Wells fargo teamworks fmla form

Organizational Behavior

OpenStax Rice University 6100 Main Street MS-375 Houston, Texas 77005

To learn more about OpenStax, visit https://openstax.org. Individual print copies and bulk orders can be purchased through our website.

©2019 Rice University. Textbook content produced by OpenStax is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0). Under this license, any user of this textbook or the textbook contents herein must provide proper attribution as follows:

- If you redistribute this textbook in a digital format (including but not limited to PDF and HTML), then you must retain on every page the following attribution: “Download for free at https://openstax.org/details/books/organizational-behavior.”

- If you redistribute this textbook in a print format, then you must include on every physical page the following attribution: “Download for free at https://openstax.org/details/books/organizational-behavior.”

- If you redistribute part of this textbook, then you must retain in every digital format page view (including but not limited to PDF and HTML) and on every physical printed page the following attribution: “Download for free at https://openstax.org/details/books/organizational-behavior.”

- If you use this textbook as a bibliographic reference, please include https://openstax.org/details/books/organizational-behavior in your citation.

For questions regarding this licensing, please contact support@openstax.org.

Trademarks The OpenStax name, OpenStax logo, OpenStax book covers, OpenStax CNX name, OpenStax CNX logo, OpenStax Tutor name, Openstax Tutor logo, Connexions name, Connexions logo, Rice University name, and Rice University logo are not subject to the license and may not be reproduced without the prior and express written consent of Rice University.

1-947172-71-9 978-1-947172-71-5 1-947172-72-7 978-1-947172-72-2 2019

HARDCOVER PRINT BOOK ISBN-10 HARDCOVER PRINT BOOK ISBN-13 PDF VERSION ISBN-10 PDF VERSION ISBN-13 Original Publication Year 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

OPENSTAX

OpenStax provides free, peer-reviewed, openly licensed textbooks for introductory college and Advanced Placement® courses and low-cost, personalized courseware that helps students learn. A nonprofit ed tech initiative based at Rice University, we’re committed to helping students access the tools they need to complete their courses and meet their educational goals.

RICE UNIVERSITY

OpenStax, OpenStax CNX, and OpenStax Tutor are initiatives of Rice University. As a leading research university with a distinctive commitment to undergraduate education, Rice University aspires to path-breaking research, unsurpassed teaching, and contributions to the betterment of our world. It seeks to fulfill this mission by cultivating a diverse community of learning and discovery that produces leaders across the spectrum of human endeavor.

PHILANTHROPIC SUPPORT

OpenStax is grateful for our generous philanthropic partners, who support our vision to improve educational opportunities for all learners.

Laura and John Arnold Foundation

Arthur and Carlyse Ciocca Charitable Foundation

Ann and John Doerr

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Girard Foundation

Google Inc.

The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation

Rusty and John Jaggers

The Calvin K. Kazanjian Economics Foundation

Charles Koch Foundation

Leon Lowenstein Foundation, Inc.

The Maxfield Foundation

Burt and Deedee McMurtry

Michelson 20MM Foundation

National Science Foundation

The Open Society Foundations

Jumee Yhu and David E. Park III

Brian D. Patterson USA-International Foundation

The Bill and Stephanie Sick Fund

Robin and Sandy Stuart Foundation

The Stuart Family Foundation

Tammy and Guillermo Treviño

new school year. new classes. new books. new assignments. new app.

free books. free app.

Get free textbooks for over 30 college courses in the free OpenStax + SE app.

Download it now on the App Store or get it on Google Play.

OpenStax + SE

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Preface 1

1 Management and Organizational Behavior 7

1.1 The Nature of Work 8 1.2 The Changing Workplace 11 1.3 The Nature of Management 21 1.4 A Model of Organizational Behavior and Management 26

2 Individual and Cultural Differences 35

2.1 Individual and Cultural Factors in Employee Performance 36 2.2 Employee Abilities and Skills 37 2.3 Personality: An Introduction 40 2.4 Personality and Work Behavior 41 2.5 Personality and Organization: A Basic Conflict? 45 2.6 Personal Values and Ethics 48 2.7 Cultural Differences 52

3 Perception and Job Attitudes 63

3.1 The Perceptual Process 64 3.2 Barriers to Accurate Social Perception 73 3.3 Attributions: Interpreting the Causes of Behavior 76 3.4 Attitudes and Behavior 81 3.5 Work-Related Attitudes 84

4 Learning and Reinforcement 95

4.1 Basic Models of Learning 96 4.2 Reinforcement and Behavioral Change 104 4.3 Behavior Modification in Organizations 112 4.4 Behavioral Self-Management 116

5 Diversity in Organizations 125

5.1 An Introduction to Workplace Diversity 126 5.2 Diversity and the Workforce 127 5.3 Diversity and Its Impact on Companies 138 5.4 Challenges of Diversity 143 5.5 Key Diversity Theories 148 5.6 Benefits and Challenges of Workplace Diversity 151 5.7 Recommendations for Managing Diversity 153

6 Perception and Managerial Decision Making 165

6.1 Overview of Managerial Decision-Making 167 6.2 How the Brain Processes Information to Make Decisions: Reflective and Reactive

Systems 170 6.3 Programmed and Nonprogrammed Decisions 172 6.4 Barriers to Effective Decision-Making 175 6.5 Improving the Quality of Decision-Making 179 6.6 Group Decision-Making 189

7 Work Motivation for Performance 199

7.1 Motivation: Direction and Intensity 201 7.2 Content Theories of Motivation 204 7.3 Process Theories of Motivation 219 7.4 Recent Research on Motivation Theories 236

8 Performance Appraisal and Rewards 247

8.1 Performance Appraisal Systems 248 8.2 Techniques of Performance Appraisal 252 8.3 Feedback 264 8.4 Reward Systems in Organizations 265 8.5 Individual and Group Incentive Plans 271

9 Group and Intergroup Relations 285

9.1 Work Groups: Basic Considerations 286 9.2 Work Group Structure 290 9.3 Managing Effective Work Groups 301 9.4 Intergroup Behavior and Performance 304

10 Understanding and Managing Work Teams 321

10.1 Teamwork in the Workplace 322 10.2 Team Development Over Time 324 10.3 Things to Consider When Managing Teams 328 10.4 Opportunities and Challenges to Team Building 332 10.5 Team Diversity 334 10.6 Multicultural Teams 336

11 Communication 347

11.1 The Process of Managerial Communication 348 11.2 Types of Communications in Organizations 350 11.3 Factors Affecting Communications and the Roles of Managers 354

This OpenStax book is available for free at http://cnx.org/content/col29124/1.5

11.4 Managerial Communication and Corporate Reputation 357 11.5 The Major Channels of Management Communication Are Talking, Listening, Reading, and

Writing 358

12 Leadership 373

12.1 The Nature of Leadership 374 12.2 The Leadership Process 376 12.3 Leader Emergence 381 12.4 The Trait Approach to Leadership 387 12.5 Behavioral Approaches to Leadership 390 12.6 Situational (Contingency) Approaches to Leadership 394 12.7 Substitutes for and Neutralizers of Leadership 399 12.8 Transformational, Visionary, and Charismatic Leadership 402 12.9 Leadership Needs in the 21st Century 406

13 Organizational Power and Politics 415

13.1 Power in Interpersonal Relations 417 13.2 Uses of Power 423 13.3 Political Behavior in Organizations 427 13.4 Limiting the Influence of Political Behavior 436

14 Conflict and Negotiations 445

14.1 Conflict in Organizations: Basic Considerations 446 14.2 Causes of Conflict in Organizations 450 14.3 Resolving Conflict in Organizations 455 14.4 Negotiation Behavior 459

15 External and Internal Organizational Environments and Corporate Culture

477

15.1 The Organization's External Environment 480 15.2 External Environments and Industries 484 15.3 Organizational Designs and Structures 487 15.4 The Internal Organization and External Environments 499 15.5 Corporate Cultures 505 15.6 Organizing for Change in the 21st Century 507

16 Organizational Structure and Change 515

16.1 Organizational Structures and Design 516 16.2 Organizational Change 523 16.3 Managing Change 528

17 Human Resource Management 549

17.1 An Introduction to Human Resource Management 550 17.2 Human Resource Management and Compliance 553 17.3 Performance Management 555 17.4 Influencing Employee Performance and Motivation 559 17.5 Building an Organization for the Future 564 17.6 Talent Development and Succession Planning 566

18 Stress and Well Being 579

18.1 Problems of Work Adjustment 580 18.2 Organizational Influences on Stress 583 18.3 Buffering Effects of Work related Stress 594 18.4 Coping with Work related Stress 601

19 Entrepreneurship 613

19.1 Overview of Entrepreneurship 615 19.2 Characteristics of Successful Entrepreneurs 618 19.3 Business Model Canvas 621 19.4 New Venture Financing 627 19.5 Design Thinking 630 19.6 Optimal Support for Entrepreneurship 633

A Scientific Method in Organizational Research 643

B Scoring Keys for Self-Assessment Exercises 651

Index 689

This OpenStax book is available for free at http://cnx.org/content/col29124/1.5

Welcome to Organizational Behavior, an OpenStax resource. This textbook was written to increase student access to high-quality learning materials, maintaining the highest standards of academic rigor at little to no cost.

About OpenStax OpenStax is a nonprofit based at Rice University, and it’s our mission to improve student access to education. Our first openly licensed college textbook was published in 2012, and our library has since scaled to over 30 books for college and AP® courses used by hundreds of thousands of students. OpenStax Tutor, our low-cost personalized learning tool, is being used in college courses throughout the country. Through our partnerships with philanthropic foundations and our alliance with other educational resource organizations, OpenStax is breaking down the most common barriers to learning and empowering students and instructors to succeed.

About OpenStax Resources

Customization Organizational Behavior is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY) license, which means that you can distribute, remix, and build upon the content, as long as you provide attribution to OpenStax and its content contributors.

Because our books are openly licensed, you are free to use the entire book or pick and choose the sections that are most relevant to the needs of your course. Feel free to remix the content by assigning your students certain chapters and sections in your syllabus, in the order that you prefer. You can even provide a direct link in your syllabus to the sections in the web view of your book.

Instructors also have the option of creating a customized version of their OpenStax book. The custom version can be made available to students in low-cost print or digital form through their campus bookstore. Visit the Instructor Resources section of your book page on openstax.org for more information.

Art Attribution In Organizational Behavior, most art contains attribution to its title, creator, or rights holder, host platform, and license within the caption. Because the art is openly licensed, anyone may reuse the art as long as they provide the same attribution to its original source.

Errata All OpenStax textbooks undergo a rigorous review process. However, like any professional-grade textbook, errors sometimes occur. Since our books are web based, we can make updates periodically when deemed pedagogically necessary. If you have a correction to suggest, submit it through the link on your book page on openstax.org. Subject matter experts review all errata suggestions. OpenStax is committed to remaining transparent about all updates, so you will also find a list of past errata changes on your book page on openstax.org.

Format You can access this textbook for free in web view or PDF through openstax.org, and for a low cost in print.

Preface

Preface 1

About Organizational Behavior The field of management and organizational behavior exists today in a constant state of evolution and change. Casual readers of publications like the New York Times, The Economist and the Wall Street Journal will learn about the dynamic nature of organizations in today’s ever-changing business environment. Organizational Behavior is designed to meet the scope and sequence requirements of the introductory course on Organizational Behavior. This is a traditional approach to organizational behavior. The table of contents of this book was designed to address two main themes. What are the variables that affect how, when, where, and why managers perform their jobs? What theories and techniques are used by successful managers at a variety of organizational levels to achieve and exceed objectives effectively and efficiently throughout their careers? Management is a broad business discipline, and the Organizational Behavior course covers many areas such as individual and group behavior at work, as well as organizational processes such as communication in the workplace and managing conflict and negotiation. No one individual can be an expert in all areas of management, so an additional benefit of this text is that specialists in a variety of areas have authored individual chapters. Finally, we all made an effort to present a balanced approach to gender and diversity throughout the text in the examples used, the photographs selected, and the use of both male and female in alternating chapters when referring to generic managers or employees.

Pedagogical Foundation We have taken a structured approach in the writing of the chapters that reduces inconsistencies throughout and makes selecting topics to match the course syllabus easier for faculty.

Exploring Managerial Careers. Each chapter starts with a profile that describes a manager and illustrates how the content of the chapter is vital for a successful managerial career.

Consistent, integrated learning. Targeted learning outcomes are listed at the beginning of each chapter and then repeated throughout the chapter. The learning outcomes connect to the text and the additional resources that accompany Organizational Behavior. After reading each section, students can test their retention by answering the questions in the Concept Checks. Every learning goal is further reinforced by a summary at the end of the chapter.

Hundreds of business examples to bring concepts to life. This book is designed to speak to the typical student. We have done a lot of research about student needs, abilities, experiences, and interests, and then we have shaped the text around them. We have used experiences both inside and outside the classroom to create a book that is both readable and enjoyable. We believe that the real applications found throughout every chapter set the standard for readability and understanding of key concepts.

Learning business terminology, made easy. As students begin to study management, they will explore new words and concepts. To help them learn this language, we define each new term in the chapter, display the terms in bold, and offer a complete glossary at the end of the book.

Applied Features Rather than provide a dry recitation of facts, we illustrate concepts with contemporary examples. In addition to the in-text examples, we have several boxed features that provide more extensive examples in areas of importance in today’s business environment. Each of the boxed features described below includes a series of critical thinking questions to prompt the student to consider the implications of each business strategy.

Ethics in Practice. Ethics in Practice features demonstrate how businesses are responsible not only to the bottom line, but to providing goods and services in a responsible manner.

2 Preface

This OpenStax book is available for free at http://cnx.org/content/col29124/1.5

Managing Change. The turbulent business climate requires companies to adapt their business strategies in response to a variety of economic, social, competitive, and technological forces. The Managing Change feature highlights how businesses have altered their business strategies in response to these forces.

Catching the Entrepreneurial Spirit. This feature highlights the challenges and opportunities available in small businesses and other entrepreneurial ventures.

Managerial Leadership. It is generally agreed that in a turbulent business climate leadership is an important function of management that helps to maximize efficiency and to achieve organizational goals. Leaders initiate action, motivate organizations, provide guidance, build morale, and create a sense of confidence within the organization and to outside stakeholders.

Sustainability and Responsible Management. This feature highlights the knowledge, skills, tools, and self- awareness that are needed to become responsible managers. While the area of corporate social responsibility and sustainability has gained wide general support and commentary, these featured boxed items should provide the reader with insights of how managers can embed responsible practices in their careers.

Activities and Cases That Put Knowledge to Work Organizational Behavior helps students develop a solid grounding in the skills that they can apply throughout their managerial careers. These skill-building activities and resources help build and polish competencies that future employers will value.

Chapter Review Questions. These questions provide a broad set of challenging questions that students can use to assure themselves that they have mastered the chapter concepts.

Management Skills Application Exercises. These activities at the end of each chapter present real-world challenges and provide assignment material for students to hone their business skills.

Managerial Decision Exercises. These activities provide assignment material that challenge students’ decision-making processes. There are a variety of exercises for individual or team assignments.

Critical Thinking Case. The Critical Thinking case in each chapter invites students to explore business strategies of various companies, analyze business decisions, and prepare comments.

Additional Resources

Student and Instructor Resources We’ve compiled additional resources for both students and instructors, including Getting Started Guides. Instructor resources require a verified instructor account, which you can apply for when you log in or create your account on openstax.org.

Instructor and student resources are typically available within a few months after the book’s initial publication. Take advantage of these resources to supplement your OpenStax book.

Comprehensive instructor’s manual. Each component of the instructor’s manual is designed to provide maximum guidance for delivering the content in an interesting and dynamic manner. The instructor’s manual includes an in-depth lecture outline, which is interspersed with lecture “tidbits” that allow instructors to add timely and interesting enhancements to their lectures.

Test bank. With nearly 1,000 true/false, multiple-choice, fill-in-the-blank, and short-answer questions in our test bank, instructors can customize tests to support a variety of course objectives. The test bank is available in Word format.

Preface 3

PowerPoint lecture slides. The PowerPoint slides provide images and descriptions as a starting place for instructors to build their lectures.

Community Hubs OpenStax partners with the Institute for the Study of Knowledge Management in Education (ISKME) to offer Community Hubs on OER Commons—a platform for instructors to share community-created resources that support OpenStax books, free of charge. Through our Community Hubs, instructors can upload their own materials or download resources to use in their own courses, including additional ancillaries, teaching material, multimedia, and relevant course content. We encourage instructors to join the hubs for the subjects most relevant to your teaching and research as an opportunity both to enrich your courses and to engage with other faculty.

To reach the Community Hubs, visit www.oercommons.org/hubs/OpenStax.

Technology Partners As allies in making high-quality learning materials accessible, our technology partners offer optional low-cost tools that are integrated with OpenStax books. To access the technology options for your text, visit your book page on openstax.org.

Contributing Authors J. Stewart Black, INSEAD David S. Bright, Wright State University Donald G. Gardner, University of Colorado-Colorado Springs Eva Hartmann, University of Richmond Jason Lambert, Texas Woman’s University Laura M. Leduc, James Madison University Joy Leopold, Webster University James S. O’Rourke, University of Notre Dame Jon L. Pierce, University of Minnesota-Duluth Richard M. Steers, University of Oregon Siri Terjesen, American University Joseph Weiss, Bentley University

Reviewers Susan Adams, Bentley University Shane Bowyer, Minnesota State University Kim S. Cameron, University of Michigan Stephen J. Carroll, University of Maryland Daniel R. Cillis, Molloy College Linda Davenport, Klamath Community College Diana L. Deadrick, Old Dominion University James J. Freiburger, Southern New Hampshire University Robert A. Giacalone, John Carroll University Gregory O. Ginn, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University John Goldberg, University of California-Davis

4 Preface

This OpenStax book is available for free at http://cnx.org/content/col29124/1.5

Brian Graham-Moore, University of Texas Regina Greenwood, Nova University William F. Grossnickle, East Carolina University Nell Tabor Hartley, Robert Morris University Nai H. Lamb, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Kristie J. Loescher, University of Texas Marcia Marriott, Monroe Community College Therese Madden, Notre Dame de Namur University Eleonor Moore, Kirtland Community College Bonnie L. McNeely, Murray State University Robert McNulty, Bentley University Jeffrey Muldoon, Emporia State University Karli Peterson, Colorado State University Raymond Pfang, Tarrant Community College Jodell Raymond, Monroe Community College Richard Savior, SUNY Empire State Amit Shah, Frostburg State University Paul L. Starkey, Pennsylvania College of Technology Carolyn Stevenson, Kaplan University Dianna L. Stone, University of New Mexico Maria Vitale, Chaffey College Valerie Wallingford, Bemidji State University

Preface 5

Preface

This OpenStax book is available for free at http://cnx.org/content/col29124/1.5

Introduction

Learning Outcomes

After reading this chapter, you should be able to answer these questions:

What is the meaning of work in a societal context? How do recognize and meet the challenges facing managers in the new millennium? What is expected of a manager? What is the role of the behavioral sciences in management and organizations?

Exhibit 1.1 (leyla.a/ flickr/ Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0))

The Management Challenge at Apple and Google When Apple was developing iOS 10, a group of 600 engineers was able to debug, develop, and deploy the new programming within two years. Contrarily, Microsoft engineers were able to develop and execute the programming on Vista, but it took considerably longer and was a bigger undertaking, with almost 6,000 engineers at hand. What was the difference?

According to the study conducted by leadership consulting firm Bain & Company, companies like Apple, Google, and Netflix are 40 percent more productive than the average company. Some may think that this is a product of the hiring pool; big companies generally attract a more talented group of recruits. With unique benefits and prowess in the industry, this must be the case. Wrong. Google and Apple have found a way to answer the most fundamental question in management: How do you balance productivity while maintaining employee satisfaction and commitment?

E X P L O R I N G M A N A G E R I A L C A R E E R S

1. 2. 3. 4.

1 Management and Organizational Behavior

1.1 The Nature of Work 1. What is the meaning of work in a societal context?

Companies such as Google have approximately the same percentage of “star players” as other companies, but instead of spreading out the talent, they group them dynamically to achieve more throughout the day. This grouping focuses on grouping key players in the most business-critical roles, and is the key to success for the overall company. You’ve heard the saying “You’re only as strong as your weakest link,” and in the case of Apple, there were no weak links, making their productivity extremely high overall. To make matters more complicated, the fast-paced workplace and technology changes, including the diversity of employees and the global marketplace, takes a considerable toll on employee expectations, as do the overall stresses of the business performance. Apple is just one example of a company that figured out one of the pieces to this puzzle, but it is illustrative of what is happening in the workplace all around the globe.

Contemporary managers are witnessing changes in technologies, markets, competition, workforce demographics, employee expectations, and ethical standards. At the heart of these changes is the issue of how to manage people effectively. To attain corporate objectives, each manager must discover how to develop and maintain a workforce that can meet today’s needs while getting ready for tomorrow’s challenges. As a result, managers are asking questions such as:

How can we meet the international competition? How can we make this organization more effective? How can we better utilize our human resources? How can we create a more satisfying and rewarding work environment for all employees? How can we improve the quality of our products? How can we improve communication and decision-making processes at work? How should we evaluate and reward performance? How can we develop the company leaders of tomorrow?

Questions such as these point to the issue of effective management. That is, what can managers do to improve both organizational and employee performance? Effective management requires an in-depth knowledge of financial management, marketing research and consumer behavior, accounting and control practices, manufacturing and production techniques, and quantitative methods. In addition, however, effective management requires “people skills.” That is, a good manager must be able to motivate his employees, to lead skillfully, to make appropriate and timely decisions, to communicate effectively, to organize work, to deal with organizational politics, and to work to develop both employees and the organization as a whole. These issues constitute the subject of this course. We shall examine principles of the behavioral sciences that can help managers improve both their own skills and abilities and those of their subordinates in order to enhance organizational performance and effectiveness.

As a prelude to this analysis, we begin with a brief look at the natures of work and of management. Contemporary challenges are discussed. Next, we consider a model of organizational behavior that will serve as a guide throughout the study of management and organizational behavior. We begin with an examination of work.

8 Chapter 1 Management and Organizational Behavior

This OpenStax book is available for free at http://cnx.org/content/col29124/1.5

The Meaning of Work What is work, and how do people feel about the work they do? These questions may be answered from several perspectives. Perhaps one of the best ways to understand how people feel about their jobs is simply to ask them. A number of years ago Chicago writer Studs Terkel did exactly that. How did the people he interviewed feel about their jobs? Here are some excerpts from his book Working.1

I’m a dying breed. . . . A laborer. Strictly muscle work . . . pick it up, put it down, pick it up, put it down . . . you can’t take pride any more. You remember when a guy could point to a house he built, how many logs he stacked. He built it and he was proud of it.

—Steelworker [p. 1]

I changed my opinion of receptionists because now I’m one. It wasn’t the dumb broad at the front desk who took telephone messages. She had to be something else because I thought I was something else. I was fine until there was a press party. We were having a fairly intelligent conversation. Then they asked me what I did. When I told them, they turned around to find other people with name tags. I wasn’t worth bothering with. I wasn’t being rejected because of what I said or the way I talked, but simply because of my function.

—Receptionist [p. 57]

People ask me what I do, I say, “I drive a garbage truck for the city.” . . . I have nothing to be ashamed of. I put in my eight hours. We make a pretty good salary. I feel I earn my money. . . . My wife’s happy; this is the big thing. She doesn’t look down at me. I think that’s more important than the white-collar guy looking down at me.

—Sanitation Truck Driver [p. 149]

I’m human. I make mistakes like everybody else. If you want a robot, build machines. If you want human beings, that’s what I am.

—Policeman [p. 186]

I usually say I’m an accountant. Most people think it’s somebody who sits there with a green eyeshade and his sleeves rolled up with a garter, poring over books, adding things—with glasses. I suppose a certified public accountant has status. It doesn’t mean much to me. Do I like the job or don’t I? That’s important.

—Accountant [p. 351]

The boss . . . lost his secretary. She got promoted. So they told this old timekeeper she’s to be his secretary-assistant. Oh, she’s in her glory. No more money or anything and she’s doing two jobs all day long. She’s rushin’ and runnin’ all the time, all day. She’s a nervous wreck. And when she asked him to write her up for an award, he refused. That’s her reward for being so faithful, obedient.

—Process Clerk [p. 461]

Examples such as these—and there are many, many more—show how some employees view their jobs and the work they perform. Obviously, some jobs are more meaningful than others, and some individuals are more easily satisfied than others. Some people live to work, while others simply work to live. In any case, people clearly have strong feelings about what they do on the job and about the people with whom they work. In our

Chapter 1 Management and Organizational Behavior 9

study of behavior in organizations, we shall examine what people do, what causes them to do it, and how they feel about what they do. As a prelude to this analysis, however, we should first consider the basic unit of analysis in this study: work itself. What is work, and what functions does it serve in today’s society?

Work has a variety of meanings in contemporary society. Often we think of work as paid employment—the exchange of services for money. Although this definition may suffice in a technical sense, it does not adequately describe why work is necessary. Perhaps work could be more meaningfully defined as an activity that produces something of value for other people. This definition broadens the scope of work and emphasizes the social context in which the wage-effort bargain transpires. It clearly recognizes that work has purpose—it is productive. Of course, this is not to say that work is necessarily interesting or rewarding or satisfying. On the contrary, we know that many jobs are dull, repetitive, and stressful. Even so, the activities performed do have utility for society at large. One of the challenges of management is to discover ways of transforming necessary yet distasteful jobs into more meaningful situations that are more satisfying and rewarding for individuals and that still contribute to organizational productivity and effectiveness.

Functions of Work We know why work activities are important from an organization’s viewpoint. Without work there is no product or service to provide. But why is work important to individuals? What functions does it serve?

First, work serves a rather obvious economic function. In exchange for labor, individuals receive necessary income with which to support themselves and their families. But people work for many reasons beyond simple economic necessity.

Second, work also serves several social functions. The workplace provides opportunities for meeting new people and developing friendships. Many people spend more time at work with their co-workers than they spend at home with their own families.

Third, work also provides a source of social status in the community. One’s occupation is a clue to how one is regarded on the basis of standards of importance prescribed by the community. For instance, in the United States a corporate president is generally accorded greater status than a janitor in the same corporation. In China, on the other hand, great status is ascribed to peasants and people from the working class, whereas managers are not so significantly differentiated from those they manage. In Japan, status is first a function of the company you work for and how well-known it is, and then the position you hold. It is important to note here that the status associated with the work we perform often transcends the boundaries of our organization. A corporate president or a university president may have a great deal of status in the community at large because of his position in the organization. Hence, the work we do can simultaneously represent a source of social differentiation and a source of social integration.

Fourth, work can be an important source of identity and self-esteem and, for some, a means for self- actualization. It provides a sense of purpose for individuals and clarifies their value or contribution to society. As Freud noted long ago, “Work has a greater effect than any other technique of living in binding the individual more closely to reality; in his work he is at least securely attached to a part of reality, the human community.”2 Work contributes to self-esteem in at least two ways. First, it provides individuals with an opportunity to demonstrate competence or mastery over themselves and their environment. Individuals discover that they can actually do something. Second, work reassures individuals that they are carrying out activities that produce something of value to others—that they have something significant to offer. Without this, the individual feels that he has little to contribute and is thus of little value to society.

We clearly can see that work serves several useful purposes from an individual’s standpoint. It provides a

10 Chapter 1 Management and Organizational Behavior

This OpenStax book is available for free at http://cnx.org/content/col29124/1.5

degree of economic self-sufficiency, social interchange, social status, self-esteem, and identity. Without this, individuals often experience sensations of powerlessness, meaninglessness, and normlessness—a condition called alienation. In work, individuals have the possibility of finding some meaning in their day-to-day activities—if, of course, their work is sufficiently challenging. When employees are not involved in their jobs because the work is not challenging enough, they usually see no reason to apply themselves, which, of course, jeopardizes productivity and organizational effectiveness. This self-evident truth has given rise to a general concern among managers about declining productivity and work values. In fact, concern about this situation has caused many managers to take a renewed interest in how the behavioral sciences can help them solve many of the problems of people at work.

1.2 The Changing Workplace 2. How do recognize and meet the challenges facing managers in the new millennium?

It has often been said that the only constant in life is change, and nowhere is this truer than in the workplace. As one recent study concluded, “The United States is a competitive location to the extent that firms operating in the U.S. are able to compete successfully in the global economy while supporting high and rising living standards for the average American. Although the U.S. retains profound competitive strengths—for instance, in higher education and entrepreneurship—those strengths are increasingly threatened by weaknesses in areas such as the tax code, basic education, macroeconomic policies, and regulation.”3 Companies face a variety of changes and challenges that will have a profound impact on organizational dynamics and performance. In fact, in many ways these changes and challenges will determine who will survive and prosper into the next century and who will not. Among these challenges are the following:

The Challenge of International Competition Until the 1980s, many American firms had little in the way of serious international competition. As a result, there was little incentive to innovate and remain efficient and competitive. Many companies became lazy and lost touch with their customers. This situation changed abruptly as companies in Asia and Western Europe developed more sophisticated products and marketing systems and gained significant market shares in home electronics, automobiles, medical equipment, telecommunications, and shipbuilding, to name a few areas. As a result, American companies lost considerable clout—and profitability. In the 1990s and into the new millennium, the lowering of trade barriers and acceptance of trade agreements like NAFTA led corporations to seek less expensive labor overseas. This led to lower costs and the ability to offer products at more competitive prices, but also led to a drop in manufacturing in industries like steel production, a drop in manufacturing of products like iPhones, and the relocation of call centers from the U.S. to India.

If we examine corporate behavior during the early decades of the new millennium, it is not difficult to see

C O N C E P T C H E C K

1. Define work. 2. What functions does work serve in modern society?

Chapter 1 Management and Organizational Behavior 11

some of the reasons for the demise. In short, many North American firms lost their industrial competitiveness; that is, they lost their capacity to compete effectively in global markets, or they chose to locate in foreign countries as a way to broaden their reach and become more competitive. Consider the following examples:4

During the last year reported, India experienced a 7.5 percent annual growth rate in real GDP while China recorded an increase of 6.7 percent. This is a measure of how economies are progressing. Great Britain, France, and Italy all had close to 2 percent increases. At the same time, however, the United States recorded a 3.8 percent annual increase (and Canada had a 3 percent increase), a larger increase after a lethargic recovery from the 2009 financial crisis.

While traditional jobs have shifted to developing countries, countries like the United States and Canada have transformed their economies by incorporating more technology and automation as well as having a greater proportion of the workforce in the service sectors. It is anticipated that the coming decades will continue to bring disruption to traditional workplace skills that will result in challenging workers to continually evolve their skills.

Finally, the number of products that were invented in the United States but are now primarily manufactured overseas has increased dramatically—advances in technology are helping the United States regain the top spot in world manufacturing. There had been a significant decline in our manufacturing sector as less expensive labor in markets like India and China led companies to locate factories there. Since 2010, however, the United States has risen from fourth place to second and is expected to claim the spot as the leading nation by 2020. The major reasons for this are: advanced manufacturing capabilities require fewer “line workers,” and having products produced near their major markets reduces transport and time to market.

Considering several indicators of the relative competitiveness of economies using seven metrics, the U.S. performs quite well. The seven metrics are institutions, infrastructure, macroeconomic environment, health and primary education, higher education and training, goods market efficiency, and labor market efficiency. When taking all of these factors into consideration (see Table 1.1), the United States ranks very well and has an environment of stable growth. One challenge is that workers will need to be nimble and evolve as new skills arise and will need to embrace continuous education and training as a way of managing their careers.

Global Competitive Index

Rank Country/Economy Score Distance from Best

1 Switzerland 5.9 0.00% from best

2 United States 5.9 0.09% from best

3 Singapore 5.7 2.60% from best

4 Netherlands 5.7 3.34% from best

5 Germany 5.7 3.46% from best

6 Hong Kong SAR 5.5 5.56% from best

Table 1.1 (Attribution: Copyright Rice University, OpenStax, under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license)

12 Chapter 1 Management and Organizational Behavior

This OpenStax book is available for free at http://cnx.org/content/col29124/1.5

Global Competitive Index

Rank Country/Economy Score Distance from Best

7 Sweden 5.5 5.78% from best

8 United Kingdom 5.5 5.99% from best

9 Japan 5.5 6.19% from best

10 Finland 5.5 6.29% from best

Source: Adapted from World Economic Forum, “Global Competitiveness Index,” http://reports.weforum.org/global-competitiveness-index-2017-2018/competitiveness- rankings/#series=GCI, accessed July 19, 2018.

Table 1.1 (Attribution: Copyright Rice University, OpenStax, under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license)

In terms of organizational survival, herein lies what is perhaps management’s biggest challenge: how to become more competitive. Greater competitiveness requires an understanding of individuals, groups, and entire organizational systems. Throughout this course, we shall see numerous examples of how companies from around the world are meeting the challenges of global competition. Particular emphasis will be placed on management practices in other countries as a point of comparison.

The Challenge of New Technologies Although it is common to think of “high tech” as applying only to the aerospace and telecommunications industries, advanced technologies can be found throughout most industries. For example, most of us are familiar with the explosive growth in computing. Both hardware and software change so rapidly that it is difficult for many companies to keep up. Personal computers are being replaced by cell phones that are now faster and more powerful than their predecessors. Cloud computing and access to big data and applications transform data into useful information that is increasingly complex and increasingly user friendly. In November of 1971 Intel launched the first microchip. Today, a modern Intel Skylake processor contains around 1.75 billion transistors—half a million of them would fit on a single transistor from the 4004—and collectively they deliver about 400,000 times as much computing muscle.5 More and more companies are using computer- based systems and equipment—such as e-mail, real-time messaging and file sharing, PDAs, and cell phones—for communications. As a result, the way in which employees and managers communicate and make decisions is changing dramatically, and the importance of educated and knowledgeable workers is increasing rapidly.

Technological changes also can be seen in the increased use of robotics, expert systems, and computer- integrated manufacturing systems, which have changed the way many products are manufactured today. Such changes affect not only production efficiency and product quality but also the nature of jobs. In many industries, the first-line supervisors are disappearing and being replaced by self-managing work teams who assume responsibility for production scheduling, quality control, and even performance appraisals. All of these technological changes require managers who are capable of effectively implementing technological change in the workplace—managers who can adapt to the technological imperative while still maintaining and

Chapter 1 Management and Organizational Behavior 13

developing the organization’s human resources. We will examine the role of technology as it relates to organization structure, job design, communication, decision-making, and work-related stress. We will see how some companies successfully adapted to technological change in a way that benefited all parties concerned.

The Challenge of Increased Quality The challenge of industrial competitiveness incorporates several interrelated factors, including an appropriate product mix, manufacturing efficiency, effective cost controls, investment in research and development, and so forth. Not to be ignored in this pursuit is the quest for increased quality control of the products and services offered in the marketplace. Total Quality Management (TQM) is a term often used to describe comprehensive

M A N A G I N G C H A N G E

Siri Struggles to Keep Up with the Competition Many executives struggle in the ongoing competitive landscape of technology. With fast-paced changes, staying one step ahead as well as being able to pivot quickly to respond to action are two critical elements to successful leadership.

Apple Inc. has made its third change in the past year to the leadership of the artificial intelligence voice- assistance system Siri. Due to many factors, including being outperformed by the competition such as Google Assistant and Amazon Inc.’s Alexa, the company decided to pivot and make the change.

These two systems have seen incredible growth in 2018, with the Amazon Echo and Google Home claiming each 34 percent of the market. Now John Giannandrea, formerly Google’s head of search and AI, has joined the Apple team and is tasked with getting on the rival’s level from which he came (Verge 2018).

He will be challenged not only by having a new culture and company to fit into, but also by finding a good balance on how to innovate in his new role, as well as taking the best practices that he has from his previous role and applying it to boost the success of the Apple artificial intelligence. Keys to his success will be how quickly he can adapt to the new role, learning, adapting, and making changes along the way to bring Apple back to the playing field of artificial intelligence.

Question 1: What other challenges would a new executive have coming from a competing company?

Question 2: How much change is too much? What cautions should Apple be concerned about with all of the turnover for this position?

Sources: Nick Statt, “Apple’s New AI Chief Now Oversees Siri, Core ML, and Machine Learning Teams,” The Verge, July 10, 2018, https://www.theverge.com/2018/7/10/17555652/apple-siri-ai-john-giannandrea- machine-learning-core-ml-teams; Stephen Nellis, “Apple Shifts Responsibility For Siri to Operating System Chief,” Reuters, September 1, 2017, https://www.reuters.com/article/us-apple-siri/apple-shifts- responsibility-for-siri-to-operating-system-chief-idUSKCN1BC65B; Tripp Mickle, Apple Hands Siri Responsibility to Executive Poached from Google,” The Wall Street Journal, July 10, 2018, https://www.wsj.com/articles/apple-hands-siri-responsibilities-to-executive-poached-from- google-1531261759.

14 Chapter 1 Management and Organizational Behavior

This OpenStax book is available for free at http://cnx.org/content/col29124/1.5

efforts to monitor and improve all aspects of quality within a firm. BMW established and continues to maintain its reputation in part because customers have come to respect its high level of quality. Quality is also a major reason for the success of many Japanese products in North America. Simply put, if companies are going to compete, renewed efforts must be devoted to enhanced quality assurance. This, too, is a management challenge. How can managers get employees to care about the products they produce or the services they offer? In this book, we will consider both the issue of quality control (what is it?) and mechanisms of ensuring improved product quality (how do we get it?).

Moreover, quality control includes several organizational issues. For instance, how can managers get parties who are traditionally independently associated with a product to work together to build a better product? That is, how can they get the design staff, manufacturing engineers, workers, suppliers—and potential customers—to come together and cooperate in developing and manufacturing a superior product? Later in the book we will examine several instances in which such teamwork played a major role in quality improvement.

The Challenge of Employee Motivation and Commitment A major hurdle in the pursuit of industrial competitiveness is the traditional adversarial relationship between management and workers. Whether a company is unionized or not, we see situations in which the average employee simply sees no reason to increase output or to improve the quality of existing outputs. Frequently, the company’s reward system restricts, rather than increases, performance. At other times, rewards encourage employees to increase quantity at the expense of quality. Furthermore, North American companies often view their workforce as a variable expense (in contrast to Japan, where the workforce is viewed as a fixed expense) and lay workers off when they are not needed for short-run activities. As a result, returning the favor, employees see little reason to be committed or loyal to their employers. Turnover and absenteeism rates are often unreasonably high, further eroding performance efficiency and effectiveness.

If companies are to succeed in an increasingly turbulent environment, managers must discover better ways to develop and motivate employees. A company’s human resources often represent its biggest single asset, and failing to properly nurture this asset leads to suboptimal return on an organization’s resources. Part of solving this problem involves knowing and understanding today’s employees. Exhibit 1.2 illustrates the various characteristics employees consider important in their employers. Overall, employees seem to have a fairly positive outlook on their employers. As illustrated in Exhibit 1.3, however, many millennials do not see their tenure lasting for a long period and expect to have another job soon.

Chapter 1 Management and Organizational Behavior 15

Exhibit 1.2 How Employees View Their Employers Source: Adapted from Deloitte, “2016 Deloitte Millennial Survey,” accessed July 18, 2018, https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/global/Documents/About-Deloitte/gx-millenial-survey-2016-exec-summary.pdf. (Attribution: Copyright Rice University, OpenStax, under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license)

Exhibit 1.3 Millennials and the Workplace Source: Adapted from Deloitte, “2016 Deloitte Millennial Survey,” accessed July 18, 2018, https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/global/Documents/About-Deloitte/gx-millenial-survey-2016-exec-summary.pdf. (Attribution: Copyright Rice University, OpenStax, under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license)

This problem is made all the more difficult by the changing nature of occupations. As shown in Table 1.2, we are seeing a sharp increase in the number of technicians, service workers, and sales workers. Growth also can be expected in engineering and managerial positions. These changes require a new look at how such

16 Chapter 1 Management and Organizational Behavior

This OpenStax book is available for free at http://cnx.org/content/col29124/1.5

employees are motivated. For example, do we motive an engineer the same way we motivate a sales representative? How do we motivate senior executives as opposed to junior managers? In this book, we shall touch on these issues when we examine approaches to employee motivation. Managers have at their disposal several ways in which to increase employee motivation and performance, and an effective manager learns how and when to use each approach.

The Fastest-Growing Occupations

Occupation Growth Rate 2016–2026 2017 Median Pay

Solar photovoltaic installers 105% $39,490

Wind turbine service technicians 96% $53,580

Home health aides 47% $23,210

Personal care aids 39% $23,110

Physician assistants 37% $104,860

Nurse practitioner 36% $103,880

Statistician 34% $84,060

Physical therapist assistant 31% $57,440

Software developers, applications 31% $101,790

Mathematicians 30% $103,010

Physical therapist aides 29% $25,730

Bicycle repairs 29% $28,390

Medical assistants 29% $32,480

Source: “Fastest Growing Occupations,” Occupational Outlook Handbook, Bureau of Labor Statistics, https://www.bls.gov/ooh/fastest-growing.htm, accessed July 18, 2018.

Table 1.2 (Attribution: Copyright Rice University, OpenStax, under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license)

The Challenge of Managing a Diverse Workforce Historically, the American economy has been dominated by white males. They have filled the vast majority of managerial positions and many of the more important blue-collar jobs, becoming skilled craftsmen. Traditionally, women filled lower-paying clerical positions and often left the workforce to raise their families. Minorities of both genders found considerable barriers to entering the labor market at the higher (and higher- paying) levels. Now, things are changing, and the pace of this change is accelerating. Among other changes, the twenty-first century will also bring major changes in terms of workforce demographics. We will see changes in gender, race, and age.

Chapter 1 Management and Organizational Behavior 17

Exhibit 1.4 Kaisee Permanente The winner of the E Pluribus Unum Corporate Leadership Award, Kaiser Permanente focuses on the elimination of racial and ethnic health care disparities and has been in the vanguard of efforts to create innovative, scalable approaches that address the cultural and linguistic needs of patients, and thereby improve overall health care quality and outcomes. Its industry-leading training, testing, and certification process for multilingual staff who serve as health care interpreters, as well as for the physicians who speak with patients in languages other than English, helps to improve the quality of patient care while also capitalizing on the organization’s diverse workforce. (Credit: Ted Eytan/ flickr/ Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic (CC BY-SA 2.0))

For example, we are seeing a drop in the percentage of white American-born male workers in the workplace. Only 15 percent of new entrants into the workforce will be white males.6 The percentages for nonwhites and immigrants of both genders will increase (see Exhibit 1.5). In general, there are more women in positions of responsibility in both the public and private sectors and more opportunities for minorities. Some predict that the coming labor shortage will cause many companies to try to retain older workers for longer periods of time, beyond the traditional retirement age. Additionally, the belief that mentally or physically challenged individuals can play productive roles at work is increasing. Such changes bring opportunities for companies but also potential problems of adjustment if not managed intelligently. We will examine several of these issues when we discuss careers and employee development.

18 Chapter 1 Management and Organizational Behavior

This OpenStax book is available for free at http://cnx.org/content/col29124/1.5

Exhibit 1.5 Employed People by Race and Latino or Hispanic Ethnicity, 2016 Note: People whose ethnicity is identified as Hispanic or Latino may be of any race. Data may not sum to 100 percent because of rounding. Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Population Survey (CPS). (Attribution: Copyright Rice University, OpenStax, under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license)

The Challenge of Ethical Behavior Finally, the future will bring a renewed concern with maintaining high standards of ethical behavior in business transactions and in the workplace. Many executives and social scientists see unethical behavior as a cancer working on the fabric of society both in business and beyond. Many are concerned that we face a crisis of ethics in the West that is undermining our competitive strength. This crisis involves business, government, customers, and employees. Especially worrisome is unethical behavior among employees at all levels of the organization. For example, recent reports found that employees and vendors accounted for a higher percentage of thefts than did retail customers.7

E T H I C S I N P R A C T I C E

Papa John’s Founder under Fire As a manager, and leader, the words and actions you take are incredibly important. John Schnatter, founder and chairman of Papa John’s Pizza, found this out the hard way. During a media training conference call, Schnatter used derogatory comments and racial slurs. This call, although intended to be a role-playing exercise, quickly turned into a bad dream for Schnatter. In response to this action, and having admitted the fault, Schnatter was forced to resign as chairman after the local NAACP branch called for his resignation. In addition, the board of directors decided that he would be removed from all marketing, publicity, and pizza boxes, and they took the stance that “Papa John’s is not an individual.

Chapter 1 Management and Organizational Behavior 19

In addition, we hear about illegal and unethical behavior on Wall Street—pension scandals in which disreputable executives gamble on risky business ventures with employee retirement funds, companies that expose their workers to hazardous working conditions, and blatant favoritism in hiring and promotion practices. Although such practices occur throughout the world, their presence nonetheless serves to remind us of the challenges we face.

This challenge is especially difficult because standards for what constitutes ethical behavior lie in a “gray zone” where clear-cut right-or-wrong answers may not always exist. For example, if you were a sales representative for an American company abroad and your foreign competitors used bribes to get business, what would you do? In the United States such behavior is illegal, yet it is perfectly acceptable in other countries. What is ethical here? Similarly, in many countries women are systematically discriminated against in the workplace; it is felt that their place is in the home. In the United States, again, this practice is illegal. If you ran an American company in one of these countries, would you hire women in important positions? If you did, your company might be isolated in the larger business community, and you might lose business. If you did not, you might be violating what most Americans believe to be fair business practices.

Effective managers must know how to deal with ethical issues in their everyday work lives; therefore, we will devote parts of this course to the role of ethics in decision-making, the exercise of power, performance appraisals and reward systems, and so forth.

Papa John’s is a pizza company with 120,000 corporate and franchise team members around the world” (Forbes 2018). Shares of stock for Papa John’s soared after the announcement of his resignation, adding $50 million to Schnatter’s total net worth (CNN Money 2018). The values of the company prevailed through the actions of Schnatter, showcasing that despite making a mistake, the commitment to maintaining an ethical standard is still an important value to Schnatter as well as the company overall.

Question 1: Do you think the actions of the board of directors were enough to uphold Papa John’s reputation?

Question 2: What other actions or types of training should Papa John’s take with their employees in light of the current state of ethical defamation of the company and founder?

Sources: Julie Jargon, “Papa John’s Stock Soars After Chairman’s resignation,” The Wall Street Journal, July 12, 2018, https://www.wsj.com/articles/papa-johns-directors-accept-chairmans-resignation-1531404524; Megan Friedman, “John Schnatter Will No longer Be the Face of Papa John’s,” Delish, July 16, 2018, https://www.delish.com/food-news/a22162275/papa-johns-john-schnatter-removed-marketing/; Noah Kirsch, “Papa John’s Founder Resigns, Gains $50 Million in a Day,” Forbes, July 13, 2018, https://www.forbes.com/sites/noahkirsch/2018/07/13/papa-johns-founder-john-schnatter-resigns-net- worth-rises-50-million-in-a-day/#6aaf997f7123; Jordan Valinsky, “Papa John’s Founder John Schnatter Kicked Out of His Office,” CNN Money, July 16, 2018, https://money.cnn.com/2018/07/16/news/ companies/papa-johns-office/index.html

C O N C E P T C H E C K

1. Describe the extent and nature of the challenges facing the workplace in the next decade.

20 Chapter 1 Management and Organizational Behavior

This OpenStax book is available for free at http://cnx.org/content/col29124/1.5

1.3 The Nature of Management 3. What is expected of a manager?

If organizations are to be successful in meeting these challenges, management must lead the way. With effective management, contemporary companies can accomplish a great deal toward becoming more competitive in the global environment. On the other hand, ineffective management dooms the organization to mediocrity and sometimes outright failure. Because of this, we turn now to a look at the nature of management. However, we want to point out that even though our focus is on managers, what we discuss is also relevant to the actions of nonmanagers. On the basis of this examination, we should be ready to begin our analysis of what managers can learn from the behavioral sciences to improve their effectiveness in a competitive environment.

What Is Management? Many years ago, Mary Parker Follett defined management as “the art of getting things done through people.” A manager coordinates and oversees the work of others to accomplish ends he could not attain alone. Today this definition has been broadened. Management is generally defined as the process of planning, organizing, directing, and controlling the activities of employees in combination with other resources to accomplish organizational objectives. In a broad sense, then, the task of management is to facilitate the organization’s effectiveness and long-term goal attainment by coordinating and efficiently utilizing available resources. Based on this definition, it is clear that the topics of effectively managing individuals, groups, or organizational systems is relevant to anyone who must work with others to accomplish organizational objectives.

Management exists in virtually all goal-seeking organizations, whether they are public or private, large or small, profit-making or not-for-profit, socialist or capitalist. For many, the mark of an excellent company or organization is the quality of its managers.

Managerial Responsibilities An important question often raised about managers is: What responsibilities do managers have in organizations? According to our definition, managers are involved in planning, organizing, directing, and controlling. Managers have described their responsibilities that can be aggregated into nine major types of activities. These include:

1. Long-range planning. Managers occupying executive positions are frequently involved in strategic planning and development.

2. Controlling. Managers evaluate and take corrective action concerning the allocation and use of human, financial, and material resources.

3. Environmental scanning. Managers must continually watch for changes in the business environment and monitor business indicators such as returns on equity or investment, economic indicators, business cycles, and so forth.

4. Supervision. Managers continually oversee the work of their subordinates. 5. Coordinating. Managers often must coordinate the work of others both inside the work unit and out.

2. What can be done about these challenges?

Chapter 1 Management and Organizational Behavior 21

6. Customer relations and marketing. Certain managers are involved in direct contact with customers and potential customers.

7. Community relations. Contact must be maintained and nurtured with representatives from various constituencies outside the company, including state and federal agencies, local civic groups, and suppliers.

8. Internal consulting. Some managers make use of their technical expertise to solve internal problems, acting as inside consultants for organizational change and development.

9. Monitoring products and services. Managers get involved in planning, scheduling, and monitoring the design, development, production, and delivery of the organization’s products and services.

As we shall see, not every manager engages in all of these activities. Rather, different managers serve different roles and carry different responsibilities, depending upon where they are in the organizational hierarchy. We will begin by looking at several of the variations in managerial work.

Variations in Managerial Work Although each manager may have a diverse set of responsibilities, including those mentioned above, the amount of time spent on each activity and the importance of that activity will vary considerably. The two most salient perceptions of a manager are (1) the manager’s level in the organizational hierarchy and (2) the type of department or function for which he is responsible. Let us briefly consider each of these.

Management by Level. We can distinguish three general levels of management: executives, middle management, and first-line management (see Exhibit 1.6). Executive managers are at the top of the hierarchy and are responsible for the entire organization, especially its strategic direction. Middle managers, who are at the middle of the hierarchy, are responsible for major departments and may supervise other lower- level managers. Finally, first-line managers supervise rank-and-file employees and carry out day-to-day activities within departments.

22 Chapter 1 Management and Organizational Behavior

This OpenStax book is available for free at http://cnx.org/content/col29124/1.5

Exhibit 1.6 Levels in the Management Hierarchy (Attribution: Copyright Rice University, OpenStax, under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license)

Exhibit 1.7 shows differences in managerial activities by hierarchical level. Senior executives will devote more of their time to conceptual issues, while first-line managers will concentrate their efforts on technical issues. For example, top managers rate high on such activities as long-range planning, monitoring business indicators, coordinating, and internal consulting. Lower-level managers, by contrast, rate high on supervising because their responsibility is to accomplish tasks through rank-and-file employees. Middle managers rate near the middle for all activities. We can distinguish three types of managerial skills:8

1. Technical skills. Managers must have the ability to use the tools, procedures, and techniques of their special areas. An accountant must have expertise in accounting principles, whereas a production manager must know operations management. These skills are the mechanics of the job.

2. Human relations skills. Human relations skills involve the ability to work with people and understand employee motivation and group processes. These skills allow the manager to become involved with and lead his or her group.

3. Conceptual skills. These skills represent a manager’s ability to organize and analyze information in order to improve organizational performance. They include the ability to see the organization as a whole and to understand how various parts fit together to work as an integrated unit. These skills are required to coordinate the departments and divisions successfully so that the entire organization can pull together.

As shown in Exhibit 1.7, different levels of these skills are required at different stages of the managerial hierarchy. That is, success in executive positions requires far more conceptual skill and less use of technical skills in most (but not all) situations, whereas first-line managers generally require more technical skills and fewer conceptual skills. Note, however, that human or people skills remain important for success at all three levels in the hierarchy.

Chapter 1 Management and Organizational Behavior 23

Exhibit 1.7 Difference in Skills Required for Successful Management According to Level in the Hierarchy (Attribution: Copyright Rice University, OpenStax, under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license)

Management by Department or Function. In addition to level in the hierarchy, managerial responsibilities also differ with respect to the type of department or function. There are differences found for quality assurance, manufacturing, marketing, accounting and finance, and human resource management departments. For instance, manufacturing department managers will concentrate their efforts on products and services, controlling, and supervising. Marketing managers, in comparison, focus less on planning, coordinating, and consulting but more on customer relations and external contact. Managers in both accounting and human resource management departments rate high on long-range planning, but will spend less time on the organization’s products and service offerings. Managers in accounting and finance are also concerned with controlling and with monitoring performance indicators, while human resource managers provide consulting expertise, coordination, and external contacts. The emphasis on and intensity of managerial activities varies considerably by the department the manager is assigned to.

At a personal level, knowing that the mix of conceptual, human, and technical skills changes over time and that different functional areas require different levels of specific management activities can serve at least two important functions. First, if you choose to become a manager, knowing that the mix of skills changes over time can help you avoid a common complaint that often young employees want to think and act like a CEO before they have mastered being a first-line supervisor. Second, knowing the different mix of management activities by functional area can facilitate your selection of an area or areas that best match your skills and interests.

24 Chapter 1 Management and Organizational Behavior

This OpenStax book is available for free at http://cnx.org/content/col29124/1.5

In many firms, managers are rotated through departments as they move up in the hierarchy. In this way they obtain a well-rounded perspective on the responsibilities of the various departments. In their day-to-day tasks they must emphasize the right activities for their departments and their managerial levels. Knowing what types of activity to emphasize is the core of the manager’s job. In any event, we shall return to this issue when we address the nature of individual differences in the next chapter.

The Twenty-First Century Manager We discussed above many of the changes and challenges facing organizations in the twenty-first century. Because of changes such as these, the managers and executives of tomorrow will have to change their approaches to their jobs if they are to succeed in meeting the new challenges. In fact, their profiles may even look somewhat different than they often do today. Consider the five skills that Fast Company predicts that successful future managers, compared to the senior manager in the year 2000, will need. The five skills are: the ability to think of new solutions, being comfortable with chaos, an understanding of technology, high emotional intelligence, and the ability to work with people and technology together.

For the past several decades, executive profiles have typically looked like this: He started out in finance with an undergraduate degree in accounting. He methodically worked his way up through the company from the controller’s office in a division, to running that division, to the top job. His military background shows. He is used to giving orders—and to having them obeyed. As head of the philanthropic efforts, he is a big man in his community. However, the first time he traveled overseas on business was as chief executive. Computers, which became ubiquitous during his career, make him nervous.9

Now compare this with predictions about what a twenty-first-century executive will look like:

Her [or his] undergraduate degree might be in French literature, but she also has a joint MBA/engineering degree. She started in research and was quickly picked out as a potential CEO. She is able to think creatively and thrives in a chaotic environment. She zigzagged from research to marketing to finance. She is comfortable with technology and people, with a high degree of emotional intelligence. She proved valuable in Brazil by turning around a failing joint venture. She speaks multiple languages and is on a first-name basis with commerce ministers in half a dozen countries. Unlike her predecessor’s predecessor, she isn’t a drill sergeant. She is first among equals in a five-person office of the chief executive.

Clearly, the future holds considerable excitement and promise for future managers and executives who are properly prepared to meet the challenges. How do we prepare them? One study suggested that the manager of the future must be able to fill at least the following four roles:10

Global strategist. Executives of the future must understand world markets and think internationally. They must have a capacity to identify unique business opportunities and then move quickly to exploit them.

Master of technology. Executives and managers of the future must be able to get the most out of emerging technologies, whether these technologies are in manufacturing, communications, marketing, or other areas.

Leadership that embraces vulnerability. The successful executive of the future will understand how to cut through red tape to get a job done, how to build bridges with key people from highly divergent backgrounds and points of view, and how to make coalitions and joint ventures work.

Follow-from-the-front motivator. Finally, the executive of tomorrow must understand group dynamics and how to counsel, coach, and command work teams and individuals so they perform at their best. Future organizations will place greater emphasis on teams and coordinated efforts, requiring managers to understand participative management techniques.

Chapter 1 Management and Organizational Behavior 25

Great communicator. To this list of four, we would add that managers of the future must be great communicators. They must be able to communicate effectively with an increasingly diverse set of employees as well as customers, suppliers, and community and government leaders.

Whether these predictions are completely accurate is difficult to know. Suffice it to say that most futurists agree that the organizational world of the twenty-first century will likely resemble, to some extent, the portrait described here. The task for future managers, then, is to attempt to develop these requisite skills to the extent possible so they will be ready for the challenges of the next decade.

1.4 A Model of Organizational Behavior and Management 4. What is the role of the behavioral sciences in management and organizations?

A major responsibility—perhaps the major responsibility—of managers is to make organizations operate effectively. Bringing about effective performance, however, is no easy task. As Nadler and Tushman note:

Understanding one individual’s behavior is challenging in and of itself; understanding a group that’s made up of different individuals and comprehending the many relationships among those individuals is even more complex. Imagine, then, the mind-boggling complexity of a large organization made up of thousands of individuals and hundreds of groups with myriad relationships among these individuals and groups.11

Despite this difficulty, however, organizations must be managed. Nadler and Tushman continue:

Ultimately the organization’s work gets done through people, individually or collectively, on their own or in collaboration with technology. Therefore, the management of organizational behavior is central to the management task—a task that involves the capacity to understand the behavior patterns of individuals, groups, and organizations, to predict what behavioral responses will be elicited by various managerial actions, and finally to use this understanding and these predictions to achieve control.12

The work of society is accomplished largely through organizations, and the role of management is to see to it that organizations perform this work. Without it, the wheels of society would soon grind to a halt.

What Is Organizational Behavior? The study of the behavior of people in organizations is typically referred to as organizational behavior. Here, the focus is on applying what we can learn from the social and behavioral sciences so we can better understand and predict human behavior at work. We examine such behavior on three levels—the individual, the group, and the organization as a whole. In all three cases, we seek to learn more about what causes people—individually or collectively—to behave as they do in organizational settings. What motivates people? What makes some employees leaders and others not? Why do groups often work in opposition to their

C O N C E P T C H E C K

1. Define management. 2. How does the nature of management change according to one’s level and function in the

organization?

26 Chapter 1 Management and Organizational Behavior

This OpenStax book is available for free at http://cnx.org/content/col29124/1.5

employer? How do organizations respond to changes in their external environments? How do people communicate and make decisions? Questions such as these constitute the domain of organizational behavior and are the focus of this course.

To a large extent, we can apply what has been learned from psychology, sociology, and cultural anthropology. In addition, we can learn from economics and political science. All of these disciplines have something to say about life in organizations. However, what sets organizational behavior apart is its particular focus on the organization (not the discipline) in organizational analysis (see Exhibit 1.8). Thus, if we wish to examine a problem of employee motivation, for example, we can draw upon economic theories of wage structures in the workplace. At the same time, we can also draw on the psychological theories of motivation and incentives as they relate to work. We can bring in sociological treatments of social forces on behavior, and we can make use of anthropological studies of cultural influences on individual performance. It is this conceptual richness that establishes organizational behavior as a unique applied discipline. And throughout our analyses, we are continually concerned with the implications of what we learn for the quality of working life and organizational performance. We always look for management implications so the managers of the future can develop more humane and more competitive organizations for the future.

Exhibit 1.8 Origins of Organizational Behavior (Attribution: Copyright Rice University, OpenStax, under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license)

For convenience, we often differentiate between micro- and macro-organizational behavior. Micro- organizational behavior is primarily concerned with the behavior of individuals and groups, while macro- organizational behavior (also referred to as organization theory) is concerned with organization-wide issues, such as organization design and the relations between an organization and its environment. Although there are times when this distinction is helpful, it is always important to remember that in most instances we learn the most when we take a comprehensive view of organizational behavior and integrate these two perspectives. That is, issues such as organization structure can influence employee motivation. Hence, by keeping these two realms separate we lose valuable information that can help us better understand how to manage organizations.

Chapter 1 Management and Organizational Behavior 27

Exhibit 1.9 Invo new Hire Xinyu Liu was hired as the studio as a designer at Invo, a Massachusetts-based firm. Prior to joining Invo, she was a user experience researcher at Samsung, where she investigated how to apply future technologies in everyday living. Changing behavior for good was a key component of the R&D work, leveraging invisible sensing tech, devising emotional effects, and crafting just-in-time graphic communication. Her wide-ranging skills, from analyzing social behavior to 3D modeling to electronics to UI design, are well-suited for the multi- domain projects at Invo. As part of the employee selection process, the hiring managers at Invo needed to recognize that their employees come from various backgrounds and have varying abilities and skills, differing motivational levels, and different ambitions. Within the organizational context, they needed to consider how Xinyu would fit on the team in the areas of communication, decision-making, and leadership, and how she would handle power and organizational politics as she carried out her responsibilities. (Credit: Juhan Sonin/ flickr/ Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0))

Building Blocks of Organizations Understanding the behavior of people at work is fundamental to the effective management of an organization. Obviously, a number of factors come together to determine this behavior and its organizational consequences. In order to understand the origins and characteristics of these factors, it is necessary to have a model that organizes and simplifies the variables involved. We offer such a model here in the hope that it will bring some order to the study of this subject. The model can be considered in two parts (see Exhibit 1.10).

28 Chapter 1 Management and Organizational Behavior

This OpenStax book is available for free at http://cnx.org/content/col29124/1.5

Exhibit 1.10 A Model of Management and Organizational Behavior (Attribution: Copyright Rice University, OpenStax, under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license)

The first part of the model is the simple recognition of organizational inputs and outcomes. That is, organizations receive inputs from the external environment in the form of capital, raw materials, labor, community or government support, and so forth. In addition, organizations experience or produce certain outcomes, including (1) organizational goal attainment, (2) group performance and effectiveness, and (3) individual performance and effectiveness. Thus, organizations and the people in them exist in a constant state of flux, receiving and transforming inputs from the environment and returning those transformed inputs in the form of finished goods and services, return on stockholders’ equity, salaries that are paid to employees, and so forth. It is, in short, a dynamic system.

The second aspect of the model is the organization itself and all of its parts. One way to understand the complexity of organizations is to think of them simply as a set of building blocks, including:

Individuals and groups. Organizations are collectives of individuals and groups working to pursue common objectives. Their members come from various backgrounds and have varying abilities and skills, differing motivational levels, and different ambitions. Within the organizational context, these people must

Chapter 1 Management and Organizational Behavior 29

communicate, make decisions, show leadership, and handle power and organizational politics as they carry out their assigned activities.

Tasks and technology. In addition to variations among individuals and groups, we must recognize variations in the technology of the workplace. That is, how does the work actually get done? Technology includes both the actual design of jobs and the tools and techniques used in manufacture (e.g., robotics and expert systems).

Organization design. Putting together these factors—individuals and groups and tasks—is the subject of organization design. That is, how do we structure an organization so it effectively coordinates and controls employee behavior to facilitate performance?

Organizational processes. In addition to people, machines, and structure, we must recognize a series of organizational processes, such as leadership, communication, decision-making, power and politics, and so forth. The processes largely determine the nature and quality of interpersonal and intergroup relations within the workplace and, as such, influence ultimate organizational performance.

Management. Finally, the glue that holds these building blocks together is the character of management. Throughout this text, we shall see numerous examples of how the degree of managerial effectiveness and prowess have determined the success or failure of a venture. We shall take a managerial view throughout our survey of organizational behavior.

There have been many attempts to provide a differentiation between leadership and management over time. While they are not the same thing, they are necessarily linked, and complementary. Any effort to separate the two is likely to cause more problems than it solves and as business evolved the content of leadership and management has changed. The emergence of the “knowledge worker,” and the profound differences that this causes the way business is organized. With the rise of the knowledge worker, one does not ‘manage’ people, and instead the task is to lead people and the goal is to make productive the specific strengths and knowledge of every individual.

These five variables, then, will constitute the primary ingredients of this book. We shall proceed sequentially, beginning with individual behavior and moving to group and intergroup behavior and finally to organization design and structure. On the basis of this, we will turn to a consideration of several of the more important organizational processes. Finally, we will look to the future and examine ways that organizations can continue to develop and improve their workforces and the organization as a whole. Throughout, the roles of technology and management will be considered. Also, throughout, we will blend theory with research and practice.

C O N C E P T C H E C K

1. Discuss the role of management in the larger societal context. 2. What do you think the managers of the future will be like? 3. Identify what you think are the critical issues facing contemporary management. Explain.

30 Chapter 1 Management and Organizational Behavior

This OpenStax book is available for free at http://cnx.org/content/col29124/1.5

Alienation

Ethics Executive managers First-line management Industrial competitiveness

Long-range planning Macro-organizational behavior

Management

Micro-organizational behavior

Middle management Organization theory

Organizational behavior

Organizational design

Organizational processes

Technology Theory Work

Key Terms The experience of being isolated from a group or an activity to which one should belong, or in

which one should be involved. Moral principles that govern a person's behavior or the conducting of an activity.

Generally, a team of individuals at the highest level of management of an organization. The level of management directly managing nonmanagerial employees.

The ability to provide products and services more effectively and efficiently than competitors.

A process of setting goals that outlines the path for the company's future. Macro-organizational behavioral research steps back and looks at an

organization as a whole. The process of planning, organizing, directing, and controlling the activities of employees in

combination with other resources to accomplish organizational objectives. Micro-organizational behavioral studies focus on individual and group

dynamics within an organization. The managers in an organization at a level just below that of senior executives.

The study of organization designs and organization structures, relationship of organizations with their external environment, and the behavior of managers and workers within organizations.

The study of the actions and attitudes of individuals and groups toward one another and toward the organization as a whole.

A formal methodology that identifies dysfunctional aspects of workflow, procedures, structures and systems, and then realigns them to fit current business goals and develops plans to implement change.

The activities that establish the business goals of the organization and develop processes, product and resource assets that when used will help to achieve business goals.

The application of scientific knowledge for practical purposes. A set of principles on which the practice of an activity is based.

All activity involving mental or physical effort done in order to achieve a purpose or result.

Summary of Learning Outcomes

1.1 The Nature of Work 1. What is the meaning of work in a societal context?

Work will almost inevitably be a large part of your life. An understanding of organizational behavior will aid you in making that part of life more productive and enjoyable for yourself as well those you are in a position to influence. In this course, our objective is to provide sound and relevant insights concerning individuals, groups, and overall organizational systems that will be helpful to you not just as an executive or CEO but also when you are starting your career as an individual contributor or subordinate.

1.2 The Changing Workplace 2. How do recognize and meet the challenges facing managers in the new millennium?

The fundamental challenge facing managers is how to achieve performance goals while simultaneously providing for employee welfare and satisfaction. Work may be defined as an activity that produces something

Chapter 1 Management and Organizational Behavior 31

of value for other people. Work serves several functions, including economic, social, status, self-esteem, and self-actualization. As managers in today’s environment, several challenges arise, including international competition, new technologies, the need for increased quality, employee motivation and commitment, a diverse workforce, and ethical behavior. These challenges must be met by managers concerned about survival and competitiveness in the future.

1.3 The Nature of Management 3. What is expected of a manager?

Management is the process of planning, organizing, directing, and controlling the activities of employees in combination with other resources to accomplish organizational goals. Managerial responsibilities include long- range planning, controlling, environmental scanning, supervision, coordination, customer relations, community relations, internal consulting, and monitoring of products and services. These responsibilities differ by level in the organizational hierarchy and by department or function. The twenty-first-century manager will differ from most current managers in four ways. In essence, he or she will be a global strategist, a master of technology, a good politician, and a premier leader-motivator.

1.4 A Model of Organizational Behavior and Management 4. What is the role of the behavioral sciences in management and organizations?

Organizational behavior is the study of people in organizations. It can be studied on a micro level, which focuses on individual or group behavior, or on a macro level, which focuses on organization-wide actions and events. A model of organizational behavior is presented, consisting of five building blocks: individuals and groups, tasks and technology, organization design, organizational processes, and management.

Chapter Review Questions 1. Define work. 2. What functions does work serve in modern society? 3. Describe the extent and nature of the challenges facing the workplace in the next decade. 4. What can be done about these challenges? 5. Define management. 6. How does the nature of management change according to one’s level and function in the organization? 7. Discuss the role of management in the larger societal context. What do you think the managers of the

future will be like? 8. Identify what you think are the critical issues facing contemporary management. Explain.

Critical Thinking Case New Management Challenges for the New Age

Today’s news is littered with scandals, new allegations of sexual assault, and tragedy. Since 2017 and the #metoo movement, stemming from the Harvey Weinstein scandal, more and more public figures have been put into the spotlight to defend themselves against allegations from women around the globe.

Not only publicly, but privately in companies around the world, there have been firings and investigations into misconduct from coworkers, managers, and CEOs. It is a relevant topic that is getting long-overdue publicity

32 Chapter 1 Management and Organizational Behavior

This OpenStax book is available for free at http://cnx.org/content/col29124/1.5

and encouraging more men and women to come forward to discuss openly rather than hide the events and injustices of the past. Other events showcase the tumultuous and on-edge society we are living in, such as the Charlottesville, VA, attack that left one dead and 19 injured when a person drove a car through a crowd of protestors during a white nationalist gathering.

With unanticipated events on a daily business, it is important for companies to take a stand against racial hatred and harassment of any kind, and to have firm policies when such events occur. Take Netflix, for example, who in July 2018 fired their chief communications officer for saying the “N-word” in full form. This event occurred during an internal meeting in which the speaker was not directing the slur at anyone specific, but claimed it was being made as an emphatic point about offensive words in comedy programming. The “Netflix way,” the culture that is built around radical candor and transparency, was put to the test during this occurrence.

The offender, Jonathan Friedland, attempted to apologize for his misdeed, hoping it would fade away and his apology would be accepted. However, it didn’t work that way; instead, the anger was palpable between coworkers and eventually led to the firing of Friedland after a few months of inaction.

Netflixers are given a high level of freedom and responsibility within their “Netflix way” culture. Blunt feedback is encouraged, and trust and discretion are the ultimate gatekeeper, as employees have access to sensitive information and are ultimately trusted for how they expense items and take vacation time.

In the insanely fast-paced streaming-services industry, it is hard to keep this culture at a premium, but it is imperative for the success of the company overall. “As you scale a company to become bigger and bigger, how do you scale that kind of culture?” said Colin Estep, a former senior engineer who left voluntarily in 2016. “I don’t know that we ever had a good answer.”

In order to keep up, sometimes the company is seen as harsh in their tactics to keep the best of the best. “I think we’re transparent to a fault in our culture and that can come across as cutthroat,” said Walta Nemariam, an employee in talent acquisition at Netflix.

Netflix has stayed true to their cultural values despite the pressures and sometimes negative connotations associated with this “cutthroat” environment. Their ability to remain agile, while displaying no tolerance for societal injustices, puts them at the forefront of new-age companies. It is a difficult pace to stay in line with, but it seems that they are keeping in stride and remaining true to who they are, for now.

Questions: 1. How has the current cultural environment of our country shaped the way that companies are looking at

their own corporate cultural standards? 2. What are the potential downfalls and positive influences of the “Netflix way”? 3. How does Netflix’s internal culture negatively or positively affect their ability to stay competitive and

deliver cutting-edge content?

Sources: B. Stelter, “The Weinstein Effect: Harvey Weinstein scandal sparks movements in Hollywood and beyond,” CNN Business, October 20, 2017, https://money.cnn.com/2017/10/20/media/weinstein-effect-harvey- weinstein/; L. Hertzler, “Talking #MeToo, one year after bombshell Weinstein allegations,” Penn Today, October 30, 2018, https://penntoday.upenn.edu/news/talking-me-too-one-year-later; S. Ramachandaran and J. Flint, “At Netflix, Radical Transparency and Blunt Firings Unsettle the Ranks,” Wall Street Journal, October 25, 2018, https://www.wsj.com/articles/at-netflix-radical-transparency-and-blunt-firings-unsettle-the- ranks-1540497174.

Chapter 1 Management and Organizational Behavior 33

34 Chapter 1 Management and Organizational Behavior

This OpenStax book is available for free at http://cnx.org/content/col29124/1.5

Introduction

Learning Outcomes

After reading this chapter, you should be able to answer these questions:

How do managers and organizations appropriately select individuals for particular jobs? How do people with different abilities, skills, and personalities build effective work teams? How do managers and employees deal effectively with individual differences in the workplace? How can organizations foster a work environment that allows employees an opportunity to develop and grow? How do managers know how to get the best from each employee? What is the role of ethical behavior in managerial actions? How do you manage and do business with people from different cultures?

Exhibit 2.1 (Credit: US Army Africa/ flickr/ Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0))

Building Back Trust on the Back End One institution that has been around for generations is banking. However, many individuals have lost faith in the banking system, and who’s to blame them? Big banks have let the general consumer down with security breaches and countless stories of scandals. One glaring example is Wells Fargo & Co., who are still recovering their brand from their admission of creating nearly two million accounts for customers without their permission. But this problem is not new. The approach to bolstering this trust factor is, however, taking on a new perspective with some quick adaptation and managerial foresight.

E X P L O R I N G M A N A G E R I A L C A R E E R S

1. 2. 3. 4.

5. 6. 7.

2 Individual and Cultural Differences

2.1 Individual and Cultural Factors in Employee Performance 1. How do managers and organizations appropriately select individuals for particular jobs?

As we can see in the example of Cathie Mahon, our unique personal characteristics can have a dramatic influence on both individual behavior and the behavior of those around us. To succeed in any managerial position, it is necessary to have the appropriate skills and abilities for the situation. Moreover, when selecting subordinates, managers have similar concerns. In short, individual differences can play a major role in how well someone performs on the job. They can even influence whether someone gets the job in the first place. Because of this, we begin this section with a look at individual differences in the workplace.

Several factors can be identified that influence employee behavior and performance. One early model of job performance argued simply that performance was largely a function of ability and motivation.1 Using this simple model as a guide, we can divide our discussion of individual factors in performance into two categories: those that influence our capacity to respond and those that influence our will or desire to respond. The first category includes such factors as mental and physical abilities, personality traits, perceptual capabilities, and stress-tolerance levels. The second category includes those variables dealing with employee motivation. Both of these sets of factors are discussed in this part of the book as a prelude to more complex analyses of overall organizational performance.