaces as much as possible and to reduce the hidden spaces by revealing as much information about yourself as possible. Feedback can make a big contribution to reducing the blind space.

What is a global mindset?

Nowadays, companies do increasingly pay attention to the development of a working environment with a global mindset. A global mindset refers to someone's ability to gain information from different cultures and to be able to perceive and process this information. It includes:

1. an awareness of, openness to and respect for other views and practices in the world

2. the capacity to empathize and act effectively across cultures

3. the ability to process complex information about novel environments

4. the ability to comprehend and reconcile intercultural matters with multiple levels of thinking

A global mindset enables people to form better cross-cultural relationships, to process large amounts of cross-cultural information and to identify emerging global opportunities more quickly, with a quicker response. Employees develop a global mindset through self-awareness, possibilities to compare their own mental models to the mental models of people from other cultures, formal cross-cultural training and immersion in other cultures.

What types of workplace emotions, attitudes and stress are there? - Chapter 4 (8)

Our perceptions, choices, behaviors and attitudes are influenced by our cognition and emotions. Emotions are physiological, behavioral and psychological events that come into existence by an object, a person or a situation that brings about a state of readiness.

Emotions are subject to change. They bring about physiological and behavioral changes. When we become aware of these changes, the emotions are converted into feelings. Since they bring us into a state of readiness, they prepare our body for certain situations that might be threatening so that we are better able to survive.

The circumplex model of emotions organizes emotions based on the degree of pleasure they bring about and the degree of activation of behavior. Emotions with a high activation will motivate us to act faster.

What are the differences between emotions and attitudes?

Attitudes are beliefs, feelings and behavioral intentions toward an object, a person or an event ( this is called an attitude object). Whereas emotions are often unconscious experiences, attitudes are conscious judgments. Beliefs refer to our perceptions of the attitude object, to the things that we consider true. Feelings are either positive or negative evaluations of this object. The behavioral intentions refer to our motivation to act in a certain way toward the object. These three components of attitudes are connected to each other. Beliefs are created based on our experiences with the object. They are the basis for the feelings we develop in relation to the object. Feelings again lead to behavioral intentions.

Behavioral intentions predict behavior because they are directly linked to it. However, we can not fully predict behavior based on these intentions, as situational factors can also have an influence.

When information enters our brain, it is sent to both our cognitive and emotional centers. Emotions are then automatically developed without being consciously thought of. These emotions are redirected to our cognitive center, where conscious feelings are formed with respect to the object. When we think about something logical, our emotions have already formed an opinion for us. These emotions are also involved in the logical reasoning process and can strongly influence it. Some companies seem to be extremely aware of the twofold cognitive-emotional attitude process, as they try to use more positive experiences, such as company outings, in the workplace.

The influence of the cognitive and emotional centers becomes stronger when these centers are not in agreement with each other. When you feel that something is not right, but you can not figure out exactly what it is, your cognitive center is not able to logically explain the emotional response. Nevertheless, it appears that the best decisions are made on the basis of well-considered logical arguments and not on the basis of feelings. If your behavior is not in accordance with your beliefs or feelings, this is called cognitive dissonance. Since behavior is difficult to change, because it has already been perceived by others and can therefore not be reversed, people will rather change their beliefs. In this way, they can still achieve agreement between their behavior and beliefs.

Although the degree to which people experience positive or negative emotions at work also depends on their personality, the work situation is ultimately the most important factor for the employee's beliefs and feelings.

How can emotions at work be managed?

Emotional labor is the effort, planning and control which is necessary in order to express emotions that are required for the work that someone is doing. The display rules refer to norms or explicit rules requiring us within our role to display specific emotions and to hide others. Emotional labor is therefore increased when employees are expected to comply strongly with these display rules. The main problem of emotional labor is that true emotions are often unconsciously expressed and other emotions are difficult to imitate. Observers often see whether the emotions are genuine or not. When there is a conflict between the required and the true emotions, this is called emotional dissonance.

Many people do surface acting. This means that we try to adapt our behavior to the required emotions in the workplace, while we actually experience other emotions. Deep acting is the opposite of that, where people try to connect their internal emotions to the required emotions, so that they can more easily express the desired emotions. This requires a different attitude to certain situations.

What is emotional intelligence?

Emotional intelligence (EI) refers to the ability to recognize, understand, regulate, express and transform emotions of yourself and others. Emotional intelligence can be divided into four dimensions. A distinction is made between the extent to which a person can recognize emotions of him- or herself and others and the extent to which he/she can regulate emotions in him- or herself and in others. The first dimension is the awareness of our own emotions. This refers to the ability to understand the meaning of one's own emotions, weaknesses, values ​​and motives. The management of our own emotions refers to the ability to control and direct your own emotions. Awareness of others' emotions, which is the third dimension, refers to the ability to perceive and understand the emotions of others. It is mainly about empathy: being able to understand the feelings, thoughts and situations of the other. The last dimension, management of others' emotions, refers to the ability to manage other people's emotions.

These four dimensions are hierarchically arranged, with awareness of your own emotions at the very bottom of the ladder, because one needs awareness to engage in the higher levels of emotional intelligence. Beyond that are the management of our own emotions and the awareness of others' emotions, since knowledge about yourself is a necessary condition for being able to steer your own emotions and to understand others'. At the top of the hierarchy is the management of others' emotions, because this requires all previous dimensions to be met. Emotional intelligence can be enhanced through personal training, exercise and regular feedback. Moreover, this form of intelligence increases with age.

What is the link between job satisfaction and work behavior?

Job satisfaction refers to the personal evaluation of the job one is doing. It is a combination of a number of attitudes towards different aspects of the work. Job satisfaction is difficult to measure, since the survey often asks unilateral questions and the dissatisfied employees often find it difficult to express their feelings.

The exit-voice-loyalty-neglect (EVLN) model describes four ways in which people can respond to an unsatisfactory work situation. Exit refers to leaving the organization or transferring to another location. Voice refers to an attempt to change the situation instead of walking away from it. Loyalty refers to the attitude of an employee who quietly waits for the situation to resolve itself. Neglect is about reducing the effort at work and increasing absenteeism and lateness. Which strategy is used depends on the person and situation. Also the degree of identification with the company, previous experiences and the degree of experienced collectivism play a role in the choice for a particular strategy.

What is the link between job satisfaction and performance?

There is a moderate correlation between job satisfaction and work performance. The reason that this relationship is moderate has to do with the fact that certain attitudes can not always predict the behavior. As discussed earlier, people with low job satisfaction can, for example, also adopt a designing attitude that does not impair their performance. Moreover, it is difficult to identify the causal relationship, as work performance can also lead to higher job satisfaction if positive rewards will follow. The final comment states that job satisfaction only has a small impact on performance if the employee has little responsibility. The level of responsibility therefore also plays a major role in the work performance.

What is the link between job satisfaction and customer satisfaction?

Work satisfaction also has a positive effect on customer satisfaction, given that high job satisfaction leads to a better mood, which means that the employees can provide better service and the true emotions do closely match the required emotions. In addition, people with a high level of job satisfaction do longer work for the company, which means they develop more skills and knowledge within the company, according to the service-profit chain model. This model explains how employees' job satisfaction influences company profitability indirectly through service quality, customer loyalty and related factors. Finally, work satisfaction also affects the reputation of an organization.

What is organizational commitment?

Organizational commitment refers to the employee's bond with the company and to what extent he / she identifies with the organization. The affective organizational commitment is the employee's emotional attachment to and involvement in the organization. The continuance commitment, in contrast, refers to the employee's calculative attachment to the organization. Organizational commitment improves customer satisfaction, as employees have more skills and knowledge when they work longer at the company and customers like to get familiar with the employees. Too much organizational commitment with the company can also have adverse consequences as, for example, fewer new employees are accepted who can contribute to new knowledge and skills. Financial rewards can increase the continued bond, as this motivates people to keep working for the company. The rewards, however, have little influence on the affective organizational commitment.

How can organizational commitment be build?

In order to build and maintain commitment to an organization, the organization can focus on a number of things. A first strategy is justice and support. It means that affective commitment is higher in organizations that fulfill their obligations towards employees and pursue humanitarian values, such as fairness, forgiveness and moral integrity. Shared values ​​are also important, as people identify more with an organization when their own values ​​match those of the company. Trust refers to the positive expectations of a person towards the other when it comes to risky situations. Organizational comprehension is important because the affective commitment is increased when people have a better understanding of the organization. This can be stimulated by encouraging open and clear communication within the organization. The involvement of the employee in the organization must also be high, as this contributes to the social identity of the employee within the company.

What is work-related stress and its management?

Stress is an adaptive response to a situation that is experienced as challenging or threatening to the well-being of a person. It produces physiological changes that prepare for fight or flight. Stress can be divided into distress and eustress. The former relates to the psychological, physiological and behavioral deviations of healthy functioning. The latter is a form of positive stress and can motivate people to work towards a satisfactory outcome.

What is the general adaptation syndrome?

In general, people have fairly similar ways to respond to stress. The general adaptive syndrome refers to three different phases that people go through when they experience stress. The first phase is the alarm reaction, which arises when one enters a situation that is challenging or threatening to well-being. This phase induces physiological stress reactions, such as increased perspiration, increased blood pressure and heart rate, and muscle tension. The energy level is falling and people have less control over the situation in this phase. The second phase, resistance, increases control and activates various mechanisms that give the individual more energy. It further leads to increased adrenalin levels and glucose synthesis, sharpens the senses and reduces resources of the immune system. The third phase, exhaustion, occurs when people come into contact with stress for a longer period of time.

What are consequences of distress?

Stress takes its toll from the human body. It can seriously weaken the immune system and makes people more vulnerable to diseases. Stress can include headache, muscle pain, heart disease and high blood pressure. Another consequence of stress is a burnout. A burnout is a process in which someone is emotionally exhausted and cynical. Emotional exhaustion is a combination of a lack of energy, fatigue and little compassion. Cynicism is treating people as objects and detaching themselves from colleagues and the organization. Reduced professional performance indicates a decrease in confidence in one's own capacities and may be an indicator for a burnout.

What are the causes of stress?

The factors that cause stress are referred to as stressors. Stressors include any environmental conditions that place a physical or emotional demand on someone. There are numerous stressors in the workplace and in life in general. Here are four of the most common work-related stressors: organizational constraints, interpersonal conflict, work overload and low task control.

One of the biggest stressors are the organizational constraints. Those can be, for example: lack of resources, budget and information. Organizational constraints refer to situational factors (see Chapter 2 Model MARS). These restrictions are beyond the direct influence of an employee and threaten the fundamental drive of an employee to influence his / her environment.

Interpersonal conflict is usually caused by structural sources such as ambiguous rules, lack of resources and conflicting goals between employees or departments. However, workplace conflict also arises when a person's actions are perceived as threatening by others. This fast-growing form of interpersonal conflict, called psychological harassment, involves repeated hostile or unwanted conduct, comments, actions or gestures that have a negative effect on a person's well-being and thus influence the quality of work. Sexual harassment is a specific form of harassment in which a person's employment or job performance is conditional on unwanted sexual relations and/or the person experiences sexual conduct from others that unreasonably interferes with work performance. It usually creates an intimidating, hostile, or offensive working environment. A problem hereby is that men often have less complex views about sexual practices than women, so they cross a border more quickly. In addition, complaints about sexual harassment can lead to other forms of psychological abuse of the victim. Behavior that has been noticed in the past serves as a good yardstick for the future. It is therefore important to look at the applicant's past in job applications, so that psychological abuse can be excluded as much as possible. 360 degree feedback can also be a way to signal and reduce sexual abuse. This means that feedback is provided from multiple perspectives.

Work overload describes the fact that employees sometimes need to spend their personal time to get their job done. This is a problem, particularly in the US and China. The reason employees make so many hours can be explained, among others, by the combined influence of technology and globalization. People increasingly work with colleagues in other time zones and their continuous communication habits make it difficult to keep work and private life separately. A second explanation may be an employee's consumer behavior: he / she wants to buy more goods and services and works harder in order to be able to afford that lifestyle. A third statement, called the ideal worker norm, refers to the fact that some employees work more hours because they expect themselves and others to work more hours. For many, toiling away far beyond the normal workweek is a badge of honor, a symbol of their superhuman capacity to perform better than others.

Low task control refers to stress which is caused by a low control over the task. This can be traffic, problems with the material or with the work schedule. The level of responsibility also plays a significant role. People with low control and low responsibility will be less stressed than people with low control and high responsibility.

A workaholic is overly involved in his / her work, experiences internal pressure and has little pleasure in his / her work. Workaholics are compulsive and preoccupied with their work. This often has even an influence on their health, intimate relationships and family relationships.

How can work-related stress be managed?

Companies can deal with stress by removing the stressors. This can be done by, among others, selecting the right people for the right job. Another important way to eliminate stressors is by facilitating a better work-life balance. Companies can contribute to a good work-life balance in many ways. They can offer flexible work, in which employees can work part-time and take days off or can even take a sabbatical. They can also introduce job sharing, which refers to the same job being carried out by two people, leaving more time for their private life. Through telecommuting, in which people work from home, they can organize their own time and do not waste time by traveling. Personal leave refers to personal reasons to take a longer time off, such as maternity leave. Child care support can also reduce the tension between work and private life. Nevertheless, it appears that employees often feel burdened to use these benefits. The company must therefore stimulate them to take advantage of them as much as possible.

It seems as if the removal of a stressor is the most ideal, but sometimes it is better to temporarily or permanently remove the employee from the stress factor. A permanent withdrawal would be best when employees are transferred to jobs that are more compatible with their abilities and values. Temporarily withdrawing employees from stressors is the most frequent way to manage stress. This could be, for example, relaxation rooms, days off and holidays.

A third way to deal with stress is to help employees improve their self-concept, so that job challenges are not perceived as threatening. Also, setting personal goals, humor and self-empowerment can reduce the stress that people experience in their work environment. When people deal with stress, it is important to get the physical and psychological consequences under control. Physical effort can reduce the psychological consequences. Meditation and relaxation moments can also make a major contribution.

Social support from friends, colleagues and family can also have an impact on reducing stress. This works best when the person that experiences stress asks for help and it is not imposed on him / her. Social support refers to the interactions of a person with others who provide emotional and informative support in a stressful situation. Seeking social support is called a tend and befriend response to stress. The opposite of it is a fight or flight response. Social support can contribute to the fact that one feels to be appreciated. This increases resilience, as it leads to increased self-confidence and self-esteem. In addition, it gives us information about how we should deal with stress factors. Finally, the feeling that we are not alone can immediately reduce stress.

What are the foundations of employee motivation? - Chapter 5 (8)

Motivation refers to the forces within a person that influence the direction, intensity and persistence of voluntary behavior. When employers discuss employee motivation, they often use the term employee engagement. Although its definition is still being discussed, employee involvement can be described as one's emotional and cognitive motivation: a focused, intense, persistent and purposeful effort toward work-related goals. Motivating employees is becoming increasingly more challenging, as globalization, information technology and other changes have led to a change in employee engagement. These changes have reduced the employees' trust and commitment. Moreover, these changes cause managers to have less insights into behavior and performance of the employees than before. In addition, new generations have different expectations than the previous ones.

What are employee drives and needs?

Needs refer to goal-directed forces that people experience. Those forces are based on shortcomings that encourage us to act in such a way that we can eliminate these shortcomings. Needs that are already satisfied do not stimulate us to act. Drives (also called primary needs) are instinctive tendencies that stimulate us to set certain goals or to guarantee internal stability. Needs are therefore formed by motivation, but can also be strengthened through learning, culture and experiences we made during childhood.

What is the Maslow's needs hierarchy theory about?

The Maslov's needs hierarchy is divided into five components. The physiological needs which describe our need for food, water and shelter. Those needs are at the very bottom of the hierarchy. Above this is the need for safety, followed by the need for belongingness. The fourth layer in the hierarchy is esteem and recognition by yourself and others. At the very top of the hierarchy is the need for self-actualization, the feeling that you make maximum use of your potential. We are motivated to meet all needs, but when a lower need is not yet realized, one is unable to satisfy a need which is higher in the hierarchy. The only exception is self-actualization, since people who are satisfied in this need are always encouraged to satisfy more of this need. Therefore, we also see self-actualization as a growth need, while the other four are called deficiency needs.

The hierarchy of Maslov is still little scientifically supported. Some argue that the hierarchical set-up is not accurate and the needs are not universal. However, Maslov was the first to notice that different needs are in relation to each other and that they therefore have to be studied together (holistically). Moreover, he has discovered that higher needs are influenced by social and cultural life and not just by instincts (humanistic perspective). Maslov discovered that people are naturally motivated to use their maximum potential (positive perspective). That is why it is important to conduct meaningful work in which you have freedom to develop yourself. In line with that, positive organizational behavior stands for building positive qualities by highlighting someone's potential rather than someone's shortcomings.

What are intrinsic and extrinsic motivation?

Intrinsic motivation describes the motivation that derives from the activity itself and is directed by the individual. It has a number of conditions in order to occur: people experience self-actualization by using their skills and knowledge, they see the results of their work and they learn to achieve personal growth. Extrinsic motivation, in contrast, occurs when people are motivated to receive something that is beyond their personal control for instrumental reasons. This motivation is widely used in the business sector by, for example, performance bonuses. There are two hypotheses about the influence of extrinsic motivation on intrinsic motivation. The additive view suggests that someone's intrinsically motivated performance improves even further by adding extrinsic motivation. The contrasting view states that the addition of extrinsic motivation reduces the sense of autonomy and thus reduces the intrinsic motivation. Research on that behalf is very opposing. However, external motivation seems to reduce intrinsic motivation, but this effect does not seem to be very strong. Employers must be careful with intrinsically motivated employees as research can not exclude whether extrinsic motivation can undermine intrinsic motivation.

What is the learned needs theory?

Needs arise from motives, but they can also be strengthened by a learning process. According to David McClelland there are three needs that can be learned:

• The need for achievement (nAch), in which people want to exert themselves to achieve reasonably challenging goals. They prefer to work alone and choose tasks that are neither too easy nor impossible. In addition, they need clear feedback and recognition for their success.

• The need for affiliation (nAff) refers to the desire to seek approval from others, conform to their wishes and expectations, and to avoid conflict and confrontation.

• The need for power (nPow), refers to people that want to have control over others and attach great value to a good leadership position. This can be divided into personalized power, in which power is used to increase personal interests and functions as a status symbol and a need for socialized power, in which power can be used to help others.

What is the four-drive theory?

The four-drive theory attempts to explain human motivation. This theory is both holistic (it combines different needs) and humanistic (it assumes that people are rather influenced by social life than by their instincts). The four-drive theory states that there are four drives, namely the drive to acquire, the drive to bond, the drive to comprehend and the drive to defend. These drives are universal, innate and also act independently. Moreover, the theory states that it is a complete set of drives that we all try to achieve. The drive to acquire refers to our need to search, control and preserve objects and personal experiences, but also the need to be recognized and valued and to achieve a higher position than others. The drive to bond states that people want to form social relations and want to enter mutual bonds with people. The drive to comprehend refers to our curiosity, our need for knowledge and understanding of ourselves and our environment. The last drive, the drive to defend, refers to the need to protect ourselves socially and physically. This also refers to protecting our relationships, values ​​and beliefs.

As mentioned earlier, all information that we perceive is quickly registered and subsequently linked to our emotions. These emotional stamps influence our motivation to act in a certain way. The four drives determine which emotions are linked to which situation. This process is more conscious than through our instincts. According to the four-drive theory, we solve problems using social norms, previous experiences and personal values ​​that weigh the contrasting motives, before proceeding with appropriate actions. This theory explains how our needs are based on internal drives. It consists of two parts, namely the recognition of the dynamics of the four motives and the interaction between emotions and cognitions.

This four-drive theory states that everyone in the workplace needs to fulfill all drives mentioned above. Moreover, it is very important that the drives are kept in balance on the work floor. They must therefore all be dealt with, as they have a positive effect on each other. It is also advisable to let employees determine their remuneration themselves, since people differ in their needs.

What is the expectancy theory of motivation?

The expectancy theory states that people perform the action which they believe has the overall highest probability of achieving the desired outcomes. To increase this effort and motivate people, attention must be paid to three factors. Those are:

• Effort-to-performance expectancy: This expectation refers to the perception of the employee about the feasibility of a goal with the right effort. Some people think that they can achieve a goal with ease, while others think that even with the highest effort certain goals can not be realized.

• Performance-to-outcome expectancy: This expectation states that certain behavior leads to certain outcomes. It is based on previous experiences. We only think of the outcomes that appear to be relevant or interesting for us. The motivation therefore depends on the possibility that certain behavior leads to outcomes that we perceive as beneficial.

• Outcome valences: This expectation refers to the expected satisfaction with respect to the outcome. A high satisfaction is in line with our values ​​and needs.

The effort-to-performance expectancy is influenced by the expectation that we can achieve a certain goal. This can be stimulated by increasing the skills, clear role perceptions, the right sources and feedback. Organizations can also hire people who fit well in the job and have a high effort-to-performance expectation. In order to increase the performance-to-outcome expectancy, organizations can regularly measure the performance of their employees and provide suitable rewards for high work performance. For this expectation it is important that employees think that high performance leads to high rewards. In addition, employees must understand how remuneration matches their performance. It is therefore important that the communication is properly. In order to increase outcome valences, it is important that the rewards are in line with what the employees desire. They can possibly be allowed to choose the rewards themselves. In addition, negative side effects must be reduced and controlled as much as possible. The expectancy theory can play a major role in understanding the cognitive processes and stimulating the effort at work. A disadvantage of the expectancy theory, however, is that it seems to have little eye for the role of emotions.

What are organizational behavior modification and social cognitive theory?

Organizational behavior modification (OB Mod) is a theory that explains the behavior of employees on the basis of the circumstances that preceded the behavior and the consequences of it. The core elements of OB Mod are shown in the ABC model. OB Mod tries to change behavior (B) by influencing the antecedents (A) and consequences (C). Note: antecedents are not causes, but only signals in the environment that induce an individual to adopt a certain behavior, which in turn has consequences. On basis of the theory of operant conditioning, the OB Mod identifies four types of consequences, called contingencies of reinforcement: first of all the positive reinforcement, which occurs when people repeat certain behavior because the outcomes are positive. The second consequence is punishment, in which the behavior is reduced because it had negative consequences. The third consequence is negative reinforcement, in which people exhibit more positive behavior because they no longer want to be punished. The last consequence is extinction, where people no longer exhibit certain behavior, because there is no response (anymore) to it. The most effective choice is continuous reinforcement, where constant positive behavior is rewarded every time it occurs.

In most cases, positive reinforcement should follow desired behavior and extinction (doing nothing / ignoring) should follow ​​undesirable behavior. This approach is preferable because punishment and negative reinforcement entail the expression of negative emotions and attitudes towards those who hand out the punishment. However, in some cases a certain degree of punishment - such as suspension - may be necessary, for example in case of theft.

Ratification can be divided into two aspects according to OB Mod. The first aspect is the time (interval), the second aspect is the frequency (ratio). This can be determined in advance. An established interval schedule is an endorsement at a fixed time, such as the salary. A varied interval schedule is an endorsement after a certain, uncommitted time, such as a salary increase through promotion. A fixed ratio schedule is an endorsement after a set number of completed tasks (for example, being allowed to go home after a day's work). A varied ratio scheme states that an employee can expect ratification after an unspecified number of completed tasks. An example of this is selling an indeterminate number of products, after which the employee gets a day off.

OB Mod has a number of limitations. One of them is the so called reward inflation, whereby the employee will eventually consider ratification as something he / she is entitled to. That is why most OB Mod programs are not used that often and if so only for a short period of time. Another limitation is that the variable ratio of ratification seems to create a sort of lottery reward system. The employee can perceive this as an unpredictable reward. The most significant problem is probably the radical view of OB Mod that behavior is only learned through personal interaction with the environment, while people can also learn and become motivated by observing others. This learning process is explained by the social cognitive theory.

The social cognitive theory states that we learn and become motivated by observing others, or by avoiding them, if we have observed that it leads to undesirable consequences.

The social cognitive theory has three related characteristics:

• Learning behavior consequences: We learn the consequences of behavior by observing what has happened to other people or hearing about it, and not just through direct experience.

• Behavior modeling: People learn, in addition to observing others, by imitating and practicing the behavior of others.

• Self-regulation: People set their own goals and act consciously. In addition, they send themselves through self-empowerment; they reward themselves when they surpass themselves and punish themselves when they disappoint themselves.

Setting goals is a process in which employees are motivated to develop a clear role perception and set goals with regard to their own performance. This can increase work performance in two ways: first of all by increasing the perseverance and intensity of the effort. Secondly, clearly formulating role perceptions makes an individual understand what behavior is desired in order to achieve certain goals.

How do goals need to be set?

To set goals correctly, there are several conditions under which effort and performance are best (SMARTER):

• The goals must be specific, so that all effort is clearly focused on the goal and changes are easily measurable. In addition, specific goals make it easier to form precise performance expectations.

• Goals must be measurable. If you can not find out if your goals have been achieved, they are of little use.

• Goals must be achievable. Ideally, they are challenging, but not so difficult that employees lose motivation to achieve the goals.

• Goals must be relevant to the work and be within the control of the employee.

• Time-framed is another condition: goals must have a deadline.

• Goals must be exciting. Challenging goals ensure that people make more persistent and intensive efforts and people process information in a more active way.

• Goals must also be reviewed. Feedback on the goals is important, as the need to grow is only fulfilled when we receive confirmation that we have achieved a goal.

The balanced scorecard (BSC) is a system which helps to set goals and at the same time acts as a reward system. It translates the vision and mission of the organization towards specific, measurable performance goals. Those are typically related to financial, customer-oriented, internal and learning processes. However, the quality of the process is only attractive if the goals that are set are valuable and if feedback is available.

What are the characteristics of effective feedback?

Feedback is the information people get about the consequences of their behavior. It clarifies which behavior is appropriate in a given situation. Moreover, it increases the skills needed to solve problems. Positive feedback can also motivate employees. Feedback is therefore informative and fulfills needs. Constructive feedback can have a stimulating effect on employees who have great perseverance and who want to broaden their knowledge. It is important that feedback is specific. In addition, it is important that the feedback is relevant and directly relates to the behavior. It must also be given on time, so that there is still a clear association with the behavior on which feedback is given. Moreover, feedback must come from credible sources and be given on a frequent basis. More feedback should be given during new tasks. There is also less frequent feedback necessary when a certain task is spread over a long period of time.

What is strengths-based coaching?

Strengths-based coaching is a positive organizational behavioral approach to coaching. It states that feedback should rather aim at building and benefiting from the qualities of the employee, than correcting his / her shortcomings. This form of feedback is consistent with the process of self-improvement.

Feedback can be given from non-social sources, where the feedback does not take place between two people but is given from another source, such as a computer that regularly displays the results. Social feedback is given by managers, customers and colleagues. The multiple source feedback, also known as 360 degrees feedback, is a form of feedback in which several people give feedback to the same person. Of course, there are a number of disadvantages, including the high costs and the large amount of time. Moreover, the different sources can give contradictory feedback and colleagues can only provide socially desirable feedback in order to not jeopardize the relationship. Corrective feedback is preferably given via a non-social source, since these sources are seen as more reliable. Positive feedback, which contributes to self-esteem, is preferably given via social sources.

What is organizational justice?

There are two forms of justice. Firstly, distributive justice, which refers to the comparison between our own relative rewards and the relative rewards of others. Procedural justice, instead, refers to the fairness of the process in which these relative rewards are determined.

The equality principle suggests that people think that everyone should be rewarded equally. The need principle suggests that the weaker should receive more reward than the stronger ones. The equity principle infers that people should be rewarded on the basis of their performance.

The equity theory states that people base their feelings of justice on the comparison of their own input / outcome ratio with the input / outcome ratio of others. Inputs are all efforts, knowledge, skills and achievements of a person that contribute to their work. Outcomes are all things that employees get back from the organization in exchange for their inputs. In the comparisons we usually make, we focus on equal others. When it turns out that others have a relatively higher outcome ratio for a lower input ratio than we do, we speak of undervalued injustice. When we note that others have a relatively lower input / outcome ratio, we speak of overvalued injustice. When we perceive these forms of injustice, we are motivated to reduce it, especially when there is undervalued injustice. People can subsequently proceed to a number of strategies:

• Reducing inputs, in which people will perform less well and become less involved in the organization.

• Increasing outcomes, for example asking for a salary increase.

• Increasing the input of the other, by doing the same work, so that the input / outcome ratio becomes more equal.

• Reduce the outcomes of the equal, where the boss can be asked to reduce the rewards of the other person.

• Changing our perceptions, by telling ourselves that the other is doing more work or the rewards do not represent anything

• From now on, make the comparison with another match.

• Leave the field.

People differ in the extent to which they are sensitive to injustice, also called justice sensitivity. The well-off are tolerant of unequal ratios. The justice sensitives find it important that the input / outcome ratios are equal, and the authoritarians state that their ratio must be higher than that of the other. The equity theory can properly predict how people respond in justice situations. Nevertheless, this theory does not show which inputs and outcomes are the most important and with whom people compare themselves. Moreover, the theory assumes that people are individualistic, rational and selfish, while in fact this may not always be the case. Further, it only predicts a limited number of feelings and behaviors about justice.

Procedural justice is influenced by social and structural rules. It refers to the need of people to have a share in the decision process. This form of justice is determined by the way in which decision-makers treat employees in the decision-making process. Employees consider it important to be respected in this process. Moreover, they attach great value to computability, whereby it is important that the decisions are discussed and explained. The procedural justice influences emotions and motivation. Withdrawal behaviors refer to avoiding the person who feels unjustly treated and feelings of a diminishing need to comply with that person's requests. People can also react aggressively when they feel unjustly treated.

What are applied performance practices? - Chapter 6 (8)

What financial rewards are there?

Financial rewards are a form of exchange, in which employees contribute their knowledge, skills and labor and receive certain economic rewards in return. The rewards do not necessarily need to be financial. Other financial rewards include motivators, reinforcers, status symbols and a way to measure the employee's own performance. Membership and service time remunerations relate to the largest part of the paychecks. Certain work benefits increase with the time the employee stays within the company. This can prevent employees from leaving the organization.

Job evaluation is the way in which someone's work is assessed (for example by higher rewards for more intensive and more responsible work). Status-related rewards increase the feelings of justice and encourage employees to compete with each other.

What are individual rewards?

Skill-based pay refers to competency-based rewards in which people are rewarded for the number of skills they have. This improves workplace flexibility and motivates people to learn more skills that allow them to do more varied work. A problem is that the measurement of competences can be quite subjective when we describe these as personal qualities and values. That is why it is important to consider the actual skills in order to guarantee objectivity. Skill-based pay can be individual: the payment can be made on a commission basis, where you get a higher salary the more you sell. It can also be determined by the number of products produced.

What are team rewards?

Rewards for team performance are based on profit sharing. The profit sharing plan refers to a cost-benefit analysis of the production: it is determined how much the production costs and how much it has yielded. As mentioned before, the improvement of the team in relation to the cost-benefit analysis is measured. It encourages teams to work in a more effective and efficient way, producing the maximum for the minimum costs. This can contribute to cooperation, knowledge sharing and job satisfaction.

What are organizational rewards?

Employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs) encourage employees to buy shares of the organization for a low price or an interest-free loan. This gives employees the opportunity to benefit from the success of their company. The employees are thus more motivated to make the company profitable and to increase its value.

Whereas in ESOPs, company shares are purchased, stock options entitle employees to purchase a share of the company at a predetermined price within a specified time.

Profit-sharing plans refer to a situation in which rewards are aligned with the annual profit percentage.

How can the reward effectiveness be improved?

What is the link of rewards to performance?

Performance-related rewards create an ownership culture in which employees are involved in the success of the organization. A disadvantage is that the connection between the company's own performance and the profit of the company as a whole is only vaguely visible to employees. This is due to the many factors that are beyond the control of the employee. Performance-related rewards can reduce the creativity and meaning of the work. Moreover, it can be a quick solution to a structural problem, while the real causes are not considered. To guarantee the effectiveness of these rewards, there are a number of options.

Establish a clear link between rewards and performance, for example through profit sharing, ESOPs and other objective rewards that personally involve people in the company. If subjective measurements of performance are required, companies should rely on multiple sources of information. Rewards must also be given as soon as possible after the desired performance.

Make sure that rewards are relevant. Rewards must focus on performance that falls within the employee's control. Make use of team-related, rather than individual, rewards for interdependent jobs. This can promote cooperation and motivates employees to work together. Ensure that rewards are valued by employees. This can be stimulated by asking the employees how they want to be rewarded.

Note unintended side effects. Performance-related reward systems sometimes have an unexpected - and undesirable - effect on employee behavior. Therefore, the consequences of the rewardsystem should be tested in a pilot project before applying them within the organization.

Financial rewards are not the only motivation to perform properly. Responsibilities and challenges are also important to stimulate work performance. Jobs must therefore be both interesting and challenging.

What is the link between job design and work efficiency?

The real difficulty lies in finding the balance between the efficiency and the challenge a particular job displays. Here, the work design is of great importance, in which certain tasks are assigned to a job and the cooperation with other jobs is determined. A job is a combination of tasks performed by a person.

Job specialization is the division of specific tasks among different people working together on a certain product. Each task is completed within a certain time, also called the time cycle, before starting a new task. This work specialization can increase the efficiency of the work as there is less time loss, which would be associated with the change of tasks. Moreover, less time has to be spent on the training of knowledge and skills. In addition, many repetitions of a specific task lead to faster and easier execution.

What is scientific management?

Scientific management describes the systematic division of work into the smallest possible parts and the standardization of certain tasks to increase efficiency. Training, objectives and work incentives are three terms that apply to this type of management. Everyone gets their own very specific task in the process, to prevent a waste of time and work. A disadvantage of this is that the work can become boring and people can become socially isolated. Moreover, it can reduce the quality of the work because people only have a very limited share in the product. Maximum work performance is therefore a balance between very simple and very complex work where people do efficient work and yet remain stimulated.

The motivator-hygiene theory states that people experience job satisfaction when the work fulfills their need for growth and appreciation. Hygiene refers to all factors that are related to lower needs, such as working conditions and certainty. The characteristics of the job are responsible for the motivation of the employee. Hygiene prevents employees from becoming dissatisfied.

What is the job characteristics model?

The job characteristics model has five different work dimensions that evoke three psychological states. Employees who experience these psychological states often have higher internal work motivation levels, job satisfaction and work effectiveness. The first dimension is the skill variety. This dimension relates to the application of different skills to perform different types of work. The task identity refers to the share of the job in a certain process. The task significance refers to what the job contributes to the organization or to society. Autonomy means that a person is free and independent and able to choose procedures to work towards a goal. Job feedback is the extent to which an employee can reflect on his own performance.

All dimensions mentioned above can evoke three types of psychological states: meaningfulness is the feeling that someone is doing useful work. This is stimulated by the skill variety, the task identity and the task significance. Experienced responsibility is the idea that someone is responsible for the work. This is stimulated by the dimension of autonomy. The knowledge of results refers to the information about the consequences of the work and effort. The dimension of job feedback applies to this.

The work design does not always increase the work motivation. If employees do not have the right skills and knowledge to be able to complete the job, the work design actually causes stress and reduces performance.

The job characteristics model overlooks some aspects of a job that are also important for employee motivation and performance. Especially the earlier model did not take into account social characteristics of the work - for example the extent to which people should interact with other people. Yet, another cluster of work characteristics was missing in the earlier model, namely the predictability of information processing requirements of the work - for example job variability and task-analysis.

What are job design practices that motivate?

To increase the motivation for the work, there are three suitable strategies:

• Job rotation: Changing employees within different jobs. Physical risks, such as overloading certain muscle groups, are reduced. Moreover, it increases workplace flexibility and the number of skills and prevents people from finding their work boring.

• Job enlargement: A situation where new tasks are added to an old job. The number of required tasks is thus increased. Work expansion only has a positive effect on motivation when this is accompanied by more independence and more knowledge about the work.

• Job enrichment: Getting more responsibility to plan and coordinate the work yourself. Natural grouping is the combination of many mutually dependent tasks in a job. This can increase the task identity and the meaning of the task, because employees get a larger share in the product and they can better see how their work affects others. Maintaining customer relations is also a way of working enrichment, because employees are more in contact with the consumer and they better see what effect their work has.

What are empowerment practices?

The best working strategy to enrich the work is to increase the independence, also called empowerment. Empowerment is a psychological concept which can be distinguished into four dimensions: self-determination is about the feeling that one has the freedom and independence in performing the tasks. Meaning refers to the idea that one performs work that is important. Competence is about the trust that someone can perform certain tasks and can grow his skills. And impact is the feeling that someone makes an active contribution to the organization.

Self-determination is increased by giving someone more independence in the work that he / she is doing. Meaning is enhanced by a high degree of task identity and task meaning. To increase self-confidence, regular feedback is needed. The reinforcement is highest in organizations where sources and information are readily available. Also, organizations have a high rate of reinforcement when a learning process is stimulated and mistakes are seen as learning moments.

What are self-leadership practices?

Self leadership is a process whereby someone directs and motivates him- or herself within a certain task. This theory is based on the idea that people can regulate their own actions on the basis of behavioral and cognitive activities. The first step in self-leadership is to set an objective. It is important that the goals are specific, relevant and challenging. Further, it is important that employees think positively.

Self-talk refers to situations in which we talk to ourselves about our actions and thoughts. In this, the consequences of a particular choice can be weighed or the own capacities can be evaluated. Nevertheless, self-talk is often more critical than encouraging. Positive self-talks, however, can increase our effect-to-performance. Mentally imagery is to visualize a situation in advance. Possible biases and their associated solutions can be taken into account with this technique. In addition, one can also focus on visualizing the successful completion of a task.

Natural rewards describe the fact that employees themselves can add tasks to their work that increase their job satisfaction and satisfy their needs. Self-monitoring describes the process of keeping track of one's own performance at a certain number of measurement moments by means of feedback. Self-reinforcement occurs whenever an employee has control over a reinforcer but doesn't 'take' the reinforcer until completing a self-set goal, so that he/she has something to look forward to.

What do decision making and creativity in organizations include? - Chapter 7 (8)

Decision making is the conscious process of making a choice between different alternatives, with the aim of creating a desired situation.

Which steps does the rational choice decision-making process contain?

An age-old starting point of most Western philosophers, economists and scientists is that people should rather base their decisions on logic and rationality than on emotions and feelings, and that they should use all the information that is needed. This starting point is called the rational choice paradigm. The process of making rational choices can be described in six steps:

Identifying a problem or opportunity: There is a 'problem' if the current situation deviates from the desired situation. A chance or opportunity is the deviation between the current expectations of a situation and a not immediately expected, possibly better situation.

Choose the best decision process: Firstly, the person who has to make the decision assesses whether he / she has enough information to come to a solution, or whether help from other people is needed. Secondly, it is assessed whether it concerns making a programmed decision or a non-programmed decision. The latter refers to a new or complex problem. In order to be able to make such a decision, all steps of the decision model must be completed. However, with a programmed decision, a standardized decision making process can be maintained because such problems have already been identified and documented in the past.

Discover or develop possible choices: This step refers to looking for existing solutions (solutions that work with similar problems). If none of the existing solutions work in the current situation, a new solution must be designed or an existing solution must be adapted.

Select the choice with the highest value: The rational choice paradigm assumes that people always go for the choice with the highest subjective expected utility (SEU), which is chosen when the alternative that is most favorable / satisfactory for the person is not available.

The next step is to implement the selected choice. This means that all possible outcomes must be estimated. This is a very complex task, but the rational choice paradigm assumes that this calculation is performed without problems.

Evaluation of the chosen alternative: Answering the question whether the difference between the old situation and the desired situation has actually decreased.

Steps 1, 4 and 6 are experienced as difficult by humans

Although this model sounds logical and plausible, in reality it is little used. People are represented in this model as machines that (can) process information in an efficient and logical manner. In reality, people are often unable to handle the large amount of information that brings 'making a choice' with it, or to see when a previously made choice was not the right one. This model also focuses only on rational thinking and does not take into account the fact that emotions influence or even dominate our decision process.

How can problems and opportunities be identified?

Problems and solutions are not provided in bite-sized chunks. Information must be obtained and translated: this is partly done by a conscious evaluation of facts and arguments of others. Another important part of this process often takes place unconsciously, namely through attitude formation and selective attention. Emotional markers, which we often bind to this information as soon as we absorb it, determine together with logical analysis and the emotional reactions, whether we regard something as a problem, as an opportunity or as unimportant.

The five most well-known bottlenecks that can be addressed in the identification of problems are:

• Stakeholder framing: The assessment of the problem is influenced or limited by the influence of the vision of others.

• Perceptual defense: Ignoring adverse information as a coping mechanism.

• Mental models: Those are visual or relational images in our mind of the external world. They fill in information that we don't immediately see, which help us understand and navigate in our surrounding environment. The disadvantage of these models is that they can cause that unique opportunities or problems are overlooked or that unexpected solutions are pushed aside because they do not fit within an existing model.

• Decisive leadership: People are often seen as more effective leaders when they can quickly make decisions. As a result, many decision-makers are too quick to make decisions without having considered all facts.

• Solution-focused problems: Problems are often directly formulated in terms of solutions. This often works satisfactorily. However, the most well-known solutions, namely solutions that have helped in other situations, do not necessarily have to be the best solutions.

How can problems and opportunities be identified in a more effective way?

Recognizing problems and opportunities will always be a challenge. One way to improve the process is by becoming aware of the five problem identification biases just described. For example, that by recognizing that mental models restrict a person's perspective of the world, decision makers are more motivated to consider other perspectives of reality. Another way to improve problem identification is to create a norm of divine discontent. Decision makers with this mindset are never satisfied with current conditions, so they more actively search for problems and opportunities.

How can alternatives be searched for, evaluated and chosen?

What is meant by a bound rationality?

According to Herbert Simon, people find themselves in a bound rationality because the information they process is limited and imperfect and because they seldom make the best choices. Often, clear goals are needed to come to good solutions. The problem is that goals are usually unclear or not in agreement with each other.

Which problems in information processing are there?

People often make no perfect rational decisions because they do not process all information. It is usually too much effort to weigh all alternatives and possible outcomes. Therefore, only a few alternatives and outcomes are well considered. A related problem is the implicit favorite: a preferred alternative that the decision maker uses repeatedly as a comparison with other decisions. Although the implicit favorite comparison process seems to be automatic, it often undermines our effective decision making. People are inclined to ignore problems of the implicit favorite and the benefits of alternatives. Although subjective expected utility is the most important part of rational choice decision making, Tversky and Kahneman have discovered that people have built-in decision heuristics that either disrupt the probability of certain outcomes or the value (utility) of these outcomes. Three of the most studied biases in this field are anchoring and adjustment, availability and representativeness. The anchoring and adjustment heuristic states that we are influenced by an original anchor vision and do not deviate sufficiently from this vision when new information is offered. The availability heuristic refers to the tendency to judge a situation on the basis of information that we can easily retrieve from memory. The representativeness heuristic, finally, states that we pay more attention to situations or objects that resemble something that we already know, rather than to exact statistics.

One of the most important assumptions of the rational choice paradigm is that people want to opt for the alternative with the greatest advantage (e.g. the largest subjectively expected utility). People often choose the alternative that is acceptable or good enough rather than the alternative with the highest value. This is called satisficing (which happens instead of maximization).

What is the link between emotions and making choices?

As mentioned earlier, in the rational choice paradigm, the effect of emotions on human decision-making is totally ignored. Emotions affect the evaluation of alternatives in three ways:

• Emotions form early preferences: Initial emotional markers (often unconsciously), associated with an option at an early stage, influence the extent to which we have a preference for this choice.

• Emotions change the decision evaluation process. For example, we make more use of stereotypes to make faster choices when we are angry.

• Emotions as information source: We use emotions as a source of information and use our feelings when making a choice between alternatives, which is called intuition.

What is the link between intuition and making choices?

Intuition is the ability to recognize a problem or opportunity and to act without conscious evaluation. It is an emotional experience and a fast analytical process. The premonition we experience consists of emotional signals that are strong enough to penetrate consciousness. These signals can warn us in case of danger and create awareness of an opportunity and subsequently motivate us to take action. Intuition comes about because we make a comparison between what we observe and the mental models that we have. These are ideas / patterns, based on knowledge that has accumulated in previous experiences. If the given situation does not match the template that should accompany it, emotions are formed that urge us to take action.

Intuition also builds on action scripts: pre-programmed routines to respond when there is or is not an agreement with the expected pattern. These are behavioral paths that contribute to a quick and efficient response. They are generalized but often need to be adjusted for each situation.

How can choices be made in a more effective way?

By systematically going through all the solutions to a problem one can prevent problems such as implicit favorite and satisficing. In order for emotions to have no adverse effect on the decision-making process, it is important to remain aware of the impact that emotions can have. Scenario planning is a tool that can help. It refers to the calculation of problems before they actually occur. It ensures that possible solutions can be evaluated without the stress and emotions that occur when one is confronted with a problem.

How can decision outcomes be evaluated?

Decision-makers are often not completely honest with themselves when evaluating the choices made. A first example of this is confirmation bias (also called postdecisional justification): upgrading the positive aspects and weakening the negative aspects of a chosen solution, in order to protect the self-worth. A second problem is escalation of commitment: this is the tendency to continue to support a wrong decision despite its obvious failure. There are four reasons why escalation of commitment occurs:

• Self-justification effect: When there is a great personal interest in justifying a decision.

• Prospect theory effect: One tends to take greater risks to avoid loss and smaller risks of winning. Stopping a project often feels like a loss and is a more painful decision.

• Perceptual blindmakers: Sometimes problems are not seen fast enough. Unconsciously negative information is filtered out and sometimes serious problems are seen as random errors.

• Sunk costs effect: The tendency to justify a decision even though there might be doubts about its success, because the costs of canceling the project are unknown or high.

A possible way to avoid confirmation bias and escalation of commitment is to separate people who make decisions from those who evaluate decisions. Another way would be to find a clear, systematic source of feedback by getting several people involved in a problem.

What is creativity?

Creativity refers to the development of original ideas that make a socially recognized contribution. This is important for a decision-making process. The creative process model is one of the earliest and most important models about creativity. This model provides insights into the steps that are taken in people's creative thinking process:

Preparation: to form a clear idea of ​​what you want to achieve.

Incubation: the stage of reflective thinking: the idea is put aside, but in the back of the head it is continuously thought about it at a low level of consciousness. As a result, you are temporarily distracted from the problem. Incubation supports divergent thinking: trying to formulate the problem differently to find different approaches to the issue. By divergent thinking you step out of the thinking process through existing models. Contrary thinking stands for convergent thinking: finding the conventional, right solution to a problem.

Illumination: sudden awareness of a novel, although vague and incomplete idea.

Verification: experimenting with the idea and refining and evaluating it.

What are the characteristics of creative people?

Creativity in the workplace is determined by the extent to which people themselves are creative and by the extent to which the environment encourages creativity. Four properties are mentioned that creative people possess:

• Cognitive and practical intelligence

• Persistence

• Knowledge and experience

• Independent imagination

Which organizational conditions support creativity?

The chance for creativity is increased when organizations offer their employees the space to learn. The management must realize that making certain mistakes is sometimes part of a creative process. Certain activities can also stimulate creativity. An example is to re-examine a problem that has been set aside for several months. A second example is associative play: encouraging creativity through play. A final example is cross-pollination, where employees with different expertise exchange ideas with each other.
Involvement of employees in the decision process is also an important factor.

Design thinking is a solution-focused, human-centered creative process. Both intuition and analytical thinking are used to clarify problems and to come up with innovative solutions. Design thinking uses four rules:

• The human rule: design thinking is a team activity. It depends on the cooperation of different people with different knowledge and experiences. In this way, a problem can be looked at from different perspectives. In addition, customers and users must also be experienced.

• The ambiguity rule: creativity and experimentation can only take place if the problem and the solutions are ambiguous.

• The re-design rule: There are no completely original creative solutions. The need to be satisfied with solving problems has been around for a long time. It is therefore important to understand previous solutions and to use them when coming up with a new solution.

• The tangible rule: design thinking spends less time planning and more time doing. Prototypes contain a lot of information that cannot be found in the conceptual planning. Design thinking therefore tolerates mistakes and sees this as a learning process.

To what extent could employee involvement in decision making be effective?

Involving employees in problem solving can contribute to a faster and more effective solution. Employee engagement (also called participative management) describes the extent to which employees are involved in the execution and organization of work. There are several advantages: employees recognize / describe a problem sometimes better because they directly experience it. There are often more and better alternatives developed. In addition, it increases the involvement in the decision and the extent to which employees feel personally responsible.

What is the model of employee involvement in decision making?

The extent to which it is good to involve employees in decision-making differs per situation. There are four factors which need to be considered:

1. Decision structure: as the problem becomes more complex and unknown, the benefits of involving employees in the decision process increase.

2. Source of decision-making knowledge: subordinates should be involved in some level of decision making when the leader lacks sufficient knowldege and subordinates have additional information to improve decision quality.

3. Decision commitment: employees are more willing to commit to a decision when they are involved in the decision-making process.

4. Risk of conflict: involving employees can cause disadvantages of the decision-making process when the goals and standards of the employees conflict with the organizational goals. It can also be disadvantageous if there is a high risk of conflict between the employees during the decision-making process.

Which steps does the rational choice decision-making process contain?

An age-old starting point of most Western philosophers, economists and scientists is that people should rather base their decisions on logic and rationality than on emotions and feelings, and that they should use all the information that is needed. This starting point is called the rational choice paradigm. The process of making rational choices can be described in six steps:

What do team dynamics consist of? - Chapter 8 (8)

What are teams and informal groups?

A team is a group of two or more people who interact, influence each other and are jointly responsible for the achievement of a goal of the organization. They usually see themselves as a social entity within the organization.

All teams are groups (two or more people with a unifying relationship) but not all groups are teams. In addition to formal work teams, organizations also consist of informal groups. These are groups whose formation has not been initiated by the organization and whose members generally do not try to achieve any goals of the organization. Under the right circumstances, teams are better at identifying problems, developing alternatives and choosing between those alternatives. They also develop better products and services, and create a more energetic work atmosphere than people working alone. The tendency to form informal groups could be explained by an emotional drive, which is part of the social identity theory (one derives identity from the groups to which one belongs) or from the wish to be able to accomplish tasks that are not feasible for one person alone.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of teams?

There are both advantages and disadvantages within teams. Under the right circumstances, teams make better decisions, develop better products and provide better services than a single person. This would be, for example, a good team atmosphere. Due to a good team atmosphere there is automatically a good working atmosphere, which means that people properly communicate with each other. Another advantage is that many people seem to be more motivated to do their work. There are three reasons for this statement: the first is the principle of group identity. If the team is considered part of the identity, the person will invest more in the team. Secondly, team members are usually very close to each other, which makes it possible to keep an eye on what each team member does. Third, team members are often people with similar skills and they do not want to have less skills than their team members.

In some cases, however, the disadvantages are greater than the benefits. Some less complicated tasks and tasks with a low interdependence can be better assigned to one person alone. The main problem with teams is that they sometimes have extra 'costs' compared to individuals who work independently. These hidden costs are also called process losses: the time and energy is spent in the development and maintenance of a team, rather than in the performance of tasks. This is a problem that comes to the fore when new people join a team. In line with this, a law has been formulated, namely Brooks's law, which states that connecting people to an abandoned process only slows the process down.

The most familiar disadvantage when talking about teams is the risk of social loafing. There is social loafing when people put less energy into their work (and often perform less well) when they are part of a group than when they would work on their own. This is more common in larger teams where the individual control is lower. One can prevent social loafing by making individual productivity visible and / or increasing the motivation of the employees. Five methods can prevent social loafing:

• Forming smaller groups: a person's individual performance is easier to see and becomes more important for team performance.

• Specialize tasks: the effect of hard work becomes more visible.

• Measure individual performance: however, this can be difficult in many situations where one outcome is being worked out.

• Increase job enrichment: when requiring more skill variety or having direct contact with clients, the chance of a high intrinsic motivation is higher.

• Select motivated, team-oriented employees: the chance of social loafing is smaller in a close team, with employees having a somewhat collectivist value orientation. Also, self-motivated employees perform better although sometimes individual performance is difficult to measure.

What is a model of team effectiveness?

In some cases, teams work more effectively than individuals. There are different models in which team effectiveness is displayed. Team effectiveness is the extent to which a team influences the organization, individual team members and the existence of the team itself. There are five important elements in the organization and team environment that influence the effectiveness of teams, namely:

1. Remuneration systems: team members generally work more effectively when, at least in part, they are rewarded for the team's performance.

2. Communication systems: a poorly designed communication system can ensure that team members have too little information to work with, or too much unclear information.

3. Physical space: the design and layout of the workplace can contribute to better communication and a stronger feeling of communion.

4. Organizational structure: teams work better when there are fewer layers in management and when they get autonomy and responsibility for the work they do.

5. Organizational leadership: it helps when team leaders support teams, coach them, give them the opportunity to solve their own problems and have their own resources to accomplish tasks. In addition, it is also helpful when team leaders attach particular value to team performance (as opposed to individual success).

What are the three main team design elements?

The three main elements to consider when designing an effective team are: task characteristics, team size and team composition.

Task characteristics

It is still being investigated which work is better carried out by teams and which work is better carried out by single persons. It is clear, however, that teams are found suitable for tasks that require a high interdependence (task interdependence). This is the extent to which the employees are interdependent: whether they have a common input, whether a high amount of interaction is required during the execution of the tasks, and whether the outcome for the individual depends in part on the performance of others.

A distinction is made between three types of mutual dependency:

• Pooled interdependence: this is the lowest level of interdependence. In principle, the employees work independently, but they are dependent on the same employer.

• Sequential interdependence: when the output of an employee becomes the input of the next employee. For example, in assembly line work.

• Reciprocal interdependence: highest level of interdependence. The employee depends on the entire team to coordinate the execution of the task.

Team size

It is important that a team has enough members to provide the necessary skills to perform the task, but it should be small enough to maintain consistency and to be able to make decisions quickly and effectively.

Team composition

When putting together an effective team, five points need to be considered (the Five C's of effective team member behavior):

1. Cooperating: a team member should prefer to work together rather than work individually.

2. Coordinate: the team members align work with others and keep the team on track.

3. Communicating: it is important that the team members communicate freely, efficiently and respectfully with each other.

4. Comforting: helping team members to keep each other in a positive psychological state.

5. Conflict handling: the team members must be prepared to resolve conflicts effectively and respectfully.

Team diversity is also an important dimension in forming a team. Homogeneous teams consist of members with the same expertise, ethnic backgrounds and norms and values. Within heterogeneous teams, team members differ from each other in these points. Furthermore, a distinction is made between deep-level diversity on the one hand (when the diversity of team members is not immediately noticeable and, for example, only emerges during the collaboration, such as differences in beliefs and norms / values) and surface-level diversity on the other hand. The latter describes clearer differences, such as differences in gender and ethnic background.

Generally, it can be said that heterogeneous teams are more sensitive to conflict and need a longer time to be formed, whereas heterogeneous teams are often more effective than homogeneous teams in situations with complex problems, where innovative solutions are required. Heterogeneous teams often have a broader network / a better relationship with parties from outside, because of the different backgrounds of the members.

What are the different team processes?

Both organization / team environment and team design have been discussed. Now we will discuss team processes. Team processes (forming the team, the standards and the roles and cohesion within the team) are influenced by both environmental factors as well as team design.

What are the stages of the team development model?

Before it turns out whether a team is effective, the team members first have to solve a number of problems and go through different development stages. The stages of team development model describe this process:

1. Forming: the first phase, in which people get to know each other and they weigh the advantages and disadvantages of the team: a period of testing and orientation.

2. Storming: the phase in which competition arises between the members to take on different roles within a team (people are less polite and more proactive than in the first phase). The norms for behavior and productivity are formed in this stage.

3. Norming: development of the first feeling of cohesion. Members develop similar mental models and they have the same mindset about how the team goals will be achieved.

4. Performing: the team is more task oriented. Coordination and conflict resolution are very efficient. There is a climate of mutual support and trust.

5. Adjourning: the team is about to disband. Team members shift their attentation away from task orientation to a relationship focus.

A disadvantage of this model is that it does not immediately show that some teams stay longer in some phases than other teams or sometimes fall back to an earlier stage. Forming a team is a process that happens continuously. In addition, it hides two processes that form the essence of team development, namely the development of a team identity, and the development of mental models and coordinating routines of a team.

An important part of the team development process is the formation and validation of team roles. A role is a set of behaviors that people are expected to perform because of the position they occupy within a team or organization. Many team roles have been determined by the organization because these team roles belong to a job. For example, the role as leader has a number of characteristics. In addition, there are also informal roles: within teams, an informal division of roles arises especially after the storming phase.

Team building is a formal activity to promote and improve the functioning of a team. One can think of strengthening the cohesion within the team or changing existing standards. There are four types of team building:

1. Goal setting: to clarify the goals of the team in order to increase the motivation to achieve these goals and to develop a feedback system for the performance of the team in achieving these goals.

2. Role clarification: clarification of the roles that team members play within a team, clarifying / redefining ideas about their own role and the roles of colleagues.

3. Interpersonal relations: a broad category that is about improving mutual relationships, conflict reduction and building trust within teams.

4. Problem solving: the focus is on improving the decision-making process and problem-solving skills.

The most effective team-building tactics seem to be the tactics that train employees in the area of ​​specific team competences, such as coordination, conflict resolution and communication. However, many other team-building activities appear to be less successful.

The effectiveness of team building is greatest when one first determines a diagnosis of the 'health' of the team and subsequently selects an appropriate teambuilding procedure. Also, a moment of team building should not be seen too much as a long-term solution. Finally, it helps to continue to link teambuilding with the work itself (making it not completely separate activities).

What are team norms?

Norms are informal rules with regard to behavior and expectations that are built up in order to regulate the behavior of the group members.

Team norms form as soon as the team itself is formed: people want to be able to predict and respond to other people's behaviors. Norms come into existence because people increasingly discover which behaviors contribute to a more effective way of functioning. As time goes by, team norms become increasingly specific.

Once team norms are formed, they become deeply rooted and difficult to change. That is why it is important to be clear about the desired standards as soon as a team is formed. Often, a team has already been formed: in that case one can try to explicitly discuss the undesirable norms with the other employees by means of convincing communication tactics.

What is meant by team cohesion?

Team cohesion describes people's motivation to stay member of a team. The degree of cohesion within the team is influenced by different characteristics: the similarities between team members, the size of the team, the interaction between the members, the difficulty to acquire team membership, the success of the team and the level of competition experienced by another team.

Teams with a high degree of cohesion develop better interpersonal relationships, resulting in fewer conflict situations and more support for each other in stressful situations. Furthermore, the members are more motivated to stay member and to increase the effectiveness of the team. Reduced productivity in teams with a high degree of cohesion arises when the norms of the team do not match the goals of the organization.

What is team trust?

Trust is a psychological state in which one intends to accept to be vulnerable, because one has positive expectations of the intentions / behavior of another. Trust within teams is divided into three different dimensions:

1. Calculus-based trust: a minimum level of trust. One expects certain behavior because there are sanctions if one does not perform that behavior.

2. Knowledge-based trust: this kind of trust is based on the predictability of another. The better we get to know the colleague and can predict future behavior, the greater the trust becomes.

3. Identification-based trust: trust based on mutual understanding and on emotional ties that an individual has with the colleague. In high performance teams this kind of trust arises because values ​​and mental models are shared. Trust in the team is greater when you derive a larger share of your identity from your membership of the team (social identity).

Contrary to what one would expect, people who join a new team have great trust in the new colleagues (swift trust), because it is generally assumed that teammates are competent enough (knowledge-based trust) and people are inclined to forward social identity to the team (identification-based trust). However, trust in new relationships is vulnerable because it is based on assumptions rather than on experience.

What are self-directed teams?

Self-directed teams (SDTs) are cross-functional groups that are organized around work processes that complete an entire piece of work. They require several interdependent tasks and have substantial autonomy over the execution of those tasks, for example creating a product or offering a service.

The successful implementation of self-directed teams depends on various factors. Firstly, SDTs work best if they are responsible for making a whole product, providing a full service or completing a whole work process. Secondly, it is important that an SDT is autonomous enough. Finally, SDTs are more successful when the workplace and technology support the coordination and communication between team members, which increases job enrichment.

What are virtual teams?

Virtual teams are teams whose members operate across time, space and organizational boundaries. Important differences with traditional teams are (1) that the members do not work from the same place and (2) that the interaction is seldom face-to-face, but rather through technology. These teams are connected by information technology to accomplish organizational tasks. Virtual teams are becoming increasingly important in today's society, as many organizations are located in multiple locations around the world. Because of globalization and the wish to stay in touch with each other, virtual teams are now regarded as indispensable.

A virtual team functions successfully when communication is easy and when the team members are self-leaders and can motivate themselves. Members of virtual teams must also be more sensitive to emotional reactions (high emotional intelligence level) in e-mails. Also, they need to be able to detect subtle non-verbal signals that people give in teleconferencing because they have no personal contact with the other. Secondly, virtual team members must have a toolbox of different communication channels from which they can make their own choice. Third, virtual team members need a lot of structure. The last recommendation is that virtual team members should meet each other face-to-face early in the team development process.

What does team decision making consist of?

What are limitations in team decision making?

Under certain conditions, teams are better at making decisions than individuals. In addition to these benefits, there are also a number of limitations:

• Time constraints: teams often take longer to make decisions than individuals. Only one person can talk at the same time. The delay that arises is called production blocking.

• Evaluation apprehension: this means that individuals are inclined not to mention certain ideas that might sound crazy, because they expect other team members to evaluate them.

• Pressure to conform: cohesion ensures that individuals adapt to the standards of the team. This contributes to the organization of the group, but can also ensure that team members suppress their own deviant thoughts.

• Overconfidence (inflated team efficacy); Teamwork (team efficacy) is the collective conviction within team members of the team's ability to successfully complete a task. However, when teams become overconfident and develop an unjustified conviction of invulnerability, this can have negative consequences on the decision-making process. Overconfident teams are less vigilant when making decisions. In addition, they search less quickly for information outside the team, or they are less likely to accept this information.

How can creative decision making in teams be improved?

Four techniques for improving creative decision-making within teams:

1. Brainstorming: this is a free face-to-face meeting in which team members are not allowed to criticize, but are encouraged to speak freely in order to generate as many ideas as possible and to build on the ideas of others. Although brainstorming can improve team creativity, it also has disadvantages. First of all, even a trained and experienced brainstormer can cause production blocking. A second problem is fixation or the conformity effect: hearing someone else's ideas limits the variety of ideas that we think of afterwards.

2. Brainwriting: this is a variation of brainstorming. Participants then write down their ideas instead of saying them, and share them with others. This reduces the problem of production blocking.

3. Electronic brainstorming: a form of brainstorming based on a computer network for submitting and sharing creative ideas. All ideas are entered through a special software. This avoids problems that arise during traditional brainstorming sessions (such as production blocking and evaluation apprehension).

4. Nominal group technique: this is a variation of brainwriting and consists of three stages: Participants (1) put their findings on paper silently and independently; (2) they then present their solutions to other team members without criticizing them; (3) they then evaluate the presented ideas silently and independently. This method often yields more and better quality ideas. However, production blocking and evaluation apprehension can still take place.

Why is communicating in teams and organizations important? - Chapter 9 (8)

What is the importance of communication?

Communication is the process in which information is transferred and understood between two or more people.

Effective communication is important for all organizations. A company can not exist without communication. Organizations are groups of people who work towards a certain goal depending on each other. People can only work depending on each other if they communicate with each other. In addition, communication plays an important role in organizational learning: it is the means by which knowledge enters the organization and is distributed among the employees. Communication is also important in decision making and behavioral change. Finally, it supports the well-being of the employees. Communication shares knowledge about employees that enable them to better function in their working environment.

What is an example of a model of communication?

According to the communication process model, communication takes place between senders and receivers via different channels. The sender creates a message and encodes it in words, gestures, intonations and other symbols or signs. The encoded message is then transferred to the receiver via one or more communication channels. The receiver perceives the incoming message and decodes it to something meaningful. Ideally, the decoded meaning is also what the sender intended. In most cases, the sender searches for evidence that the other person has received and understood the transmitted message. This feedback can be a formal answer (for example "Yes, I understand what you mean"), or an indirect proof of the subsequent actions of the recipient (for example when the recipient does what the sender has requested). Feedback repeats the communication process. Conscious feedback is encoded, transmitted, received and decoded from the receiver to the sender of the original message. The transfer of meaning from one person to another is hampered by noise - the psychological, social and structural barriers that can disrupt the intended message of the sender and make it unclear. If a part of the communication process is disrupted or broken, the sender and receiver will not have a common understanding of the message, which could lead to miscommunication.

According to this model, effective communication depends on the ability of the sender and receiver to encode and decode information efficiently and accurately. How well this process proceeds depends on codebooks of the sender and receiver: they must have the same idea of ​​certain symbols, gestures, language and other means of transferring information. In addition, the transmitter and receiver must be competent in encoding messages. Both sender and receiver must also be motivated and able to transmit messages via a certain communication channel. Finally, they must have shared mental models of the communication context.

What are communication channels?

In the communication model, information is transmitted in two ways: verbally and non-verbally. In verbal communication, words are used. This form includes spoken or written channels. Non-verbal communication is any part of communication in which no words are used.

E-mail

E-mail makes communication within a company easier. It reduces physical / personal contact but increases communication possibilities with managers and people who are not in the immediate vicinity. In addition, e-mail reduces stereotype biases because age, race and other characteristics remain hidden. Disadvantages of the use of e-mail are that it is more difficult to come across as polite and respectful and that it is ineffective when communicating emotions. E-mail is also an ineffective means to discuss new, complex or ambiguous situations. Finally, e-mail can provide a transhipment of information, so that a lot of time has to be spent to separate the important information from the unimportant information.

Social network communication

Social networks, such as facebook, are becoming increasingly popular. Those pages are largely used informally. However, there are organizations in which this popular way of communicating is being extended to the workplace. A recent model suggests that social media have different functions: presenting the identity of the individual, providing opportunities for conversations, sharing information, feeling that others are present in the virtual space, maintaining relationships, revealing a reputation or status and maintaining / finding supporting communities.

Non-verbal communication

Non-verbal communication includes facial expressions, physical distance to conversation partner, intonation of the voice and silences. Differences with verbal communication are that non-verbal communication is less restricted by rules and is more automatic and unconscious (as a result of which non-verbal information is often more ambiguous).

Emotional contagion is the automatic and unconscious tendency of people to adopt non-verbal behavior and to match their own non-verbal behavior with that of the conversation partner. This emotional contagion has three goals. First, it provides continuous feedback to the discussion partner: you transfer that you understand the information and share it with the person. Secondly, the imitation of non-verbal behavior seems to help us to gain more and better understanding of the emotional meaning of the message. Thirdly, it supports the norms people are commited to: emotional contagion shows a certain similarity between the members of the team, which strengthens the cohesion within the team.

How could the best communication channel be chosen?

Employees perform best when they can quickly determine which communication channel is most suitable for a situation and when they are flexible enough to use different channels. When deciding on the suitability of communication channels, four important factors must be taken into account:

1. Synchronicity: this concerns the required activity of the sender and receiver at the same time. Face-to-face calls are synchronous. While an e-mail is asynchronous. The recipient does not have to do anything to receive the mail. Synchronous communication is better when information has to be transferred quickly and / or is very complex. Asynchronous communication is better when the information is simple, it is not urgent, it is expensive to get both parties together and / or the receiver needs time to reflect on an answer.

2. Social presence: this refers to how much psychological closeness the channel creates, awareness of fellow human beings and the appreciation of the interpersonal relationship. So how much communication makes us aware of the fact that the other is a human being. This awareness is, for example, high when there is a conversation and low when a mail is sent to a large group of people. A communication tool must have a social presence when someone needs to be understood and empathy has to be shown.

3. Social acceptance: this refers to the way in which the communication tool within the organization is approved and supported by the teams and the individual employees. The first factor that influences this are the norms within an organization. These often determine which means of communication is perceived as good. A second factor is the personal preference of the employees. A third factor is the symbolic meaning of the communication channel. For example, e-mail is perceived as more remote than telephone.

4. Media Richness: this relates to the amount of data that a communication channel can carry within a certain time frame. A channel is media rich when multiple messages can be sent simultaneously, when direct feedback from receiver to sender is possible and when the sender can adapt the information to the receiver. Rich media are generally more suitable for situations that are unrefined and ambiguous. 'Poor' media are suitable for routined situations, because sender and receiver have the same expectations and mental models.

Research generally supports the media richness hierarchy when it comes to traditional channels (face-to-face, written memos, etc.). However, when it comes to electronic communication channels, the model fits less well with reality. Three factors seem to explain why electronic channels actually have more media value than assumed by theory:

1. Ability to multicommunicate: employees can engage in multiple communication events at the same time, in other words, they can multi-communicate.

2. Communication proficiency: people who are more competent can transfer more information via the channel and thus increase the information flow of the channel.

3. Social presence effects: channels with a high media sensitivity often have more social presence. That is, the participants experience a stronger physical presence from each other. However, social presence makes both parties aware of their relative status and self-presentation, which can disrupt their attention to the message. The advantages of channels with high media viability can thus be neutralized by their social presence diversions, while poor media have much less social presence to disrupt the transmitted information or divert attention from it.

What is the link between communication channels and persuasion?

Some communication channels are more effective than others in the area of ​​persuasion. This involves the use of facts, logical arguments and emotional requests to change the beliefs and attitudes of someone else, usually with the aim of eventually changing the behavior of the other person. Spoken communication appears to have more persuasiveness than written communication. One reason is that spoken communication is usually accompanied by non-verbal communication. In addition, spoken communication provides the sender with immediate feedback about whether the recipient has understood the message and accepts it. Finally, people are persuaded more quickly when there is a high level of social presence.

What are examples of communication barriers?

Barriers that impede the effective exchange of information are called noise. Below are four common examples.

Perceptions. Which information is selected and filtered out, and also how one interprets and organizes this information, is strongly determined by the observation process. When the way of observing and the mental models of the transmitter and of the receiver differ too much, a lot of noise can occur.

Language barriers. Noise due to language barriers is the issue between people who speak a different language, but also between people who speak the same language. This occurs, for example, in the case of metaphors, vague language or jargon. People use vague language more often when communicating with others that hold different values ​​and ideas, in order to reduce the risk of conflicts. Jargon is the specialist, technical language that belongs to a specific organization or social group.

Filtering. Sometimes information is lost within the hierarchy of an organization. This happens more often in environments in which good news is rewarded and bad news is not appreciated.

What is meant by information overload?

When the recipient receives so much information from the sender that he / she can no longer handle this information, this is called information overload. An employee can process a certain amount of information within a certain time: this is the information processing capacity of a person. Each job has a specific information load: a certain amount of information that must be processed within a certain time. There is overload if the employee does not have the capacity for the information load of the work.

How can communication lead to misunderstandings by cross-cultural and gender factors?

Language is the biggest challenge in cross-cultural communication. Words are quickly misunderstood, for example because of wrong vocabulary, or because of the wrong pronunciation of sounds due to an accent. The same word can also have a different meaning for people with a different language background. The meaning of a certain intonation and a certain volume also differ per culture. In addition, the importance of non-verbal communication differs per culture. Often, unconscious or automatic non-verbal clues mean the same thing in many cultures, but certain deliberate gestures can mean something completely different across cultures. The use of silences in conversations or interrupting the conversation partner also can be evaluated differently across cultures.

Men and women communicate in a similar way, but there are subtle differences that can lead to misunderstandings. Men are more inclined to see conversations as a negotiation in terms of status and power. They are more dominant in conversations, adapt their style of conversation less than women and have a stronger tendency to adopt report talk: a way of speaking in which the main function is the efficient (and impersonal) transfer of information. Women often use this form of communication in conversations with men, but they generally use rapport talk: a way of talking that is more focused on maintaining and building the relationship. Women also seem to be more sensitive to non-verbal signals, do more often ask advice from others and do more often apologize. Men and women usually understand each other, but subtle differences can lead to irritations.

How can interpersonal communication be improved?

Effective interpersonal communication depends on the ability of the sender to convey the message and the performance of the receiver as an active listener.

When communicating a message successfully, empathy is important, for example by putting yourself in the position of the listener, but also by repeating the key points of the message. In addition, a message can be better conveyed by using an effective timing and by being descriptive (by focusing on the problem itself and not on the person in case of negative information).

Active listening consists of several parts. Firstly, it is important that the listener actively senses which signals the sender is transmitting. This can be done by not evaluating directly, by not interrupting the channel and by remaining attentive. Secondly, it is important to find out the meaning of the message, evaluate it and also remember it. It can help to show empathy while listening and organizing the information for yourself. Thirdly, the reaction is important: giving feedback to the sender by showing interest and clarifying the message. These three parts of listening - feeling, evaluating and responding - reflect the part of the receiver in the communication model described at the beginning of this chapter.

How can communication be improved throughout the hierarchy?

By now, communication has been described at a micro level. Four strategies are mentioned below that enable communication within a whole company to be optimized.

Workspace design. The ability and motivation to communicate is partially influenced by the space in which work is being done. One can, for example, use the effect of space on communication by clustering people in groups (allowing them to communicate more with the people in their own group) or by creating a large open space through which communication generally increases.

Internet-based organizational communication. For example e-zones, blogs and wikis. Information about the company is increasingly being provided via the computer / web in many different ways.

Direct communication with top management. In order to be able to understand the bottlenecks within an organization, it is important that managers intervene in the workplace between employees of all levels.

The name for this management strategy is management by walking around (MBWA). This is the case when executives deal with communication in practice by leaving their office and learning from others in the organization by speaking face-to-face. Another way to communicate directly with employees is through city hall meetings, where managers bring together large groups of employees to spread news about the company. The advantages of these strategies are the minimization of filtering, that the management quickly gains insights into what is happening among employees and that employees feel more empathy for decisions from the management level.

What is meant by communicating through the grapevine?

In addition to the formal channels, information is always spread through informal channels: the corridors (grapevine). The grapevine is an informal and unstructured network that is based on social relations and is not formed by the organization. A disadvantage of this informal channel is that it can transmit information incorrectly or distorted and can cause agitation. The advantages are, among others, that it can provide employees with information that they have difficulty using through formal paths, and that it makes a positive contribution to the mutual bond between employees.

How do power and influence in the workplace come about? - Chapter 10 (8)

Power is defined as the capacity of a person, team or organization to influence others. There are some important features of this definition. First of all, power does not describe the action of changing one's attitudes or behavior, it is only the ability to do so. In addition, power is based on the perception that the power holder has a valuable resource that can help achieve other's goals. According to the dependence model of power, power also includes the unequal dependence of one party on another party. Although dependence is a core element of power relations, the term asymetric dependence is used because the less powerful party still has a certain amount of power over the power holder. This is called countervailing power. Finally, the power relationship depends on a certain minimum level of trust.

Which sources of power in organizations are there?

Power is not just about dependence. According to the sources and contingencies of power model there are five sources for power and four contingencies of power.

The first three sources of power are based on the position of the power holder and the role he or she occupies:

• Legitimate power: an agreement between organizational members which states that people with certain roles can request certain behavior from others. For example: a manager may tell his / her employees what tasks they have to perform, with whom they have to work, which sources they may use, etc. Legitimate power has restrictions: it only gives the power holder the right to request a series of behaviors from others. This range - also known as the zone of indifference - is the set of behaviors that individuals are willing to exhibit at the request of someone else. There are also more subtle forms of rightful power. For example, people have a norm of reciprocity, that is, a sense of obligation to help someone who has helped you before.

• Reward power: this form of power derives from someone's ability to reward or remove punishment.

• Coercive power: the ability to punish.

• Expert power: legitimate, rewarding and compelling power that derives from someone's position. It basically derives from personal characteristics of the ruler, that is, the ability to influence others because of knowledge or skills that one possesses. An important form of expert power is the ability to manage uncertainties in the business environment. Expertise can help companies in dealing with uncertainties in three ways: prevention, prediction and absorption.

• Referent power: being able to influence others on the basis of respect that they have and the extent to which they identify with you. Charisma is seen as an example of this: a charismatic person has a certain attraction to others, creates trust and respect.

There are four important conditions for power (these can be both positive and negative):

1. Substitutability: this is the extent to which people who depend on a particular source still have alternatives. If less people have certain knowledge / resources, this increases the power of the person who has more knowledge / resources. You are less replaceable if you have the exclusive right to perform certain tasks and if you are the only person with certain knowledge. But even if you have control over the work that needs to be done and when you give others the idea that you have certain, unique material or knowledge, there is little question of substitutability.

2. Centrality: the nature and degree of mutual dependency between the ruler and others.

3. Visibility: power must be visible, because someone only has influence if it is clear that he / she is the one who has certain means of power. For example, the suspension of a diploma.

4. Discretion: the extent to which decisions can be made without approval from others or without having to comply with certain rules.

What power do social networks have?

Power is not only determined by one's position or what one is able to do, but also by who one is connected to. Social networks, which refers to building and maintaining relationships with others, contributes to an increase of influence and power. Networks can increase influence through social capital. Social capital describes the knowledge available to people or social units that connects them with others. The most accessible source is information from other network members, which increases the person's expert power.

A second factor that contributes to someone's power via social networks is increased visibility. When asked to recommend someone for a particular position, other network members would rather suggest someone inside the network.

Reference power is also increased by networking: people are more likely to identify with and have more confidence in people from their own network.

How can power through social networks be gained?

In order to obtain power through social networks, strong ties are important. Those are close relationships with others. Developing strong ties with others depends on how much we share with them and whether we have relationships with them on one or more levels (e.g. colleague and friend). The biggest advantage of having strong ties is that these connections provide faster and sometimes more information / resources than 'weak' connections. Yet, having a weak bond with people from various networks can sometimes be more valuable than having a strong bond. People with whom we have a weak relationship often do not resemble ourselves (as opposed to people with whom we have a strong tie). As a result, these people can provide us with information and resources that we do not have access to.

Centrality is an important condition for power, but also for social networks. The more central a person is in a network, the more social capital and therefore the more power he / she has. Centrality within a network is determined by three factors:

1. Betweenness, which refers to the extent to which you are located in a network.

2. The degree centrality, which describes the number of connections with others in the network.

3. The closeness of the relationship with others in the network.

A structural hole is an area between two or more dense social network areas that lack network ties.

Social networks bring many benefits, but they can also create a barrier for those who are not actively connected. For example, women are often excluded from informal management networks because, for example, they do not participate in male-dominated social events.

What are possible consequences of power?

Under the right circumstances, an increase in a person's power will also increase motivation, satisfaction, commitment and performance. On the other hand, people who acquire more power often experience a weakening of the relationships with others who were previously equal. Research shows that people with more power are more inclined to use stereotypes and have more difficulty showing empathy. In addition, it appears that they have less accurate perceptions of people who are lower positioned.

How can others be influenced?

Power refers to the capacity that someone can influence others. This involves the question of whether someone could be able to change the attitudes and behaviors of others. Influence, in contrast, is power in motion: it refers to behavior that actually aims to change the ideas, attitudes and behavior of others. In current literature, eight important tactics are described that can exert influence:

1. Silent authority: applying legitimate power without directly referring to your own position. This is a hard technique.

2. Assertiveness: actively exerting pressure through threats (through legitimate and compelling power). This is also a hard technique.

3. Information control: the attempt to change the behavior and attitudes of others by manipulating access to information. This is also a hard technique.

4. Coalition formation: form a group and try to influence others by joining forces and sources. This is a hard technique.

5. Upward appeal: a hard tactic in which a coalition is formed in which at least one member has more authority or expertise than the others.

6. Persuasion: try to make others accept your question or message through logical argumentation, facts and by appealing to emotions. This is a very effective and soft tactic. The inoculation effect is a persuasive communication strategy whereby listeners are warned that others will try to influence them in the future and that they should be cautious about the arguments of the opponent.

7. Impression management (including ingratiation) is a very soft tactic. It refers to the active (re)shaping of the perceptions and attitudes others have of you, through self-presentation. A subcategory of impression management is flattery (ingratiation), in which one attempts to become more popular, or to be more liked by the person you want something from.

8. Exchange: letting people obey to you in exchange for certain benefits or resources. In this kind of soft tactics the norm of reciprocity is often applied.

What are the consequences and contingencies of influence tactics?

In order to determine which of the tactics is most effective, it is important to consider in which different ways people can react to external influences. They can either resist to the attempt of influence, the influence can be somewhat effective (compliance) or the person can strongly identify with the assignment and have a high motivation to fulfill it (commitment).

People often react more positively to soft tactics. In addition to the general preference people have for softer tactics, the effectiveness of a tactic also depends on a number of conditions, such as the position of the person to be influenced and the kind of power that the person has. In case of expertise, for example, conviction will work, whereas in the case of legitimate power, silent authority is a useful tactic. Personal and cultural values ​​also play an important role.

To what do organizational politics refer?

Organizational politics refers to tactics that benefit the person (often a powerful person), at the expense of the organization (and the rest of the employees). This includes multiple adverse effects. These include lower work satisfaction, increased stress and an increased risk of negligent behavior. Organizational politics mainly occur under certain circumstances. There is a higher risk when the sources within a company are scarce and when the organization quietly tolerates the organizational policy.

There are also a number of personal characteristics that increase the chances of people to do their own thing: when people have a great need for personal power and when they have strong Machiavellian values. The latter refers to the idea that deceit is a natural and acceptable way to influence others.

How do conflict and negotiation in the workplace take place? - Chapter 11 (8)

What are the meaning and consequences of conflict?

A conflict is a process in which one party perceives that its interests are being opposed or negatively affected by another party. Initially it was thought that conflicts mainly have negative consequences: the more conflict there was, the more negative the working atmosphere. It was then discovered that conflicts can also have positive consequences. From this idea the optimal conflict perspective resulted. This perspective states that there must always be a certain degree of conflict, which should not be too little and not too much. Conflicts can lead to the consideration of multiple alternatives and prevent stagnation. Finally, conflicts outside the team can lead to more solidarity inside the team. Unfortunately, not all types of conflicts have those positive effects. Nowadays a distinction is made between two types of conflicts: the task conflict and the relationship conflict. The task conflict (constructive conflict) is mainly focused on task-related disagreement. This form can provide the positive effects mentioned above. Relationship conflicts are directed at other people, which often creates a negative working atmosphere. It can be concluded that the task conflict must be encouraged and the relational conflict must be prevented. However, these two are often intertwined. The factors that minimize those findings are emotional intelligence, positive group norms and a team with strong cohesion.

What does the model of conflict process suggest?

Positive outcomes in conflict situations are: better decisions, team cohesion and responsive firm. Negative outcomes in conflict situations are: an increase in organizational politics, more stress/turnover, lower performance and less coordination.

A starting conflict often manifests itself in the opinions that parties hold about each other and in the open conduct they have towards each other. When the conflict rises, it is often difficult for the parties to find the words and emotions for effective communication, without irritating each other and aggravating the conflict.

The arrows that make a small loop back in the model (p. How do conflict and negotiation in the workplace take place? - Chapter 11

What are the meaning and consequences of conflict?

A conflict is a process in which one party perceives that its interests are being opposed or negatively affected by another party. Initially it was thought that conflicts mainly have negative consequences: the more conflict there was, the more negative the working atmosphere. It was then discovered that conflicts can also have positive consequences. From this idea the optimal conflict perspective resulted. This perspective states that there must always be a certain degree of conflict, which should not be too little and not too much. Conflicts can lead to the consideration of multiple alternatives and prevent stagnation. Finally, conflicts outside the team can lead to more solidarity inside the team. Unfortunately, not all types of conflicts have those positive effects. Nowadays a distinction is made between308), refer to the fact that a conflict process actually consists of a series of events that can eventually form an escalating spiral (a sequence of negative interpretations). If people continue to focus on perceptions during the conflict, the conflict could resolve itself through logical analysis. However, it is often the case that a communication process is so ambiguous that small things, such as a look or wrong word choice, can stir up emotions and cause the conflict to escalate.

Which main conditions cause conflict in organizational settings?

The conflict model mentioned above starts with the sources of conflict, so we need to understand these sources to effectively diagnose conflict episodes and subsequently resolve the conflict. This can also be applied in order to occasionally generate conflict where it is lacking. There are six main conditions that cause conflict in organizational settings:

• Incompatible goals

• Differentiation: a conflict can arise due to differences in background, in experience / training and due to differences in values ​​and ideas.

• High degree of interdependence. Often there are multiple conflicts when the interdependency increases in the performance of a task. The chance increases that what one party does / wants disturbs the goals of the other party.

• Scarce sources

• Ambiguous rules

• Communication problems

Which interpersonal conflict-handling styles are there?

People who are in a conflict situation and believe that both parties can be satisfied, have a win-win orientation. Individuals who believe that they are in a conflict situation in which they either win or lose, have a win-lose orientation. This last orientation causes escalations if one uses political games or power to gain ground. Usually, a (moderate) win-win orientation is most effective. Which orientation one has, influences the way in which one thinks the conflict can be solved. There are five principles in conflict management, the first of which comes from a win-win approach and the others from variants of a win-lose approach:

• Problem solving: finding a solution that is beneficial for both parties.

• Forcing: do everything possible to win the conflict situation (at the expense of the other).

• Avoid: preventing and avoiding further escalation of conflict.

• Admit: give in to the wishes of the other party.

• Compromise: looking for a solution in which both parties have to give up something as well as gain something in an as balanced way as possible.

What are the cultural and gender differences in conflict-handling styles?

Cultural differences can not only be a source of conflict. The cultural background often determines which conflict management style people are inclined to use. Cultures in which the interests of the group go beyond the interests of the individual (collectivist cultures), use more frequent avoidance and problem-solving tactics within groups. However, when it comes to people outside the group, it appears that managers in certain collectivist cultures publicly disgrace people whose actions are contradictory to those of their own.

In managing conflicts, women generally take more account of the mutual relationship between the parties than men. As a result, they more quickly adopt a compromising, problem-solving or avoiding style than men.

What are the structural approaches to conflict management?

There are various techniques for approaching conflicts. In solving conflicts underlying causes must be addressed. The six most important approaches are:

1. Emphasizing superordinate goals: these are common goals that are pursued by both conflicting parties and that have a priority over the sub goals that the conflict is about.

2. Reducing differentiation: this can be done by allowing conflicting parties to experience common experiences.

3. Improving communication and mutual understanding: this strategy can only be applied after differentiation has been reduced. Moreover, solving differences through direct communication is a typical Western strategy that does not work in all cases.

4. Reducing interdependence: this can be done, for example, by dividing the common sources, by using 'human buffers' and integrators, and combining jobs. Integrators are employees who coordinate the activities of work units in order to complete a joint task.

5. Increasing resources: this approach costs money, but the same applies to a dragging conflict. It is therefore important that this consideration is made. For example, purchasing additional machines.

6. Clarifying rules and procedures.

How can the third-party conflict resolution be applied?

In case of the third-party conflict resolution an attempt is made by a relatively neutral person to help the parties to resolve the conflict. There are three strategies that an independent person can apply.

1. Arbitration: this involves high control over the final decisions, but low control over the process. The independent party listens to arguments / developments during the process and makes a decision on basis of that.

2. Inquisition: high control over both the process and the decision.

3. Mediation: high control over the intervention process: the goal is to improve the interaction between the parties, who ultimately make the decision themselves.

Even though executives like to opt for the inquisition strategy in resolving conflict situations, this strategy turns out to be least effective in practice. Managers usually do not have enough information that relates to causes and interests within conflict situations. This often creates the feeling that the decision is unfair, because it feels like it has been imposed. In general, mediation is considered the most effective.

How could conflict be resolved through negotiation?

There is negotiation when two or more parties with conflicting interests try to bring different goals in one line with each other by discussing their mutual dependency. In other words: negotiation takes place when it is thought that discussion can lead to a more satisfactory agreement in the exchange of goods and services.

There are two ways of negotiation: in the distributive approach, a win-loss strategy is used between the negotiators. In the intergrative approach, the two parties are motivated to find the best solution for both (win-win orientation). The approach that a negotiator uses can depend on the situation but also on his or her personality. Competitive individuals will rather adopt a distributive approach, while others will rather adopt an intergrative approach.

Why is it necessary to prepare to negotiate?

To successfully negotiate, preparation is necessary. There are some factors that need to be taken into account:

1. Develop goals and understand needs: determining goals in advance and the needs behind them is important for good negotiation. This way a 'fixed goal' can be prevented and other solutions can be considered. Detecting the goals and needs of the other party is also important. The initial offer point is the opening bid. If this opening bid is set high, it may change the perception of the other party. A target point is the realistic goal for the agreement. Higher, specific target points often lead to better outcomes. Inexperienced negotiators can sometimes overestimate these expectations. The resistance point refers to the point beyond which one will make no further concessions.

2. BATNA (best alternative to a negotiated agreement): BATNA is the best outcome that you can possibly achieve through some other course of action if you abandon the current negotiation.

Of what factors does the negotiation process consist?


 During the negotiation process there are a number of factors which need to be taken into account:

1. Gather information: information is shared during successful negotiations. It is important not to share too much information.

2. Manage concessions: consessions symbolize the motivation for a good outcome. The aim is to discover which points the other party considers important.

3. Manage time: people are inclined to make concessions earlier if there is a time limit.

4. Build the relationship: building and maintaining trust is important in all negotiations. This keeps the parties focused on the issue rather than personalities. Especially since the focus of distributive negotiations mainly lies on the issue than the person. In intergrative negotiations, trust stimulates the sharing of information. This trust can be built up by finding similar interests and a good first impression. In addition, it also requires emotional intelligence in order to not appear aggressively, superior or insensitively.

What influence can a different negotiation setting have?

There are a number of factors that are important in the setting of the negotiations:

• Location: if you are on your own property, you feel stronger.

• Physical setting: the formality of the setting of a conversation and the physical distance between the parties can influence their orientation. When the parties sit side by side, they will rather want to solve the problem than when they sit opposite to each other.

• Audience characteristics: people often want to show that they are fighting for the interests of the spectators. They are also more focused on preventing loss of sight when there are spectators.

What is the link between gender and negotiating?

In negotiations, women usually have a worse economic outcome than men. Women set lower target points and are more inclined to accept a bid just above their resistance point. Men, in contrast, set higher target points and try to push the deal as far as possible to the target point. One of the explanations for this is that women attach more value to interpersonal relationships. During the negotiations women are also seen as behaving more aggressively because the female stereotype is not met. Women are generally treated worse in negotiations by men.

How does leadership in organizational settings occur? - Chapter 12 (8)

Leadership describes the influencing, motivating and helping of others to ensure that the organization they are part of becomes more effective and successful. Leaders apply different ways to influence: from subtle conviction to the direct use of power. Leaders are also responsible for the work environment. Shared leadership is a vision that does not allocate leadership to one person, but rather distributes leadership across employees so that they share the leadership. Shared leadership mainly works in organizations where leaders are willing to give up power and in which a lot of work is done in teams. Collaborative cultures are therefore more suitable than competitive cultures to implement a shared leadership.

What is the transformational leadership perspective?

Transformational leadership is a leadership perspective that explains how leaders change organizations by creating, communicating and modeling a vision for the organization and inspiring employees to strive for that vision. There are several important elements for transformational leadership:

Creating and transferring a strategic vision: creating a realistic and attractive image of the organization in the future, which increases the motivation among employees to achieve this overarching goal. This vision can be formed both by the leader and by employees. The effectiveness of a strategic vision depends on how leaders convey it to their employees and shareholders. This vision should be carefully expressed so that the right image is evoked.

Modeling the vision: transformational leaders not only convey a vision, but also actively implement it. They are also aware of rules and mental models that apply within the organization, in order to increase the employee's tendency to (continue to) follow the vision.

Encouragement of experimenting: transformational leadership is about change. Effective transformational leaders encourage their employees to question current practices and to experiment with new ways that may be more consistent with the future.

Building commitment to the vision:

1. enthusiasm through words, symbols and stories

2. as leaders behave in line with the vision and show that what they want is feasible

3. by involving employees in shaping the vision of the company

What is the link between transformational leadership and charisma?

Some models also include the charisma of the leader as an element of transformational leadership. They describe charismatic leadership either as an essential ingredient of transformational leadership, or as transformational leadership in its greatest form of excellence. However, nowadays, more and more theories, including those in this book, assume that charisma has nothing to do with transformational leadership. Charisma is a personality trait or relational quality that gives people referential power, whereas transformational leadership is a collection of behaviors that guide people to a better future.

What are some problems within the transformational leadership perspective?

In practice, transformational leadership often proves to be effective. Nevertheless, there are still a number of shortcomings. The first problem is that some models deal with circular logic: they define and measure transformational leadership based on the effects on employees and then report that this leadership is effective because it inspires employees. Instead, transformational leadership should be defined as a series of behaviors that people use to guide others through a process of change. A second problem is that some theories combine behavior of the leader with the personal characteristics of him / her. A third problem is that transformational leadership is usually described as a universal concept that is suitable in all situations. This may not be the case as it should take more account of culture.

What is the managerial leadership perspective?

Managerial leadership is a leadership perspective that states that effective leaders help employees to improve their performance and well-being towards current goals and actions. Transformational leadership and managerial leadership differ from each other. Firstly, managerial leadership assumes that the goals of an organization are stable and aligned with the external environment. Transformational leadership, on the other hand, assumes that the current direction of the organization is not well-aligned and therefore needs to change. Secondly, managerial leadership is more micro-focused and concrete, whereas transformational leadership is more macro-focused and abstract.

Transformational leadership and managerial leadership are both interdependent perspectives. Transformational leadership identifies and communicates a better future for the collective. Nevertheless, these behaviors are not sufficient for organizational success. This success also calls for managerial leadership in which the abstract vision for more specific operational behaviors and practices is translated. During this striving for an ideal future, they continuously try to improve the performance and well-being of the employees. Leadership is again dependent on transformational leadership because it points to the right direction.

What is the difference between task-oriented and people-oriented leadership?

In managerial leadership, a distinction can be made between task-oriented and people-oriented behavior. Task-oriented behavior consists of clarifying and structuring rules at work and ensuring that people adhere to these rules. People-oriented behavior consists of demonstrating mutual trust, showing respect for people with a lower rank within the company and being involved in the well-being of employees. Research shows that effective leaders trust both styles, but in different ways. When leaders exhibit high levels of people-oriented leadership behavior, their employees often have more positive attitudes and lower absenteeism, fewer complaints and lower sales. When leaders exhibit more task-oriented leadership, their employees generally show higher performance.

What is servant leadership?

Servant leadership is the idea that leaders support their followers by understanding what they need and making it easier for them to perform. Research shows that servant leaders have a natural desire to serve others. This desire goes beyond the obligation to help others. In addition, servant leaders seem to maintain a humble, equal and accepting relationship with others. Finally, they are said to record their decisions and actions in ethical principles and practices.

What does the path-goal leadership theory suggest?

The path-goal leadership theory states that effective leaders adopt the most appropriate leadership style(s), depending on the employee and the situation, in order to influence the expectations of the employee with regard to desired, positive outcomes. The theory recognizes that leadership is an important factor in the expectancy theory of motivation and in its underlying formula and subjective expected utility. Leaders clarify the link between employee behavior and outcomes, influence the value of those outcomes, provide employees with a working environment that facilitates the achievement of goals, etc.

Within the path-goal leadership theory, four leadership styles are mentioned, namely:

1. Directive: this leadership style is task-oriented.

2. Supportive: this leadership style offers employees psychological support: the leader is respectful and involved with the employees. This falls under people-oriented leadership.

3. Participative: encouraging employee involvement in making decisions.

4. Achievement-oriented: leaders try to maximize the capacity of the employees in all kinds of ways and to maximize their performance.

The path-goal leadership theory states that an effective leader is capable of determining which style(s) is / are most suitable in a particular situation. Conditions relating to employees are:

• Skill and experience: for inexperienced employees a combination of supportive and guiding leadership works. The latter is just not appropriate when employees have a lot of knowledge and skills.

• Locus of control: the supportive and performance-oriented leadership styles work for people with an internal locus of control. For those with an external locus of control, supportive and guiding leadership styles are more suitable.

Conditions with regard to environment and circumstances:

• Task structure: with ambiguous tasks, guiding and participatory leadership styles are suitable, for clear and routined tasks the supportive style is more appropriate.

• Team dynamics: with low cohesion, there is little support from colleagues, so more need for a supportive leadership style. A guiding style is suitable when team norms arise that oppose certain work objectives.

• This theory is the most scientifically supported of all leadership theories, but there are some caveats: the theory could become too complex, so that it is not or hardly applicable in practice. In addition, there are parts of the theory that have not been scientifically tested.

What other managerial leadership theories are there?

One of the most popular managerial leadership theories is the situational leadership theory (SLT). This theory states that effective leaders adapt their style to the motivation and skills of the employees. The model distinguishes between four leadership styles: tell, sell, participate and delegate. These styles differ in degree of supportive and guiding behavior. This theory is very attractive because of its simplicity, but it is not a complete representation of reality and moreover it is not strongly empirically supported.

Fiedler's contingency model assumes that the effectiveness of a leader depends on the level of situational control. This is the degree of power and influence that the leader possesses in a particular situation. It depends on:

1. The leader-member relations: that is, the level of respect that employees have for the leader and the trust they have in him or her.

2. The task structure: the extent to which tasks / procedures are clear for employees.

3. Position power: the extent to which the leader has legitimate, rewarding and compelling power.

These three factors form the eight possible combinations of situation favorableness from the leader's viewpoint. This theory is not strongly scientifically supported.

According to the theory of leadership substitutes, there are certain circumstances that can ensure that the ability of a leader to influence his "subjects" is reduced or that certain leadership is no longer necessary. The idea is that effective leaders teach their team members to lead themselves and each other through leadership substitutes.

What does the implicit leadership perspective suggest?

The transformational and managerial leadership perspectives are based on the idea that leaders can make an important difference within organizations. There is also evidence for the idea that the actual influence of leadership is sometimes overestimated. The implicit leadership theory states that people evaluate the effectiveness of their leader in terms of how well that person fits previously held beliefs about the characteristics and behaviors of effective leaders (leadership prototypes). This theory has two components:

What is meant by prototypes of effective leaders?

People have certain ideas about which behavior and which characteristics make a leader effective (leadership prototypes). These prototypes are our expectations of a leader and the acceptance of someone as a leader. This in turn has an effect on the leader's ability to influence followers. People find a leader more effective when he / she looks like and acts as their prototype leader.

What is the romance of leadership?

People are inclined to believe that leaders can bring about changes. There are two reasons why people inflate their perceptions about leaders. The first is that it is easy to attribute successes and failures to leaders. The second is that, especially in Western cultures, people tend to attribute events to human leaders rather than uncontrollable natural forces. This phenomenon is also associated with the fundamental attribution error. The fundamental attribution error states that leaders are held accountable for certain successes or failures because the external factors, which also affect them, are not taken into account.

What is the personal attributes perspective of leadership?

Certain qualities (competences) are linked to effective leadership. There are certain general categories in which competencies of leadership can be subdivided:

• Personality: the strongest predictors of the Big Five personality dimensions are high levels of extraversion and high levels of conscientiousness.

• Self-concept: successful leaders have a complex, internally consistent and clear self-concept.

• Motivation: effective leaders are motivated to direct others.

• Drive: successful leaders have a relatively strong need for performance.

• Integrity: Leaders have a great moral ability to assess dilemmas with appropriate values ​​and then act accordingly.

• Knowledge of the business: effective leaders have implicit and explicit knowledge of the business environment in which they work.

• Cognitive and practical intelligence: leaders have an above-average cognitive ability to process enormous amounts of information.

• Emotional intelligence: effective leaders have a high level of emotional intelligence.

What does authentic leadership describe?

Authentic leadership describes the vision that effective leaders must be aware of their values, personality and self-concept, feel comfortable with it and act according to these values, their personality and self-concept. Authentic leadership is therefore more than just self-awareness: you have to act consistently with your self-concept and you should not pretend to be someone else. In order to be and remain themselves, effective leaders regulate their decisions and behavior in various ways. First of all, they develop their own style and, if possible, take positions in which that style will be most effective. In addition, effective leaders continuously think about their stable hierarchy of personal values ​​and apply them consistently to these decisions and behaviors. Finally, they continue to evaluate themselves continuously.

A disadvantage of the authentic leadership perspective is that it does not immediately come to the fore that not all leaders have the same characteristics and that not all characteristics are equally important in every situation.

What are the cross-cultural and gender issues in leadership?

Culture refers in this context to the norms and values ​​of leaders, but also forms the expectations that followers have. Someone who does not act in accordance with cultural expectations is seen as an inefficient leader. It therefore comes down to the fact that there are similarities and differences between cultures in the ideas about leadership and about the leadership styles that are most appreciated in practice.

Research has shown that women and men differ in the degree to which they have a task-oriented or people-oriented leadership style. More often than men, women adopt a servant leadership style and seem to score better on certain specific qualities, such as coaching, teamwork and the recruitment of staff. Women do not score as well as men when they try to apply all leadership styles, especially the managerial and autocratic approaches. Leadership is sometimes more difficult for women because they often have to fight against stereotypes.

How can organizational structures be designed? - Chapter 13 (8)

Many companies are currently reviewing their organizational structure. This concerns the way in which work is divided within an organization and the patterns from which the activities of the organization are directed (patterns of coordination, communication, workflow, and formal power). There are two essential points to the structure of a company:

1. The division of labor: work is divided into various tasks that are attributed to different people

2. Coordination of work activites so that employees can achieve common goals. Once work has to be subdivided among people, coordination mechanisms are needed to ensure that everyone works together. The following mechanisms exist:

   1. Coordination through informal communication: this approach can be found in all organizations, it is important in ambiguous situations, flexible and can mainly be applied within small companies. More and more integrator roles are being created within large organizations. These roles are fulfilled by people who encourage employees from different departments to (informal) communication.

   2. Coordination through a formal hierarchy: this approach is less time-consuming than informal communication. Through a hierarchy, legitimate power is attributed to people. This power is then used to control work processes and for the allocation of resources. This is often a suitable structure for large organizations. However, without building on other structures, it can still be inefficient or too strict.

   3. Coordination through standardization: creating standard patterns for behavior and output. It can be distinguished between three forms: the standardization of processes, the standardization of output and the standardization of skills.

What are the elements of organizational structures?

There are four basic elements of organizational structures, which are related to the distribution and coordination of work: the span of control, centralization and decentralization, formalization, and mechanistic versus organic structures.

The span of control

The span of control (also called span of management) refers to the number of people directly reporting to the next level in the hierarchy of the organization. How many people can have managerial supervision depends on the complexity of the work tasks: the more complex the work, the fewer people a manager can supervise. It also depends on the use of other coordination mechanisms: someone can lead more people if other mechanisms are applied. Finally, more time is needed for supervision when people are more interdependent.

The span of control is linked to the size of an organization (number of employees) and the number of layers in the organizational hierarchy.

A tall company structure describes a company structure that consists of many hierarchical layers. A flat structure describes a company structure that consists of only a few layers. Nowadays, in order to save costs and prevent an excess amount of layers, we are increasingly going back to a flat structure. It is not necessary to cut too many layers from a hierarchy. This can result in the fact that leading positions are being undermined, making quick decisions more difficult to be taken. Low reduction can also lead to more work pressure and stress, because managers have many employees that they supervise. As a result, the managerial quality can ultimately deteriorate.

Centralization and decentralization

In the case of centralization, important decisions and business operations are managed by a small, selected group. With decentralization the responsibility within a company is more widespread. The conditions that determine which of the two options works best are discussed later. Between different parts of an organization there may also be a difference in the degree of centralization / decentralization.

Formalization

Formalization is the extent to which behavior is standardized through rules, procedures, formal training and related mechanisms. This clearly uses standardization as a coordination mechanism.

Mechanistic versus organic structures

The span of control, the degree of centralization/decentralization and formalization together determine whether an organizational structure is mechanistic or organic. With mechanistic structures, there is a small span of control and a high degree of centralization and formalization. These structures have many rules and procedures, high hierarchies, vertical communication flows and little room for making decisions in lower levels. The characteristics of organic structures are the opposite: little formalization, a broad span of control and decentralization in decision making. In general it can be said that mechanical company structures work better in a stable environment (because they are based on efficiency and standard behavior) and that organic company structures are more efficient in unstable environments (because they are innovative and more flexible).

What are the forms of departmentalization?

Besides span of control, centralization and formalization, organizational charts are the fourth element of company structures. The classification of the company in that way is also called departmentalization: this specifies how employees and their activities are grouped. It also forms an important part of the coordination of activity within companies, because it influences behavior within the company in various ways:

• Departmentalization establishes the chain of command: it creates the system of supervision within an organization. This determines the interdependence between people and groups at work.

• Departmentalization ensures that people establish common mental models / ways of thinking. Departmentalization stimulates coordination through informal communication.

There are almost as many organizational forms as there are companies, but the most common pure forms of departmentalization are mentioned below.

Simple structure

Most companies start with a simple structure: usually consisting of a few people who provide only one product or a specific service. There is minimal hierarchy and roles are not very specialized.

Functional structure

In a functional structure, employees are classified around certain sources or in groups of people with comparable knowledge and expertise. Often there is also a centralized organization and standardization of the work processes. This is a common form of coordination in such a structure. A functional structure promotes specialization and identification of employees with their work and facilitates direct supervision. The disadvantage of a functional structure is that the employees focus more on their own task and expertise than on the goals of the company. This results in more conflicts and dysfunctional coordination in functionally structured companies.

Divisional structure

In a divisional structure (sometimes also referred to as multi-division structure or M-form structure), the responsibility of employees is divided over, for example, geographical areas (geographical structure), end products such as services and products (product structure) or the type of customer (client structure). Which division structure suits best depends on how the product is delivered or the product delivered varies. If variation in the product is required per region, a geographical structure is most suitable. An advantage of this structure is that it can properly handle growth. A limitation is that it is often costly, because sources are needed twice or can not be used efficiently (for example because there are several branches). Another limitation is that spreading people with comparable knowledge and expertise is not always conducive to the exchange and development of knowledge and expertise. Moreover, it is sometimes difficult to determine in which of the various division structures an organization has to be subdivided.

Team-based structure

A team-based organizational structure is a form of departmentalization with a broad hierarchy and fairly little formalization. The structure consists of self-directed teams that are responsible for different work processes. This type of structure is mostly organic. There is a broad span of control because teams operate with minimal supervision. The main task of managers is that they have to set goals. This structure is becoming increasingly popular because it is more flexible and responsive than the more traditional functional and divisional structures. The costs resulting from an extensive hierarchy do not apply in this structure and the high degree of autonomy promotes the speed with which decisions can be made. Disadvantages of this structure, however, are the costs (because interpersonal skills must be constantly maintained through training).

Matrix structure

The matrix structure consists of two organizational structures that overlap in order to benefit from both. In this way, sources and expertise are optimally used. This is especially useful for organizations whose workload varies from project to project. The disadvantage of this structure is that goal conflict and ambiguity can arise when people have two leaders. This can also cause uncertainty in the sense that it is not known who is responsible for what.

Network structure

In a network structure, different organizations form a link to make a certain product or to provide a particular service. Usually several satellite organizations form around a certain core company. This company coordinates the network processes and usually has a few other competences (for example, marketing or the development of a product). This core company generally has contact with the customers, but the delivery of services, products and support goes via the satellite companies. It is often more efficient for a company to focus specifically on a few tasks that they are good at and to lend other tasks / processes to other companies. Certainly in these times with rapidly changing technology, it is often too much for a company to be able to handle everything itself. Network organizations seem to be the structure of the future. Thanks to the computer, much more is possible in this area: it is easy to communicate on a global scale. Network structures thus seem to be an efficient solution to optimally use the technology. Despite the advantages, network structures also have a number of disadvantages. For example, a strong competition can arise for those who are held responsible for a particular product. Communication, even though it is virtual, is becoming more and more opaque because the organization becomes very large.

What are the contingencies of organizational design?

For most theories about behavior in organizations, the ideas often have more advantages in one situation than in another. The following four factors influence this:

The external environment

The best structure for an organization depends on the external environment. This basically includes everything that plays outside the organization which has an influence. There are four characteristics from the external environment that determine the best way of organizing for a given situation:

• Dynamic versus stable environments: dynamic environments often change, there are many new situations and few recognizable patterns. Organic structures are most suitable for this. Mechanistic structures, on the other hand, benefit from stable environments.

• Complex versus simple environments: the more complex the environment is, the more suitable is a decentralized structure.

• Diverse versus integrated environments: organizations in various environments have a wider variety of products, services, customers. Integrated environments have only one type of customer, product or service. The more diverse an environment is, the better a company can choose a divisional structure that is adapted to this diversity (for example, a geographical division structure when a company sells one specific product worldwide).

• Hostile versus munificent environments: in a hostile environment there is more scarcity of sources and more competition between companies on the market. Organic structures are the most suitable in this case, because of the unpredictability in the availability of sources and the demand for output. When the environment is extremely hostile, there is often a need for control and a tendency to (temporarily) centralize decisions. This does not necessarily mean that better decisions are made as a result.

Organizational size

A large organization requires a different structure than a small one. Large organizations make greater use of standardization and formalization compared to small organizations, and make less use of informal communication such as coordination mechanisms. The use of informal communication within large organizations is increasing at the moment. Large organizations are often more decentralized than small organizations, due to the multitude of information and decisions that have to be made.

Technology

Technology refers to the mechanisms and processes by which products or services are delivered or produced. A technical factor that must be taken into account is variability, that is the extent to which exceptions to a standard production process occur. In low-variability processes, tasks are routed and standardized. Another technical factor is task-analyzability: the predictability or complexity of the task to be performed. The lower the analyzability of the task, the more expertise is requested from the employee.

Organizational strategy

The organizational strategy describes the way in which an organization places itself with its sources, capacities and goals in relation to stakeholders who expect something from the organization. An organizational strategy includes the decisions and actions that are taken to achieve the goals of the organization. Although the size of an organization, the technology that the company applies and the environment affect what the best organizational structure would be for a company, this does not necessarily mean that they always determine the actual structure. Managers form strategies and apply them. These strategies also determine the influence these factors ultimately have and what structure is applied (structure follows strategy).The organizational strategy influences both the conditions of the structure of an organization and the structure itself.

What is meant by organizational culture? - Chapter 14 (8)

The organizational culture (also called company culture) concerns the common values ​​and assumptions that determine how an organization thinks about problems and opportunities and how it acts accordingly.

Of what elements does organizational culture consist?

An organizational culture consists of shared values ​​and assumptions. Values ​​are stable, evaluative ideas that influence our actions and choices in different situations. It is our conscious perception of right and wrong. Values ​​form part of the organizational culture. An organizational culture also consists of shared assumptions: a deeper element that some experts think is the essence of a corporate culture. Shared assumptions are unconscious, self-evident perceptions or ideal prototypes of behavior that are considered to be the right way of thinking and acting when it comes to problems and possibilities.

Shared values ​​are the values ​​that the employees within the organization have in common. A distinction can be made between espoused values and enacted values:

• Espoused values describe values ​​that companies present as their important values.

• Enacted values describe values ​​to which companies actually act.

Organizations differ in their cultural content, that is, the relative order of shared values. Various models and measuring instruments classify organizational cultures in a handful of easy-to-remember categories. However, these models and measuring instruments simplify the diversity of cultural values ​​within organizations. In addition, organizations not only have shared values, but also shared assumptions. This is ignored by most measuring instruments. Another disadvantage is that many organizational culture models and measuring instruments incorrectly assume that organizations have a reasonably clear, unified culture that is easy to decipher (integration perspective).

What are organizational subcultures?

A dominant culture is the culture in which there are the most similarities between the members of the organization. Furthermore, various subcultures exist within the various departments, in the various geographical areas and professional groups of an organization. It may be that a subgroup has a subculture whose values ​​are in conflict with the general values ​​of the company. Those are called countercultures. Two important functions of subcultures are:

1. Maintaining the performance standards within a company and ensuring ethical behavior.

2. In addition, subcultures can be a breeding ground for new values: it offers an opportunity for companies to adjust their values ​​to values ​​that better suit a changing environment.

How can organizational culture be deciphered through artifacts?

Artifacts are the visible symbols and signs of a corporate culture, for example the way customers are treated, the way e-mails are formulated and the way employees are rewarded. Artifacts are important because they reinforce and support changes in an organizational culture because they provide clear evidence for the prevailing culture in an organization.

What are organizational stories and legends?

Stories that are spread within an organization (e.g. about heroic actions) serve as a clear indication of how things should or should not be tackled. Stories are often well remembered and have the greatest effect when they are about real people, seem to tell the truth and when they are commonly known within the organization.

What is meant by organizational language?

The language in the workplace says a lot about the organizational culture. The way employees speak to each other, describe customers, express anger and greet shareholders are all verbal symbols of cultural values.

What are rituals and ceremonies?

Rituals are the programmed routines from daily life within an organization that dramatize the culture of the organization. Ceremonies are planned activities that are specifically intended for the public.

What are physical structures and symbols?

Symbols of the values ​​of a company include the use of language, the way in which employees address each other, how they describe customers, the way they express frustration or how they greet members of organizations involved with the company. Further, the format, the location, the shape and the age of the buildings play a role: all these characteristics can symbolize values ​​of an organization.

Is organizational culture important?

Organizations often pay a lot attention to company culture, because of the belief that a strong corporate culture is beneficial for the company. The strength of an organizational culture stands for how broad and deep the employees of a company maintain / follow the standards and ideas of a company. A strong corporate culture is not a guarantee of success, but can probably contribute to it through the following ways:

• As a control system: organizational culture is an automatic process that contributes to employees behaving in accordance with the values ​​of the company

• As social glue: organizational culture binds people from the organization together, makes them feel part of a whole and fulfills a need for social identity formation

• Sense making: organizational culture helps employees understand what is happening within a company and what is expected of them / how they should deal with others within the company.

What are contingencies of organizational culture and what is it effectiveness?

A strong culture can be beneficial for an organization within certain situations. Three important conditions for this are:

• The cultural content (the dominant values ​​and assumptions) is aligned to the external environment. If dominant values ​​match the environment, it is more likely that employees display behavior that improves an organization's interaction with that environment. Instead, if the dominant values ​​do not match the environment, this can undermine the connection between the organization and its shareholders.

• The degree of cultural strength: different experts suggest that companies with very strong cultures (corporate "cults") may be less effective than companies with a moderately strong culture. Corporate cults create mental models that people can get stuck in, so they are not able to see new opportunities and unique problems. The result of these very strong cultures is that people overlook subtle differences between the activities of an organization and the changing environment. Strong cultures also suppress subcultures that differ from the organization.

• The culture is an adaptive culture: this describes an organizational culture in which employees are receptive to change, including the continuous open attitude of the organization to its environment and continuous improvement of internal processes. Organizations with an adaptive culture are more likely to succeed. For organizations with an adaptive culture the focus is outward and employees take responsibility for the performance of the company.

Strong organizational cultures thus appear to be more efficient in environments where the values ​​match those of the organization. In addition, no organizational culture should be so strong that employees no longer have an eye for alternative possibilities or that different-minded subcultures do not get any space at all. Finally, organizations are more likely to succeed if they have a corporate culture that adapts easily.

What is the link between organizational culture and business ethics?

The organizational culture also influences the attitude of an organization in terms of ethics. An organization can lead the behavior of employees by inserting ethical values ​​into the dominant culture. An organizational culture can also be a source of ethical problems if an organization exercises too much control over the employees. The individualism of the employees will subsequently be at risk.

How can organizational cultures be merged?

Various studies show the following: when a merger between several organizations fails, the focus in merging often lies too much on financial and logical processes and too little on the company cultures.

When taking over a company, account must be taken of differences in company cultures. Cultural clashes can be minimized when a bi-cultural audit is carried out. That is a diagnosis of the cultural relations between the companies and it determines the chance that the cultures will collide.

What kind of strategies for merging companies with different cultures are there?

Even if two cultures are very different, they can still form a workable unity by applying a certain fusion strategy. The four most important strategies are:

• Assimilation: this happens when employees of the company that are taken over are willing to take over the culture of the other company

• Deculturation: assimilation is rare. At deculturation, artifacts and reward systems are removed within the company. This is how the foundations on which the company culture is based are becoming blurred. After this, one can implement the cultural artefacts of the acquiring company. Often there is a lot of resistance to this strategy at the company that has to adjust.

• Integration: integrating both cultures and preserving the best characteristics from both cultures creates a new culture. This process is slow and entails the risk of conflicts when both parties try hard to maintain their own culture.

• Separation: this strategy is applied when both companies agree to remain two separate units. This agreement is often made when the two companies produce different products or are located in different countries or regions. In practice, however, managers often find it difficult to not impose their own standards on the others.

How can organizational culture be changed and strengthened?

It is difficult to change an organizational culture. Below are a number of strategies that can help.

Actions of founders and leaders

Leaders can exert influence and set a new tone. They can make clear what is important and what is not, they can let certain memorable events symbolize the new culture and they can model the new culture through subtle actions and decisions.

Align artifacts with the desired culture

By changing artifacts, managers could adjust an organizational culture. Corporate cultures are also strengthened by certain artifacts (special behaviors or stories).

Introduce culturally consistent rewards and recognition

Remuneration systems can contribute to the strengthening of a culture when they are in line with the values ​​of the culture.

Support workforce stability and communication

A strong culture depends on a strong workforce. The stability of the workforce is also important, because it takes time for employees to get a complete insight into the organizational culture and how to process it in their daily work routine. In addition to a stable workforce, a strong organization depends on a workplace where employees regularly communicate with each other. This communication offers employees the opportunity to develop a shared language, stories and other artefacts.

Use attraction, selection and socialization for cultural "fit"

The attraction-selection-attrition (ASA) theory states that organizations have a natural tendency to attract, select and keep people whose values ​​and personality traits are consistent with the character of the organization, thereby creating a more homogeneous organization and stronger culture.

What is meant by organizational socialization?

In addition to attracting, selecting and retaining people with appropriate values, companies use the process of organizational socialization to maintain a strong culture. Through this process, individuals learn the values ​​/ social knowledge required for their role within the company. If these values ​​are clearly communicated, it is more likely that new employees will actually become better acquainted with them.

Research shows that employees are more satisfied with their work and perform better when they are effectively socialized in the organization. This is a process of both learning and adjusting. They learn about the performance expectations, power dynamics, corporate culture, company history and jargon of the organization and they develop new work roles that reconfigure their social identity, adopt new team norms and perform new behaviors.

The psychological contract refers to one's beliefs about the terms of a reciprocal exchange agreement between him / her and another party. Some psychological contracts are more transactional, while others are more relational. Transactional contracts are mainly short-term economic exchanges, where it is clear what the responsibilities and obligations are. Relational contracts are more like a kind of marriage: they are dynamic long-term commitments that cover a wide range of subjective mutual obligations.

What are the stages of organizational socialization?

Organizational socialization is a continuous process that takes place as long as someone remains part of an organization, but the process is most intense when people move across the boundaries of organizations, for example when they first join a company or get transferred to an international assignment. There are three phases that an employee goes through:

1. Phase 1: Pre-employment socialization (outsider). The socialization that takes place before someone has actually started. The employee learns more about the work / organization and the formation of expectations about the work and its side effects.

2. Phase 2: Encounter (newcomer). The employee tests expectations against reality. Many companies fail, which creates a reality shock. This is the stress that employees experience when they perceive discrepancies between their pre-employment expectations and the reality at work.

3. Phase 3: Role management (insider). In this phase, working relationships are strengthened, the person behaves according to his role (attitudes and values ​​that correspond to the role) and discrepancies between own values ​​and those of the organization are resolved.

If the socialization process is successful, the employee will have a higher motivation, have more loyalty to colleagues, be more satisfied, will experience less stress and show less opposition to the organization.

In what way could the socialization process be improved?

One way to improve the socialization process is to give a realistic job preview (RJP). A balance is drawn between all the pros and cons of the job to give a realistic picture of the work the employee will be doing. This is often done on the basis of a video. RJP entails that job applicants will often refuse a job, but it reduces dropout and increases work performance. Socialization agents are other employees (usually experienced colleagues) who are assigned to speed up and relax the socialization process.

Which elements does organizational change consist of? - Chapter 15 (8)

What does the Lewin's Force Field Analysis Model suggest?

Force field analysis is Lewin's model of system-wide change. It helps analyze the factors that contribute to desired change within an organization and those that prevent change. The model consists of restraining forces (factors that stagnate change) and driving forces (factors that benefit change). Stability within a company arises when driving and restraining forces are in balance. Lewin's model describes that effective changes within companies are caused by the unfreezing of the current situation of a company, to subsequently work towards a wanted situation and again freeze it at that point. Unfreezing is caused by making the driving forces stronger than the restraining forces.

How can the resistance to change be understood?

Resistance to change within companies is mainly caused by employees' resistance. In some cases, employees are worried about the consequences of change. In a number of cases they are worried about the process of change. For example about the effort it takes to learn and replace old habits. Below are the main reasons people can have to resist change:

• Negative valence of change: resistance to change is higher if employees think that: (1) the change will have more negative than positive effects, and (b) that the negative consequences are likely to take place and that the positive consequences are unlikely to take place.

• Fear of the unknown: all types of change involve a particular degree of uncertainty. If employees can not assess the chance of good or bad consequences, they often expect the worst.

• The not-invented here syndrome: this form of resistance to change mainly occurs when the change has been developed by others.

• Breaking routines: in general, people resist to initiatives that force them to go beyond their comfort zones and to invest time and energy in learning new patterns.

• Incongruent team dynamics: compliance with existing team norms can discourage employees from accepting organizational change.

• Incongruent organizational systems: if organizational systems do not match, they lose strength.

What is meant by the terms unfreezing, changing an refreezing?

Unfreezing occurs when the driving forces are stronger than the restraining forces. This can be achieved by strengthening the driving forces, weakening or removing the restraining forces, or by doing both. Often it is not enough to only strengthen the driving forces. It is often preferred to combine both. Employees do not always understand the importance of change. The process of change within an organization must therefore begin with convincing the employees of that interest. This can be done by informing them about existing competition, changes in consumer wishes, imposed rules by the government and other driving forces.

One way to convince employees of the importance of change is by bringing them into direct contact with the customer. This is called customer-driven change.

Managers often have to apply a change before problems arise. If the company does well, it requires a lot of persuasiveness. Creating an urgency for change when the organization does better requires a lot of persuasion that helps employees to visualize future competitive threats and environmental changes. By creating a future vision of a better organization, leaders make the current situation less attractive in an effective way.

How can the restraining forces be reduced?

In order to be able to make an effective change, it is necessary to do more than just making the employees aware of the driving forces. The restraining forces must also be weakened or removed. There are six main approaches by which employee resistance to change can be reduced, namely through:

• Communication: frequent and honest communication is very important. Communication about driving forces can strengthen the will to change.

• Learning: people in a new environment need new knowledge and skills to meet the new requirements. It can be time consuming to teach people new behavioral patterns, but it helps employees to break routines.

• Involvement of employees: it is better for employees to feel that they are personally responsible for the success of the attempt to change. Otherwise, they only feel that they are the executor of someone else's decision. The complexity of current work environments also demands multiple ideas: for this it may make sense to let the employees contribute ideas.

• Stress management: changes within an organization can be a considerable stress factor for employees: self-confidence can be compromised and it brings uncertainties about the future. In addition to the first three factors mentioned, which can contribute to the reduction of stress, stress management is also necessary to make changes less stressful for the employees. What stress management mainly does is removing certain direct 'costs' and taking the fear off the change process.

• Negotiation: through negotiation it is possible to compensate for the disadvantages of the changes: the exchange of certain sources / benefits for employees' compliance with the changes.

• Coercion: if all of the above fails, executives could resort to coercion. This can consist of repeatedly mentioning that people must comply with their mandatory duties, provide feedback on the behavior of people, confront employees who do not change, or even use threats / sanctions.

What is the link between refreezing and desired conditions?

Once behavioral patterns have changed, that does not mean that this is permanent. This is because, for example, people quickly fall back into their old patterns. In order to maintain the changes, systems within the organization and the dynamics of teams must be brought into line with the changes that have been made.

What elements does the Lewin’s Force Field Analysis Model overlook?

Lewin's force field analysis model is a suitable template to explain the dynamics of organizational change. However, it overlooks four other ingredients of effective change processes, namely:

1. Leadership: an important element of steering change is a transformational leadership. The vision of a leader provides a sense of direction and forms the critical success factors against which real changes are evaluated. In addition, it provides an emotional foundation for change, since the values ​​and self-concept of an individual connects to the desired change. Finally, it minimizes the employee's fear of the unknown.

2. Coalitions: change agents can not manage the change on their own, but need help from different people with a similar level of dedication to change. This group is also known as the guiding coalition.

3. Social networks and viral change: in addition to formal changes by the leading coalition, informal change also takes place via social networks. These are social structures of individuals or social units that are connected through one or more forms of interdependence. The problem is that social networks can not be easily controlled. Nevertheless, some change agents have created a large amount of support for a change initiative from these social networks. This viral change process adopts principles of word-of-mouth advertising and viral marketing.

4. Pilot projects and diffusion of change: many companies introduce change through a pilot project. This cautious approach tests both the effectiveness of the change and the strategies that can be applied to obtain employee cooperation. Various strategies for spreading pilot projects throughout the organization are: (1) motivation - employees are more likely to adopt the practices of a pilot project if they are motivated to do so; (2) ability - employees must have the necessary skills and knowledge to adopt the new practices; (3) clear role perceptions - employees need to know to what extent the practices of a pilot project apply to them; (4) supporting situational factors - workers must be given sufficient time and resources to learn and implement the pilot practices.

What are the four approaches to organizational change?

To what does the action research approach refer?

The action research approach refers to the idea that meaningful change is accompanied by a combination of action orientation (changes of attitudes and behavior) and research orientation (theory testing). A change process must be action-oriented: bringing about a change is the ultimate goal. On the other hand, the change process is a (theoretical) investigation, because there is the application of a conceptual framework to a real situation.

This approach is a process based on data. It is also problem-oriented, recognizes and identifies the need to change, introduces the intervention and evaluates and stabilizes the desired changes. The fact that this approach is problem-oriented is a disadvantage (something has to be solved because something does not work).
The most important phases of action research are:

• Forming a client-consultant relationship.

• Diagnosing the need for change: collecting and analyzing data.

• Introduce the intervention: implement the desired incremental or quantum change.

• Evaluate and stabilize change: determine the effectiveness of the change and refreeze new conditions.

To what does the appreciative inquiry approach refer?

The appreciative inquiry approach is a more positive approach to organizational change. This approach tries to break the idea that there is a problem that needs to be solved. It reforms relationships on the basis of positive possibilities. This approach is based on the philosophy of position organizational behavior which aims at building positive qualities of individuals and organizations without focusing on the negative. This approach can eliminate negative tension among groups and offer a more hopeful perspective of the future.

Appreciative inquiry has five core principles:

1. Positive principle: as described above.

2. Constructionist principle: constructs do not describe reality, but they form it.

3. Simultaneity principle: research and change are simultaneous and non-sequential.

4. Poetic principle: organizations are open books. So we can choose on how we can perceive, frame and describe them.

5. Anticipatory principle: a positive shared vision of the future is of great importance.

In the four D model of appreciative inquiry, a distinction is made between four stages:

1. Discovery: identify the strengths of a situation.

2. Dreaming: try to imagine what would be possible in an ideal situation.

3. Designing: sharing personal ideas and reflecting on the situation as a group: creating a common picture of how the situation should be.

4. Delivering: develop goals for the organization and give direction to the organization.

To what does the large group intervention approach refer?

Large group interventions are very participatory events that organizations see as open systems. Within these events, they adopt a new future and focus on positive change. It is often difficult to have large groups of people within an organization, that have shared interests and change all at once. To make this easier, there are conferences. This means that all stakeholders are brought into one room to consult. In this way, all interests are represented simultaneously. However, there are also disadvantages to this approach: The first is that the groups are often very large so that only a few people get the possibility to speak. Secondly, it is assumed that everyone wants to change in the same direction, although this is often not the case. Thirdly, these large-scale meetings generate high expectations that can not always be realized. As a result, employees can develop more resistance and become cynical.

To what does the parallel learning structure approach refer?

Parallel learning structures are social structures that are formed along the formal hierarchy of an organization. People from all layers of an organization are invited to participate who follow the action research model in an intensive way to create change. During this learning process they can apply what they have learned and experienced at work and study the current situation and think about changes. Subsequently, they can possibly apply and eventually evaluate those changes. As employees are involved in that way, the enthusiasm is increased which spreads among other employees.

What are cross-cultural and ethical issues in organizational change?

Theories and intervention programs that derive from Western cultures can not simply be applied to other cultures. For example, in Western cultures it is often normal to make a change in one go, but in other cultures this transition rather takes place gradually and harmoniously. There are several ethical issues regarding change. Firstly, it is sometimes difficult to get a good picture of necessary changes, without analyzing personal data of employees. Second, some changes can increase power among executives by creating obedience and compliance among employees. Further, some changes undermine the self-confidence of employees.