PAGE 72 Part One Fundamentals of Organizational Behavior

Linda failed to report to work on the early Schedule on the first day of regular work. When she
did arrive at 8 a.m., her supervisor criticized her for lack of responsibility. Barry responded by
saying that she could not work the early shift because she had to compare her children for
school, and she threatened to resign if she could not work on the later shift. Because of a
heavy workload and a difficult labor market, the supervisor needed Linda to do the job, yet had
no room for her in the 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. shift.
Questions
1. Analyze the communication blockages in this case. Discuss ideas such as upward and
downward communication. Listening, realistic job preview, feedback, and interference.
2. Explain how you would handle the employment situation at the end of the case. What ideas
from the chapter could be applied to help resolve this problem?

Communication Style

Experiential
Exercise Read the following three paragraphs, and then rank them (1 + highest; 3 + lowest) according to
the degree to which they describe your communication style. Be sure to use all three numbers
(1, 2, and 3). Where 1 is most descriptive and 3 is least descriptive.

_____A. I like to see an idea in the form of charts, diagram s, maps, figures, and models; I
prefer to receive written communications over oral; I like concrete example and specific
directions; I tend to give oral feedback (“I see what you’re driving at”).

_____B. I like to hear ideas form others, and then I enjoy discussing and debating them; I may
repeat others ideas in order to cement them in my mind; I can be distracted by excess
background noise; I tend to give oral clues to others (“ I hear what you’re saying”).

_____C. I like to do something; that is the way I learn best. I thrive on example, and am
generally quite active as a hands-on person; I tend to give oral clues in a physical way (“ I need
to get a handle on this before I can decide”).

Now form into groups of three persons, and engage in a discussion of some stimulating issue
of concern to the three of you After 5-10 minutes, assess the other two persons in terms of
whhether they are more likely to describe themselves as an A, a B, or a C above. Then
compare notes with each other to see how accurate you are at perceiving the self-assesed
communication style of others.

An insight is a newand clear perception of a phenomenon, or an acquired ability to “see”

clearly something that you unaware of previosly. It is sometimes simply referred to as an “ “ah
ha! moment.” In which you have a minirevelation or reach a straight forward conclusion about a
topic or issue.
Insights need not necessarily be dramatic, for what is an insight to one person may be
less important to another. The critical feature of insights is that they are revelent and
memorable for you want to retain and remember over time.
Insights, then, are different from the information that you find in the “Advice for Future
Managers” boxes within the text. That advice is prescriptive and action-oriented; it indicates a
recommended course of action.
A useful way to think of OB insights is to assume that you are the only person who has read
the current chapter. You have been given the assignment to highlight, in your own words, the
major concepts (but not just summarize the whole chapter) that might stand out

Chapter 3 Managing Communications Page 73

for a naïve audience who has never heard of the topic before. What 10 insights would you
share with him them?

1.(Example) Many employees have a strong need for social support, which can be satisfied
though communication that demonstrates that they are valued persons.
2.__________________________________________________________________________
3.__________________________________________________________________________
4.__________________________________________________________________________
5.__________________________________________________________________________
6.__________________________________________________________________________
7.__________________________________________________________________________
8.__________________________________________________________________________
9.__________________________________________________________________________
10._________________________________________________________________________
Chapter Four
Social Systems and
Organizational Culture
The culture of a company, if it has ingrained the commitment ot ethics and excellence, will be
fine.
Mike Miller

Researchers have found that companies with the strongest cultures---where values and norms
are widely shared and strongly held----tend to outperform their peers.
Adam Zuckerman2

Chapter Objecctives
TO UNDERSTAND

 The Operation of a Social System

 The Psychological Contract
 Social Cultures and their Impact
 The Value of Cultural Diversity
 Role and Role Conflict in Organizations
 Status and Status Sysmbols
 Organizational Culture and Its Effects
 Fun Workplaces

Employees at Herman Miller, Inc., a large office furniture manufacturer, work very hard to
create well-designed, top-quality products, such as desk consoles, cabinets, and chairs.
Although the company’s innovative products are well known thoughout the industrial design
world, Herman Miller, Inc., is even more widely recognized for its distinctive organizational
culture.
Prospective employees are closely examined for their overall character and their ability to get
along with people. Employees are organized into work teams, where leaders and members
evaluate each other twice each year. Employees can qualify to receive quarterly bonuses,
based on cost-saving suggestions and other contributions
 Chapter 4 Social Systems and Organizational Culture Page 75

But the primary key to the company’s culture resides in a “covenant” that is established
between top management and all employees. In this covenant, the company asserts that it will
attempt to “share values, ideals, goal, respect for each person, [and] the process of our work
together.” As a result, the Herman Miller company has achieved significant success,
consistently ranking in the top 5 percent in evaluations of America’s “most admired
corporations.”

Employees at companies like Herman Miller, southwest Airlines, Dell Computers work within
complex social systems that have a significant influence on them. These organizational
cultures reflect the beliefs and values of the companies’ founders as well as those of the
current staff. Moreover, social systems have a profound effect on the ways that employees
work together. Cultures provide both direct and indirect cues telling workers how to succeed.
Direct cues include orientation training, policy statements, and advice from supervisors and
peers. Indirect cues are more subtle, including inferences made from promotions and apparent
patterns of acceptable dress. This chapter introduces major ideas about social systems, such
as social equilibrium, the effects of system changes, psychological contracts, cultural diversity,
and the impact of role and status. We also examine the nature and effects of both societal
culture (existing at a national level) and organizational culture (existing within a firm).

UNDERSTANDING A SOCIAL SYSTEM

A social system is a complex set of human relationships interacting in many ways. Possible
interations are as limitless as the star in the univers. Each small group is a subsystem within
larger groups that are subsystem of even larger groups, and so on, until all the world’s
population is included. Within a singleorganization, the social system includes all the people in
it and their relationships to one another and to the outside world.
Two points stand out in the complex interactions among people in a social system. First, the
behavior of any one member can have an impact, directly or indirectly, on the behavior of any
other. Although these impacts may be large or small, all parts of the system are mutually
interdependent. Simply stated, a change in one part of a system affects all other parts, even
though its impact may be slight.
A second important point resolves around a system’s boundaries. Any social system engages
in exchanges with its environment, receiving input from it and providing output to it (which then
becomes inputs for its adjacent systems). Social system are, therefore, open systems that
interact with their surroundings. Consequently, members of a system should be aware of the
nature of their environments and their impact on other members both within and outside their
own social system. This social system awareness is increasingly important in the twenty-first
century, as global trade and international marketplaces for a firm’s products and services
vastly expand the need for organizations and their employees to anticipate and react to
changes in their competitive environments.
Social Equilibrium
A system is said to be in social equilibrium whn its interdependent parts are in dynamic
working balance. Equilibrium is a dynamic concept, not a static one. Despite constant change
and movement in every organization, the system’s working balance can still beretained. The
system is like a sea: In continuous motion and even suffering substantial disruption from
storms, over time the sea’s basic character changes very little.

Page76 Part One Funndamentals of Organizational Behavior

When minor changes occur in a social system, they are soon absorbed by adjustments within
the system and equilibrium is regained. On the other hand, a single significant change ( a
shock, such as the resignation of a key executive) or a series of smaller but rapid changes may
throw an organization out of balance, seriously reducing its forward progress until it can reach
a new equilibrium. In a sense, when it is disequilibrium, its parts are working against one
another instead of in harmony. Here is an example:
American automobile manufacturers have faced a significant challenge in responding to
design, quality, and cost advantages of international automakers such as Toyota, Nissan,
Honda, Subaro, and Mazda.
To combat this problem, Ford Motor Company creates cross-functional teams of line managers
charged with the task of speeding product development. These teams are housed in the same
work area, which makes communication much easier.

Functional and Dysfunctional Effects

A change such as the introduction of cross-functional design teams at Ford has a functional
effect when it is favorable for the system. When an action or a change creates unfavorable
effects, such as a decline in productivity, for the system it has a dysfunction effect. A major
management task is to appraise both actual and proposed changes in the social system to
determine their possible functional or dysfunctional effects, so that appropriate responses can
be anticipated and made.
Employees can also have functional or dysfunctional effects on the organization. They can be
creative, productive, and enthusiastic and actively seek to improve the quality of the
organization’s product or service. On the other hand, they can be tardy, absent frequently,
unwilling to use their talents, and resistant to organizational changes. For employees to ehibit
functional behaviors, they need to receive clear expectations and promise of reward.
Furthermore, in exchange, the organization needs to receive a commitment from the
employees.

Psychological and Economic Contracts

When employees join an organization, they make an unwritten psychological contract with it,
although often they are not conscious of doing so. As shown in Figure 4.1, this contract is in
addition to the economic contract where time, talent, and energy are exchanged for wages,
hours, and reasonable working conditions. The psychological contract defines the condition of
each employee’s psychological involvement----both contributions and expectations----with the
social system.
If the organization honors only the economic contract and not the psychological contract,
employees tend to have lower satisfaction because not all their expectations are being

Chapter 4 Social Systems and Organizational Culture Page 77

FIGURE 4.1 The Results of the Psychological Contract and the Economic Contract

met. They may also withhold some of their work-related contributions. On the other hand, if
both their psychological and economic expectations are met, they tend to experience
satisfaction, stay with the organization, and perform well. A desirable sense of mutuality has
been reached.

The reciprocal obligations regarding the relationship between an employee and the
organization can be violated either through an inability to fulfill them or by one party
purposefully reniging on a promise. To prevent breakdowns of the psychological contract,
employers are urged to help employees clarify their expectations and perceptions, initiate
explicit discussions of mutual obligations, exercise caution when conveying promises, provide
candid explanations for broken promises.
As indicated in Figure 4.1, management responds in a similar way to the economic and
psychological contracts that it sees. It expects responses such as high performance,
continuous quality improvements, commitment to the organization, and friendly service to its
customers
The Psychological contract builds upon the concept of exchange theory. This theory simply
suggests that whenever a continuing relationship exists between two parties, each person
regularly examines the rewards and cost of that interaction.

Page 78 Part One Fundamentals of Organization Behavior

SOCIAL CULTURE

Whenever people act in accordance with the expectations of others, their behavior is social, as
in the case of an employee named Maria.
Social cultures are often portrayed as consistent within a nation, thereby producing a socalled
national culture. At the simplest level, national cultures can be compared on the bases of how
their members relate to each other, accomplish work and respond to change.
People learn to depend on their culture. It gives them stability and security, because they can
understand what is happening in their cultural community and know how to respond while in it.

Cultural Diversity

Employees in almost any organization are divided into subgroups of various kinds. Formation
of groups is determined by two broad sets of conditions. First, job-related (organizationally
created) differences and similarities, such as type of work. This Cultural Diversity, or rich
variety of differences among people at work, raises the issue of fair treatment for workers who
are not in positions of authority.

Problems may persist because of a key difference in this context between discrimination and
prejudice.