Organisational Effectiveness and Control

8/7/2019 Organisational Effectiveness and Control

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ORGANISATIONAL EFFECTIVENESS

Overview &Concepts: Survival of the organization for a long run is the measurement ofeffectiveness.

Effectiveness can be defined as the degree to which organization realizes itsgoals.

Organizational effectiveness is the extent to which an organization given certain

resources and means, achieve its objectives without placing a due strain on itsmembers.

Effectiveness is the ability of an organization to mobilize its centers of power for

action, production and adaptation.

Approaches of organizational effectiveness:

1. Goal attainment approach The primary concern of an organization is to accomplish

goals, where goal attainment is widely been used for organizational effectiveness. Thisapproach can be made by assumptions like

Each organization will have an ultimate goal.

All the organizational members must understand the organization goals.

These goals must have general consensus.

The goals to be attained must be manageable.

The goals progress must be measurable.

Goal statements can be a single variable that includes rate of return on investment.The actual performance is measured and compared with the goals set to know the

extent of effectiveness by organization.

Limitations of Goal Approach

If the organization does not produce the tangible outputs, than the implication ofthe approach is not possible.

As the organization has different types of goals in short-run, long-run, individual,

organizational and operational, it is difficult to consider and measures all these

goals.

The goals can compete with each other and in certain cases, they also

incompatible.

2. System approach

In this case an effort would make to know whether the existing organization

system is capable of acquiring input and transforming these inputs to desireoutput. The total system effectiveness is dependent on its sub-parts of the

performance. The interrelation between various parts of the organization and

organization environments influences the effectiveness of the organization.


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The job satisfaction level of the employee and the clarity of the communication

etc. are the inputs for the Managers to understand the nature of their environmentsand help to set realistic goals that accommodate the environments.

If the organization can successfully adapt the structure, work, technologies,

policies according to the changing environments, than it is said to be more

effective.

Limitations of system approach

Limitations to respond to the environment changes and such qualitative variable

may lead to appropriate measurement.

It focuses on means rather than the ends.

Strategic Constituencies approach

It considers the interdependencies among the different subsystems in the

organization like system approach but does not consider the entire environment. Itconsiders only that part of environment which effects the survival of theorganization.

It assumes that the organization environments both inside and outside faces

competing demand from various interest groups. Thus, the management must

avoid unimportant and no competing demand by selecting strategic constituenciesfor the organization to survive.

The steps to be followed for being effective

1. The management for the survival of the organization must identify integralconstituencies in the environment.

2. Each constituencys power must be evaluated by considering the extent to

which the organization depends on them.3. The management must identify the expected constituencies for

organization effectiveness.

4. The constituencies must be arranged in power and expectations by themanagement.

5. The effectiveness of the organization is known by assessing its ability to

satisfy these constituencies that are ranked.

Limitations of strategic constituencies approach

It is difficult to separate the strategic constituencies from the larger environment.

The critical constituencies expectations are difficult to be assigned. The constituencies expectation holds on for the organization requires

identification and measurement.

Behavioral approach

The approach advocates for the people who determine the quality and quantity of

organization response to the demand made by the environment. As the


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Affective Atmosphere The balance between the +Ve & -Ve choices in an

organizational unit.

Centralisation - The degree of concentration for the prescribed, actual, desired,perceived, choices in a specified person or group.

ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE& CLIMATE

An individual join an organization with the values, beliefs and the expected behavior thatis common in his family and surroundings. However the organization will expect that the

individual will adopt with the existing culture of it and for that matter the individual will

be taught about the values, beliefs and expected behavior that are common in the

organization.

The training attempts to psychologically strip down the new recruits and then restructure

their way of thinking and their values. The key challenge for the new economy,

Information Age organizations is to instill and sustain a corporate wide culture thatencourages knowledge sharing.

The most important part in organization culture is the shared norms and values that guide

organizational participants behavior. It is important to note here that the organizations

are not only active to teach the newcomers about organizations norms and values, it isthe newcomers who also seek out and want to learn about their organizations culture.

Definition

Edgar Schein defined - As a pattern of basic assumption, invented, discovered or

developed by a group as it learns to cope with its problems of external adaptations andexternal integration that has worked well enough to be considered valuable and thereforeto be taught to new members as the correct way to perceive, think and feel in relation to

those problems.

Taylor defined - As the complex whole, which includes knowledge, belief, art, law,

custom and any other capability and habits acquired by man as a member of the society.

Characteristics

Observed behavioral regularities When organizational participants interact with

one another, they use common language, terminology and rituals related to

deference and demeanor. Norms Standard of behavior exists, including guidelines on how much work to

do, which in many organizations come down to Do not do too much; do not do

too little.

Dominant values There are major values that the organization advocates and

expects the participants to share. Typical examples are high product quality, low

absenteeism and high efficiency.


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Philosophy There are policies that set forth the organizations beliefs about how

employees and/or customers are to be treated.

Rules There are strict guidelines related to getting along in the organization.Newcomers must learn those ropes in order to be accepted as full-fledged

members of the group.

Organizational climate This is an overall feeling that is conveyed by thephysical layout, the way participants interact, and the way members of the

organization conduct themselves with customers or other outsiders.

Uniformity of Culture A common misconception is that an organization has a uniform

culture, which is not true in reality. Although an organization culture is a commonperception held by the organizations members and every one in the organization has to

share this perception but in most cases all the members may not do so to the same degree.

This will result a dominant culture and subcultures throughout a typical organization.

Dominant culture It is consist of a set of a value being shared by the majority membersof the organization. This creates a certain values in the organization, which helps by

guiding the day-to-day behavior of the employees.

Sub-culture - It consist of a set of values being shared by the small minority members of

the organization. This reflects a common problem, situations or experiences that are facedby the members and are developed in large organizations.

Sub-culture can weaken and undermine an organization if they are in conflict withdominant culture and/or the overall objectives. Successful firms, however, find that this is

not always the case. Most sub-cultures are formed to help the members of a particular

group deal with the specific day-to-day problem with which they are confronted.

Strength and weakness of organizational culture - The strength of the organization is

determined by two factors. These are shared ness and intensity. Shared ness refers to the

extent the organization members share the core values. While the intensity is the extent towhich the organizational members commit to the core values. Further, the shared ness

consist of two affecting major factors namely orientation and rewards. Orientation occurs

when the boss and co-workers share the values either by work or day-to-day habits.Reward will occur when the members who share the core values be awarded by the

organization in the form of promotion, raise or recognition. The result of the reward

system is the degree of intensity.

Functions of culture - Culture performs several functions within the organization

It creates a distinction between one organization to other.

A sense of identity is conveyed to the members of the organization.

It facilitates the people to get committed to something large then their own self

interest.

Provide appropriate standards to say and perform.


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It guides and shapes the attitude and behavior of the employees through a control

mechanism.

Creation of organization culture There are three basic way for creation of

organization culture. These are

The employees are hired and kept by the founders who think and feel the waythey perform and set the norms is the organizations culture..

The employees are encouraged by the founders role model behavior so as to

identify the behavior within them and will internalize their beliefs, values andassumption.

Some time the founders may create weak culture, where the organization can

survive, the organization has to employ a new top manager who will takenecessary steps to strengthen the culture of the organization.

However the processes of the development of culture have following steps-

A single person (founder) has an idea for a new enterprise.

The founder brings in one or more key people and creates a core group that sharesa common vision with the founder. That is, all in this core group believe that the

idea is a good one, is workable, is worth running some risks for, and is worth theinvestment of time, money, and energy that will be required.

The founding core group begins to act in concert to create an organization by

raising funds, obtaining patents, incorporating, locating space, building and so on.

At this point, others are brought into the organization, and a common history

begins to be built.

Maintaining Organizational Culture Once the organization is created and developed,

the next step is to maintain the organizational culture. The steps involved are

Selection of entry level personnel Is done with the help of standardized

procedures and specific traits measurement which leads to effective performance,

the recruiters who are trained must interview the individuals and must remove theindividuals whose styles and values does not match with the organization culture.

Only the suitable individuals will let the culture to turn out better.

Placement on the job The individual who has beenhired will be placed in the

job and will be given more work to handle and see that how far they perform itand honor & accept the organization norms and values.

Job mastery It is carefully reinforced through training and performance is

evaluated. If necessary additional responsibility is assigned by establishing a step-by-step approach to their future career plan.

Measuring & rewarding performance The step involves in measuring

operational results and rewarding individuals performance. The operationalmeasures are concerned with three main factors; they are building volume, profit

& making change in order to increase the effectiveness and to add job satisfaction.

Based on the success, the promotions and merits are paid.


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Adherence to important values Through identifying these values, the

employees are helped to reconcile their personal sacrifies brought in by theirmembership in their organization. In this way the values are accepted by the

employees and also trust the organization for not doing anything that huts them.

Reinforcing the stories and folklore The next step involves reinforcing

organizational folklore. This entails keeping alive stories that validate theorganizations culture and way of doing things. The folklore helps explain why

the organization does things a particular way. One of the most common forms of

folklore is stories with morals the enterprise wants to reinforce.

Recognition & promotion These are given for the individual who perform well

in their job & behavior as a role model for the new people joining the

organization.

Changing organization culture In some cases the organizations would require certain

changes. In case if there is a drastic change in the external environment, the organizationadapt to new changes otherwise it cannot survive. However, the change of culture would

face resistances, those include skills, staff, relationship, roles and structure that workstogether to reinforce the traditional cultural pattern.

Culture can be changed and managed over time but it takes many different forms of

history, creating a sense of humor, promoting a sense of membership and increasing

exchange among members are helpful.

Organizational Climate

Organizational climate occurs in human environment within organization where

the employee performs their work.

Anything that occurs in the organization will affect the climate.

Organization climate is relatively enduring quality of the internal environmentthat is experienced by its members, influences their behavior and can be describedin terms of values of particular set of characteristics of the organization.

Organization climate describe an organization and that a) distinguishes oneorganization from another b) are relatively enduring over a period of time and c)

influences the behavior of people in organization.

Elements for a favorable climate A climate may vary from favorable to neutral tounfavorable. A favorable climate is necessary for both the employer and the employees as

it will help the employer to maintain peace & harmony along with productivity and the

employees to perform good with job satisfaction.

There are several elements been required to have favorable climate, like :

Quality leadership.

Amount of trust

Communication upward & downward.

Feeling of useful work.

Responsibility.


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Fair awards.

Reasonable job pressure.

Opportunity.

Reasonable control, structure & bureaucracy.

Employee & participation.

Measuring organization climate An attempt to capture the essence, environment,

order and pattern of an organization is similar for measuring the organizational climate.

In general it is measured through a questionnaire usually consisting of 25 questions forwhich that the employees have to respond. These questions are answered in some form of

a scale, which vary from two to six points/ten points scale. e.g.

(1)Decision making in the organization is too cautious for maximum effectiveness

Definitely Inclined Neutral Inclined toDefinitely

Disagree Disagree Agree Agree

1 2 3 4 5

Changing organizational climate

It is possible through changes of structure, design, management development andplanning system.

It is usually done through stages.

As climate is the manifestation of the attitudes to the members of theorganization, it takes some time to change the managerial philosophy, changes

the rules, regulation and procedure as well as observes the changes in the human

resources.

Factors affecting organizational climate

Organizational context The basic factor that affect the climate is managementphilosophy. The climate will be good only when the company utilizes both human

& non-human resources.

Favorable climate will results when the existing management techniques and

organizational goals matches the employees expectation.

Structure The organization structure has an impact on its climate. If the

management has a strong belief in participative decision-making, it will promote a

decentralized structure. While in case the management feels to maintain at a

greater degree in operations consistency regarding decision making, than itbecomes a centralized structure.

Process The management carries out objectives through the process ofcommunication, decision-making, motivation and leadership. These process

involves in the relationship between superior and subordinates. All these process

affect the climate in the organization. If they ve.ly influence the climate, theperformance of the employees may be influenced.


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Physical Environment The climate may get affected due to the external

conditions of the environment. If the employees work is performed in a clean &safe environment that will lead to a favorable climate.

System values & norms Formal value system like policies, rules and

regulations which are communicated to the employees and results encouragement

and rewards influence the employees behavior and thus the climate.

POWER & POLITICS

Power is a term which can be felt exercised but difficult to define. The difficulty

.is for multidimensional nature of power.

Power is the ability of an individual to control others.

The managers are given the power to manage the organization & help to attain theorganization goal.

The power makes the manager to influence the employees and make them tolisten to their advice for goal achievement.

On the basis of quantum & momentum of power the leadership style differ. It is

the power, which influence the style of management & behavior of theorganization.

Definition of Power: Power is the ability to get things done the way one wants them to

be done.

As perMax Weber Power is the probability of one actor within a social relationshipthat will be in position to carryout his own will despite resistance.

As perRobin Power is the capacity the A has to influence the behavior of B, so that Bdoes something he would not do otherwise.

Characteristics of Power :

Dependency relationship :Fundamental character of power is dependency. If thedependence is higher by one person on another than the amount of power will also

be higher.

Power is specific : Power can be exercised by some one at some circumstances.

The range of power can not be exercised by all the people at all the time. Reciprocal relationships: The relationship of power in the organization is

essentially reciprocal in nature. The power is of two-way concept i.e. influencing

others & being influenced by the others.

Sources of Power : It consists of two types of sources namely Interpersonal sources of

power & Structural sources of power.


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The network analysis can be done by manager & employees to know how to work

together, where they can drew a picture of knowing the important network relationship

needed within the organization.

POLITICS

The politics is closely related to power. When a power is converted to actionthan it is said that the individual is engaged in politics. If the individual has a

good political skill than he can be able to use his power effectively.

The political behavior includes key information from decision makers, leaking

confidential information about the activities of the organization to theoutsiders.

It consists of legitimate & illegitimate political behavior.

Legitimate political behavior refers to politics that occur everyday i.e.

complaints made to the superiors about the others, by passing chain ofcommand, forming coalition, obstructing organizational policies & having

outside contacts to share the organizational in formations.

Illegitimate political behavior involves extreme activities like sabotage,

employees in a group often falling sick.

Definition

As per Robins are those activities that are not required as part of ones formal

role in the organization. But that influence or attempts to influence thedistribution of advantages & disadvantages within the organization.

As per Tushman It is the structure & process of the use of authority & power to

effect definition of goal, direction & other major parameters of the organization.Decisions are not made in a particular or formal way but rather through

compromise, accommodation & bargaining.

Organizational politics It consists of intentional acts of influence undertaken by

individuals or groups to enhance or protect their self-interest when conflicting courses of

action are possible. Following are the usual reasons for organizational politics

Resource The encouragement of politics will happen when there is an infusion

of new, unclaimed resources.

Decision the decisions that are lead to more politics compared to routine

decisions including ambiguous decision, decisions on which there is lack ofagreement and uncertain.

Goals The politics will be more when the goal is unclear & ambiguous.

Technological & External environment The politics will arise when the internal

technology of the organization is complex. It also includes the turbulent

environment where the organization operates.


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CONFLICT

Conflicts are experienced every day by both individuals & groups

A conflict is a perception in the mind of an individual or a group of individualsthat the other person or group is hindering the first party from achieving a goal.

Conflicts can be between two or more individuals (interpersonal), between groupsor teams (inter group), or between organizations Inter organizational).

The interest of studying conflict is to understand - Why does conflict arise? Isconflict always dysfunctional? How does conflict be prevented?

There are several sources of conflict . However, these sources depend on the

mode (mindset) of the parties involved in a situation - conflict-escalation mode or

conflict-avoidance/resolution mode. The mutual understanding, trust and

openness determine the mode.

Conflict in organizations occurs primarily when : concerns are narrow and goal

conflict, resources and power are seen to be limited, and values and norms are

regarded as undesirable.

Definition : It is the condition of objective incompatibility between values of goals, as

the behavior of deliberately interfering with anothers goal achievement, and emotionallyin terms of hostility.

Descriptive theorists have explained conflict behavior in terms of objective conflict of

interest, personal styles, reactions to threats, and cognitive distortions. Normativerecommendations range over the establishment of super ordinate goals, consciousness

raising, selection of compatible individuals, and mediating conflict.

Super ordinate goals are those which are critical for all individuals in a group but cannot

be achieved by any one person alone. When they take a long term view and realize that

the interest of all can be served when they work together, they will not be in conflict but

search for a solution together.

Sources of conflict: A variety of factors can lead to conflict. Some of these are :

Organizational change Organizations undergo changes due to new

technological, political and social developments that affect them or due to

changes in the competitive forces. As people may hold different views about the

changes and the future direction of an organization, conflicts may arise.


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Personality clashes Individuals personalities varies widely due to differences in

their levels of maturity, emotional stability and their behavior. When they do notrecognize or appreciate these differences, conflict occurs.

Differences in value sets Different people have different opinions, values and

beliefs. When people with contradicting values and beliefs interact with each

other, conflicts are likely to occur. These conflicts are irrational and difficult toremove.

Threats to status Most individuals associated their identity with their status in

the society or the organization. When an individual feels that another personsacts may harm or damage his image, which in turn may affect his status, conflict

is likely to arise.

Perceptual differences People perceive different things, issues and theirenvironment differently. When they act as though their perception is the only

reality, without attempting to understand or accept another persons view, conflict

arises.

Classification of conflicts :Conflicts are common in the organizations and occur whenpeople fail to arrive at a consensus regarding the organizational goals or the means to

achieve them. Organizational conflicts can be classified as follows

Intraindividual conflict - As per need-goal motivational cycle an individual will be

motivated for his own satisfaction or in case the incentives on goal achievement isattractive. These process of fulfillment of ones role expectations do not always occur in

reality. Within every individual there are usually (i) a number of competing needs &

roles. (ii) a variety of different ways that drives and roles can be expressed. (iii) many

types of barriers that can occur between the drive and the goal. & (iv) both +ve & -veaspects attached to desired goals. These complicate the human adaptation process and

often results conflict. Intraindividual forms of conflict can be analyzed in terms of thefrustration paradigm, goals & roles.

Conflict out of frustration Frustration occurs when a motivated drive is

blocked before reaching a desired goal. The barrier may be either overt (physical,

outward) or covert (inward, mental-socio psychological).

Need ------------------Drive----------------------------Barrier ------------ Goal

(deprivation) (deprivation with drive) (a)overt (reduction of(b)covert the drive)

|

|

|Frustration

|

||

Defensive mechanisms

(a)aggression(b)withdrawal


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fixation

(d)compromise

Goal Conflict - A common source of conflict for an individual is a goal which

has both +ve & -ve features, or two or more competing goals that block one

another. There separate types of goal conflict are generally identified 1.Approach-approach conflict Where the individual is motivated to approach two or

more +ve but mutually exclusive goals. This type of conflict usually has the least impact

on organizational behavior. e.g. the young person who is faced with two excellent jobopportunities.

2.Approach-avoidance conflict Where the individual is motivated to approach a goalat the same time is motivated to avoid it. The single goal contains both +ve & -ve

characteristics for the individual. This type of conflict is most relevant to analyze thw

organizational behavior. Normally organizational goals have both +ve & -ve aspects for

organizational participants. Accordingly, the organizational goal may arouse a great deal

of conflict within a person and may actually cause the person indecision at the pointwhere approach equals avoidance. e.g. manager engaged in long-range planning

typically are very confident of a goal (plan) he has developed for the future. Yet, as thetime gets near to commit resources and implement the plan, the ve. Consequences seem

to appear much greater then he did in the developing stage. The manager involved may

reach the point where approach is equal to avoidance. This will result great deal ofinternal conflict and may cause indecision, ulcers or even neurosis.

3.Aovidance-avoidance conflict Where the individual is motivated to avoid two ormore ve. but mutually exclusive goals. This type of conflict does not have a great deal in

organizational behavior. It may be simply resolved in the way of avoiding all possible

-ve. goals under which the individual is exposed. e.g. the employee having been offeredwith a unfavorable transfer & a promotion for which he is not ready to accept.

Role conflict Role is defined as the position that has expectations evolving from

established norms. Roles often carry conflicting demands and expectations. e.g.the first line supervisor is often described as the person in the middle. One set of

expectations of this role is that the supervisor is part of the management team &

should have the corresponding values & attitudes. A second set of expectations is

that the supervisor came from and is still part of the workers group and shouldhave their values & attitude. A third set of expectation is that the supervisors

should have unique values & attitude.

Interpersonal conflict : This type of conflicts are important dynamic of organization

behavior. Conflict situations inevitably are made up of at least two individuals who hold

polarized points of view, who are somewhat intolerant of ambiguities, who ignoredelicate shades of grey, and who are quick to jump to conclusion.

Insight of interpersonal conflict can be explained through a model known as JOHARI

WINDOW Is a framework to analyze the dynamics of the interaction between self &


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others. It helps to identify several interpersonal styles, shows the characteristics & results

of these styles, and suggests ways of interpreting the conflicts that may develop between

self & others.

The person knows The person does not

about the other know about the other

The person

knows about

him or herself

The person

does not know

about him or

herself

1.Open Self In this form of interaction the person knows about himself or herself and

about the other. There would generally be openness and compatibility and little reason to

be defensive. This type of interpersonal relationship would tend to lead to little, if any,interpersonal conflict.

2.Hidden Self In this situation the person understand himself or herself but does notknow about the others. The result is that the person remains hidden from the other

because of the fear of how the other might react. The person may keep his or her true

feelings or attitude secret and will not open up to the other. There is potentialinterpersonal conflict in this situation.

3.Blind Self In this situation the person about the other but not about himself or herself.

The person may be unintentionally irritating to the other. The other could tell the personbut may be fearful of hurting the persons feelings. There is potential interpersonal

conflict in this situation.

4.Undiscovered Self This is potentially most explosive situation. The person does not

know about himself or herself and does not know about the others. In other words there is

much misunderstanding, and interpersonal conflict is almost sure to result.

Resolution of interpersonal conflict is possible through self-disclosure & feedback. There

are three basic strategies for conflict reduction

1.

OPEN SELF

2.

HIDDEN SELF

3.

BLIND SELF

4.

UNDISCOVERED SELF


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Lose-lose Is the one where both the parties lose. The common approach is to

compromise or take the middle ground in a dispute. Another alternative is to usean outside third party or an arbitrator. A final type is to depend on bureaucratic

rules or existing regulations.

Win-lose In a competitive type of culture, one party in a conflict situation

attempts to marshal its forces to win, and the other party loses. The biggestproblem, however, with a win-lose strategy is that someone always loses. Those

who suffer loss may learn something in the process, but losers also tend to be

bitter and vindictive. e.g. superior-subordinate relationship, line-staffconfrontation, union-management relationship.

Win-win This is the most desirable approach form a human & organizational

standpoint. The needs of both the parties in the conflict situation are met and boththe parties receive rewarding outcomes. Although it is often difficult to

accomplish a win-win outcome of an interpersonal conflict, this should be a major

goal of the management of conflict.

Inter group conflict In an organization, people from different departments competefor limited resources such as funds, personnel and support services. This competition

often results in conflict. Sometimes conflict occurs when one group attempts to takethe entire credit for the successful completion of a task, to the completion of which

another group may have also made significant contributions. Perceived inequitable

treatment in matters of working conditions, rewards and status, in comparison to othergroups can also lead to inter group conflict.

Organizational conflict Conflict in the organization level depends on the extent towhich resources are shared and tasks are interdependent in the organization. Chances

of organizational conflict are high if the organizational goals are inconsistent and

require employees to perform tasks that are interdependent and involve a greatersharing of resources.

There are four causes of organizational conflict : (i) an incompatible goals situation.

(ii) the existence of incompatible means or incompatible resource allocation. (iii) aproblem of status crisis. (iv) a difference in perceptions.

In classical organization there are four structural areas where conflict is mostpronounced

Hierarchical conflict There may be conflict among the various levels of the

organization. The board of directors may be in conflict with top management

or there may be general conflict between management and the union leaders. Functional conflict There may be conflict among the various functional

departments of the organization. Conflict between the production and

marketing departments in an industrial organization is a classical example.

Line-staff conflict There may be conflict between the line and staff. It often

results from situations where staff personnel do not formally possess authority

over line personnel.


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Formal-informal conflict There may be conflict between the formal and

informal organizations. For example, the informal organizations norms forperformance may be incompatible with the formal organizations norms for

performance.

Strategies for managing organizational conflicts - There are three major approaches to

resolve the organizational conflicts. Those are

Bargaining approach This model of conflict deals with interest groups who

compete for limited resources. The strategy to resolve the conflict revolves around

either the attempt to increase the pool of available resources or to decrease the

demands of the competing parties.

Bureaucratic approach This model of conflict deals with the vertical, authority

relationships in a hierarchical structure. Conflict occurs when superiors attempt tocontrol subordinates, and they resist such control. The strategy to resolve the

conflict is to substitute impersonal bureaucratic rules for personal control. System approach Whereas the bargaining model emphasizes the problems of

competition and the bureaucratic model is concerned with the difficulties ofcontrol, the system model is about coordination problems. Specifically, the

system approach deals with the lateral or horizontal relationships between

different functional group of the organization. There are two main strategies toreduce functional conflict and attain coordination. First, reduce goal

differentiation by modified incentive or by proper selection, training or

assignment procedures. Second, reduce functional interdependence by reducing

dependence on common resources, by reducing pressure for consensus, and byloosening up schedules or introducing buffers (e.g. inventories or contingency

funds).

The conflict resolution can be carried out as per following schedule

Conflict Resolution technique

Problem solving Face to face meeting of the conflicting parties for the purpose ofidentifying the problem and resolving it through open discussion.

Super ordinate

goals

Creating a shared goal that cannot be attained without the

cooperation of each of the conflicting parties.

Expansion of

resources

When a conflict is caused by the scarcity of a resource say,

money, promotion opportunities, office space expansion of theresource can create a win-win situation.

Avoidance Withdrawal from, or suppression of, the conflict.

Smoothing Playing down differences while emphasizing common interest

between the conflicting parties.

Compromise Each party to the conflict gives up something of value.

Authoritativecommand

Management uses its formal authority to resolve the conflict andthen communicates its desires to the parties involved.


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Altering the human

variables

Using behavioral change techniques such as human relations

training to alter attitudes and behavior that cause conflict.

Altering the

structural variables

Changing the formal organization structure and the interaction

patterns of conflicting parties through job redesign, transfer,creation of coordinating positions, and the like.

Employees Empowerment

Empowerment may be defined as Recognizing & releasing into the organization

the power that people have in their wealth of useful knowledge & internalmotivation.

Empowerment is the authority to make decision within ones area of

responsibility without first having get approval from someone else.

Empowerment although has similarity to traditional delegated authority, there are

two characteristics that make it unique. One is that employees are encouraged to

use their own initiative (authority). The second is that the empowered employees

are not only the authority, but also the resources, so they are able to make

decisions and have the power to get them implemented. Empowerment assumes that employees are willing to accept responsibility and

improve their daily work process and relationship.

Empowerment program can transform a stagnant organization to a vital one by

creating shared purpose among employees, encouraging greater collaboration

and delivering enhanced value to customers. To do so there must be a linkage ofthe power with self-reliance, managerial authority and expecting individual

contributor commitment. Empowerment thus embedded in an organizations

cultural values operationalised through participation, innovation, access toinformation and accountability.

The process of employees empowerment in an organization may have different

opinion among the operating managers. One group emphasizes it as relinquishcontrol while others consider it as maintain control. Research study establishesthat empowerment & participation have been found to work best when they open

new avenues for action among all members of the organization and strengthen

their resolve to go along with the new ideas.

Characteristics of employees empowerment

Innovation implications Empowerment encourages innovation becauseemployees have the authority to try out new ideas and make decisions that result

in new ways of doing things.

Access to information When employees are given access to information

(knowledge) as a vital part of their empowerment, their willingness to cooperateis enhanced. The common organizational information is profit & loss statements,

manufacturing process, purchase procedures etc. Accessibility to information will

favor a team to work more effectively than hierarchical bureaucratic and secretiveone.

Accountability & responsibility Employees who are empowered to make

decisions in the organization level are also accountable & responsible for theresults. Accountability ensures that collaborative efforts will be made in best


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possible way towards the agreed goal of the team. Again empowering employees

will raise their trust in the organization. The employees are of the opinion that

they should act responsible.

Process of empowerment-There are a number of ways that managers can implement empowerment. The two

common approaches are - (i) Kaizen & Just do it principles (JDIT). & (ii) Trust

building.

(i)Just do it Is an approach to tie empowerment with action driven result. This

approach is practiced at Cummins Engine.

Kizen Is a Japanese term means continuous improvement.

The Cummins Engine practice a five day training program in which JDIT is combined

with Kaizen. The operation guidelines utilized include (i) discard conventional, fixed

ideas about doing work. (ii) think about how to do it rather than why it cannot be done.(iii) start by questioning current practices. (iv) begin to make improvements immediately,

even if only 50% of them can be completed & (v) correct mistakes immediately.

(ii)Trust building It is an important tool for employees empowerment. Optimal trust

will occur when managers and employees reach an agreement. Trust is a state when the

psychological contact on faith & belief on a particular subject is established between twoparties.

Bowen & Lawler have suggested that organizations should identify which of followingfour levels of empowerment they should operate

(i)Very little involvement, as reflected by traditional production-line firms.

(ii)Moderate involvement as reflected by organizations that employ suggestion programs& quality circle.

(iii)Fairly substantial involvement as reflected in organizations where jobs are designed

so that employees can employ a variety of skills and have a great deal of autonomy incarrying out those jobs.

(iv)High involvement as reflected by organizations in which personnel share information

& work together to solve problem & complete tasks.

Total Quality Management - Is a management philosophy that focuses on customer

relationships and tries to build an environment of trust & openness. All the TQM

initiatives & techniques necessitate high levels of communication, adaptation, co-ordination & sequencing, which is possible only in extremely effective teams. The

concept of TQM therefore requires managers to encourage employees to share ideas by

forming teams.

It has been observed in most cases that TQM through team effort results in better &

quicker solutions to problems, thereby ensuring improvements in processes & operations.

This in turn, enhances the quality & productivity of the organizations.


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In the early 1980s, the Ford Motor Company initiated TQM to deal with the problems

faced by the organization. While designing the problem solving teams, Fordsmanagement decided that

The size of the teams should be small in order to promote

effectiveness & efficiency. The teams should have properly trained members who possess the

required skills for the job or task.

The teams should be given enough time to work on problem to beaddressed.

The teams should be authorized to study the problem in depth &

implement remedial action to resolve them.

Each team should have a champion whose main task is to help

the team to overcome various problems as they crop up.

Quality of Work Life (QWL) - The term is coined by Louis Davis. Is a more workeroriented approach wherein a series of attitudinal surveys of employees were carried out tofind ways to improve the quality of life of individuals at the work place. The objective of

the surveys was to draw the attention of managements of organizations to the quality of

employment.

QWL may be defined as the extent to which the environment at the work place stimulates

or hinders the productivity of the employees. It can also be defined as the quality of

relationship between employees and total working environment.

QWL programs aim at developing work conditions that satisfy employee needs. The

satisfaction of employees can be determined by the degree to which an employee needs.The satisfaction of employees can be determined by the degree to which an employee is

engaged. The term engaged refers to the emotional & intellectual involvement of the

employees. The key drivers for this engagement are the work design, the opportunity

offered by the job & recognition received on completion of the job. Thus the QWLactivity initiated by the organization should cater to satisfy the physical & emotional

needs of employees.

Some of the important physical & emotional needs those are necessary for the

organization to fulfill

Provision of safe & healthy environment Organization must provide its

employees with a safe & hygienic work place that not only safeguards their healthbut also stimulates and encourages them to perform well.

Establishment of effective supervision & management Creation of an workingenvironment that attracts, keeps & motivate the employees lies entirely on the

managers & supervisors. It is the primary responsibility of the managers &

supervisors to communicate honestly & explicitly to the subordinates, their

expectation of behavior at the work place. They must act as the role models for


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their employees. The managers & supervisors must therefore be properly selected,

trained & held responsible for all management results.

Adequate & fair compensation The compensation should not only be

competitive but it should also motivate the employees & able to retain the best

talents. Attempt should be made to develop variable pay system that adequately

recognize good performance & encourage the employees to raise theirproductivity levels.

Development of work skills Organization must create learning opportunities for

its employees that will develop the all round development of the human capital oforganization.

Creation of a positive attitude towards work & the organization Organization

must act towards development of positive attitude of its employees. This willmotivate the employees to raise their productivity level and enhance job

satisfaction.

Effective management of change & transaction Organization must develop its

systems & the participants to adapt the changes in the organization level which

are obvious for the technological up gradation, globalization etc. These will helpto facilitate the organization from one stage of development to other.

Documents

Organisational Effectiveness and Control