WEEK 3:

MANAGEMENT CONTEXT

Source:Cole,K. Management : Theory and practice-4th ed. - pages: 32 - 52Robbins,St.,Coulter,M. Management-11th ed. – pages: - 65

Lecturer: Bahman MoghimiDoctor of Business AdministrationM.Sc. Of “Industrial Marketing & e-Commerce”

Session ThreeUniversity of Georgia

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DEFINITIONS

Omnipotent view of management: The dominant view in management theory and society in general is that managers are directly responsible for an organization’s success or failure.

symbolic view of management: In contrast, others have argued that much of an organization’s success or failure is due to external forces outside managers’ control

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CONSTRAINTS ON MANAGERIAL DISCRETION

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External environment Refers to factors and forces outside the organization that

affect its performance

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Environmental Uncertainty Matrix

Environmental uncertainty: refers to the degree of change and complexity in an organization’s environment.

Environmental complexity: refers to the number of components in an organization’s environment and the extent of the knowledge that the organization has about those components9

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Organizational Stakeholders

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What is Culture?

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WHAT IS ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE?

has been described as the shared values, principles, traditions, and ways of doing things that influence the way organizational members act. In most organizations, these shared values and practices have evolved over time and determine, to a large extent, how “things are done around here.”

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Dimensions of Organizational Culture

Strong cultures—those in which the key values are deeply held and widely shared—have a greater influence on employees than do weaker cultures

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Contrasting Organizational Cultures

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Strong Versus Weak Cultures

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Establishing and Maintaining Culture Why is having a strong culture important? For one thing, in organizations with strong

cultures, employees are more loyal than are employees in organizations with weak

cultures. Research also suggests that strong cultures are associated with high

organizational performance. And it’s easy to understand why. After all, if values are

clear and widely accepted, employees know what they’re supposed to do and what’s

expected of them, so they can act quickly to take care of problems. However, the

drawback is that a strong culture also might prevent employees from trying new

approaches especially when conditions are changing rapidly.

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Establishing and Maintaining Culture

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HOW EMPLOYEES LEARN CULTURE STORIES. Organizational “stories” typically contain a narrative of

significant events or people including such things as the organization’s founders, rule breaking, reactions to past mistakes, and so forth

RITUALS. Corporate rituals are repetitive sequences of activities that express and reinforce the important values and goals of the organization.

MATERIAL ARTIFACTS AND SYMBOLS. The layout of an organization’s facilities, how employees dress, the types of automobiles provided to top executives, and the availability of corporate aircraft are examples of material symbols. Others include the size of offices, the elegance of furnishings, executive “perks” (extra benefits provided to managers such as health club memberships, use of company-owned facilities, and so forth), employee fitness centers or on-site dining facilities, and reserved parking spaces for certain employees

LANGUAGE. The way to identify and unite members of a culture19B.Moghimi@yahoo.co.uk

HOW CULTURE AFFECTS MANAGERSPlanning• The degree of risk that plans should contain• Whether plans should be developed by individuals or teams• The degree of environmental scanning in which management will engageOrganizing• How much autonomy should be designed into employees’ jobs• Whether tasks should be done by individuals or in teams• The degree to which department managers interact with each otherLeading• The degree to which managers are concerned with increasing employee job satisfaction• What leadership styles are appropriate• Whether all disagreements—even constructive ones—should be eliminatedControlling• Whether to impose external controls or to allow employees to control their own actions• What criteria should be emphasized in employee performance evaluations• What repercussions will occur from exceeding one’s budget

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EXAMPLE… UNWRITTEN MANAGERIAL CULTURES

Look busy even if you’re not.

If you take risks and fail around here, you’ll pay dearly for it.

Before you make a decision, run it by your boss so that he or she is never

surprised.

We make our product only as good as the competition forces us to.

What made us successful in the past will make us successful in the future.

If you want to get to the top here, you have to be a team player.

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CREATING AN INNOVATIVE CULTURE

Challenge and involvement – Are employees involved in, motivated by, and committed to long-term goals and success of the organization?

Freedom – Can employees independently define their work, exercise discretion, and take initiative in their day-to-day activities?

Trust and openness – Are employees supportive and respectful to each other? Idea time – Do individuals have time to elaborate on new ideas before taking

action? Playfulness/humor – Is the workplace spontaneous and fun? Conflict resolution – Do individuals make decisions and resolve issues based on

the good of the organization versus personal interest? Debates – Are employees allowed to express opinions and put forth ideas for

consideration and review? Risk-taking – Do managers tolerate uncertainty and ambiguity, and are employees

rewarded for taking risks?45

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Creating a Customer-Responsive Culture

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WORKPLACE SPIRITUALITY

It’s a culture in which organizational values promote a sense of purpose through meaningful work taking place in the context of community.

Organizations with a spiritual culture recognize that people have a mind and a spirit, seek to find meaning and purpose in their work, and desire to connect with other human beings and be part of a community.

Such desires aren’t limited to workplaces, as a recent study showed that college students also are searching for meaning and purpose in life

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SPIRITUAL ORGANIZATIONS CULTURAL CHARACTERISTICS

1. Strong sense of purpose. Spiritual organizations build their cultures around a meaningful purpose. While profits are important, they’re not the primary values of the organization

2. Focus on individual development. Spiritual organizations recognize the worth and value of individuals. They aren’t just providing jobs; they seek to create cultures in which employees can continually grow and learn

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SPIRITUAL ORGANIZATIONS CULTURAL CHARACTERISTICS

3. Trust and openness. Spiritual organizations are characterized by mutual trust, honesty, and openness. Managers aren’t afraid to admit mistakes. And they tend to be extremely upfront with employees, customers, and suppliers

4. Employee empowerment. Managers trust employees to make thoughtful and conscientious decisions. For instance, at Southwest Airlines, employees—including flight attendants, baggage handlers, gate agents, and customer service representatives—are encouraged to take whatever action they deem necessary to meet customer needs or help fellow workers, even if it means going against company policies

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SPIRITUAL ORGANIZATIONS CULTURAL CHARACTERISTICS

5. Toleration of employee expression. The final characteristic that differentiates spiritually based organizations is that they don’t stifle employee emotions. They allow people to be themselves—to express their moods and feelings without guilt or fear of reprimand.

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TEAM EXERCISE

Although all organizations face environmental constraints, the components in their external environments differ. Get into a small group with three to four other class members and choose one organization from two different industries.

Describe the external components for each organization. How are your descriptions different for the two organizations? How are they similar? Now, using the same two organizations,

see if you can identify the important stakeholders for these organizations. As a group, be prepared to share your information with the class and to explain your choices.

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Mind-map for Organizational Cultural Competence

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