Introduction to Sociology for Business and Public Life PDF

**[ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOR]** Employability The ability to enter, stay in and progress in the world of work. - Need to learn how to learn. - To manage change and not be managed by change. [Employed] 1. Having a contract\* of employment governed by law (**[EIRA]** chp 452). 2. Workin...

**[ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOR]** Employability The ability to enter, stay in and progress in the world of work. - Need to learn how to learn. - To manage change and not be managed by change. [Employed] 1. Having a contract\* of employment governed by law (**[EIRA]** chp 452). 2. Working for a wage. \*Contract service -- definite (full-time), indefinite (part-time) Harassment at the workplace -- bullying and sexual harassment [Underemployment] Work that does not utilize the full potential of the employee. [Underground Economy] Economic activity involving income unreported to government as required by law. [The real world of work] *Types of employment* - **[Profession]** A prestigious white-collar occupation that required extensive formal training: 1. Theoretical knowledge 2. Self-regulating practice 3. Authority over clients 4. Code of ethics - **[Self-employment -- contract for service]** Earning a living without working for an organization. [The dual labor market] - **[Primary labor market]** refers top jobs that provide extensive benefit to workers. **Interesting work/high income/job security/requires training** - **[Secondary labor market]** refers to jobs that provide minimal benefits. **Low wages/repetitive and laborious work/low job security/requires minimal skills.** [Influencing factors] - Legal framework - Technology - Market forces [The 3 basic ideal types of orientation of work] 1. **[Instrument orientation]** Workers look at their job mainly as a means to earn a living, rather than as an activity which may enhance their self fulfilment as human beings. Work becomes a *means* to an end -- 'means of acquiring the income necessary to support a valued way of life'. 2. **[Bureaucratic orientation]** Work is seen as a central life interest, in so far as it provides a career with progressive economic advancement. 3. **[Solidaristic orientation]** Traditional worker for whom work offers rewards that go beyond money. Work becomes a central life interest which impinges heavily on their life outside the workplace. The occupational community allows them to satisfy their expressive and affective needs that go beyond the workplace. **[The Marxist perspective]** Work is the most important human activity. Through work we create our world and ourselves. Alienation is rooted in capitalism. Individuals become commodities. Workers are considered as objects caused by capitalists to make profit. The individual is alienated from: - The product of their labor - Their coworkers - Their own human potential [Forms of conflict at work] - Low productivity - Absenteeism - High labor turnover - Work to rule - Industrial sabotage - Use of mass media - Strikes [Conflict at work] - Harassment of workers - Discrimination - Decreasing conditions of work - Changing conditions of work without consultations - Interpretation of collective agreement - Conciliation/industrial tribunal - Health and safety issues [Human resource management] A strategic and coherent approach to the management and development of the **employees as the most valuable resource** of the organization in order to **to achieve business objective.** human resource management can be defined as a strategic and coherent approach to the management of an organizations most values assets - the people working there who individually and collectively contribute to the achievement of business. [An integrated approach to HR] - **[Vertical integration]** emphasizing the link between human resource strategy and practices to the strategy of the organization. - **[Horizontal integration]** which emphasizes the need to link the various human resource practices together. [Strategic hr management and external pressures] Economic forces, legal and political forces, and cultural forces are the external pressures. Mission, structure, strategic human resource management are the internal forces. [organizational development] Organizational development is concerned with the planning and implementation of programs designed to improve the effectiveness with which an organization functions and responds to change. 3Es - Economy: nothing is for free - Efficiency: the relationship between input and output - Effectiveness: the extent to which I have managed to achieve my goal Thus, the aim of organizational development is to provide a coherent approach which changes for the better the ways in which people carry out their work and interact with others. [Organizational development is based on the concept of behavioral scientists] Concepts of the human being based on the increased knowledge of the complex and shifting needs (motivational theories) which replaces an oversimplified, push-button notion of the human being. A concept of power, based on collaboration and reason which replaced a model of power based on coercion and threat (strategic leadership). A new concept of organizational values, based on humanistic-democratic ideals, which replaces the mechanistic value system of bureaucracy (trends in organizational design\|).l [Structuring of activities] The extent to which organization has specialization of activities. [Concentration of authority] The extent of centralization of decision making. [Key features of an organigram] - Definition of authority - Definition of responsibilities - Degree of delegation - Links the different roles - Influences layout [Activities in organizations] Task allocation is split into supervision and coordination. Direction of activities towards the achievement of given AIMS. Organ -- a living mechanism Organized -- absence of chaos **[Objective determines/influences structure.]** strategy can be positive or defensive. **[Adaptive responsive]** structural change which stays within the range of current custom and practice. **[Creative innovation]** goes beyond the existing practices and procedures. [Uniformity] - Standardization - Common procedures - Central administration [Benefits] - Economies of scale - Specialization - Control of process [Determining factors] - Purpose - Ownership - Technology - Size - Degree of dependence [Max weber] - Authority structures - Characterized organizations in terms of the authority relations within them. - Individual obeying commands When employees obey commands through the managers' ability to force them to obey it signals the power of managers. This way, status is ascribed. When employees obey commands through the managers' authority which causes them to obey orders voluntarily. This way, status is achieved. - Rational designed to achieve specific goals. - Legal authority is exercised by means of a system of rules and regulations. - Bureaucracy is synonymous with inefficiency, emphasizing red tape with excessive recoding. **[Bureaucracy = depersonalization]** [Source of power/authority] - [**Charismatic** authority based on personal qualities of the leader.] - [**Traditional** precedent and usage -- inherited status] - [**Rational legal** bureaucratic organizational form (the dominant institution of modern society)] [Interpersonal roles] The relationship that a manager has to have with others. - [**Figureheads -** formal authority and symbolic position representing organization. ] - [**leaders -** balance the need of organization and those of the individual] - [**liaison -** the maintenance of network both within and outside organization ] **[monitoring + disseminating functions]** [functional and dysfunctional conflict] conflicts in organization may have positive and negative outcomes. while functional conflict may help encourage motivation, commitment, high quality of work and personal satisfaction, dysfunctional conflict may have a negative impact such as high employee turnover, sabotage, stress and low quality of work output. [different perspectives of conflict] unitary model implying one source of authority and leadership, one source of focus of loyalty. - individuals within the organization are seen as one harmonious whole having common interests to achieve organizational objectives. - a partnership approach where employees recognize that management has authority and there is no room for conflict. [the pluralist perspective of conflict] the pluralist perspective acknowledges that power is dispersed between the different interest groups within a society and at organizational level, there is less utopic expectation for harmony and more stress on compromise. [dilemma] employees have an interest in increasing their wages, whilst employers have an interest in keeping wages low, so that profits can remain high... employees also want to keep their jobs and it is therefore against their interest to press for wages that will make their industry bankrupt. [networks] Nancy Foy values networks as crucial to organizational success. "the effectiveness of network is inversely proportional to its formality". It needs a spider not a chairperson, a list of members, not a set bye-laws; groups not committees and a phone number rather than a building. [Identity of diversity] Individuals find it easier to identify with smaller groups than with large organizations. hence the need of a territory small enough to feel that one has a significant part in it. - just as the centre feels a need to hold all strings in its group, so managers on the periphery feel a need to have more control over resources that they are required to organize and administer. - groups on the periphery strive for a redistribution of control over resources. power without responsibility is harlotry. responsibility without power is masochism. [if organizing goes wrong...] - motivation and morale are depressed - delay in decision making - conflict - lack of communication - costs organizations will never reach the state or perfect equilibrium leading to an endless process of oscillation from centralization to decentralization and back again. [Culture] The way we do things here. culture is the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one group from another. we tend to learn it when we are really young. when the mind is relatively empty, programs are most easily registered. Culture is a mix of group needs, task needs, and personal needs. there are several forces of change, such as demographic, legal, social, and economical. Culture is a pattern of shared basic assumptions that the group learned as it solved its problems of external adaptation and internal integration, that has worked well enough to be considered valid and therefore, to be taught to new members as the correct way to perceive, think, and feel in relation to those problems. Culture - exposed values: those values championed by a company's leadership - artifacts: architecture and physical surroundings, technologies, style (clothing, art, publications), published values/mission statements, myths, stories, rituals. - basic assumptions: underlying (often unconscious) determinants of an organizations' attitudes, thought processes and actions. personalities are specific to individuals, inherited and learned. cultures are specific to groups or categories, they are also learned. human nature is universal and inherited. [Hofstede dimensions of national culture] 1. **[power distance]**: power distance is the extent to which the less powerful members of organizations and institutions (like the family) accept and expect that power is distributed unequally. power and inequality, of course, are extremely fundamental facts of any society and anybody with some international experience will be aware that "all societies are unequal, but some are more unequal than others". 2. **[uncertainty avoidance]**: uncertainty avoidance deals with a society's tolerance for uncertainty and ambiguity. it indicates to what extent a culture programs its members to feel either uncomfortable or comfortable in unstructured situations. unstructured situations are novel, unknown, surprising, different from usual. 3. **[individualism versus collectivism]**: individualism on the one side versus its opposite, collectivism, is the degree to which individuals are integrated into groups. on the individualist side, we find societies in which the ties between individuals are loose: everyone is expected to look after her/himself and her/his immediate family. on the collectivist side, we find societies in which people from birth onwards are integrated into strong, cohesive in-groups, often extended families (with uncles, aunts, and grandparents) which continue protecting them in exchange for unquestioning loyalty. 4. **[masculinity versus femininity]**: the assertive pole has been called masculine and the modest, caring pole, feminine. the women in feminine countries have the same modest, caring values as the men; in the masculine countries they are more assertive and more competitive, but not as much as the men, so that these countries show a gap between men's values and women's values. [the process of change] \- where are we now? \- where do we want to go? \- how are we going there? [Force field analysis] - Analyze driving forces and restraining forces. - identify the critical forces. - increase the critical driving forces and decrease critical restraining forces. [lewin's model] **[unfreezing:]** altering the present stable equilibrium which supports the existing behavior and attitudes. **the old ideas and practices need to be cast aside so that new ones can be learned.** **[changing:]** developing new responses based on new information. **the time one needs to learn new ideas and practices. this time can be a time of confusion, disorientation, overload and despair.** **[refreezing:]** stabilizing change by introducing new responses. **what has been learned needs to be integrated into actual practice.** **[change can create instability and ambiguity and replace order and predictability with disharmony and surprise. ]** **[if not properly managed, change can decrease morale, motivation and commitment and create conditions of conflict within an organization. ]** managing change comes from the following three steps: getting started, task planning, and action. getting started starts from recognizing the need and commitment, then formulating a mission. task planning starts from broad vision, where we are now and planning the change. action happens by making the changes and reinforcing the changes. [resistance to change] - [logical:] time required to adjust, extra effort to relearn, possibility of loosing certain benefits. - [psychological:] fear of the unknown, low tolerance of change, lack of trust, need for security and to maintain status quo. - [sociological:] political coalitions, opposing group values, vested interests, parochial narrow outlook. [visible reactions to change] - resentment due to manner in which change is introduced. - frustrations due to perceived loss. - anxiety due to perceived threats to job security and income. - insecurity loss of certainty that accompanied familiar routine. [overcoming resistance to change] - building trust (long term) - participation and involvement reducing opposition and encourages commitment - facilitation and support - introduction of symbolic change [kotter's 8 steps - change model] 1. **[create a sense of urgency]** craft and use a significant opportunity as a means for existing people to sign up to change their organization. 2. **[build a guilding coalition]** assemble a group with the power and energy to lead and support a collaborative. 3. **[form a strategic vision]** shape a vision to help steer the change effort and develop strategic initiatives to achieve that vision. 4. **[communicate the vision]** identify and rope in those who are ready, willing and urgent to drive change. 5. **[remove obstacles ]** remove obstacles to change, change systems or structures that pose threats to the achievement of the vision. 6. **[generate short term wins]** consistently produce, track, evaluate, and celebrate volumes of small and large accomplishments - and correlate them to results. 7. **[sustain acceleration]** use increasing credibility to change systems, structures and policies that don't align with the vision; hire, promote, and develop employees who can implement the vision; reinvigorate the process with new projects. 8. **[institutionalize change]** it is important that company's leaders continue to support the change. this includes existing staff and new leaders. communicate change ideals and values to new staff. publicly recognize key members of the change coalition. ensure succession planning of key leaders.