Assignment (15 Marks as part of internal assessment)
Write an essay on your favourite leader in around 2000 words and submit the same by e-mail latest by 3 February 2008. E-mail: srirang_jha@rediffmail.com
This assignment is meant for individual assessment. Each student will write an essay in his or her own words.
You may choose the leader from any area: business, politics, films, tarde unions, sports etc.
You may choose the leader across cultures: Indian, European, American, African
You may choose the leader from any period: Present or past
If you are quoting from a book, article, website please provide appropriate references.
Essays will be assessed on the following criteria:
Language/presentation
Content: understanding of the traits, strength and weaknesses of the chosen leaders, their styles, their contribution, their relevance in contemporary times etc.
Research: students must provide ample evidence of having studied available literature on the leader they have chosen for this assignment.
No essays will be accepted after 3 Feb 2008. Students missing the deadline will be awarded zero in internal assessment.
Thursday, January 10, 2008
OB Handout # 9
What is stress?
Stress is a psychological and physiological response to events that upset our personal balance in some way. When faced with a threat, whether to our physical safety or emotional equilibrium, the body's defenses kick into high gear in a rapid, automatic process known as the “fight-or-flight” response. We all know what this stress response feels like: heart pounding in the chest, muscles tensing up, breath coming faster, every sense on red alert.
The biological stress response is meant to protect and support us. It’s what helped our stone age ancestors survive the life-or-death situations they commonly faced. But in the modern world, most of the stress we feel is in response to psychological rather than physical threats. Caring for a chronically-ill child or getting audited by the IRS qualify as stressful situations, but neither calls for either fight or flight. Unfortunately, our bodies don't make this distinction. Whether we’re stressed over a looming deadline, an argument with a friend, or a mountain of bills, the warning bells ring. And just like a caveman confronting a sabertooth tiger, we go into automatic overdrive.
If you have a lot of responsibilities and worries, you may be running on stress a good portion of the time—launching into emergency mode with every traffic jam, phone call from the in-laws, or segment of the evening news. But the problem with the stress response is that the more it’s activated, the harder it is to shut off. Instead of leveling off once the crisis has passed, your stress hormones, heart rate, and blood pressure remain elevated.
Furthermore, extended or repeated activation of the stress response takes a heavy toll on the body. Prolonged exposure to stress increases your risk of everything from heart disease, obesity, and infection to anxiety, depression, and memory problems. Because of the widespread damage it can cause, it’s essential to learn how to deal with stress in a more positive way and reduce its impact on your daily life.
Signs and symptoms of stress
Cognitive symptoms:
Memory problems
Indecisiveness
Inability to concentrate
Trouble thinking clearly
Poor judgment
Seeing only the negative
Anxious or racing thoughts
Constant worrying
Loss of objectivity
Fearful anticipation
Physical Symptoms:
Headaches or backaches
Muscle tension and stiffness
Diarrhea or constipation
Nausea, dizziness
Insomnia
Chest pain, rapid heartbeat
Weight gain or loss
Skin breakouts (hives, eczema)
Loss of sex drive
Frequent colds
Emotional symptoms:
Moodiness
Agitation
Restlessness
Short temper
Irritability, impatience
Inability to relax
Feeling tense and “on edge”
Feeling overwhelmed
Sense of loneliness and isolation
Depression
Behavioural symptoms:
Eating more or less
Sleeping too much or too little
Isolating yourself from others
Procrastination, neglecting responsibilities
Using alcohol, cigarettes, or drugs to relax
Nervous habits (e.g. nail biting, pacing)
Teeth grinding or jaw clenching
Overdoing activities (e.g. exercising, shopping)
Overreacting
Causes of stress:
Environmental stressors – Your physical surroundings can set off the stress response. Examples of environmental stressors include an unsafe neighborhood, pollution, noise (sirens keeping you up at night, a barking dog next door), and uncomfortable living conditions. For people living in crime-ridden areas or war-torn regions, the stress may be unrelenting.
Family and relationship stressors – Problems with friends, romantic partners, and family members are common daily stressors. Marital disagreements, dysfunctional relationships, rebellious teens, or caring for a chronically-ill family member or a child with special needs can all send stress levels skyrocketing.
Work stressors – In our career-driven society, work can be an ever-present source of stress. Work stress is caused by things such as job dissatisfaction, an exhausting workload, insufficient pay, office politics, and conflicts with your boss or co-workers.
Social stressors – Your social situation can cause stress. For example, poverty, financial pressures, racial and sexual discrimination or harassment, unemployment, isolation, and a lack of social support all take a toll on daily quality of life.
Managing stress at the workplace
Managing Stress in the WorkplaceTo combat stress, unhealthy ‘quick fixes’ like alcohol, or cigarettes, or sweet, fatty foods must be avoided. We feel we don’t have the time to relax with friends, take a walk or step back and see the problems from another point of view. Some try to lead a healthy lifestyle, however, with stress this can be hard to keep up. For example if you have had a hard and long day at work it can be difficult to motivate yourself to exercise or to cook a healthy meal. A cycle starts with less exercise and ready-prepared meals because of lethargy, or feeling pressed for time. It is important to break this cycle and find ways of managing stress levels. Identify the sources of stress, then if possible have a break away from the source, for example if you are having trouble managing your workload, arrange to go on a time management course. The situation causing our stress may not be in an individual’s control to change but steps to try and manage it effectively really helps. Simply acknowledging to yourself and someone else you aren’t coping is half the battle. Positive steps to manage your working day will feel like a breath of fresh air. If an employee or partner comes to you asking for help be sure to take them seriously and take immediate steps to take action. Source support through information channels – for example, talking to a colleague or friend about workplace stress, and make stress alleviation readily available for staff. Coping with StressThe best way to cope with stress is to make changes to lifestyle:
Take more exercise
Eat a balanced diet rich in fruit and vegetables
Drink plenty of water
Cut down on alcohol intake, eliminate smoking and drugs
Take time out to relax completely: listen to music, read, watch tv, have a night-out with friends or even something very simple like taking a warm bath.
Laugh more. Do things that make you laugh, it’s proven to release feel good hormones. Take More ExerciseBeing active will reduce the ill effects of stress. Change your lifestyle routine to be more active so exercise fits easily into your routine. If pressured by time or deadlines, short, frequent breaks of activity throughout the day will work best. Ways to bring natural activity into everyday routines:
Take stairs not lift or escalator.
Walk to work, shops, park, wherever possible, instead of driving.
Light gardening on weekends
Make family time more active, e.g. swimming instead of a movie, mini golf instead of games arcade.
Take up a low impact, fun sport. Bowling, croquet, gem fossicking. Other ideas include:
10-minute walk before or after work allows you to establish priorities for the day or week ahead
Short breaks of activity throughout the day: move away from the work area and stand tall, stretch or walk
Walk at lunch every day for a productive afternoon. The mind works well when the body is moving and solutions can seem clearer
Make time to move and stretch when sitting, standing, driving or working
Try a new skill, hobby or activity
Stress is a psychological and physiological response to events that upset our personal balance in some way. When faced with a threat, whether to our physical safety or emotional equilibrium, the body's defenses kick into high gear in a rapid, automatic process known as the “fight-or-flight” response. We all know what this stress response feels like: heart pounding in the chest, muscles tensing up, breath coming faster, every sense on red alert.
The biological stress response is meant to protect and support us. It’s what helped our stone age ancestors survive the life-or-death situations they commonly faced. But in the modern world, most of the stress we feel is in response to psychological rather than physical threats. Caring for a chronically-ill child or getting audited by the IRS qualify as stressful situations, but neither calls for either fight or flight. Unfortunately, our bodies don't make this distinction. Whether we’re stressed over a looming deadline, an argument with a friend, or a mountain of bills, the warning bells ring. And just like a caveman confronting a sabertooth tiger, we go into automatic overdrive.
If you have a lot of responsibilities and worries, you may be running on stress a good portion of the time—launching into emergency mode with every traffic jam, phone call from the in-laws, or segment of the evening news. But the problem with the stress response is that the more it’s activated, the harder it is to shut off. Instead of leveling off once the crisis has passed, your stress hormones, heart rate, and blood pressure remain elevated.
Furthermore, extended or repeated activation of the stress response takes a heavy toll on the body. Prolonged exposure to stress increases your risk of everything from heart disease, obesity, and infection to anxiety, depression, and memory problems. Because of the widespread damage it can cause, it’s essential to learn how to deal with stress in a more positive way and reduce its impact on your daily life.
Signs and symptoms of stress
Cognitive symptoms:
Memory problems
Indecisiveness
Inability to concentrate
Trouble thinking clearly
Poor judgment
Seeing only the negative
Anxious or racing thoughts
Constant worrying
Loss of objectivity
Fearful anticipation
Physical Symptoms:
Headaches or backaches
Muscle tension and stiffness
Diarrhea or constipation
Nausea, dizziness
Insomnia
Chest pain, rapid heartbeat
Weight gain or loss
Skin breakouts (hives, eczema)
Loss of sex drive
Frequent colds
Emotional symptoms:
Moodiness
Agitation
Restlessness
Short temper
Irritability, impatience
Inability to relax
Feeling tense and “on edge”
Feeling overwhelmed
Sense of loneliness and isolation
Depression
Behavioural symptoms:
Eating more or less
Sleeping too much or too little
Isolating yourself from others
Procrastination, neglecting responsibilities
Using alcohol, cigarettes, or drugs to relax
Nervous habits (e.g. nail biting, pacing)
Teeth grinding or jaw clenching
Overdoing activities (e.g. exercising, shopping)
Overreacting
Causes of stress:
Environmental stressors – Your physical surroundings can set off the stress response. Examples of environmental stressors include an unsafe neighborhood, pollution, noise (sirens keeping you up at night, a barking dog next door), and uncomfortable living conditions. For people living in crime-ridden areas or war-torn regions, the stress may be unrelenting.
Family and relationship stressors – Problems with friends, romantic partners, and family members are common daily stressors. Marital disagreements, dysfunctional relationships, rebellious teens, or caring for a chronically-ill family member or a child with special needs can all send stress levels skyrocketing.
Work stressors – In our career-driven society, work can be an ever-present source of stress. Work stress is caused by things such as job dissatisfaction, an exhausting workload, insufficient pay, office politics, and conflicts with your boss or co-workers.
Social stressors – Your social situation can cause stress. For example, poverty, financial pressures, racial and sexual discrimination or harassment, unemployment, isolation, and a lack of social support all take a toll on daily quality of life.
Managing stress at the workplace
Managing Stress in the WorkplaceTo combat stress, unhealthy ‘quick fixes’ like alcohol, or cigarettes, or sweet, fatty foods must be avoided. We feel we don’t have the time to relax with friends, take a walk or step back and see the problems from another point of view. Some try to lead a healthy lifestyle, however, with stress this can be hard to keep up. For example if you have had a hard and long day at work it can be difficult to motivate yourself to exercise or to cook a healthy meal. A cycle starts with less exercise and ready-prepared meals because of lethargy, or feeling pressed for time. It is important to break this cycle and find ways of managing stress levels. Identify the sources of stress, then if possible have a break away from the source, for example if you are having trouble managing your workload, arrange to go on a time management course. The situation causing our stress may not be in an individual’s control to change but steps to try and manage it effectively really helps. Simply acknowledging to yourself and someone else you aren’t coping is half the battle. Positive steps to manage your working day will feel like a breath of fresh air. If an employee or partner comes to you asking for help be sure to take them seriously and take immediate steps to take action. Source support through information channels – for example, talking to a colleague or friend about workplace stress, and make stress alleviation readily available for staff. Coping with StressThe best way to cope with stress is to make changes to lifestyle:
Take more exercise
Eat a balanced diet rich in fruit and vegetables
Drink plenty of water
Cut down on alcohol intake, eliminate smoking and drugs
Take time out to relax completely: listen to music, read, watch tv, have a night-out with friends or even something very simple like taking a warm bath.
Laugh more. Do things that make you laugh, it’s proven to release feel good hormones. Take More ExerciseBeing active will reduce the ill effects of stress. Change your lifestyle routine to be more active so exercise fits easily into your routine. If pressured by time or deadlines, short, frequent breaks of activity throughout the day will work best. Ways to bring natural activity into everyday routines:
Take stairs not lift or escalator.
Walk to work, shops, park, wherever possible, instead of driving.
Light gardening on weekends
Make family time more active, e.g. swimming instead of a movie, mini golf instead of games arcade.
Take up a low impact, fun sport. Bowling, croquet, gem fossicking. Other ideas include:
10-minute walk before or after work allows you to establish priorities for the day or week ahead
Short breaks of activity throughout the day: move away from the work area and stand tall, stretch or walk
Walk at lunch every day for a productive afternoon. The mind works well when the body is moving and solutions can seem clearer
Make time to move and stretch when sitting, standing, driving or working
Try a new skill, hobby or activity
OB Handout # 10
What Is Leadership?
Leadership is a process of getting things done through people.
Leadership is not a science. So being a leader is an adventure because you can never be sure whether you will reach your goal -- at least this time. The city's citizens may not be convinced that the mayor's policies are right. So these leaders have to try again, using other methods. But they still use the same process the process of good leadership.
Leadership means responsibility. It's adventure and often fun, but it always means responsibility. The leader is the guy the others look to to get the job done. So don't think your job as a troop leader or a staff member will be just an honor. It's more than that. It means that the others expect you to take the responsibility of getting the job done. If you lead, they will do the job. If you don't, they may expect you to do the job all by yourself.
That's why it's important that you begin right now to learn what leadership is all about.
You are not a finished leader. No one ever is, not even a president or prime minister. But you are an explorer of the human mind because now you are going to try to learn how to get things done through people. This is one of the keys to leadership.
You are searching for the secrets of leadership. Many of them lie locked inside you. As you discover them and practice them, you will join a special group of people-skilled leaders.
Good leaders are made not born. If you have the desire and willpower, you can become an effective leader. Good leaders develop through a never-ending process of self-study, education, training, and experience. This guide will help you through that process.
To inspire your people into higher levels of teamwork, there are certain things you must be, know, and, do. These do not come naturally, but are acquired through continual work and study. The best leaders are continually working and studying to improve their leadership skills.
Before we get started, let’s define leadership. Leadership is a complex process by which a person influences others to accomplish a mission, task, or objective and directs the organization in a way that makes it more cohesive and coherent. A person carries out this process by applying her leadership attributes (belief, values, ethics, character, knowledge, and skills). Although your position as a manager, supervisor, lead, etc. gives you the authority to accomplish certain tasks and objectives in the organization, this power does not make you a leader...it simply makes you the boss. Leadership makes people want to achieve high goals and objectives, while, on the other hand, bosses tell people to accomplish a task or objective.
Some personality traits may lead people naturally into leadership roles. This is the Trait Theory.
A crisis or important event may cause a person to rise to the occasion, which brings out extraordinary leadership qualities in an ordinary person. This is the Great Events Theory.
People can choose to become leaders. People can learn leadership skills. This is the Transformational Leadership Theory. It is the most widely accepted theory today and the premise on which this guide is based.
When a person is deciding if he respects you as a leader, he does not think about your attributes. He observes what you do so that he can know who you really are. He uses this observation to tell if you are an honorable and trusted leader, or a self serving person who misuses her authority to look good and get promoted. Self serving leaders are not as effective because their employees only obey them, not follow them. They succeed in many areas because they present a good image to their seniors at the expense of their people.
The basis of good leadership is honorable character and selfless service to your organization. In your employees' eyes, your leadership is everything you do that effects the organization's objectives and their well being. A respected leader concentrates on what she is [be] (beliefs and character), what she knows (job, tasks, human nature), and what she does (implement, motivate, provide direction). What makes a person want to follow a leader? People want to be guided by those they respect and who have a clear sense of direction. To gain respect, they must be ethical. A sense of direction is achieved by conveying a strong vision of the future.
Leadership skills
1. Getting and Giving Information: This is probably the #1 competency required of leaders. If you cannot communicate effectively, then no other leadership skill will compensate for this lack. First and foremost, you must be able to exchange information effectively and accurately.
2. Knowing and Understanding Group Resources: This competency enables a leader to:
Recognize knowledge and use of group resources as a major technique in bringing a group together and creating commitment to common goals.
Recognize that resources are theoretically limitless, and that the leader's (and group's) ability to recognize and utilized diverse resources tremendously affects what the group can accomplish.
Involve more people in active leadership by giving each a part according to his or her resources.
Evaluate the impact the availability of resources has on doing a job and maintaining the group.
3. Controlling the Group: This competency enables a leader to:
Recognize how his own behavior influences and controls others.
Distinguish between controlling group performance and setting the example.
Identify control as a function of the group, or of a facilitator, and the advantages and disadvantages of each having that responsibility.
Identify different techniques for controlling group performance and their suitability in different situations.
Deploy group resources to the best interests of the group while encouraging personal growth.
Evaluate leadership performance in terms of group performance.
4. Counseling
This competency enables the leader to:
Gain knowledge of the principles of counseling.
Practice some simple techniques to be used in ordinary situations.
Develop an awareness of counseling as a function of leaders.
Grow personally in areas of problem solving and decision making.
Help others to increased ability to solve problems and make decisions.
5. Setting the Example
This competency enables the leader to:
List three positive results a leader who sets a good example can obtain.
See that Setting an Example is an important part of Controlling Group Performance.
Recognize the leader's responsibility for setting the example.
List seven ways a leader can set a good example
6. Problem-Solving
This competency, sometimes also called Planning, enables the leader to:
Identify problem-solving as one of they key techniques in developing the group's capability.
Gain knowledge of a definite technique for problem-solving and planning.
Understand the value of problem-solving in group commitment to the task and to group unity.
The basic outline for this competency has not changed in over 30 years. Additional information is added, layers of complexity are introduced, but the basic scheme remains: Analyze, Design, Develop, Implement, and Evaluate.
7. Evaluation
This competency enables the leader to:
Use evaluation as a technique to maintain group integrity while improving job performance.
Describe what is meant by "getting the job done" and "maintaining the group."
Analyze a situation for improvement.
Avoid conflicts between getting the job done and maintaining the group.
Develop an attitude of constant (informal and formal) evaluation.
Use a variety of strategies for evaluation purposes.
8.Sharing Leadership
This competency enables the leader to:
Develop a concept of leadership for a group which permits different functions of leadership being shared or distributed among group members according to the situation and member's strengths.
Gain knowledge of the forces acting on the leader and the group, and inherent in the situation which makes for appropriateness of leadership styles.
Distinguish between situations in which certain styles of leadership are appropriate.
Relate styles of leadership to the twin factors of getting the job done and maintaining group integrity and morale.
Develop attitudes of using appropriate styles of leadership to fit needs of the group to meet situations and accomplish short-and long-range goals.
Leadership is a process of getting things done through people.
Leadership is not a science. So being a leader is an adventure because you can never be sure whether you will reach your goal -- at least this time. The city's citizens may not be convinced that the mayor's policies are right. So these leaders have to try again, using other methods. But they still use the same process the process of good leadership.
Leadership means responsibility. It's adventure and often fun, but it always means responsibility. The leader is the guy the others look to to get the job done. So don't think your job as a troop leader or a staff member will be just an honor. It's more than that. It means that the others expect you to take the responsibility of getting the job done. If you lead, they will do the job. If you don't, they may expect you to do the job all by yourself.
That's why it's important that you begin right now to learn what leadership is all about.
You are not a finished leader. No one ever is, not even a president or prime minister. But you are an explorer of the human mind because now you are going to try to learn how to get things done through people. This is one of the keys to leadership.
You are searching for the secrets of leadership. Many of them lie locked inside you. As you discover them and practice them, you will join a special group of people-skilled leaders.
Good leaders are made not born. If you have the desire and willpower, you can become an effective leader. Good leaders develop through a never-ending process of self-study, education, training, and experience. This guide will help you through that process.
To inspire your people into higher levels of teamwork, there are certain things you must be, know, and, do. These do not come naturally, but are acquired through continual work and study. The best leaders are continually working and studying to improve their leadership skills.
Before we get started, let’s define leadership. Leadership is a complex process by which a person influences others to accomplish a mission, task, or objective and directs the organization in a way that makes it more cohesive and coherent. A person carries out this process by applying her leadership attributes (belief, values, ethics, character, knowledge, and skills). Although your position as a manager, supervisor, lead, etc. gives you the authority to accomplish certain tasks and objectives in the organization, this power does not make you a leader...it simply makes you the boss. Leadership makes people want to achieve high goals and objectives, while, on the other hand, bosses tell people to accomplish a task or objective.
Some personality traits may lead people naturally into leadership roles. This is the Trait Theory.
A crisis or important event may cause a person to rise to the occasion, which brings out extraordinary leadership qualities in an ordinary person. This is the Great Events Theory.
People can choose to become leaders. People can learn leadership skills. This is the Transformational Leadership Theory. It is the most widely accepted theory today and the premise on which this guide is based.
When a person is deciding if he respects you as a leader, he does not think about your attributes. He observes what you do so that he can know who you really are. He uses this observation to tell if you are an honorable and trusted leader, or a self serving person who misuses her authority to look good and get promoted. Self serving leaders are not as effective because their employees only obey them, not follow them. They succeed in many areas because they present a good image to their seniors at the expense of their people.
The basis of good leadership is honorable character and selfless service to your organization. In your employees' eyes, your leadership is everything you do that effects the organization's objectives and their well being. A respected leader concentrates on what she is [be] (beliefs and character), what she knows (job, tasks, human nature), and what she does (implement, motivate, provide direction). What makes a person want to follow a leader? People want to be guided by those they respect and who have a clear sense of direction. To gain respect, they must be ethical. A sense of direction is achieved by conveying a strong vision of the future.
Leadership skills
1. Getting and Giving Information: This is probably the #1 competency required of leaders. If you cannot communicate effectively, then no other leadership skill will compensate for this lack. First and foremost, you must be able to exchange information effectively and accurately.
2. Knowing and Understanding Group Resources: This competency enables a leader to:
Recognize knowledge and use of group resources as a major technique in bringing a group together and creating commitment to common goals.
Recognize that resources are theoretically limitless, and that the leader's (and group's) ability to recognize and utilized diverse resources tremendously affects what the group can accomplish.
Involve more people in active leadership by giving each a part according to his or her resources.
Evaluate the impact the availability of resources has on doing a job and maintaining the group.
3. Controlling the Group: This competency enables a leader to:
Recognize how his own behavior influences and controls others.
Distinguish between controlling group performance and setting the example.
Identify control as a function of the group, or of a facilitator, and the advantages and disadvantages of each having that responsibility.
Identify different techniques for controlling group performance and their suitability in different situations.
Deploy group resources to the best interests of the group while encouraging personal growth.
Evaluate leadership performance in terms of group performance.
4. Counseling
This competency enables the leader to:
Gain knowledge of the principles of counseling.
Practice some simple techniques to be used in ordinary situations.
Develop an awareness of counseling as a function of leaders.
Grow personally in areas of problem solving and decision making.
Help others to increased ability to solve problems and make decisions.
5. Setting the Example
This competency enables the leader to:
List three positive results a leader who sets a good example can obtain.
See that Setting an Example is an important part of Controlling Group Performance.
Recognize the leader's responsibility for setting the example.
List seven ways a leader can set a good example
6. Problem-Solving
This competency, sometimes also called Planning, enables the leader to:
Identify problem-solving as one of they key techniques in developing the group's capability.
Gain knowledge of a definite technique for problem-solving and planning.
Understand the value of problem-solving in group commitment to the task and to group unity.
The basic outline for this competency has not changed in over 30 years. Additional information is added, layers of complexity are introduced, but the basic scheme remains: Analyze, Design, Develop, Implement, and Evaluate.
7. Evaluation
This competency enables the leader to:
Use evaluation as a technique to maintain group integrity while improving job performance.
Describe what is meant by "getting the job done" and "maintaining the group."
Analyze a situation for improvement.
Avoid conflicts between getting the job done and maintaining the group.
Develop an attitude of constant (informal and formal) evaluation.
Use a variety of strategies for evaluation purposes.
8.Sharing Leadership
This competency enables the leader to:
Develop a concept of leadership for a group which permits different functions of leadership being shared or distributed among group members according to the situation and member's strengths.
Gain knowledge of the forces acting on the leader and the group, and inherent in the situation which makes for appropriateness of leadership styles.
Distinguish between situations in which certain styles of leadership are appropriate.
Relate styles of leadership to the twin factors of getting the job done and maintaining group integrity and morale.
Develop attitudes of using appropriate styles of leadership to fit needs of the group to meet situations and accomplish short-and long-range goals.
Monday, January 7, 2008
Issues discussed in the Class
Organizational Behaviour
Chapter-wise comments on issues discussed in the Class
Chapter 1: Introduction to Organizational Behaviour
· What is organization?
· What is behaviour?
· Factors that influence human behaviour
· What is Organizational Behaviour
· Why is it important to study Organizational Behaviour?
· Theoretical framework of Organizational Behaviour: Behavioural framework, Cognitive framework and Social Cognitive framework
Chapter 2: Perception and Attribution
What is perception?
Perceptual process
Perceptual Selectivity
External factors affecting perceptual selectivity
Internal factors affecting perceptual selectivity
Perceptual organization
Perceptual error
What is attribution?
Harold Kelley’ model of attribution
Common attribution errors
Chapter 3: Personality and Attitudes
What is personality?
What shapes personality?
Personality traits
What is attitude?
Functions of attitude
Process of attitude formation
Mechanism of changing attitude
Chapter 4: Job Satisfaction
What is job satisfaction?
Factors affecting job satisfaction
Outcomes of job satisfaction
Chapter 5: Motivational Needs and Processes
What is motivation?
Theories of motivation: Hierarchy of needs, Motivation-Hygiene, ERG theory, McClelland’s theory of needs, expectancy theory
Application of motivational theories: Management by Objective, Employee recognition programme, employee involvement programme, Reward system
Chapter 6: Behaviour of groups and Teams
Concept of groups
Why people form groups?
How groups are formed?
Stages of group formation
Types of groups
Factors affecting group cohesiveness
Dysfunctions of groups and teams
Types of teams
How to make teams more effective?
Chapter 7: Communication
What is communication?
Types of communication
Managerial communication model
Purpose of communication at the workplaces
Inter-personal communication process
Chapter 8: Decision-making
Models of behavioural decision-making:
Economic Rationality model
Social Model
Group Decision-making
Chapter 9: Stress and conflict
Meaning of stress
Concept of burnout
Causes of stress
How to cope with stress
(the issues related to Conflict were not discussed in the class)
Chapter 10: Leadership
Concept of leadership
Leadership skills
(leadership styles were not discussed in the class)
Chapter-wise comments on issues discussed in the Class
Chapter 1: Introduction to Organizational Behaviour
· What is organization?
· What is behaviour?
· Factors that influence human behaviour
· What is Organizational Behaviour
· Why is it important to study Organizational Behaviour?
· Theoretical framework of Organizational Behaviour: Behavioural framework, Cognitive framework and Social Cognitive framework
Chapter 2: Perception and Attribution
What is perception?
Perceptual process
Perceptual Selectivity
External factors affecting perceptual selectivity
Internal factors affecting perceptual selectivity
Perceptual organization
Perceptual error
What is attribution?
Harold Kelley’ model of attribution
Common attribution errors
Chapter 3: Personality and Attitudes
What is personality?
What shapes personality?
Personality traits
What is attitude?
Functions of attitude
Process of attitude formation
Mechanism of changing attitude
Chapter 4: Job Satisfaction
What is job satisfaction?
Factors affecting job satisfaction
Outcomes of job satisfaction
Chapter 5: Motivational Needs and Processes
What is motivation?
Theories of motivation: Hierarchy of needs, Motivation-Hygiene, ERG theory, McClelland’s theory of needs, expectancy theory
Application of motivational theories: Management by Objective, Employee recognition programme, employee involvement programme, Reward system
Chapter 6: Behaviour of groups and Teams
Concept of groups
Why people form groups?
How groups are formed?
Stages of group formation
Types of groups
Factors affecting group cohesiveness
Dysfunctions of groups and teams
Types of teams
How to make teams more effective?
Chapter 7: Communication
What is communication?
Types of communication
Managerial communication model
Purpose of communication at the workplaces
Inter-personal communication process
Chapter 8: Decision-making
Models of behavioural decision-making:
Economic Rationality model
Social Model
Group Decision-making
Chapter 9: Stress and conflict
Meaning of stress
Concept of burnout
Causes of stress
How to cope with stress
(the issues related to Conflict were not discussed in the class)
Chapter 10: Leadership
Concept of leadership
Leadership skills
(leadership styles were not discussed in the class)
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
OB Handout# 6
Behaviour of Groups and Teams
Issues discussed in the class:
Concept of Groups
Why people form groups?
How groups are formed?
Stages of Group formation
Types of Groups
Factors affecting group cohesion
Dysfunctions of groups/teams
Teams in modern workplaces
Types of teams
How to make teams more effective?
Concept of Group
Edgar Schein has defined group as a collection of people who interact with each other, are psychologically aware of each other, and who perceive themselves to be in a group. A work group meets these criteria, but in addition, the members have task-centred goals. Interestingly, while the group members support each other, they each have their own area of responsibility for which they are individually accountable. In comparison, a work team is composed of members with complementary skill who are involved in a common set of goals for which they are collectively accountable. On the other hand, Jennifer & Gareth have defined a group as a set of two or more people who interact with each other to achieve certain goals or meet certain needs. Interaction and common purpose are important elements of any group. The group goals bind the members together. Thus a group or a work group has the following features:
It has a common goal;
There is constant interaction among members;
Each member identifies with the group;
Members are interdependent;
Members are emotionally connected.
Why people form groups?
Broadly speaking, people form groups for the following reasons:
Psychological need: People want to align themselves with other individuals having identical interests, attitudes, personality, perception etc.
Socio-cultural need: Individuals join the groups to be identified with their social class, caste, religion, region, ethnicity, culture etc.
Security need: People need a support system to meet the contingencies of life like sickness, disablement, financial crisis, termination etc. Groups serve as an important support system for the people.
Types of Groups
Groups are broadly categorized as Formal and Informal. Some scholars have also categorized the groups as primary group, peer group and reference group.
Formal Work Groups:
Command group: It is an association of employees who report to the same supervisor. Command groups are based on the basic reporting relationship in any organization. The existence of such groups is represented on organizational charts as departments e.g. Finance Department, Personnel Department, etc,
Committees: People with diverse backgrounds are brought together to accomplish a particular goal. They may not report to the same supervisor and may not be at the same level in organizational hierarchy.
Team: (explained later)
Self-managed teams: (explained later)
Informal Work Groups
Friendship/Peer Groups: People who enjoy each other’s company and love to socialize form their own groups in an organization. They join hands to meet their needs of socialization besides developing a strong support system to help each other in times of crisis.
Interest Groups: Employees may form interest groups when they have a common interest or goal to achieve in an organization. Because of the common interests, it helps the members to unite and voice their concerns in a powerful manner.
Theories of Group Formation
Groups are formed due to Propinquity: This is the basic theory of group formation. Propinquity means that people form groups because of spatial or geographical proximity. In an organization, employees who share their workstations are more likely to combine as a group. However, this theory has been criticized in the wake of globalization and internet revolution that facilitate group formation without proximity or face-to-face interactions.
Groups are formed due to activities, interactions and sentiments (Classic Theory of Group Formation): This theory has been propounded by George Homans who suggests that the more activities the persons share, the more numerous will be the interactions and the stronger will be their sentiments. Similarly, the more interactions among the persons, the more will be their shared activities and sentiments; and the more sentiments persons have for one another, the more will be interactions and shared activities.
Groups are formed due to similar attitudes towards commonly relevant objects and goals (Balance Theory of Group Formation): This theory has been proposed by Thoedore Newcomb who suggests that persons are attracted to one another on the basis of similar attitudes and values related to religion, politics, lifestyle, marriage, work, authority etc. Once the relationship is formed, the participants strive to maintain a symmetrical balance between the attraction and the common attitudes and values.
Groups are formed reward-cost-outcomes of interactions ((Exchange Theory of Group Formation): this theory has been propounded by John W Thibaut and Harold H Kelley who suggest that a minimum positive level (rewards greater than costs) of an outcome must exist for the formation of a group. Rewards from interactions gratify needs whereas costs incur anxiety, frustration, embarrassment, or fatigue.
Stages of Group Formation
Forming: This is the first stage in the development of a group. At this stage, the members try to know each other and establish common understanding among them. They struggle to clarify group goals and determine appropriate behaviour. The forming stage is said to be complete when the members are fully integrated to identify themselves with the group.
Storming: This stage is characterized by disagreements and conflicts among group members. This stage ends up with greater mutual understanding and clarity of goals and roles of various members.
Norming: At this stage, the members really start feeling that they belong to the group. They develop very close intimacy and relationship with each other. A well-developed sense of common purpose of the group emerges among the members who also agree on standards/norms to guide the behaviour/interaction amongst themselves.
Performing: The real work of the group gets done at this stage.
Adjourning: Once the group has accomplished its goals, it gets dissolved. However, a number of permanent work groups remain at Performing stage although new members join when old ones leave.
Group Cohesiveness
Group cohesiveness is a condition when the group appears to be very attractive to its members; individuals value their group membership, and have a very strong willingness to retain membership of the group.
Factors increasing group cohesiveness
Agreement on goals
Frequency of interactions
Personal attractiveness
Inter-group competition
Favourable evaluation
Factors decreasing group cohesiveness:
Disagreement
Large size of the group
Unpleasant experiences
Intra-group competition
Domination by any one member
Impact of group cohesiveness on productivity
Stanley Schachter, Norris Ellertson, Dorothy McBride and Doris Gregory have studeied the impact of group cohesiveness on productivity. They have defined cohesiveness as the average resultant force acting on members in a group. They have suggested four possible combinations having a bearing on productivity of the group:
High cohesive, positive induction
Low cohesive, positive induction
High cohesive, negative induction
Low cohesive, negative induction
On the basis of their study, they have developed a pitchfork productivity curve, which suggests that productivity depends more on how the group is induced (positive or negative) rather than cohesiveness itself. A highly cohesive group or a less cohesive group with positive induction provides a higher productivity. Leadership decides how a group can be positively or negatively induced.
Roles assumed by group members:
In the context of groups, role may be defined as a position that evolves from established norms. Leigh L Thompson talks about five roles that a member of a group can assume:
The boundary spanner who acts as a facilitator and bridge between units or groups which would not otherwise interact.
The buffer who protects and filters negative or disappointing news and information that might cause group members to be upset and cause morale to suffer.
The lobbyist who promotes and tells others how successful and important the group is to the outsiders.
The negotiator who is empowered by the group to act on its behalf and to get resources and make deals.
The spokesman who is the voice of the group.
Dysfunctions of the Groups
Dysfunction of the groups implies any aberration in the group processes and functions such as leadership issues, lack of coordination, misunderstanding, disengagement, deliberate withholding of efforts, etc. Dysfunctions of the group are caused due to norms’ violation/role ambiguity, groupthink/conformity problem and social loafing.
Norms’ violation and role ambiguity:
Violation of group norms that are set by the members themselves lead to dysfunction of the group. Moreover, in case the members are not clear about their roles, they may not contribute their mite towards achieving group goals. Role ambiguity occurs due to unclear job descriptions, incomplete orders, and inexperience. Sometimes role conflicts arise especially when a member is asked to perform conflicting tasks or settings or to perform a task that conflicts his personal values.
Groupthink and Conformity problem:
Irving Janis believes that group pressures lead to a deterioration of mental efficiency, reality testing and moral judgment. Indeed, groupthink is the tendency of the group members to seek consensus and ignore/suppress alternative ideas or minority viewpoints especially when faced with some crisis situation. The result of groupthink can be poor quality decisions because it discourages full assessment of the problem, thorough information search, and proper evaluation of a wide range of alternatives. According to Janis, following are the symptoms of Groupthink:
Illusion of invulnerability: nothing can happen to the group, none can ever hurt/damage the group.
Unquestioned belief: rationalizing information that contradicts the group’s beliefs/opinion
Self-censorship: self-imposed restrictions of the group members
Illusion of unanimity: belief that there is total unanimity on any issue in the group whereas there might be unvoiced concerns.
Self-appointed mind-guards: protect the group from contradictory information
Intra-group stereotyping: negative stereotypes of group members
Another problem associated with groupthink is that group pressures lead the individuals/minority subgroups within the group into conformity that ultimately results in group dysfunction.
Social Loafing
Social loafing is a unique condition in the entire group process where members reduce their efforts or performance levels. Following factors are attributed to social loafing:
1. Role ambiguity
Task being not intrinsically motivating
Difficulty in identifying individual contribution due to large size of the group
4. Sucker effect: not wanting to do more than perceived efforts of other members.
Teams at modern workplaces
Teams have turned out to be instrumental in providing competitive edge to the corporate houses across the globe. Toyota, Motorola, General Electric, Xerox, Hewlett-Packard etc pioneered the concept of teams at modern workplaces. Interestingly, most of the Fortune 1000 companies use project teams (diverse managerial/professional employees working on projects for a defined, but typically extended period of time. Moreover, a large number of them use parallel teams (employees working on problem-solving or quality teams in parallel to the regular organizational structure). Besides, many of the Fortune 1000 companies have permanent work teams (self-contained work-units responsible for manufacturing products or providing services.
How work groups and teams are different?
The work group has a strong, clearly focused leader; the team has shared leadership roles.
The work group has individual accountability; the team has individual and mutual accountability.
The work group’s purpose is the same as the organization’s; the team has a specific purpose.
The work group has individual work products; the team has collective work products.
The work group runs structured meetings; the team encourages open ended, active, problem solving meetings.
The work group measures effectiveness indirectly (for example, financial performance of the overall business); the team measures performance directly by assessing collective work products.
The work group discusses, decides and delegates; the team discuses, decides and does real work.
Types of Teams
Cross-functional teams
These teams are made up of individuals from various departments or functional specialties. It is possible to reduce the time needed to get things done while simultaneously augmenting productivity and profit margins by combining the abilities and skills of individuals. Success of the cross-functional teams however depends on the following factors:
1. Selection of suitable members
Clarity of purpose of the team
Fair understanding of group functions by each member
Team-building
Achievement of noticeable results
Virtual teams
Virtual teams are groups of people who work interdependently with shared purpose across space, time and organizational boundaries, using Information Technology to operate and collaborate without face-to face interactions with each other. Tools that they use include e-mails, chat-room, virtual community/group etc.
Self-managed teams
A self-managed team is a group of employees who are responsible for managing and performing technical tasks that result in a product or service being delivered to an internal or external customer. Self-managed teams at Hewlett-Packard and Harley-Davidson are empowered to hire, organize and purchase equipments without prior approval of the management. And outcomes at both the companies are indeed very flattering. A number of empirical studies indicate that self-managed teams have led to increased job satisfaction, higher productivity, better customer service, and organizational commitment.
However there are a few issues that lead to failure of self-managed teams:
Reluctance of the team members to give up their past practices and set aside their power and position
Skill disparity among the members.
Sucker effect
Personal belief-system being in conflict with that of the team.
How to make teams more effective
n Team building
n Collaboration
n Group Leadership
n Understanding of cultural issues in global situations
Team building (GE Model)
1. Establish credibility: the trainers must establish their knowledge and credentials
2. Allow ventilation: the trainees should be provided with ample opportunities to clear off their anxieties and unresolved issues before the training begins
3. Provide an orientation: the trainers should give specific verbal directions and provide clear expectations and models of behaviour
4. Invest in the process: help the team in identifying its problems and concerns
5. Set group goals: let the trainees create their own mission statement and then set specific goals and specific activities and behaviour to accomplish these goals
6. Facilitate the group process: let trainees learn how group functions
7. Establish intra-group procedures: help trainees set up a meeting format that might include reporting minutes, making announcements, discussing problems, proposing solutions, taking action and making new assignments
Establish inter-group processes: let the trainees select a leader to interact with other teams
Change the role of the trainers
End the trainer’s involvement
While the GE model of Team-building is quite structured method, the following are equally relevant for augmenting effectiveness of teams as proposed by Fred Luthans:
Establishing a sense of partnership
Attractive work arrangement
Sharing of collective intelligence
Well-defined goals
Creating a learning organization
Developing a bond among the team-members
Collaboration
The process of collaboration involves learning how to improve interpersonal interactions in group settings while committing to a common agenda. Collaboration is a structured, recursive process where two or more people work together toward a common goal—typically an intellectual endeavor that is creative in nature—by sharing knowledge, learning and building consensus. Collaboration does not require leadership and can even bring better results through decentralization and egalitarianism. In particular, teams that work collaboratively can obtain greater resources, recognition and reward when facing competition for finite resources.
Essential Competencies for Collaborative Partnerships: Ten Lessons (taken from http://www.medscape.com/medscapetoday)
Lesson #1: Know thyself. Many realities exist simultaneously. Each person's reality is based on self-developed perceptions. Requisite to trusting self and others is in knowing your own mental model (biases, values, and goals).
Lesson #2: Learn to value and manage diversity. Differences are essential assets for effective collaborative processes and outcomes.
Lesson #3: Develop constructive conflict resolution skills. In the collaborative paradigm, conflict is viewed as natural and as an opportunity to deepen understanding and agreement.
Lesson # 4: Use your power to create win-win situations The sharing of power and the recognition of one's own power base is part of effective collaboration.
Lesson #5: Master interpersonal and process skills. Clinical competence, cooperation, and flexibility are the most frequently identified attributes important to effective collaborative practice.
Lesson #6: Recognize that collaboration is a journey. The skill and knowledge needed for effective collaboration take time and practice. Conflict resolution, clinical excellence, appreciative inquiry, and knowledge of group process are all life-long learning skills.
Lesson #7: Leverage all multidisciplinary forums. Being present both physically and mentally in team forums can provide an opportunity to assess how and when to offer collaborative communications for partnership building.
Lesson #8: Appreciate that collaboration can occur spontaneously. Collaboration is a mutually established condition that can happen spontaneously if the right factors are in place.
Lesson #9: Balance autonomy and unity in collaborative relationships. Learn from your collaborative successes and failures. Becoming part of an exclusive team can be as bad as working in isolation. Be willing to seek feedback and admit mistakes. Be reflective, willing to seek feedback, and admit mistakes for dynamic balance.
Lesson #10: Remember that collaboration is not required for all decisions. Collaboration is not a panacea, nor is it needed in all situations.
Group Leadership: Leadership is concerned with control and power in a group. Leadership can be aimed at either maintaining the interpersonal relationships in the group or prodding the group to achieve its task. Groups will sometimes have two leaders: one for the social dimension and one for the task dimension. There are also three main perspectives on leadership. First, some researchers believe some people are born with traits that will make them a good leader. A second perspective is that the group's leader selects an appropriate leadership style for the given task. A third way of understanding leadership says that to some degree, leaders are born with traits that make them good leaders, but that they also learn how to become a leader and use strategies appropriate to a given situation.
Understanding of cultural issues in global situations: Today, most of the teams/groups have to operate in multi-cultural settings. As culture shapes our inter-personal relations to a great extent, it is very important to understand cultural nuances of the team-members for effective collaboration.
An illustration of unique cultural traits:
Why workers in China laugh when you point out mistakes?
(Economic Times, 14 December 2007)
“Can you increase my salary?” This is a question, which is almost a taboo at workplaces in India. However, in China, this is something, which one hears often. And it comes from those employees who want to stick around with a company, make a career with it and contribute to its growth. Another example is at the time of recruitment. Having gone through the entire process, it is quite possible that the candidate will come back and ask for a higher salary, because “the job requires much more work than what I thought before.” Chinese employees have a practical approach towards reciprocity - what they give to the company and what they get in return.
This is usually preceded by a high degree of commitment towards work, done in a manner which is not showy at all. Chinese personnel go about their work in a methodical manner. While it is common to see employees put in long hours in India, the key difference in China is that the long hours are put in with the sole intent of getting the job completed, rather than make a show of work, or staying in the office till the boss is there.
Normally, sub-ordinates do not badger superiors too much and will try and finish the tasks assigned to them clinically. However, once in a while, it is essential to listen to sub-ordinates - and not give them advice, unless asked. When they talk, one must have a willing ear (and open mind) for a whole lot of stuff, which might seem like a confused state of mind. Quite infrequently, they will ask the superior for a solution to a problem. It is essential to give a specific answer rather than present them with options. If they could decide among a given set of alternatives, they would not have approached the superior.
A significant difference between China and India, especially at middle and senior management levels, is to bring the issue to closure. With great language and analytical skills, one often sees an Indian manager spend inordinate time in scoring an “intellectual victory”; the tactic employed in China is to cut to the chase and reach a solution as quickly as possible. Intellectual victories do not count for much in this scheme of things.
Multi-tasking is an alien concept in a typical Chinese workplace, in as much as taking a horse to the water, but being unable to force it to drink (these being two separate tasks). This is something which unnerves most expatriate bosses in China, especially those from India, who are used to intelligent young men and women handling a plethora of tasks deftly and without any qualms.
Chinese employees will not undertake a task unless they are confident of doing it well and without mistakes. They will also spend a fair bit of time in understanding what is required - much more than their Indian counterparts. This philosophy is quite different from what exists in India, where we hardly say “no” to our bosses. However, Multi-tasking can be developed in a Chinese employee by giving them a situation to handle and letting them complete it to fruition. There is a strong need to build upon small successes.
Training takes on a special meaning in the Chinese work environment. It is highly coveted among the work-force, more so at junior and middle levels. Being nominated for training is interpreted as a strong affirmation of the value that the company is placing on the particular employee and hence generates a disproportionately high airtime in conversations around the water coolers. If the training is being conducted overseas, or is being conducted locally but by “foreign” trainers, it makes for excellent bragging rights. That is why it is not uncommon for employees to be constantly discussing “training-needs” with their superiors.
There is an interesting example of some behavioural aspects of Chinese people. In XYZ Limited, a senior manager, Mr Mathur, had come from India on a short assignment in technology. One day, he was quite upset with one of his Chinese sub-ordinates, Wang Ling. On further enquiry, it was revealed that the aforesaid Chinese employee had made a mistake and when Mathur has asked him an explanation, Wang just stood in front of him and kept smiling. Slowly, Mathur’s temperature went up, as the smile turned into laughter (the fact that Mathur did not know any Chinese didn’t help matters much either).
When Mathur could not take it anymore, he took this matter to the CEO, Mr Sharma. The latter, having relatively more experience in China, decided to tread the path carefully and talked to some other senior Chinese employees to find out the reason for this apparently bizarre behaviour of Wang. It so emerged that when Chinese employees makes a mistake, they are so embarrassed that they would like to laugh the matter away and try to lighten up the environment. You can rest assured that they will never commit that mistake again, by being absolutely focused on the job thereafter.
Do not ask them and they will not tell you: this is an almost Universal dictum which is prevalent across all kinds of organizations - more so in state-owned enterprises. Even if there is a serious problem which can bring down a company, the information is given to the superior only at the last minute; at which time, the sinking ship can be saved only at a high cost. No wonder this can leave many a manager pulling his hair in exasperation. The plausible reasons for this lie much deeper.
The Chinese try to solve the problem themselves, even if it means going through endless rounds of re-work and mistakes. They just cannot come up to their superior and admit defeat - it is tantamount to losing face. This is an integral part of the centuries old Chinese culture and is an all-pervading phenomenon of the business environment of China.
Do only your job and turn a blind eye to whatever else is happening around you: this is the result of the strictly hierarchical work system in China, which has got further conditioned by a work-to-instruction culture. Tell them what to do in clear and unambiguous terms, and your Chinese employees can perhaps become the best this world can have. That said, investment in people always pays handsomely in the end - and the same is true for China. One has to travel a long and arduous journey towards developing excellent first-line managers, but there is indeed light at the end of the tunnel.
Issues discussed in the class:
Concept of Groups
Why people form groups?
How groups are formed?
Stages of Group formation
Types of Groups
Factors affecting group cohesion
Dysfunctions of groups/teams
Teams in modern workplaces
Types of teams
How to make teams more effective?
Concept of Group
Edgar Schein has defined group as a collection of people who interact with each other, are psychologically aware of each other, and who perceive themselves to be in a group. A work group meets these criteria, but in addition, the members have task-centred goals. Interestingly, while the group members support each other, they each have their own area of responsibility for which they are individually accountable. In comparison, a work team is composed of members with complementary skill who are involved in a common set of goals for which they are collectively accountable. On the other hand, Jennifer & Gareth have defined a group as a set of two or more people who interact with each other to achieve certain goals or meet certain needs. Interaction and common purpose are important elements of any group. The group goals bind the members together. Thus a group or a work group has the following features:
It has a common goal;
There is constant interaction among members;
Each member identifies with the group;
Members are interdependent;
Members are emotionally connected.
Why people form groups?
Broadly speaking, people form groups for the following reasons:
Psychological need: People want to align themselves with other individuals having identical interests, attitudes, personality, perception etc.
Socio-cultural need: Individuals join the groups to be identified with their social class, caste, religion, region, ethnicity, culture etc.
Security need: People need a support system to meet the contingencies of life like sickness, disablement, financial crisis, termination etc. Groups serve as an important support system for the people.
Types of Groups
Groups are broadly categorized as Formal and Informal. Some scholars have also categorized the groups as primary group, peer group and reference group.
Formal Work Groups:
Command group: It is an association of employees who report to the same supervisor. Command groups are based on the basic reporting relationship in any organization. The existence of such groups is represented on organizational charts as departments e.g. Finance Department, Personnel Department, etc,
Committees: People with diverse backgrounds are brought together to accomplish a particular goal. They may not report to the same supervisor and may not be at the same level in organizational hierarchy.
Team: (explained later)
Self-managed teams: (explained later)
Informal Work Groups
Friendship/Peer Groups: People who enjoy each other’s company and love to socialize form their own groups in an organization. They join hands to meet their needs of socialization besides developing a strong support system to help each other in times of crisis.
Interest Groups: Employees may form interest groups when they have a common interest or goal to achieve in an organization. Because of the common interests, it helps the members to unite and voice their concerns in a powerful manner.
Theories of Group Formation
Groups are formed due to Propinquity: This is the basic theory of group formation. Propinquity means that people form groups because of spatial or geographical proximity. In an organization, employees who share their workstations are more likely to combine as a group. However, this theory has been criticized in the wake of globalization and internet revolution that facilitate group formation without proximity or face-to-face interactions.
Groups are formed due to activities, interactions and sentiments (Classic Theory of Group Formation): This theory has been propounded by George Homans who suggests that the more activities the persons share, the more numerous will be the interactions and the stronger will be their sentiments. Similarly, the more interactions among the persons, the more will be their shared activities and sentiments; and the more sentiments persons have for one another, the more will be interactions and shared activities.
Groups are formed due to similar attitudes towards commonly relevant objects and goals (Balance Theory of Group Formation): This theory has been proposed by Thoedore Newcomb who suggests that persons are attracted to one another on the basis of similar attitudes and values related to religion, politics, lifestyle, marriage, work, authority etc. Once the relationship is formed, the participants strive to maintain a symmetrical balance between the attraction and the common attitudes and values.
Groups are formed reward-cost-outcomes of interactions ((Exchange Theory of Group Formation): this theory has been propounded by John W Thibaut and Harold H Kelley who suggest that a minimum positive level (rewards greater than costs) of an outcome must exist for the formation of a group. Rewards from interactions gratify needs whereas costs incur anxiety, frustration, embarrassment, or fatigue.
Stages of Group Formation
Forming: This is the first stage in the development of a group. At this stage, the members try to know each other and establish common understanding among them. They struggle to clarify group goals and determine appropriate behaviour. The forming stage is said to be complete when the members are fully integrated to identify themselves with the group.
Storming: This stage is characterized by disagreements and conflicts among group members. This stage ends up with greater mutual understanding and clarity of goals and roles of various members.
Norming: At this stage, the members really start feeling that they belong to the group. They develop very close intimacy and relationship with each other. A well-developed sense of common purpose of the group emerges among the members who also agree on standards/norms to guide the behaviour/interaction amongst themselves.
Performing: The real work of the group gets done at this stage.
Adjourning: Once the group has accomplished its goals, it gets dissolved. However, a number of permanent work groups remain at Performing stage although new members join when old ones leave.
Group Cohesiveness
Group cohesiveness is a condition when the group appears to be very attractive to its members; individuals value their group membership, and have a very strong willingness to retain membership of the group.
Factors increasing group cohesiveness
Agreement on goals
Frequency of interactions
Personal attractiveness
Inter-group competition
Favourable evaluation
Factors decreasing group cohesiveness:
Disagreement
Large size of the group
Unpleasant experiences
Intra-group competition
Domination by any one member
Impact of group cohesiveness on productivity
Stanley Schachter, Norris Ellertson, Dorothy McBride and Doris Gregory have studeied the impact of group cohesiveness on productivity. They have defined cohesiveness as the average resultant force acting on members in a group. They have suggested four possible combinations having a bearing on productivity of the group:
High cohesive, positive induction
Low cohesive, positive induction
High cohesive, negative induction
Low cohesive, negative induction
On the basis of their study, they have developed a pitchfork productivity curve, which suggests that productivity depends more on how the group is induced (positive or negative) rather than cohesiveness itself. A highly cohesive group or a less cohesive group with positive induction provides a higher productivity. Leadership decides how a group can be positively or negatively induced.
Roles assumed by group members:
In the context of groups, role may be defined as a position that evolves from established norms. Leigh L Thompson talks about five roles that a member of a group can assume:
The boundary spanner who acts as a facilitator and bridge between units or groups which would not otherwise interact.
The buffer who protects and filters negative or disappointing news and information that might cause group members to be upset and cause morale to suffer.
The lobbyist who promotes and tells others how successful and important the group is to the outsiders.
The negotiator who is empowered by the group to act on its behalf and to get resources and make deals.
The spokesman who is the voice of the group.
Dysfunctions of the Groups
Dysfunction of the groups implies any aberration in the group processes and functions such as leadership issues, lack of coordination, misunderstanding, disengagement, deliberate withholding of efforts, etc. Dysfunctions of the group are caused due to norms’ violation/role ambiguity, groupthink/conformity problem and social loafing.
Norms’ violation and role ambiguity:
Violation of group norms that are set by the members themselves lead to dysfunction of the group. Moreover, in case the members are not clear about their roles, they may not contribute their mite towards achieving group goals. Role ambiguity occurs due to unclear job descriptions, incomplete orders, and inexperience. Sometimes role conflicts arise especially when a member is asked to perform conflicting tasks or settings or to perform a task that conflicts his personal values.
Groupthink and Conformity problem:
Irving Janis believes that group pressures lead to a deterioration of mental efficiency, reality testing and moral judgment. Indeed, groupthink is the tendency of the group members to seek consensus and ignore/suppress alternative ideas or minority viewpoints especially when faced with some crisis situation. The result of groupthink can be poor quality decisions because it discourages full assessment of the problem, thorough information search, and proper evaluation of a wide range of alternatives. According to Janis, following are the symptoms of Groupthink:
Illusion of invulnerability: nothing can happen to the group, none can ever hurt/damage the group.
Unquestioned belief: rationalizing information that contradicts the group’s beliefs/opinion
Self-censorship: self-imposed restrictions of the group members
Illusion of unanimity: belief that there is total unanimity on any issue in the group whereas there might be unvoiced concerns.
Self-appointed mind-guards: protect the group from contradictory information
Intra-group stereotyping: negative stereotypes of group members
Another problem associated with groupthink is that group pressures lead the individuals/minority subgroups within the group into conformity that ultimately results in group dysfunction.
Social Loafing
Social loafing is a unique condition in the entire group process where members reduce their efforts or performance levels. Following factors are attributed to social loafing:
1. Role ambiguity
Task being not intrinsically motivating
Difficulty in identifying individual contribution due to large size of the group
4. Sucker effect: not wanting to do more than perceived efforts of other members.
Teams at modern workplaces
Teams have turned out to be instrumental in providing competitive edge to the corporate houses across the globe. Toyota, Motorola, General Electric, Xerox, Hewlett-Packard etc pioneered the concept of teams at modern workplaces. Interestingly, most of the Fortune 1000 companies use project teams (diverse managerial/professional employees working on projects for a defined, but typically extended period of time. Moreover, a large number of them use parallel teams (employees working on problem-solving or quality teams in parallel to the regular organizational structure). Besides, many of the Fortune 1000 companies have permanent work teams (self-contained work-units responsible for manufacturing products or providing services.
How work groups and teams are different?
The work group has a strong, clearly focused leader; the team has shared leadership roles.
The work group has individual accountability; the team has individual and mutual accountability.
The work group’s purpose is the same as the organization’s; the team has a specific purpose.
The work group has individual work products; the team has collective work products.
The work group runs structured meetings; the team encourages open ended, active, problem solving meetings.
The work group measures effectiveness indirectly (for example, financial performance of the overall business); the team measures performance directly by assessing collective work products.
The work group discusses, decides and delegates; the team discuses, decides and does real work.
Types of Teams
Cross-functional teams
These teams are made up of individuals from various departments or functional specialties. It is possible to reduce the time needed to get things done while simultaneously augmenting productivity and profit margins by combining the abilities and skills of individuals. Success of the cross-functional teams however depends on the following factors:
1. Selection of suitable members
Clarity of purpose of the team
Fair understanding of group functions by each member
Team-building
Achievement of noticeable results
Virtual teams
Virtual teams are groups of people who work interdependently with shared purpose across space, time and organizational boundaries, using Information Technology to operate and collaborate without face-to face interactions with each other. Tools that they use include e-mails, chat-room, virtual community/group etc.
Self-managed teams
A self-managed team is a group of employees who are responsible for managing and performing technical tasks that result in a product or service being delivered to an internal or external customer. Self-managed teams at Hewlett-Packard and Harley-Davidson are empowered to hire, organize and purchase equipments without prior approval of the management. And outcomes at both the companies are indeed very flattering. A number of empirical studies indicate that self-managed teams have led to increased job satisfaction, higher productivity, better customer service, and organizational commitment.
However there are a few issues that lead to failure of self-managed teams:
Reluctance of the team members to give up their past practices and set aside their power and position
Skill disparity among the members.
Sucker effect
Personal belief-system being in conflict with that of the team.
How to make teams more effective
n Team building
n Collaboration
n Group Leadership
n Understanding of cultural issues in global situations
Team building (GE Model)
1. Establish credibility: the trainers must establish their knowledge and credentials
2. Allow ventilation: the trainees should be provided with ample opportunities to clear off their anxieties and unresolved issues before the training begins
3. Provide an orientation: the trainers should give specific verbal directions and provide clear expectations and models of behaviour
4. Invest in the process: help the team in identifying its problems and concerns
5. Set group goals: let the trainees create their own mission statement and then set specific goals and specific activities and behaviour to accomplish these goals
6. Facilitate the group process: let trainees learn how group functions
7. Establish intra-group procedures: help trainees set up a meeting format that might include reporting minutes, making announcements, discussing problems, proposing solutions, taking action and making new assignments
Establish inter-group processes: let the trainees select a leader to interact with other teams
Change the role of the trainers
End the trainer’s involvement
While the GE model of Team-building is quite structured method, the following are equally relevant for augmenting effectiveness of teams as proposed by Fred Luthans:
Establishing a sense of partnership
Attractive work arrangement
Sharing of collective intelligence
Well-defined goals
Creating a learning organization
Developing a bond among the team-members
Collaboration
The process of collaboration involves learning how to improve interpersonal interactions in group settings while committing to a common agenda. Collaboration is a structured, recursive process where two or more people work together toward a common goal—typically an intellectual endeavor that is creative in nature—by sharing knowledge, learning and building consensus. Collaboration does not require leadership and can even bring better results through decentralization and egalitarianism. In particular, teams that work collaboratively can obtain greater resources, recognition and reward when facing competition for finite resources.
Essential Competencies for Collaborative Partnerships: Ten Lessons (taken from http://www.medscape.com/medscapetoday)
Lesson #1: Know thyself. Many realities exist simultaneously. Each person's reality is based on self-developed perceptions. Requisite to trusting self and others is in knowing your own mental model (biases, values, and goals).
Lesson #2: Learn to value and manage diversity. Differences are essential assets for effective collaborative processes and outcomes.
Lesson #3: Develop constructive conflict resolution skills. In the collaborative paradigm, conflict is viewed as natural and as an opportunity to deepen understanding and agreement.
Lesson # 4: Use your power to create win-win situations The sharing of power and the recognition of one's own power base is part of effective collaboration.
Lesson #5: Master interpersonal and process skills. Clinical competence, cooperation, and flexibility are the most frequently identified attributes important to effective collaborative practice.
Lesson #6: Recognize that collaboration is a journey. The skill and knowledge needed for effective collaboration take time and practice. Conflict resolution, clinical excellence, appreciative inquiry, and knowledge of group process are all life-long learning skills.
Lesson #7: Leverage all multidisciplinary forums. Being present both physically and mentally in team forums can provide an opportunity to assess how and when to offer collaborative communications for partnership building.
Lesson #8: Appreciate that collaboration can occur spontaneously. Collaboration is a mutually established condition that can happen spontaneously if the right factors are in place.
Lesson #9: Balance autonomy and unity in collaborative relationships. Learn from your collaborative successes and failures. Becoming part of an exclusive team can be as bad as working in isolation. Be willing to seek feedback and admit mistakes. Be reflective, willing to seek feedback, and admit mistakes for dynamic balance.
Lesson #10: Remember that collaboration is not required for all decisions. Collaboration is not a panacea, nor is it needed in all situations.
Group Leadership: Leadership is concerned with control and power in a group. Leadership can be aimed at either maintaining the interpersonal relationships in the group or prodding the group to achieve its task. Groups will sometimes have two leaders: one for the social dimension and one for the task dimension. There are also three main perspectives on leadership. First, some researchers believe some people are born with traits that will make them a good leader. A second perspective is that the group's leader selects an appropriate leadership style for the given task. A third way of understanding leadership says that to some degree, leaders are born with traits that make them good leaders, but that they also learn how to become a leader and use strategies appropriate to a given situation.
Understanding of cultural issues in global situations: Today, most of the teams/groups have to operate in multi-cultural settings. As culture shapes our inter-personal relations to a great extent, it is very important to understand cultural nuances of the team-members for effective collaboration.
An illustration of unique cultural traits:
Why workers in China laugh when you point out mistakes?
(Economic Times, 14 December 2007)
“Can you increase my salary?” This is a question, which is almost a taboo at workplaces in India. However, in China, this is something, which one hears often. And it comes from those employees who want to stick around with a company, make a career with it and contribute to its growth. Another example is at the time of recruitment. Having gone through the entire process, it is quite possible that the candidate will come back and ask for a higher salary, because “the job requires much more work than what I thought before.” Chinese employees have a practical approach towards reciprocity - what they give to the company and what they get in return.
This is usually preceded by a high degree of commitment towards work, done in a manner which is not showy at all. Chinese personnel go about their work in a methodical manner. While it is common to see employees put in long hours in India, the key difference in China is that the long hours are put in with the sole intent of getting the job completed, rather than make a show of work, or staying in the office till the boss is there.
Normally, sub-ordinates do not badger superiors too much and will try and finish the tasks assigned to them clinically. However, once in a while, it is essential to listen to sub-ordinates - and not give them advice, unless asked. When they talk, one must have a willing ear (and open mind) for a whole lot of stuff, which might seem like a confused state of mind. Quite infrequently, they will ask the superior for a solution to a problem. It is essential to give a specific answer rather than present them with options. If they could decide among a given set of alternatives, they would not have approached the superior.
A significant difference between China and India, especially at middle and senior management levels, is to bring the issue to closure. With great language and analytical skills, one often sees an Indian manager spend inordinate time in scoring an “intellectual victory”; the tactic employed in China is to cut to the chase and reach a solution as quickly as possible. Intellectual victories do not count for much in this scheme of things.
Multi-tasking is an alien concept in a typical Chinese workplace, in as much as taking a horse to the water, but being unable to force it to drink (these being two separate tasks). This is something which unnerves most expatriate bosses in China, especially those from India, who are used to intelligent young men and women handling a plethora of tasks deftly and without any qualms.
Chinese employees will not undertake a task unless they are confident of doing it well and without mistakes. They will also spend a fair bit of time in understanding what is required - much more than their Indian counterparts. This philosophy is quite different from what exists in India, where we hardly say “no” to our bosses. However, Multi-tasking can be developed in a Chinese employee by giving them a situation to handle and letting them complete it to fruition. There is a strong need to build upon small successes.
Training takes on a special meaning in the Chinese work environment. It is highly coveted among the work-force, more so at junior and middle levels. Being nominated for training is interpreted as a strong affirmation of the value that the company is placing on the particular employee and hence generates a disproportionately high airtime in conversations around the water coolers. If the training is being conducted overseas, or is being conducted locally but by “foreign” trainers, it makes for excellent bragging rights. That is why it is not uncommon for employees to be constantly discussing “training-needs” with their superiors.
There is an interesting example of some behavioural aspects of Chinese people. In XYZ Limited, a senior manager, Mr Mathur, had come from India on a short assignment in technology. One day, he was quite upset with one of his Chinese sub-ordinates, Wang Ling. On further enquiry, it was revealed that the aforesaid Chinese employee had made a mistake and when Mathur has asked him an explanation, Wang just stood in front of him and kept smiling. Slowly, Mathur’s temperature went up, as the smile turned into laughter (the fact that Mathur did not know any Chinese didn’t help matters much either).
When Mathur could not take it anymore, he took this matter to the CEO, Mr Sharma. The latter, having relatively more experience in China, decided to tread the path carefully and talked to some other senior Chinese employees to find out the reason for this apparently bizarre behaviour of Wang. It so emerged that when Chinese employees makes a mistake, they are so embarrassed that they would like to laugh the matter away and try to lighten up the environment. You can rest assured that they will never commit that mistake again, by being absolutely focused on the job thereafter.
Do not ask them and they will not tell you: this is an almost Universal dictum which is prevalent across all kinds of organizations - more so in state-owned enterprises. Even if there is a serious problem which can bring down a company, the information is given to the superior only at the last minute; at which time, the sinking ship can be saved only at a high cost. No wonder this can leave many a manager pulling his hair in exasperation. The plausible reasons for this lie much deeper.
The Chinese try to solve the problem themselves, even if it means going through endless rounds of re-work and mistakes. They just cannot come up to their superior and admit defeat - it is tantamount to losing face. This is an integral part of the centuries old Chinese culture and is an all-pervading phenomenon of the business environment of China.
Do only your job and turn a blind eye to whatever else is happening around you: this is the result of the strictly hierarchical work system in China, which has got further conditioned by a work-to-instruction culture. Tell them what to do in clear and unambiguous terms, and your Chinese employees can perhaps become the best this world can have. That said, investment in people always pays handsomely in the end - and the same is true for China. One has to travel a long and arduous journey towards developing excellent first-line managers, but there is indeed light at the end of the tunnel.
Thursday, November 29, 2007
OB Handout # 3
Personality and Attitudes
What is personality?
Personal characteristics that lead to consistent patterns of behavior
Observable patterns of behaviour that last over time (Trait theory)
How the unconscious of an individual reacts to stimuli (Psychoanalytic theory)
Self-actualization and the drive to realize one’s potential (Humanistic theory)
According to Fred Luthans, people’s external appearance and traits, their inner awareness of self, and the person-situation interaction make up their personalities. S P Robbins has defined personality as ‘sum total of ways in which an individual reacts to and interacts with others’.
What shapes personality?
Heredity: physical stature, facial attractiveness, gender, temperament, muscle composition and reflexes, energy levels etc are broadly attributed to biological factors. Parents’ biological, physiological and inherent psychological make-up contribute to an individual’s personality to a great extent. According to ‘Heredity’ approach, the ultimate explanation of an individual’s personality is the molecular structure of the genes, located in the chromosomes.
However, the critics observe that if personality characteristics were completely dictated by heredity, they would be fixed at birth and no amount of experience/learning could alter them. There are evidences to prove that experience and learning can shape one’s personality to a fairly great extent although changing physical features and personal disposition is not possible.
Environment: Environment plays an important role in shaping one’s personality. People are greatly influenced by culture, values, traditions, formal and informal groups etc. More importantly, an individual learns to react to situations in a particular way as a result of socialization process one is exposed to.
Person-situation interaction: An individual’s personality, although generally stable and consistent, does change in different situations. Individuals react to different situations differently. Moreover, individuals may also react differently to an identical situation. Thus, person-situation interactions keep adding to overall development of one’s personality.
Personality Traits
The Big Five Personality Traits:
There are five core personality traits that best predict performance at the workplace. Although, the five traits are largely independent factors of personality, they operate alongside other traits to provide a unique mix of personality.
Following are the five core traits of personality:
Conscientiousness: Dependable, hardworking, organized, self-disciplined, persistent, responsible. A high conscientious person pursues fewer goals in a purposeful way.
Emotional Stability: Calm, secure, happy, enthusiastic. Those with low emotional stability tend to be nervous, depressed and insecure.
Agreeableness: Cooperative, warm, caring, good-natured, courteous, trusting. People with low agreeableness tend to focus more on their personal needs rather than needs of others.
Extraversion: Sociable, outgoing, talkative, assertive, gregarious.
Openness to experience: Curious, intellectual, creative, cultured, artistically sensitive, flexible, imaginative.
Myers Briggs Type Indicators
This is based on the theory proposed by Carl Jung in 1920. Jung observed that people can be classified into Extrovert-Introvert, Sensing-Intuitive, Thinking-Feeling, Judging-Perceiving. In 1940s, Katherine Briggs and Isabel Briggs-Myers developed a 100-item personality test asking participants how they usually feel or act in particular situations in order to measure the preferences on the four pairs of traits yielding 16 distinct types.
ISTJIntroverted Sensing with Thinking
ISFJIntroverted Sensing with Feeling
INFJIntroverted iNtuition with Feeling
INTJIntroverted iNtuition with Thinking
ISTPIntroverted Thinking with Sensing
ISFPIntroverted Feeling with Sensing
INFPIntroverted Feeling with iNtuition
INTPIntroverted Thinking with iNtuition
ESTPExtraverted Sensing with Thinking
ESFPExtraverted Sensing with Feeling
ENFPExtraverted iNtuition with Feeling
ENTPExtraverted iNtuition with Thinking
ESTJExtraverted Thinking with Sensing
ESFJExtraverted Feeling with Sensing
ENFJExtraverted Feeling with iNtuition
ENTJExtraverted Thinking with iNtuition
A large number of companies are using MBTI in their MDPs and team-building initiatives. Examples: AT & T, Exxxon, Honeywell, Hewlett-Packard etc.
Attitude
Attitude is a persistent tendency to feel and behave in a particular way towards some object. Like personality, attitudes are a complex cognitive process that has three basic features: they persist unless changed in some way, they range along a continuum, and they are directed towards an object about which a person has feelings/beliefs. According to Breckler and Wiggins, attitudes are enduring mental representations of various features the social and physical world.
Functions of Attitude
helps people adjusts to their environment
helps people defend their self-image
provides a basis for people’s value system
supplies standards and frames of references that allow people to organize their worldview
Process of Formation of Attitudes
Social Learning: acquiring attitudes by way of social interactions and value system
Direct Experience
Modeling: acquiring attitudes by observing others.
Mechanism of changing attitudes
Richard M Steers has suggested following methods of engineering attitude change
1. Providing new information
2. Fear arousal or reduction
3. Dissonance arousal (dissonance leads to inconsistencies in attitude and behaviour causing unpleasant feeling which results in change in attitude)
4. Position discrepancy
5. Participation in decision-making
Kelman has suggested the following processes to alter attitude:
· Compliance: applying subtle pressure on the individual to comply with a particular norm either by threat of punishment or by promise of reward
· Identification: Change agent influences the individual with his own attributes that is so powerful that people start identifying with him and following his way of looking at things.
· Internalization: new attitude is integrated with other attitude and becomes a part of individual’s personality.
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
OB Handout # 4
Job Satisfaction
What is Job Satisfaction?
--A psychological expression of contentment on the job.
--An emotional response to job situation.
--The extent to which an individual find fulfillment in his/her work.
--Employees’ perception of how well their job provides those things that are viewed as important.
--Individual’s general attitude towards his/her job.
According to Locke, job satisfaction is a pleasurable or positive emotional state resulting from the appraisal of one’s job or job experience.
Sources of Job Satisfaction
Work itself: The content of the work itself is great source of job satisfaction. The management may augment job satisfaction of the employees by redesigning the work. Some of the important measures may be as under:
Job Engineering: making the job interesting by innovative techniques and improved design of the equipments.
Job Enrichment: vertically loading the job to provide more responsibilities.
Job Rotation: moving employees from one relatively simpler job to another after short periods. (example: an employee at Mc Donald’s may cook French Fires one day, fry hamburgers the other day, wait on the customer the next day and draw soft drinks the following day.)
Job Enlargement: increasing the number of tasks each employee performs (example: A sales clerk who waits on customers, finalizes sales, helps with credit applications, arranges merchandize, and records stock has an enlarged job.)
Job Characteristics:
Skill Variety: the extent to which the job requires the employees to draw from a number of different skills and abilities as well as on a range of knowledge.
Task Identity: job should have an identifiable beginning and end. The employee will be more satisfied if he is involved in a job from beginning to end.
Task Significance: involves the importance of the task. If the task is important both for the company and the society at large, the employees are likely to derive a lot more satisfaction.
Autonomy: job independence. Job satisfaction will depend on how much freedom and control do employees have, for example, to schedule their own work, make decisions, or determine the means to accomplish the objectives.
Feedback: objective information about progress and performance.
Various job characteristics lead to three critical psychological states:
Meaningfulness: comes from task significance.
Responsibility: comes from task identity, autonomy and autonomy.
Knowledge of results: comes from feedback.
Rewards: Employees often see pay as a reflection of how management views their contribution to the organization, which in turn has a bearing on job satisfaction. The companies have therefore come up with various reward programmes linked to employees’ performance such as variable pay, skill-based pay, profit sharing, gain sharing, trust pay, employee stock ownership plan etc.
Promotional avenues: Employees are likely to have low job satisfaction in case there are hardly any promotional avenues within the organization. To augment job satisfaction, a number of companies have elaborate career development programmes, succession plans, assessment centers etc.
Supervision: Supervisory styles have a direct bearing on job satisfaction. In case the supervisor is autocratic, the employees are likely to be dissatisfied. On the other hand, if the supervisor makes way for employees’ participation in decision-making, goal-setting and making action plan to accomplish a job, the employees are likely to experience far more satisfaction at the work place.
Co-workers: Nature of co-workers may also have significant bearing on employee’s job satisfaction. In case the co-workers are hostile, non-cooperative and bad mouthed, the employee might experience dissatisfaction at the workplace. On the other hand, friendly co-workers may provide a lot of job satisfaction despite the job being quite tiring and demanding. Management can take corrective measures by providing more opportunities for socialization.
Working conditions: Working condition has a modest impact on job satisfaction. If the working condition is good ( for example: clean attractive surrounding, controlled temperature, proper illumination) the employees find it easier to work. On the other hand, if the working condition is poor (for example: hot and sultry environment, noisy surrounding, unhygienic workplace, etc.) the employees find it difficult to carry out their job. These days, most of the companies are working on Quality of Work-life programmes so as to make the workplace conducive for better performance and increased job satisfaction.
Personality: Personal disposition of an employee also has a direct bearing on job satisfaction. A cynical employee would never ever experience job satisfaction where as a person with positive outlook and attitude would experience satisfaction at the workplace despite all odds.
Outcomes of Job Satisfaction
Performance: It has been generally viewed that higher job satisfaction leads to higher performance (productivity).
Turnover: Low job satisfaction leads to higher labour turnover, on the contrary, high job satisfaction leads to low labour turnover.
Absenteeism: Low job satisfaction leads to higher absenteeism, on the contrary, high job satisfaction leads to low absenteeism.
How the employees express job dissatisfaction?
Exit: leaving the organization, looking for a new job
Voice: actively and constructively attempting to improve conditions
Loyalty: passively but optimistically waiting for conditions to improve, speaking up for organization in the wake of external criticism and trusting the organization and its management to do the right thing.
Neglect: passively allowing conditions to worsen, chronic absenteeism, reduced efforts, increased error rate.
What is Job Satisfaction?
--A psychological expression of contentment on the job.
--An emotional response to job situation.
--The extent to which an individual find fulfillment in his/her work.
--Employees’ perception of how well their job provides those things that are viewed as important.
--Individual’s general attitude towards his/her job.
According to Locke, job satisfaction is a pleasurable or positive emotional state resulting from the appraisal of one’s job or job experience.
Sources of Job Satisfaction
Work itself: The content of the work itself is great source of job satisfaction. The management may augment job satisfaction of the employees by redesigning the work. Some of the important measures may be as under:
Job Engineering: making the job interesting by innovative techniques and improved design of the equipments.
Job Enrichment: vertically loading the job to provide more responsibilities.
Job Rotation: moving employees from one relatively simpler job to another after short periods. (example: an employee at Mc Donald’s may cook French Fires one day, fry hamburgers the other day, wait on the customer the next day and draw soft drinks the following day.)
Job Enlargement: increasing the number of tasks each employee performs (example: A sales clerk who waits on customers, finalizes sales, helps with credit applications, arranges merchandize, and records stock has an enlarged job.)
Job Characteristics:
Skill Variety: the extent to which the job requires the employees to draw from a number of different skills and abilities as well as on a range of knowledge.
Task Identity: job should have an identifiable beginning and end. The employee will be more satisfied if he is involved in a job from beginning to end.
Task Significance: involves the importance of the task. If the task is important both for the company and the society at large, the employees are likely to derive a lot more satisfaction.
Autonomy: job independence. Job satisfaction will depend on how much freedom and control do employees have, for example, to schedule their own work, make decisions, or determine the means to accomplish the objectives.
Feedback: objective information about progress and performance.
Various job characteristics lead to three critical psychological states:
Meaningfulness: comes from task significance.
Responsibility: comes from task identity, autonomy and autonomy.
Knowledge of results: comes from feedback.
Rewards: Employees often see pay as a reflection of how management views their contribution to the organization, which in turn has a bearing on job satisfaction. The companies have therefore come up with various reward programmes linked to employees’ performance such as variable pay, skill-based pay, profit sharing, gain sharing, trust pay, employee stock ownership plan etc.
Promotional avenues: Employees are likely to have low job satisfaction in case there are hardly any promotional avenues within the organization. To augment job satisfaction, a number of companies have elaborate career development programmes, succession plans, assessment centers etc.
Supervision: Supervisory styles have a direct bearing on job satisfaction. In case the supervisor is autocratic, the employees are likely to be dissatisfied. On the other hand, if the supervisor makes way for employees’ participation in decision-making, goal-setting and making action plan to accomplish a job, the employees are likely to experience far more satisfaction at the work place.
Co-workers: Nature of co-workers may also have significant bearing on employee’s job satisfaction. In case the co-workers are hostile, non-cooperative and bad mouthed, the employee might experience dissatisfaction at the workplace. On the other hand, friendly co-workers may provide a lot of job satisfaction despite the job being quite tiring and demanding. Management can take corrective measures by providing more opportunities for socialization.
Working conditions: Working condition has a modest impact on job satisfaction. If the working condition is good ( for example: clean attractive surrounding, controlled temperature, proper illumination) the employees find it easier to work. On the other hand, if the working condition is poor (for example: hot and sultry environment, noisy surrounding, unhygienic workplace, etc.) the employees find it difficult to carry out their job. These days, most of the companies are working on Quality of Work-life programmes so as to make the workplace conducive for better performance and increased job satisfaction.
Personality: Personal disposition of an employee also has a direct bearing on job satisfaction. A cynical employee would never ever experience job satisfaction where as a person with positive outlook and attitude would experience satisfaction at the workplace despite all odds.
Outcomes of Job Satisfaction
Performance: It has been generally viewed that higher job satisfaction leads to higher performance (productivity).
Turnover: Low job satisfaction leads to higher labour turnover, on the contrary, high job satisfaction leads to low labour turnover.
Absenteeism: Low job satisfaction leads to higher absenteeism, on the contrary, high job satisfaction leads to low absenteeism.
How the employees express job dissatisfaction?
Exit: leaving the organization, looking for a new job
Voice: actively and constructively attempting to improve conditions
Loyalty: passively but optimistically waiting for conditions to improve, speaking up for organization in the wake of external criticism and trusting the organization and its management to do the right thing.
Neglect: passively allowing conditions to worsen, chronic absenteeism, reduced efforts, increased error rate.
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