ASIAN DEVELOPMENT FOUNDATION COLLEGE GRADUATE STUDIES Tacloban City

Chapter 10

ISSUES BETWEEN ORGANIZATIONS AND INDIVIDUALS

Prepared By: sam petals

Some areas of potential individual-organization conflict are (a) legitimacy of organizational influence, (b) rights of privacy, and (c) discipline. The main concern of the organization, however, is to ensure that the employees activities and choices are guided but not unduly controlled to the detriment of the employee. In order to protect both the organization and the worker, companies usually develop policies to guide their decisions and enforce certain performance standards in order to guide employees in their behavior. A. Legitimacy of organizational influence. Every organization develops certain policies & requirements for performance. Organizational conflict is likely to develop if the organization & an individual define the boundaries of legitimate influence differently. Example: If employees believe that it is legitimate for management to control the personal telephone calls they make at work, they may dislike managements interference with their freedom on this matter, but they are unlikely to develop serious conflict with management about it. If employees believe that their personal calls are their own private right, then this issue may become a focus of conflict with management. Agreement avoids conflict. Research shows that there is reasonable agreement within the general population concerning legitimate areas of organizational influence on employees. Below is a model of legitimacy of organizational influence that has been developed from research. The two key variables in the model are (a) type of conduct (on-the-job or off-the-job) and (b) job relatedness (jobrelated or not job-related).

A Model of Legitimacy of Organizational Influence

B. Rights of Privacy. Rights of privacy are primarily related to organizational invasion of a persons private life and unauthorized release of confidential information about a person in a way that would cause emotional harm or suffering. There are certain conditions that have to be met in order to define invasion of privacy, i.e.: 1. Personality (versus performance) information is used; 2. No permission is obtained before disclosure; 3. Unfavorable consequences happens as a result of the disclosure; 4. Disclosure is external (rather than inside the company).

Examples of business activities that may involve employee right of privacy: 1. Lie detectors 2. Personality tests 3. Encounter groups 4. Medical examinations 5. Treatment of alcoholism 6. Monitoring of employee lifestyles 7. Treatment of drug abuse 8. Surveillance devices 9. Computer data banks 10. Confidential records 11. Genetic screening 12. Inquiry into personal relationships Most companies provide certain policies that are relevant in the protection of the employees right to privacy. Relevance - only necessary, useful information should be recorded and retained. Recency obsolete information should be removed periodically. Notice there should be no personal data system that is unknown to an employee. Fiduciary duty the keeper of the information is responsible for its security. Confidentiality information should be released only to those who have a need to know, and release outside the organization normally should occur only with the employees permission. Due process the employee should be able to examine records and challenge them if they appear incorrect. Protection of the psyche the employees inner self should not be invaded or exposed except with prior consent and for compelling reasons.

C. Discipline. In order to accomplish goals, management uses discipline. Discipline is management action to enforce organizational standards. The area of discipline can have a strong impact on the individual in the organization. There are two types of discipline: (a) Preventive discipline, and (b) Corrective discipline. (a) Preventive Discipline is action taken to encourage employees to follow standards and rules so that infractions do not occur. Prevention is best done by making company standards known and understood in advance. The basic objective of preventive discipline is to encourage employee selfdiscipline. (b) Corrective Discipline is action that follows infraction of a rule. It seeks to discourage further infractions so that future acts will be in compliance with standards. Typically, the corrective action is a penalty of some type and is called disciplinary action. The objectives of corrective discipline are positive, educational, and corrective as follows: To reform the offender; To deter others from similar actions; To maintain consistent, effective group standards. Most employers apply a policy of progressive discipline, which means that there are stronger penalties for repeated offenses. Below is a progressive discipline system: Step 1 Step 2
Verbal reprimand by supervisor

Written reprimand, w/ a record in personnel file

Step 3

1 to 3 days suspension from work

Step 4

Suspension for 1 week or longer

Step 5

Discharge for cause

Organizations have certain social obligations towards their employees which can help minimize, if not eliminate, conflicts between the individual and organization. One social obligation is to improve the quality of work like (QWL) for its employees.