Managing People: Organizational Behavior

• This Managing People course is designed to educate learners to effectively understand and manage people in various organizational settings.
• Key themes of the course includes managing teams, bosses and oneself, and dealing with diverse individuals in interdependent teams.

Organizational Behavior (OB)

• Organizational Behavior (OB) is the study of people at work to improve organizational effectiveness.
• OB It covers three levels:
• Individual Level: Motivation and emotion
• Team Level: Conflict, communication, power, and influence
• Organizational Level: Structure and culture
• OB is a systematic and scientific approach used to understand human behavior at work.

Understanding Perception

• Perception is organizing and interpreting sensory information to give meaning to the environment.
• Perception is subjective and influenced by these 3 things:
• Situation: Context in which the perception occurs.
• Target: Characteristics of the perceived object or person.
• Perceiver: Needs, motives, and personality traits of the perceiver.
• "Cognitive misers" suggests people conserve mental energy which leads to shortcuts in processing information.

Perception Shortcuts

• People use shortcuts to conserve mental energy:
• Stereotyping: Judging people based on perceived group membership.
• Halo Effect: Overgeneralizing based on a single characteristic.
• Defensiveness: Avoiding negative self-information.
• Projection: Attributing personal characteristics to others.
• Fundamental Attribution Error: Overemphasizing personal factors over situational factors.
• Self-Serving Bias: Attributing successes to oneself and failures to external factors.

Motivation: Needs Theories

• Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs' contains five levels of needs from physiological to self-actualization.
• Theory X assumes people inherently dislike work.
• Theory Y assumes people find satisfaction in work and are self-motivated if committed.
• Self-Determination Theory states motivation is driven by the following needs:
• Autonomy: Feeling in control.
• Competence: Feeling effective.
• Relatedness: Feeling connected to others.

Motivation: Process Theories

• Goal-Setting Theory suggests specific and difficult goals result in higher performance.
• Goals should be specific, challenging, and coupled with feedback.
• Participation in goal-setting increases acceptance of challenging goals.
• Goal-setting works best in complex and familiar tasks and is effective in achievement-oriented cultures.
• Expectancy Theory states motivation is driven by:

1. Expectancy: Belief that effort leads to performance.
2. Instrumentality: Belief that performance leads to reward.
3. Valence: Value of reward to the individual.

Main Approaches to Motivation

• Motivation is the processes accounting for an individual's intensity, direction, and persistence of effort toward a goal.
• Theories of motivation are divided into:
• Needs Theories: Focus on satisfying fundamental needs.
• Process Theories: Emphasize how motivation is activated and maintained.

Needs Theories

• Focus on satisfying fundamental human needs to motivate behavior.

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

• The hierarchy of needs has 5 needs from the most to least important:
• Physiological: Basic physical requirements like food, shelter etc.
• Safety: Security and protection.
• Social: Belonging and relationships.
• Esteem: Respect and recognition.
• Self-Actualization: Achieving one's full potential.

ERG Theory (Alderfer):

• Existence: Material well-being.
• Relatedness: Social relationships.
• Growth: Personal development.

McClelland's Theory of Needs:

• Need for Achievement: Desire to excel.
• Need for Power: Desire to control.
• Need for Affiliation: Desire for relationships.

Motivation-Hygiene Theory (Herzberg):

• Motivators: Factors leading to satisfaction such as achievement, recognition.
• Hygiene Factors: Factors preventing dissatisfaction such as salary, working conditions.

Process Theories

• Focus on the process by which motivation occurs.

Expectancy Theory (Victor Vroom):

• Motivation arises from the belief that effort will lead to performance, performance will lead to rewards, and rewards will satisfy personal goals.
• Key elements:
• Expectancy
• Instrumentality
• Valence

Goal-Setting Theory (Locke and Latham):

• Specific and challenging goals coupled with feedback increase performance.
• Goals should be SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Results-oriented, Time-bound).

Equity and Fairness

• Equity Theory compares job inputs and outcomes with others and respond to perceived inequities.
• Perceived inequity can lead to changes in effort, perceptions, or even leaving the job.

Fair Process and Treatment:

• Includes
• Distributive justice (fairness of outcomes)
• procedural justice (fairness of processes)
• interactional justice (quality of interpersonal treatment).
• Fair processes enhance trust and commitment even when outcomes are not favorable.

Motivation Through Rewards and Job Design

• Intrinsic Rewards are encouraging personal growth, meaningful work, and a sense of progress.
• Extrinsic Rewards are financial incentives, bonuses, and performance-based pay.

Reward Systems:

1. Individual Incentives: Bonuses, commissions.
2. Group Incentives: Gainsharing, profit sharing.
3. Organizational Incentives: Stock options, employee ownership plans.

Job Design Strategies:

• Job Enrichment: Increasing job depth and control.
• Job Rotation: Reducing monotony by rotating tasks.
• Skill Variety: Providing diverse tasks to improve engagement.

Mistakes in Reward Systems

• Inappropriate use of bonuses can demotivate or create competition rather than collaboration.
• Rewarding wrong behaviors or setting unrealistic goals can lead to unethical practices.
• Balancing intrinsic and extrinsic motivation is crucial to sustaining long-term motivation.

Motivation and Job Design

• Motivation is the internal state that drives individuals to engage in goal-directed behavior.
• Motivation involves choice and willingness to perform a task, unlike coercion or control.
• Motivated individuals tend to continue performing tasks even without external pressure.
• Two main strategies to motivate people:

1. Making the work itself more motivating.
2. Using fairness principles to overcome resistance.

Job Design

• Motivation can be enhanced by redesigning jobs to increase their inherent motivation.

Hackman and Oldham's Job Characteristics Model:

1. Skill Variety: Variety of skills needed to perform the job.
2. Task Identity: Completing a whole and identifiable piece of work.
3. Task Significance: Job's positive impact on others or the organization.
4. Autonomy: Degree of freedom and independence.
5. Feedback: Receiving clear and direct feedback on performance.

Job Redesign Techniques:

1. Job Rotation: Shifting employees between tasks to reduce monotony.
2. Job Enlargement: Expanding the range of tasks.
3. Job Enrichment: Increasing control and responsibility within a job.

Definition of Power

• Power is the capacity to influence others by controlling resources or administering punishments.
• It is a relative capacity to change others' states by providing or withholding resources.
• Power dynamics exist at work and also in personal relationships.

Effects of Power

• Power have positive and negative effects: Positive: Higher agency, persistence, executive control, multitasking ability, increased well-being, and confidence. Negative: Overconfidence, reduced empathy, stereotyping, and lack of perspective-taking.

Approach/Inhibition Theory of Power

• High Power: Activates the Behavioral Activation System (BAS), leading to reward-seeking and approach behavior.
• Low Power: Activates the Behavioral Inhibition System (BIS), leading to caution and threat avoidance.

Power Paradox

• States that the very traits that help individuals gain power often become corrupted when they have it.
• Perceived Control: The belief that one can influence outcomes is a central motivator.
• Downside of Power: Power can lead to self-serving behaviors, reduced perspective-taking, and lack of empathy.

Managing Power Responsibly

• Power should be viewed as a responsibility rather than a privilege.

Communal vs. Exchange Mindsets:

• Communal Mindset: Focus on collective well-being and prosocial goals.
• Exchange Mindset: Focus on self-interests and reciprocal benefits.

To maintain positive power dynamics:

1. Focus on team success rather than individual achievements.
2. Be mindful of cultural differences.
3. Practice perspective-taking to counteract power's negative effects.

Why is Fairness/Unfairness Relevant?

• Costs of Unfairness:
  • Psychological Withdrawal: Employees may distance themselves mentally from work.
  • Withholding Effort: Lack of motivation to put in full effort.
  • Absenteeism: Increased likelihood of missing work.
  • Retaliation: Employees may act against the organization or individuals.
  • Theft: Taking company property as a response to perceived injustice.
  • Violence and Assaults: Physical or verbal conflicts may arise.
  • Health Problems: Stress and burnout resulting from unfair treatment.
• Payoffs of Fairness:
  • Employee Engagement/Going Above and Beyond: Workers feel motivated to contribute.
  • Quality Decision Making: Employees make better choices when they feel valued.
  • Acceptance of Job Offer: Candidates are more likely to join and stay.
  • Organizational Change Effectiveness: Employees are open to changes.
  • Acceptance of Changes in HR Policies: Smooth implementation of new policies.
  • Quality of Customer Service: Motivated employees deliver better service.
• Fairness influences employee engagement, decision acceptance, reduced withdrawal behaviors, and low turnover.
• Psychological withdrawal due to unfair treatment can result in absenteeism, theft, retaliation, and health problems.

Three Dimensions of Justice

1. Distributive Justice: Fairness in outcome distribution.
2. Procedural Justice: Fairness in decision-making processes.
3. Interactional Justice: Fairness in interpersonal treatment.

Voice and Fairness:

• Instrumental Voice: The ability to influence decisions.
• Symbolic Voice: The ability to express opinions.
• Voice Enhances: Understanding, engagement, motivation, and perception of fairness.

The Great Resignation

• Began in Spring 2021, with around 4 million Americans quitting per month in 2022.
• Causes include lack of recognition, toxic culture, and lack of professional fulfillment.

Quiet Quitting

• Involves doing only the bare minimum and avoiding extra work.
• Causes include feeling uncared for, lack of growth opportunities, and disconnection from organizational purpose.

Burnout

• Symptoms include exhaustion, detachment, and reduced performance.
• Solutions involve enhancing meaningfulness, autonomy, and recognition.

Practical Strategies for Managers

1. Motivating Employees:
   • Use Job Design Techniques to increase motivation.
   • Foster autonomy and feedback in the workplace.
2. Handling Power Effectively:
   • Maintain humility and empathy even when in a position of power.
   • Use communal mindsets to promote prosocial behavior.
3. Ensuring Fairness:

Key Concepts and Findings from Guinote (2017)

• Power activates thought, speech, and action, intensifying approach motivation towards goal pursuit.
• It leads to energized behavior, enhancing self-expression and focus on achieving salient goals.
• Power triggers a generalized approach orientation, leading to increased confidence, self-regulation, and vigor in goal pursuit.
• The Behavioral Activation System (BAS) activate the BAS, motivating individuals to pursue goals with energy and determination.
• Power increases activation (energy), wanting (focus on desired outcomes), and goal seeking (persistent effort).
• Theory states that power activates the Behavioral Activation System (BAS), while lack of power activates the Behavioral Inhibition System (BIS).
• Situated Focus Theory of Power enhances the ability to focus on important goals and prioritize tasks.
• A positive self-concept and independence boosts confidence, self-esteem, and independence.
• Power holders are more decisive and proactive, making quicker and more assertive decisions and have social/cognitive flexibility.
• Power holders maintain goal-oriented efforts even when facing obstacles, driven by enhanced cognitive control.
• Power decreases vigilance towards threats and reduces concern for others' perspectives, creating social distance with subordinates
• This may result in objectification and reduced empathy.
• While power increases self-belief, it may also result in overconfidence and underestimation of risks.
• power can lead to self-serving behavior and moral disengagement from those that obtain in an organization.
• A strong drive to achieve personal goals may result in ignoring others' needs or failing to consider alternative perspectives.
• Leaders should channel power towards team success rather than personal gain.
• The power paradox suggest not inherently good or bad, but it can corrupt the very traits that help people attain it.

The powerful:

• tend to have greater empathy, collaboration, and social intelligence.
• activate the behavioral activation system (BAS), which promotes goal-seeking and approach behavior.
• often ignore others' perspectives and needs, can systematically unjustify, create social distance.
• will also have detached and self-serving independent mindsets with goal achievement.

Managing the Power Paradox involves

• Developing self-awareness by recognizing and reflecting on how power affects behavior and decisions.
• Practicing mindfulness to helps mitigate the negative impacts of power by fostering empathy and reflection.
• Having transparency and collective scrutiny to ensure decisions are transparent and subject to peer review.

Why Feedback Matters

• Feedback is Essential for:
  • Motivating employees.
  • Improving performance.
  • Enhancing job satisfaction. Employee Engagement: Employees are more engaged when their work is acknowledged and appreciated.

Challenges of Feedback

1. Fear of Giving Bad News:

• Managers often fear giving negative feedback because they want to maintain positive relationships and avoid conflict.
• This fear leads to sugar-coated or vague feedback that is hard to act upon.
• The MUM Effect: People are reluctant to give bad news, especially in important relationships.

2. Employee Reaction to Feedback:

• Defensiveness: Employees may criticize or ignore negative feedback to protect their self-image.
• Self-Handicapping: Employees may create obstacles to externalize failure and protect their ego.
• Triggers: Understand your triggers to manage emotional reactions during feedback.

Effective Feedback Techniques:

1. Nurture the Connection: Build familiarity and recognition before giving feedback.
2. Prepare the Environment: Set up an appropriate time and space.
3. Focus on Facts, Not Assumptions: Use objective and specific examples.
4. Temperate Phrasing: Use language that invites reflection, e.g., "My perspective is based on..."
5. Regular and Repetitive: Practice and deliver feedback regularly to build comfort and confidence.

Strategy of "Difficult Conversations" to Improve Feedback by

• shifting from "That's Wrong" to "Tell Me More" where you instead seek to understand rather than dismiss
• Avoid exaggerating negative feedback by keeping it in perspective.
• Separate Appreciation, Coaching, and Evaluation of mixing, these types of feedback can create confusion and reduce effectiveness.
• Managing Emotional Impact by reflecting on the issue that triggers you during a conversation.
• Managing Emotions by identifying feelings to regain control.
• managing the dialogue by being open and willing to engage practice by active listening.

The Rise of Al in the Workplace is marked by

• An increasing use of AI to make decisions and manage tasks.
• Algorithm which causes to over rely on them
• An aversion that micromanages employees.
• This can lead to lower motivation and engagement .

Balancing Al and Human Interaction can be achieved by

• Being transparent and easy to understand trust.
• Having teams that combine AI and human efforts to enhance efficiency and decision quality.
• Developing fair algorithms that are AI that are transparent, bias-free, and understandable.
• Maintaining human oversight by showing a human presence in human decision making to ensure fairness and accountability.

Why Feedback Matters

• Motivating employees.
• Improving performance.
• Enhancing job satisfaction.
• Employees are more engaged when their work is acknowledged and appreciated.