A Primer on Organizational Behavior - Audio Tidbits Podcast

Audio Tidbits Podcast

Bowditch, James L. and Anthony F. Buono. A Primer on Organizational Behavior. Sixth Edition. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons, 2005.

Business ethics constitute a way of translating values into appropriate behaviors that respond to the realities of daily life.

There also seems to be an ethical theory to justify virtually every form of behavior–from teleological ethics that examine the consequences of an act to deontological ethics that look at the extent to which a behavior conforms to certain universally accepted guiding principles.

As a way of thinking through these issues in an applied framework, the Center for Business Ethics at Bentley College has formulated six simple questions about a behavior or act for the “practical philosopher” that are used in its corporate train- ing programs: Is it right? Is it fair? Who gets hurt? Would you be comfortable if the details of your decision were reported on the front page of your local newspaper? What would you tell your child to do? How does it smell?

As researchers began to focus on the interaction between the structural and behavioral dimensions of organizations and the influence of the external environment, the concept of a business firm as a system began to dominate organizational theory. According to this perspective, an organization is conceptual- ized as a system composed of subunits or subsystems that continually interact with and are mutually dependent on each other. 4 ‘ Actions that occur within one part of the system not only affect that particular unit but can have a “ripple effect” through other organizational subsystems as well. The impli- cation of Systems Theory, therefore, is that things do not simply happen, but rather they evolve from multiple pressures and can entail multiple outcomes. …
…an organization receives feed- back or information concerning its performance. The continuous flow of information between a system, its internal components, and the external environment forms a.feed- back loop that enables the organization to adapt to changing environmental conditions. Thus, the capacity to use this information to control the system and make necessary changes is crucial if organizations are to become self-correcting systems.

Caution must be exercised, however, when determining functionality. Certain behaviors that may appear to be dysfunctional for task performance may be quite functional for individuals and their informal system by fulfilling social needs and reinforcing certain norms and interaction patterns.

Communication is essentially an interactive, person-to-person process. It is a dynamic transactional process in which individuals construct meaning and develop expectations about their experiences, what is occurring, and the world around them, and then share these meanings and expectations with one another through the exchange of symbols.

…there are different types of leadership, several of which can operate at the same time. Similarly, groups and organizations often have multiple objectives that may be addressed by different leaders.

What is the appropriate way to divide and coordinate work and work-related processes throughout the organization ? Where will these decisions be made in the organization ? How will the organization attempt to control the actions and activities of its members ?

…designing integrative mechanisms that actually coordinate and integrate rather than merely control is, perhaps, one of the greatest challenges in today’s organizations.

The main drawback associated with decentralization is when so much authority is delegated throughout the organization that managers at all levels are able to make their own decisions, making system-level planning and coordination difficult at best. In this instance, organizations can begin to lose control over their decision-making processes.

The main design challenge confronting managers is to find a way to use norms, guidelines, and rules to standardize behavior while simultaneously providing their employees with the opportunity and encouragement to experiment, innovate, and discover new and better ways to achieve organizational goals.

It is important to realize, however, that multiple cultures often exist in organizations. While organizations typically have a dominant culture , corporations, divisions, plants, and departments may have cultures that are distinct from the larger group. In fact, as recent research suggests, these subcultures appear to exert a more powerful influence than the larger organizational culture on employee commitment.

In many instances, employees do not speak directly of values, beliefs, and assumptions but instead imply them through a diverse set of concrete examples and stories. These narratives organize beliefs about the organization and its value system by acting as a “map” that facilitates a person’s understanding of how things are done. Such stories and myths are often filtered through a “cultural network” that continues to reinforce and remind people of “why we do things that way.” Organizational storytellers spread the corporate folklore and dramatize the exploits of the firm’s heroes and heroines. It is important to note that widely known stories do not necessarily support organizational needs. “Negative stories” can teach people what aspects or individuals of an organization to be wary of or how to “beat the system.” Myths and stories, therefore, can be either functional or dysfunctional for the organization.

As a reflection of the organization’s values, the managerial culture concerns the basic concept of authority that exists in the organization in terms of dominant leadership styles and orientations, mental frameworks, and ways of behaving and solving problems that are influenced by the values supported by the organization.