Organization Theory and Behavior
PART I: ORGANIZATIONAL MANAGEMENT CONTINUUMS
Theory
X-Theory Y
Theories X and Y are salutary and straightforward
reminders of the fundamental rules of managing individuals, which, under the
pressures of the daily business, are forgotten quickly. Mc Gregor’s ideas imply
that there are two essential approaches to managing individuals. A Theory X
manager uses an authoritarian approach to management. According to the
management style, average people dislike work and will go to any extent to
avoid work. As a result, people need to be forced alongside punishment threats
to work toward organizational goals. Finally, theory X managers hold it that
the average individuals prefer to be ordered around; it is unambitious and
wants security above anything. On the other hand, theory Y managers are those
who practice a participative style of management. According to the theory,
effort in work is natural, like play and work, and individuals will exhibit
self-direction and self-control in the pursuit of organizational goals in the
absence of punishment threats and external control.
In times of organizational cutbacks, managers will
move from the Y approach to the X approach style of management. This is
because, in such times, productivity reduces, energy lacks, and attitude
towards work also worsens. Therefore, managers need to be result-oriented to
meet organizational objectives. In times of high corporate expansion, the
continuum shifts from the X to the Y extreme. This is because managers need to
get everyone on board, and therefore a participatory management style is ideal.
In times of low employee morale, the continuum also shifts from the X to the Y
extreme. Employees need to be given a certain level of independence, free of
punishment threats to pursue the goals of the organization. Finally, in times
of leadership uncertainties, the continuum moves from the Y to the X extreme.
This is because employees need to be directed and take responsibility for their
actions for results to be yielded.
Power-Authority
Authority is the formal right to make decisions
based on formal institutional relationships. It can also be seen as the right
of commanding others not to act or act in ways that are deemed by the possessor
of authority to advance the objectives of an organization. On the other hand,
power refers to the actual ability or potential of an individual to influence
the behavior of another or others. In times of organizational cutbacks, the
continuum shifts from authority to power. This is because, during such times,
the behavior of employees seems to take an adverse turn. Therefore, the best
approach is to adopt power in influencing events and the workforce to get
things done. Authority is such times may worsen their attitudes and morale
towards work. During a phase of organizational expansion, the continuum shifts
from power to authority. This is because authority flows from the top to the
bottom. Therefore, to fulfill objectives, managers need to get things done
through other people by virtue of their rights to make decisions. When there is
low morale, the continuum shifts from authority to power. This is because power
flows in any direction if the superiors can influence the behavior of the
employees; their morale can be boosted. Also, in such times, legitimacy is not
essential. For example, authority is official, while power needs not to be
formal. Thus, everyone has power and, therefore, can influence the other.
Finally, in times when there are uncertainties in leadership, the continuum
shifts from power to authority. In such times, if authority is not adopted,
organizational goals will not be met.
Conflict-Cooperation
In an organization, conflict can be described as a
state of discord arising from perceived or actual opposition of values, needs,
and interests between staff. Conflict often takes several forms, such as
inter-group conflicts, intra-group conflicts, and personal conflicts. On the
other hand, cooperation implies can be described as a state where organization
employees work together to achieve a common objective. This means a healthy
environment where employees work side by side to accomplish both organizational
and personal goals. In other words, when there is cooperation, employees work
with others rather than against each other to ensure optimum productivity. In
times of retrenchment, the continuum can shift from cooperation to conflict.
This is because, in such times, there are high rates of inefficiencies due to
reduced human resources. The most likely conflicts to arise in such a scenario
are inter-group and intra-group conflicts. This is mostly due to competition
and scarcity of resources. In times of organization expansion, the continuum
will shift from conflict to cooperation. This is because, when an organization
is growing, people need to work together to ensure that objectives are
achieved. For example, organization expansion comes with an increase in the
workforce, among other things. Thus, to ensure that the growth is sustained,
people have to work toward a common objective. In times of low employee morale,
the continuum may shift from cooperation to conflict. This the employees’
behavior is inseparable from the culture that surrounds it. If the culture
surrounding them reduces their morale, then there will be conflicts-personal,
inter-group, and intra-group. Lastly, in times of leadership uncertainties, the
continuum shifts from cooperation to conflict. This is because of the lack of
clear direction. This leaves the staff confused about the way to pursue to
fulfill the goals of the organization.
Orders-Incentives
In the most basic terms, an order is an
authoritative instruction to execute something. An incentive is something which
encourages or motivates one to do something. During organizational cutbacks,
the orders-incentive continuum shifts from orders to incentives. This is
because such times are graced with reduced productivity, low motivation, among
other things. Therefore, to turn around such a scenario, managers need to
motivate the employees for something to be done. Adopting the issuance of
orders approach will worsen the situation as the morale of employees will be
reduced. In times of organizational expansion, the continuum will shift from
incentives to orders. When an organization expands, the workforce also expands.
Therefore, for the organizational objectives to be achieved, clear and
authoritative instructions on who should do what, when, and how for activities
to be executed diligently. In scenarios where there is low employee morale, the
continuum sways from orders to incentives. Employees need to be motivated. The
primary incentive flavors can include moral, social, and economic incentives.
Usually, a single incentive scheme encompasses all three types. Finally, in
times where an organization has leadership uncertainties, the continuum shifts
from incentives to orders. What organizations lack in such times is the absence
of information regarding how, who, or even why an activity has taken place. In
such times, uncertainty will intensify and increase emotions. Orders are,
therefore need to ensure that everybody is on board.
Coalitions and Individuals
Coalitions can be defined as temporary alliances for
combined action, while individuals are single beings who are distinct from
groups. When an organization is going through a phase of retrenchment, the
coalition-individual continuum sways from individuals to coalitions. This is
because, in such times, activities are many, but the workforce has shrunk. It
is in such times that coalitions are invaluable in advocacy since they
establish a structure for both the individuals and the organization to share
ownership of similar objectives. Additionally, in such times, coalitions reduce
the duplication of resources and efforts. Further, coalitions facilitate the
exchange of skills, information, materials, experience, and also, opportunities
for collaboration. In times when the organization is expanding, the continuum
will again sway from individual to coalition. A coalition in such a scenario
will allow both the organization and the individual to network and offer encouragement,
peer support, professional recognition, and motivation. In a situation where
there is low employee morale, the continuum will shift from individual to
coalition. This is because, in coalitions, employees can always encourage each
other, share experiences, thereby boosting their morale. Finally, during
leadership uncertainties, the continuum will shift from coalition to
individual. This is because people become cautious about their attitudes. They
are afraid of making decisions or take action since they are not aware of how
to move forward or do not think it will make an impact. Consequently, they will
resort to individualism as opposed to colluding.
Bounded Rational Decisions-Incremental
Decisions
Bounded rationality refers to the idea that rationality
is limited when an individual makes a decision, by the traceability of the
decision problems, the cognitive constraints of the mind, and the time that is
available to make the decision. In other words, a bounded rational decision-maker
chose an alternative that will solve the problem at hand without focusing much
on ensuring that they have taken into account all possibilities. On the other
hand, incremental decisions are decisions that are not arrived at through one
massive leap toward the search of a remedy to a problem. Instead, an
incremental decision is where the process of making decisions is broken down
into small steps. Then, the process of moving in between the stages or steps is
based on the combination of intuition, experience, guessing and other
techniques. In times of organizational markets, the continuum shifts from
bounded rational decision to incremental decisions. This is because
retrenchment decisions need to take into account all the consequences of an
action. Retrenchment decisions are not made when rationality is limited. In
times of organizational expansion, the continuum can sway from bounded rational
decisions to incremental decisions. The organizational expansion calls for
critical planning, or else the organization will fail to meet the set goals as
a result of lack of planning. In a scenario where there is low employee morale,
the continuum tends to shift from incremental decisions to bounded rational
decisions. Lack of morale often pushes employees to act irrationally, thus
causing the shift. Finally, in a situation where there is leadership
uncertainty, the continuum sways from incremental decisions to a bounded
rational decision. Lack of clear leadership results into a lack of direction,
which consequently makes employees act in ways that are not rational. In other
words, uncertainty makes different people respond differently, yet they are in
the same organization.
SOP-Organizational Culture
Standard operating procedures imply documented
processes which an organization institutes to ensure that products and services
are consistently delivered each time. SOPs are usually used in the
demonstration of compliance with the operational or regulatory practices and to
document how activities need to executed in an organization. A procedure is not
a be-all, end-all remedy since it will not guarantee good results or excellent
performance. On the other hand, organizational culture entails behaviors and
values which contribute to the distinct psychological and social environment of
an organization.
Part II:
APPLICATION OF CONCEPTS (FAA)
Scientific management is a management model that
synthesizes and analyses the flow of work. Its main goal is to improve economic
efficiency, especially the productivity of labor. It was one of the first
attempts to incorporate science into the designing of processes to management.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) includes scientific management to
increase economic benefits, improve production, and reduce costs. According to
Taylor, a manager has to shoulder certain responsibilities and accomplish some
objectives to which he or she is not accustomed so as to comprehend the
scientific technique and implement it entirely. FAA has to develop a science
for every element of the air traffic controllers’ work, which substitutes the
ancient rule of the thumb approach. In this regard, a redesign of the selection
of air traffic controllers and their work environment is necessary for FAA.
Since the job of an air traffic controller entails the relaying of traffic
management information for use in the process of decision making, tower staff
will work in the Terminal Radar Approach Control (TRACON) or directly with the
Air Route Traffic Control Centers (ARTCCs). Generally, the TRACON staff works
through the overlying ARTCC. Finally, the ARTCC staff work in coordination with
the Air Traffic Control System Command Center (ATCSCC). The ATCSCC has the
final word on all the country’s traffic management programs and is in charge of
resolving inter-facility challenges. The hierarchy for other challenges is for
every field facility to work through its head office, which ultimately reports
to the headquarters. From an incentive point of view, FAA accords adequate incentives.
This includes both monetary and non-monetary incentives. For instance, the pay
and benefits, and work-life benefits are competitive. The roles of supervisors
have also been succinctly stated to avoid confusion. Air traffic control has no
room for errors, and as a result, roles have to be outlined.
Scientific management can considerably help in
ensuring effective decisions are taken, and FAA management can overcome the
pre-existing informal and formal cultural constraints that may oppose the
redesign. Scientific management gives tools for workers to improve efficiency
and output. The approach is ideal for an air traffic controller because the
entails tasks and activities that are repetitive. Therefore, the main essence
of the strategy and principles are that the staff need to be selected based on
a specific skill set that is related to the job, wages and incentives need to
be competitive to encourage the personnel to improve output, FAA leadership has
created a standard approach for conducting certain activities, existence of
attention to eliminating interruptions, and eradication of the rule of thumb
and substituting it with other techniques that are founded on a scientific
study of activities.
Effective decisions can be achieved through the ease
of control. Managers have reasonable control over the execution of tasks. The
staff become specialists in their areas of work as they can do the same
activity over and over; this makes it convenient for a manager to have control
over his or her team. Inaccuracies are also decreased. Scientific management is
based on observation and experiment of context-specific remedies. Thus, with
adequate planning as well as improved decision-making, accuracy levels are
increased. Autocracy is also decreased as the approach triggers FAA management
to adopt positive relationships with the staff. Cooperation among managers and
staff improves democracy in the entity hence reducing autocracy by towing the
scientific management line. Furthermore, in the contemporary world, and especially
the aviation industry, technology is the only tool that is available to the
team that assists in making decision.
The adoption of the scientific management approach
in the organization will overcome both the pre-existing informal and formal
cultural constraints that would hinder the redesign. Formal cultural
constraints can arise in the form of unclear hierarchical structures or
ineffective operating procedures. The management eliminates such constraints
because, for it to be implemented, there needs to be a well-documented standard
operating procedure and a clear hierarchy of command. Therefore, change cannot
be resisted as the staff will smoothly transition as they specialize in their
various duties and responsibilities. Informal cultural constraints can take the
form of intra-group or inter-group conflicts. The approach prevents such since
the idea behind the theory is founded on teamwork. In an organization where
teamwork is vital, resistance to change is highly unlikely.
However, scientific management has its share of
controversies over the alleged inhumanity of the approach. It is argued that
the technique reduces employees to the level of efficiently operating machines.
In fairness, it should be noted that the principles may have been misunderstood.
For instance, a few sections of the opponents have been willing to practice one
of the important tenets-that pay and benefits of a highly-productive worker
needs not to have a limit. Such restrictions characterize the majority of the
incentive schemes. The unwillingness may constrain the “revolution in
mentality” that the founders of the theory sought. They required that both
sides or parties need to move away from the division of surplus as the all
essential matter and collectively focus their attention toward the increment of
the quantity of surplus.
PART III:
APPLICATION OF CONCEPTS
Visible Artefacts for Central Michigan and
Eastern Michigan
At Central Michigan University, the artifacts shown
in the video include student activity center and the activities conducted in
the center, resident halls (hostels), dining locations, Anspach hall, library,
science building, education and human service building, college of medicine,
book store, and open spaces. In other words, the artifacts highlighted encompass
what Central Michigan University has to offer both inside and outside the
classroom environment. On the other hand, the artifacts shown in the Eastern
Michigan University include the student center which harbors various resources,
eating locations, residential halls, library, kitchenettes, recreational
equipment and facilities, and college of business.
Emphasis in the Central Michigan Video and
Eastern Michigan Video
The Central Michigan video emphasizes various
elements. For instance, in the exhibition of dining locations, it can be seen
that multiple locations offer multiple types of food. This means that one can
choose to indulge in junk food or eat healthy foods. Also, the student center
activities depict that the university is keen on allowing students to explore
their abilities in the sporting arena. This is shown by the availability of
various sporting activities such as swimming, among others. Generally, the primary
emphasis of the video is to show how the university provides the best
facilities that a student needs to excel both in the academic and also in the
sporting arena. The Eastern Michigan University, the video emphasizes its
commitment to accommodate a broad range of cultures by promoting diversity. The
student center resources mainly highlight this. Additionally, the student
center was rated as the best resource center in the country. Further, the video
emphasizes the campus commitment to engage with the community through programs
such as volunteer programs. Finally, the video has emphasized the university’s
excellence as depicted by the various accolades that it has won. Generally, if
one intends to join the university, he or she is assured that they have made
the right choice to join a university that has a proven success record.
Dimension of Organizational Culture
From a university perspective, organizational
culture implies the systematic way students and staff interact and behave among
themselves. The culture is collectively made up of norms, values, and habits.
The dimension of organizational culture at Central Michigan University is
innovation. Students who need opportunities and facilities to create new
services or products should consider joining the university. The university
does not only encourage innovation but gives students time and space to pursue
their endeavors. The approach has resulted in the emergence of exceptional
talents in football, innovations in medicine, engineering, and other disciplines.
On the other hand, the dimension of organizational
culture at Eastern Michigan University is people-oriented. The university
values fairness and supports people’s dignity and rights. The institution
accords it’s a range of resources for its students. One key exhibit is the
availability of the Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) resource
center and office of the multicultural center. Further, from the video,
inclusivity, which is tied to a people-oriented culture, is evident from a large
number of nationalities and cultures from all over the world who have enrolled
at the campus. The “supportive” aspect of the culture is also seen
through the participation of 18 Eastern Michigan University teams in Division
One. The students are also not charged to watch and support their colleagues.