Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Example: Groupthink
The mode of thinking that persons engage in when concurrence seeking becomes so dominant in a cohesive in-group that it tends to override realistic appraisal of alternative courses of action.
Example: Groupthink
Symptoms of groupthink:
An illusion of invulnerability; Collective construction of rationalizations that permit
group members to ignore warnings or other other forms of negative feedback; Unquestioning belief in the morality of the in-group; Strong, negative stereotyped views about the leaders of enemy groups; Rapid application of pressure against group members who express even momentary doubts about virtually any illusions the group shares;
Example: Groupthink
Symptoms of groupthink (contd.):
Careful, conscious, personal avoidance of deviation
from what appears to be a group consensus; Shared illusions of unanimity of opinion; And. Establishment of mind guards people who protect the leader and fellow members from adverse information that might break the complacency they shared about the effectiveness and morality of past decisions.
Example: Groupthink
Incidents of groupthink at the federal level:
The 1941 failure to prepare for the Japanese attack on Pearl
Harbor. The 1950 decision during the Korean War to send General Douglas McArthur to the Yalu River. The 1961 decisions to allow an American-sponsored invasion of Cuba by expatriate Cubans trained by the CIA to overthrow the government of Fidel Castro. The 1965 decision to introduce American ground troops into Vietnam. The 2001 failure to anticipate the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. The 2003 decision to invade Iraq.
Organizational Behavior
The study of organizational behavior comprises those aspects of behavioral sciences that focus on the understanding of human behavior in organizations. Classic model: authoritarian and militaristic.
Organizational Behavior
Douglas McGregors (1960) humanistic model:
Organizations are created to serve human ends; Organizations and people need each other
(organizations need ideas, energy, and talent; people need careers, salaries, and work opportunities); When the fit between the needs of the individual and the organization is poor, one or both will suffer (exploitation by one or the other or both). A good fit between individuals and organizations benefits both because people gain meaningful satisfying work.
Organizational Behavior
When confronted with change, classical model assumes no concern for workers. By contrast, modern behaviorists assume that organization will:
Minimize fear of change by inclusion of many in
decision-making process; Minimize negative impacts of change on vulnerable workers; Coopt formal and informal leaders; and Find alternatives for those workers for whom change is negative.
Organizational Behavior
Group dynamics
Organizations involve the development of formal and
informal work groups built around specializations. Groups develop norms (shared beliefs, values, and assumptions) and expect conformity through reward and punishment. Norms generate organizational stability, but can lead to overconformity. When a group becomes institutionalized, the norms become the basis for a cohesive group and an organizational subculture.
Organizational Behavior
Group dynamics (contd.).
Group dynamics is the subfield of organizational
behavior concerned with the nature of groups, how they develop, and how they interrelate with individuals and other groups. Primary groups (face-to-face interaction)
Formal (task-oriented). Informal (socially-defined). Critical to the functioning of the organization.
Organizational Behavior
Organizational Behavior
Organizational Behavior
Organization development.
All organizations need constant change and renovation.
Organizational Behavior
Organizational Behavior
The impact of personality.
Personality can impact performance (Hippocrates four humors, 500 BC).
Sanguine (optimistic and energetic). Melancholic (moody and withdrawn). Choleric (irritable and impulsive). Phlegmatic (calm and slow).
Disadvantages of bureaucracy.
Rule-bound, over-procedural, protection of authority and influence.
Vices.
May sacrifice substantive justice for procedural justice.
the exception. Reality: Public performance not inferior to private performance. Reality: American bureaucratic performance vastly superior to performance in other countries.
Motivation
Hawthorne experiments Workplaces are predominantly social institutions. Direct challenge to economic models of motivation. Maslows needs hierarchy.
Motivation
Motivation hygiene theory.
Herzberg, Mauser, Snyderman. Determinants of job satisfaction.
Achievement, recognition, work itself, responsibility, and advancement (Job content motivations). Internal
Motivation
Toward a democratic environment.
A more participatory management style. Three stratagems for a more democratic
working environment.
Symbolic. Management-initiated. Management-union initiated.
Motivation
Douglas McGregor.
Theory X.
The average human being has an inherent dislike for work. Most people must be coerced or threatened with punishment to get them to put forth adequate effort. People prefer to be directed and wish to avoid responsibility. RESULT Hierarchy and military organization.
Motivation
Douglas McGregor.
Theory Y.
The expenditure of physical and mental effort in work is as natural as play or rest. A person will exercise self-direction and self-control in the service of objectives to which he is committed. Avoidance of responsibility, lack of ambition, and emphasis on security are generally consequences of experience, not inherent human characteristics. The capacity to exercise a relatively high degree of imagination, ingenuity, and creativity in the solution of organizational problems is widely, not narrowly, distributed in the population.
Motivation
Assumptions about behavior can be selffulfilling prophecies. However, public organizations have difficulty developing coherent philosophies because of conflicting goals and objectives.
Toffler Adhocracy.
However, hierarch still dominates, still serves a purpose in bringing order out of chaos.