ch 12

In chapter 12 it talked about individual and group decision making. The rational model caught my attention because the first step is to identify the problem, and then generate alternatives solutions, selecting the solutions, and implementing and evaluating the solution. My process of figuring out a solution is always indentifying the problem, freaking out a little bit, then selecting the first solution I come up with even though it isn’t the best one. It could be that I didn’t take in the whole information which the book said, which can make it difficult for me to make optimal decisions. This website I got information of how you can become a better decision maker, which hopefully will help me in the future.
Identify the purpose of your decision. What is exactly the problem to be solved? Why it should be solved?
Gather information. What factors does the problem involve?
Identify the principles to judge the alternatives. What standards and judgement criteria should the solution meet?
Brainstorm and list different possible choices. Generate ideas for possible solutions. See more on extending your options for your decisions on my brainstorming tips page.
Evaluate each choice in terms of its consequences. Use your standards and judgement criteria to determine the cons and pros of each alternative.
Determine the best alternative. This is much easier after you go through the above preparation steps.
Put the decision into action. Transform your decision into specific plan of action steps. Execute your plan.
Evaluate the outcome of your decision and action steps. What lessons can be learnt? This is an important step for further development of your decision making skills and judgement.
http://www.time-management-guide.com/decision-making-skills.html

ch 10

In chapter 10 it talked about Groups and social networking and how it all starts with 2 or more people freely interacting sharing goals and collecting ideas, then realizing they both share a common identity. As I was reading this chapter it made me realize some of the groups that I am currently in here at school. I also feel that it was easier for me to be in my group because before I came here I played a sport and it a common and quick ice breaker for you to become in a group. Then I thought about being in an all athletic group and a business as my major and how much networking you do. The chapter then talked about women facing an uphill battle in mixed gender task groups. I found an article and video of how that the Navy is now letting females on the submarines for the very first time now.
http://news.yahoo.com/video/us-15749625/first-women-chosen-for-sub-duty-excited-19605966

CH 6

In chapter 6 it talked about counter productive work behaviors and really caught my attention. It said that “these behaviors harm employees and the organization as a whole. It also includes theft, white collar crime, absenteeism, tardiness, drugs and alcohol abuse, disciplinary problems, accidents, sabotage, sexual harassment, and violence. “In an article I found its talked about how violence at work are reaching at a high level in some parts of the country. "Bullying, harassment, mobbing and allied behaviors can be just as damaging as outright physical violence," the authors say. "Today, the instability of many types of jobs places huge pressures on workplaces, and we're seeing more of these forms of violence." In a sports team when a team member gets upset and throws a tantrum during practice it can always bring moral down and to cause an awkward feeling to the rest of the team. The only way for a coach to not let it affect the team is to kick that one person out and to let them cool off.
Amble, Brian. Violence at work has reached epidemic levels. 15 Jun 2006. 7 5 2010 .

Ch 3

In chapter 3 it talked about organization culture and how important it and how it can impact the employees motivation, satisfaction, and turnover. Southwest is also able to maintain low employee turnover and high job satisfaction by creating a positive, employee focused culture. I think that it’s true that if you feel that your organization is taking care of you, you feel that your also obligation to take care of the company and making sure your setting good and positive examples to customers and other people as well. There are also different types of organizational culture such as clan culture which has an internal focus and values flexibility rather than stability and control. One company that is considered a clan company would be Zappos’s a company that sells shoes. They encourage their employees to be free and fun, while still maintaining a productive work environment.
Kreitner, Robert. Organizational Behavior. 9th ed. Vol. 1. New York: McGraw-Hill Irwin, 2010.

ch 2

In chapter 2 it talked about diversity and how important it is in the business world. In the book diversity is described as the individual differences that make people different from and similar to each other. It’s not an issue of age, race, gender, or sexual orientation. The chapter also talked about the positive and negative effects of a diverse work environment and it said that having a diverse environment helps attract and retain the most talented employees also makes a good business sense. In an article I found it’s said "Diversity efforts can silence open and honest communication," McLaurin says. "That's bad for both the company and the individual." Misperceptions about different cultures have become stumbling blocks for communication. McLaurin explains that at times non-minority managers want to give constructive criticism but they're afraid someone will accuse them of being racist.
"Handling conflict in a diverse work environment; find the right place and time to air your differences". Black Enterprise. FindArticles.com. 07 May, 2010. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1365/is_9_36/ai_n26815075/

Five Bases of Power

Chapter 15 discusses the five bases of power social power, as presented by the work of John French and Bertram Raven. The five bases of power are reward, coercive, legitimate, expert, and referent. A person can obtain compliance from another person by exerting these types of social influence, and sometimes people don't even know they are doing it. Knowledge of these types of social influences that lead to power can help one to behave morally or immorally, and can help one to further their progress in an organization. The exertions of these types of power can also be beneficial or hurtful to an organization's objectives, depending on how they are used by an individual to gain power. For example, reward power can be detrimental to the effectiveness of teamwork because a reward system might increase competition among individuals and make others feel left out. The organization of the reward system is crucial in this regard. Another example is coercive power, which can cause an individual to feel manipulated, or simply used as a stepping stone for another's benefit. Each type of social influence leaves a lasting imprint on the relationships between individuals in every organization.

Social power is about influence. "When we're involved with other people (children, bosses, IRS agents) our ability to satisfy our desires (freedom) has a lot to do with how successfully we influence those people or resist their efforts to influence us in ways we don't want." Social power has an effect on how people feel in work settings and job satisfaction. Social power is not only power that comes from formal authority, but also sources which we do not always acknowledge, and has a large effect on how people move through organizations and relate to others. Even those who are not in formal positions can exert social influence and gain a lot of power over relationships and decisions made within an organization.

Atlee, John S. "Democracy: A social power analysis." The Co-Intelligence Institute. http://www.co-intelligence.org/CIPol_democSocPwrAnal.html. 1952. Date Accessed: 06 May 2010.

Kreitner, Robert. Organizational Behavior. 9th ed. Vol. 1. New York: McGraw-Hill Irwin, 2010.

Fueling the fires of change

It's almost appropriate that this, my last blog post of the school year, is being written while listening to "Innocent at Once" by Fat Jon, off his album Repaint Tomorrow. If you aren't listening to him, then click this link and get ready to fire up your music download service, because this guy will change your life.


But enough of this. It's been a great semester... academically, that is. I'm not one for meeting people and making lots of friends. With the summer comes new routines and responsibilities. I'm going to be working more, spending more time hiking (one of my favorite outdoor activities) and spending some time in Santa Cruz with friends. Yes, it's going to be a glorious summer, but before I can start thinking about summer, I want to talk a little about change, because it's all around us. Make sure you're listening to that Fat Jon track as you read this post. It'll help.

I know I'm a lot older than most of my classmates. I'm 24. Yeah, I'm an old-timer. I was born in the 80's, and I'm gearing up to graduate after next semester. We're all going to graduate, and we're all going to start careers. Some of us are going to get married and start families. Some will go on to be titans of industry. Hell, we may have a couple future congressmen in our midst. The point is that change comes at you fast. But the same can also be said for business. It's changing, and it's because of us, and we don't even realize it.

20 years ago, nobody had computers in their home. 15 years ago, the Internet was just sowing the seeds for growth. 10 years ago, cell phones were much less common. A lot has changed in our lifetimes. We are buying and consuming products at a rate unseen in history, and the products we are craving are so new and so unprecedented, that the entire business paradigm has shifted. In ten years, cell phones went from black and white screens, no SMS messaging, and a high price tag to tiny touch-screen devices that cost a couple hundred dollars. The average cell phone is exponentially faster than the ENIAC computer used in the 40's, at the time the most advanced computer on earth.

Why is this important? Because we are the first generation to ever grow up and reach maturity in an environment like this. 50 years ago, everything we take for granted today was science fiction. The Internet has changed the game. Forever.

And that fact, that we grew up in this world- the world of today- makes us valuable. We have a perspective, a worldview, that is so far beyond our counterparts born a mere 20 years before us, that business has no choice but to change to meet us at the gate. There is a lot of change going on in business. It's not happening because people want it to, but because people are beginning to realize that it's necessary. People are demanding more financial disclosure, codes of ethics are becoming more important to the consumer, and employees (especially those in our generation) are beginning to feel that they wield more power in the workplace than ever before. People are beginning to demand more of businesses, and the current economic downturn has brought ethics and organizational behavior to the forefront of consumers' minds. This is truly an exciting time. For us. The businesses are pissed.

Chapter 18 of our book has a section that touches up on this exact point: resistance to change. Companies don't want to change, just like people usually don't like to change. I used to have a problem with drinking and smoking too much weed. I didn't like the idea of changing those behaviors because I enjoyed them, and nobody wants to stop doing something they enjoy. But I ultimately decided that those behaviors won't serve me when I start a career and so I stopped smoking pot and I drink a couple nights a week these days (as opposed to getting hammered every single day). The point is, there is always a modicum of resistance to any kind of change, because it takes us out of our normal rhythm, and superimposes a different kind of routine on top of one we were already familiar and comfortable with.

The book has a whole section of chapter 18 about resistance to change, and all the points made by the book are legitimate and understandable, but there are three that I think are the most important things that contribute to a person's (or organization's) resistance to change. These three things are an individual's predisposition toward change, surprise and fear of the unknown, and disruption of cultural traditions or group relationships.

First off, people don't like change. It's traumatic, requires extra effort, and takes people out of the familiar comfort zone to which they have become accustomed. It comes down to where you, as a person, learned how to handle change. During your formative years, if change was often forced upon you without explanation, chances are that you don't trust change, and that you'd rather feel secure with the familiar. This describes me quite accurately. Many of the changes that I endured as a child were forced on me (not without good reason, mind you). As a result, I have a hard time adjusting to new environments, people, or routines. It's very difficult for me to open up in situations I find unfamiliar. This is a difficult problem for me, but I'm trying to work on it.

This pretty much goes hand in hand with surprise and fear of the unknown. I hate things I don't understand or know intimately. I pride myself on my logical mind and inquisitive nature, but nobody can know everything. Nevertheless, when I can see a change coming on the horizon, and I don't know how it will affect me, I tend to get kind of riled up. Businesses are resisting change for the same reason: they don't know what lies on the other side. Humanity as a whole is scared of things we are incapable of quantifying and measuring. We fear death, for instance, because we have no idea what it feels like. Unlike most changes though, death is inevitable. Nobody wants to die, but everybody gets to. Other changes, on the other hand, are sort of discretionary. Change comes to an organization largely by necessity or a strong feeling that the change will benefit the organization as a whole. those working IN the organization, however, may be scared because they don't understand it.

Lastly, disruption of cultural traditions or group relationships is another thing that people largely want to avoid. If you went to work for a company largely because you heard that the culture was really great, and then you got used to that culture, and then they changed it, you'd be upset. Obviously, this falls into the realm of change killing what's familiar. If you're working with a great team in your office, and then all of a sudden, management reassigns half of you and brings in new people, that could be traumatic and frustrating. At all levels of an organization, people make friends and get accustomed to the overall culture of their position, and when those things change, they will fight tooth and nail to defend it (sometimes).

Change is in the air as we speak. We are transitioning from the semester proper into finals week, which is already difficult enough for many people. We are also moving from the school year to the summer. This is a time of mixed feelings for some. They go home and see all their home-town friends, but they're leaving behind the great ones they met at school. Schoolwork is replaced by internships and working a crappy retail job for enough cash for summer and the coming year.

Change is inevitable. It will happen many times throughout our lives, and a lot of it may actually go unnoticed. If your employer goes from using 30 pound creme stock paper to 80 pound eggshell stock paper, you would probably only notice how much nicer the card stock feels, and it wouldn't affect your life very much; but, if your employer started replacing all the phones in the office with payphones, you'd notice. Oh yeah, you'd notice.

And that's it for the blogging for the semester. Ladies and gentlemen, good night and good luck.

What is an organization?

The word organization is one we use in our vocabulary all of the time, but how many of us truly know how to define what an organization is. Unless you've taking a course in Organizational Behavior, describes the characteristics of an organization may not be so simple. Chapter 17 focuses on defining what an organization is and also describes different perspectives of an organization. According to the definition in chapter one, an organization is "a system of consciously coordinated activities or forces of two or more persons" (Kreitner 502). In a PR Week article titled "CEO Q&A" ING's CEO Arkadi Kuhlman is interviewed about the set up of his company's organization chart along with a few questions of how its composition has recently changed. For example he stated that "the company consolidated corporate, analyst, and product PR under one worldwide umbrella...previously, these functions were handled by separate individuals working independently of one another and reporting to global or regional heads" (Morris 13). The purpose for this, and as outlined in the chapter is to keep an internal motivation and single message of the company. Chapter 17 also defines the four basic dimensions of organizational structure. The first, is hierarchy of authority (who reports to who), the second, is division of labor, third is spans of control, and fourth is line and staff positions. The text also includes an example of how a company's organization chart would be composed.

Morris, Erica. "Organization Chart." PRWeek (U.S.); Apr2010, Vol. 13 Issue 4, p13-13, 1/2p. Business Source Complete

Kreitner, Robert. Organizational Behavior. 9th ed. Vol. 1. New York: McGraw-Hill Irwin, 2010.

Steps for Leading Organizational Change

John Kotter believes that organizational change normally fails because management has some errors. He then proposed eight steps for leading change in the workplace. This model helps managers to see how to sequence or lead the change process, not help managers to diagnose what needs to be changed. The first four steps, establish a sense of urgency, create the guiding coalition, develop a vision and strategy, and communicate the change vision, all represent the “unfreezing” stage. The next three stages, empower broad-based action, generate short-term wins, and consolidate gains and produce more change, fall in the “changing” stage. Lastly, the last step, anchor new approaches in the culture, represents the “refreezing” stage. These steps help managers shape their behaviors to successful lead organizational change.

In an article called “Five Steps to Effectively Managing Organizational Change”, there are additional ways an organization must follow to find successful change. First they recommend creating “acute awareness of how things are now and how this state of affairs falls short of accomplishing stated goals and objectives. “ Secondly, managers must cherish understanding that something must be done to change the current situation they are in. Thirdly, urgency for change is crucial in order to be accomplished. The fourth step is to “there needs to be a well-thought-out program to ensure the actual adoption of the changes in the way things are done” and rewarding those who perform accordingly. The last step is continuing to solicit feedback on the new ways established and urge further improvements through the employees job tasks.

"Five Steps to Effectively Managing Organizational Change." EzineArticles Submission - Submit Your Best Quality Original Articles For Massive Exposure, Ezine Publishers Get 25 Free Article Reprints. Web. 26 Apr. 2010. .

Lewin;s Change Model

Lewin's Change Model was the landmark work of social psychologist in which most theories of organizational change originated. The model Kurt Lewin created has three stages of planned change including how to initiate, manage and stabalize the change process. These stages are also referred to as unfreezing, changing and refreezing.
Unfreezing is that stage that focuses on the motivation to change attitudes and behaviors to it management standards. Management can begin doing this by disconfirming the usefulness or appropriateness or employees' behaviors and attitudes.
Changing is an organizational change of any proportion that is undertaking to improve the process, procedure, product, service, or outcome of interest to management. In this process you must provide employees with new information, behavioral models, processes and procedures, equipment, technology, or ways of getting a job done.
Refreezing is the stage where employees are being helped to integrate changed behavior or attitudes into their work life. It is important to give the employees a chance to use their changed ways and once they do offering positive reinforcement is a large contributing factor to Lewin's three stage Change Model's success.
The main focus is on improvement, growth and problem solving.

Chapter 18: Model of Change

In chapter eighteen the idea which resonated with me the most said, "Prespective og organizational change is based on the notion that any change, no matter how large or small, has a cascading effect throughout an organization. Therefore, a model is introduced which offers managers framework or model to use for diagnosing what to change and for determining how to evaluate the success of a change effort.

An organizational change is a difficult experience. As posted by a student in her blog, change can be a difficult thing to adapt to; especially when individuals are so used to the same routine. It takes time for someone to get used to a change in the way something is run or organized. It’s difficult and not always pleasing to adjust. It is hard to catch up with the new way of work. This can all prove very disconcerting and sometimes downright depressing. If an individual becomes anxious about the new changes and misses the old customs, it can be emotionally challenging as well.

An article which is titled "The Check, Connect, and Expect Program: A Targeted, Tier 2 Intervention in the Schoolwide Positive Behavior Support Model" by Cheney, Douglas, speaks about the effects of a type of feedback loop for those going through an organizational change. This feedback is necessary when faced with changes and it helps in order to adapt to them. This correaltes with the model change because it helps to diagnose what to change and how to evaluate changes in order for success to take place.

Source: Cheney Douglas. "The Check, Connect, and Expect Program: A Targeted, Tier 2 Intervention in the Schoolwide Positive Behavior Support Model"

Executive Compensation

While reading chapter 18, I came across a section which discussed executive compensation and how it is causing outrage amongst some shareholders. Executive compensation has gotten carried away and some companies are looking to their shareholders to approve the executive-pay practices before putting them into effect.

Because shareholders essentially own a small stake of the company, it is important to recognize their opinions. The price of their stock is dependent on upper managements ability to perform and if they are unimpressed, upper management would receive a less significant bonus.

It is my opinion that executive compensation is way out of control. In this recent recession we witnessed executives receive bonuses for "hard work" even though they ran the company into the ground. By giving shareholders a voice in compensation practices, I believe it will encourage management to earn their bonus rather than wait for them.

Chapter 11

According to Samar Sood, a trainer specializing in team building courses "in reality, the success of team work doesn’t happen by itself. More often than not, it is a result of focused team building efforts and activities. It is a result of strong synergy of individual contributions led and held together by a dynamic leader." A person who is good at working within a team is the one who has the trust of all the members which is accomplish by spending time together, sharing ideas, and just simply by having lunch together.
　

Chapter 10

Groups and teams are necessary in our day-to-day life. In college, students are often teamed with class mates for class projects and parents serves on community service groups in their community. In a company, managers go to planning meetings with CEO’s to plan the next project of the company. It is obvious that we live as groups and is the primary manner that companies function – by bringing a group of people together to find a solution to a particular problem. For example, CPAs work in groups when they go and audit a company. They collect and process the information separately and after they will meet and discuss the main points and in that way they will reduce the potential mistakes. Managers have an excellent understanding of groups and group processes and so they, as one solid group, will avoid mistakes and they will find the best solution for their particular issues.

Chapter 9

In any business, companies and employers are always trying to improve job performance by giving the employees new goals, feedback, and rewards. In my personal experience working for a retail company, the manager was always giving us new goals, such as trying to increase the average sale per person or by trying to sell the new items in the store. If we succeed in those goals the company will give us a $15 dollar bonus or the opportunity to pick any backpack from the store. We also had monthly meeting with the managers where they told us how was our performance during the month as well as what were our strengths and weaknesses. It is important to keep track of the performance of the employees because it helps the company find those areas that need improvement so the business can continue providing a good service to their clients.

Chapter 8

It is important for everyone to be motivated all the time in order to perform well. Motivation is the desire to achieve a goal, combined with the energy to work towards that goal. For example students who are motivated have a desire to study and complete the requirements of their course. It is the same in the real world where employees who are motivated do an excellent job while those who are lazy do not perform to their best. Companies are always working in different ways to keep their employees motivate by giving them good benefits, such as a good health plan, retirement benefits, and paying for education. By providing benefits, companies want to be sure that their employees are motivated to work for a company that gives then job security and also it keeps them working hard to grow the company.

Chapter 6

A value is a belief or a mission that is meaningful for the individual or company. Everyone has personal values that they follow, they could belief in hard work and punctuality, or be concerned for the wellbeing of others, or trust in self-reliance. According to Southwest Airlines, "Southwest Airlines’ number one priority is to ensure the personal safety of each Southwest customer and employee. Beyond this, we follow "The Golden Rule," which means we treat each other the way we want to be treated, which is why doing the right thing by our employees and customers is so inherent to who we are. We believe in living the Southwest way, which is to have a warrior spirit, a servant’s heart, and a fun-LUVing attitude. Within each of these categories are specific behaviors to help us be a safe, profitable, and fun place to work." This is a clear example of values of a company for their employees and customers. Therefore it is important to have personal values and company values because they will make everyone remember who they are and where they want to go.

Chapter 5

Self-efficacy is important in order to succeed in the business world today because self-efficacy is "a person’s belief about his or her chances to successfully accomplishing a specific project." This concept is extremely important because we live in a world that is fast moving and requires everyone to work harder always push themselves to their limits in order to succeed. As students, we experience self-efficacy because we are constantly challenging ourselves with difficult tasks and keeping ourselves motivated. Students will push themselves and give their greatest effort in order to meet their commitments and if they fail in a task, they will assume all the responsibility, rather than blaming external factors.

Chapter 14

Communication is the key in any relationship, and most importantly at work. Communication by definition is "the exchange of information between a sender and a receiver, and the inference of meaning between the individuals involved." Now that we are advanced in technology and we have the internet, it is easier to communicate. CEO’s can send a letter to share holders, managers, and employees just with a click on the send bottom. There are other mediums used to communicate such as face-to-face, telephone calls, voice mail, video conferencing, writing memos or letters, meetings, and bulletin boards. Choosing the appropriated medium depends on the nature of the message, the audience, the topic to be informed, and finally the personal preferences. Whatever is the medium used it is important to communicate clearly, so the receiver understands the message and avoids any possible misunderstanding. In the class activity completed on Wednesday, we saw how poor communication affects the performance of the employees in a company. I think that it is really important to keep the employees informed of any changes in the company regulations as well as the performance of the company because all these factors affect the employees. By having open communication between managers and employees, the company can work together to solve problems and ultimately be more successful.

Chapter 13

This chapter is about managing conflict and negotiation. Conflicts are always present in daily life, work, school, on the streets. However, there is always a way to find a solution that would make the two parties in conflict come to a compromise. According to Rachel Zupek, writer for CNN online, "Human resource managers report spending 24 to 60 percent of their time, dealing with employee disputes." One of the reasons that work places are experiencing conflict is poor communication to employees that leads to poor leadership decisions. In any cases, early intervention in any conflict is the key to managing the conflict before it becomes an even bigger problem. Managers should give the employees the permission to debate by promoting an open discussion followed by a resolution and in this way; the end result will be more productive. It is always important to keep in mind that direct communication with the other person is the best way to solve the conflict instead of avoiding the conflict and creating an issue in the work place. Also for managers it is important to investigate and document the conflict, as well to take appropriate action.