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in Understanding Groups
UNIT 1 UNDERSTANDING GROUPS
Objectives
After going through this unit, you should be able to:
• understand what is a group and why study groups
• appreciate the characteristic features of primary and secondary groups
• appreciate the complementarity of group and the individual
• understand the nature of group influences.
Structure
1.1 Introduction
1.2 Why study groups
1.3 The Description and Nature of Groups
1.4 The Nature of Constraints
1.5 Group Processes
1.6 Group Processes as a Function of Interaction
1.7 Theoretical Approaches to Groups
1.8 The Group and The Individual
1.9 Summary
1.10 Self-Assessment Questions
1.11 Further readings
1.1 INTRODUCTION
Man is a social animal. The early origin and development of social life among homo
sapiens was within-the context of collectives where the sustained human group was a
social invention of critical evolutionary importance. The human group originated
presumably through mutual interaction among factors such as partial care, the growth
of larger brain, development of language, extended childhood, exchange behavior,
and play. Once the sustainable group emerged, it became a valuable social form.
First, it became a means to accomplish tasks and reach goals that were simply
impossible for the individual alone, including the care of the young after the death of
the mother, hunting large animals, the spanning of wide charms, building complex
structures, conducting communal ceremonies, defending effectively against attack
and so on. Second, groups became a source not only of physical sustenance but also
of warmth and affection, of tenderness and support, and of a sense of identity and
collective security. Third, the group became both a creator and a transmitter of
culture, language and technical know-how beliefs and art forms, games and
ceremonies, and in general a set of meanings for interpreting existence including life
in the group itself. Fourth, human groups each bound together by. mutual trust,
became building blocks to be joined together to form larger social units, ranging from
small outfit or band, to the clan, the tribe, the city, the society and eventually to the
highly complex political and economic organizations which now span the globe.
Quite naturally in the face of the new possibilities of, and demands on, these supra-
structure, the forms and sustenance of the original groups gave way to radically new
forms that have led to today's wide variety of primary and secondary groups.
Before proceeding further, let us understand what is meant by primary and secondary
groups. According to Dunphy the primary group..is "a group which persists long
enough to develop strong emotional attachment between members, at least a set of
rudimentary, functionality differentiated roles, and a sub-culture of its own which
includes an image of the group as an entity and informal normative system which
controls group-relevant action as members". To understand the distinctive processes of
primary groups, we need to look not only within these groups but outside them.
Consequently one may identify the roles these primary groups play in life. Whether life
in such groups is easy going and pleasant or turbulent and disturbing, members tend to
be attached one another, to be significant" to one another, as it would be indicated by
sense of personal loss. When a member is separated from the group like in a family
such primary groups are at one end of a scale. At the other, impersonal end of the scale 5
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indicated by sense of personal loss. When a member is separated from the group like
in a family such primary groups are at one end of a scale. At the other, impersonal
end of the scale are secondary groups whose values is largely extrinsic. They are
organized chiefly to get a job done, to produce object or services that have exchanged
value, usually for outsiders. Performance according to standard Of effectiveness or
excellence taken precedence over personal feelings and attachments. Often members
are considered replaceable in the service of high quality group performance, as in
surgical team. Beyond their variation in "primaryness" the billions of groups that
exist vary in other respects including size, duration or existence, reward to members,
usefulness to the community, and the degree to which their structure and activities
are governed by custom or law.
1.2 WHY STUDY GROUPS?
Groups may be numerous and various, but why study them?. One reason is curiosity
about the human condition. The billions of groups that exist are settings in which the
men, women and children of the world pursue their daily activities of work and play.
Whatever form they take, one can assume that their structure and internal dynamics
make difference not only to the lives of their members but also to the character and
history of the communities of which they are a part. As we all know, the new born
infant cannot become human without "a mothering group" and reciprocally groups
can neither maintain themselves nor accomplish collective goals without having
gained commitment from individuals. This interdependence between group and
individual is elemental, both in origin and development of group life among humans
and individual lives - elemental enough to raise further questions, such as, how do
these groups tend to shape personalities? What part do they play throughout the life
cycle of individuals? What do groups give to and require from individuals? What is
actually require from individuals to live, work and play together? What are the
dynamics of these small centers of human existence? On another level, how do
networks of such groups contribute to the life of communities? What groups
influence the course of history and in what ways'? How do these relations among
persons and the group, among groups and the community - differ from one region to
another, or from one culture to another? Are there general laws that tend to govern
such relations? One can see that the interest in human conditions can lead quite
naturally to question about human groups whether one is a historian, psychologist,
anthropologist, sociologist or scholar in related fields.
One of the most important reasons for' studying groups, apart from its role in helping
individuals in reaching difficult goals, is to better understand the psychology of the
individuals. Cooley wrote, "human nature is developed and expressed in those simple
face-to-face groups that some how are alike in all societies, groups of the family, the
play ground and the neighbourhood, ... in these every where human nature comes into
existence". The humanizing processes that occur between the new born and the"
family are often so intricately interwoven that the boundaries between person and
group are not clear. Consequently those who are trying to advance our knowledge
about personality development are finding it enormously helpful, if not essential, to
comprehend the interpersonal dynamics in the formative groups.
Another reason to study the groups is to better understand larger social units, such as
organization, institutions, communities and societies. Ordinarily, these larger units
are composed of overlapping smaller groups, connected through various types of
obligations and responsibilities. Because of the interdependencies in a given network,
groups small in themselves may nonetheless have may have important even critical
effects on the rest of the system. We are familiar with the general tendencies of
decision making to migrate to the top of power network where often a small group of
executives and advisors makes the final decisions. In so far as the internal relations
(loyalties, jealousies, coalitions) of the small group a fact its decision, then its
dynamics have an impact on the larger system both at the top and at the grass root
level, the dynamics of small units can be a major source of variance in determining
changes in the larger system. The more important they are at a source of variance, the
more essential it becomes for those who want to understand change in the larger
6 systems to study dynamics of the smaller groups. For example, if the top executives
are not
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well coordinated interpersonally, the entire organization will suffer as most of the
important decision will either be shelved due to internal bickering or will be watered
down in the name of collective compromise.
1.3 THE DESCRIPTION AND NATURE OF GROUPS
`a group should be conceived of as a system whose parts interrelate.'
(Gahagan, 1975,
Much has been written about groups, especially over the last thirty years when all the
pervading nature of `group' influence on human behavior has been increasingly
recognized. The number of words in the English language that have arisen to number
of describe form of collectivity, both in animals and men, is legion. This is a fair
indication of the need to distinguish these groupings and is also a clear mark of the
acceptance of their universal nature.
The very general nature of human groupings poses a problem for those who wish to
examine group phenomena in more detail. Manifestly ubiquitous group pressures
producing some form of conformity, and therefore acceptable behavior, are as little
thought about as breathing. In turn this tends to relegate such group pressures to a
level below conscious awareness unless, circumstances change and unfamiliarity
break the habitual patterns. This process allows individuals to assume that they make
decisions about the trivia of everyday life in ways that are both personal to them and
not subject to outside influence whereas the opposite is more nearly the reality.
Whatever choices the individual makes, these are already circumscribed by group
influences; the less awareness there is of these influences, the more circumscribed the
choice and the greater the lack of awareness.
In a very real sense, then, attempting to describe what actually happens when people
are gathered together is an effort to delineate more aspects of human interaction,
because even actions that are essentially private can, with little effort, be shown to be
influenced by group behavior and, in particular, to be the expected responses of
others. It is not too difficult to present an argument for the `learned' nature of most of
human behavior, nor to argue that it was learned because it produced relatively
satisfactory results somewhere in our past experience. In other words, it was behavior
that found acceptance by those who were perceived as important, to us in some way
and that thereby brought some degree of satisfaction to us as producers of such
behavior.
Nothing seems more important in the understanding of group influence than the
enormous effort that all human beings seem to make to offset any perception they
may have of their essentially isolated state. However such human beings involve
themselves with others, each is still basically a self-contained unit with no direct,
unimpeded link with any other human being (unless he or she is one of a set of
Siamese twins). An individual cannot communicate thoughts and feelings without
translating them into some form of arbitrary and systematic code, nor can the feelings
and thoughts of another be appreciated without the same translation process taking
place at both transmitting and receiving ends.
Furthermore, it would seem that not only is the human being isolated, in this way but
in other ways also. For example, there is the problem of identity, and the constant
need for stimulation from other similar beings. Both these factors seem essential to.
the maintenance of a mentally healthy individual. Our perception of the kind of
people we are rests largely on our recognizing the responses we evoke in others. We
cannot evoke such responses if our behavior is so unacceptable that we are excluded
from the company of others. Similarly, unless we receive sufficient response from
others, we cannot be socially competent individuals.
While there are other factors involved, we ate concerned here, to make explicit only
the functions of group influence in everyday life. The reasons for so doing are simple
enough and reside in the concept of a human being as a thinking animal. By
`thinking' I mean a process of conscious `assessment of the factors involved in any
situation and also an assessment of the
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nature of the equipment we possess for making' such assessments. Choices can only
be made if an awareness of alternatives and their value exists at the moment of
decision making. Some choice almost always exists. But in many circumstances the
hidden influences that over-or under-value a choice, or even obscure a possible
alternative, limit any selection and thus affect the outcome.
Such hidden influences, which stem mainly from. group pressures, can be made more
explicit by the expedient of acquiring some understanding of the way in which
groups operate. By increasing understanding of the function of group influence,
erstwhile hidden influences become manifest and any decision can be more widely
and accurately based.
Definitions of dynamic entities such as groups present many difficulties but it is
hoped that the description offered here will provide a reasonable basis for the
widening of understanding about groups in general.
THE ARBITRARY NATURE OF THE `GROUP' CONCEPT
'A group is ... the largest set of two or more individuals who are jointly characterized
by a network of relevant communications, a shared sense of collective identity and
one or more shared goal dispositions with associated normative strengths. '
(Smith -1967)
In one clear sense a group is a purely arbitrary distinction, the nature of which maybe
very important when certain kinds of groups are studied. All groups are collections of
human beings. What determines the degree of ‘groupness’ must be at a very basic
level, for example, the amount of time they spend in each Other's company. Thus, if
people congregate for noticeable periods of time then they lose some of the fluidity
of a haphazard gathering. The observer can say they are an elementary or
rudimentary group. Social life is composed of just such groups.
The arbitrary nature of such a definition is marked by the fluctuations of perception
of observers. For example, observers may disagree about the sufficient minimum
time needed for a rudimentary group to be established. Thus, some researchers set
purely arbitrary levels about how much of any given defining factor (e.g. time spent
in each other's presence) constitutes an acceptable criterion. Other defining factors
such as awareness of the presence of others and interaction, are equally important,
but allure dependent for their existence upon the factor of time.
One zoologist (Jones 1967) has even suggested that the group state may be the real
existence of which individuals are no more than parts, as cells are constituents of a
body. Jones was in fact -writing about social insects such as bees, but his argument is
applicable to human beings, too. Thus, it is possible to argue that all social life is
group life and that the individual is a more or less responsive constituent part.
Whyte (1960) proposes that we tend to be confusing an abstraction with reality. He
goes on to say that because a collection of individuals can be called `a group' it does
not imply that they function as `a group'. (This is an interesting example of the
arbitrary way in which the term `group' is used.) By saying that a collection of people
does not function as a group, Whyte is suggesting that in his definition certain clear
conditions must be present before the collection becomes a group. In his terms those
conditions are those that facilitate a collection's ability to function as a group, that is,
to act as an integrated unit with some cognizance of the interdependence of the
constituent parts.
In general, one would not quarrel with this outlook. However, one do question the
assumption that there is a qualitative difference between the `collective' and the
`group'. As one see it, the difference is quantitative, the two systems are the same
system at different stages in its development. All the factors that eventually create the
group are in existence in the collectivity. They are less intensively and extensively
developed but they are there intensively and extensively developed, but they are
there. Even this concept has an element of arbitrariness about it but I think it begs
fewer questions, and is broader and more elegant than approaches that insist that the
8 obvious differences between groups, crowds, and
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collectivities are differences of kind. No one would suggest that eggs, caterpillars,
pupae, and moths are not part of the same life cycle despite -heir apparent
differences.
Golembiewski (1962) asserts that he can find no evidence for the assumption that all
human aggregates are groups. But it is equally clear from the definition he gives of a
`group' that once more he has made an arbitrary choice about what he will accept as
falling within his criteria.
This leads to a search for the factors that distinguish what one will and will not
accept under the rubric of `group'. Hence all the concern with the awareness of
purpose on the part of the members, the sense of belonging, and the myriad of
focusing factors. In turn, this has led to semantic problems and to problems of infinite
consequence in terms of the impossibility of
comparing research projects ostensibly concerned with the same social situation, i.e.
a group. Ultimately this has led to a hardening of the differences and possessive
claims that only the writer is talking about `real' groups.
Most particular and precise formulations about actual occurrences can be embedded
in larger concepts and this stochastic process may be infinite. But there must be some
stage at which the apparently separate theoretical entities can be embedded without
harm or loss in the next larger stage of concept. If this is not done with the concept of
group then the arbitrary nature remains paramount and conflict prevents maximum
use being made of the available data.
WHAT ARE GROUPS?
`Our aim, therefore, is to enunciate general principles of the following form:, "If any
device is to perfonrt function X, then that device is subject to or limited by the
principles l' which must hold for all possible devices performing this function ". '
(Miller 1969a: 107)
George Miller was writing about a way of comparing computers and human beings,
machines and organisms, that sees them `insofar as they performed the same function
... as particular instances of theoretical systems of far greater generality' (Miller
1969a: 106).
The obvious difficulty of comparing groups which arises from the apparent widely
different uses to which they are put, has always tended towards a differentiation of
groups.. The functions have been seen to be different. Therefore Miller's general
principle would not apply. But it seems that `function' in these instances is often
confused with `outcome'. For example, if a group is used as a method of treating
people with particular kinds of emotional problems, then its outcome is therapeutic.
Some would say that this was also its `function' and that this function would be
different from that of a group- set up to enhance learning.
The point is that the functions of all groups, defined as the way they operate, are
identical and that it is not so much the absolute difference of function that creates
apparent difference in groups, but the intensity, duration, and selective use of the
recognizably limited number of functions that produce different outcomes. In terms
of Miller's general principles, all groups fit into a theoretical system of greater
generality and are governed by the same general principles. In other words, these can
be defined as a Stochastic theory of groups that points to the similarities of groups
rather than their differences.
Given a stochastic theory in which the different `kinds' of groups (I would prefer to
use the word `manifestations' than kinds') can be embedded, we are immediately
presented with the possibility of direct comparison of identifiable components. We
are in fact faced with the possibility of examining the interactive behavior of human
beings in certain set pieces. The use of the word `set' here indicates that the element
of time has to be considered as one of the most important factors involved.
Human beings are separate entities but in their movements through space and time
they gather together to produce groupings that last for different spans of time. Some
like families and friendships exist over long periods of time; others, like
acquaintanceships or crowds, last only a short time. People also move: from one of
these gatherings to others in relatively short periods of time.
All this is very obvious but it has to be said because the collectivities themselves,
especially if they are not particularly transient, have come to be regarded as entities
so much in their own 9
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right that the obvious fact that they are collecting points in a never-ending stream of
interaction tends to get lost, and with it the essential similarities that exist among
them.
Shaw (1974) argues that group behavior is the behavior of the individuals who
compose the group. Their behavior in one group will be different from their solitary
behavior because the' stimuli they receive from the presence of others are
significantly different in different social situations. This is another way of asserting
the same point I made earlier.
The constellations of individuals that a person enters are composed of different
individuals and occur at different stages of the life cycle both of the individual
members and of the gatherings they compose. Thus, the stimuli to which any one
member is exposed are different-not in kind but in intensity and duration - and indeed
perception of those stimuli also changes with experience and the degree of
familiarity.
Once more, we are forced back to the fact that group behavior is behavior in the
presence of others, the response to, the ordinary stimuli of human social meeting.
How long the gatherings stay together and thus increase the chance of adding to the
experience of their members (which in turn modifies their perceptions not only of this
collectivity but of all others of which they are a member) is crucial. Thus, although
the terms 'natural' and `created' groups are in widespread use to distinguish between
what are often seen as the two major categories of grouping; it will be shown that the
distinction relates only to the nature of their origin and not to the 'behavior patterns of
which they are composed.
So-called 'natural' groups
If it were possible for the overworked hypothetical man from Mars to take a fresh
view of the people of Earth, he would probably be impressed by the amount of time
they spend doing things in groups.
(Cartwright and Zander 1953)
`Natural' groups tend to be those that were in existence long before the person who so
describes them saw them as such. `Natural', in this sense, has little or nothing to do
with nature but with a sense of rightness, a feeling that such groups are `real', that
they grew out of ordinary human needs and that there is no immediate evidence that
they were consciously and deliberately brought into existence by one or more human
beings as an act of policy.
`Natural' also implies acceptance. The 'normal' state of affairs has not been interfered
with. People may not like families, particularly their own, but a family is described as
a `natural' group. It grow's out of several very basic needs of all human beings, all of
which can only be met by some long-term contact with, and support from, other
people. It is real; it is accepted.
Employing the, dichotomy of `natural' / `created' forms of groups leads to the
difficulty of actually seeing `natural' groups as groups. To many people the word
`group' means a collection of individuals gathered together in one place at the same
time often for at least one common purpose. It is quite acceptable that a study could
be made of how such groups form, function, and die; but it is quite another matter to
want to apply similar techniques to `natural' groups such as families, friendship
groups, and gangs. This is one of the major reasons why information about the ways
in which groups behave is so heavily weighted in favour of that obtained from
`artificial' groups (Argyle 1969).
There are other reasons, of course. For instance, the invasion of an investigator into a
`natural' group throws into sharp relief the fact that his or her reason for being there is
significantly different from that of all the other members. What the investigator sees
may well be biased by the fact of his or her presence. He or she can hardly ever
become a true member of the group unless their motives for being' there change or
are never made explicit.
Using Whyte's (1960) terminology, `natural groups would be called `incidental' in
contradistinction to ‘created’ groups, would be called, `functional'. So Whyte's
distinction lies in whether a group form arose to meet or accommodate the exigencies
of an 'in-process' situation and in that sense is a spontaneous growth from that
situation, or whether a conscious effort, is directed to the establishment of a group
10 form `deigned' to cope with a situation and to facilitate a predicated outcome.
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Activity 1
Look for residential societies around you and the office environment and try to assess
what kind of groups get formed and how. Describe any two instances in details.
Prepare a note and discuss with your colleagues.
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A somewhat similar formulation is put forward by Heap (1977) in which the factors
of spontaneity, chance, propinquity, Shared interests, and needs are regarded as prime
elements in the gestation of `natural' groups. There is strong emphasis on the chance
element of people, being in the same place at the same time and a sense of the
benefits this brings that reinforces the desire to maintain the source. (Heap uses the
phrase `members simply come together'.)

It is precisely this chance element and the desire to maintain a group as a source of
satisfaction that offers the possibility of discovering what factors in these groups,
then they endure, meet the needs of their members so well. In other words, if a
grouping arises from the chance factors listed above, stays in existence for a
considerable period of time, and creates behavior patterns that can not only be
recognized but emulated, then that group effectively serves the needs of its members.
Moreover, the shape or form it'*s developed should be the embodiment of the
elements that generate effective need-satisfaction in this kind of situation. In a sense
it is 'organic' in that it has grown into the shape it finally assumes.

To be more sure of this point it is necessary to look at groups that do not originate in
this way and to identify the major differences and the likely effects.

So-called 'Created' groups

The group is artificial, a form created by design'

1. Artificial things are synthesized (though not always or usually with full
forethought) by man.

2. Artificial things may imitate appearances in natural things while lacking, in one
or more respects, the reality of the latter,

3. Artificial things can be characterised in terms of functions, goals, adaptations.

4. Artificial things are often discussed, particularly when they are being designed,
in terms of imperatives as well as descriptives.' (Simon in Rosenthal 1973: 61)

One major problem in the world of groups is that of gaining acceptance for the idea
of the similarity of all groups. The terms natural and 'created' groups embody this
problem'. There is something alien about groups that are created as a specific effort of
will. In teaching people to see the dynamics of groups, for instance, a very common
comment is that any group studied for this purpose is `artificial'. By this is meant that
a very strong resistance to the group's, 'realness' has been generated, despite the fact
that the group is constituted of real people in real surroundings. The element of being
conscious of its generation and purpose, of being in on its birth rather than just
finding it already in existence, seems to cause problems in accepting its reality.

The major distinctions between 'natural' and 'created' groups would seem to be first
that natural groups arise out of the everyday needs of human beings (they are of
spontaneous generation and arise from circumstances. that occur as an integral part,
of human existence) and, second, that for the individual member the sense of
'naturalness' is greater the further away he or she is from the actual creation of the 11
group.
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Activity 2
Haw you ever been a part of either a natural group or a created group? If not, assess
why?
If yes, prepare a write-up about your experience, objectives and functioning of the
group: Discuss among your peer group.
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In a very arbitrary way the terms `natural' and `created' groups define not so much
different kinds of animal but different ways of looking at members of the same
species. The use of the word `natural' give., the clue to the kind of thinking that lies
behind it as does the use of the word `artificial' for groups that are specifically and
consciously generated. Matters have often been made worse by attempts to prove
what happens in all groups by creating experimental groups and performing
controlled experiments with carefully delineated areas of group behavior. This lays
open the possibility of direct refusal to accept any results from such groups, which
are quite rightly seen as artificial, to real' groups, which by definition are natural.
There is a problem with experimental group data but it is not their absolute
distinction from real groups. It is the fact that experimental groups are created for the
purpose of being experimental groups their purpose is to perform an experimental
function. Thus, all the factors that attend their creation, function, constitution, and
performance, affect the outcome. To transfer an analysis of such outcomes directly to
the understanding of groups where the factors are different in some major way is not
to be wholly wrong (that would contravene the essential similarity of all groups), but
to have an instrument that is woefully out of balance.
The question of the created group and its difference is not one of kind but of quantity
and quality of the major influencing factors. Looked at in this way, it is possible to
say that the so-called natural' group has some considerable elements of artificiality' in
it, that is, elements deliberately brought into existence or modified in some way by
conscious effort, but that mainly its structure has come about by `chance' elements.
A large number of so-called `natural' groups are transient by nature. They come into
being to meet a given situation and break up when that situation no longer obtains. It
is only when the group deliberately seeks other similar situations to - work at,
becomes consciously interested in its own performance, and' deliberately attempts to
improve its methods that the group has begun to involve from its chance origin to a
rationally constructed performing unit. This kind of change concerns time and the
changed perceptions of members about their achievement, satisfactions, and
functions.
Processes take some time to become established and to produce outcomes, and so
although the so-called `natural' groups should give us clear indications of the factors
that allow the group to stay in business, not all `natural' groups are germane to our
purpose. Essentially the natural groups that should prove most valuable in providing
the evidence required should not be transient and should be successful in the
performance of their function. For these reasons I have chosen to look at groups that
have a permanence beyond one initial function. It is their successful forms that I want
to scrutinize. Groups modify their members' experience of groin behavior and this
modification, or learning process, is often referred to as the influence that a group
can exert.
THE NATURE OF GROUP INFLUENCE
'a great deal of behaviour which has been supposed to emanate from within the
individual, to be based on his fixed character traits, is, in fact, a function of the
individual within his group’.
12 (Brown 1954. 283)
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'Influence' 45 neither good nor bad in an absolute manner, but only in relation to the
one. who experiences it. . (Gide:1903)
Without doubt, groups possess the ability to influence the behavior of their members.
Indeed, it is the nature of this ability, and the methods employed that are fundamental
to this study. If a group is not able by its very nature to influence its members and to
moderate their behavior then any attempt to use a group for this kind of purpose is
certain to fail.
First we must clarify what is meant by influence, looking at group influence in
general terms here but in more detail in the subsequent sections. To begin with, it is
necessary to recognize the two most important elements, that is, the actual influence
or pressure that a group exerts and the perception that each member has of the
pressure being exerted. The necessity to behave in specific acceptable ways can be
spelled out clearly by the group through its representatives, or it can be left to be
discovered by newly acquired members who are helped by hint, suggestion,
modeling, and sanction. In any case, each member's perception of what the group
requires of him or her will be somewhat idiosyncratic. The possibility for error and
partial success is enormous and tends to increase; the more specific the required
behaviors become.
One fact, substantially backed by practical experience, emerges fairly clearly from a
consideration of the material about group influence. This concerns the relationship
between influence, the need for a particular group, and the availability of alternative
groups. Given that a group must satisfy some of the needs of its members better,' in-
their opinion, than any available alternatives, there must come a point where any
increase- in the demands of a group on its members could make previously
unattractive substitutes a better base of satisfaction. Thus, if freedom to change
exists, change will take place. Group-influence can only operate as an acceptable-
pressure up to the point at which the satisfactions derived from being a -member of
the group are greater than the dissatisfactions generated by the group pressure.. If
alternatives or substitutes are available then the `cost' rate may well tilt in their favour
and if the pressure is great enough then opting out altogether may become viable.
Thus, the nature of group influence can be described in terms of an exchange. In so
far as any group meets the needs of an individual, the costs will be the demands the
group makes on that individual. If, in the opinion of the individual, the costs exceed
the rewards,; alternative and cheaper ways of meeting needs will be sought. As the
needs of human beings are man and varied, it must suffice to say that the most basic
needs reside in the constant requirements for reassurance of the accepting presence of
others, confirmation of our existence, and the dispelling of fear "of rejection and
isolation. As human contact is an essential ingredient in all these needs, then -a-
group must be an ideal medium for meeting them.
Group pressure is exerted upon individuals through the groups perceived ability to
meet the needs of these individuals. The nature, extent and intensity of those needs
form the upward limits of the pressure that a group can exert,
Activity 3
Being a member of any type of group, have you noticed any influence or pressure on
you. If yes, how did you feel about influencing or being influenced.
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1.4 THE NATURE OF CONSTRAINTS

'It becomes necessary to see any group, artificial or natural, as existing within a
milieu which places upon the group limitations and boundaries.' 13
(Douglas 1979: 78)
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In the analysis of what goes on in groups, it is often forgotten that the object of
analysis exists in relation to a myriad surroundings. This forgetfulness can promote
neglect and ignorance of the effects that these surrounding factors can have. One of
the difficulty of defining what these possible reasons may be the constraining
influences are and isolating and measuring their effects. Nevertheless, to
acknowledge their presence is a step in the right direction no matter how crude the
defining entities may be.
A second problem relating to constraints is that once more we are dealing not with a
direct cause/effect situation but one that is monitored and modified by the nature of
individual perception and response. For instance, the passing of time is a fact. The
way it affects members of a group depends largely how each perceives the time
factor in relation to their own needs and priorities.
While this perceptual factor complicates the assessment of the way in which existing
constraints affect the influence processes in a group, all outcome in group situations
are influenced by them because the nature of constraint is present in every constituent
factor of the group and its surroundings. It needs to be said here that the term
constraint may be misleading in that it appears to have a restrictive connotation.
While this is true, the positive side is the security that a defining structure, boundary
limit can give. I have found that the most useful way of thinking about the constraints
is that when they are recognized and their constraining function assessed in relation
to the particular group under consideration, they define what is possible.
This way of looking at constraints has then to have an extra dimension, summed up
in the dichotomy modifiable/nonmodifiable. Modifiable, that is, from the point of
view of the group (in reality whether the group possesses the power to effect change).
Constraints that are non-modifiable immediately set the parameters within which the
group can function, while admitting that the assessment of their nature as
unmodifiable may be incorrect and prove to be so at some later stage.
Second and third factors enter into this debate under the rubrics of duration and
intensity. In the first case (duration), constraints that at one point in time are assessed
as nonmodifiable may not continue their existence in that form for the duration of the
group's existence. Factors totally separate from the group and its immediate milieu
can materially affect the operating constraints (administrative decisions, changes in
the power structure, and financial change, for example). These changes can obviously
work in either direction, tightening or loosening the constraints' effect.
The third factor (intensity) is inherent in the factor of change also. Some constraints
have little effect upon a group despite being non-modifiable, others have a great deal.
This level of intensity of effect can of course, change during the life of a group either
from the effect of outside influence or from a change in the group's need of, or
response to, the constraint in question. What matters is that all constraints are
constantly monitored in order to assess the effects they are producing.
A list of the constraints is given in Douglas (1979:78-106) where a discussion of their
nature is pursued at some length. In one sense everything that comprises a group and
the milieu in which it is embedded can have some effect on its outcome. Group
members clearly react to things as intangible as the atmosphere of the place where
they meet just as much as they may do to the constrictions of material resources, such
as space, equipment, and finance. So it is only realistic that the recognition and
assessment of constraints, and the continuous monitoring of their effect, should be
restricted to those that are considered to create the most important positive and
negative effects.
Groups that have arisen to meet specific ends and that assume traditional form, take
on this structure and design largely, though not wholly, because experience has
shown which constraints have the power to affect outcomes and which design
elements can enhance, use, or reduce those effects to the benefit of the group. It
becomes important, therefore, not only to . recognize these traditional, empirically
developed structures for the design elements they are, but also to be aware of
constraints that are not part of the basic traditional pattern but which are present in a
current situation in which it is proposed to embed a group.
Apart from the environment and the element of time, mentioned earlier, the acts of
leadership, made by group members, form a very large part of a group's constraint
14 system. The element
 ignoumbasupport.blogspot.in Understanding Groups
of choice, which is a characteristic of leadership acts, is always selective. Thus,
choosing to go one direction and to behave according to this norm always constrains
the group, if the choice is accepted, by cuffing off the possibility of doing something
else.
Leadership acts as a specific form of constraint
'No man is great enough or wise enough for any of us to surrender our destiny to.
The only way in which any one can lead us is to restore to us the belief in our own
guidance.'
(Miller 1941)
The issue of leadership has always been one of the major areas of debate in the study
of groups. The concepts of democracy and equality have tended to produce a
suspicion of the exercise of power and to inhibit the movement of individuals into
leadership roles. Theories of leadership have tended to be concerned with the kind of
people who make good leaders or with the kind of situations that pushed people into
being a leader. The difference between a public profession of leadership as autocratic
and undemocratic, and the private ambitions to power and dominion over others are
well noted in our society.
But members of a group do seek to achieve something from their membership and
there is never any guarantee that the group will provide even the bare minimum of
satisfaction for the individual without some guidance from him or her of the way he
or she would wish it to go. Of course the dissatisfaction to be incurred by attempting
to change the rewards produced by group membership in line with increasing them
may balance out or even be too great so that greater actual reward can accrue to the
individual by not interfering with the status quo. Even this situation can be shown to
carry with it some aspect of a leadership act in that a decision not to intervene in the
group process does affect the outcome; it produces an apparent agreement with the
current, movement that can enhance the belief of other members that the group is
fulfilling its purpose.
In all these perceptions there is the chance that they do not, and will not, coincide with the
way others see the situation. Thus, one basic risk is always present in. any leadership act,
that is the, individuals perception is idiosyncratic and may not be congruent with the
perception of others. His or her individual perception may be more prescient than theirs, but
many factors (status, for example) might be involved in any attempt to convince. There are
many instances of individuals `going along' with decisions against their better judgement,
often for reasons of personal security, and where subsequent events have demonstrated the
correctness or appropriateness of their withheld perception (see, for example, Steiner 1974;
Torrance 1954; Kelman 1950; and Hochbaum 1954).
Whatever the origin of leadership acts, whether from designated leader or not, their
nature is influential and their effect constraining. Such acts can be directed to many
parts of group behavior, to all the group processes, to individuals, sub-groups, to the
whole group, and to the constraints both within and without. They can be aimed at
the task performance of the group or at its internal or external relationships, to factors
external to the group that affect its outcomes, and so on the list is endless.
Given that leadership is such an important constraining factor, the way it is built into
the design of any group will have far-reaching consequences for the degree of
success or failure that group will have in achieving its proximate and long-range
goals.
Activity 4
You would have come across various leaders in your career. Describe what you
could understand as constraint.
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1.5 GROUP PROCESSES
It is indisputable that our universe is not chaos. We perceive beings, objects, things
to which we give names. These beings or things are forms or structures endowed with
a degree of stability, they take up some part of space and last for some period of time.

(Thom in Postle 1980:29)

In writing about the nature of groups, psychologists and group workers of all kinds
have tended to talk about `group processes'. Groups, being dynamic entities, must
have process, that is, chains of events with a beginning, middle, and end sequentially
linked. But although it is one thing to say this, and another to know that such
processes exist from experience, it is much more complex to define and distinguish
these events. Most writers mention one or more group processes, and few define even
those they mention clearly. 'However, all accept that some understanding of group
processes is essential in any analysis of what happens in group situations.

Here we are faced with a very old dilemma. Do group processes actually exist as
entities in their own right or are the words we use about the functions we call group
processes merely imposed names, labels that help us to make some sense of what
appears to be happening? I am not sure that an answer to this question is very
relevant. A considerable amount of .psychological theory is abstract in that it relates
to ways of formalizing and systematizing thoughts, it is not dealing with concrete
quantifiable factors. What does matter is that the analysis of group processes should
lead to the development of an increased understanding of group functioning and to
the development of techniques for modifying it deliberately and purposefully based
on that understanding.

In essence, whatever the nature of group processes, any analysis of them should be
usable. The main reason for requiring explanations of why things happen must be to
gain assurance that some measure of control (in terms of understanding and of
response to such happenings) is possible in the future. From the start, then, it is
irrelevant whether these so-called `processes' are artificial in the sense that they are
descriptive labels. What does matter is that it can be demonstrated that their use
actually facilitates our understanding of the complex multi-dimensional dynamics of
a group in action.

It is interesting in this respect to find that people who work with, and write about,
groups seem often to be describing similar things. There are at least two reasons why
this might be, First, they are looking at the same things, i.e. processes. Second,
because of a similar background and a shared vocabulary, they are imposing the same
interpretive labels on what are possibly discrepant events. A third approach might be
to say that all such descriptions have elements of both sources in them.

However, the main purposes of describing anything are to make possible recognition
of future occurrences and to make experience of such occurrences indirectly available
to others. In a word, to create instruments whereby events not previously experienced
become recognizable and their nature and possible consequences become known.
Most importantly this confers the possibility of action to support, enhance, deflect,
change, or eradicate those consequences, that is, a calculated response based upon
knowledge and not a response that is at best a chance event.

In this process of the development of probable control we must not lose sight of
another fact that arises from the 'use of such instruments, which-'is the post hoc
analysis that reveals why, certain events occurred and why they took the paths' that
were actually followed. In order to do this the instruments do not need to be very
precisely refined. Indeed, the concept of group process is fairly crude. The described
processes are not orthogonal, some are remarkably vague, expressing very wide
spread and accepted ideas that are yet very amorphous. Yet they provide an
instrument of analysis that is applicable to all forms of human collectivity and is
therefore a basis for logical comparisons.
16
 ignoumbasupport.blogspot.in Understanding Groups
THE IDENTIFICATION OF GROUP PROCESSES
The selection of facts demands some way of determining relevance.
(Russell in de Mare 1972: 85)
Perhaps the most efficient method of identifying group processes is that of analyzing what
descriptive material exists, looking for points of similarity and difference. Different
witnesses may well give different labels to similar things, but their descriptions should, by
the collation of similarities, quite quickly expose such naming problems. Descriptions may
be made at many different levels, may cover vastly different areas of a situation, be parts
rather than wholes, and be subjectively determined by strongly held beliefs about what
should exist. Most of these problems are familiar enough to students of the skills of
observation.
It has been customary to analyze what goes on in a group in terms of the individual
relationships that are produced within it. This is natural enough. In psychology there has
always been a very strong emphasis on the individual and, until recently, an almost equal
lack of consideration of the effect of the individual's social milieu. Individual psychology
were paramount when the early investigations with group behavior began. It was inevitable
that the instruments of analysis that were readily available should have been used. Much
valuable work arose from this situation and it still forms a basic layer of possible
understanding. However, what soon presented itself was the possibility of a different kind
of understanding related not so much to individual interaction but to the patterns of
behavior of the group as unit.
Over time, the individual interactions of members performed within the context and
boundary of the group produce outcomes for the group as a whole:" Probably the first
perception of patterns of this nature related to the observation that the historical
sequence of group life showed a developmental pattern that was often likened to the
maturational process of the human infant. In like manner, this maturational or
developmental pattern was often represented as occurring in stages and there was a
growing realization that these stages carried with them significantly different
potentialities for the group as a whole. Of course, the patterns were and are, too
simple-even when they stopped being linear and became cyclic, spiral, or regressive.
But they demonstrated that it was possible to define a process larger than individual
interactions because it was composed of a number of them executed over a period of
time.
Other patterns could be discovered that were also mainly located in incidents that
occurred in groups with sufficient frequency to become first expected and later
predictable. Social structure was one such pattern, the ways a group developed to
handle the making of decisions was another, A secondary level of analysis was now
possible that related directly to time and the successful performance of the group
tasks. This in turn gave the possibility of influencing such group' outcomes by
inhibiting the processes that might be counterproductive and, equally, by promoting
those that moved the group towards achievement. In other words, it gave the
possibility of a larger approach to the understanding and control of group behavior.
Of course, these large patterns are formed by constellations of different kinds of
individual . interaction that thus form the basic and universal component of all the
patterns. Indeed, the methods of influencing the larger patterns often lies in
intervention in significant individual interactions that in turn modify the larger
patterns develop from them.
In effect, therefore, the identification of individual group processes constitutes a
recognition of those patterns that are sufficiently different to warrant a separate
existence. Often enough this identification has been made by group practitioners
without full understanding of what they are describing and the terminology used to
describe them does not always facilitate recognition and easy categorization.
However, there is more than ample evidence that those who work with groups can
and do recognize behaviors that cluster in particular ways not only in terms of the
nature of such behaviors, but in the frequency of their occurrence and their intensity,
and in their spread or diffusion through the group, which, in time, actually create
either a structure, a movement; some more amorphous though readily recognizable
ambience. It is these creations and the means by which they are created and
maintained that form the group processes. 17
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The non-orthogonal nature of group processes

The descriptive nature of the information on which identification is based, must of

necessity lead to many similar factors being included in each of the apparently
discrete elements defined. This may cause some confusion but it is not necessarily a
stumbling block. For instance, it is possible to say that unless the members of a group
interact with each other then not only is there no group but there are no group
processes either. This does not mean that there is no point in looking beyond
interaction to establish an understanding of group behavior, nor that interaction is all
that such behavior comprises. It does mean that interaction is a fundamental process
and as such is a constituent or generative factor in all other processes that may be
discerned.

One way of describing the group processes is to say that they are not orthogonal.
They overlap parts of some are identical to parts of others - they are not mutually
exclusive. In short, we are able to identify clearly the peaks of mountains in a range
that at some lower and more basic level are interconnected. This is not a good
analogy because mountain ranges are fixed and what one sees in a group in action is
fluid and dynamic. A better analogy might be a large area of fluid where the shapes
of waves are recognizable but where each wave is just as likely to be composed of a
large part of fluid we have seen in another wave form a few moments ago as to be
completely new material:

The most important features of recognition here are founded first in past experience,
and, second, in frequency of occurrence.

Past experience: All groups show striking similarities that are recognizable by
people who have never heard of group processes or group dynamics. What they
recognize is behavior that has a degree of familiarity; it has a pattern. The pattern is
not precisely the same (it could not be) but it is sufficiently similar to spark off
recognition.

Frequency of occurrence: In dynamic situations any sense of structure, of

component parts, is established on the basis of patterns forming in roughly the same
way. The constituents coalesce, break, and reform but with sufficient frequency to
develop an expectation that a given situation will generate a given pattern. This has at
least two major implications.

First; prediction, recognition of a situation associated with the usual development of a

given pattern will spark off an expectation that such a pattern will develop;). This is
the element of prediction and therefore looks to the future. Second, the past: if a
pattern develops then it is more likely that it arose from a particular constellation of
events that, from past experience, one knows produce this form. Even though this
constellation was not actually witnessed, its existence can be predicated on the basis
of what followed it, in much; the same way that the one time existence of galactic
bodies can be asserted from the patterns of disturbance they created although the
original body is no longer a concrete reality.

What this amounts to is that group processes are not exact. It is impossible to use
them to quantify the dynamics of a group with mathematical precision. In effect,
precision of that nature would be valueless. Even counting the number of times a
given interaction behavior takes place over a period of time adds little of value to a
group operator's understanding when he or she already has some idea of the
frequency of such a behavior pattern in terms of many or few interactions.

DESCRIPTION OF GROUP PROCESSES

‘Historically one of the main arguments for the study of groups has been that groups
are not mere summations of individuals but a different system level, with properties
arising from the pattern of member characteristics in interaction with the situation.’
18
(McGrath and Altman 1966: 6o)
 ignoumbasupport.blogspot.in Understanding Groups
The problem of describing group processes is highlighted by Collins and Guetzkow
(1964) in Social Psychology of Group Processes for Decision-making. There are the
words `Group Processes in the title and there are several references throughout the
text to the ma'or part such processes play, for example, But the extensive data
contrasting an individual working alone the same individual working in a group give
us an insight into the unique properties of group processes, but these processes are
never defined. There is no reference to them as such in the otherwise very
comprehensive index. Is the assumption that group processes are so obvious that no
one needs even to be reminded what they are?
But the same neglect is true of most other texts. No matter whether one looks for the
processes under the heading of group dynamics or elsewhere, the basic assumption
seems to be that such commonly known factors only require to be mentioned for us to
know precisely what is meant. We are left with the basic tasks of defining first what
is meant by a group process and, second, trying to isolate as many group processes as
possible.
The lexical definition of a process combines the notions of action, .operation, or
change, natural or involuntary, that occur over a period of time. A problem
immediately arises when we try to talk about the processes that occur in a group in
fact not one but several problems occur. First, and importantly, human groups cannot
be regarded as amalgams of constituents that affect one another in prescribed ways,
as for instance occurs in the combination or mixture of chemical substances. Human
beings are conscious of their involvement and can rationally (or otherwise) take
action based upon their perception of what is happening to modify it. How can we
say, therefore, that the people who compose a group at some stage become the
constituents of that group which then can be analyzed in terms of the processes it
(that is, the group) produces?
The main evidence that can be adduced for following this apparently ambiguous
procedure is historical. Even taking into account the psychological or other
orientation of the observer, which inevitably would introduce some element of seeing
what he or she expected to see, people who observe groups have recorded remarkable
similarities in the way they behave. Thus, historically we find descriptions of group
behavior in terms of individual interaction in the presence of others turning to
statements of the linear sequence a group pursues during its life, to cyclic sequences
and spirals, through to the presentation of observable patterns that relate to the group
as an identifiable entity and not to the behavior as individuals .of its. constituent
members.
There are no clearly defined edges to these patterns and some are more easily and
readily identifiable than others, but the fact remains that they can be noticed. If they
relate to the group as an existing entity, then attempts to change, support, or modify
the group should prove much more effective when directed at the groups own
patterns than when directed solely at the behavior of its constituent members.
Table: Classification of group processes

Category 1 Basic Interaction.

Category 2 Structural Group development

Social Structure
Sub-group formation

Category 3 Locomotive Decision making

Purpose and goal formation

Category 4 Molar Formation of norms, standards and values

Development of Cohesion
Development of group pressure (influence)
19
Development of climate
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1.6 GROUP PROCESSES AS A FUNCTION OF
INTERACTION
If human beings are aware of others then interaction begins. Even ignoring others is a
form of interaction in the sense that it is a conscious behavior motivated by
recognition of the presence of another. Being ignored also generates a response, thus
fulfilling the basic two-part nature of interaction as action and reaction. The nature of
interaction is so basic that it apparently underlies all the group processes that have
been identified.
Where human beings gather together they interact and it is not difficult to see that by
interacting, the larger patterns of behavior, existing after time, which we have called
group processes, emerge. Even when we look at the processes as functions of other
factors like influence or communication, interaction between persons is the medium
of exchange that carries the influence or communication. Often enough the basic
nature of the interactive process has led to attempts- to say that the whole of the life
of a group is a sequence of interactions between individuals taking place in the
context of the group and that nothing remotely like a group process actually occurs.
Such an argument leads to one of the most interesting continua in the area of group
dynamics, the range from contextual use of the group to instrumental use, behind
which lies fundamental concepts of human nature. Briefly at the-contextual end is the
belief that human influence situations occur as interaction between two people, one
as influencer and one as influenced, and that the setting in which this interaction is
embedded has only a contrary and peripheral value. At the instrumental end is the
belief that the major change agent is a group in its `formed' state. This implies that
change comes from recognition and an understanding of the need and possibility for
change. Changes in perception are much more readily brought about in a group
situation than by individual persuasion. There is little possibility of reconciling these
poles although the use of techniques that draw from both sources tend to be more
efficient in coping with a wider range of need than approaches that are based, on one
or the other alone.
Attempts to measure interaction are fairly widespread and well known (see Bales
:1950, for example). What tends to occur, however, is that some aspect of interaction
that is readily available and quantifiable, such as number and nature of vocal
interchanges, is used to represent the whole. The possibility of measuring factors
such as gesture, posture, or facial expression, all forms of non-verbal communication,
is not any greater. The judgement of meaning is liable to much greater error even
than the ascription of general meanings to the spoken word.
But it is indisputable that without interaction of some sort it would not be possible to
say that a. group exists, except in a purely numerical or categorizing sense. Do a
number of widely' separated individuals who write or phone each other regularly but
never meet in person constitute a group? In a vague and uneasy way the answer must
be `no' as the interaction between them cannot easily encompass more than two
people at any one time. If each person was available to the others at the same time on
video monitors then a more positive interaction would ensue because each member of
the group would know that his or her behavior was immediately visible to the others
and they, and everyone else, could see' the responses to it directly.
For all practical purposes, group = interaction. Out of interaction grows the
awareness of feedback; feedback is the prime stimulus to knowledge of the existence
of self, and thus the endeavour to control the elements of the feedback situation to
generate the degree of security commensurate with benefit arises, and gives birth to
the processes of familiarization, constellation formation, alliances, the development
of the rules of this particular game, and the pursuit of given ends.
In producing these effects, others develop. Some factors arise that are special of
specific forms of more general processes, others are more diffuse processes arising
from some that were originally more precise. Thus, the purposes of the group and its
rules of behavior arise from the more general decision-making hat are tacitly agreed
upon. A sense of belonging, however, which is a rather non-specific feeling, arises
20 out of the practice together over a , period of time of more precise forms of behavior.
 ignoumbasupport.blogspot.in Understanding Groups
Accepting that interaction is fundamental and basic to the group process cannot
absolve us from the necessity of noting how group processes may be seen to arise
from factors such as influence and communication that lie at a less basic level of
human behavior than interaction. In truth some confusion appears in the literature
concerning any distinction between interaction and communication. For instance,
Bales's observation categories, called an Interaction Process Analysis, are defined as
a procedure to `classify the pattern and content of communication in a group'
regardless of its history function or composition.' (Raven and Rubin 1976:508). But
interaction is more than the patterns of communication and it is therefore to examine
in more detail the claim that it is the necessary generator of processes.

Group processes as a Function of Group Influence

`The key phrase in the preceding paragraph is "social influence". And this becomes
our working definition of social psychology; the influence that people have upon the
beliefs or behaviour of others.'
(Aronson 1976:6)
Psychologists such as Aronson believe that all human interaction constitutes an
influence situation. That is, in any relationship between people each is trying to
influence the behavior of some or all of the others by using many different methods
and techniques, and each is subject to the influence attempts of others. If this is true
then all group processes arise because of attempts to influence the behavior of others,
and interaction is the medium of these attempts.
Once again interaction is the basic factor, but if what every individual attempts to do
in any social situation is to maximize his or her satisfaction, then interaction becomes
the medium through which satisfactions are obtained. This is not a simple process if
only because the , needs of individuals, and what, for them, comprises satisfaction of
those needs, is not only complex but also not readily available to scrutiny. Later we
shall consider the important concept of equilibrium but it is sufficient to say at this
point that satisfaction for individual member in a group situation is dependent upon
how much satisfaction they can mediate for others.
Thus, both the individual goals of members and of the group as a unit have to be
maintained in some sort of harmonious relationship to each other. The pressure and
influence that the group can exert on members therefore have to be balanced by the
individual's perception that the costs of submitting to that pressure are less than the
rewards to be obtained. If there are alternatives that offer equal satisfaction at less
cost, then the member will almost certainly seriously consider changing his or her
allegiance: So we have a partially overt bargaining situation in which members trade
conformity and service for satisfactions awarded by group membership. All the
`factors-affecting' can then be seen as moves in the complex game of maximization
for the simple reason that at many different levels of operation the group can be seen
to provide satisfaction for its members.
Let us take one or two examples. A group exists to perform some kind of task. As we
have seen, that task, or tasks, must not be one that is better performed by individuals
except in very special circumstances: If individuals can perform the task for which
the group ostensibly exists, then the prime function of the group is something other
than the avowed task. It may be that, this prime function is social (pleasure in each
others company for example), where the avowed task is a kind of payment that the
group offers to those who may not remain members if socializing were the sole
purpose of the group and yet whose presence socially is a reward for other members.
As members become aware that direct attempts to create satisfactions for themselves
in the group are not the sole means of doing so, and may not even be the most
important, influence changes towards generating the group as a system that will be
more efficient in producing satisfaction for most if not all members. Thus, in the
process of development groups demonstrate a movement away from the individuality
of members towards acceptance of unity, the discrete elements becoming fused as the
realization of the increased benefits available grows. Equally there is a movement
away from caution towards other members to open liking and thus to a level of trust. 21
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Sub-group formation is a matter of alliance either to further influence attempts or in
order to generate increased security in the company of like-minded members.
Constraints. are a problem in so far as they facilitate or place limitations on what the,
group can achieve In other words, they are factors that influence the exercise of
group power of course, they can be balanced by group processes that increase
satisfactions in other directions.
All other `factors-affecting' can equally be seen as manifestations of attempts to
influence both individual and group. Group processes are the behaviors that are
brought into being by attempts to influence the group and its members in the
direction of increasing, stabilizing, or continuing satisfactions. The constraints are
preexisting or developing conditions that surround groups and enable or restrict these
attempts and thus create boundaries. The sum total of these `factors-affecting' adds up
to the kind, quality, and intensity of the influence that the group can exert, and is the
product of them all as interacting, enhancing, or countervailing factors.
Group processes as a function of Communication 'A group mediates any
communication.'
(Litvak 1967:107)
In order to interact with others or influence their behavior it is necessary to open
some form of communication system with them. Litvak's quotation given above
indicates that he believes that communication is, the central control system of the
group. In a very real sense any group defines `reality' for its members thus (Figure):

As conformity offers perhaps the best chance an individual has for maximizing
personal goals within the group, this procedure is supported by very powerful
motivation. Thus, if a major source of owner resides in the group's ability to mediate
communication for its members, it is not surprising to discover that the `group
processes can all be seen to arise as functions of this communication control. In
Group Processes (Douglas 1979), an analysis of the generative factors of the group
processes showed that some form of communication occurred in virtually every one.
Leadership styles can be seen as the ways in which the communication net is
controlled. In fact, the more centralized' that network is, the more likely it is that a
leader will emerge.
Access to the communication network enhances Members' attraction t6the group;
decision making in respect of complex problems is both served by a communication
system that is decentralized and accessible where simple problems are better dealt
with by a centralized system. The communication system reflects the social structure
of a group; free communication facilitates sub-group formations and is directly
related to the climate under which the group functions; proximity of members tends
to increase communication between them so there is a reciprocal relationship
22 between kinds of communication and the size of the groups.
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The interdependency between group processes and communication is extensive, in
fact overwhelming, and the relationship to group influence is equally powerful. In
fact, this latter relationship seems often to have been subsumed under the general
rubric of group influence in conformity. However, Deutsch and Gerard (1955) draw a
clear the distinction between `normative social influence', which Tajfel (1978)
suggested is what most people are referring to when they speak of `conformity', and
`informational social influence'. The similarity between Deutsch's and Gerard's
definition of the latter as the `influence to accept information obtained from another
as evidence about reality' and the starting point of this discussion would seem to
indicate that communication effects on group processes are essentially a definable
part of the group influence situation.
A more profitable approach is in the argument that the dyadic relationship is
fundamentally the basis of all group formation. Smith (1978) argues that the pair is
the basic form of communication and. that when two people, are interacting they
necessarily exclude others apart from being aware of their presence. In this way,
groups are seen as a kaleidoscope of dyadic communications with a more or less
imposed order derived from the way they change and in the emphasis given to their
being maintained and repeated.
Indeed, it is possible to argue that all group processes are the outcome of dyadic
communications. For instance, the development of a group can be seen to be related
directly to the number, frequency, and results of dyadic relationships that have
occurred. If all group members have communicated reciprocally with each other,
then, if those communications have been rewarding, an increased knowledge and
familiarity will have arisen and the shared nature of the group's experience will have
increased.
Smith says, `it is axiomatic and empirically demonstrable that the individual is
capable of engaging no more than one person in genuine dialogue - total reciprocity -
in an existential moment. This universally inherited human limitation renders the
dyadic interactional network indispensable to group process' (Smith 1978:302).
THE TOTAL FACTORS AFFECTING' (PROCESSES, CONSTRAINTS,
LEADERSHIP ACTS)
The group we study is not only interactive it is also dynamic. It is/a group whose
members are continuously changing and adjusting relationships with reference to
one another: '
(Bonner 1959: 4)
The immediate facts that face an observer of any group are the direct behavioral
interactions of its members. However, it soon becomes clear that a large number of
factors that are not at first sight obvious are affecting the here-and-now behavior, the
current patterns of interaction. The presence of an individual member in any group
constitutes a series of more or less short periods of time in the ongoing line of his or
her life. He or she reacts to the perceptions of these transient milieux and the people
they contain with behavioral insights gained from other such transient occupations of
a group-member, role. In time the current experience will be data added to the
repertoire of experience and may or may not have become the occasion for a
modification of perceptions and responses in group situations.
Group processes have been described as the larger patterns of behavior that a group
of such . pre-programmed individuals will produce. The group has some possibility
of generating new experience and thus of presenting members with opportunities for
change; it has also the possibility of confirming members in their existing behavior.
But in any case, group processes as defined here relate to the group as a functioning
unit and not to the individual behavior patterns of which the processes are composed.
Reference has also been made to leadership acts and constraints as important
elements of the dynamics of a group. Leadership acts are only a special variety of
ordinary membership behavior. The special nature derives from two particular at
tributes. First, there is a larger than ordinary awareness of the nature of leadership
acts on the part of the performer and of their possible consequences. Second, there is
a conscious use of intervention skills based on a desire to influence the group in
known ways.
There is nothing fundamentally different in this kind of behavior from that of the most
ignorant (of group dynamics, that is) member of a group. It is a question of degree, of 23
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knowledge, and skill. From our experiences, we are all endowed with the knowledge
of the consequences of our behavior inputs, but that knowledge is most usually
personal, restricted and limited to our own stored memories. Also, it tends to be
unsystematic. The growth of effective leadership for all members of a group stems
from a widening knowledge of causal relationships, an increase in the certainty of
being able to influence desired outcomes, and a more structured knowledge system.
However leadership. acts are performed within a group, they constitute one of the
major determinants of the nature of that group and of its life and performance.
Virtually anything that exists has the potential to influence human behavior and by no
means always at the level of consciousness. There is no way in which all the possible
influence systems-and objects can be given adequate consideration, not only because
of the large number involved, but also because the possible effects change as the
group changes. For example, an atmosphere set up by a cold and unwelcoming
building may have an overwhelming-effect in the beginning stages of a group when
member commitment is low. It may be totally ignored later when members-have
become immersed in the group activity. The constraint is the same but the perception
of it, and thus its effect are, different.
However, to ignore major constraining factors as sources of influence on a group is
by no means equal to disposing of them. On the contrary, whatever effect-they are
likely to produce will [still occur at some level of intensity but it will tend to be
masked by being regarded as the outcome of some factor to which the group is
paying attention.
Thus, group processes, leadership acts, and the constraints are seen as `factors
affecting' the establishment, development, and outcome of group behavior. This
introduces a kind of double bind in several ways. In a sense, group processes, that is,
the constituents of group processes, pre-exist any given group in the programming
that any individual has received. But any group is a unique situation and the
processes it develops are a growth out of, and different from, the programming that
created them. Group processes are chickens and eggs. The same kind of before and
after nature exists for leadership acts. Constraints have a more than double nature in
that they may or may not be immutable. Also, their effect can be positive-supportive
or negative restrictive. In any case, apart from the actual material of some constraints,
the way they are perceived at any given moment in the life of a group may have
substantially disparate consequences.
Nevertheless, the assumption made here is that groups that arise as matter of
everyday life, the so-called `natural' groups, must be affected by these factors in the
ways outlined above. Given that human beings continue to congregate in groups in
order to achieve certain reasonably well-defined ends the nature of the groups that
arise should provide ample evidence of how the `factors-affecting' have been dealt
with, and, in turn, should provide methods or rules by which groups that are
deliberately created to achieve limited purposes can be designed to maximize the
chances of successful outcomes. Some of the so-called `natural' groups are of course,
`created'. But the point is that they were not created as `groups' in the sense of a
knowledge of what the dynamics of groups could achieve, but as traditional
instruments having a historical precedent of a given success rate.
1.7 THEORETICAL APPROACHES TO GROUPS
A theory as the social scientists use the term, is a set of logically related concepts or
propositions that describe relationship among aspects of phenomena being studied.
Theories are extremely useful because they suggest an outline for the forest as a whole
rather tan for just the trees. They provide a framework that people can use to begin to
see past the overwhelming detail of group life. The concepts defined in the theory focus
attention on eastern details considered most important in understanding the group,
allowing others to be disregarded. Of course, the best theory will be the one that simply,
neatly, and most accurately describe what goes on in the group. However, it is not
always that the theory proves entirely correct as context and people vary in their
composition and perspectives. A theory can start people asking the right questions, even
if it fails to answer them itself. Theories suggest a particular view of the way groups
work, they invite the reader to compare the groups with careful observations of group
24 processes themselves. Some of the important theories of groups are being outlived now.
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The Field Theory
Kurt Lewin gave impetus for the study of groups. His program and approach were
twofold: Research should lead to social action; action should serve research. Human
behavior, no matter how idiosyncratic, was lawful. The laws were to be discovered
through the knowledge of the filed of psychological and sociological process serving at
any moment as causes of action. The science of group depended upon locating and
measuring these process. One technique Lewin and associates used was to create` different
groups with known characteristics, then observe their operations. For instance, they setup
groups under different styles of leaders, observed how the leaders acted and how the
members responded, compared the results, and then drew empirically based conclusions
about the dynamic effects of leadership. Through these and other simple, yet scientifically
sound procedures, they demonstrated that theoretically relevant hypothesis could be tested
in the experimental setup.
There are three basic reasons for the tremendous impact Lewin had on the study of groups.
First, he took a phenomenological position toward behavior. That is, he felt that to
understand a person's behavior, it must be analyzed in terms of what that person
subjectively perceived, rather than in terms of what an outside observer thinks is
"objective reality". Second, he showed a great ingenuity in research design. He pioneered
the use of laboratory settings and experimental design to study group phenomena. He was
particularly talented at combining experimental control with the creation of a realistic,
meaningful context in which to study important group processes such as leadership
climate and decision making. Third, Lewin was influential because of his theoretical
system which has its route in the school of psychology called Gestalt. A central notion of
Gestalt psychology is that people do not experienced the world in terms of bits and pieces,
but rather organize their perceptions into holistic systems, or fields of experience.
According to this view, the way you react to a particular event will vary depending on the
context or field in which you perceive it to have occurred.
Lewin applied the concept of field to groups as a whole, rather than just to individuals.
The psychological field or life space, of a group consists of all the thing and people in the
immediate environment that have positive or negative. emotional importance (called
valence) to the group. Groups are oriented towards goals. These goals generally involved
approaching positively valence objects in the life space and away from others. In response
to these forces and in pursuit of group goals, members are continually changing their
position (locomoting) within the group field. In this locomotion overtime that constitutes
the dynamic development of the groups. The direction of a particular locomotion will be a
grand result (vector) of all the conflicting forces in group's field at that time.
Exchange Theory
Exchange theory is one of the most influential of contemporary approaches to
interpersonal relations and by extension group behavior. This theory focuses on the
individual to individual dealings among the people who happen to make up the group. The
holistic aspect of the group, as emphasized by the field theory is less important, Exchange
theory's primary concerned is to analyze the way individuals control one anothers behavior
by exchanging rewards and costs. It tackles the problem by assuming from the start that
people in relationship as well in the economic market try to maximize the rewards they
receive, and minimize the costs they incur, by seeking rewarding experiences and avoiding
painful ones.
Rewarding others usually requires that you give up something (time; effort or whatever).
George C. Homans, the originator of exchange theory, labels what you give up as costs on
interaction. He then assumes that people are profit-seekers in interaction, in that they will
seek out and maintained high profit interaction, while letting low-profit ones lapse.
However, as exchange theorists Thibaut and Kelley (1954) have pointed out how a high
profit rate must be in order to motivate to maintain a relationship with a very low profit
rate if it is nevertheless. better than any one of your alternative possibilities.
Obviously, for a group to emerge, the members will have to have repeated interactions
with one another, and the means they must develop and maintain mutually satisfactory
patters of reward/cost exchange. From the point of view of exchange theory, this is not
easy, since each member is assumed to be maximizing his/her own gain. However, it is
assumed that once the.
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group emerges, the members if they stay in it, find the group rewarding (or at least
more rewarding than the available alternatives). Therefore, they are willing to
develop some norms to regulate exchanges in the interest of preserving the common
goal.
Among the norms developed will be rules of distinctive justice that define what is a
fair exchange between members. An exchange is fair, says Homans, when the
rewards are in proportion to each member's contribution. According to Homans, if
you put more into an interaction than someone else, you feel you should.get more out
of it than they do. If you get less than "is fair", you are likely to feel angry and seek
some redress. Exchange theorists who have pushed the notion of distributive justice
norms (called equity theorists) argue that you may get some help in seeking redress
since groups actively attempt to enforce distributive justice norms by rewarding
members who abide by them and pressuring and punishing members who don't.
However, both Homans and the equity theorists recognize that difficulty may still
arise because members may not be in complete agreement about the value of varying
rewards and contributions.
Using these basic concepts, exchange theorists have attempted to account for a wide
variety of group phenomena, including the emergence of status hierarchies, the
problems of states inconsistency, the exercise of leadership, and the problem of social
control.
Social Systems Theory
Systems theorists argue that the key to understanding groups is to focus on them as
networks of people who function together as holistic entity, a system. A system, as it
is defined in these theory, has five basic characteristics. First, it is composed of
members, who are independent with one another. This is a point shared with field
theory. Second, for a collection of people to form a system,_ there must be
interaction among the members. It takes interaction for one person's behavior to
affect another's. Thus, it is only through interaction that interdependence can have its
effect. When people interact with one another under conditions of interdependence,
they create third characteristic of systems: emergent properties. Emergent properties
characterize the group as a whole rather than the members as individuals. These new
group qualities emerge from interaction among the members. For instance, they may
create a distinctive group identity, or a sense of oneness of unity with their fellow
members: They also create norms, roles, pallets of behavior, all of which system
theorists a view as emergent qualities of groups. The fourth major characteristics of a
system follows from the first three. Because members forge themselves through
interaction into a district, united entity, systems develop a sense of boundary between
themselves and the outside world. This boundary may be somewhat vague may
change frequently. But it serves to distinguish members of the group from those who
are clearly not members. It makes the distinction between the "we" of the group and
the "they" of outsiders. Finally, systems are dynamic in that they are constantly
changing and evolving: Even when relatively stable patterns of behavior develop a
leadership pattern in a group, for instance, these patterns are static. They are
maintained by a continued balancing and rebalancing of opposing forces in the group.
From a systems point of view, groups are like waves in the ocean; the patterns only
appear through continual motion of the component parts.
1.8 THE GROUP AND THE INDIVIDUAL
There is no single unifying theory explaining the influence of groups on individuals.
What is common in all these attempts of theorizing, is the view that groups as
powerful determinant of individual behavior. As we already know, that among
human species, the young do not grow up alone: they are raised as members of a
group, a family. The child is effect dependent on the group for assistance in achieving
desired outcomes (or effects), for instance, getting food. Second, the child is
information dependent on the group as well. This means that the child relies on the
group for basic information about the world in which it lives. Group has a particular
power over its members. Along with the power to extend outcomes (effects) and
information, the group also has another type of power, and that is the groups have the
ability to influence ourselves of what we are and what we think ourselves. There is a
26 confirmed relationship between groups and the individuals sense of self an identity.
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People come together in groups primarily to deal with shared problems and to benefit
from one another's company. To satisfy these need, the members of a prospective
group must learn to coordinate their action, atleast minimally, with one another. The
first problem faced by all members of a group is socio-emotional. The second is the
task itself; to maintained the commitment of the members, group must minimally
accomplish shared goals: Socio emotional problems in groups are interdependent, the
task problems cannot always, be separated from socio-emotional: they may also be
competing too.

Some Related Mechanisms

In an effort to manage these competing problems, groups gradually develop two

mechanisms: a social structure and a group culture. Each represents a technique or
tool for distributing the efforts of group members among task and socio-emotional
issues. Social structure is a familiar concept representing a set of specific
relationships among the group members. The concept of social structure include
leadership patterns, status hierarchy, role differentiation, and communication and
friendship networks. Group culture in the other hand consists of its collective
representation of itself, shared past experiences and habits of collective behavior.
Both social structure and culture of groups are never static. However, both structural
and cultural changes can be thought of as moving equilibrium, representing an
interesting mixture both stability and change.

1.9 SUMMARY
In this unit we have come across the inputs relating to understanding various aspects
of group. Why study group and its importance. Primary and secondary groups and
their characteristic features. One of the main reason to study group is to understand
the psychology of the individuals, understand larger social units such as
organizations, institutions, countries and societies.

All groups are collection of human beings but there is a qualitative difference
between the `collective' and the `group'. In this unit we have tried to see various
views about looking at a group from various angles, talking about natural and created
groups, spontaneous and interest groups..

Influence is a very common phenomenon when more than one person interact with
each other. In this unit we have tried to assess the level and types of influence the
group creates on an individual and the factors operating in this. Towards the end the
unit dwells upon various aspects of group processes.

1.10 SELF ASSESSMENT QUESTIONS

1. How would you describe a group? Cite your own experience in becoming a group
member.

2. Discuss the different theoretical perspectives regarding the groups.

3. Why do you call a group dynamic? State your reasons.

4. How do group influence a member?

5. Group is a means to accomplish tasks/goals. Elaborate and explain.

1.11 FURTHER READINGS

Axelrod, R. The Evolution of Cooperation, New York, Basic Books. (1984)

Billig, M.G. Social Psychology and Intergroup Relations, London. Academic Press 27
(1976).
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Mills, P.M. The Social Psychology of Small Groups. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice
Hall. (1967)

Cecilia, L. Ridgeway, The Dynamics of Small Groups, St. Martins (1983).

Napier, R.W. and Gershenfeld, M.K. Groups: Theory and Experience, 3rd Ed.Boston;
Houghton, Miffm and Co. (1985).

Blake, R.R. and Mouton, J.S. "Overcoming Group Warfare", Harvard Business
Review, Nov.-Dec. No.6, 98-108, (1984).

Douglas, T. GROUPS: Understanding People Gathered Together. Tavistock Pup.,

London (1983)

Aronson, E. The Social Animal, San Francisco: Freeman (1976).

Smith, P.B. (Ed.). Small Groups and Personal Change. Methuen, N.Y. (1980).

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UNIT 2 PHASES OF GROUP DEVELOPMENT Development

Objectives
After going through this unit you should be able to :
• understand why do groups form
• appreciate the important process and stages of group development
• ascertain the effect of group processes on team development
• examine the dynamics of group development vs. work
organization

Structure
2.1 Introduction
2.2 Why groups form
2.3 Important Process for Group Development. and Communication Cohesiveness
2.4 Stages of Group Development
2.5 Group Development vis-a-vis Work Organization
2.6 Development of Teams
2.7 The Probable Effects of Group Processes on Team Performance
2.8 Groups and Committees
2.9 Group Processes of Committees and a consideration of their Influence on
Committee
2.10 Summary
2.11 Self Assessment Questions
2.12 Further Readings
2.1 INTRODUCTION
Group are essential features of the modern civilization. There is an interface between
the individual and the group which is a continuous process and decides the nature and
processes affecting both the group as well as its members. In the organizational
context, we have various types of groups but from a general point of view and for the
sake of convenience in understanding the groups have divided into two categories -
formal and informal. When groups are established by the organization/society (at, a
broader level) to set achieve organizational goals, they are known as formal groups
like command groups, task force, project groups, standing committee and the like, On
the other hand, informal groups emerge naturally in response to the common interests
and shared values of individuals, such as interest groups, friendship group, reference
groups etc,

2.2 WHY GROUPS FORM

When individual join a group, they voluntarily surrender part of their personal
freedom, since they are willing to accept the standards of the group and behave in
prescribed ways that are sometimes very restrictive. For instance the cricket or
hockey teams put heavy demands on members regarding regularity in practice and
performance, and use various ways to ensure that group members behave in the
prescribed fashion, Although the loss of freedom varies from group to group, every
individual voluntarily relinquishes at least some personal, freedom as a member of a
group. Why then do individuals want to join a group and sacrifice part of their
personal freedom?
According to the reinforcement theorists, people join groups because of the positive
reinforcement that comes from group membership, such as friendly interaction and being 29
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to achieve something they cannot obtaining acting alone. Cooperant behaviour refers
to the behaviour that group members perform to obtain reinforcement accompanying
cooperant behaviour is goal accomplishment, affiliation, emotional support and social
validation. Let us look into them before proceeding further:
Goal Accomplishment: People work together in groups because they need the help
of others to achieve important goals. In some situations, groups members contribute
to group success by suggesting new ideas and helping others to evaluate them.
Sometimes the groups helps in creating a power structure like unions and use it
collectively in pressuring others for the scale of economic or social gains. Achieving
group goals is a reinforcing event that allows successful groups to reward their
members and improve its own status by attracting and maintaining its membership. A
winning team is in a better position than a losing team to recruit new members and
poster a sense a pride in membership.
Affiliation: Group members enjoy associating with other group members particularly
if they like them and have something in common with the mere presence of others
provide friendship, social stimulation and personal acceptance. College students and
factory workers both form informal peer groups simply to avoid the discomfort of
being alone.
Membership in a group often results in ego extension. By being a part of something
beyond our physical self, we achieve a sense of belongingness and participate in
accomplishments beyond our individual powers. The members of a winning cricket
team participate equally in the glory of the success even the twelfth man and other
team players who did not play game in the series.
Research suggests that individuals tend to get attracted to others of similar age, sex,
religion, this rule does not always hold for people who have high achievement
orientation. Such people choose their friends/coworkers based on competence rather
other reasons. The complementary skills and efficiency of others form the basis for
such choice. People with low achievement orientation, however, tend to chose co-
workers the people they like and who are like them.
Emotional Support: When situations are threatening and uncertain, individuals rely
on others for emotional support. Research indicates that people facing a stressful
situation are comforted by physical presence of another person facing same stress.
During times of natural disasters, people join together to talk about their misposture
and express sympathy.
Social Validation: People join group for the purpose of self-identity. We want to
know who we are and learn about ourselves from the feedback we receive from
others. The comments that we receive from others help us to evaluate our
personalities and behaviours. Such comments generally have great impact on our
self-esteem because they come from people we respect. But one must be able to
distinguish between friendly sarcasm and services criticism. Others comments are
also more credible because we assume that they know us better and are concerned
about our well-being.
Physical Factors: Proximity or physical distance, is an important physical factor
influencing the formation of groups. Individuals who are physically close together for
an extended period of time tend develop mutual attraction for each other and form a
group. Barriers that prevent face-to-face interaction, such as movable partition or a
row of file cabinets, can effectively disrupt or alter the formation of groups.
Activity 1
Study at least 4-5 groups you know and find out the reasons why are they formed.
Plot these reasons in a matrix form and examine how much it matches with what you
have read by now.
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2.3 IMPORTANT PROCESS FOR GROUP Development
DEVELOPMENT AND COMMUNICATION
COHESIVENESS
Communication is the process out which small groups emerge. It is the immediate
mechanism by which a group evolves a social structure and culture. And it is through
communications that groups maintain their habitual pattern of behaviour. In fact,
communication is one of the most critical aspects of interaction among group
members, the way they influence each other's behaviour and the way the group is
brought to life.
Communication arising from either the pressure to accomplish some goals that
requires the assistance of others, on the requirement of satisfying personal needs
through interaction with others, will gradually cause group members' relationship
with one another to become in some ways more united and their opinions and
behaviour to become more standardized. But at the same time communication alerts
group members to their differences in needs; abilities, behaviour opinions. In the
process of communication, members may begin to emphasize certain of their
differences, particularly those that point out their distinctive skills and.
characteristics. These in turn, become the foundation for division of labour, for a
status hierarchy, and for varying degrees of friendship. So, communication leads to
differentiation among the group members as well as the unity and standardization and
differentiation are the means by which groups become unified wholes with, one hand,
should behaviours and opinions and yet, on the other, individual members who can
play distinct roles and have different relationships with one another.
Because communication is the vehicle for both standardization and differentiation,
the nature of communication patterns in a group affects the type of social structure a
group develops and how it evolves and changes overtime. There are two aspects of a
groups communication patterns that we will consider: First is the question who talk to
everybody on a regular basis, and others who talk only to one or two members most
of the time? This is the question of group's communication network as the lines
between groups members along which communication most frequently flows. The
second aspect of communication patterns concerns with the content of
communication and how this is related to the way the group changes and develops
overtime. This is the problem of group development.
Communication Network: When people first come' in a group what do they do?
They greet each other - they begin communicating. In. a polite way they begin to
investigate each other; they ask questions; they reveal information about themselves;
they try to form a general outline of each other that will help them decide how each
member fits in with their goals and needs. In short, they try to decide how they wish
to relate to each other. A distinct pattern of communication develops as people talk
more to some members than to others. Clear channels of communication develop
between some members but not others. Over time, this network of channels will
become a stable, habitual aspect of group life. There is a close association between
the flow of communication and the group's status structure on the one hand, and its
sociometric (friendship) structure on the other hand. In addition, communication
networks affect certain aspects of the group, such as its degree of cohesiveness and
its ability to accomplish differing types of goals. When a small group develops within
a large formal organization - a business or government bureaucracy, for instance or in
a single physical location, its communication network is often prestructured by this
environment. In that ease, the group's pattern of status, friendship, cohesiveness, and
task; success usually develop around the skeleton provided by the rather inflexible
communication pattern.
Activity 2
Talk to ten group members who are at the key points in the groups and prepare a
small document on the importance of communication its pros and cores in a group.
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Cohesiveness

Of all the aspects that arise out of the process of communication, cohesiveness is one
of the most fundamental. The strength or solidarity with which a group is bound
together is a basic dimension that defines the degree of "groupness" or unity that a set
of people achieve. At the extreme low end of cohesiveness scale are collection of
people so tenuously linked together in their behaviour that they can hardly be
considered a group. At the other end are close-knit, unified sets of people that seem
to embody what we mean by "group".

Defining Cohesiveness: Festinger defined cohesiveness as the "total field of forces

which acts on the members to remain in the group". He measured cohesiveness on
the basis of number and strength of friendship ties group members have with one
another, compared to those they have with outsiders.

A more complex conception of cohesiveness may include the features of group which
bind the members to it. One way to, understand this may be from the structural
functional integration point of view, where in the members are bound to the group
through the nature and effectiveness of its organizational structure. It refers to the
success with which a groups social structure coordinated with the members behaviour
in a way that both allows an effective pursuit of group goals and the maintenance of
goal working relations among the members.

Another way a group can bind its members to it is through a set of shared beliefs,
rules or practices. This aspect of cohesiveness is known as normative integration. It
refers to the cohesiveness group members achieve about what the group is, how it
should operate and what its rules are. It reflects the extent to which the members have
developed, shared, agreed-upon norms for governing group life.

Consequences of Cohesiveness

Since a highly cohesive group is one that binds the members tightly together; it
naturally is one which the members actually care about, one to which they feel
committed. Because they value the group, members put more energy into group,
activities in a cohesive group. The differences between high and low cohesiveness
can be observed in (1) the amount and quality of communication in the group, (2) the
group's ability to maintain the loyalty and satisfaction of its members, (3) the power
of the group over the opinions and behaviour of its members, (4) the group's ability to
achieve its goals, and (5) the extent to which group culture *is elaborated.

Activity 3

Examine 4-4 groups you know in various walks of life. Talk to its members and
prepare a report based on the above five points, critically assessing the response.
Discuss this in your peer group.
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Sources of Cohesiveness

1. Special norms and practices designed to build members' commitment to the group

2. Interpersonal attraction among the members

32
3. Social structure and leadership style of the group
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4. Type of interdependence among the group members Development

5. Group’s relationship to its outside environment

6. Attractiveness of the group’s goals and activities

CONFORMITY, DEVIANCE AND SOCIAL CONTROL

One of the most important striking aspects of group development and functioning is
the apparent control the groups wield over their members' behaviour, it introduces
conformity in behaviour. However, in the cultures where individualism is very much
prized, it is often difficult to use the word conformity without evoking images of
mindless, sheep like behaviour. But the fact is, conformity to social norms makes
social groups as well as society as a whole. If people did not agree to some basic
rules of behaviour, they could not coordinate their actions with others, because no
one would have any idea what anyone was going to do next. As a' result, no
collective goals could be achieved. Conformity, a necessary part of social life, is
sometimes even as aspect of enlightened self-interest. In fact, most of us willingly
conform to the rules of our social groups throughout most of our daily behaviour.

Conforming most of the time does not mean conforming all the time however.
Because we all occasionally break the rules of our social groups, deviance is a
persistent aspect of social organizations of all kinds. Both conformity and deviance
have negative commodations it highlights a basic conflict between the interest of the
group and the interest of the-Individual. Actually, since groups are made of
individuals, this is better viewed as a conflict between that part of ourselves whose
needs are met by the group and that part which wants to be independent.

In some ways deviance is also a necessary part of social life. When a group members
breaks a rule, he or she offers the group an alternative to the way things have always
been done. This makes deviance a driving force for change in groups. Since the
ability to adapt to changing circumstances is a prerequisite for group survival,
deviance can actually help, the group in some situations. But group member are
seldom aware of this aspect of deviance. For the most deviance is an attack on the
group and its belief. Of course, high levels of deviance can truly destroy a group. As
a result, the most common reaction will be an effort to pressure the deviate to bring
his or her behaviour back in line with group's norms. Efforts on the part of the group
majority to reduce on eliminate deviance are what is called the social control process.

Group Norms

One of the most fascinating aspects of people, when they come together in groups, is
that after only a few minutes of interaction they settle on rules to coordinate and
govern their behaviour. The shared agreed upon rules of behaviour that group
members establish among themselves are what we call norms. Some are societal
norms that members apply to their group. An example might be the use of majority
vote to decide issues. Others are idiosyncratic norms evolved by group itself Norms
define the kind of behaviour that is expected from a group member. They do this by
specifying not only what members should do, but also what they should not do. For
instance, in a group of friends, norms may require a willingness to listen to each
others problems but may also prohibit excessive demands for help and attention. So
norms not only prescribe - they proscribe.

It is difficult to discuss norms without using words like "should" that carry a sense of
moral judgement and obligation. Norms are for the most part derived from the goals
the group values and wishes to attain. They define the kinds of behaviour the group
members think is necessary for or consistent with the realization of those goals. This
gives norms an evaluative quality. Since the behaviour specified by the norm has
consequences for the achievement of group's goals, that behaviour takes on a sense of
being either acceptable or unacceptable to the group. Norms also get associated with 33
sanctions - that is rewards and punishment - which are associated with conformity to,
or deviance from, norms.
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Status Differentiation

The most important aspect of group, especially the small group structure is the status
hierarchy. A members status in a group refers to the degree of deference, esteem, and
power to influence others that he or she acquires. Status is something that emerges
from the relationship between a members and the rest of the group.

If we map out the patterns of power and deference among all the member, we have a
picture of the groups status structure, which are almost always characterized by the
difference in power and prestige among the group members with the exception of few
members who may share approximately equal standing in the group.

The location of a member in this hierarchy in his or her status rank. Each rank in the
hierarchy carries with it a set of normatively defined obligations to the group, as well
as privileges. The highest status members of course have the greatest power and
prestige, but also the greatest obligation. The difference between highest and lowest
rank reflects the degree of status differentiation: There are flat structures (friendship
groups) in groups which do not carry high level of status differences. But dramatic
status differences (tall hierarchies) are common also. Groups evolve their status
systems out of two rather different types of pressures: (I) the need to organize in
pursuit groups goals, (2) the need to avoid destructive competition over the rewards
to be gained from group activities. First refers to fundamental agreement from
efficient/goal achievements and the second reflects the fundamental conflict of
interests among group members. Status differentiation, hence, is an expression of
both group unity as well as a mechanism to regulate political disagreements

2.4 STAGES OF GROUP DEVELOPMENT

After a group is initially formed, it does not immediately function a highly effective
team until it has gone through various stages of development and addressed the kinds
of issues that separates effective from non effective groups. There is no prescriptive
guideline for stages of group development, however, there appears a basic model that
applies to most groups. This model contains four stages - orientation, confrontation,
differentiation and collaboration. Groups do not always pass through each of these
four stages, in fact some groups never advance to the later stages because of the
internal conflicts.

Orientation

Here the group members learn about the purposes of the group and the roles of each
member. Individual members decide how the group will be structured and how much
they are willing to commit themselves to the group. The leader has a very important
role to play in structuring the group and shaping member expectations. Members
need to get acquainted with each others and share their expectations about group's
goals and objectives. Trust and openness is a necessary precondition at this stage.

Confrontation

Although conflict is not a necessary phase of group development, the purposes of the
group and the expectations of the group members are eventually challenged in most
groups. Struggles for individual power and influences are common. Challenging the
group's goal can be a healthy process if the conflict results in greater cohesiveness
and acceptance. But intense conflict may damage or dissolve the group.

Differentiation

The major issues of this stage of development are how the tasks and responsibilities
will be divided among members and how members will evaluate each other's
performance, Individual differences are recognized and task assignments are based
34 on skills and abilities. If the group can resolve its authority conflicts and create
shared expectations regarding its goals and task assignments, it can become cohesive
group and achieve its goals. The long term
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effectiveness of the group will require additional maturity in resolving conflicts and Development
reestablishing shared expectations.

Collaboration

The highest level of group maturity is the stage of collaboration, where there is a
feeling of cohesiveness and commitment to the group. Individual differences are
acceptable without being labelled as good or bad. Conflict is neither eliminated nor
squelched but is identified and resolved through group discussion. Conflict is real and
concerns substantive issues relevant to the group task rather than emotional issues
regarding group processes. Decisions are made through rational group discussion.

Collaboration

Differentiation

Confrontation

Orientation

I II III IV
Newly formed group Mature groups
Fig – I Stages of Group Development

2.5 GROUP DEVELOPMENT VIS-A-VIS WORK

ORGANIZATIONS WORK ORGANIZATION
The last hundred years have seen not only the dehumanizing of manual work, with
the introduction of mass production methods and "scientific management", and a
consequent reduction in the satisfaction which an individual can derive from the
performance of a skilled craft, but also universal acceptance of the idea that
everyone ought to work even though they may have no absolute economic necessity to
do so.'

(Nicholson -1977: 75)

The whole area of study of work organizations is fraught with complications.

Economists have often been accused of simplifying their analysis by ignoring any
psychological concepts of the human beings involved in favour of consideration of
the workforce as a cost or a productive unit. Management techniques tend to have
been concerned with efficiency, production figures, and the development of methods
that can coax and persuade the workforce to achieve the kind of targets required.

The rational economic man of the economists does not exist and, in fact, never has
existed, Moreover, the concept of a work organization as a complex machine for
turning out goods and services that just happens to contain human beings as an
essential ingredient is equally fallacious. However, the analysis of work
organizations is a valid procedure whatever the basis upon which the organizations
are founded. It is possible that such an analysis would reveal strengths and
weaknesses in any organization but the crunch point is that given the objectives of 35
the organization, how can the facts of the analysis be used? Should they be used
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to prove the performance of the existing organization in some way, or should they be
used to restructure the whole process, or parts of the process, or should they be
ignored?
While it has long been recognized that boring and repetitive jobs give little or no job
satisfaction to the people who work at them, the only alternative satisfaction that has
received more serious consideration has been the money-reward. Cash-in-hand to buy
the materials and services outside the place of work, that industry to be one of the
balancing factors, although provide a level of satisfaction, has been agreed by all
sides of industries to be one of the balancing factors, although some attention has
been paid to work conditions and the kind of facilities available to workers.
The 1939 Hawthorne Experiment (Roethlisbergcr and Dickson 1939),. and others
since, have called into question the absolute value of changes in conditions and have
shown that other factors often enough unheeded at the time tended to influence how
the changes were accepted by the work-force, Two of the main factors in this sphere
of influence seem to have been the cohesive nature of the work groups and whether
that cohesion was a bond against management decisions 'or was in tune with them. Of
course, other outside factors are involved, such as the level of unemployment, 'states
of war, recession, and boom.
What adds up to `satisfaction' in work organizations is a complex of factors. One
thing is certain, however. Members of any organization are a great deal More
influenced in the decisions they make and the actions they take by what they perceive
as satisfaction than by the large-scale objectives of the organization itself.
The amount of investigation of the effect that groups within an organizational
structure can have on its performance is quite small. What is presented here is a
synthesis of some of the available material.
WORK ORGANIZATIONS AS STRUCTURES CONTAINING GROUPS
`One of the central features of work is that it is usually done in groups; groups of
individuals 'cooperating under the direction of a leader or leaders.'
(Argyle:1972:104)
All large organizations tend to have grown from small groups and recognition of the
fact that within any such organizations; small groups exist, has long been with us.
Indeed, recognition of the discrepancies between the formal and informal structure of
an organization has also been clear for a long time. But recognition of the informal
system has not been 'accompanied by the realization that for many people within an
organization the informal group is more "real' than the formal system, that it often
has different goals and thus works in significantly different directions to the avowed
and official aims of the organization.
Activity 4
Are you a member of an informal and formal group in your organisation. Writ down
your experience of being a member of both. Compare at. contrast with reasons.
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Due to the development of Organizational Development programmes, we have
become much more aware that any large organization, and smaller ones to a lesser
degree, can contain individuals and small groups who, while believing that what they
are doing is largely compatible with the formal aims of the organization, are, m fact,
moving in more or less contrary directions to those aims. Moreover, individual or
small group perceptions of the organizational behaviour of other individuals and
small groups is often grossly at odds with the way in which those same individuals
36 and small groups would describe what they were doing and how they believed they
were perceived by others.
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There are limits to the number of relationships of more than a casual nature any one Development
person can have, or wishes to make, in a period of time. All large groups must
therefore be constellations of smaller groupings, some of which are more or less
permanent and some of which are essentially transient, supplying momentary and
changing needs. No one seems to be sure about the limits of relationship making and
difficulties lie in the fact that number and intensity may be exchangeable values so
that a smaller number of intense contacts may equate in terms of satisfaction with a
much larger number of more superficial contacts.
One thing is certain, however. The immediacy and supportive nature of these small
group contacts must make them much more a reality than the socially distant
organization of which they area part. It must allow for a very clear appreciation of the
inclusive/ exclusive nature of group membership. All the factors that generate
acceptance of some people as members of any particular group are exactly the factors
that exclude others.
The simple fact of contact carries with it the possibility of balancing liking and
appreciation of others. Liking is a salient factor both in group formation and in the
acceptance of a standard or normative behaviour supported by group pressure. Shared
experience, that is, experience which is common, not just similar, is also a bonding
factor and tends to generate a sense of common understanding. With such shared
experience individuals have evidence that others have similar knowledge of `what it
is like' and thus a knowledgeable and experiential understanding that is not shared by
those who have not gone through the experience.
Where the tasks in an organization are diverse then the basis for a number of `shared
experience' groupings is equally large. What is more, the interests of such groupings
may well be not entirely, consonant with the formal aims of the organization as a
whole and often enough may be in direct conflict with them. For example, there may
be a primary desire to see that no one is put upon rather than to ensure the highest
possible standard of production.
Given that large organizations have increasing problems in communication, the
formation and enduring existence of many small groupings must often ensure that
communication problems are further exacerbated. Different groupings within a large
organization seldom realize the extent to which their group identity tends to preclude
any common understanding. Indeed, it is the function of group norms not only to
ensure conformity within the group but also to highlight the difference of behaviour
and belief in other groups. Often enough belonging to one group endows members
with acceptable attitudes towards other groups with sanctions imposed for those who
show any inclination to attempt increased understanding of members of the outgroup.
The obvious common factors seem to be easily obliterated by group-supported
differences.
Interestingly enough, the strength of such conditioned perceptions is resistive to
rational argument but not so impregnable to experience. However, most
organizational structures created round division of labour and specialization do not
offer the opportunity for experiencing the roles of others, and thus the much less
effective tool, of rational argument is all that is left to bridge some very wide gaps in
understanding.
THE PROBABLE EFFECTS OF GROUP PROCESSES IN WOI3K. GROUPS
IN THE LIGHT OF THE DECLARED OBJECTIVES OF THE CONTAINING
ORGANIZATION
`CI. Barnard has pointed out that all large organizations may be thought of as
having been built up from a number of smaller groups. These small groups vary in
size but average about eight or ten people, the number being determined by the fact
that problems of communication become greater as the size of the group increases. '
(Brown 1954 :124)
The dynamics of the small groups within a large organization are an enduring
function of that organization, affecting its performance in one way or another. While
all the processes and constraints are constantly operating, information is available on 37
the effects of only some of them. But even in this partial state of knowledge it is
obvious what powerful affecting factors they can be.
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Cohesiveness
Cohesiveness, which has been defined as the attractiveness of the group for its
members, the liking, and the sense of belonging, and the bond that creates the sense
of being a unit, has some very powerful effects in the work group situation. As most
work groups are dependent upon a degree of cooperation from their members it is not
surprising to find that cohesive groups are somewhat more productive than non-
cohesive groups. Basically this is because interaction between members is maintained
at a high level with the consequences of smoother and more effective
communication, making work a more pleasurable experience for those engaged in it.
Of course, the interaction levels can become so high that the main objective of the
group becomes social and production is relegated to a secondary role. The spin-offs
from the increase of satisfaction in the work situation may include a reduction in days
lost through absenteeism, a reduction in tension and friction between workers in the
group, and an increase in group-approved behaviour.
Of course, cohesiveness in a work group can produce effects that are not positively
related to the organizational aims. New members to such: a group find their position
dependent upon a acceptance. If they cannot get this acceptance this usually means
that they are stressed to the point of leaving. A further factor lies in the way in which
cohesiveness enhances exclusivity of membership to the obvious detriment of other
groups and their members, which will often result in competitive attitudes and
sometimes in lack of cooperation.
Cohesion
Cohesion cannot develop well where members of groups are separated by physical
space and have only a limited opportunity to interact. Such workers are more likely to
belong to groups outside the isolating influence of the workplace. Cohesion is
strengthened by time spent together, by group members being similar in status, age,
background, and ideas, by shared incentive in which each member realizes that he or
she is of great value to the group in achieving its aims, and by groups that are small
enough for members to know and appreciate each other as members. Other factors
which tend to develop cohesion are the social skills and integrating force of
leadership acts. The role models set by influential group members and any threat that
menaces the whole group, providing they have been long enough together to operate
as a unit in response to it, also tend to develop cohesion.
Norms
The norms of a group are the often unwritten rules by which the group operates and
which serve to maintain its unique identity, In work situations norms create
standards. So, for example, how hard a person works is not gauged by what he or she
wants to earn, nor by the demands set by the organization, but by the agreement of
the work group as to what is fair and equitable considering the abilities, skills, and
needs of the total group membership. Safety regulations are often ignored because the
work group's attitude to them is derisory. Group pressure can ensure that all members
conform to that attitude even though their individual response would have been to
abide by the regulations. Tradition has often ignored and rejected innovation because
of just such a need to be accepted by a work group.
The approved way of doing things covers output, attitudes to others in the
organization, social activities, language, the way people dress, even the jokes they
tell, and almost every other actor of the work scene. These tend to make groups that
stay together for long periods rather conservative in attitude and behaviour and
somewhat resistant to change.
Norms do not have to be restrictive. and where they set high levels of achievement
they may well square with the aims of the organization. So much is this so, that
groups are now often formed around experienced people whose routine behaviour
enshrines organizationally acceptable norms. Thus, a group forms around a role
model and develops the standards held by the nuclear person. This is not an easy
situation because lower standards are often easier to maintain and less demanding of
effort. In any case, there is a tendency for systems to run down without the injection
38 of new energy, so increases in organizationally acceptable normative behaviour tend
to be hard to maintain.
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Something has already been said about the process of decision making from the point Development
of view of the individual who participates in it. It is worth repeating that decisions
that affect an individual's existence, and that are made where the individual has no
influence, constitute one of the clearest indications of the power relationships that
exist in that situation. Individuals often seek to alleviate their powerlessness by action
in combination and by large-scale actions that are often out of proportion to the
presenting cause because the action is compounded of thousands of different cases of
individual grievances. Action in combination allows the feeling of overwhelming
power, the exercise of which'certainly gives some compensation for the
powerlessness experienced in other situations
All the group processes are fundamentally based on interaction. Without interaction
there can be no group, Thus isolation brought about by physical distance or
overwhelming noise inhibits interaction in the workplace. While the work units are
made up of individuals in the place of work, conditions in the canteen or recreation
facilities may be more conducive to group formation.
Interaction
Interaction by members of a group develops a supportive structure over time.
Members gain acceptance for their views, receive emotional and physical support
when work is exhausting, dangerous, or productive of stress, and also acquire a sense
of belonging. It is indicative of the power assigned to interaction and group
acceptance that the. universal sanction for misbehaviour is exclusion and isolation. A
total verbal barrier inhibiting interaction is a mark of high disapproval.
A factor that greatly affects interaction levels is the size of the group. Large groups
tend to split into smaller groups but all the evidence points to the fact that small
groups produce more satisfying working conditions, judged on the bases of
production and the figures of absenteeism,
No work group is composed of totally disengaged human beings. But often enough
work schedules seem to be planned as if this were so. An appreciation of the
dynamics of any group situation offers the possibility of choice between various
methods of change and between more and less acceptable demands. The nature of
any particular work group has already set some boundaries to, what it can be
expected to achieve. This does not imply that it cannot achieve other levels of
operation; it does mean that the current state of its operational dynamics has to be an
important factor in the change approach. It may well be that changes in level of
operation can only be achieved as and when changes in the dynamic structure have
been brought about.
A common industrial complaint has often been lack of consultation. As we have seen,
members' involvement in decisions that affect the group tends to increase their
commitment to the decisions that they arrive at. But involvement means involvement,
an active participation resulting in a sense of being part of the decision-making
process. Having some influence on the outcome is what actually generates
commitment and not some superficial request for agreement to a scheme that is
already fully contrived. Such consultation gives the strongest of non-verbal
communications about where the source of power lies in spite of what may be said to
the contrary. The feeling such situations generate is one of powerlessness to influence
outcomes that directly concern the individual's existence.
More attention to the design factors that enhance the group dynamics positively
related to the organization's aims would ensure increases in productivity. Too often
changes are created because fashions change, because new ideas for saving this or
that are abroad, or because change in aims or organizational structure are necessitated
by administrative factors. None of this can be ignored. But what is seen as necessity
in one part of an organization may well be seen as totally destructive of a method of
existence in another, and the response may be overtly aggressive and defensive.
Thus, while positive use has been made of group dynamics from the management's
view of the organization (that is, to increase productivity), little use has been made by
either side of such knowledge to increase the possibility of working together at all
levels of an organization. 39
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Management are often enough concerned that management levels shall not waste
valuable time, energy, and creativeness by pulling in opposite directions.
Consequently an understanding of group dynamics and of human
relationships has generated a multi-million dollar personal-growth industry in the
United States.
In this country the growth of such learning-and experiential opportunities has neither
been so great nor so fast. But it has been even more one-sided in that work-forces in
industry and business have tended to see their best interest being guarded by
traditional trade union activities and this has resulted in the continued development of
entrenched positions. Only few courses in group and committee skills and negotiating
patterns have ever been provided for workers. The organization of industry and
commerce is again held to be political and related to the class system. In fact, so
much is this true that knowledge of group dynamics is often rejected on the basis that
it is an apolitical approach and thus does not get to the root cause of the conflict. In
one sense this accusation is true because the history of group dynamic knowledge in
organizations, short though it is, has almost always come from the management
levels. It is seen, therefore, as a tool of management in much the same way as the
early time and motion studies were regarded. What we are faced with here is the
rejection of group dynamic analysis on the basis of its possible use. Of course, this
does not preclude understanding of work groups in the terms of group dynamics, but
it does clearly indicate why the most prominently available data about such groups
clusters so heavily around all the processes that are closely connected with ingroup
protective behaviour such as cohesion, norms, standards, values, climate, and all the
constraints that clearly signal the need for such protective behaviour.
So successful this behavioural balance that new approaches stand little chance of
success as the difference of such situations is regarded with suspicion from either
side, and inevitably the existing attitudes predispose the perception of all to overlook
the possible advantages. At a guess, I would say that only chance of almost tragic
proportions will tend to break this kind of stalemate, and even the few examples
where change has been brought about by rational means are-not sufficient evidence
that this has become widespread practice.

2.6 DEVELOPMENT OF TEAMS

Team set of players forming a side in a football match or other game or sport; set of
persons working together.' (Concise Oxford Dictionary)
Perhaps the most interesting word in the dictionary definition of `team' is the word
`set'. By implication a `set' of people or pieces suggests a definite number, each
member or part of which bears a clear and observable relationship to each other and
to the set as a whole. In this way the pieces of a chess `set' have defined roles within
the overall aim of beating an opposing set. However skilful the set-director (in this
case the player) may be, the moves of the pieces conform to an exact pattern and it is
within the limits imposed by these patterns that the director must work. All teams
partake of this rather structured nature and it is this that largely distinguishes teams
from any other form of grouping.
Teams are co-operative groups in that they are called into being to perform a task or
tasks that cannot be attempted by an individual. In this sense all groups are teams but
the organization that constitutes a team is not one generally found in other forms of
group. Thus, if a team is a particular kind of group organization that has arisen in
order to meet certain kinds of social requirement, then an analysis of what a team
does and the organization it has developed to do it should reveal the dynamics
relevant to this kind of task. Not only should this indicate methods of creating more
effective teams, but it should also show the clear-cut cause/effect ratio of assembling
in one grouping of certain group processes at given intensities.
Given the fact that teams must have occurred very early in our history as a method of
dealing with certain situations, it is somewhat surprising to discover that judging by
40 the amount of literature it has produced, the analysis of teams as a specific kind of
social group does not
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seem to have aroused much interest. Most writers seem to indicate that the dynamics Development
of teams are the dynamics of groups in general, which is true, and that the different
emphases are not sufficiently different to warrant special mention, which is not true,
at least in my estimation.
In a situation such as the formation of a national `team' in some sport, it is interesting
to note the reactions of selected members to the processes of selection and formation.
Generally speaking, players are selected on the basis of their performance in a team
of which they are a more or less permanent member; others are selected on their
individual performance and become members of a loose collectivity, which is a team
in name only. The former then have to perform in a group whose members are often
unused to one another and who may have frequently been on opposing sides. The
concept of team formation in use here is that a team comprises a series of specialists
controlled by a leader, and that because the specialist roles are well understood, the
parts should fit together in a functional whole.
That this does not get with the personal experience of some of the special units
involved can be gleaned from comments they make about `settling down' over time
and about having played together often enough to realize the complementary nature
of the roles. In a word, they have practised not only their individual expertise but also
their function as part of a unit containing discrete but dependent entities.
Alternatively, a team leader has to know the units in his or her control so well that he
or she can devise patterns for their deployment to meet most of the contingencies
they will meet in play, The team response is then dependent upon the leader's
recognition of the opportunity and instigation of the appropriate pattern and of the
individual members' performing their ascribed role within that pattern more or less
irrespective of individual assessment of the situation.
In either case, the team functions effectively only when its members operate as
smoothly interlocking and complementary parts of the larger whole, eschewing much
independent choice in favour of predictable behaviour. Familiarity would seem to
lend added weight in that it would allow individuals the independence to take
advantage of changes in the pattern of play by instigating sudden changes in their
contribution to the team pattern. Familiarity would allow other members to recognize
the change and adopt the new pattern based on their expectations from previous
experience. This kind of behaviour contains all the essentials of a leadership act.
A team is a task-oriented group, its behaviour is constrained to eliminate actions that
are not essential to task achievement. Its code of practice demands a high level of
conformity and may even be condemnatory of successful independent actions unless
they are `Planned in' to the team pattern. Some teams can, and do, develop `star'
patterns that specialize even further the functions of one or more player/members
thereby creating an elite but dependent sub-group. Whatever way the pattern
emerges, it has the essential nature of a disciplined package with strong sanctions
available for contraventions of its overall unity of strategy.
THE NATURE OF A TEAM AND ITS PURPOSE
`Teams are groups of people who co-operate to carry out a joint task. They may be
assigned to different work roles, or be allowed to sort them out between themselves
and change jobs when they feel like it, for example the crews of ships and aircraft,
research teams, maintenance gangs and groups of miners.
(Argyle: 1972: 110)

The co-operative and interpretive function of a team generates what has been called
`interdependent' relationships' (Allen 1965), and all the available evidence points to
the fact that interdependent relationships in a group allow greater pressure to be
applied than in groups with a greater degree of independence among members. There
is sufficient evidence from team sports that personal dislike is often set aside during a
team performance because a greater level of satisfaction is accessible for all the team
members in their combined achievement than can be gained in the expression of 41
personal feelings.
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The whole issue of competition enters here, as does the effect upon group cohesion of
perception of being attacked by outsiders. As we shall see, the processes and factors
affecting team behaviour demonstrate a clear recognition of the major purposes for
which teams are created and serve to enhance functional effectiveness.
Interaction
As in all groups, interaction is fundamental to a team's existence, but again, as in all
other groups, the level and nature of the interaction in a team has distinctive qualities.
The nature of a team's identity in fact is dependent upon a high level of interaction
being demonstrated. In other words, the appearance of interaction at a good level
indicates to observers the cohesive team like quality of the group in its public
performance. In actual fact, interaction in art effective team is usually devoted to
establishing and maintaining reciprocal dependence and familiarity among members
in areas associated with the team's performance. Dependence is almost a sine quo non
for the existence of a team although it is often enough restricted to the actual public
performance of the team, while familiarity is necessary to facilitate prediction and to
enhance the sense of being a functional unit.
The meshing together of the functions of the different team members depends upon a
clear act of subordination of rivalries with other members and of any egocentric
behaviour. Take a team of trapeze artists, for example. Their lives rest on the absolute
dependability of each other, and many exciting stories have been concocted around
the intrusion of private aims into this essentially secure unit.
Development
This is not an essential feature of teams except in one highly specialized area,
prediction. Given an amount of shared experience of operating as a team, the
members may not, and often not develop an overall trust in each other that continues
to exist the team performance as members of personal group will. But in order to
perform efficiently they must develop a reasonable level of security based on the
ability to predict with higher than chance levels of accuracy the responses of other
team members. Co-ordination, which is basic in team performance, tends to rely
heavily on each member doing what is expected of him or her so that the whole effort
blends and moves in the direction of the team's overall purpose.
Structure
The structure .of teams is not primarily a constellation of persons but a fairly tightly
knit, relationship of roles. This structure has a large formal element; newcomers who
are able to fill a particular team role elsewhere can slot into the structure immediately
on arrival, though their team performance will tend to be more efficient once they
have more shared experience and have been able to adjust expectations to the
minimal idiosyncracies of the new team. In this way, status differences may not be
too important, although particular team approaches can create a particular role, that
of star performer, because this appears to be the best use of available resources, to
achieve the group's aims. The interdependency (mentioned above) is, however, still
maintained and still reciprocal. A `star' system is clearly part of the role structure and
as long as it obtains results will be accepted even to the glorification of the individual
playing the `star' role.
Sub group formation
As would be expected, sub-group formation does not occur spontaneously but only as
part of team design and must always remain subject to the overall pattern. A sub-
group can only have a life of its own in so far as it enables the team to achieve its
objectives.
Group goals

42 In most teams, group goals are very clear. In fact, teams are not only task or goal-
oriented, but the design and co-operative nature of a team also arises from a
perception that such a
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structure is the most effective way to achieve desired outcomes. Development

Decision making

Decision-making processes are thus rational and open to performance feedback that
can than be used to modify design, tactics, and, ultimately, performance. Efficient
teams have a self-reviewing mechanism built into their design that allows monitoring
and review of performance with the aim of enhancing standards. Access to this
reviewing system is democratic and often actively encouraged.

Norms, standards, and values

The norms, standards, and values of a team are of great importance. They embody the
essential system, the ways in which members are permitted to behave during team
performance. Knowledge of the rules ensures that standards are maintained, and the
dependent state of the members is generated and used for team ends only and not
exploited for individual gain. Differences are minimized, a party line is maintained
and consensus and solidarity buttressed by a kind of professional etiquette.
Behaviour, for the time of the group's performance, must conform to strict rules so
that no individual member has to think of his or her own security or support needs to
the detriment of devotion to the team task.

Cohesion

As mentioned earlier, cohesion is essential. A reciprocal dependence and familiarity

are needed to generate security, because performance without such security becomes
not only individualistic but haphazard and uncertain. Even when mistakes are made
by team members, other members have to suppress the desire to punish or chide in
the public eye. If they do not, the team's unified image is clearly 'seen to be falling
apart and, in the eyes of possible competitors, much of its strength has thus been lost
and its weaknesses can be exploited.

Influence

The influence of the team on its members is quite a simple one. Conformity is more
likely to produce rewards for all, and the failure of one ensures the failure of all.
Thus, the pressure to conform is enhanced by a unanimously strong desire to succeed
on the part of all team members. It is also maintained by a system of sanctions, not
least of which is well nigh complete disapproval.

Climate

Teams generate a climate of loyalty, which stems from the acceptance of dependence
on others to achieve a desired outcome. There is something of the secret society
about all successful teams. Members accept the skills and knowledge of other
members as a common resource and the sense of sharing and shared experience,
which distinguishes members from non-members, is high.

Environment

The control of its environment is important to a team. For sports teams the home
ground with its familiarity and increased sense of place and of ease can often inspire
a better performance than strange grounds., The acceptance of a base is common to
all, members of a team and is one of the features that distinguishes members from
non-members. 43
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Membership

Membership is a constraint with powerful implications. The factors that comprise this
constraint, namely the qualities, abilities, background, experience, attitudes, and
ambitions, of members are all extremely relevant. Each member of a team is assumed
to have special knowledge and competence and their selection and continuing
membership of the team is dependent upon such special skills and abilities, these
being a necessary ingredient of the team as a whole. If the membership changes, say
in order to produce a team designed to meet a perceived, difference of task, then only
members whose abilities conform to the new requirements will be retained.
Conversely, the performance of a team is significantly related to the ability of the
members to produce only those activities that are in the interests of team efficiency.
Thus, the ability to limit nonessential behaviours is almost as important as being able
to produce those behaviours that brought about selection in the first place.

Along with functional roles, members of a team also perform ceremonial and ritual
roles that act as a form of window-dressing and create a public image that enhances
or attracts public support for their performance, whether this be as audience or as
financial backers.
Time
Time is not unduly important as a constraint upon a team. It may be crucially
important for individual members in the development of their personal skills and
techniques, but if the design of a team has been well served by the selection of its
members for their contribution, then only minimal time is required for such a team to
be functionally effective. Time spent working together obviously increases the
familiarity with response patterns, and, without doubt, as all of each member's
potential cannot be known in advance, nor are their performances necessarily stable
in terms of quality, more time can bring an increased knowledge and a more realistic
level of expectation.

Resources

Such a concept leads straight into a consideration of resources. The skills members
possess, their knowledge and abilities are the main resources a team possesses. This
lays great emphasis on selection so that the total team is neither short of human
resources nor forced to carry relatively unproductive components. Other resources of
the material kind have obviously varying degrees of importance. In sonic cases they
are essential. If the team is operating complex equipment, then the team's
performance is largely dependent upon the efficiency of that equipment. Where a
team's function is the exploitation of human abilities with only minimal equipment
then the major resource is the human potential.

Size

Size is an important factor. Most teams are essentially small groups, Beyond twelve
to fifteen members, the kind of structure I have been describing, is very hard to
maintain. The multiplying of roles, the increased potential of relationships and ideas,
and the increased possibility of individuals opting out, bring about diminishing
returns unless an increase in rigidity and regulatory procedures accompanies the
increase in size. This may also bring about a decrease in achievement levels because
performance will necessarily be restricted in a creative sense by the growth of
restrictive discipline. This is an area where the degree and nature of discipline has to
be appropriate to the task the team was created to perform. It is noteworthy that
essentially creative functions seem to be mainly related to individual performance
and not to the work of teams.
Teams are essentially open groups but with a strong tendency for the membership to
remain in static for long periods of time. Most teams are formed from a collection of
44 possible members and the nature of the team as a group of selected human
components performing a
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well-defined task implies that modification, reselection, disbandment, and Development
substitution are all possible in order to meet changed conditions, Thus, any team
tends to be embedded in a larger group; all the members of which have the potential
and possibility of being members of the team at any time. Sometimes this larger
group. may be just a list of names in the designer's records and the members may
have little or no knowledge of each other's existence. Often the supply group is a very
apparent reserve, clearly involved with the current team and often considered to be
not only a reservoir but also a training group and an essential part of the team.

Activity

The activity of a team is always clearly defined. The team's task not only delineates
the selection of team members but also the activities they will pursue in achieving
group goals, As most teams are in competition with other similar teams, or with their
recorded performance, agreement about activity is very necessary as efficiency in
performance is a high-level, proximate goal of any team.

Leadership acts

Leadership acts in teams possess some very interesting qualities, Conflict often arises
between the team leader in his or her leadership function and the team leader as a
member, so much so, that many teams prefer to keep the two functions quite separate.
Where these separate roles occur, the team leader has some very distinctive
functions. He or she:

1. Maybe responsible for selection.

2. Is responsible for ensuring that the discipline of the team produces the high level
of performance and interdependence team needs.

3. Is responsible for the allocation of roles and the use of resources.

4. Decides upon the team strategy and plans its policies.

5. Assumes a greater degree of responsibility to the team's audience or others

concerned with its performance.

6. Makes considerable demands upon team members.

A team leader bears a responsibility to ensure success and thus leadership always has
a strong directive element. This is true when the team leader is also a participating
member of the team and this highlights an essential role conflict between, directive
leader and the co-operative nonnative behaviour of a member. This conflict has often
been demonstrated where members of high performance have been given the role of
leader and their performance has declined as they find that occupying two very
dissimilar roles simultaneously is too demanding.

Selection

Selection has already been mentioned as a crucial factor in a team and all that needs
to be said here is that once the level of skill has been taken into account, selection
must create team members who can trust each other to perform correctly and who
will not be indiscreet in their team-related behaviour. Such behaviour is stipulated in
their contract, an agreement to which team members subscribe. It is an agreement to
behave scrupulously within team norms and to maintain the team standards.

The analogy of a team with a machine composed of smoothly interlocking parts is

sometimes made for obvious reasons. Team design is the most efficient way that
human beings have discovered of providing a short- or limited-duration performance
at high levels of intensity 45
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with maximum effectiveness. This implies that (a) the level of design and selection is
of a very high order; (b) the human occupant of the team role is less significant qua
human being than his or her ability to perform his or her allotted role; (c) in lieu of
normal social interaction the relationship of the role occupants will be strictly
governed by a unanimously accepted set of rules, and, finally, (d) leadership will be -
precisely located and directive in nature.
These are all factors that eliminate much of the time needed for growing together;
development is assured by providing guidelines based on the assumption that such
high levels of satisfaction will accrue from conformity and the huge amount of
control needed by the members to achieve it will be seen as a worthwhile cost.
Sometimes this assumption is incorrect. Other satisfactions appear more rewarding
and the essential nature of `teamness' is destroyed or reduced.
Activity 5
Identify a team which is created for a specific purpose, and assess it on all the
variables explained above and rate it on all counts out of 10 marks and see how
effective and efficient the team is. Discuss the results in your peer group.
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2.7 THE PROBABLE EFFECTS OF GROUP PROCESSES
ON TEAM' PERFORMANCE
‘Whether the members, of a team stage similar individual performances or stage
dissimilar performances which fit together into a whole, an emergent team
impression arises which can be conveniently treated as a fact located between the
individual performance on one hand and the total interaction of participants on the
other. ‘ (Goffman 1969b: 85)

Steiner (1974), quoting the work of Torrance, showed that status differences in air
crews presented with a problem affected the solutions produced in that whether right
or wrong, the answers proffered by the high-status members were accepted by the
low status members of the crew. Low-status members with the right solution were
unable to convince their fellow crew members of the rightness of their opinion in the
face of the different opinions held by the high-status members. When men from
different aircrews were formed into a problem-solving group, then whoever had the
correct solution, whether of high or low status, was much more able to convince
others and affect the group outcome. Steiner comments that deviant opinions could
be visited with reprisal in the whole crew groups whereas this was not likely to occur
in the groups composed of members of several different crews. Steiner is suggesting
that fear for their future well-being made low-status crew members accept what they
may have known to be wrong.

There is another possibility. Crews are teams in which the safety of all is dependent
upon each and every member exercising their allotted function in harmony with all
the others and without fear or favour. Most team members are well aware that
disagreement, even on matters with no direct reference to the team's existence, can
impair their ability to function effectively within it. This interdependent state makes
those involved very vulnerable to any decrease in loyalty on the part of any one of
them. Thus, the relationship among Torrance's aircrews, which was an essential
factor in the performance of their task, spilled over into a task that was unrelated to
their professional duties.

Many exciting stories have been written on this theme where disagreement between
members of a team performing a dangerous task (e.g. trapeze artists) has destroyed
46 the necessary loyalty of the members to each other because strong motives of
vengeance have occurred.
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This highlights the fact that the operating strength of a team is based upon a Development
dependent trust and that this can easily become the source of ifs easy destruction by a
sufficient change of attitude on the part of one or more members, especially when
this change is successfully hidden from the others.
However, what appears to be a more important element in team design is the need to
build in success. As mentioned earlier, the analysis of the factors affecting team
design shows a heavy concentration on elements that first ensure as far as possible
the smooth functioning of the team, second, eliminate unnecessary, delaying, or
obstructive behaviour patterns and, third, maximize the potential of the group over a
given period of time and allow for changes to meet changed circumstances. Thus
competition, which seems to be the milieu in which most teams exist, ensures a
concentration on factors producing maximum effectiveness with the resources
available. In this sense what is missing from effective teams is as instructive in any
analysis of group design as what is included.
The maintenance of solidarity comes about through constant self-reviewing.
Feedback to and from all team members constantly ensures that their construing of
the situation is similar at all times (or at least their. agreed acceptance of a particular
construction) so that experience that is not universally shared in actual fact is shared
by discussion and consideration, a sharing by proxy. The unanimity and uniformity,
which can be so handicapping in decision-making groups by smothering alternatives,
is a basic essential of the loyalty, respect, and support that a team system uses. The
sheer effect of numbers of people of reasonably high status all behaving in the same
way. and speaking with one voice is very impressive.
In a word, the element of successful team functioning is a contract, an
agreement to behave in a preordained way for a given period of time. The
contract is founded upon the belief that this is the most effective method of
achieving certain desired outcomes. It tends to be shattered by .frequent
experience of failure. Sometimes it is obfuscated by the satisfaction gained
from other outcomes not clearly or originally included in the contract (e.g. just
being together).
2.8 GROUPS AND COMMITTEES
'The organizational requirement for group problem-solving rests primarily on two
assumptions: 1-Information needed for most management decisions must come from
a variety of sources whose functional interdependence requires its simultaneous
consideration and-evaluation by all concerned; and 2. the acceptance ouch decisions
by the persons affected is often more important than the objective quality of the
decision, and acceptance is promoted by participation in decision-making,'
(Hoffman 1965: 100)
When Hoffman made the statement quoted above, he was engaged in trying to isolate
the factors that inhibit group problem solving and those that facilitate it. He was
concerned with this problem because large organizations often require that a great
part of their work is done by committees. Thus, the question of group problem
solving in an effective manner is of paramount importance.
Hoffman put forward the idea that the information available at the time seemed to
indicate that the removal of the inhibiting factors in group problem solving did not of
itself promote effective action and that facilitating factors had to be brought into the
action before a committee's resources could be effectively utilized. It could be
expected that effective committees should therefore not only eliminate as many
inhibiting factors as possible but should also demonstrate a very positive use of
facilitating factors. Generally speaking, inhibiting factors are conditions that prevent,
or significantly reduce, the group s ability to express ideas freely, Conversely,
promoting factors are conditions that facilitate or maximize the existing resources of
the group.
Committees are decision-making groups. They are formed to solve problems and to
take advantage of the supposed benefit of using groups rather than individuals in the
process of decision making. If solutions to problems, that is, decisions, are required
we could expect that committees would tend to be groups that would be designed to
use the resources of members, produce more solutions than individuals, eliminate 47
inferior ideas, make more risky decisions
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allocate tasks and roles, and minimize the sense of responsibility for individual
members, and so on. Does the evidence of committee procedure show that these
group-effect elements are built into committees or not?

Committees are decision-making and problem-solving groups. Thus, the factors that
inhibit the process of problem solving should be excluded in committee design and
those that promote problem solving should be essential features of such design.
Inhibiting factors as defined by Hoffman are as follows:

1. Too ready agreement - this is detrimental to the solution of complex problems.

2. Over dominance by the majority - this suppresses minority expression and

maythus never allow correct solutions to surface. These two factors are
promoted by a lack of confidence in the members of the committee, by the fact
that deviant viewpoints are held, by dependence upon those members seen as
able, or knowledgeable, or experienced, and by generalizations from previous
experience.

3. The feedback to the group is not rewarding enough to increase participation.

4. There is undue importance attached to certain members, usually those who talk
most, and their choice of solution is often accepted whatever its merits: The
charisma and status of such influential members is often related to the
perception that they are highly motivated.

5. The structure of the decision-making group may be an important inhibiting

factor. For example the larger the group the more restrained its inhibited
members tend to become and the influence of the confident members increases
disproportionately. Or, if the structure is informal, this increases the influence of
personality factors; power structures enhance the inhibiting effects of authority
figures.

6. No organizational structure exists that can help to free the committee to search
for problems or facilitate its process of formulating them.

Opposed to these are the enhancing factors:

1. Members are selected in a way that-utilizes their known abilities. (A great

problem here lies in being able to identify the abilities that will be a potential
resource.) This reinforces their motivation and provides a diversity of
viewpoints with the tolerance to allow their expression.

2. The stimulation of group processes that promote the generation of ideas; the
rigorous assessment of data and ideas, methods of identifying the problem, of
exploiting conflict, and of exploring alternatives.

3. Leadership acts that improve the use of information and encourage the flow and
exchange of ideas that stimulate rather than arbitrate;

4. Acts that engender participation on the thesis that involvement with the decision
making enhances the commitment of the members to what is decided.

Steiner (1974) states that `decision-making groups are almost always required to
perform divisible tasks'. That is, a process comprising several separate actions in
which information is offered and discussed, background and impinging material
considered, and the whole evaluated and the available alternatives examined is set up.
Because the problem that, confronts a group is seldom exactly like the last one, there
are few reusable formulae for procedure, except in the broadest sense, so a large
element of improvisation is necessary. Such flexibility often produces failure because
48 the programme, recipe, or procedure eventually used is not appropriate or suitable to
the problem confronted.
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Activity 6 Development

You must be familiar with any Committee(finance, executive, grievance) that might
have been formed in your organization to fulfil certain objectives. Assess and
explain:

1) What is the size of the committee

2) How many times did the chairman and the members met

3) Did they arrive at a decision soon

4) How did people in the organization feel about it.

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2.9 GROUP PROCESSES OF COMMMITTEES AND A
CONSIDERATION OF THEIR INFLUENCE ON
COMMITTEE EFFECTIVENESS
`Committees are primarily concerned with coming to agreements over issues where
individuals or groups may disagree.' (Argyle 1972:130)
Committees are formally organized talking groups designed to take decisions and
solve problems. Membership varies enormously from three upwards. A committee
has a formal structure of officers, chairperson, secretary, and treasurer; it is usually
set up within an existing organization and is assigned its task by that organization.
Committees as groups, show marked differences to other groups. The main
differences are as follows:
1. Interpersonal bonds between members are weak compared with other groups.
2. Interaction is mainly verbal.
3. Main tasks are problem solving and decision taking through verbal exchange.
4 Meetings are formal, conform to a preset agenda, and follow fairly elaborate
and explicit rules of procedure.
5 Relationships arise as the result of the work of the group and are constituted as
rapidly changing coalitions based on interest. There may be no social contact of
members outside the group.
Interaction
Interaction between members is mainly verbal and governed by rules. For example,
all communications have to be addressed to the chair, no member may speak for
more than a specified length of time or more frequently than the rules allow, nor may
any member bring up material irrelevant to the issue under discussion. A great deal of
interaction takes place at the non-verbal level, e.g. eye-contact, gesture, nods, and
winks, even written messages passed around among the members. The ability to use
these non-verbal communications to ensure expression of one's views, to marshal aid,
and to give support, is a very vital skill for the committee member.
Group development
Because of its formal structure and lack of concern about interpersonal relationships,
the development of a committee is not a significant feature, Long-lasting committees
with stable ' membership do develop expectations related to past experience, but trust
is still based upon predictability, Unless some outside force threatens the committee
as a whole, there is little sense of cohesion, often quite the reverse. Development in a 49
slightly different sense does tend
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to occur in that a committee will produce procedures for dealing with its problems
and show an increase in operational skill, however small, over its initial performance.
It develops a level of expertise.

Structure

The structure is formal, though, over time, informal groupings come into existence
to. meet given exigencies (see sub-groups). Status within a committee is often
directly related to the status of the members within the encompassing organization or
to that held in other organizations represented on the committee. It is also related to
the committee's perception of personality, expertise, and security of tenure of the
individual member.

Sub-groups

As already noticed, committees have a flexible, informal subgroup structure of

coalitions. These transient groupings are often the result of bargaining before a
meeting takes place and are frequently the determining factor in the committee's
decision when opposition is small due to apathy or disorganization; and the cause of
conflict when competing elements have also made their bargains. Because
committees are composed of people representing different interests, the formation of
sub-groups and the consequent lack of overall cohesion is a salient factor of
committee dynamics.

Group goals

Group goals are twofold: first to produce solutions to problems presented to the
committee, and, second, to come to an agreement about what should be done. The
process of problem solving requires that information about the problem and its
context should be fed into the committee. This information may be first
complementary, second conflicting, or third heterogeneous, but the committee's
purpose is to discover as far as possible the hard facts. Remarkably enough, there is
evidence to show that members are often more prepared to consider information that
is not in line with their own understanding than they would as separate individuals.

The second purpose requires that the committee should examine these facts,
hypothesize about them, and reach agreement.

Decision making

On each agenda item the need to reach agreement produces strong conformity
pressure; the norms of behaviour are asserted at each decision point. It is here that
committees show that they are prepared to take riskier decisions than individuals,
probably for the following reasons:

1. Responsibility is diffused through the group.

2. Cultural norms are in favour of risk taking.
3. Some members are high risk-takers anyway.
4. The group climate favours risk taking.

Norms, standards, and values

There are the procedural norms, e.g. in voting behaviour, but there are also special
rules individually created for each committee concerning timing, and what is
allowed. There are norms about the general policy of the committee and about
50 conduct and behaviour.
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Cohesion Development

Committees are rarely cohesive because of the manner of their formation.

Influence

Conformity pressures have already been noted. However, it necessary to point, out
certain influence situations not yet covered. Committees are expected by the creating
organization to reach agreement about the issues submitted to them. Thus, pressures
to conform come from outside as well as within the group. If the task is not being
achieved, or is regarded as not being achieved by the creating organization, then
members can be removed or substituted, or the whole committee abolished. Members
who are representatives of other bodies are obligated to present and defend certain
views and to press for other members to accept them,' as they stand to gain or lose
personally by the outcome.

Climate

Good leadership can induce a co-operative, hard-working climate. Differences in

status, the obvious exercise of power, can inhibit it.

Environment

Environmental factors are important in that adequate access, room, and facilities are
important in any group activity.

Membership

Members have varied reasons for being in the committee.. They may be concerned
about the task or they may have been appointed. What ever promoted their joining,
the group will affect the degree of their commitment to its success. If they have
expertise and power, and are thus high-status members, the committee will spend
more time discussing their ideas than those they will have more influence on the final
agreement of others, whether good or bad. Good committee members need certain
skills, e.g. the ability to collect, study, and assess information; the ability to persuade,
to appear emotionally uninvolved with the issues before the committee; to be
concerned with what is acceptable to others; and to be able to get themselves noticed
when they wish to speak.

Time

Time is an essential ingredient as many agreements are founded on the lack of it, and
many decisions based on: poor information because, there was no time available to
seek out better.

Resources

A committee's resources are twofold: first, those of its creating organization, and,
second, those of, or accessible to its members.

51
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Size

Size is often outside the control of either the committee or its creators due to the need
to cover many interests. Thus, the most effective and efficient size for the task in
hand is not often available.

Open/closed nature

Most committees have the power to co-opt and are. therefore open groups, a factor
that tends to enhance the weak relationship structure, noted earlier, and create great
reliance on the formal organization

Activity

Committee activity is made up of mainly verbal exchange and the collection and
consideration of data.

Leadership acts

The leader is the chairperson and his or her role is crucially significant in relation to
the Performance of the committee. The continuum of leadership style is available to
the chairperson but most tend to gravitate to the directional end though with
democratic overtones. The chairperson is empowered either by election or
appointment to control the discussion, to influence decisions in various ways, and to
try to reach conclusions that are universally acceptable. The kind of skills they need
may be listed as follows:

1 Being able to recognize the problem, assess the available data, and require
members to give their opinions and contributions on the central issues.

2 Concentrating on differences of opinion and trying to reach agreement.

3 Assessing the value of the available contributions and solutions in the light of
any agreed policy.

4 Stimulating the committee to consider what it is proposing and to look at

alternatives.

5 Ensuring that large problems are broken into manageable pieces and dealt with
systematically.

6 Ensuring that the committee considers all possible solutions not just one.

7 Being custodian of the rules of procedure.

This kind of chairperson produces better results in matched groups than passive
leaders can.

Contract

A contract is formed in a committee on the basis of accepting the formal procedural

rules and on deciding to work for the outcomes outlined in the committee's remit.

It now remains only to look at the conditions that tend to make committees effective
52 and those that render them ineffective.
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Enhancing conditions Development
Committee effectiveness is enhanced when:
1. Members are able and possess different relevant skills abilities, and resources.
2. Members are co-operative, are able to develop high commitment to the
committee's . aims, are able to consult freely, and feel responsible for the
outcomes.
3. Members stimulate each other in the production of new, creative ideas.
4. Leadership is skilled in co-ordination, in preventing conformity pressure
producing inferior and premature decisions, and in producing a solution
acceptable to all members.
5. The size of the committee is appropriate Ito the task in hand.
6. The aims of the committee are clearly understood.
7. Minorities are encouraged to participate actively.
8. Available resources are allocated to different components of the overall
task.
9. Ideas are explored in an environment that does not produce immediate critical
response.
10. Participation is democratic and not dominated by one or two powerful
individuals.
11. The committee is aware that it has the power to enact the decisions it
makes or to-see that others do so.
12. Communication channels are known and kept open.
13. Sufficient time is available for discussion but not too much so that motivations
flag.
14. Solutions can be tested and their possible effects gauged.
15. The committee knows that it is accountable for its decisions.
Retarding conditions

Apart from the normal inference that the reverse of enhancing conditions produce
retarding effects, the factors listed here seem of major importance.

1. The decision-making procedures of the committee are imposed from outside and
are based on traditional practice rather than on what would be more useful in the
given circumstances.

2 The members of a committee are there for a wide variety of reasons, often having
been appointed to represent sectional interests so that common ground is not
readily discoverable.

3. Committees are often aware of their powerlessness to implement any decisions

they make and impotency reduces motivation.

4 Interpersonal relationships that can cause rejection of excellent proposals on the

basis of personal feeling are seldom subject to being processed by the committee;
infrequent meetings enhance this situation.

5 Not only are many committee members arbitrarily drafted, but they are also not
necessarily those best equipped to deal with the issues facing their group.

Lowenstein (1971) indicated that in his opinion size was the constraint that produced 53
major deficiencies in committees. It had one or two positive factors, such as
increasing the resources available, but the following bad effects:
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1. It decreases member participation leading to domination by a few.
2. It increases the formal nature of the interaction and the formation of sub-groups.
3. Because of 1 and 2, the committee becomes less able to use its resources.
Disagreement among members increases and there is greater difficulty in
following through any decisions that ate made.
4. Most demands are made to meet the social and emotional needs of the embers
while the possibility of satisfying relationships being established decreases.
5. In general, frustration leads to dissatisfaction which, in turn, reduces, members
commitment to the work of the committee.

Given these factors, it is of paramount importance that any committee should be

carefully regulated as to its membership to produce maximum efficiency, while
avoiding the penalties attendant upon being over large.

Activity 7

The life cycle of a team comprise of Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing and
adjourning. Write down your experience about any team and discuss with your peers.
…………………………………………………………………………………………
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2.10 SUMMARY

Work organizations are structures that contain groups, but those groups are much less
salient to the organization than the `group' concept is to the family or the collection of
friends. One major reason for this is that in any large organization identifiable groups
proliferate, and thus each is likely to be rather less essential to the continuance of the
whole. Work groups have more of the characteristics of sub-groups than of groups in
their own right. Yet this may be a false analogy as all groups are embedded in a
supra-structure and contain component entities with in themselves.

Certain elements of groups dynamics can be shown of facilitate production work and
equally others can be shown to inhibit it. The whole analysis of group behaviour is
inextricably bound up in the business of goals. Work and management groups within
the same organization may have diametrically opposed goals. This may be so despite
an almost total lack of recognition on either side that such a situation exists.
Organization Development analysis often reveals disparate groups in one-
organization operating in counterproductive ways while implicitly believing that they
are working to achieve the same ends.

Much of this kind of conflict is due to other groups, reference groups that have
generated standards of judgement of situations based on different criteria. Thus,
'while it is possible to show that work groups use selected group dynamics to become
efficiently functioning units, and while aims within the larger organization are
overtly or covertly disparate, it is equally true that selective dynamics ensure conflict
by the efficient following of aims and equally efficient rejection of the assumed aims
of other groups. Some may argue that such conflict is inevitable in a society already
full of conflict, but the fact remains that where aims overlap, where a consensus of
aims is possible, then the reduction in the use of conflict dynamics releases
considerable energy for mutually agreed productive ends.

Team behaviour is analyzed and shown to be of a contractual nature. This implies

54 that the overall goal of the team as a performing group is a reed beforehand, that the
methods of
 ignoumbasupport.blogspot.in Phases of Group
reaching that goal are also agreed upon, and each member undertakes to fulfil their Development
allotted role. The team outcome is held to be more important than the personal goals
of members for the duration of the team's performance.
It is noteworthy that T-groups and personal growth groups also develop this kind of
contract but not by a contractual agreement, more by monitored and guided
experience over a period of time. Both have in common the element of success.
Appropriate behaviour is imprinted because it produces adequate rewards in the
team, which is a special form of work group, because they do not function together
for long periods of time, appropriate behaviour has to be worked out, allocated, and
adhered to. The cardinal sin for any team member is to individualize performance,
and gain success at the expense of team mates.
Unlike work groups ill general, teams are often isolated units, even if attached to
larger organizations. Their aims, because of their own need for contractual
agreement, are usually specific and seen as such by the supra-system. A team is a
unique example of a collection of individuals held in dynamic and functional
relationship over brief periods of time by agreement to their mutual and combined
benefit.
'Suppose that you and I are members of a six-member committee to raise funds for
underprivileged children. Suppose that you are intelligent, creative, athletic, wealthy
and personable. I'm feeling competitive with you. Because of these feelings if you
propose an idea for raising funds, I will be prone to find fault with it, to ridicule it, to
argue it down, even if it's a good idea 'especially if it's a good idea.'
(Aronson 1976: 299) .
Aronson's statement demonstrates the havoc to committee efficiency that unexposed
member rivalries can wreak. He also believes that the decisions arrived at by
committees are limited by cognitive dissonance so that in the early stages of decision
making members will reject information that is not consonant with the data,
convictions, and beliefs that they already hold. On balance, Aronson sees group
decision making as of limited efficiency. Given that limited efficiency exists, why do
organizations continue to set up committees? I think the answer must lie in the fact
that they deliver a major part of the expected goods.
Committees are time-limited groups and so need expert coordination to avoid
wasting time on unproductive maneuvers. That means a directive, controlling
leadership pattern is exploited. They contain members with diffuse aims, often
enough irreconcilable, so an imposed structure is necessary that creates
artificial but agreed boundaries within which even conflicting interest groups
can work if not together exactly, at least not in open confrontation. This kind
of ritual structure of necessity inhibits the open expression of personal
antagonisms and pays the, cost of hidden agendas and probable sabotage.
Committees have clearly defined functions, shared responsibilities, and access
to more human resources than any individual. They can, and do, exert
pressure on their members and, because personal factors are seldom at stake,
they can produce answers.
For all these reasons (and others stated earlier), committees seem to develop the
group processes and constraints that facilitate a particular kind of limited group
operation. It is not dependent upon the time and contact, the shared experience
necessary to develop an awareness in each member of belonging to a caring,
trusting, and supportive unit. It uses just the processes-that enable it to function in
the absence of such factors by creating an agreed and accepted system.
Committees, then, can deal with information, in fact with huge complexities of
information, but they cannot deal with emotional problems very well because their
own emotional stability is not, and cannot be, built into their formal procedural
structure.
Problems in committee functioning may be reduced if the personal characteristics of
members, their ability, and their prior experience do not develop a unanimity that
precludes any discussion nor even a powerful clique to enforce a majority role. The
influence of bias can be avoided by a reasonable selection procedure, by keeping the
size of the committee smaller rather than larger, and by creating a clear and 55
unequivocal formal structure to reduce
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the effect of personal characteristics. Efficiency may also be improved by the
production of an organization for problems and that develops a technique of scanning
more possibilities than usual by not focussing too early.

56
 ignoumbasupport.blogspot.in Phases of Group
A comparison of the profiles of intensity of involvement of the factors affecting Development
group outcome in five `natural' groupings.

The height of the column shows a rough estimate of the intensity of use of that
‘factor-affecting’ in that particular group.

Key 'Factors-affecting'

1 Interaction 11 Environment
2 Group development 12 Membership
3 Social structure 13 Time
4 Sub-group formation 14 Resources
5 Group goals 15 Size
6 Decision-making process 16 Open/closed
7 Norms, standards, and values 17 t t
Activity
8 Cohesion 18 Leadership acts
9 Group influence 19 Selection
10 Group climate 20 Contract

These profiles, which show roughly the levels of the " factors affecting" outcome that
to generate efficiency in each of five natural groups, are a visible reminder of
designed difference. The components are the same but they are combined in different
quantities producing a unique custom-built model in each case. That such design
difference comes about in groups with long histories of use should serve to indicate
that the general features built into each model equate with successful functioning.

Committee performance can be enhanced by utilization of resources in terms of

ability, of motivation, and diversity of experience related to the freedom to generate
ideas to examine facts and material rigorously, and to exploit conflict. Most of this
kind of activity comes under the rubric of skilled leadership, which should create an
improved flow of information and encourage a better use of it.

A committee functioning effectively has most of the factors just discussed operating
positively and, in such a situation, demonstrates as clearly as possible the element of
design that allows such a performance.

It remains to be seen whether groups created to meet equally specific circumstances

but without, in most cases, such a long history of adaptation and modification, show
such clear design differences.

2.11 SELF-ASSESSMENT QUESTIONS

1 How would you identify the important aspects in group development?

2. How are norms of the group, conformity and cohesiveness related?

3. What will make group development ineffective?

4. Explain the stages of group development. Explain with examples.

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2.12 FURTHER READINGS

Bales, R.F. Interaction Process Analysis Reading Mass: Addison-Wesley (1950).

Blake, R.R. and Mouton, J.S. "Reactions to Intergroup Competition Under Win-Lose
Conditions", Mgt. Sc., 7, 420-435.

Schien, E.H. and Bennis, W.G. Personal and Organizational Change Through Group
Methods, New York, Wiley (1965).

Rosenthal, W.A. Social Group Theory. Social Work, 18 (50:60-6) (1973).

Shaw, M.E. An Overview of Small Group Behaviour, Morristown, N.J. General

Learning , Press.

Sprott, W.J. Human Groups, Harmondsworth; Penguin (1958).

Whyte, W.H. The Organizational Man, Harmondsworth: Penguin (1960).

Doise, W. Distributive Justice: A Social Psychological Perspective. New Haven,

Yale University Press (1978).

Taylor, D.M. and Dube L. " The Two Faces of Identity: The `I' and the "We": Journal
of Social Issues, 42: 81-98. (1986).

Cecilia, L. Ridgeway, The Dynamics of Small Groups, St. Martins (1983).

58
 ignoumbasupport.blogspot.in Group Cohesion and
UNIT 3 GROUP COHESION AND Development

ALIENATION
Objectives
After going through this unit, you should be able to:
• define group cohesiveness and alienation
• appreciate the contribution of sociologists in explaining the nature of alienation
• understand the sociological and psychological approach to alienation
• appreciate the motivational approach to alienation and how is it different from
other approaches
Structure
3.1 Introduction
3.2 Sociological Approach to Alienation
3.3 Contemporary Sociological Treatment of Alienation
3.4 The Psychological Approach
3.5 Integration of the Sociological Approach
3.6 Some Major Differences Between the Present and Earlier Approach
3.7 Summary
3.8 Self Assessment Questions
3.9 Further Readings.
3.1 INTRODUCTION
From times immemorial, man has been a gregarious animal. He was moved, worked and
lived in a collective for the state of security, seeking affiliation from others and
recognizing others as well as self. This requires that people deal with a few members in a
face-to-face situation and relate to each other. People meet and share and identify as
purpose. The human being is born in a group (family) and throughout his life he/she
remains a part of the group either directly or indirectly. The groups create an identity of
their own and the members share that identity. It is a recognizable social equality to its
members and to outsiders. This is what distinguishes a group from a simple collection of
people. The groups also develop an additional quality of sharing some common ways of
doing things and a set of others informal rules by which the group operates.
Groups are the basic units of study in any organization. Without stable and optimally
functional groups, the existence of the organization becomes shaky. The study of groups
and its dynamics became very important for a few basic reasons like,
a. Group exert an enormous influence' on the individual. Our attitudes, values and
behaviour are greatly influenced by' our interaction with other group to members.
One relies on the group to teach how to behave and also help in self understanding.
b. Groups have very powerful influence on each other in the organizational context.
Much of the work that goes on in the organization is done by the groups, and the
success of an organization is limited by the effectiveness of its groups. The
collective action of a group of individuals is much greater than the sum of individual
acting alone.
c. Groups help explain the unique behaviour of the individual that occur within the
group. Groups members perform specialized functions that can be explained best by
knowing the kind of roles and norms found in groups. It becomes important that we
understand the dynamics of human behaviour within a group and diagnose
problems.
d. Groups lend to develop norms, or accepted forms of behaviour, or standards of
conduct. . These norms may affect the output of works, or other ways in which they
operate. Again such norms may affect who can be a member of a group and on what
terms, or they may affect the willingness of a group to initiate or accept change.
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e. Sociologist use the term sole to refer particular to positions in society associated
with particular responsibilities, and from which certain 'performances' are expected.
Hence there are citizen roles, various family roles, and occupational roles. With
reference to the last, many of these work roles are acted out wholly or partly in
groups. So the study groups may be the real way to find out what it means to be, say,
a change, hand in manufacturing or R&D project leader in an electronics company
or whatever. Further more, within groups individuals may take on some purely
group related role such as counsellor, peacemaker or comedian.

f. Groups take decisions or at least an important part of the context in which decisions
are taken. This is at least residually true for blue-collar work groups, and is
obviously true for management groups. With regard to the latter conventional
wisdom is that many management decisions are taken in committees as meetings, so
that study of groups, and their dynamics become the study of the process of decision
making.

Group Cohesiveness

Till now we have involved in understanding the necessity of studying groups especially
in the organizational context. In groups there are certain vital processes through which a
group evolves a social structure and culture communication, conformity are some of such
processes. Communication, maintaining the interaction among group members and
influences the way they put their impact each other of all the aspects of groups that arise
out of the process of communication, cohesiveness is one-of the most fundamental. The
strength or solidarity with which a group is bound together is a basic dimension that
defines the degree of "groupness" or unity that a set of people achieve. At the extreme
low end of the cohesiveness scale are collection of people so tenuously linked together in
their behaviour that they can hardly be considered a group. At the other hand are close
knit unified sets of people that seem to ° embody what we mean by "group".

Defining Cohesiveness

According to Festinger (1950) cohesive is the "total field of forces which acts on the
members to remain in the group". This has been the most influential, if controversial,
definition of the concept ever offered. At the level of abstract understanding, at least.
After all, if cohesiveness refers to the strength with which a group is glued together, then
to refer to that "glue" as field of social forces holding members together make sense. The
controversy develops in deciding exactly what is meant by a field of forces. It has not
been clear what exactly can be ascribed to the field of forces - the glue.

Cohesiveness as Interpersonal Attraction

In practice, Festinger measured cohesiveness as the number and strength of friendship

ties group members have with one another compared to those they have with outsiders. In
other words cohesiveness was measured sociometrically in terms of interpersonal
attraction among members. In most groups it seems reasonable to assume that the links
between members will be based on interpersonal attraction, and the interdependence
among the members is largely social rather than instrumental, meaning that the members
rely on one another for company rather than for accomplishing specific tasks.

A Broader View

A more complex conception of cohesiveness is needed. One can being by defining

cohesiveness as the extent to which features of group bind the members to it this
definition is more specific. Feldman (1968) has pointed out that there are at least three
different ways in which groups bind their members to them. First, members can of course
be bound to the group through links of friendship and mutual liking Feldman calls this
aspect of cohesiveness - inter personal integration.
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However, members can also be bound to the group of its organizational structure. This is Development
what one can call as a group's structural-functional integration, a second aspect of
cohesiveness. It refers to the success with which a group's social structure coordinates the
members' behaviour in such a way that both allows an effective pursuit of group goals
and the maintenance of good working relations among the members. The terrorist groups
have often been successful following the structural functional integration. Think of an
efficiently organized committee that was its members' time and talents effectively and
smoothly. Compare that to any one of those ineffective committees to which we all have
belonged. In those your efforts seem to be wasted because they are not properly
coordinated with those of others, the meetings go on in circles, nothing gets done and as a
result frustration builds and temper flare. How cohesive can the inefficient committee
ever be? Although structural-functional integration arises from the way the group is
organized- how well its parts fit together rather than from the affection of the members, it
is as fundamental to cohesiveness as is friendship.
The third way a group can bind its members to it is through a set of shared beliefs, rules
or practices. Feldman calls this third aspects of cohesiveness - normative integration. It
refers to the degree of consensus group members achieve about what the group is, how it
should operate, and what its rules are. It reflects the extent to which the members have
developed, shared agreed-upon norms for governing group life.
Cohesiveness captures at best that sense of a group that fits happily together, works
smoothly, and creates a sense of satisfaction for its members.
Although all three types of integration contributes to the groups' overall cohesiveness,
they are each somewhat independent of the others. Feldman (1968) used friendship
groups among campus to study the relationship among the three types of integration
interpersonal integration, he found, was related to both structural-functional and
normative integration, but the later to were unrelated to each other. So the nature and
effectiveness of the groups' organization is linked to development of shared norms by the
pattern of personal relationships among the members. It is out of the members' reactions
and dealings with, one another the structural-functional and normative integration are
created.
A groups purpose or type will determine the relative importance of each type of
integration in determining its overall cohesiveness. In primary oriented groups (like
campus residence of a colony) interpersonal attraction will clearly be the most important.
Specialized roles, the development of a status system and the mutual influence out of
which norms are created, all grow out of the initial friendship bonds established among
the members. If the members stop liking one another, groups like this usually dissolve.
Without friendship, the cohesiveness of socio-emotionally oriented groups is almost
impossible to maintain.
If we compare family and task groups the differences emerged distinctly. Family is
mostly operation on socio-emotional terms but when the groups' main aim is to achieve a
task, the story is different. For test group, it is structural-functional integration that will be
the most important for overall cohesiveness. What matters to such groups is efficiency
and success at the task. Think of a managing directors advisors. When problems develop
among them it is not because they don't like each other. This is often irrelevant. Usually,
dissension is over who reports to whom, who is in charge of what and who gets to see the
chief and when. The source of bickering and disunity is the groups' organizational
structure. It is the viability of this structure that is most important to task groups'
cohesiveness.
Interpersonal integration is less important in task groups than structural functional
integration - and probably less important than normative integration as well. Members
need only maintain cordial working relationships; actual friendship is =required. It is
indeed possible for a group of people who actually dislike one another to hold together as
a group in order to accomplish some goal that is very important to them. However, such
achieve hostility certainly does weaken the group lowering its overall cohesiveness.
Normative integration is most important groups whose members have come together to
express a shared interest or ideology. Religious groups or political action groups are
examples. In groups like this, share commitment to a specific set of beliefs and norms is
what hold the group together. If conflicts develop over core beliefs, the group usually
cannot maintain sufficient cohesiveness to survive. 61
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Activity 1
Have you ever experienced the downfall of a group in achieving its goals because of a
few individuals. Study the motive of these individuals and examine whether the means
adopted was weakening the cohesiveness and strengthening the feeling of alienation.
………………………………………………………………………………………………
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The Consequences of Cohesiveness

Since a highly cohesive group is the one that binds the members tightly together, it
naturally is one when the members actually care about one to which they feel
committed. Because they value the group, members put more energy into group
activities in a cohesive group. With more effort coming from each member, cohesive
groups have more collective resources to apply toward group goals and activities. And
can see the difference between high cohesive and low cohesiveness in terms of:

1. The amount and quality of communication in the group;

2. The groups ability to maintain the loyalty and satisfaction of its members;

3. The power of the group over the opinions and behaviour of its members;

4. The groups ability to achieve its goal; and

5. The extent to which group culture is elaborated.

Activity 2

Ident5 two groups and rate them on all the five factors explained above; giving reason
for each one of them and explain it in your peer group.

Please also define and explain little bit about the group and prepare a report based on
the discussion and present the write-up again to another group of peers and take the
feedback.
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From Cohesiveness to Alienation

The two terms cohesiveness and alienation are opposed to each in their meanings as
expressed by many researchers. However, in the work context there can be collective
alienation and that is the peoples' involvement in making and strengthening the
membership in a group increases as they are alienated, and alienation becomes a base for
collective solidarity as one can find in the striking employees of any organization where
workers have slopped relating to their work.

The Definition of Alienation

The study of work alienation is important for three reason. The first is a theoretical one:
lack of conceptual quality with respect to use the term alienation suggests the need for
Theoretical refinement of the concept. The other two reasons have a more pragmatic
flavour. The study of alienation is important because it will provide a better
understanding of how to improve the quality of life of the individual on one hand and
organizational effectiveness on the others Kanungo, (1982)]. The term alienation can be
62 defined as an atrocious word. In its use a
 ignoumbasupport.blogspot.in Group Cohesion and
general concept, scientific term, popular expression, and cultural motif, alienation has Development
acquired a semantic richness (and confusion). Seeman (1971) pointed out that the
concept of alienation has been popularly adopted as the signature of the present
epoch. It has become routine to define our troubles in the language of alienation
and to see solution to those terms. But signatures are sometimes hard to read,
sometimes spurious and sometimes to casually on prematurely used. They ought
to be examined with care.
Some of the explanations offered by different social scientists may be of interest at this
point. Following Marx, most social scientist have viewed work alienation as resulting
from the lack of opportunity within organizations to satisfy workers need for personal
control, autonomy, and self actualization. The modem organization with its bureaucratic
structure, its formal rules and regulation, its impersonal climates and mechanized routine
operation, is accused of creating conditions for the loss of individuality that results in a
state of alienation in the worker. Besides the influences of the working environment in a
post industrial society, work alienation is often considered as an absence of the protestant
work ethnic as advocated by Max Weber (1930). The critical elements of the protestant
work ethic are the qualities of individualism and a form of asceticism. The reason for the
emphasis on the individual stems from the protestant faith that "God helps those who
helps themselves". The emphasis gets further expressed through the felt needs of work
being a reward by itself or the intrinsic aspects of the work - taking work as the best use
of one's time and intrinsic satisfaction. Thus if Protestant ethic is missing, it is going to
generates alienation.
However, such a Westernized approach has a limited value in other contexts due to
cultural, sociological and such other differences. In the east for example one may raise
such a question
Is it necessary to promote individualism to prevent alienation? Is it reasonable to argue
that societies which do not subscribe to the protestant ethic, and therefore, do not value
individualism and work asceticism harbour only alienated workers? The Protestant ethic
is the product of western religious doctrines which dominated the intellectual traditions,
Can such standard developed in spec cultures be applied universally? One needs to
examine such issues before deciding on the specific meaning to the attached to the term
alienation.
There have been many researches who have been busy examining the concept of
alienation and produce an explanatory note. For instance the experience of alienation
from work has been described by Jenkins (1973) as a Schizoid conditions. Jenkins
considers an alienated workers as one who when "subjected to the stress of 'are
Threatening experience, from which there is no physical escape', develops and elaborate
protective mechanism; 'he becomes mental observer who looks on, detached as
impassionate at what his body is doing or what is being done to his body'. For that person
'the world is a prison without bars, a concentration camp without barbed wire.' Instead of
experiencing reality directly, he develops a 'falls' self as a buffer for the real world, while
real self retires to an 'inner' position of unexposed safety. All of that life seems full of
'futility, meaninglessness and purposelessness', since it is not, in fact, being directly
experienced".
The work alienation as the theory and research show, is a product of mental, physical and
contextual and ill adaptation. It is not to be treated as stemming from one particular region but is
multifaceted and multi directional. One needs a close examination of the notion especially in the
organizational context because the very threat of alienated worker destroys the fabric of work
life and society as well. In the area of human resource management, the persistent problems
faced by the managers is how to improve organizational effectiveness through the proper
utilization of human resources. The major hurdle in proper utilization of human resources stems
from alienating attitudes of employees. Employee alienation manifests itself in various forms
and at all levels within an organization. Instances of blue-collar blues and salaried dropouts are
quite common. Worker apathy deliberate sabotage, high rates of absenteeism among all
categories of employees, union strikes and work to order campaigns are all too numerous. The
major hurdles in optimizing human resources in the organizational context seem to be wide
spread alienation among the workers. One needs to follow the Principal - "Prevention is better
than cure" and try prevent (or at least reduce the possibility) of alienation. It is not an easy job -
no ready made answer are available. Dealing with job enrichment, quality of working life, job
involvement and such prevalent and popular domains might help in tackling such a problem. 63
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Activity 3
Prepare a write up about the group where you have experienced alienation from the
cohesiveness. Explain the group and the reasons for alienation. Follow up and report
back as to what happened/happens after alienation.
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3.2 THE SOCIOLOGICAL APPROACH TO ALIENATION

In the nineteenth century the problem was that God is dead; in the twentieth century the
problem is that man is dead. Erich Fromm, 1955

The contributions of sociologists in explaining the nature of alienation have been the
most extensive. Armed with the intellectual background provided by Marx, sociologists
have sought to explain the, maladies of contemporary industrial society in terms of the
alienation of workers. Through numerous theoretical and empirical research, sociologists
have not only put the concept of alienation on a scientific footing but have also given it a
central place in contemporary social science (Nisbet 1953). The richness of sociological
literature on alienation can be easily estimated from a casual look at three recent
bibliographies (Geyer 1972, 1974; Lystad 1969). The Geyer bibliography of 1972
contains 1189 entries. A later supplement by Geyer in 1974 added another 636 entries.
The Lystad bibliography of 1969 contains 225 annotated references, It would not be
possible to adequately review such an enormous amount of material in the sociological
literature in a single chapter. However, in the following pages, some major trends in the
sociological literature will be out listed.

Historically speaking, Rousseau was the first person to Provide a sociological treatment
of the concept of alienation. Later, Marx put the concept on firmer analytic ground by
providing a link between the essential nature of workers (realization of individuality) and
their labor, Worker alienation, according to Marx, results when one's labor does not lead
to the realization of one's individuality. Most sociological writings on the subject of
alienation draw their inspiration from the conceptualization of Marx. While building
their thesis on Marxian notions, contemporary sociologists differed from Marx in one
important respect. Marx took the position that very often workers may not be aware of
their state of alienation. For example, individuals who are working under supervision in
order to achieve financial security for themselves and their families are by definition
alienated, whether they realize it or not. They are alienated, according to Marx, because
their labor is not free and autonomous and, hence, does not result in establishing their
individuality. Contemporary sociologists, on the other hand, consider work alienation as
a conscious psychological state of workers that can be measured empirically by
assessing workers' beliefs and attitudes toward work. Besides Marx, the work of two
other social philosophers, Weber and Durkheim, has significantly influenced the
thinking of contemporary sociologists.

Weber's Treatment of Alienation

Weber's treatment of the concept of alienation is very similar to that of Marx. As Gerth
and Mills (1946) put it. "Marx's emphasis upon the wage worker as being `separated'
from the means of production becomes, in Weber's perspective, merely one special case
of a universal trend. The modem soldier is equally `separated' from the means of
violence, the scientist from the means of enquiry, and the civil servant from the means of
administration". Thus, Weber treated alienation as a much more widespread social
phenomenon than did Marx. With respect to the causes of work alienation, Weber's ideas
were similar to those of Marx. Both believed that the individuality or personal worth of
workers is determined by their labor and that alienation results from working conditions
64 that deny an expression of individuality.
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But Weber went a step further in asserting the historical antecedents of work alienation. Development
Study of the Protestant religion convinced Weber (1930) that the ethical system of
Protestantism trains individuals to be individualists and to believe in the goodness of'
work. The principles preached in the Protestant faith, such as "God helps those who help
themselves" or "work is its own reward," promoted in people a high degree of
individualism and a craving for intrinsic rewards and industriousness. "The job was
regarded as a sacred calling, and success at work was evidence that one had been chosen
for salvation" (Faunce 1968, p. 22). Such were the beliefs that resulted from Protestant
training, and therefore, Weber argued that the Protestant work ethic is the major source
of increased work involvement. For Weber, Protestantism laid the foundation for
capitalism by increasing the work involvement of entrepreneurs. But for Marx,
Protestantism was an ideological justification for capitalism, Marx felt the capitalistic
economy to be the cause of worker alienation.

Weber's exposure to the "American way of life" (political democracy and economic
capitalism) and his study of the Protestant religion convinced him that the spirit of the
Protestant work ethic is the key to the realization of man's potentialities to the fullest
extent. Gerth and Mills (1946) felt that Weber was impressed by the "grandiose efficiency
of a type of man, bred by free associations in which the individual had to prove himself
before his equals, where no authoritative commands, but autonomous decisions, good
sense, and responsible conduct train for citizenship". Such is the image Weber had of an
involved worker. Like Marx, Weber also placed emphasis on the freedom to make one's
own decisions, on assuming personal responsibility, and on proving one's worth through
achievement at work. Although both Marx and Weber saw loss of individuality as the
necessary condition for work alienation, they differed in their views on the role of' a
capitalist: economy in producing alienation at work. The reason for the difference in their
views lies in the fact that Marx was looking at the jobs of the rank and file, whereas
Weber was looking at the jobs of the capitalist entrepreneurs. Translated into
motivational terms, Weber's emphasis on the individuality of the entrepreneurs would
imply that if the work setup cannot provide an environment that satisfies the needs of
entrepreneurs for individual autonomy, responsibility, and achievement, it will create a
state of alienation in them.

Durkheim's Concepts of Anomie And Alienation

Unlike Marx and Weber, who viewed alienation as resulting primarily from a perceived
lack of freedom and control at work, Emile Durkheim, the French sociologist, saw it as
the consequence of a condition of anomie, or the perceived lack of socially approved
means and norms to guide one's behavior for the purpose of achieving culturally
prescribed goals (Blauner 1964; Durkheim 1893; Shepard 1971). Robert Merton (1957),
who made the concept of anomie more popular in contemporary sociology, defined it as
"a breakdown in the social structure, occurring particularly when there is an acute
disjunction between the cultural . . . goals and the socially structured capacities of
members of the group to act in accord with them". Thus, alienation as the consequence of
a state of anomie exists when people believe that there is a breakdown of societal
behavioral norms (a state of normlessness) and that cultural goals are achieved primarily
trough deviant behavior. It is such beliefs, rather than actual socially deviant behavior,
that define the state of alienation among people.

The condition of anomie is often considered a post-industrial phenomenon. As Blauner

(1964) observed, industrialization and urbanization of modern society have "destroyed
the normative structure of a more traditional society and uprooted people from the local
groups and institutions which had provided stability and security. No longer able to feel
a sense of security and belonging, modem men and women find themselves isolated
from others. This form of social alienation often results in normlessness and in its
collective form manifests itself in various types of urban unrest. In social psychological
terms, this variant of alienation seems to stem from the frustration of social and security
need, the need to belong to groups for social approval and social comparison (Festinger
1954; Maslow 1954). The social-psychological processes that explain how this form of
alienation comes about are discussed later in the chapter. 65
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3.3 CONTEMPORARY SOCIOLOGICAL TREATMENT OF
ALIENATION
The strong impact of Marx, Weber, and Durkheim is quite evident in contemporary
sociological writings on the subject of alienation and involvement. For instance, Dubin
(1956) defined involvement as a central life interest. According to him, a job-involved
person is one who considers work to be the most important part of his or her life and
engages in it as an end in itself. A job-alienated person, on the other hand, engages in
work in a purely instrumental fashion and perceives work as providing financial resources
for more important off-the-job activities. Faunce (1959) also considered job involvement
as a commitment to a job in which successful performance is regarded as an end in itself,
rather than as a means to some other end. For both Dubin and Faunce, the concepts of
involvement and alienation are intimately related to the Protestant work ethic, the moral
value of work, and personal responsibility, as conceived by Weber. In fact, most
contemporary sociologists view work alienation as a form of dissatisfaction or a feeling
of disappointment with jobs, occupations, or work in general, which do not provide
intrinsic-need satisfaction or opportunities for self-direction and self-expression. For
instance, Seeman (1967) considered alienation to result from work that is not intrinsically
satisfying and engaging. According to Seeman (1971), "work alienation is something
very close to what Marx meant-namely, engagement in work which is not intrinsically
rewarding". Likewise, Miller (1967) conceived of alienation in terms of the lack of
intrinsic pride or meaning in work. Blauner (1964) followed Marx and Weber very
closely by suggesting that "alienation exists when workers are unable to control their
immediate work processes, to develop a sense of purpose and function which connects
their jobs to the overall organization of production, to belong to integrated industrial
communities, and when they fail to become involved in the activity of work as a mode of
personal self-expression". The four major dimensions of work alienation conceived by
Blauner in the above quotation are lack of personal control over the work process, a sense
of social isolation, meaninglessness (or lack of task significance), and lack of self-
expression. Out of the four dimensions, the sense of social isolation is considered by
Blauner as the least descriptive of work alienation. According to Blauner, "a worker may
be integrated in the plant community and loyal to the company and still fail to achieve a
sense of involvement and self-expression in his work activity itself'.

Causes and Correlates of Alienation

Sociological literature dealing with the identification of causes and correlates of work
alienation can be divided into three broad categories. First, some sociologists
(Goldthorpe, Lockwood, Bechhofer, and Platt 1968) have argued that the attitude of
alienation from work depends on prior orientations, which workers develop in their
cultural, subcultural, or social class settings. Such work orientations or values are learned
through primary - and reference - group influences and are brought by workers to the
work situations. For example, several studies (Kohn and Schooler 1969; Morse and Weiss
1955; Sykes 1965) have shown social class and occupational differences with respect to
values attached to intrinsic and extrinsic work outcomes. The studies have suggested that
white-collar workers tend to hold middle-class work values stressing the importance of
intrinsic outcomes, such as personal autonomy, achievement, and control in the job. Blue-
collar workers, on the other hand, seem to emphasize extrinsic job outcomes, such as pay
and security, and consider work as a means to other ends in their lives. The blue-collar
workers, therefore, have been considered by the researchers as being more alienated than
the white-collar workers. Such differences were explained by Kohn and Schooler (1969)
in terms of social-structural factors. According to Kohn and Schooler, "Conditions of
occupational life at higher social class levels facilitate interest in the intrinsic qualities of
the job, foster a view of self and society that is conducive to believing in the possibilities
of rational action toward purposive goals, and promote self-direction. The conditions of
occupational life at lower social class levels limit man's view of the job primarily to the
extrinsic benefits it provides (and) foster a narrowly circumscribed conception of self and
society". It is the social structure and reference-group influence that determine workers'
general outlook and expectations toward the degree of work involvement or alienation.
66
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The second category of explanation advanced by sociologists is in terms of the nature of Development
technology and social organization used at work. For instance, Blauner (1964) argues that
worker alienation results from segmented workflow, repetitive jobs carried out at a
constant pace, and mechanical control of work operations. All these technological
features at work frustrate intrinsic needs of workers, satisfaction of which is essential for
worker involvement. In his book, Alienation and freedom, Blauner compared workers
from four different industries: printing, chemical, textile, and automobile. These
industries differed in terms of degree of mechanization of technology, division of labor,
concentration of economic structure, and bureaucratization of social organization.
Blauner reported that workers in the automobile and textile industries were more
alienated than workers in the printing and chemical industries. Craft technology of the
printing industry and the continuous-process 'technology of the chemical industry
provided the workers with a greater degree of freedom and integration at work than the
mechanized assembly-line technology of the automobile industry and the machine-
tending technology of the textile industry. Providing a historical perspective. to his study,
Blauner noted that "in the early period, dominated by craft industry, alienation is at its
lowest level and worker's freedom at a maximum. Freedom declines and the curve of
alienation . . rises sharply in the period of machine industry".
Changes in technology within a single industry can also affect worker alienation. Trist
and Banzforth (1951) studied the effects of mechanization among British
coalminers.Traditionally, the coalmining operation was carried out in small, cohesive,
self chosen groups. Members of the groups worked in close proximity to one another and
experienced strong interpersonal bonds. With the introduction of mechanical coal-cutting
and transporting equipment, however, the traditional teams were broken up and were
replaced by large shift of workers distributed over long distances. The change caused a
loss of meaning in the work assigned to individual workers. The workers, experienced a
sense of anomie and isolation resulting in low productivity.
The third category of explanation of work alienation proposed by sociologists is very
similar to the social-psychological explanation in terms of frustration of workers' needs
and expectations on the job. Etzioni (1968) emphasizes the importance of satisfying the
workers' need for control and Power on the job to attain greater job involvement. It is
quite evident that the three categories of sociological explanations are related. It seems
that alienation of workers, according to sociologists, is the result of intrinsic-need
dissatisfaction or disconfirmation of expectancies regarding intrinsic work outcomes,
which in turn is influenced by social-structural and technological factors.
The thesis that intrinsic-need deprivation owing to social and technological influences is a
necessary condition for worker alienation is not gone unchallenged. Several studies in
recent years (Hulin, 1972; Inkson and Simpson 1975; Mckinney, Wernimont, and Galitz
1962) have shown that many workers do not show higher alienation either because they
belong to a lower occupational class or because their work is subjected to mechanical
control and routinization. In Walker and Guest's study (1952), automobile assembly
workers were reported to be showing low levels of aggression, absenteeism, and
Turnover, often considered expressions of work alienation. Similar results were reported
by Goldthorpe and his associates (Goldthorpe 1966; Goldthorpe et al. 1968) in a study of
workers employed on the automobile mass-production lines. The study demonstrated that
the workers were satisfied with the material rewards they received from their jobs and
were not bothered by the repetitive work they had to do. The Vauxhall organization in
Luton, England, where the study was conducted, reported low rates of absenteeism and
turnover and a very healthy industrial relations record. These findings were interpreted by
Goldthorpe as an indication of the workers' contractual and coercive involvement, rather
than moral involvement, in work. Goldthorpe's interpretation is obviously influenced by
the Mandan distinction between "forced" and "free" labor.
Variants of Alienation
Sociologists have used the term alienation in varied contexts, such as urban alienation and
cultural alienation. Such usage of the concept in multiple contexts has given rise to a
number of meanings attributed to the concept. In an attempt to integrate the various
meanings of the concept in the sociological literature, Seeman (1959, 1971) has proposed 67
five major variants
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of the concept: powerlessness, meaninglessness, normlessness, isolation, and self-
estrangement. According to Seeman, each variant refers to a different, subjectively felt
psychological state of the individual caused by different environmental conditions.
Several other researchers, particularly Blauner (1964) and Shepard (1971), have used
Seeman's classification and have tried to provide operational measures of the different
categories of alienation at work. They have also suggested the antecedent physical and
social conditions that produce each state of alienation.
Alienation in the form of powerlessness in the most general sense refers to a perceived
lack of control over important events that affect one's life. This type of alienation was the
primary concern of Marx while dealing with labor alienation. Seeman (1959), however,
provided a social-psychological perspective and defined the sense of powerlessness as
"the expectancy or probability held by the individual that his own behavior cannot
determine the occurrence of the outcomes or reinforcements he seeks". It may be noticed
that Seeman's definition of powerlessness resembles Rotter's (1966) conception of people,
with an external locus of control. Rotter distinguishes two types of people, internal and
external, on the basis of their differential learning history. Early socialization experiences
condition the externals to perceive themselves as pawns controlled by external forces.
Internals, on the other hand, are conditioned to perceive themselves as capable of
controlling their own environment. Thus, externals would very much resemble people
experiencing the powerlessness variant of alienation. Seeman (1959) recognized this
possibility and suggested that "the congruence in these formulations leaves the way open
for the development of a closer bond between two languages of analysis-that of learning
theory and that of alienation that have long histories in psychology and sociology".
Activity 4
Have you ever seen/experienced the alienation in the sense of powerlessness. Interview
few people who have similar experiences and compare their responses.
………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………
Although Seeman (1959) conceived of powerlessness to represent an individual's
inability to determine the occurrence of any outcome, most sociologists (Levin 1960;
Middleton 1963; Neal and Rettig 1963) restrict it to the individual's sense of control over
sociopolitical events. Seeman himself used this variant of alienation to explain and
describe men's and women's alienation from the larger social order. An individual's
inability to control and influence political systems, industrial economies, or international
affairs may create a sense of powerlessness. Alienation in the sense of powerlessness has
also been observed in job situations. For instance, Shepard (1971) described
powerlessness at work as "the perceived lack of freedom and control on the jab". Blauner
(1964) expressed similar views when he stated that "the non-alienated pole of the
powerlessness dimension is freedom and control". According to Blauner, the
powerlessness variant of alienation at work results from the mechanization process that
controls the pace of work and thus limits workers' free movements. If one analyzes the
sociological concept of powerlessness in motivational terms, it becomes obvious that if a
situation constantly frustrates an individual's need for autonomy and control, it will
create a state of alienation of this type.
The second type of alienation is identified as a cognitive state of meaninglessness in the
individual. According to Seeman (1959), a state of meaninglessness exists when "the
individual is unclear as to what he ought to believe-when the individual's minimal
standards for clarity in decision making are not met". In such a state the individuals are
unable to predict social situations and the outcomes of their own and others' behavior.
Other sociologists have characterized the state of meaninglessness as individuals' failure
to understand "the very events upon which life and happiness are known to depend"
(Dean 1961, p. 754) or what is going on in the world today (Middleton 1963). In a sense,
the meaninglessness type of alienation should be characterized in terms of
incomprehensibility or inability to understand one's complex environment. In the work
setup, the meaninglessness variant of alienation may result when workers are not able to
68 understand the complex system of goals in the organization and its relation to their own
work (Blauner 1964; Shepard 1971).
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Meaninglessness can also be viewed in another sense. It may represent purposelessness Development
or the lack of any goal or goal clarity (not because of goal complexity, but because of an
unstructured goal or the simple absence of any goal). Thus, in work situations
meaninglessness could result from an increasing specialization and division of labor.
When the work process is broken down into simple minuscule tasks, and when such
simple tasks involve no real responsibility and decision making, the work situation robs
the worker of any sense of purpose. The job becomes meaningless for the worker.
Translated into motivational terms, this implies that the continued frustration of an
individual's need for assuming personal responsibility and for gaining greater competence
on the job (by being more knowledgeable about the environment for the sake of
influencing it) causes this type of alienation. It may be noted that both the powerlessness
and the meaninglessness interpretations of work alienation bear the mark of the Mandan
belief that lack of control and freedom over the work process 4 the main cause of
alienation. The two other forms of alienation suggested by Seeman (1959) have their
roots in Durkheim's (1893) description of anomie. Anomie refers to the perceived
conditions of one's social environment, `such as the perception of the breakdown of social
norms regulating individual conduct in modern societies. Merton (1957) argued that a
state of anomie exists when institutionally prescribed conducts fail to achieve culturally
prescribed goals, following Merton, Seeman (1959) denied the anomie situation for an
individual as "one in which there is a high expectancy that socially unapproved behaviors
are required to achieve given goals". The two forms of alienation that result from such
perceived conditions of one's social environment are normlessness and isolation.
Individuals may develop a sense of normlessness when they find that previously approved social
norms are no longer effective in guiding behavior for the attainment of personal goals. In other
words, individuals find that to achieve given goals it is necessary to use socially unapproved
behavior. Finding that they can no longer share the normative system because of its
ineffectiveness, the individuals may develop norms of their own to guide behavior. Because their
norms are different from those of others, the individuals may eventually perceive themselves as
being separate from society and its normative system. The dissociation of oneself from others
results in a perception of social isolation. The dissociation of oneself from social norms result in
normlessness or cultural estrangement. Alienation, in the sense of social isolation and cultural
estrangement,-refer to the perceived states of loneliness and rootlessness, respectively (Seeman
1971). It may be noticed that these two variants of alienation are related, because they stem from
the same basic condition of anomie.
States of loneliness and rootlessness have also been identified in work environments. Blauner
(1964), for instance, suggested that these forms of social alienation may be manifested on the job
owing to the task of social integration of the worker. When an organization does not provide the
worker any opportunity for developing a sense of membership or belonging in the social system,
the worker is bound to show a sense of isolation from the system and its goals. From a
motivational point of view, the two variants of social alienation, isolation and normlessness, seem
to be based on two different social needs of the individual. Continuous frustration of the
membership or the belonging need of the individual may be the crucial determinant of the
isolation form of alienation. The normlessness form of alienation, however, is determined by
continuous frustration of another social need, the need to evaluate oneself through social
comparison (Festinger 1954).
In the context of social-influence theories, social psychologists (Jones and Genard 1967) have
postulated two major kinds of influences that groups exert on the individual. They are referred to
as the normative and the informational social influences. By being a member of the group and by
adhering to the group norms, individuals fulfill their need to belong, to love, and to be loved by
others. When, however, the group norms are perceived to be too restrictive and in conflict with
the individuals personal goals, these norms cease to influence the individual. The group loses its
normative influence on the individual. The individual becomes isolated in relation to the group,
perceived as one who no longer belongs to the group and no longer is loved by others in the
group. Such a psychological state can be identified as the isolation form of alienation.
Individuals also depend on the group norms for self-evaluation and for evaluating their abilities
and opinions (Festmger 1954). Group norms generally provide people with information on how to
behave, (what is right and what is wrong). When individuals find that
69
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group norms do not provide useful information for self evaluation, they may separate
themselves from these norms and experience a state of normlessness. Thus, in terms of
social-influence theory, the two variants of social alienation result from the failure of the
groups to exercise the two forms of social influence, normative and informational.
The final variant of alienation proposed by sociologists is self-estrangement. In many
ways the characterization of this category of alienation has posed problems for
sociological thinkers. Seeman (1971) admits that it is an "elusive idea" but then goes on
to operationalize it. According to Seeman, a person is self-estranged when engaged in an
activity that is not rewarding in itself but is instrumental in satisfying extrinsic needs,
such as the need for money and security. Following Seeman, Shepard (1971) considers
instrumental work orientation, (the degree to which one works for extrinsic-need
satisfaction) to be an index of the self-estrangement kind of alienation in the work setup.
Blauner (1964) suggests that a job encourages self-estrangement if it does not provide the
opportunity for expressing "unique abilities, potentialities, or personality of the worker".
In motivational terms, Blauner's observation means that whenever workers find their
environment (job or work) lacking in opportunities for the satisfaction of self-
actualization needs (Maslow 1954) through the expression of their potentialities, they
experience a state of self-estrangement. Following Marx, many contemporary
sociologists believe that self-estrangement is the heart of the alienation concept, as if all
other forms of alienation eventually result in self-estrangement. Blauner (1964) attests to
this belief when he says, "when work activity does not permit control (powerlessness),
evoke a sense of purpose (meaninglessness), or encourage larger identification (isolation),
employment becomes simply a means to the end of making a living". Faunce (1968) also
considers self-estrangement to be the fmal form of alienation in a causal chain. According
to Faunce, the powerlessness, meaninglessness, and normlessness variants of alienation
are, predisposing conditions for both social and self-estrangement. In his words, "the
worker who feels powerless and who sees the work place as meaningless and
normlessness unlikely to be very concerned with the goals of the work organization and is
therefore isolated or alienated from it.. . A person who is isolated . . . in any social
situation is necessarily self-estranged in that situation".
Characteristics of the Sociological. Approach
At this point it may be helpful to identify some dominant conditions that have guided
most sociological treatments of the concept of work alienation. First, one notices a
stronger emphasis in sociological writings on the analysis and measurement of the state
of worker alienation than on the analysis and measurement of the state of worker
involvement. In a sense, sociologists have focused their attention on the negative side of
the issue, with a clinical perspective on work organizations. Thus, they have been more
concerned with the diagnosis of worker alienation in organizations and consequent
organizational maladies than with the identification of conditions for work involvement
and organizational growth. Like Freudian psychologist who attempt to explain human
nature through an analysis of pathological psychological states, sociologists, taking the
lead from Marx, have emphasized the analysis of labor alienation and resulting
pathological states to explain the nature of sociotechnical systems. In the same way as the
Freudian influence in psychology delayed the formulation of growth theories of
personality and motivation (Allport 1901; Maslow 1954; the Marxian influence in
sociology may have retarded the progress. of sociological theories in better understanding
the nature of healthy and growing social systems. As is discussed later unlike the
sociological approaches outlined above, the current psychological approaches to the issue
are trying to attack the problem from the positive side through the study of the conditions
of work involvement.
The second consideration that has dominated various sociological treatments of
alienation is their emphasis on studying work alienation in groups and social
systems. The level of analysis of the concept in most sociological approaches has
been at the social-system level rather khan at the individual level. This has created
measurement problems. Although sociologists often talk of the frequency of worker
hostility and volatile activism, of absenteeism and turnover, of crime rates, and so on
as indexes of alienation in work organizations, they find it hard to establish and
70 theoretically justify the validity and the reliability of these measures. The
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records on such organizational maladies are notoriously unreliable. Very often Development
incidents of activism, crime, and absenteeism go unreported. Even if the incidents
are recorded accurately, it is often difficult to infer from these data the state of
alienation in individual workers. For instance, an activist employee desiring to
bring about changes in the organization may be showing signs of greater
involvement in the work environment than would an apathetic, conformist
employee.

Third, sociological approaches generally describe the state of work alienation not in
specific behavioral terms, but in terms of epiphenomenal categories. As Johnson pointed
out, alienation is seen as "an epiphenomenal abstraction, collectively summarizing a
series of specific behaviors and categorizing them as ‘loneliness,’ ‘normlessness,’
‘isolation,’ etc.". Such epiphenomenal descriptions of the concept may have the flavor of
intellectual romanticism, but they have very little scientific value because they pose
problems of empirical verification. Different sociologists have used the same
epiphenomenal category to describe different psychological and physical conditions. As
Schacht (1970) pointed out, the "powerlessness" variant of alienation has been used in
many ways, such as the feeling of powerlessness and reactions to the feeling of
powerlessness. The concept of alienation as an epiphenomenal abstraction tends to carry
excess meaning and, therefore, eludes precise measurement. Besides, such an abstraction
merely describes worker alienation; it does not explain it.

Finally, most sociological approaches consider. the presence of individual autonomy,

control, and power over the work environment as basic preconditions for removing the
state of alienation at work. Work alienation involves engaging in work activities that are
not intrinsically rewarding in themselves. Work alienation in contemporary sociological
literature is measured only by determining the presence or absence of intrinsic factors
(autonomy, responsibility, and so on) on the job. Extrinsic job factors are totally excluded
from such measures. For instance, Seeman (1971) uses an index of work alienation that
consists of seven items which ask, in a variety of ways, whether the individual's job is
engaging and rewarding in itself -for example, Does the respondent find the job too
simple to bring out his best abilities? Does the job really provide a chance to try out one's
own ideas? Are there opportunities to make independent decisions, or is it pretty routine
work? All of this tells nothing, of course, about other potential satisfactions (all extrinsic)
like pay, promotions, fringe benefits, security of employment, working conditions, and
the social rewards on the job (which is why work alienation and job satisfaction are not
the same thing).

Notice that Seeman distinguishes job satisfaction from work involvement on the basis -of
whether the worker is satisfied with extrinsic job factors, as opposed to intrinsic job
factors. This is reminiscent of the Mandan distinction between "imposed forced labor" and
"free self-directed labor."

3.4 THE PSYCHOLOGICAL APPROACH

Life without estrangement is scarcely worth living; what matters is to increase men's
capacity to cope with alienation.

Walter Kaufmann, 1970

A review of the psychological literature on work alienation reveals that the interest in the
scientific study of the phenomenon among psychologists is very recent. Only during the
last two decades have psychologists interested in organizational behavior developed a
serious concern for the study of the phenomena of work alienation and involvement.
Thus, the treatment of the concepts of work alienation and involvement in the
psychological literature does not have as long and as rich a tradition as the sociological
literature described m the previous chapter. However, research during the last two
decades provides ample evidence of an upsurge of interest in the phenomena among
psychologists. An increasing popularity for studies on work alienation and involvement 71
has been recorded in a recent literature survey conducted by Baba (1979).
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Although psychological studies on the concepts of alienation and involvement are on the
increase, this has not resulted in any systematic theorizing, about the concepts. In a sense,
the psychological approach to the study of alienation and involvement has been of a more
exploratory and empirical nature. Very little attempt has been made toward development
of theories or systematic conceptualization. In conceptualizing the constructs of
alienation and! involvement at work, the psychological literature provides somewhat
sketchy descriptions when compared with the sociological approach. Development of
systematic psychological theories that can explain the phenomena of work alteration and
involvement and that can have broad generality across culture are simply absent from the
literature.

The sketchy treatment of the subject by psychologists is indicated by the use of many
different terms in the psychological literature that describe the psychological states of
alienation and involvement at work. Some of the terms listed by Rabinowitz and Hall
(1977) are job involvement, job satisfaction, intrinsic motivation, morale, ego
involvement, occupational involvement, work role involvement, and central life interests.
These terms have been used by different researchers to describe what is thought to be a
single construct, and very little effort has been put forth by the researchers (the notable
exception being Rabinowitz and Hall 1977) to strive for some conceptual integration.

In the previous chapter it was pointed out that the sociological approach to the study of
work alienation emphasizes the analysis and measurement of the state of alienation from
work rather than of the state of involvement at work. In contrast to the sociological
approach, psychologists have attempted to analyze the problem of alienation from the
point of view of job involvement and have attempted to define and measure involvement
at work rather than alienation at work. In a sense the two approaches to alienation the
sociological and the psychological-are not as far apart as is commonly believed, but are in
fact dealing with two poles of the same continuum.

In trying to explain the nature of job involvement, psychological studies have attempted
to answer four major questions. "The questions are: What is job involvement? How does
it originate? What factors are associated with it and, therefore, can act as its predictors?
and What are its effects? The above questions deal, respectively, with the problems of
definition of the construct of job involvement, its origin or causes, its correlates, and its
effects: The following paragraphs will address these problems.

Job Involvement

The concept of job involvement has been defined in various ways by different
psychologists. After an exhaustive review of all definitions of job involvement in
psychological literature, Rabinowitz and Hall (1977) concluded that the definitions of job
involvement should be grouped into two categories, each representing a distinct way of
conceptualizing the construct. One category of definitions views job involvement as a
"performance-self-esteem contingency". According to these definitions, job involvement
is the extent to which the self - esteem of individuals is affected by their level of
performance at work. Thus, higher or lower job involvement means higher or lower self-
esteem derived from work behavior. The other category of definitions views job
involvement as a "component of self-image. " According to this category of definitions,
job involvement refers to the degree to which individuals identify psychologically with their
jobs.

The idea of viewing job involvement as a performance-self-esteem contingency can be traced back
Lo the work of Allport (1947) on the psychology of participation and ego involvement.

The Motivational Approach to Alienation

Simple statements, if knowledge is our object, are to be prized more highly than less
simple ones because they tell us more,. because their empirical content is greater.

72 K.. Popper, 1959

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Empirical research on worker alienation and involvement in both sociological and Development
psychological literature is fraught with conceptual ambiguities. In addition, instruments
developed to measure work alienation and involvement often contain inherent
methodological inadequacies, since they are based on constructs that are conceptually
ambiguous. Results of studies dealing with these phenomena, therefore, are difficult to
interpret. The identification of some major conceptual and methodological problems and
the discussion of the difficulty in interpretation of empirical results in the previous
chapter make it clear that in the future any meaningful and systematic progress in our
understanding of the phenomena must come from a theoretical reformulation of the issue.
Such a formulation, called the motivational approach, is presented.

It would not be an overstatement to suggest that in the area of work alienation there is an
urgent need for a revised conceptual framework that should have the ability to integrate,
in a parsimonious way, diverse thinking on the subject. In addition to the dualities of
integration and parsimony, the framework should also have a greater cross-cultural
generality. The motivational approach described in this chapter offers such a framework.
As a conceptual framework, the major objectives of the motivational approach are to
integrate the two parallel streams of psychological and sociological thought on work
alienation and involvement; to describe, explain, measure, and predict the phenomena in
the most simple and parsimonious way using existing psychological theories of human
motivation, attitudes, and behavior; and to provide a cross-cultural perspective to the
study and measurement of work-alienation phenomena without any cultural bias. By
providing an integrative model, the motivational approach aims at helping researchers in
the fields of psychology and sociology to speak a common language while dealing with
problems of work alienation and involvement and to benefit from each other's work in the
area. By providing a parsimonious model, the motivational approach aims at getting rid
of the excess meaning attached to the concepts themselves (alienation and involvement)
and to their explanations (psychological and sociological). By providing a model with a
broader cross-cultural generality, the approach aims at removing the culturally
contaminated and myopic view of alienation (that intrinsic motivation and the Protestant
ethic are necessary conditions for involvement) and at encouraging the development of
measurement techniques free of cultural bias.

The Motivational Approach

The conceptual framework suggested here for future studies of work alienation and
involvement is called the motivational approach for the simple reason that it uses the
existing motivational language in psychology to explain the phenomena. There are two
main reasons for using the existing motivational language over other forms of
sociological (powerlessness, meaninglessness, and so on) and psychological (person - or
situation - specific correlates) descriptions first, theories of human motivation at work
(Maslow 1954; Lawler 1973) are generally advanced to explain all work behavior, and
alienation and involvement at work should not be considered exceptions: Second, the fact
that the existing motivational constructs can adequately and parsimoniously explain
work-alienation phenomena lies hidden in many of the sociological and psychological
formulations discussed earlier. Thus, a clearer motivational formulation of the
phenomena is needed to bring this fact to the surface. In addition to the use of
motivational language, the motivational approach is characterized by an emphasis on
seven other considerations described in the following paragraphs.

In the motivational approach, the concepts of involvement and alienation are viewed as
opposite sides of the same phenomenon. Sociologists have consistently used the term
alienation, and psychologists have consistently used the term involvement while studying
work behavior. On the surface they seem to have ignored each other's thinking that they
are dealing with two distinct types of behaviour phenomena. On closer examination,
however, it is quite evident that both psychologists and sociologists are dealing with the
same psychological states of individual workers. Psychologists clearly consider work
involvement as a psychological state of the worker. Sociologists, on the other hand,
describe the phenomenon of alienation at the collective level (alienation of labor) and
sometimes interpret the phenomenon as a psychological state of individual workers and at
other times as objective 73
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social conditions (such as social disorganization or anomie). The empirically oriented sociologists
have found it difficult to measure and interpret objective social conditions as an index of work
alienation. Recently, therefore, many sociologists (Seeman 1959, 1971; Shepard 1971) have come
to recognize the fact that the phenomenon of work alienation can best be described and measured
as the psychological states of workers. If both alienation and involvement refer to psychological
states of the individual, it would be more parsimonious and appropriate to consider the concepts
as representing opposite ends of a single psychological dimension rather than to consider them as
independent dimensions. Thus, alienation and involvement may be considered as unidimensional
and bipolar constructs. Since the motivational approach views work alienation in terms of
psychological states of individual workers. It limits itself to the analysis, of the behavioral
phenomenon at the individual level. Many sociologists have described work alienation at a
collective level. They have followed Marx, who popularized the notion that capitalism produces
mass labor alienation. Closer scrutiny of the recent empirical work of sociologists (Blauner 1964;
Clark 1959; Shepard 1971) shows, however, that they limit themselves to the analysis of the work
related behaviour of individual workers. The Marxian notion of labor alienation cannot be studied
at an empirical level without the observation and analysis of the individual worker's behavior.
Therefore, for empirical analysis and operationalization of the constructs, an individual level of
analysis is preferable to a collective level of analysis.

The motivational approach identifies the states of alienation and involvement with the cognitive
belief states of the workers. As a cognitive state, alienation or involvement of workers becomes
conceptually distinct from many associated covert feelings or affective states expressed in terms
of satisfactions or dissatisfactions experienced by the workers in work or job contexts. Thus, job
satisfaction as an affective state is clearly distinguished from alienation or involvement, which
represents a belief state. Many social scientists (Seeman 1959; Weissenberg and Gruenfeld 1968)
equate job involvement with intrinsic-need satisfaction on the job. They consider job satisfaction
to be distinct from job involvement only when job satisfaction represents extrinsic need
satisfaction. The present formulation, however, considers job satisfaction to include the affective
states of both intrinsic and extrinsic-need satisfaction.It distinguishes job involvement from job
satisfaction only

on the basis that the former is a cognitive belief state and the latter is an affective state of the
workers. In this sense, the motivational approach adheres to the Hegelian notion of alienation as a
Purely cognitive state of separation and, thus, avoids the confusion created by the Alarxian
notion, which equates intrinsic job satisfaction with job involvement.

By considering involvement-alienation as a cognitive belief state, the motivational approach not

only distinguishes it from other associated affective states but also distinguishes it from other
associated overt behavior, such as worker participation, assumption of additional responsibilities,
or acceptance of working overtime without financial rewards. While such overt behaviours may
represent states of involvement for some workers (those belonging to cultures that place a high
value on work behavior directed at satisfying intrinsic needs), they may not represent states of
involvement for other workers (those belonging to cultures that do not value such behavior). The
motivational approach emphasizes that involvement-alienation as a cognitive belief state of
workers must be clearly distinguished from its causes (antecedent conditions) and its effects
(consequent conditions). It considers the phenomenon to be caused by both historical and
contemporary events. In order to determine the historical causes of alienation, one has to look for
causal factors in the early socialization process of workers. To discover the contemporary causes
of the phenomenon, one needs to look into the immediate social and work-related contexts.
Besides identifying the two types of causes of the cognitive belief state of alienation, the
motivational approach also stresses that the state of alienation has significant effects on
subsequent job and work behavior and attitudes. In fact, according, to the motivational approach,
no specific behavioral act or attitude can be assumed to necessarily follow from the state of
alienation. Therefore, it is important that future research in the area of work alienation establishes
contingencies of relationship between the state of alienation and a specific behavior or attitude of
workers. For instance, future research may find that the state of job involvement of workers
results in increased participation or overtime work without pay only under certain conditions.
Under other conditions such behavioral effects may not be noticed among job-involved workers.
Unlike most sociologists and psychologists who often view involvement-alienation in work
74 contexts as equivalent to , intrinsic motivation of workers, the motivational approach argues for
maintaining a
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conceptual distinction between the two. In the sociological literature, such a distinction Development
was hinted at by Becker and Carper (1956). These authors distinguished two sources of
through job title and through growth and development at work. Workers' identification
through job title represents their cognitive state of job involvement, whereas their sense
of job commitment resulting from growth and development at work represents their
intrinsic motivation. In psychological literature, Lawler and Hall (1970) advocated a
distinction between job involvement and intrinsic motivation. According to Lawler &
Hall, "Job involvement may be thought of as the degree to which the job situation is
central to the person and his identity. Intrinsic motivation can be thought of as the degree
to which attaining higher order need satisfaction depends upon performance". The
usefulness of such a distinction for job and work-flow design has been demonstrated
recently by Moch (1980). On the basis of his study covering 522 employees of an
assembly and packaging plant, Moch concluded that "it seems clear that job involvement
is distinctly different from internal motivation. Variables which seems to lead to internal
motivation do not appear to facilitate job involvement; some of them actually inhibit it".
Along the same line, the motivational approach argues that the cognitive state of
involvement or alienation is not exclusively dependent on intrinsic-need satisfaction at
work. Sometimes satisfaction of intrinsic needs of the workers through job performance
might increase the likelihood of their job involvement, but it does not define job
involvement itself. Such a distinction between the two constructs-involvement and
intrinsic motivation is essential in view of the fact that one may cause the other.
In the empirical research literature, the concepts of "job" and "work" have been used
widely and interchangeably. The motivational approach specifically deals with these two
concepts as two separate components, each with distinct characteristics of its own. For
instance, job as an object of alienation refers to the present job that a worker holds in a
specific organization as described by the worker's job title (for example, assistant to the
president of a given organization). On the other hand, work as an object of alienation
refers to a much broader and more abstract concept. Alienation from work implies that
the work role in general is considered of little importance to an individual when
compared with other roles in his or her life, such as in family, community, and leisure
contexts. In a sense, alienation from the present job refers to a cognitive belief that is
descriptive of workers' relations with their present jobs. Hence, job alienation to a large
extent is determined by existing perceived job characteristics. Alienation from work, on
the other hand, refers to a normative belief. It is a cognitive belief of the individual
regarding how much importance one should attach to work roles in one's life. Such a
value-oriented normative belief is generally determined by one's past and present
socialization experiences and reference-group influences.
Finally, the motivational approach has the potential to integrate and explain adequately
the different types of alienation proposed by sociologists. Using simple motivational
constructs, the motivational approach provides a parsimonious model that integrates both
sociological and psychological interpretations of work alienation.
As the preceding discussion indicates the framework provides by the motivational
approach tries to overcome most of the problems identified in the previous chapter and, at
the same time, to provide a parsimonious and unified theoretical formulation by
integrating the psychological and sociological approaches.
Definitions of the Concepts
Within the framework of the motivational approach, the concepts of involvement and
alienation are viewed as opposite sides of the same phenomenon. The phenomenon refers
to psychological states of an individual worker and is conceived as cognitive and
tridimensional in nature.
In the motivational approach, a distinction is made between involvement with or
alienation from work in general and involvement with or alienation from a specific job.
Involvement with work in general is viewed as a generalized cognitive (or beliefs state of
psychological identification with work, in so far as work is perceived to have the
potential to satisfy one's salient needs and expectations. Likewise, work alienation can be
viewed as a generalized 75
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cognitive (or belief) state of psychological separation from work, in so far as work is
perceived to lack the potential for satisfying one's salient needs and expectations. Worker
involvement with or alienation from a given job is defined as a specific cognitive belief
state of psychological identification with or separation from that job. Here again, the state
of involvement or alienation depends on two things: the saliency of the worker's needs
(both extrinsic and intrinsic) and the expectations the worker was about the need-
satisfying potential of the job. Thus, for both objects of alienation, specific job and work
in general, the degree of involvement-alienation should be measured by the workers'
cognitions about their identification with or separation from the objects.
Job - and work-involvement beliefs differ in two ways. First, job involvement refers to a
specific belief regarding the present job, whereas work involvement refers to a general
belief. The, two beliefs also operate at different levels. The job-involvement belief
operates of a descriptive level. It describes workers' job identifications as they are, the
work-involvement belief, on the other hand, operates at a normative level. It describes
workers' views of their relationship with work as it should be. Since the objects of the two
beliefs belong to the same universe (in which a job represents a specific category of work
in general), some degree of positive relationship between the two beliefs is expected. A
person who shows a high degree of work involvement is expected to show a high degree
of job involvement. However, since the two beliefs operate at two different levels, the
relationship between the two beliefs may not be strong. A person who links work should
be considered very important in one's life may not necessarily find a specific job, very
involving.
The distinction between job and work involvement has several implications for future
research. First, there is a need to develop separate measures of job and work involvement,
the former representing a specific belief about a particular job, and the latter representing
a general belief about work roles in general (as opposed to older roles in life, such as in
family, community, and other leisure contexts. Second, it is important to discover how
the two types of beliefs are related. It is quite conceivable that a person who is highly
involved in work because of a Protestant-ethic upbringing may not feel involved with a
particular job, since the job does not meet salient needs. Likewise, a person who is highly
involved with a job because the salient-need satisfaction on the job may not consider
work roles as being as central to life as other social roles. Because the two types of beliefs
are conceptually different, it is necessary to identify conditions under which they do or do
not covary. One such condition has recently been identified (Gorn and Kanungo 1980)
and will be discussed in detail later. It has been suggested that for extrinsically motivated
workers job and work involvement would tend to covary (with job satisfaction acting as a
moderator variable), whereas for intrinsically motivated workers job and work
involvement tend not to covary, Third, there is also a need for determining' how job and
work involvement influence involvement in other aspects of one's life, such as family
involvement or community involvement. The Marxian dictum that work alienation is the
root of all other forms of alienation in life has yet to be tested. It is quite conceivable that
too much involvement in a particular job may alienate one from other activities, such as
those in the family or community. On the other hand, an attitude of involvement with
work roles in general may transfer positive effects to other aspects of life, as Marx
predicted.
The motivational framework treats the concepts of involvement and alienation as
cognitive states of an individual. Viewed in this manner, job and work involvement or job
and work alienation cannot be measured with existing instruments (Blauner 1964; Lodahl
and Rejner 1965; Saleh and Hosek 1976; Shepard 1971). Most of these instruments
combine measures of the cognitive state of alienation with measures of its presumed
causes and effects. For example, the widely used instrument developed by Lodahl and
Kejner (1965) contains items that reflect the cognitive state of involvement ("I live, eat,
and breathe my job") and also items that reflect both antecedent and consequent feeling
states and behavioral tendencies ("I feel depressed when I fail at something connected
with my job" or "I will stay overtime to finish a job, even if I am not paid for it"). Because
of such built-in ambiguities in existing instruments; the data provided by these
instruments are often hard to interpret. Future research should develop less ambiguous
76 measures of job and Work involvement' (that is, measures reflecting only the cognitive
state of psychological identification with job and work). For
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instance, items such as "I live, eat, and breathe my job, "I am very much involved in my Development
job "The most important thing that happened to me involved my job, and so on tend to
reflect workers' awareness of job identification without measuring their need states
(antecedent Alienation conditions), covert feelings and overt behavioral tendencies
(consequent conditions). These kinds of items have construct validity and, therefore, are
more desirable measures of the cognitive state of job involvement. Similar items
reflecting the cognitive state of identification with work in general can be used to
measure work involvement.
One can also use graphic techniques or the semantic-differential format (Osgood, Suci,
and Tannenbaum 1957) to measure job or work involvement on dimensions such as
involved-noninvolved, important-unimportant, identified-separated, and central-
peripheral. Besides being less confusing with regard to assessing the cognitive states of
involvement and alienation, measures of job or work involvement that have construct
validity seem to be better suited for cross-cultural and comparative research than are the
existing measures. The existing measures are inappropriate for cross-cultural research
primarily because they include many items that heavily emphasize intrinsic-need
satisfaction. For groups of people who do not consider intrinsic needs (autonomy, control,
and so on) to be the guiding forces in their lives, the existing measures cannot truly
reflect their job or work involvement.
In defining involvement or alienation as cognitive beliefs of workers, the motivational
approach emphasizes the fact that such beliefs are central to and have a major impact on
workers' lives. The potential importance of beliefs regarding job and work involvement is
quite obvious from the fact that people devote considerable time and effort to jobs and
what they consider work roles (as opposed to other social roles). In a sense, as Saleh
(1981) suggests, such beliefs are self-involving, "implying that they are not peripheral but
central or core beliefs representing an individual's self. They define one's self-concept in
a major way. Popularly we talk of an "organization man", "family man", "religious man"
and so on depending on the individual's identification with an organization, family,
religion, and so on. Likewise we talk of "hard-working persons" (Persons who believe in
the value of hard work in their lives) or "persons married to their jobs". Such descriptions
reflect our definitions of a personal self. As an individual, one defines personal self as an
entity or develops a personal self-concept (an answer to the question, who am I?)
Through identification with or alienation from major environmental objects, such as job,
work, family, and religion. Such a self-concept (or underlying belief) has a regulating
influence on individuals' behaviors and attitudes.
Conditions of Job Involvement
A layout of the present motivational approach to job involvement, its causes, and its
effects is presented in Figure. As can he seen, individuals' behaviors and attitudes
exhibited both on and off the job are a function of the saliency of need states within them.
At any given moment, the need saliency within individuals depends on the prior
socialization process (historical causation) and on the perceived potential of the
environment (job, family, and so on) to satisfy the needs (contemporary causation). The
cognitive state of involvement as a by-product of need saliency also depends on the
nature of need saliency as historically determined through the socialization process and
on the perceived potential of the environment to satisfy the needs.
In the context of job involvement, individuals' beliefs that they are job involved or
alienated depends on whether the job is perceived to have the potential for satisfying their
salient needs. The saliency or the importance of different needs for individuals is
determined by individuals' past experiences with groups of which they were members
(socialization process) and with jobs that they have held. Different groups of people are
influenced by different cultural, group, and organizational norms, and, thus, they tend to
develop different need structures or to set different goals and objectives for their lives.
For example, the work-motivation literature suggests that the source of job involvement
for managers within any organization may be very, different from those for unskilled
labourers because of differences in need saliencies of the two groups. Managers may
value more autonomy and control in their jobs, whereas the unskilled laborers may attach
greater importance to security and a sense of belonging in their jobs. Such value 77
differences stem
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essentially from past socialization, processes and from the influence of the norms oldie
groups to which workers belong.

Some recent cross-cultural studies have demonstrated that because of the differences in
the socialization process, workers belonging to different cultures differ with respect to the
importance they attach to various job outcomes. The importance attached to various job
outcomes reflects the saliency of the needs of workers. For instance, studies of
Francophone and Anglophone managers in Canada (kanungo 1977, 1980; Kanungo,
Gorn, and Dauderis 1996) revealed that security and affiliation needs seem to have
greater saliency for Francophone managers, whereas autonomy and achievement needs
tend to have greater saliency for'Anglophone managers. Similar results were reported in
an international study (Kanungo and Wright 1981) that compared French managers in
France with British managers in the United Kingdom. The salient needs tend to determine
the central life interests of the individuals. On the job, the saliency of a need in
individuals may be reinforced, when they find that through job behavior they are capable
of meeting their needs. Their peiception that the job is capable of satisfying their
important needs will make the individuals devote most of their available energy to the
sob. The workers will immerse themselves in the job, and the feedbacks from their job
behavior will lead the workers to believe that the job is an essential part of themselves.
They thus become job involved. If, however, the job is perceived by the individuals as
lacking in opportunities for satisfying salient needs, they will develop a tendency to
withdraw effort from the job and, thus, become alienated from it. For the satisfaction of
their salient needs, the workers will redirect their energy elsewhere by engaging in
various off-the-job activities or undesirable on-the-job activities.

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Some recent comparative studies (Kanungo 1980) of job involvement among Development
Francophone and Anglophone workers have provided indirect evidence in support of this
motivational approach to job involvement. On the premise that Anglophone workers are
a product of the Protestant-ethic socialization process and that they value job autonomy
and achievement to a greater extent than Francophone workers, they are expected to
show a greater psychological identification with their jobs an Francophone workers.
Such a prediction is based on previous approaches to alienation that emphasize the
importance of autonomy and control in the worker's self-concept. This prediction,
however, was not confirmed by these studies. If anything, the results of these studies,
revealed stronger psychological job identification among Francophone workers than
among Anglophone workers. The reason for greater job involvement among the
Francophone workers may lie in the fact that they perceive their salient needs, such as
security and affiliation tendencies, to be met to a greater extent on the job than do the
Anglophone workers. Further empirical research is necessary, however, to test directly
the implication of the motivational formulation in job situations.
Conditions of Work Involvement
Involvement of individuals with work in general refers to the normative belief regarding
how important work should be in their lives. It is the value or significance' people attach
to having work or performing work in general. It is the issue of how central working in
one's life when compared with other life roles such as maintaining and raising a family
or participating in the community. Viewed in this way, development of a cognitive belief
state of identification with work in general would depend very much upon past and
present socialization experiences.
Individuals are trained through the influence of their culture and reference-group norms
to believe in the centrality of work roles in life. Once formed, such beliefs are
maintained through constant social support from reference groups and other forms of
environmental reinforcements. Individuals learn to value work (or the goodness and
morality of work) because of past parental, school, and religious training. They maintain
their normative beliefs because of present socialization through reference-group support
and favorable environmental conditions.
Training in the Protestant ethic in one's formative years can produce a normative belief
in the goodness and centrality of work or work involvement. However, in later life, the
normative belief state can weaken because of lack of opportunity for employment, easy
access to unemployment benefits, war, and so on. For instance, during the era of the
"
flower children" in the 1960s, there was a decline in work involvement among U. S.
middle-class youth and young adults. The decline in the work ethic resulted from the
hostile environment created by the prospect of being killed in the Vietnam War and a
lack of support from the social environment for the work ethic. The work ethic, which
requires some degree of asceticism and self-discipline, could not thrive in a social
environment that provided affluency and encouraged indulgence in total freedom.
It must be pointed out that socialization of the Protestant-ethic variety is not the only
type of training that increases work involvement. Any type of training through which
individuals realize that the centrality of the work role in life can fulfill their salient needs
should increase work involvement. For instance, socialization in many Western cultures
emphasizes individualism and promotes in its members greater saliency for autonomy
and personal achievement needs. The Protestant work ethic in such cultures trains people
to believe that work can satisfy these salient needs and can bring about a sense of
individualism. Therefore, `work should be valued as being good and central to one's life.
Socialization in many Eastern cultures, however, promotes in its members a sense of
collectivism and saliency for social and security needs. In these cultures, religious
preachings about achieving a universal brotherhood of mankind and religious practices
advocating the value of sacrificing self-interest for the benefit of others have a different
socializing influence. People in these cultures develop beliefs in the centrality of work
not because work can promote personal achievement, but because work can fulfill the
collectivistic goals of brotherhood and sharing in life. The Hindu religion, for example,
encourages a form of work ethic that considers work as central to one's life, but it must
be performed as a duty in the service of others (family members, friends, relatives, even
strangers) and not for one's own personal achievement. Believing that work can bring
about a sense of collectivism and also 79
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fulfill the salient social and security needs in one's life, a Hindu perhaps might show the
same level of work involvement as a Protestant.

The case of Japan provides another example of a work ethic that can result from
socialization training of a non-Protestant variety. The behavioral patterns and customs of
the Japanese people have been deeply influenced by Confucianism, which stresses a rigid,
hierarchically arranged collective society. Members of each collectivity are expected to
maintain absolute loyalty and obedience to authority and to the group in the fulfillment of
their obligations. In her classic work, Nakane (1970) distinguishes between the concepts
of "frame" and "attribute," concluding that the Japanese tend to attach more importance to
the frame (or the organizational situation within which the individual operates) than to the
attributes or personal characteristics of the individual. Similarly, England and Lee (1974)
concluded that "in view of this. cultural background, it is not surprising that more
successful Japanese manage' , place relatively greater emphasis upon loyalty and
relatively less emphasis upon `me' that do managers in other countries". The influence of
cultural and reference-group norms in Japan trains the Japanese to view world as a kind
of sacred duty to be performed for a collective interest and not for a personal interest. As
Aonuma (1931) explains, "The Japanese equivalent of the Protestant Ethic lies in the
concept of sacrificing personal interest for organizational good.... Out of this ethic grew a
sense of purpose regarding work-a concept of work not as drudgery, but as a kind of
sacred duty. Work fulfills this duty, and thereby establishes a sense of purpose". The
above examples demonstrate that people belonging to different cultures tend to develop
different salient needs influenced by different cultural and group norms. However, the
socialization training in any given culture that emphasizes the instrumentality of work
roles in satisfying peoples culturally determined salient needs is primarily responsible for
the development of work involvement.

3.5 INTEGRATION OF THE SOCIOLOGICAL APPROACH

The sociological approach to work alienation can be adequately. interpreted within the
framework of the motivational approach. According to this framework, job and work
alienation result primarily from a perceived lack of potential (in a job or in work in
general) to satisfy the salient needs of the individual. The link between this framework
and the sociological description of alienation is summarized in Table.

Sociologists (Blauner 1964; Seeman 1959) have described five different variants of work
alienation: powerlessness, meaninglessness, normlessness, isolation, and self-
estrangement. Each variant refers to a different, subjectively felt psychological state of
an individual caused by different environmental conditions. If one describes these states
in motivational terms, each variant represents a work situation that frustrates some
salient needs of the individual. The isolation variant of job alienation will be experienced
by individuals whose social and belonging needs are most salient and who find that their
work situation does not have the potential to satisfy these needs. Blauner (1964) seems
to concur with this position when he states that the state of isolation "implies the absence
of a sense of membership in an industrial community".

In Canada, the isolation type of job alienation has been reported more often among
French Canadian workers than among English Canadian workers, perhaps because in the
former case the necessary conditions for a state of isolation are present to a greater
extent. Studies on the motivational orientation (Auclair and Read 1966) of French
Canadian workers reveal that their affiliative needs (desire to belong to the industrial
community) are salient, and yet such needs are frustrated because of the Anglophone
ownership of industry. For very similar reasons, female workers may often experience a
greater degree of isolation at work than male workers.

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Integration of Sociological Approaches Development

The normlessness variant of job alienation can be observed in persons who have a salient
need for information to predict their. physical and social job environment so that they can
evaluate their present job behavior and plan future courses of action. For instance,
workers with a salient need for feedback on how well they are doing may develop a
feeling of normlessness in their jobs if the organization does-not provide, information on
how performance is appraised and how rewards (merit pay, promotion, and so on) are
administered: Workers may develop beliefs about the normlessness of work in general
when they find that work organizations do not provide the necessary, information about
work. Workers with a high need for achievement (McClelland 1967) may have a stronger
need for information than workers with a low need for achievement. Hence, the former
type of worker may have a stronger tendency to develop beliefs about the normlessness of
job or work than the latter group.

The meaninglessness variant of job alienation results from situations where the work
process is broken down into simple minuscule tasks. Such job situations represent a high
degree of job simplification, and for the worker they involve no real responsibility, Faced
with such situations, the worker loses all sense of purpose and the job becomes
meaningless. Translated into motivational terms, this implies that workers with a salient
need for assuming a high degree personal responsibility experience meaninglessness in
their jobs when the need is frustrated because of job simplification or fragmentation.
Workers with a high education, skill level, and need for achievement may have a stronger
need for assuming personal responsibility than less-educated, unskilled, and low-need-
for-achievement workers. Thus, the former categories of workers may be more acceptable
to the meaninglessness variant of alienation when the job is not provide greater
responsibility. Perhaps for similar reasons, the alienation of intellectuals toward work in
general tends to be of the meaninglessness variety (Seeman 1959; Mills 1951).

Job alienation in the form of powerlessness refers to a perceived lack of control over
one's work situation. According to Blauner (1964), the feeling of powerlessness on the
job results from the mechanization process that controls the pace of work and limits
workers' free movements. In motivational terms, the powerlessness type of alienation
may be experienced by individuals who have salient ego needs such the need for.
autonomy, control, or self-esteem, but find the job environment incapable of satisfying
them.

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The final variant of alienation proposed by sociologists is self-estrangement at work.
Blauner (1964) suggests that a job encourages self-estrangement if it does not provide an
opportunity for expressing "unique abilities, potentialities, or personality of the worker".
In motivational terms, such a state of alienation is experienced by people who have high
self-actualization needs (Maslow 1954), such as the need for achievement, and find the
job situation limiting the realization of their potential. Thus, from a motivational
standpoint, the different types of job or work alienation suggested by sociologists
represent the same cognitive belief of separation from job or work and are different from
one another only in the sense that they are caused by a different saliency structure of
needs in the individuals. The motivational reinterpretation of the sociological approach
needs to be validated through empirical studies designed to test several predictions
discussed above.
3.6 SOME MAJOR DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE
PRESENT AND EARLIER APPROACHES
At this point, it may be useful to compare and to highlight a few important differences
between the motivational approach and earlier ones. Although the definitions of job
involvement and alienation as cognitive states of identification with or separation from a
job resemble the way the concepts were defined by Lawler and Hall (1970), the former
are different from the latter in one important respect. As discussed earlier, Lawler and
Hall put exclusive emphasis on the job opportunities that meet a worker's need for control
and autonomy as necessary preconditions to the state of job involvement. In fact all
earlier formulations (both sociological and psychological) seem to have followed this line
of thinking.

The motivational approach, however, suggests that job involvement does not necessarily
depend on job characteristics that allow for control and autonomy need satisfaction. It
emphasizes that workers have a variety of needs, some more salient than others. The
saliency of the needs in any given individual is determined by past socialization in a
given culture (historical causes) and is constantly modified by present job conditions
(contemporary causes). Different groups of individuals because of their different
socialization training or different cultural background may develop different need-
saliency patterns. They may value extrinsic and intrinsic job outcomes (Lawler 1973)
very differently. One set of needs (for example, growth needs, such as self-esteem and
autonomy) may be salient in one group of workers, but the same needs may not be salient
in another group. This may result in different self-images in- the two groups and,
consequently, in different job expectations in the two groups. One group of workers that
considers control and autonomy to be the core of their self-image may get involved in
jobs that are perceived as offering an opportunity for exercising control and autonomy,
and they may become alienated from jobs that are perceived as providing little freedom
and control. Such job characteristics, however, may not be the crucial considerations for
another group (who may view security and social needs to be the core of their self-image)
in the determination of their job involvement or alienation. That people do differ with
respect to what constitutes the core of their self-concepts should not be overlooked. The
developed societies of the West may make their citizens believe that all that counts in
one's life is to have individual liberty and freedom. Workers belonging to these societies
may feel, therefore, that a working life is of little worth without freedom and control.
However, in the developing societies of the East, economic and social security often are
considered more important to life than are freedom and control. Thus, workers in Eastern
societies may find work very involving if it guarantees such security, but may not care
very much for freedom and control in their jobs. In these societies, people may value
equality and sharing more than liberty and control as the guiding principle of a working
life. Rabinowitz and Hall (1977) alluded to this possibility but found no available
research that examined "this lower-need-based form of job involvement".

Earlier conceptualizations of work alienation and involvement a confused alienation from

a specific job with alienation from work in general. Such confusion primarily resulted
from the emphasis on intrinsic motivation and the Protestant work ethic as the main
82 source of work involvement. The present conceptualization, however, considers the work
ethic as a normative
 ignoumbasupport.blogspot.in Group Cohesion and
belief in the goodness of work and distinguishes it from job involvement. A work ethic can Development
result from socialization training of both Protestant and non-Protestant varieties. In the
socialization process, any religious or cultural (value that considers work as instrumental in
satisfying culturally determined salient needs is capable of developing a work ethic in people.
In individualistic societies, religious values, such as those found in Protestantism,
characterize work as an important source of salient ego-need satisfaction and provide work
with the moral character of being "good" and "desirable." In collectivistic societies, work also
is . characterized as "good" and "desirable" through the influence of religious values.
However, in this case work is viewed as a source of satisfaction in life because it has the
potentiality of fulfilling salient affiliative and security needs.
In their attempts to increase job involvement among workers, the sociological (Blauner 1964)
and the psychological (Lawler and Hall 1970) approaches have analyzed the work situation
from the standpoint of job design or the nature of the job. They have emphasized job
characteristics, such as the lack of variety in a job, mechanized and routine operations, strict
supervision, and so on, and their effects on the involvement of workers without any attempt
to understand the nature and the saliency of needs in the workers. In presenting such a
position, these authors have argued in favor of a universal prescription for increasing job
involvement by designing jobs to provide greater autonomy and control to the workers. The
prescription is of course, based on. the assumption that the needs for control and autonomy
are the most salient needs in workers.
This position can be contrasted with the approach that Taylor (1911) advocated in his
principles of scientific management. In his pig-iron-loading experiment, he selected as his
subject a physically strong individual who had a salient monetary need. In selecting the right
man for the job, he looked into the past training and abilities, the need saliency, and the job
perceptions of the worker. Presumably, Taylor must have thought that these characteristics
have a significant influence on a worker's job involvement. The approach advocated in the
motivational formulation does not make the assumption that the needs for control and
autonomy are the most salient needs in all workers. Unlike previous approaches, the present
approach suggests that job involvement can best be understood if we find out the nature and
the saliency of needs in workers as determined by prior socialization and present job
conditions. The design of jobs and the determination of their extrinsic and intrinsic outcomes
for the sake of increasing job involvement should be based on an understanding of workers
needs and perceptions. The findings of Lawler and Hackman (1971) seem to support this
position.. According to them, "there is no reason to expect job changes to affect the
motivation and satisfaction of employees who do not value the rewards that their jobs have to
offer".
Previous approaches emphasized the distinction between work as an instrumental. activity
and work as consummatory activity (the means to an end versus the end in itself). The present
approach considers work to be a set of job-related behaviors and attitudes, and like all
behaviors and attitudes, work is considered to be instrumental in satisfying a variety of needs
that a worker may have. All human behaviors stem from need states, and all human behaviors
tend to be purposive and instrumental in obtaining goals or outcomes for the satisfaction of -
needs. Work behaviors and job attitudes should not be an exception to this rule.
In summary, the motivational approach to the study of alienation and involvement advocated
'
provides an integrative framework for future psychological and sociological research. Future
research in the area should attempt not only to measure job and work alienation or involvement
as cognitive states but should also attempt to relate such cognitive states to the antecedent
conditions of need saliency in individuals and their job perceptions. Attempts should also be
made to relate the cognitive states of alienation and involvement to the various affective states
that accompany them and to their behavioral consequences. Using the motivational approach,
future studies should explore the phenomena of alienation and involvement in areas other than
job and work, such as in the family, in the community, and in other forms of leisure-time
pursuits as suggested. It would be of considerable interest to find out the reasons for alienation
and involvement in these areas for different groups of people with different socialization
training. It would also be of interest to see how involvement and alienation in one area
influence the nature of such states in other areas. For instance, how does job involvement affect
family involvement and vice versa? The widely accepted Marxian dictum that work alienation
is the cause of all social maladies is something that clearly needs 83
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empirical verification. These are some of the general issues that need exploration in the
future, and it is hoped that the framework proposed here will help in such exploration.

3.7 SUMMARY
This unit is on Group Cohesion and Alienation. In this unit we have tried to define and
describe group cohesion and alienation,enumerating the reasons why the study of group
dynamics became very important. Having defined group cohesion it goes on explaining
the consequences of cohesiveness. Having defined cohesion, this unit explains what is
alienation and enumerates the sociological approach to alienation. Under this subhead the
Weber's 'treatment to alienation and Durkheim's concept of Anomie and Alienation have
been thoroughly 'explained. Contemporary sociological treatment of alienation logically
follows, highlighting the causes and corelates the various variants on alienation as
perceived and proposed by various behavioural scientistists.

Having dwelled thoroughly upon sociological approach the unit moves ahead explaining
the psychological approach to alienation mainly based on job involvement and
motivational approach by various psychologists. In the empirical research literature, the
concepts of job and work have been used widely and interchangeably. The motivational
approach specifically deals with these two concepts as two separate components, each
with distinct characteristics of its own. Towards the end it has been explained as to how
sociological approach to work alienation can be interpreted within the framework of the
motivational approach, resulting into integration of both.

3.8 SELF ASSESSMENT QUESTIONS

1. Have you ever felt alienated from your own self or others? If so try chartering those
feelings and analyze them in the theoretical framework.

2. Is there a member in your group who is trying to destroy the cohesiveness of the
group? Describe him and discuss the measures you would adopt in dealing with.

3. Explain what is motivational approach to alienation.

4. What is the difference between the sociological and psychological approach to

alienation?

5. What are the consequences of group cohesion? Explain with example.

6 Explain the causes and correlated of alienation.

3.9 FURTHER READINGS

Taylor, D.M. and Simard, L.M. "Ethnic Identity and Intergroup Relations" in Emerging
Ethnic Boundaries by D.J. Lee (Ed.) Ottawa Univ. Press (1979).

Triandrs, H.C. Attitude and Attitude Change, New York, Wiley. (1971)

Tejfel H. Social Identity and Intergroup Relations; Cambridge, Cambridge University

Press (1982).

Tejfel H. The Social Dimensions, 2 Vols, Cambridge, Cambridge University, Press

(1984).

Shaw, M.E. Group Dynamics: The Psychology of Small Group Behaviour, 2nd Ed., Tata
McGraw Hill (1976).

Sherif, M. Group Conflict and Cooperation: Their Social Psychology. London,

84 Roiutledge & Kegan Paul (1966).
 ignoumbasupport.blogspot.in Group Cohesion and
Ashby, W.T. "Downward Comparison Principles in Social Psychology", Psychological Development
Bulletin, 90. (1983).
Poise, W. Groups and Individuals: Explanations in Social Psychology, Cambridge,
Cambridge University Press. (1978)
Kanungo, R.N. Work Alienation: An Integrative.Approach, New York, Praeger (1982).
Cecilia, L. Ridgeway, The Dynamics of Small Groups, St. Martins (1983).

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UNIT 4 CONFORMITY AND OBEDIENCE
Objectives

After going through this unit, you should be able to :

• Understand and explain the meaning of conformity and obedience

• appreciate the nature of Compliance, Identification and Internalization
• understand the experimental designs and significance of Milgram's studies
• appreciate the dynamics of influences on individual's response to group
conformity.
Structure
4.1 Introduction
4.2 Conformity
4.3 Compliance
4.4 Identification
4.5 Internalization
4.6 Reference and Membership Groups
4.7 Cooperation
4.8 Competition
4.9 Milgram's Study
4.10 Why and how of Empowerment
4.11 Summary
4.12 Self-Assessment Questions
4.13 Further Readings

4.1 INTRODUCTION
Human society from the inception of its civilization has confronted several dualities.
One particular duality which confronts us even today is between freedom and
conformity, empowerment and obedience. At different points of human civilization
it was believed that conformity and obedience are the best forms of social
governance. It was also believed that freedom and empowerment gives rise to chaos
and destabilization of social order. Although such thought basically reflects pre
industrial mind set, it is not uncommon even today to come across people in the
work organizations whose most important "wish-list" happens to be conformity and
obedience from their subordinates.

There is definite reason for which people expect conformity and obedience from
others. To some extent the reason can be traced in the meaning of these words.
Conformity is defined as the act of compliance, acquiescing or yielding to a
tendency to yield readily to others especially in a weak and subservient way.
Obedience is defined as the state or quality of being obedient or the act or practice of
obeying dutifully, in otherwise submissive compliance. An example of conformity
and obedience can best be derived from any regimented structure - a totalitarian state
and Military service can be considered as fairly god examples. It is also fairly known
that, in these types of social structures problems are plenty. These social structures
have to deploy enormous amount of resources to impost' control and suppress the
human beings eternal desire for freedom.

4.2 CONFORMITY
'
Conformity can be defined as a change in a person's behaviour or opinions as a
result of real or imagined pressures from a person or group of people.'.

86 (Aronson 1976.' 17)

 ignoumbasupport.blogspot.in Conformity and
`the action of a subject when he goes along with his peers, people of his own status, Obedience
who have no special right to direct his behaviour.'
(Milgram 1974: 113)
`a conformist might be defined as a person who has managed to avoid being defined
as a deviant.'
(Schur 1979: 18)
Response to conformity pressures varies according to many different factors. While
the most intelligent group members are less likely to conform, authoritarian
personalities are more likely to do so: Where the membership of a group maintains
both sexes, conformity levels are higher than in single-sex groups. Other variables
that relate to increasing conformity are the size of majority in favour, the ambiguity
of the situation, agreement among most other members and the open and
decentralized nature of the group" communication systems (Shaw 1974).
If a member sees that most of the other members are more competent than he or she
is, then he or sheds much more likely to conform to the pressures that the group
exerts. Conformity is related to security and acceptance, the sense of not being alone
in having to face the problems of life, and it induces order into the group situation
with the enhanced probability of integrating and coordinating individual behaviour.
Aronson (1976) suggests that in unfamiliar situations we tend to conform to the
behaviour of others whom we suspect `know the ropes'. Aronson asserts that
behaviour we learn in this way tends to be enduring because it is an exercise in
determining reality, an attempt to make sense of a part of our world that, being
unfamiliar, lacks security.
Fear lies at the base of conformity, the fear of not being accepted. The greater the
respect an individual has for the others of his group members, the more need there is
to be accepted, and the greater is the pressure that the group can exert to produce a
public conformity to its norms, rules, and standards. But public conformity is not
necessarily private acceptance and it is this (a continuing conformity even when the
pressure to conform is removed) that is the element of change.
Festinger's (1957) concept of cognitive dissonance helps to explain something of
conformity pressure. The tension created by holding conflicting cognitions has to be
resolved by first changing one element of the behaviour; second, finding examples
that reduce its dissonant effect; or third, creating cognitions that indicate that the
dissonant behaviour is in fact good and beneficial. The reduction of an individual's
dissatisfaction in a social situation is achieved by producing behaviour acceptable to
the others or by redefining needs relative to the situation.
If there are alternative sources, of need satisfaction available, for example, other
groups, then, if there are no restrictions on movement, when the pressure to conform
becomes too great it will tend to reduce an individual's level of satisfaction for his or
her group below the point where these at alternative sources become more attractive.
When this happens, individual will move, for even the dissatisfactions and
consequences of moving can be overcome if the pressure is great enough. This is a
serious consideration for groups where members cannot move and where pressure
generating high levels of dissatisfaction exists. Psychological withdrawal may be one
method of coping but others, much more disruptive and designed to change the
situation, are equally likely.
Allen (1965) suggested that apart from the problem of private and public acceptance
there are ten situational factors that influence an individual's response to group
conformity pressures:
1. The level of commitment to the group
2. The level of attractiveness of the group
3. Status in the group
4. The degree of interdependence within the group 87
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5. The group's composition
6. The group's size and unanimity
7. The extent to which the nature of the group norms are extreme
8. Whether the group is task competent
9. What level of task'
10. How difficult and important the task is.
11.
Activity 1

Interview ten people around you whom you know, ask them whether they have been
influenced by someone/groups or they, have influenced others/groups. 'How many
times it was successful

…………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………….

Allen ended his essay on situational factors in conformity thus: `Neither should we
fail to realize that other modes of response to group pressure are available to a person
in addition to conformity or nonconformity' (Allen :1965: 142). Conformity is
dependent behaviour. It requires that those it affects should be of equal status. It
spreads by imitation. The requirement to conform is implicit and the conformist
believes that his or her autonomy has been retained. Tactical conformity may be an
ingratiating' act but in general conformity means 'bringing one's behaviour within
bounds defined as acceptable by group members and doing one's best to meet their
expectations' (Sherif 1976:100). It is a democratic process in that it attempts to create
sameness.

4.3 COMPLIANCE
'This term best describes the mode of behaviour of a person who is motivated by a
desire to gain reward or avoid punishment. Typically his behaviour is only as long-
lived as is the promise of the reward or the threat of punishment. '
(Aronson 1976: 29)
‘He that complies against his will [I]so of his own opinions still.’
(Butler :1663: '33)
Compliance is another possible response to the influence a group can exert. A
consideration of compliance brings into focus the problems of public and private
behavior. On the face of it, compliance appears to be conformity. The compliant
person apparently accepts the norms, standards, and values of the system he or she is
currently inhabiting. His or her reasons for this behaviour are obvious. Like an
animal that blends with its background, the compliant person becomes unnoticed and
acceptable. In a word, he or she has ensured personal security, freedom to move
about and an avoidance of being highlighted as being different.
The newcomer to an established group' encounters problems precisely of this nature.
If there is a strong need to belong and to be accepted, then there will be compliance
with the demands made by the group without any realization of the real reasons for
these demands. When the individual feels secure, he or she may not only be able to
question or even resist some of the demands, but also be able to assess the
consequences of such noncompliance upon his or her satisfaction. Compliance
equates obedience and appears to arise as an attempt on the part of an individual to
attract reward and avoid punishment. The behavior tends to last only as long as the
promise of reward or threat is sustained as behavior can change when the situation
changes. However, there is some indication that compliance with small demands
88 facilitates
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compliance with, larger requests, probably because the complying person has already Obedience
become involved and also because his or her attitudes may have been significantly
changed by the first act of compliance.

The basic factor in compliance is the compliant person's perception of the ability of
the influencer to give rewards or punishments. This equates with the first of five
social powers delineated by French and Raven (1959). If the power referent is
constantly in attendance then compliant behaviour assumes a greater durability.
Similarly, if the compliant person's satisfactions are in creased by the act of either in
the actions themselves or the consequences of those actions then the compliant state
will tend to endure.

Generally speaking, the compliant person holds complying opinions and values
lightly and does not believe in them. He or she is demonstrating a public compliance.
Milgram (1974) believed that the reward received by the compliant person may be a.
profound emotional gratification' and suggested that compliant behaviour took place
in a hierarchical structure; it was not imitative, its prescriptions were explicit, and
compliant people tended to resign their autonomy.
Compliance perpetuates inequality and is concerned with the maintenance of differentials.
But from the point of view of the compliant person it is one way of dealing with social
influence; it provides security and. a breathing space without undue commitment.

4.4 IDENTIFICATION
Identification is another response to group pressure. To identify indicates a desire to
be like the influencer and is concerned with attractiveness. Satisfaction in this case
resides in taking on the values, opinions, and beliefs of the influencer, and creating a
self denying relationship. Negative identification is possible in which dislike
engenders rejection of all that the disliked influencer stands for.

Identification appears to be a very powerful agent in advertising and selling because

people whom the advertising audience like, and can identify with,' can influence
opinion about products as long as these are not too important. Similarly, prejudices
can be picked up by identification with people who hold them.

The continuous pressure necessary in compliance is not essential in identification,

which is associated with, and conterminous with, the perception of the source of
influence. This can be seen as three important variables:

1. The influencer needs to remain important.

2. The influencer needs to continue to hold the same beliefs.

3. The identifier's beliefs are not challenged by opinions that turn out to be
logically more convincing.

The latter shows that identification contains as part of the satisfaction to the
identifier a large element of the desire to be right.

4.5 INTERNALIZATION
Conformity, compliance, and identification are relatively transient responses to
group pressure, internalization is not. As with identification, there is a strong
element of the desire to be right in its formation. The satisfaction that
internalization gives is thus intense and this allows the influence to become
independent of the source and an integral part of the internalizer.

If the influencing agent, group, or person is perceived as trustworthy and as

possessing good judgement, then the values and beliefs of that agent will become
an integral part of the internalizer's value system. The will become his or her values
and will be very difficult to
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change. As the desire to be right (that is, not to appear to be stupid; ignorant, or
foolish) is a very powerful and self-sustaining motivation, the continued presence of
the influencing agent is not necessary and may even be forgotten after a period of
time.

Because of these factors the internalizer has more flexible responses than is allowed
by any of the other responses because the system he or she is operating from is his or
her private system based on credibility.

4.6 REFERENCE AND MEMBERSHIP GROUPS

‘In social psychological theory, it has long been recognized that an. individual's
membership groups have an important influence on the values and attitudes he holds.
More recently, attention has also been given to the influence of his reference groups:
the groups in which he aspires to attain or maintain membership.'

(Siegel and Siegel 1957: 300)

Reference groups have been called `invisible committees' and appear to act as a
standard against which an individual measures his or her performance. Even the
knowledge that he or she may never actually come face to face with one of his or her
reference groups - indeed, it may no longer be in existence like the childhood family
- does not appear to lessen the influence its norms can have on behaviour. A degree
of internalization of the standards and values of the reference group has taken place
so that these values become integrated in the individual and need no continuing
support from the source. It is this particular influence on an individual's action that is
so hard to appreciate.

Carolyn Sherif (1976) calls reference groups and persons `the social connections of
self and illustrates the point by showing how the many groups of which she is, and
has been, a member are her `social anchors', the links that tic her to the society in
which in large measure give meaning to her life. In any one social situation most of
these `social anchors' are not visible, but they can have quite a great effect on the
behaviour of the anchored individual. How can an observer interpret behaviour that is
not wholly related to the current observable scene but partly to a hidden and powerful
pre-programming?

The greater the individual's respect for his or her reference group, the more he or she
will have internalized their norms. These will become the standards to live by, guides
to relationships, and will establish attitudes and condition responses to major life
events. Not all of the individual's reference groups will fit happily together and there
may well be conflicting messages.

Some reference groups and persons may not be human or real in the sense that they
can be -fictional, historical, or imaginary. What is important is that they represent and
produce standards that can be integrated into an individual's value scheme. It is
possible to stretch the concept to include ideas, abstract principles, and ideals as
forming standards in the same way. As Sprott (1958:60) has said, `We are to a large
measure the artifacts of our affiliations'.

Two other responses need to be given brief consideration. These are co-operation and
competition.

4.7 CO-OPERATION
Because co-operative behaviour (that is, going along with others) has great survival
value, it is a response to group pressure that is well understood by most people. It is
dependent on the perception that in order to achieve a given goal individuals need
one another. If the goal is important (i.e. superordinate), then individuals will be
willing to sacrifice other important personal issues in order co-operate with others
90 in its attainment'. While, co-operative
 ignoumbasupport.blogspot.in Conformity and
endeavour is in progress, a state of mutual inter dependence occurs and there is a Obedience
tendency to reduce hostility and prejudice and to increase friendliness and
attentiveness to others.

4.8 COMPETITION
Competition is formed strongly on the need to achieve and seems to be an essential
element of Western society. Aggressive behaviour, the need to dominate, to succeed
arid to do well are all aspects of competition between individuals and groups.
Prejudice, discrimination and stereotyping are all strengthened in the presence of
competition.
On the other hand work organizations expect some amount of conformity and
obedience from its members. Work organizations by nature do not expect its
members to behave like mature adults. Commitment and involvement are the two
most civilized expressions; which ate widely valued in the organizations. There are
enough theoretical and empirical validity to prove that nature of commitment and
involvement of the organizational members depend upon the nature of power used at
micro and macro levels in the organization. When coercive power is used it gives
rise to alienation, remunerative power gives rise to calculative involvement and only
normative power gives rise to moral commitment on the part of the organizational
members.

4.9 MILGRAM'S STUDY

It is some 30 years since the social psychologist Stanley Milgram began his study on
the dynamics of obedience to authority. Some salient features of the studies can be
summarized as follows.
1. The enormity of the basic findings - that 64 per cent of a sample average
American adult men were willing to punish another person with increasingly
higher voltages of electric shock when ordered to do so by an experimenter
who possessed no coercive power to enforce his orders.
2. The studies represent one of the largest integrated research programs ever
conducted in social psychology (Milgram conducted over 20 variations of
his experimental design and used over 1000 subjects.
3. Milgram's studies have fundamental and far-reaching implications for our
understanding of human behavior and, more particularly, the extent to which
a person's behavior is determined by particular situational and organizational
factors.
The basic experimental design of Milgram's studies
A typical male subject volunteering to take part in Milgram's early experiments at
Yale University in 1963 is greeted by a stem-looking experimenter in a white coat.
He finds that another subject has already arrived. The experimenter informs the two
men that they are to take part in an experiment to discover the effect of punishment
on learning and verbal memory. One subject will be the `teacher' and the other the
`learner' during the session. The allocation of the respective roles is decided by
lottery.

The two men are told that the teacher is to read pairs of words to the leaner and then
test the learner's memory by giving the first word of each pair and asking him to
supply the second word. Incorrect answers are punished by an electric shock
administered by the teacher by depressing one of 30 switches located on a `shock
generator' in front of him. These switches are arranged in a row and are labeled
according to the voltage they transmit to an electrode strapped to the learner's arm.
The first switch is labeled 15 volts, the second 30 volts, the third 45 volts and so on.
The final switch is labeled 450 volts. There are also a number of descriptive labels on
the switch panel. For example, `Slight Shock' describes the 15-16 volt range and the
435 to 450 volt range is labeled `XXX'. 91
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The experimenter tells the teacher that he is to punish the learner's first recall error
with an electric shock of 15 volts. The second error is to be punished by a shock of
30 volts, and so on until the learner has correctly memorized the list of word pairs.

Before the session begins, the learner is strapped to a chair, his arm is treated with an
electrically conductive paste to which an electrode is then attached. He mentions to
the experimenter that learner has mild heart condition. Her is assured that the shocks,
although painful, will not result in any permanent tissue damage.

Then the teacher is escorted to an adjacent room where the shock generator is
situated. The experiment begins. The experimenter sits a few yards behind the
teacher to remind him that every error must be punished by increasingly severe
electric shocks.

During a typical session the learner makes an error in approximately three out of
four responses and the teacher steadily increases the shock level. At 75 volts the
teacher hears the learner moan `ugh'. At 150 volts the learner calls out `Ugh'
Experimenter, get me out of here. I told you I had heart trouble. My heart's starting
to bother me now. Get me out of here, please. My heart's starting to bother me. I
refuse to go on. Let me out"

The experimenter ignores these pleas and urges the teacher to. continue. At 210
volts, the learner demands to be let out. Still the experimenter urges the teacher to
continue until all the word pairs are learned. At 300 volts prolonged agonized
screaming can be heard and the learner shouts in desperation that he will no longer
provide answers. The experimenter tells the teacher that silence represents an error
and must be punished.

In the first two experiments 64 per cent of teachers administered the maximum
shock of 450 volts.

In fact the learner was an accomplice trained to play the role and no electric shocks
were administered. However, the actual subjects - the teachers - were completely
unaware of this. As Milgram states:

There is overwhelming evidence that the great majority of subjects, both obedient
and defiant, accepted the victims' reactions as genuine. The evidence takes the form
of : (a) tension created in the subjects; (b) scores on `estimated' pain (c) subjects'
accounts of their feelings in post-experimental interviews; and (d) quantifiable
responses to questionnaires distributed to subjects several months after their
participation in the experiment.

Experimental Variations

Greatly surprised by their initial findings, Milgram and his research team carried out
numerous variations of the basic experimental design in order to ascertain the key
situational factors governing the dynamics of obedience. These are summarized
below. Note that, unless otherwise stated, all experiments were based on the basic
design outlined above and used male subjects. Full obedience rates refer to the
percentage of subjects and administering the maximum of 450 volts.
• Peer administers shock: similar to basic design except the teacher reads out the
word pairs and another volunteer administers the shocks on his behalf Full
obedience rate 92%.
• Women as subjects: similar to basic design except that both teacher and learner
are female.
Full obedience rate = 64%.
• Institutional context: the original experimental design repeated in a rather
shabby downtown building, ostensibly by an organization called Research
Associates of Bridgeport.
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Full obedience rate = 48%.
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• Increased proximity: similar to basic design except the learner is Obedience
placed in the same room as teacher at a distance of meter.
Full obedience rate = 40%.
• Touch proximity; as above but learner receives shock only when his hand is
forced onto a Obedience plate by the teacher.
Full obedience rate = 30%.
• An `ordinary' man gives the orders: experimenter selects one of the volunteers
(a secret accomplice) to take his place. Experimenter remains in room as silent
observer.
Full obedience rate = 20%.
• Distant authority: experimenter leaves room halfway through the experiment. He
explains he will be gone some time and asks the teacher to continue the
experiment in his absence.
Full obedience rate = 20%.
• Two peers rebel: three teachers participate. Halfway through the experiment,
two of them (secret accomplices of the experimenter) refuse to continue
administering electric shocks.
Full obedience rate = 12%.
• Contradictory authority: two experimenters. One behaves as in basic design, the
other expresses concern about the health of the learner and the legitimacy of his
colleague's authority.
Full obedience rate = 2%.
• Subjects are free to choose the shock level they administer.
Full obedience rate = 2%.
• Learner demands to be shocked.
Full obedience rate = 2%.
The results came as an unwelcome surprise both to the researchers themselves and to
many other presumably sophisticated observers. Most experts had foreseen that very
few subjects would push the shock buttons all the way to the maximum. In fact, about
50% followed orders to the hilt, even while believing that they were inflicting very
severe electric shock on a screaming middle age man with a heart ailment (something
close to that figure holds up for different kinds of people). And the persons giving
that orders had no "real" power. He was just a guy in a white coat running the
experiment.
What those experiments suggest that people have strong propensity to obey authority.
It is not just because we fear sanctions - like getting fired that most of us obey orders.
We seem to obey anybody who wears even simplest trappings of authority (in this
case white lab coat). Even it is obvious that no different sanctions could be imposed
on us for refusal to obey we must fuss and complain, but to disturbing and
frightening extent, we also obey.
Perhaps, then, we must be careful as managers in assuming that our organization run
smoothly because we are such great managers, such effective users of authority.
Rather they run because our subordinates were taught, long before they came to work
for, to obey authority. May be we are not as masterfully authoritative as we would
like to believe. Those people in fact would obey anybody. And if that is true, perhaps
we should be more concerned about how not to use authority than how to use it.
Perhaps we should encourage our subordinates to question our authority and to think
for themselves before they obey that order. It is only through such learning
experience we can create a condition by which people will learn to assume personal
responsibility for their actions. This is an essential condition by which people can be
transformed from being dependent to independent and interdependent.
Many managers believe that it is too easy to use authority, and this misunderstanding
arise because many of us often confuse between positional authority and authority. These
two are not same, they are different. From this confusion arise the belief that authority is
very simple to use. Authority in true sense originates from the word "author", in other
words creating. A person who has started an enterprise is a creative person, he has more
authority than the managers he has employed to achieve results through people. The
entrepreneur who has originally started the business has authority, and the employed
managers have positional authority. Positional authority has some amount of coercion
with it. How it is simple to spank 93
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a child who misbehaves, and how difficult and complicated it is to distract the child,
provide substitute satisfaction, or explain the situation. Given a hundred children it
is much easier to keep them in line by punishing few recalcitrant than teaching them
all to "feel responsible". And we cannot ignore the fact that exerting authority is
personally gratifying to superiors, and therefore attractive. The exercise of discipline
over others can be reassuring to those who need reassurance about themselves.
Moreover authority fits neatly with organizational superior's needs if they have any,
to blow off aggression arising from their own frustration. When parents spank the
child they don't just want to change the child's behavior but provide themselves with
an outlet for tensions built up in them, by their boss, or spouse, or the irritating,
troublesome child.
Similarly, authority is sometimes seen, perhaps properly, as a way for organizational
superiors to guarantee their superiority. If your subordinates know that you can and
will punish readily, they are likely to behave respectfully and submissively, at least in
your presence. The reassurance derived from these visible demonstration of respect
may represent great distortion of true feelings, but can be helpful to the superior's
own uncertain psyche.
Positional authority has another kind of advantage i.e. speed. A do-it-or-else order
eliminates the time consuming dilly-dallying of fedback. But speed may cost
accuracy and morale. Where these issues are not critical, speed may be worth its cost.
Positional authority, also has the advantage of imposing orderliness and-conformity
in an organization. Large number of people can be made to conform to fundamental
regulations: manager must make sure4 that his people stay through required eight
hours of the day. Even though the great majority may conform without external
threat, the superior has to guarantee minimum conformity by all employees. The job
of obtaining willing or self-imposed conformity without threat may just look too big
to handle. Moreover, such enforced discipline looks efficient because it can be used
on large number of people at the same time, even when one doesn't know much about
these people.
To instill obedience and conformity in the work situation managers have to use
power. Any discussion of power usually begins and sometimes ends with the five
categories of the sources of power identified by social psychologists John French and
Bertram Raven. Describing and analyzing these five classic types of power (reward;
coercive, legitimate, referent, and expert) serves as a necessary foundation.
Reward Power. This source of power depends on the person's having the ability and
resources to reward others. In addition, the target of this power must value these
rewards. In an organizational context, managers have many potential rewards, such
as pay increases, promotions, favorable work assignments, more responsibility, new
equipment, praise, feedback, and recognition available to them. In operant learning
terms; this means that the manager has the power to administer positive
reinforcement. In expectancy motivation terms, this means that the person has the
power to provide positive valences and that the other person recognizes this ability.
To understand this source of power more completely, one must remember that the
recipient holds the key. If managers offer subordinates what they think is a reward
(for example, a promotion with increased responsibility), but subordinates do not
value it (for example, they are insecure or have family obligations that are more
important to them than promotion), then managers do not really have reward power.
By the same token, managers may not think they are giving a reward to subordinates
(they listen with patience to employee problems), but if subordinates perceive this as
rewarding (the managers are giving them attention by intently listening to their
problems), the managers nevertheless have reward power. Also, managers may not
really have the rewards to dispense (they may say that they have considerable
influence with top management to get their people promoted, but actually they
don't), but as long as their people think that they have it, they do indeed have reward
power.
Coercive Power. This source of power depends on fear. The person with coercive
power has the ability to inflict punishment or aversive consequences on the other
person or, at least, to make threats that the other person believes will result in
punishment or undesirable outcomes. This form of power has contributed greatly to
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people. In an organizational context, managers frequently have coercive power in that Obedience
they can fire or demote subordinates or stop their pay, although the legal climate and
unions have stripped away some of this power. Management can also directly or
indirectly threaten an employee with these punishing consequences. In operant
learning terms, this means that the person has the power to administer punishments or
negatively reinforce (terminate punishing consequences, which is a form of negative
control). In expectancy motivation terms, this means that power comes from
expectation on the part of the other persons that they will be punished if they do not
conform to the powerful person's desires. For example, there is a fear of punishment
if they do not follow the rules, directives or policies of the organization. It is probably
this fear that gets most people to come to work on time and look busy when the boss
walks through the area. In other words, much of impression management behavior
may be explained in terms of coercive power than reward power.
Legitimate Power. This power source, identified by French and Raven, stems from
the internalized values of the other persons that give the legitimate right to the agent
to influence them. The others feel that they have the obligation to accept this power.
It is almost identical to what is usually called positional authority and is closely
aligned with both reward and coercive power in that it does not depend on the
relationships with others but rather on the position or role that the person holds. For
example, people obtain legitimacy because of their title (captain or executive vice
president) or position (oldest in the family or officer of a corporation) rather than
their personalities or how they affect others.
Legitimate power can come from three major sources. First, the prevailing cultural
values of a society, organization, or group determine what is legitimate. For example,
in some societies, the older people become the more legitimate power they possess.
The same may be true for a certain physical attribute, gender, or job. In an
organizational context, managers generally have legitimate power because employees
believe in the value of private property laws and in the hierarchy where higher
positions have been designed to have power over lower positions. The same holds
true for certain functional positions in an organization. An example of the latter
would, be engineers who have- legitimacy in the operations area of a company, while
accountants have legitimacy in financial matters. The prevailing values within a
group also determine legitimacy. For example, in a street gang the toughest member
may have legitimacy, while in a work group the union steward may have legitimacy.
Second, people can obtain legitimate power from the accepted social structure. In
some societies there is an accepted ruling class. But an organization or a family may
also have an accepted social structure that gives legitimate power. For example, when
blue-collar workers accept employment from a company, they are in effect accepting
the hierarchical structure and granting legitimate power to their supervisors.
A third source of legitimate power can come from being designated as the agent or
representative of a powerful person or group. Elected officials, a chairperson of a
committee, and a member of the board of directors of a corporation or a union or
management committee would be examples of this forf of legitimate power.
Each of these forms of legitimate power creates an obligation to accept and be
influenced.
But in actual practice, there are often problems, confusion, or disagreement about the
range or scope of this power.
These gray areas point to the real concern that many people in contemporary society
have regarding the erosion of traditional legitimacy. These uncertainties also point to
the complex nature of power.
Referent Power. This type of power comes from the desire on the part of the other
persons to identify with the agent wielding power. They want to identify with the
powerful person, regardless of the outcomes. The others grant person power because
he or she is attractive and has desirable resources or personal characteristics.
Advertisers take advantage of this type of power when they use celebrities, such as
movie stars or sports figures, to do testimonial advertising. 95
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The buying public identifies with (finds attractive) certain famous people and grants
them power to tell them what product to buy. For example, arguments, especially
emotional ones, are more influential when they come from beautiful people, is a
common experience in the field of commercial advertisement.
Timing is an interesting aspect of the testimonial advertising type of referent power.
Only professional athletes who are in season (for example, cricket players in the
winter and football players in the summer) are used in the advertisements, because
then they are very visible, they are in the forefront of public's awareness, and
consequently they have referent power. Exceptions, of course, are the handful of
superstars who transcend seasons and have referent ° power all year long, and even
after they have retired.
In an organizational setting, referent power is much different from the other types of
power discussed so far. For example, managers with referent power are attractive to
subordinates so that subordinates will want to identify with them, regardless of
whether the managers have the ability to reward or punish or whether they have the
legitimacy. In other words, the manager who depends on referent power must be
personally attractive to subordinates.
Expert Power. The last source of power identified by French and Raven is based on
the extent to which others attribute knowledge and expertise on the power seeker.
Experts are perceived to have knowledge or understanding only in certain well-
defined areas. All the sources of power depend on the target's perceptions, but expert
power may be even more dependent on this than the others. In particular, the target
must perceive the agent to be credible, trustworthy, and relevant before expert power
is granted.
Credibility comes from having the right credentials; that is, the person must really
know what he or she is talking about and be able to show tangible evidence of this
knowledge. There is basic research indicating he significant positive impact that
credibility has on perceived power and much evidence from every day experience.
For example, if a highly successful cricket coach gives an aspiring young player
some .advice on how to defend googly, he will be closely listened to - he will be
granted expert power. The coach has expert power in this case because he is so
knowledgeable about cricket. His evidence for this credibility is the fact that he is a
former star player and has coached champion teams. If this coach tried to give advice
on how to play basketball or how to manage a corporation, he would have no
credibility and thus would have no expert power. For avid cricket fans or players,
however, this coach might have general referent power (that is, he is very attractive
to them), and they would be influenced by what he has to say on any subject -
basketball or corporate management.
In organizations, staff specialists have expert power in their functional areas but not
outside them. For example, technicians are granted expert power in technical matters
but not in personnel or public relations problems. The same holds true for other staff
experts, such as computer experts or accountants. For example, the young accountant
in an office may be the only one who really understands the newest financial
software and how to use it, and this knowledge gives him or her considerable power.
As already implied, however, expert power is highly selective, and besides
credibility, the agent must have trustworthiness and relevance. By trustworthiness, it
is meant that the person seeking expert power must have a reputation for being
honest and straightforward. In the case of political figures, scandals could undermine
their expert power in the eyes of the voting public. In addition to credibility and
trustworthiness, a person must have relevance and usefulness to have expert power.
Going back to the earlier example, if the cricket coach gave advice on world affairs,
it would be neither relevant nor useful, and therefore the coach would not have expert
power.
It is evident that expertise is the most tenuous 'type of power, but managers and
especially staff specialists, who seldom have the other sources of power available to
them, often have to depend upon their expertise as their only source of power. As
organizations become increasingly technologically complex and specialized, the
expert power of the organization members at all levels may become more and more
important. This is formally recognized by some companies that deliberately include
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decision making, in other words, they, mix `knowledge-power people' with position- Obedience
power people' daily, so that together they make the decisions that will help them to cope
with rapid changes taking place in the market.
It must also be remembered that French and Raven did recognize that there may be other,
sources of power. For instance, some organizational sociologists such as Crozier
recognize the source of power of task interdependence where two or more organizational
participants must depend on one another). An example would be an executive who has
legitimate power over a subordinate, but because the executive must depend on the
subordinate to get the job done correctly on time, the subordinate also has power over the
executive. There is research evidence indicating that subordinates in such an
interdependent relationship with their boss receive better pay raises and even that such
interdependence can enhance the quality of the professor-student relationship. French and
Raven also point out that the sources are interrelated (for example, the use of coercive
power by managers may reduce their referent power and there is research evidence that
high coercive and reward power may lead to reduced expert power), and the same person
may exercise different types of power under different circumstances and at different
times. The latter point has recently led to some contingency models of power in
organizations.
Need to look for alternate source of power
Positional authority which is rooted in the employment contract itself is very limited in
scope. Since it only obligates employees to perform duties assign to them in accordance
with minimum standards. Therefore, use of positional authority alone does not make
people devote much effort on their own or exercise initiative in carrying it out. Thus it
shows that effective management is not possible within the confines of positional
authority alone.
The power process helps circumscribe idiosyncratic behavior and keeps it conferment to
the rational plan of the organization. Any organization, for the survival requires certain
amount of conformity as well as the integration of diverse activities of its members. The
co-ordination and order created out of the diverse and sometimes conflicting interest and.
potentially diffused behavior of its members is largely a function of power.
The increasing number and complexity of organizations in modem industrial societies
require large number of persons with a high level of technical and administrative
expertise to play leadership roles. The demand for expert leaders reduces the suitability of
those recruited on the basis of social status or family connections. Achievement replaced
ascription as the basis for placing leaders, and their recruitment spreads to all strata of
society. Similarly, political criteria, prevalent as the basis of recruitment during early
stages in newly independent and even in revolutionary societies, becomes less
meaningful. At the same time, training center for leaders are established in universities,
business schools, and training institutes, and the possibility for career in industrial
leadership is evenly distributed within the society. Management has become
professionalised. Although these developments are most apparent in business and
industrial organizations and in some government agencies, they are also occurring in
other organizations, including the military and labor unions.
Most of these changes imply a rationalization of the power process in organizations
consistent with Max Weber's bureaucratic model. However, further changes in the way
leaders exercise power are likely to accompany this rationalization, and these represent a
divergence from a classical bureaucratic model. Leaders may rely on discussion and
persuasion rather than on command exclusively. Attempts are made to elicit cooperation,
sometimes by having organization members participate in the making of decisions that
affect them in the work place. The rising level of education of the work force represents
an important "constraint" that contributes to this trend. In addition, the specialized skills
that are frequently required of persons at all levels in modern organizations may
sometimes mean that subordinates are more expert in a particular specialization than their
superiors, thus modifying the classical supervisory-subordinate relationship. Furthermore,
professional managers are more inclined than their predecessors to consider the results of
social science research, which has supported the growth of human-relations approaches to
control in organizations. At the same time, political developments, particularly in some
Asian and European countries, have led to the introduction of schemes of co-management
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success. These developments may not be fully consolidated in any contemporary society,
but incipient support at least, can be found in many organizations for less autocratic
control than was customary in the past. A survey in fourteen developed and developing
nations (including India), for example, shows that managers overwhelmingly subscribe at
least to the idea of ' participation by workers in decision making. They, however, express
skepticism about the capacity of the workers to assume the responsibilities consonant
with democratic leadership (Haire et. Al. 1966).
Taken together, these developments imply the growth-actual in some places, potential in
other - of new kinds of control in addition to those prevalent in the past.. Partly as a
consequence of this and of developments in research, conceptions of the power process
have been broadened.
First, a change has taken place in the analyses of the bases of power. Coercion has played
a prominent role in traditional analysis, consistent with the presumed conflict between
leaders and followers. Leaders are obeyed out of fear of punishment or hope for reward.
Weber, however, argues that the stability of social systems depends on acceptance by
followers of the right of leaders to exercise control. This implied legitimate authority, and
Weber defines three types: (1) "Charismatic" authority, according to which leaders are
thought to be endowed with extraordinary, sometimes magical powers. Charisma on the
part of a leader elicits obedience out of awe. It is illustrated in its pure form by "the
prophet, the warrior hero, the great demagogue". (2) "Traditional" authority, appertains to
those who have the right to rule by virtue of birth or class. The traditional leader is
obeyed because he or members of his class or family have always been followed. Its pure
type is illustrated by certain patriarchs, monarchs, and feudal lords. (3) "Legal" authority
applies to those who hold leadership positions because of demonstrated technical
competence. Legal authorities act impersonally as instruments of the law, and they are
obeyed impersonally out of a sense of duty to the law. Leadership in the legal
bureaucracy is based exclusively on legal authority.
Simon, however, points to the importance of social approval. Approval and disapproval
represent forms of reward and punishment, but they deserve special consideration because
they are frequently dispensed, not only by the designated leader, but also by others. Thus,
a subordinate may obey a supervisor, not so much because of the rewards and punishment
meted out by the supervisor, as because of the approval and disapproval by the
subordinate's own peers. Confidence may represent a further basis for acceptance of
leader's authority. A subordinate may trust the judgement and therefore accept the
authority of the leader in areas where the leader has great technical competence. French
and Raven make a further distinction between the influence of a leader based on
confidence by subordinate in the leader's expert knowledge and "informational influence"
based on acceptance by subordinates of the logic of the arguments that the leader offers.
An expert leader, then, may exercise control, not simply because he is an acknowledged
authority, but because his decisions, being based on expertise, are manifestly logical,
appropriate, and convincing. Subordinates are convinced that the decisions are correct.
This is related to some human-relations approaches that stress control by facts as opposed
to control by men. Such "fact control" relies on understanding, and is illustrated by the
participative leader who influences the behavior of subordinates by helping them
understand the facts of a situation so that they may jointly arrive at a course of action
consistent with their own interests and that of the collectively. Some of these conceptions
represent radical departure from many traditional ones, assuring, as they do, an over-riding
communality of interests among all members of the organization.
Other researchers have defined power as the ability to encourage or force others to act in
accordance with ones own wishes in order to bring to fruition ones personal goals or
aspirations. Zald (1970) maintains the concept of deliberate or intentional control of others
behavior but calls attention to a different purpose of the exercise of that power. He defines
power as the ability of a person or group, for whatever reason, to effect another person's or
group's ability to achieve its own goals (person or collection). In this definition therefore,
attention is focused not on the source's attempting to satisfy his own goals but rather on
sources ability to get Target to satisfy Target's goals. Others have been more liberal in
their definition of power, simply indicating that any interference with autonomy is power,
differing only in terms of the sanctions that source can bring to bear on Target for non
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the definitions under this category perceived the locus (or cause) of power as residing Obedience
in one person, the source, who is capable of generating change in the Target.
Psychologists too are generally given to claiming that power resides in the Source by
virtue of that person's ability to marshal greater resources in the eventuality of the
conflict. Most of the theories have a rather "chief chicken in the barnyard" flavor
about them. Research carried out by the psychologists usually reflects this initial bias
by. assuming that power resides in the source. One can "find in many laboratory or
field experimental situations that the ability of Target to react to an influence or
power attempt is severely limited to the purpose of experimental control. In
laboratory situation, for example, experimental subjects defined as Targets may only
be offered two or three potential courses of actions when exposed to an influence
attempt. They may, for example, be able to resist the attempt or to comply with the
attempt either partially or totally. It is perfectly obvious that such experimental
procedures lead to the maintenance of the myopia of linear causality. The entire
experimental procedure is structured to examine the power that resides in the Source"
(Swingle, 1976).
A variation in the conception of power relates to the mutuality - unilaterally of
control. A view common to traditional analysts argues that the control process is
unilateral; one leads or is led, is strong or weak, controls or is controlled. Simnel, in
spite of his general adherence to the traditional conflict view of power, noted a more
subtle interaction underlying the appearance of "pure superiority" on the part of one
person and the "purely passive being led" of another. "All leaders are also led, in
innumerable cases the master is the slave of his slaves" (Wolff, 1950). Contemporary
analysts are more likely than earlier ones to consider relationships of mutual as well
as unilateral power, of followers influencing leaders, and vice versa.
Finally, traditional analysis of social power assumes that the total amount of power in
a system is a fixed quantity and that leaders and followers are engaged in a "zero sum
game": increasing the power of one party must be accompanied by the corresponding
decrease in the power of the other. Some social scientists are now inclined to
question the generality of this assumption, and it is believed that the total amount of
power in a system may grow, and leaders and followers may therefore enhance their
power jointly. Total power may also decline, and all groups within the system may
suffer corresponding decreases. In the contemporary times major challenge of the
managers is to increase total, power in the relationships structure in work
organizations. For this they have no other alternative but look for ways and means of
empowering people around, and not to be concerned with conformity and obedience
from their subordinates.
Human beings show an eternal desire to be able to reestablish routines that are
predictable, maintain their confidence about performing well, and reaffirm, and
reaffirm their sense of personal control in the work setting. Otherwise, in the absence
of such conditions, uncertainty prevails. Uncertainty leads to the experience of
aversive feelings of loss, anxiety, and lack of control. When people feel that they
have little hope of reducing uncertainty or reasserting control, they tend to develop
feelings of helplessness. Attribution of lack of control even to global factors leads to
generalization of helplessness symptoms across situations.
Feeling of helplessness leads to many dysfunctional behavior syndromes in the
individual, which has negative consequences on the performance, and on the work
organization where the individual is employed. Helplessness often causes depression,
lack of motivation, cognition, and emotion. More importantly, as the experimental
researches indicate, the individual tends to generalize such feelings to new situations
when uncontrollability no longer exists. Such feelings, specially among the
organizational members prove to be too costly for any organization, since it is these
very people who are important and responsible for the continuance, growth, and
development of any organization. Probably, it is due to this realization that the
managers always enjoy more power and authority so that things remain predictable to
them. In fact, loss of power, and erosion of authority are the two major . indicators of
helplessness.
A work culture characterized by obedience and conformity have strong potentiality to
generate helplessness among the organizational members. As a result people become unable
to give the best to the organization. Therefore, there is a strong need to examine obsessive 99
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concern for obedience since that may lead to the feeling of helplessness. Overcoming
helplessness will go a long way in instilling confidence both to the organization and
the organizational members.
4.10 WHY AND HOW OF EMPOWERMENT
Erosion of authority is a phenomenon permeating the contemporary Indian society,
For quite sometime, we have witnessed people showing utter contempt and disregard
for authority - it is being questioned, disputed, resented, and also challenged. Work
organizations, being a part of the larger, society, cannot shield themselves from the
impact of such an onslaught. As a sequel, we hear managers complaining about
reduced power. They experience reduced power because of the erosion of positional
authority, which is a major constituent of managerial power following French and
Ravens topology. Along with this, responsibility and accountability of an individual
manager is also increasing substantially, and so is his span of control. In such a
changed situation of increased responsibility, coupled with reduced authority, the
managers have many options to follow. One approach could be to increase one's
power substantially by creating dependency in others. (Das and Cotton, 1988). The
second approach is to "turning the so called followers into leaders". This is possible to
achieve by empowering those who are deprived of power. Empowering seems to be
beneficial in the work situation, as many researchers have observed that deprivation
of power generate hostility, suspicion, and lack of commitment to what goes on in the
organization. Whereas in work organizations by design, members in the higher
echelons enjoy more power than people below, and the members from lower category
are deprived of power. Arising out of such understanding is the concern for
empowering the subordinates as a contributing factor of managerial and
organizational effectiveness. It has been observed that the empowered subordinates
develop a sense of competence, voluntarily share the superior's responsibility,
participate in the change process, and assume personal responsibility.
Empowering subordinates has taken various forms in India over the years. Some
reflections of empowering attempts can be seen in the efforts to involve the
employees in decision-making; in other words, participative forms of management.
In participation, power is shared. Sharing power is a lower form of empowering. As
early as 1918, TISCO management made the first attempt to involve workers in
management. Subsequently, in 1921, the Government of West Bengal urged the
industries in setting up workers' committees as a remedial action to prevent industrial
unrest. After that, different mechanisms were developed to democratize the work
environment in the Indian organizations. Among these, work committees set up in
1947, joint management councils, in 1957, workers' directors, in 1970, and shop and
joint councils setup in 1975 are noteworthy.
Several researchers claim that participative management was a miserable failure in
India. According to some the main reasons for the failure of participative
management, among others, are: employer managers are skeptical about the
capability of participating workmen, employer-managers believed that decision-
making was their prerogative, and sharing power is equivalent to reducing one's own
power.
In recent years, quality circle (QC) has become quite popular in the Indian work
organizations. Quality circle has many elements in it which lead to empowerment.
For example, allowing a group to find solution to their own problem rather than to
depend upon others for advice, has distinct possibility of increasing a strong sense of
efficacy, leading to empowerment. However, there is some basic difference between
the concept and practice of participative form of management and quality circle. The
former always enjoyed the blessings of the powers-that-be, they always came as a
part of the legislation or a government scheme. Whereas, participation in QC is more
of a voluntary nature, and so far no government directive has been handed about QC
(so good!). It is nonetheless, necessary to remember that quality circle too, like
participative management, has encountered severe setbacks. These two traditional
ways of empowering although do enhance the feeling of self efficacy among
organizational members, the approach is basically formal and structural. The way
100 innumerable well-intentioned government sponsored schemes fail in India is any
 ignoumbasupport.blogspot.in Conformity and
indication, this sphere also was no exception. Nonetheless, there is a growing demand Obedience
to know about the other ways of empowering people at the work place, because of its
inherent benefits.
However, empowering is also possible through informal social processes employed
many senior organizational members. Singh, Bhandarker (1990), in their study on
corporate success, have highlighted the importance of. empowering leadership used
by successful corporate chief executives. The authors observed that empowering
management style "reduces anxiety, increases security and confidence, and
encourages people to accept change and actively participate in it". All these five
corporate executives' main concern was not to make people do something but to make
their process of doing it possible, enable others, and enhance others' sense of
competence. The mechanism used for empowering is not by the introduction of
systems and procedures but mainly through informal social processes. On similar
lines, it has also been empirically demonstrated that employee motivation at work is,
to a considerable extent, a function of social influence attempts made by
organizational agents.
One form of empowering in the work organization through informal social process
can be easily perceived in the mentor protege relationships. Several studies of this
relationship strongly indicate that it can be instrumental in supporting both, career
advancement and personal growth. Mentors provide basically two types of functions
- career enhancing functions,- and psychological functions. The functions, such as
sponsorship, coaching, facilitating, exposure and visibility, offering, challenging
work, and protection are included under career enhancing functions. In the
psychological domain, the mentor offers role modeling, confirmation, counseling,
and friendship. Whereas career functions enhance the possibility of career
enhancement, psychological functions enhance the sense of competence, clarity of
identity, and role effectiveness of a protege.
Mentors, through their inter-personal relationships, enable, the proteges to develop
and grow in their organizational life. In some cultures, for example, the Japanese, the
relationship between superior-subordinate fulfills all the requirements of mentor-
protege relationships.
Based on Bandura's (1977, 1986) self efficacy model, Conger, Kanugo (1988)
demonstrate the empowerment in work situation helps feelings of self efficacy among
organizational members. However, the authors are more interested to ensure that the
informal social process in enhancing self efficacy beliefs should be meshed with
formal organizational policies and practices.
In the present competitive environment the onus lies with the manager to show
results to demonstrate his effectiveness. Towards this objective it may be necessary
for a manager to look beyond authority and power. The time has come when a
manager is to be more concerned with encouraging self efficacy belief in their
subordinates, to ensure that the subordinates assume personal responsibility etc. than
merely ensuring obedience from their subordinates. This is only possible by learning
new skills in empowering people. In a factor analytic. study (Das, 1992) it has been
observed that for empowering the subordinates managers have to basically
demonstrate three sets of behaviors. The first set of behavior has been described as
"giving exposure, visibility, and protection", and the second set has been described as
"facilitating career advancement". These two sets of behavior are oriented towards
developing the subordinates and helping them in career advancement. The third
factor has been named as "acceptance and encouragement", which has a potentiality
in enhancing interpersonal bondage.
4.11 SUMMARY
Conformity and freedom, obedience and empowerment has been a constant source of
conflict since the inception of civilization, Having defined conformity and obedience
this unit explains in detail ten situational factors that influence an individual's response
to group conformity pressures. Moving further in this unit we have explained the
dynamics of responses to the group pressures in the form of Compliance and
Identification. Conformity, Compliance and Identification are relatively transient
responses to group pressure but internalization is not. The satisfaction given by
internalisation is intense, this allows the influence to become 101
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independent of the source and an integral part of the internalizer. Further this unit
explains in detail Milgram's study on the dynamics of obedience to authority.
To instill obedience and conformity in the work situation managers have to use power.
This unit has explained the five categories of the sources of power identified by John
French and Bertram Raven viz., Reward Power, Coercive Power, Legitimate Power,
Referent Power and Expert Power, alongwith the need for looking at alternative
sources of power. Towards the end this unit has touched upon the outcome of the
dynamics of power in the organization and coping strategies against the expected
results i.e. why and how of empowerment,
4.12 Self Assessment Questions
1. What do you understand by the term conformity; explain? Describe the
situational factors that influence an individual's response to group conformity.
2. Compliance is another possible response to the influence a group can exert".
Elaborate this statement, explain the underlying concept.
3. Explain the experiment and important outcomes of Milgram's study on the
dynamics of obedience and authority.
4. Write short notes on the following:
(i) Reward Power
(ii) Legitimate Power
(iii) Referent power
(iv) Expert power
4.13 FURTHER READINGS
Bandura A : Social Foundations of Thought and Action': A Social Cognitive View.
Englewood Cliffs, N.J., Prentice-Hall, 1986.
Bandura A: Self efficacy: Towards a unifying theory of behavioural change.
Psychological Review 84, 191-215, 1977.
Bennis W G, Nanus B: Leaders. New York, Harper&Row,1985.
Conger J A, Kanungo R N: The empowerment process: integrating theory and
practice.
Academy of Management Review 13(3), 471-82, 1988.
Crozier, M. -- The Bureaucratic Phenomenon. University of Chicago Press, Chicago,
1964.
Das G S : Development of an Empowering Scale: Item Analysis and Factor
Structure. ASCI Journal of Management, Vol 22 No 2-3 Sept-Dec 1992.
Das GS, Cotton CC: Power balancing styles of Indian managers. Human Relations,
14(7), 533-51, 1988.
French, J.R.P., and Raven, B. - The bases of social power. In D.Cartwright (ed)
Studies in Social Power, University of Michigan, Institute for Social Research, Ann
Arber, 1959. Haire, M., Ghiselli, E., and Porter L. - Managerial Thinking, Wiley,
New York, 1966.
Luthans, F. - Organisational Behaviour. (86 edition)m Urwi Mcgrawhill, Boston,
1998.
Simon, H.A. - Authority. In Arannaberg, C.M., Barkin, 5., Chalmers, W.E. Wilensky,
H.L., Worthy, J.C., , and Dennis, B.D. (eds.). Research in Industrial Human
Relations. Harpar and Brothers, New York, 1957.
Singh P. Bhandarker A : Corporate Success: Transformational Leadership.
New Delhi, Wiley Eastern, 1990.
Swingle,P.G. - The Management of Power. Lawrence Erlbaun Associates Publishers,
Hillsdale, New Jersey, 1976.
Weber, M. - The theory of Social and Economic Organisation. Oxford University
Press, New York, 1947.
Wolff, K.H. (Edited and Translated) - The Sociology of Georg Simmel. Free Press,
New York, 1950.
Zald, M.N. - Political economy: A Framework for comparative analysis. In Zald,
M.N. (ed) Power in Organisation, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, 1970,
anderbilt University, Nashville, 1970,
102
 ignoumbasupport.blogspot.in The Concepts and System of
Roles
UNIT 5 CONCEPT AND SYSTEM OF
ROLES
Objectives
After going through this Unit you should be able to:
• Understand the concept of organizational roles
• Appreciate significance of role systems
• Prepare role space and role set maps
Structure
5,1 The Concept of Role
5.2 The Two Role Systems
5.3 Mapping Role Systems
5.4 Summary
5.5 Self Assessment Questions
5.6 Further Readings

5.1 THE CONCEPT OF ROLE

In, any social system, such as the family club, religious community, work
organization, etc., Individuals have certain obligations towards the system, which in
turn gives each one of them .a defined place in the society. This system of mutual
obligations can be called a role and the individual's place, a position or an office. For
example, when one joins a new club, one is admitted as member is defined in terms
of the hierarchical placement and privileges (the power one will enjoy). One also
agrees to abide by ` certain rules, carry out certain activities when required, volunteer
for certain work, etc. The other members of the club expect all this from the
individual, and one also expects to dd. the needful. All these expectations, together
with one's response to them comprise the role. Briefly then, and individual occupies a
hierarchical position in a system, along with the ensuing powers and privileges, and
performs certain functions in response to his and the member's expectations. In this
case the former is the office (or position) and the latter the role.
Role is the position one occupies in a social system, as defined by the functions on
performs in response to the expectations of the 'significant' members of social
system, and one's own expectations from that position or office. Role and office ( or
position), though two sides of the same coin, are, however, two separate concepts.
According to Katz and Kahn, "Office is essentially a relational concept, defining each
position in terms of its relationship to other and to the system as a whole".
Exhibit1
Office for Positional and Role

Office/Position Role
- is based on power relations - based on mutuality
- has related privieges - has related obligations
- is usually hierarchical - is non-hierarchical
- is created by other - is created by other and the role
occupant
- is part of the structure - is part of the dynamics
- is evaluative - is descriptive

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Exhibit 2
Organization as a Structure of Offices

While office is a relational and power-related concept, role is an 'obligational"

concept. Office is concerned with the hierarchical position and privileges, while a,
role is concerned with the obligations of position. Exhibit 1 distinguishes between
these two concepts.. While office is a point in the social structure defining an office
holder's power, role is integrated set of behavious expected from a person occupying
that office. An organization can be represented accoring to the offices, or the roles.
Exhibits 2 and 3 represent a part of an organization in two different ways.
Exhibit 3
Organization as a System of Roles

An office becomes a role when it is actually defined and determined by the

expectations of other office holders (as reflected in the way an office is discharged by
the concerned office holder). Each role has its own system, consisting of the role
occupant and those who have a direct relationship with him, and thereby, certain
expectations from the role.
Using the currently accepted terminology suggested by Kaiz and Kahn, we will term
the "significant' others having expectations from a role as role senders. They ' send'
expectations to the role. The role occupant also has expectations from his role, and in
that sense the role occupant is also a role sender:
Let us take an example. In a family the father has both a position (office) and a role.
Thee father's position defines his authority in the family. In some societies he is the
final decision make and the other members abide by his decisions. There are certain
expectation from the father that define his role - that he would earn for the family,
protect the family against threats, etc. In his position as the head or the family
system, his role is to maintain and protect the family. While the position gives him
some privileges, the role places certain obligations on him.
A role is not defined without the expectations of the role senders, including the role
6 occupant. The position of a personnel manager may be created in an organizations,
 ignoumbasupport.blogspot.in The Concepts and System of
but Roles

his role will be defined by the expectations (stated or unstated) that different persons
have from the personnel manager, and the expectations that he in turn, has from the
role. In this sense, the role gets defined in each system by the role senders, including
the role occupant.
However, a question that can be raised is: If the role is defined in each case by the
role senders, how can we talk about a role in general, e.g. the father's role? While
strictly speaking a role in general. does not make much sense, in a lager social system
the expectations from a role are largely shared, and have common elements. These
are generalised, and we therefore, talk about the role of the Indian mother, or the role
of a chairman in a public sector concern, etc.
Confusion sometimes arises because the word role has two different connotation. At
times it denotes the position a person holds in an organization along with the
expectations from that position (e.g. the role of a teacher, a policeman, etc), and
elsewhere it describes only the expected behaviour or activities (for example, a
disciplinarian or an evaluatory role or a teacher, task and maintenance roles, etc.). For
the sake of convenience we shall use the word role for a position a person holds in a
system (organization), as defined by the expectations various 'significant' persons,
including oneself, have from that person. We will use the tem function to indicate a
se inter-relaited expectations from a role. We can therefore say that while 'sales
manager' is a role, developing a sales force and customer contact are the related
functions.
Distinction needs to be made amongst certain work-related terms; office, role, job
functions, tasks, etc. Although there are no universally accepted definitions, work is
generally a wider terms, whereas office, role and job are ways or organizing work or
dividing responsibilities. Functions are sub-units of a role. A function can be further
subdivided into tasks. Exhibit 4 provides the definitions of these terms.
Exhibit 4

Work-Related Terms
Work is a wider concept linking a person with his tools and with others performing a similar
activity.
Office or position is a specific point in an organizational structure, defining the power of the
person occupying it.
Role' is the set of obligations generated by the 'significant' others, and the individual
occupying an office.
Job is a specific requirement to produce a product or achieve an objective.
Function is a group of expected behaviors for a role.
Example: An individual X may occupy an office of Branch Y of a bank. As a part of this
office the individual the. individual reports to the Regional Manager. Similarly, a large
number of persons, in turn, report to X. His role is to develop the branch by getting a
successively larger market share of deposits and advances. One of the functions under this
role' is to increase deposits. One task which he performs, as part of this function, is to
undertake a survey of potential depositors, another is to contact the prestigious and 'big'
depositors personally.

WORK.

OFFICE ROLE JOB

FUNCTION

TASKS

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The concept of role is vital for the integration of the individual with an organization.
The individual and organization come together through a role. As shown in Exhibit 5
the organization has its own structure and goals. Similarly, the individual has his
personality and needs (motivations). These interact with each other and to some
extent get integrated in a role. Role is also a central concept in work motivation. It is
only through a role that the individual and an organization interact with each other, as
shown in Exhibit 6.
Exhibit 5
Role as an Integrating Point of an Organization and the Individual

Exhibit 6
Role as an Interacting Region between an Organization and the Individual

5.2 THE TWO ROLE SYSTEMS

An organization can be defined as a system of roles. However, a role itself is a
system. From the individual's point of view there are two role system; the system of
various roles Which the individual carries and performs, and the system of various
role of which his role is a part. The first, we will call role space and the second, a role
set.

Each individual occupies and plays several roles. A person X, is a daughter, a

mother, a salesperson, an member of a club, a member of a voluntary organization,
and so on. All these roles constitute the role space of X. At the centre of the role
space is the self. As the concept of role is central to that of an organization, so also
the concept of self is central to the several roles of a person. The term 'self refers to
the interpretations the person makes about the referent' I".. It is a cognitive structure
which evolves from past experience with other persons and objects. Self can be
defined as the experience of an identity arising from a person's interactions with the
external reality - things, persons and systems.

A person performs various roles which are centred the self These roles are at varying
distances from the self (and from each other). These relationships define the 'role
space. Role space, is then a dynamic interrelationship between the self and the
various role an individuals occupies, and also amongst these roles.

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The distance between a role and the self indicates the extent to which the role is Roles
integrated with the self. When we do not enjoy a particular role or do not get
involved in it, there is a distance between the self and the role. We shall use the term
self-role distance to denote this: Similarly, there may be distance between two roles
that a person occupies. For example, the role of club membership may be, distant
from the, role of a husband: This we will term as inter-role distance or inter-role
conflict.

The role space map of an individual can be drawn by location the self in the centre,
an various roles occupied at varying distances from the self. Exhibit 7 presents the
role space of a person "A", who is personnel manger in a company. The numbers 9 to
1, for the various circles, represent distances. from the self 1 denoting the least
distance and 9 the most. The various roles of A are located in the four quadrants
according to the context (i.e., family, organization., profession or recreation). More
segments or role space can be added in the diagram.

The individual's role in the organization is defined by the expectations of other

significant roles, and those or the individual himself The role is pattern of inter
relationships between a role, and the other roles.

Katz and Kahn (1966) use the tern 'focal person' for the individual who occupies a
role, and role senders, for those within the role set of the individual. Here the terns
'role occupant' have been used and 'other roles' respective for them himself. The role
set map for an individual's role can be also prepared on the same lines as those
suggested for preparing a role space map. In a role set map the occupant role will be
in the centre, and all the other roles can be located at various points on the map.
Using a circular model, the roles can be located in concentric circles marked 9 to 1-9
indicating the roles closest to the occupant's role, and 1 indicating those which are the
most distant. We will use the tern inter-role distance to indicate the distance between
the occupant's role and the other roles. Lesser distance indicates higher role linkages
(which can be defined as, the reverse of inter-role distance). Role linkage is an
important concept in role satisfaction and role conflict. Exhibit 8 gives the„ role set
map of a person "A". 9
Role Dynamics
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Exhibit 8
Roles Set Map of "A"

5.3 MAPPING ROLE SYSTEMS

As suggested above there are two role systems for every person the role space and the
role set. Role space is the system of various roles that a person takes and performs,
whereas the role set is the system of his organizational role. In the former, the self is
in the centre and all roles that are performed are arranged around it. In the latter, the
organizational role is in the centre. With all the interacting roles arranged around it.

Knowledge of these two role systems in useful in understanding some role-related

problems, and thereby dealing with them in an effective manager. For example, and
individual's knowledge of how distant the self is from his different roles, can help in
reducing this distance. If the professional role of the individual (say, the Secretary of
a professional society) is distant from his self, he may like to analyse in detail, why is
it so, it may be tat the role requires extensive travel which the individual does not
like. This can be dealt with by negotiating with another office bearer on the latter's
willingness to share the travel load. Various methods of reducing self-role distance
will be discussed later, however, it is necessary to diagnose distances. This can be
done by preparing a role space map.

Similarly, a role set map can help an individual in formulating a visual impression of
the proximity (or distance) of various roles in role set from his focal role. This insight
may help in developing strategies for interrole linkages, A role set map may also give
an overview of the various important roles with which the individual interacts. Both
the role set and role space maps are, in effect, preliminary diagnostic tools.

Self Exercise

Mapping Role Space: List below, the various important roles you occupy and
perform in the organization (one main role), family (father/mother, son/daughter,
brother/sister,

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 ignoumbasupport.blogspot.in The Concepts and System of
etc.), professional society, club, any other organization, etc. Then rank them in the Roles
next column form the most important to the least important (interm of your
involvement).
Roles Rank of
Occupied/Performed Importance
1. ………………….. ………….....
2. ………………….. ………….....
3. ………………….. ………….....
4. ………………….. ………….....
5. ………………….. ………….....
6. ………………….. ………….....
7. ………………….. ………….....
8. ………………….. ………….....
9. ………………….. ………….....
10. ………………….. ………….....
Now prepare your role space map by plotting the listed roles on the map outline
given in Exhibt 9. The nince concentric circles in the map outline indicate distances
from the self (Which is at the centre.) The nearer a role is to be self, the more you are
involved in it, and the closer it should be plotted to the self.. In the map outline, circle
9 is the closest to the self, and circle 1 the farthest.
Exhibit 9
Outline of the Role Space Map

Mapping the Role Set : Prepare your role set map in the outline given in Exhibit 10,
as follows

i. Write your own role in the central circle of the map outline.

ii. Plot the other roles department-wise, according to the distances, you think, they
stand at from our role. Use each sector (A,B,C, etc.) on the map outline to
represent a particular department in the organization. You may further subdivide
the sector space to accommodate more departments if necessary.
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iii. Circle 9 in the outline map indicated the position closest to (least distant) your
role whereas circle 1 indicates the position farthest (most distant) from your
role. Distance indicates the sense of proximity you have with the role, The
closer the relationship, the closer you plot the other role to your own (9. being
the closest). The farther you plot the other role, the more distant is the
relationship you have with it 91 being the farthest).
Exhibit 10
Outline of the Role Set Map

5.4 SUMMARY
In this unit we have tried to understand the concept of role in relation to
organizational boundaries, as a part of total roles one occupies as an individual in
his/her life. As an individual one occupies several roles as explained in the beginning
of the unit. All the roles have different set of expectations from the individual. The
individual himself/ herself has certain preception of the expectation of the role. These
two may not necessarily match and hence create tension.

This unit has described Role Space and Role set concepts. Role Space is the whole
lot of role one occupies as. an individual but the role set refers to only those
concerning an individual in an organizational situation. Hence we are, in this course
and unit, basically concerned with the Role Set.

Towards the end this unit also discusses how you can map your role space and Role
Set. Do it yourself and learn.

5.5 SELF ASSESSMENT QUESTIONS

1. Explain the concept of role in relation to role space and role set

2. How does role become a source of conflict, explain with your own experience

3. Define and differentiate between Role space and Role set with examples

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5.6 FURTHER READINGS Roles

1. D. Katz and R. L. Kahn elaborated the concept of role in their. book The social
psychology of organization (Wiley, 1966).

2. U. Pareek's Making organizational roles effective gives details about the

concept of role and how to prepare maps of role space and role set and role set.

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UNIT 6 : ROLE ANALYSIS
Objectives
After going through this Unit you should be able to:
• understand the concept of role analysis
• appreciate the value of role analysis
• undertake role analysis exercise
Structure
6.1 Precursors of Role Analysis
6.2 The Need and Concept of Role Analysis
6.3 Uses of Role Analysis and Role Directory
6.4 Some Key Terms in Role Analysis
6.5 Role Analysis Technique
6.6 Comprehensive Role Analysis
6.7 Comprehensive Role Analysis in 'a Large Organization 6.8 Summary
6.9 Self Assessment Questions
6.10 Further Readings
Annexures: 1. Steps in Role Analysis Used in LIC
2. Comprehensive Role Analysis of Head of a Training Unit

6.1 PRECURSORS OF ROLE ANALYSIS

There was always the need for clarity of what a person occupying a role in an
organization is supposed to do. This was usually done by experts or senior
executives, preparing a list of requirements for the job holders. These were called
"job descriptions", a term still prevalent in some organizations. However, more
systematic attention was needed. This was done by what was called, "job analysis" -
analysis of responsibilities a job contains. The term "job analysis" was later replaced
by the term "task analysis".

The traditional approach to task analysis is characterized by two models: the British
model and the America model. The British model (Annet, et al., 1971) has
emphasized analysis in terms of specific activities for which the job holder is held
responsible (Boydell, 1970), whereas the American model (U.S. Civil Service
commission, 1973) has included an emphasis on the competencies needed for the job.
With both models the analysis is usually carried out by management with the help of
experts, and in other respects also the two models are quite similar. Both have been
found to be useful in analyzing semiskilled and skilled work.

It is becoming obvious, however, that the traditional approach to task analysis is not
suitable for the increasingly complex reality of organizational work. In particular, this
approach is inadequate when it is applied to:

a. Managerial jobs that are more complex than those previously subjected to
analysis;

b. Jobs in public systems that are characterized by complex responsibilities; and

14 c. Group of team tasks, which are increasingly emerging as a way of organizing

work in industries.
 ignoumbasupport.blogspot.in Role Analysis
A different approach to task analysis was suggested (Pareek, 1988) in which task
analysis was defined as the process of identifying the tasks of a particular job in a
particular organizational context by analyzing any discrepancies uncovered by this
process. For this purpose a six-step model of task analysis was suggested:
1. Contextual analysis;
2. Activity analysis;
3. Task Delineation;
4. Competency analysis;
5. Performance analysis; and
6. Discrepancy analysis

6.2 THE NEED AND CONCEPT OF ROLE ANALYSIS

Task analysis treats jobs as static and predetermined. It does not do justice to the
complexity of the roles.. Roles in an organization are defined by the expectation of
role set members (occupants of roles having face-to-face interaction with the focal
role). Such expectations generally remain unarticulated and are picked up by the
focal role on the basis of some cues. As a result several expectations may remain
unshared or unresponded. Therefore, there is a need to systematically generate and
integrate such expectations. This is done by Role Analysis.

Role analysis is a structured exercise to provide an overall picture of what the role is
supposed to achieve, the rationale for its existence in the organization, its
interlinkage, and the attributes of an effective role occupant. Role Analysis helps in
defining reciprocal expectations and in bringing objectivity to formal an informal
exchange which enhances • the participative spirit by reducing distrortions caused by
role ambiguity. This is the major contribution of role analysis in the development of
participative culture and team building.

Role Analysis leads to the building of Role Directory, which contains Role Analysis
or the major roles in a department/unit/organization.

6.3 USES OF ROLE ANALYSIS AND ROLE DIRECTORY

As stated above the Role Directory is a compendium of Role Analysis of all the
major roles in an organization (department, unit, company).

The purpose of the role directory is to increase clarity of the various in the
organization, their key functions, critical attributes and norms.

The following are the benefits. The Role Directory helps the role occupants:

1. To have better role clarity

2. To develop the required competency and skills to perform the key functions

3. To prepare action plan for achieving the objectives: under the key functions

4. In self development and career/succession planning

5. To have higher role/job satisfaction

6. To reduce role stress, if any

7. To improve enabling climate for organizational development

8. In performance planning, appraisal review, development and job rotation. 15

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The Role Directory contains Role analysis of several roles. For each role the
following aspects are covered in the Role Directory.
1. Organizational Position
2. Role Set
3. Mission of the Role
4. Key Functions
5. Critical Attributes
6. Norms

6.4 SOME KEY TERMS IN ROLE ANALYSIS

Some terms used in Role Analysis, and Role Directory, are given below with their
short connotations.
1. Role Directory: It is a document compiling the key functions, critical attributes,
and norms of the various key roles in an organization.
2. Role: The position occupied by an individual in a social system and as defined
by the functions one performs in response to the expectations of the significant
members of the social system and one's own expectations from the position
occupied by oneself.
3. Organizational
Position: The point in
the hierarchy of the organization, as reflected in reporting relationship.
4. Focal Role: The role being considered and discussed for Role Analysis.
5. Role Occupant: The person holding an performing the focal role.
6. Mission of the Role: The main purpose of the existence of the role in the
organization; its basic and distinct contribution to the organization goals.
7. Role Set: The constellation of the significant role around and interacting with
focal role, having various expectations from the focal role, including the focal
role itself.
8. Key Function : Function is a combination of activities. Key functions are those
areas which assume priority over all other functions agreed upon by the focal role
occupant and other role set member; these are critical / very specific to the
present/future role performance.
9 Critical Attributes: Essential requirements and qualities of .the role occupant,
which are vital to make the role more effective.
10. Norms: Behavior expected from the focal role occupant by other members of the
role set.

6.5 ROLE ANALYSIS TECHNIQUE (RAT)

Thomas and Dayal (1968) developed a technique of role analysis. The following four
steps are involved in RAT (Dayal, 1969). As will be seen, RAT distinguishes
between prescribed and discretionary elements in the activities performed by the role
occupant.

1. The "focal role" individual initiates discussion of his role by analyzing the
purpose of the role in the organization how it fits into the total range of activities
and its rationale.

2. The "focal role" individual lists in the blackboard his activities consisting of the
prescribed and discretionary elements. Other role incumbents and his immediate
superior question him on the definition of his tasks, if there is confusion in their
perceptions, the ambiguity is cleared.
16
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3. The "focal role" individual lists his expectations form each of those other roles
in the group which he feels most directly affect his own work: "Role Senders"
state their expectations, and after discussion the "focal role" and the "role
senders" arrive at an agreement, among themselves, on their mutual
expectations.
4. The "focal role" individual writes up his role. This consists of all aspects of his
work discussed above.
Life Insurance Corporation of India, using RAT approach, role analysis of
different operating and specialist positions as a part of their OD and HRD
interventions. The synopsis of the methodology is reproduced in Annexure 1
from Pareek (1993, pp: 68-70).

6.6 COMPREHENSIVE ROLE ANALYSIS (CRA)

Comprehensive Role Analysis (CRA) is done to define and clarify the boundaries of
the focal roles, to identify its key contributions to the organizational goals, and to
develop their key functions, critical attributed and forms of behavior.
The following steps are involved in CRA:
1. Identify the focal role for analysis
2. Finalize the role set for each focal role
3. The focal role occupant and his role set members discuss and finalize the mission
or the role
4 The focal role occupant writes down the functions he/she offers to do in that role.
5. Every other member of the role set writes down what he expects the focal role to
do while performing the said role .
6. The focal role occupant consolidates the expectations for discussion
7. The focal role occupant and role set members sit together and discuss and,
through consensus, prepare a list of key functions of the focal role
8. They also prepare a list of critical attributes that are necessary for effective
performance of the focal role; The lists are first prepared by the role occupant as
well as the role set members, and then consolidated through discussion. They
also prepare the norms for the role occupant as to what he should/should not do
while playing his role
Let us examine these steps:
1. Focal roles: Although all roles need to be taken for role analysis, it may be
useful to start with some key or strategic roles. While selecting focal roles for
analysis, it may be useful to ensure that key functions and the main levels are
represented. For example, production , marketing, maintenance, finance, HRM
may be taken up, and one or two roles from each of the three levels may be
taken up for analysis. Later others roles can be taken up for analysis.
Another criterion for selection of the focal roles may be the need of clarity
required for some roles. If some roles have been created recently, they need to
be taken up for analysis. For example, a production-oriented organization may
decide to change to market-oriented one (as happened with Larsen & Toubro in
early 70's), or on operating unit may introduce business planning as an
important role (as happened with the State Bank of India). Such newly created
role (for example of Area Managers or General Manager - Planning ) may be
taken up for analysis on a priority basis.
3. Role Set: All these roles with which the focal role interacts frequently form the role 17
set of the focal role. These should include the reporting officer, colleagues and
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subordinates from the same department, as well as well as colleagues from the
departments with whom the focal role occupant often interacts. As a rule of
thumb, there may not be more than 10 members of the role set.

3. The Mission of the Role : It is necessary to understand the context of the role,
i.e. the organizations. Without such understanding the mission of the role may
not be clear. Then the role set members discuss and decide the mission of the
focal role - what is the unique contribution of the focal role in that mission is
added. A consensus statement of the mission of the role may be prepared by the
role set members.

4. Self-expectations: The focal role occupant prepares a list of functions he/she at

present does, and these which he/she would like to do. A function is a
meaningful group of activities. The function listed should be key functions.
Usually such key functions should not exceed 8. A form (shown in Exhibit 1)
can be used for this purpose.
Exhibit 1
EXPECTATIONS BY ROLE OCCUPANT
Your Role __________________ Your Name ______________________________

List below in Column 2 the functions (by using verb form, like 'To supervise'), you
currently perform. Then list the functions you would like to perform.

In column 3 rate (A, B, C) each function for its importance.

a. will indicate that according to you the function is essential.

b. will indicate that according to you the function is important but not essential.

c. will indicate that according to you the function is not so important and you
would like to perform it if you have time.

Sr. No. Functions Rating (A, B or C)

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

5. Expectations of other Rote Set Members : While the focal occupant is

writing down his/her role expectations, other members of his/her role set
individually also write their expectations from the focal role. They indicate
importance of these functions, and also list functions which the focal role is
performing now, but should not perform. Lastly, list any behaviours they
expect from the focal role occupant. For example, some one may expect that
18 the focal role occupant should involve his junior colleagues in major decision.
This is not a function, but may be an important expectation. Such behaviours
should be important expectation. Such behaviours should be noted down: A
form can be used for this purpose (See Exhibit 2).
 ignoumbasupport.blogspot.in Role Analysis
Exhibit 2
EXPECTATIONS BY ROLE SET MEMBERS
Expectations from (role): _______________________________________________
Your role _________________________Your name _________________________
In column 2 below list the functions (by using verb form like 'To coordinate'), you
would like the role occupant to perform.
In column 3 rate each function for its importance by writing respectively A,B,C,
against them, where
A. indicates that the function is essential
B. indicates that the function is important but not essential
C. indicates that the function is not much important and the role occupant should
attend to it only when he gets time.
In column 4 write against each function how much time you would like the role
occupant to spend on this function, in terms of percentage of total time at this
disposal. Please remember, the total of all your suggested percentages for the various
functions should be 100.
1. 2. 3. 4.
Sr. No. Functions suggested for the Role Rating % age of time in be spent
1. To
2. To
3. To
4. To
5. To
6. To
7. To
8. To
2 List below functions (other than the ones listed above) which the role occupant
should not perform, and which you may be apprehensive, he may be tempted to
spend time on.
1. To ___________________________ 2. To
3. To ___________________________ 4. To
5. To ___________________________ 6. To
3. List below the behaviours (other than the functions listed in sequence 1 above)
you would like the role occupant to show.
1. To ___________________________ 2. To
3. To ___________________________ 4. To
5. To ___________________________ 6. To
6. Consolidation of Expectations: Self-expectations as shown in Exhibit 1 and
expectations from other members of the Role Set (from Exhibit 2 from each
member) are then taken by the focal role occupant. He prepares a summary of
these expectations, listing each suggested function (by self or others) and
degree of agreement amongst role senders (members of the role set, including
the focal role occupant). A form (Exhibit 3) can be used. In this form the focal
role occupant completes the first two columns.
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Exhibit 3
EXPECTATIONS SUMMARY
Role ……………………………... Your Name………...............................................

1. After collecting the forms filled in by several role senders of your. role,
summarize the functions below. Start with A Category (essential) functions, go
to B (important functions), and in the end list C (not so important) functions.
Against each function mention the degree of a agreement amongst the role
senders (including yourself) as H (high), M (medium) or L (low).

2. List expected behaviours and your agreement/disagreement with these.

3. Take up for discussion the functions on which there is low agreement with the
role senders, and come to some agreement. Also discuss, develop consensus
on, and edited suggested behaviours.

Functions A,B,C, Degree of Modification

rating agreement after discussion
(H, M, L,)
1..
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.

Suggested Behaviours Your Agreement

Disagreement/Modifications

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
7. Consensus Building on Key Functions: Form 3 is used for discussion on
differences in priority, and to ensure that only key functions are listed.
Decisions are taken based on consensus, although in developing consensus that
point of view of the focal role occupant should be given due importance. As
20 stated earlier, usually such a list of key functions should not exceed eight.
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8. Behavioural Norms and Critical Attributes : The Focal role occupant takes
up the list of behaviours consolidated in Form 3, discusses these with order
role set members, develops consensus, and edits the list. These are behavioural
norms. The group also discuss what critical attributes (CA) a focal role
occupant should have to be very effective in the role. Such atributes may
include qualifications, experience, and competencies which make the
difference for effectiveness. For example, for leadership roles visioning is a
critical attribute. This list should not be too long; as a rule of thumb it may not
exceed eight.
The consolidated and final consensus is then put down together.
Comprehensive Role Analysis of the role of Head of Training Unit is
suggested in Appendix 2.
While the above outline is a standard one, several variations can be done. Two
examples are given here to indicate such variations.
Extensive role analysis was carried out in the Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. both
in refineries and other offices. Role analysis results were used for setting
performance objectives, monthly performance reviews etc. Several volumes of
Role Directories were published. The following steps were involved in the
exercise (Sarangi, 1989):
1. Identification of roles
2. Finalisation of the role set members for each focal role.
3. Bringing the focal role and the role members together at a behavioural skills
workshop.
4. Preparation of a list by each focal member, of what he/she offers to each role
set member while performing the given role in an organisation.
5. Preparation of a list of what each role set member expects from the focal role in
terms of role performance.
6. A detailed role description, after detailed discussions by the role set.
7. Identification by the head role and the boss of the agreed key performance
areas for the focal role from the role descriptions that have emerged.
8. Preparation by the role set members and the focal role, of a list of critical
attributes required for effective performance by any role occupant in a focal
role.
9. Development of a common list of critical attributes for each focal role, after
discussions.
10. Goal setting by each focal role member on the basis of the identified key
performance areas (for the period of action research project).
11. Suggestions of goals by the superior (of the focal role member on the basis of
the identified KPAs (for the period of the action research project).
12. Agreed goals by the focal role and the, superiod, after discussion (for action
research project)
13. Monthly review of the performance of each focal role. At the end of the action
research project for a six-month period, a total review of the performance of
each focal role was done.
14. Sharing' of the experience, and learning from this effort by the members.
In order to achieve job and organisational clarity, role analysis was attempted at
Crompton Greaves. A task force was set up for role analysis. All the role set
members participated in the exercise, and both the role occupants and the other
members of the role set listed their expectations. The distinguishing features of this
exercise were, involving the best performers in an in-depth analysis, participation by
the top managers, and placing each role withing the perspective of the mission and
strategy of the organisation. The roles were finalised after discussions with the vice-
presidents and general manager, and were reviewed by the managing director. Role
analysis was done for 500 managerial positions, followed by 500 junior level officers 21
(Silvera, 1990).
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6.7 COMPREHENSIVE ROLE ANALYSIS IN A LARGE
ORGANIZATION
Comprehensive Role Analysis (CRA) may ideally be carried out for all key roles in
every department and region/unit of an organization. For example this was done
extensively in the Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. in all its refineries and HO, and Role
Directories were prepared. However, a large organization may find it a time
consuming process Some Adjustments may be made to save time.

The purpose of CRA is not only to have clear role descriptions (or a Role Directory),
But more importantly, to give experience of the process of consensus and team
building around role clarity. This purpose can be achieved only by actually doing the
exercise of CRA. In order to achieve both the objectives of helping people to
experience CRA and to save time some variations can be used. Some suggested steps
are given below:

1. Identify the key roles for CRA

2. Distribute these roles amongst the units/areas/regions of the organizations each

one taking up one, two or three roles for CTA. Work can then be
simultaneously carried out for CRA of all selected roles.

3. CRA sheets of the various roles can be sent to those units/areas where these
ware not carried out. The role set numbers of the focal roles already analysed
can review the CRA of these roles, and suggest modification. All suggested
modifications received can be reviewed by a Task Force, and the role profiles
can be finalized, and preferably published in a Role Directory: This procedure
was adopted by the United Insurance Company.

Role Directory can be used for various purposes; Work planning (breaking key
functions into time-bound objection), performance review, potential appraisal,
training, rationalization of roles (by examining missions of the roles, whether any
significant value is added or unique contribution made by the next role) etc.

6.8 SUMMARY
The ultimate objective of this unit has been to make you learn to undertake the role
analysis exercise by letting you understand the concept and importance of role
analysis. Role analysis is a structured exercise to provide an overall picture of what
the role is supposed to achieve, the rationale for its existence in the organization, its
interlinkages and the attributes of an effective role occupant. This unit also provides
the role directory, explaining the help it provides to the role occupants, explaining
some key terms in role analysis. Role Analysis Techniques (RAT) and
Comprehensive Role Analysis (CRA) has also been explained in this unit.

6.9 SELF ASSESMENT QUESTIONS

Define and describe what is role analysis, how is it different from task analysis and
job analysis. Explain with examples:

Why is role analysis important for an organization, list out the advantages/importance
of this technique for the organizational climate and functioning,

Also list out the limitations of Role Analysis.

Describe salient features of Role Analysis Technique (RAT), explain with example.
22
What is Comprehensive Role Analysis (CRA) discuss the steps involved in CRA in
detail.
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6.10 FURTHER READINGS
1. Annet, J. et al. (1971). Task analysis.
2. Boybell, T.H. (1970). A guide to job analysis. London: BACIT;
3 Dayal, I. (1969). Role analysis technique in job description. California
Management Review, 11 (4), 47-50.
4. Dayala, I. & J. Thomas (1969). Operation E: Developing a new organisation.
Journal of Applied Behavioural Science, 4 (4), 473-506.
5. Pareek, U. (1988). Task analysis for Human Resource Development. In J. W.
Pfeiffer (Ed.) The 1988 annual: Developing Human Resources (pp. 245-154),
San Diego, C.A.: University Associates.
6. Pareek, U. (1993). Making Organisational roles effective (pp. 68-70). New
Delhi. Tata McGraw Hill.
7. Sarangi, P.K. (1989). A descriptive note on role analysis: Experience of Indian
Oil Corporation Ltd. In T. V. Rao, K.K. Verma, A. K. Khandelwal & E.
Abraham (Eds.) Alternative approaches and strategies of human resource
development (pp.264-274). Jaipur: Rawat Publications.
8. Silveira, D.M. (1990). Human Resource Development : Indian experience.
New Delhi: News India Publications.
9. US Civil Service Commission (1973). Job analysis: Key to better management.
Washington, D. C.: Author.

Annexure 1

Steps in Role Analysis Use in LIC

The scope of role analysis

1. Role analysis must provide an overall picture of what the job is supposed to
achieve and what it contributes to the total interlinking operations of a
particular unit. It must also give a clear idea of the prescribed elements of the
job and within the scope of the job, the core areas of discretion, It is assumed
that a meaningful job must provide considerable scope for judgment of the part
of the individual concerned, but his area of decision making must not infringe
upon the role boundary of other positions. For this purpose areas of descretion
should be indicated.
2. It is always useful to carry out a work-flow analysis and delineate the areas of
priority. It is also useful to discuss in concrete terms, what a person has bone
over the last your, last month or last week, so that one is able to obtain a
realistic position of his/her work.
3. It is often found that certain tasks are repeated at two or three levels. The
superior may be carrying out the same work as his subordinate. It is useful to
make a note of this and discuss the matter with the superior in order to
retionalise both the jobs. Supervision is exercised through critical indicators of
the quality of work done by the subordinate, and not by going through the job
of the subordinates,
4. At times, the assignment consists mainly of repetitive jobs. It is necessary to
make a note of this and discuss the role with the superior officer. The purpose
of such a discussion would be to rearrange jobs in such a way that each has a
discussion discretion and a distinctive contribution.
5. At times, it is found that pertain jobs are overlapping, and this could have
happened over a period of time. Moreover, many important aspects of the
work, which need to be done, remain unattended. In such cases, the roles will
have to be 23
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redesigned. There may be a case for combining two roles in certain areas. In
such an event it is necessary (i) to first define these two roles separately and
then combine them and (ii) until such time that the combining of roles is
achieved, it will be useful to have separate roles.
Essential elements of a Role
1. The basic elements should be commitment, accountability and responsibility. A
position is supposed to fulfil these towards the overall purpose of the office.
2. Every role has two junctions - Direct and Supervisory.
3. Direct aspects of a role include:
i. Norm setting for performance
ii. Quality of decisions and operations
iii. Efficiency of overall operations
iv. Cost effectiveness through systems improvement and improvement of
procedures
v. Level of performance in terms of norms
vi. Anticipation of problems
Supervisory responsibility of a role includes:
i. Control, which can be exercised through norms and the analysis of relevant
data
ii Service, which includes updating technical knowledge, training of staff,
analyzing date, problem solving and building confidence.
Prescribed Elements
1. The purpose of role needs to be linked with activities. This is how prescribed
Elements' have an important place in a role description.
2. All aspects of, the job-small/occasional/special, should be taken into account.
3. Relations with other tasks/activities should be considered.
4. Boundary of the various activities should be taken into account.
5. It is not a Manual, but it shows the range of tasks/activities.
6. Should give a total perspective of the job to a role holder and to the others.
7. Personal responsibility areas should be defined.
Discretionary Elements
1. How can the job be performed better in areas that lie within the control of the
role holder?
2 What can he suggest to higher levels in order to improve the effectiveness of
the job?
3. How should the job/role be modified?
Steps in Role Analysis
1. The role incumbent or the role holder is interviewed in depth to find out the
nature of work, the inter-relationships with other jobs and the nature of
discretion that he exercises.
2 The interviewer writes out the role analysis which is then discussed with the
role holder. On the basis of feed back received from the role holder, the 'draft
role'may be corrected/revised.
3. The revised draft role is then discussed with the superior officer to whom the
role holder reports. This would facilitate a check on whether the draft role
reflects the expectations of the superior and the other members of the role set
Where necessary, further corrections may be made on the basis of feedback
from the superior officer. .
24 4. where the superior officer at the District or Zonal Office (DO; ZO) is not a
HOD, the re-revised draft role is shown to the HOD in the functional area and
his comments, if any, may be noted.
 ignoumbasupport.blogspot.in Role Analysis
5. The same interviewer does a role testing in another zone by discussing the re-
revised draft role holder looking after the same functions, with his superior,
and with the HOD at the DO or ZO, where necessary. The interviewer notes
down any differences, that come to his notice as part of this role testing.
6. The re-revised daft role, as also the differences observed while practicing in
another zone are placed before the consultant for discussing. In a few cases, it
may turn out that the roles, performed are considerably deferent in the different
zones; in such cases, it would be desirable to rationalise these roles or prepare
new roles for such positions. if the differences are minor, it may not be
necessary to carry out the entire exercise separately for each zone.
7. The final draft role is placed before the top management for approval.
Annexure 2
Comprehensive Role Analysis of Head of a Training Unit.
Role Head of Training Unit
Organizational Position: Reports to Vice-President (Human Resources). Has
colleagues (at the same level) General Managers (HRM and HRD). Has seven
Faculty members who, besides their professional work also take, by rotation, roles of
Directors of Facilities, Programmes, Research and Evaluation, Action Research,
Consultancy and Learning Resources (e.g. Teaching Aids, Library, Publications etc.).
Role Set: VP (HR), GM (HRM), Heads of other Functions, Faculty Members.
Mission of the Role:
Ensure that "training system" optimises effectiveness of individuals, roles, teams,
interteams and the total organisation to achieve its goals, and in moving towards the
future vision.
Key Functions:
1. Develop a comprehensive concept of "training" as an instrument of
organizational effectiveness, and shaping, managing and instituionalising
change to realise the organizational vision (training, consultancy, action
research).
2 Stimulate and help Heads of different functions/units/departments to prepare
their long-term and annual training plans.
3. Search, attract and retain the most competent faculty
4. Nurture and mentor the faculty
5. Build strong linkages with the organizational leaders, external professional
groups, other large client systems
6. Encourage continuous innovations in training in order to ensure that various
human units (individuals, teams, the organisation) continue to remain the main
competitive advantage for the organisation.
7. Participate, as a member of top management, in business planning and strategy
formulation.
Critical Attributes
1. Significant experience at least in two functions and two locations
2. Knowledge and understanding of training, action research and consultancy
3. Good track record as "a line manager
4. Visioning
5. Inspiring , encouraging, nurturing, empowering with enough emphasis on
accountability
6. Commitment to quality, high standards and integrity
7. Networking competence
Norms
1. Should involve faculty and others in most decision making
2. Should give due credit to deserving people
3. Should be firm when required
4. Should be a role model.
25
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UNIT 7 ORGANIZATIONAL STRESS AND
BURNOUT
Objectives

After going through this unit you should be able to understand:

• the meaning of organisational stress

• the nature of and different types of role stress
• the meaning of burnout
• the different stages and sources of burnout
Structure
7.1 What is Stress?
7.2 Organizational Stress
7.3 The Concept: of Role Stress
7.4 What is Burnout?
7.5 Stages of Burnout
7.6 Sources of Burnout
7.7 Summary
7.8 Self Assessment Questions
7.9 Further Readings

7.1 WHAT IS STRESS?

The origin of the concept of stress predates antiquity. Derived from the Latin
word `Stringere", stress was popularly used in the seventeenth century to
mean hardship, .strain, adversity or affliction. It was used in the eighteenth
and nineteenth centuries to denote force, pressure, strain or strong effort with
reference to an object or person. In engineering and physics, the term implies
an external force or pressure exerted to distort and being resisted by the
person or object on which it is exerted. In psycho-physiology, stress refers to
some stimulus resulting in a detectable strain that cannot be accommodated by
the organism and which ultimately results in impaired health or behavior.

The term stress has been approached in at least four different ways. Firstly, as the
stimulus or external force acting on the organism secondly as the response or changes
in physiological functions; thirdly, as an interaction between an external force and the
resistance opposed to it, as in biology, and finally, as a comprehensive phenomenon
encompassing all the three.

Hans Selye's (1956) "General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS)" has been widely held as
a comprehensive model to explain the stress phenomenon. This three-stage model
states that when an organism is confronted with a threat, the general physiological
response occurs in three stages:

1. Alarm Reaction: The first stage includes an initial "shock phase" in which
resistance is lowered and a "counter-shock phase" in which defensive
mechanisms become active.

Alarm reaction is characterised by autonomous excitability; adrenalin

discharge increased heart rate, muscle tgone, and blood content; and gastro-
intestinal ulceration. Depending on the nature and intensity of the threat and the
26 condition of the organism, the periods of resistance vary and severity of
symptoms may differ from `mild invigoration' to `disease adaptation'.
 ignoumbasupport.blogspot.in Organisational Stress and
2. Stage of Resistance: Maximum adaptation occurs during this stage. The Burnout
bodily signs characteristic of alarm reaction disappear. Resistance increases to
levels above normal. If the stressor persists, or the defensive reaction proves
ineffective, the organism deteriorates to the next stage.
3. Stage of Exhaustion: When the adaptation energy is exhausted, signs of alarm
reaction reappear and resistance level begins to decline irreversibly. The
organism collapses.
A diagrammatic view of these stages is shown in Figure I.
Figure I: General Adaptation Syndrome

Duration of Exposure to Stress

Source: Selye, H. (1956). The Stress of Life. New York: McGraw-Hill
The first major shortcoming of this theory, according to Pestonjee (1987), is that it is
based on researches carried out on infra-human subjects. In such experiments, the
stressors are usually physical or environmental, whereas the human organism is not
always confronted by such stressors. Second, Selye's work on stress depends on the
existence of a non-specific physiological response. But, it has been noted by
researchers that there are certain stimuli, for example, exercise, fasting and heat,
which do not produce non-specific response and hence, the General Adaptation
Syndrome (GAS) does not hold true.
Third, intrapsychic or social (interpersonal/interactional) factors emerge as major
stresors in human beings. These have not been given their due place in this approach.
Finally, the reactions of infra-human subjects are more direct, perceptible and (hence)
easily measurable. This is not true of human subjects as their responses are always
mediated through several layers of cultural and social filters.
Pestonjee (1992) has attempted to present the nature and consequences of the stress
phenomenon. He has identified three important sectors of life in which stress
originates. These are (a) job and organization, (b) the social sector, and (c)
intrapsychic sector. The first, namely, job and organization, refers to the totality of
the work environment (task, atmosphere, colleagues, compensations, policies etc.)
The social sector refers to the social/cultural context of one's life. It may include
religion, caste, language, dress, food' habits etc. The intrapsychic sector encompasses
those things which are intimate and personal like temperament, values, ability and
health. It is contended that stresses can originate in any of these three sectors or in
combinations thereof

7.2 ORGANISATIONAL STRESS

The modem world, which is said to be a world of achievements, is also a world of
stress. One finds stress everywhere, whether it be a family, a business organisation/
enterprise or any other social or economic organization. The extent of stress is,
however, a matter of degree. Some organizations are more harmonious whereas
others have greater friction and tension.
Stress in organizations has been defined in terms of misfit between a person's skills
and abilities and the demands of his/her job and as a misfit in terms of a person's
needs not being fulfilled by his job environment. Cooper and Marshall (1976) are of
the view that by occupational stress is meant environmental factors or stressors such
as work overload, role conflict, role ambiguity, and poor working conditions 27
associated with a
Role Dynamics ignoumbasupport.blogspot.in
particular job. Caplan et al. (1975) define organizational stress in general and
role stress in particular. From the point of view of an individual, two role
systems are important: role space and role set.
Role Space: Each individual occupies and plays several roles. A person 'X' is a son, a
father, an executive, a member of a club and so on. Al these roles constitute role
space. In the centre of the role space is the self. Role space, thus, can be defined as
"the dynamic interrelationship both between the self and the various roles an
individual occupies, and amongst these roles."
Role Set: The individual's role in the organization is defined by the expectations of
other significant roles, and those of the individual himself/herself. The role set is "the
pattern of relationship between the role being considered and other roles.
Pareek (1983) pioneered work on the role stress by identifying as many as ten
different types of organisational role stresses. They are described here briefly.
1. Inter-Role Distance (IRD): It is experienced when there is a conflict between
organisational and non-organizational roles. For example, the role of an
executive versus the role of a husband / wife
2. Role Stagnation (RS): This kind of stress is the result of the gap between the
demand to outgrow a previous role and to occupy a new role effectively. It is
the feeling of being stuck in the same role. Such a type of stress results in
perception that there is no opportunity for one's career progression.
3. Role Expectation Conflict (REC): This type of stress is generated by different
expectations by different significant persons about the same' role; and the role
occupant's ambivalence as to whom to please.
4 Role Erosion (RE): This kind of role stress is the function of the role.
occupant's feeling that some functions which should properly belong to his /
her role are transferred to / or performed by some other role. This can also
happen when the functions are performed by the role occupant but the credit
for them goes to someone else. Another manifestation is in the form of
underutilisation in the role.
5. Role Overload (RO): When the role occupant feels that there are too many
expectations from the significant roles in his/her role set, he/she experiences
role overload. There are two aspects of this stress: quantitative and qualitative.
The former refers to having too much to do, while latter refers to things being
too difficult and the accountability in the role.
6. Role Isolation (RI): This type of role stress refers to the psychological
distance between the occupant's role and other roles in the same role set. It is
also defined as role distance which is different from inter-role distance (IRD),
in the sense that while IRD refers to the distance among various occupied by
the same individual, role isolation (RI) is characterized by the feelings that
others do not reach out easily, indicative of the absence of strong linkages of
one's role with other roles. This can be geographic or systematic.
7. Personal Inadequacy (PI): This type of stress arises when the role occupant
feels that he/she does not have the necessary skills and training for effectively
performing the functions expected from his/her role. This is bound to happen
when the organizations do not impart periodic training to enable the employees
to cope with the fast changes both within and outside the organization.
8. Self-Role Distance (SRD): When the role a person occupies goes against
his/her self-concept, then he/she feels self-role distance type of stress. This is
essentially a conflict arising out of mismatch between the person and his/her
job.
9. Role Ambiguity (RA): It refers to the lack of clarity about the expectations of
the role which may arise out of lack of information or understanding. It may
exist in relation to activities, responsibilities, personal styles, and norms and
may operate at three stages:
a) When the role sender holds his expectations about the role,
28 b) When he/she sends it, and
c) When the occupant receives those expectations
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10. Resource Inadequacy (Rin): This type of stress is evident when the role Burnout
occupant feels that he/she is not provided with adequate resources for
performing the functions expected from his/her role.
Pareek (1983) developed and standardised the Organisational Role Stress. Scale
(ORS Scale) to measure the above mentioned role stresses. He noted that until
recently researches were done on three role stresses, namely, role ambiguity, role
overload and role conflict. However, he found many other role stresses in
organizations. The ORS scale is certainly one of the best instruments available today
for measuring a wide variety of role stresses.
If is to be notedhere that role-based stresses not only affect the pleasantness on the
job and increase general fatigue but also reduce one's potentiality to perform
effectively as they tend to immobilise the person to use the available resource
effectively.
Cooper, Cooper and Eaker (1988) have identified the following six major sources of
stress at work.
1) Factors Intrinsic to the job:
• Working conditions: The physical surroundings, i.e. noise, lighting, smells and
all the stimuli that affect an individual's senses can affect mood and overall
mental state.
• Shift work: Many workers have jobs which require them to work in shifts;
some of which go round the clock. Research studies have found that shift work
is common occupational stress that affect blood chemistry, metabolic rates,
blood sugar levels, mental efficiency, and work motivation. Shift work also
affects sleep patterns, family, and social life.
• Work overload: Two types of workload have been described by researchers.
Quantitative overload refers to having a lot of work to do. Qualitative overload
refers to work that is too difficult for an individual.
2) Role in the Organization:
When a person's role in an organization is clearly defined and understood and when
expectations placed on the individual are also clear and non-conflicting, stress can be
kept to a ;minimum.
Ivanceivich and Matteson (1980) have identified three critical factors - Role
Ambiguity, Role Conflict, and the Degree of Responsibility for others - as major
sources of stress in the Western society. In India, three critical factors - RoleErosion,
Inter-Role Distance, and Role Stagnation - are seen as the major sources of stress
(Pestonjee, 1997).
3) Relationships at Work:
The working relationships which one haswith people working in the same
organization can also be a major source of stress. Hans Selye (1956) 'suggested that
learning to live with other people is one of the most stressful aspects of life. There are
three critical relationships at work - those with superiors, those with subordinates,
and those with colleagues/co-workers - which can produce stress.
4) Career Development:
A lot of issues such as job security, fear of job loss, obsolescence, or retirement and
numerous performance appraisals can create pressure and strain. The frustration of
having reached a career ceiling or having been over-promoted can also induce a lot of
stress.
5) Organizational Structure and Climate:
Just being part of an organization can present threats to a person's sense of freedom
and autonomy. People working in organizations have often complained 'that they
don't have a sense of belonging and that they lack adequate opportunities to
participate, they feel that their behavior is unduly restricted and that they are not
included office communications and consultations. All these have been found to be
related to overall poor health, escapist drinking, depression, low self-esteem, 29
absenteeism, and plans to heave work.
Role Dynamics ignoumbasupport.blogspot.in
6) Non-Work Factors:
There are other various factors apart from work that cause stress in an individual such
as family problems, economic problems, health problems etc. Even political
uncertainties can create stress.

7.4 WHAT IS BURNOUT?

According to the publishers of Merriam-Webster's dictionaries, burnout was a
concern in the fields of professional athletics and the performing arts in the 1930s.
Present interest in the area grew out of the early work of Herbert Freudenberger and
Christina Maslach. Their efforts, and the work of others they simulated, led to the
First National Conference on Burnout held in Philadelphia in November, 1981.
There is no single definition of burnout that is accepted as standard. Some
approaches to define it are:
• A syndrome of emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation, and reduced personal
accomplishment that can occur among individuals who do "people work" of
some kind.
• A progressive loss of idealism, energy, and purpose experienced by people in
the helping professions as a result of the conditions of their work.
• A state of physical, emotional, and mental exhaustion marked by physical
depletion and chronic fatigue, feelings of helplessness and hopelessness, and
the development of a negative self-concept and negative attitudes towards
work, life and other people.
• A syndrome of inappropriate attitudes towards clients and self, often associated
with uncomfortable physical and emotional symptoms.
• A state of exhaustion and fatigue that markedly decreases the worker's
effectiveness and capability.
Not only the above definitions vary from each other to greater or lesser degrees but
different terms are used for similar concepts.
However, despite the differences, there are also similarities among definitions of
burnout. First of all, there is general agreement that burnout occurs at individual level
Second there is a general agreement that burnout is an internal psychological
experience involving feelings, attitudes, motives and expectations. Third there is
general agreement that burnout is a negative experience for the individual, in that it
contains problems, distress, discomfort, dysfunction, and/or negative consequences
(Maslach, 1982).
In recent years, increasing attention has been paid to the phenomenon of burnout in
human service professions. Burnout appears to be a response to interpersonal
stressors on the job in which an overload of contact with people results in changes in
attitudes and behavior them. Paine (1982) has observed `Burnout Stress Syndrome
(BOSS), the consequence of high levels of job stress, personal frustration, and
inadequate coping skills have major personal, organisational and social costs - and
these 'costs are probably increasing.
BOSS is a debilitating psychological condition brought about by unrelieved work
stress. Four types of consequences can arise from it.
(a) depletion of energy reserves
(b) lowered resistance to illness
(c) increased dissatisfaction and pessimism
(d) increased absenteeism and inefficiency at work
Burnout can be defined as the end result of stress experienced, but not properly coped
30 with, resulting in symptoms of exhaustion, irritation, ineffectiveness, discounting of
self
 ignoumbasupport.blogspot.in Organisational Stress and
and others, and problems of health (hypertension, ulcers and heart problems). Pareek Burnout
(1982) has suggested the opposite phenomenon of glow-up which occurs when stress
is properly channelised, resulting in the feelings of challenge, high job satisfaction,
creativity, effectiveness, and a better adjustment to work and life.

7.5 STAGES OF BURNOUT

Veningle and Spradley (1981) have identified five distinct stages of burnout.

1) Honeymoon Stage: In the honeymoon stage, there is an euphoric feeling of

encounter with the new job. There is excitement, enthusiasm, pride and
challenge. Dysfunctional features emerge in two ways. Firstly, the energy
reserves are gradually depleted in coping with the demands of a challenging
environment. Secondly, habits and strategies for coping with stress are formed
in this stage which are often not useful in coping with later challenges,

2) Fuel Shortage Stage: In this stage, there is a vague feeling of loss, fatigue and
confusion. The symptoms are job dissatisfaction, inefficiency, fatigue and sleep
disturbance leading to escape activities, such as increased eating, drinking and
smoking. Future difficulties are signalled at this stage.

3) Chronic Symptom Stage: The physiological symptoms become more

pronounced and demand attention and help at this stage. Common symptoms
are chronic exhaustion, physical illness, anger and depression. A sense of
fatigue and exhaustion overtakes the individual.

4) Crisis Stage: When these feelings and physiological symptoms persist over a
period of time, the individual enters the stage of crisis. He/she feels oppressed,
there is a heightened pessimism and self-doubting tendency is ascendant. One
develops an "escape mentality". Peptic ulcers, tension headaches, high blood
pressure, and difficulty in sleeping are some of the better-known symptoms of
the crisis period. They may become acute.

5) Hitting the Wall Stage: The phrase "hitting the wall" is taken from athletics. It
is said that a marathon actually begins at the "twenty-mile mark with six miles
yet to go". It is at this point that a marathon runner feels that he/she has hit the
wall. It is an experience so devastating that it can completely knock a person
out. This leads to muscle paralysis, dizziness, fainting, and even complete
collapse. Similar experiences have been observed in the executive world at
times. With all the adaptation energy depleted like the glycogen of a marathon
runner, one may lose control over one's life; it may be the end of a professional
career. While recovery from this stage may elude some, others may be
resourceful enough to tide over the crisis.

Caldwell and lhrke (1994) have observed that when an individual burns out, there are
five stages to his/her symptoms.
• The individual who burns out is likely to be very enthusiastic when first
entering the organization. One cannot become emotionally exhausted uness
there is first an emotional commitment.
• The initial enthusiasm soon gives way to stagnation as the individual realises
that he or she will not be able to solve all the problems the organization faces.
• This leads to frustration on the part of the individual because important
problems are not being resolved.
• This frustration may eventually lead to apathy towards the organization.
• Eventually, the only way an individual may be able to do something about his
or her individual burnout is through outside intervention. This intervention may
take the form of counselling or, more likely, leaving the situation that caused
the burnout. 31
Role Dynamics ignoumbasupport.blogspot.in
7.6 SOURCES OF BURNOUT
In essence, what contributes to burnout? Pareek (1982) has pointed out the following
nine factors which lead to burnout.
(1) Level of Stress: When stress is either too little or too much - it leads to
hyperstress or hypostress.
(2) Type of Stress: It can be either functional or dysfunctional - the first is called
"eustress" and the second "dystress:.
(3) Personality: There are certain personality dimensions which lead to burnout. A
personality orientation called Type-A has been found to be associated with
cynicism (low interpersonal trust), and a sense of loneliness. Other personality
factors contributing to burnout are externality (a feeling that the person does
not have control over what happens and that external forces or chances or fate
determine things), low self-esteem, rigidity, alienation, and machiavellianism
(manipulative orientation).
(4) Nature of Job or the Role: If the job is highly routinised, does not allow any
diversity or freedom and does not provide opportunities for creativity and
growth, it can lead to burnout.
(5) Nonwork Life: The executive's social or economic conditions, family life and
relationships, family and other obligations, health conditions etc. also
contribute to his or her burnout.
(6) Life Style: The pattern of structuring one's time may be called the life style.
Stress-dissipating life style, contributing to executive glow-up is characterized
by a relaxed life, taking up creative pursuits, spending meaningful time with
family and friends, involvement in meaningful activities like religion, ideology,
social cause, working for underprivileed etc. On the other hand, stress-
absorbing lifestyle is characterized by narrow interests, limiting oneself to
work and leading a tense and structured living. Such people are called
workaholics.
(7) Role Style: Role styles can be broadly classified into approach and avoidance.
Approach style is indicated by hope or success, influence, orderliness,
relevance, acceptance and growth. On the other hand, avoidance style is
indicated by an executive acting out of failure, helplessness, chaos, irrelevance,
exclusion or inadeuacy.
(8) Coping Styles: Dysfunctional coping styles are characterized by fatalism,
blaming, showing agression towards others and defensive mode-denying the
stress or justifying or rationalising it. Functional stylesare persistent in nature,
characterized by the hope for the. solution of a problem or attempts to solve the
problem alone or seeking others' help or jintly working with others for the
solution.
(9) Organizational Climate: A supportive organizational climate can much
contribute to executive glow-up as a hostile climate to executive burnout. One
research study has shown that organizational climate perceived as developing
excellence in people was significantly associated with low role stress and one
perceived as characterized by strong control over people with high role stress.
Researchers have also observed a phenomenon which is the opposite of BOSS. The
Rustout Stress Syndrome (ROSS) is indicative of stress underload. It occurs when
there is a gap between what the executive is capable of doing and what he/she is
required to do. The concept of role erosion is close to the concept of ROSS. Stress
underload can arise due to both qualitative and quantitative aspects of work.

7.7 SUMMARY
This unit provides all the input for understanding what is stress, what are the factors
32 contributing to create stress, what is organizational stress and the role stress.
 ignoumbasupport.blogspot.in Organisational Stress and
Organizational Role Stress is an outcome of the conflict in role expectations of the Burnout
role sender and the person who occupies the role. The difference in the perception of
both puts the role occupant under stress. There are ten potential role stresors which
have been identified by Prof. Udai Pareek, are the role stressors in organizational
situation. This unit also explains the concept of Burnout, stages of Burnout and the
sources of Burnout, from personality to organizational climate.

7.8 SELF ASSESSMENT QUESTIONS

1. Define stress, discuss what are the stages of development of stress.
2. What is role stress? Explain role and how does it create stress, what are the
potential role stressors in an organizational situation, explain with example.
3. What is Burnout? Explain the stages of Burnout.
4. What are the main sources of Burnout, explain with example?

7.9 FURTHER READINGS

Caldwell, D.S. and Ihrke. D.M. (1994). Differentiating Between Burnout and Copout
in Organisations. Public Personnel Management, 23 (1), 77-84.
Caplan, R.S., Cobb, S., French, J.R.P., Harrison, R.V. and Pinneau, S.R. (1975). Job
Demands and Worker Health. NIOSH Research Report.
Cooper, C.L., Cooper, R.D. and Eaker, L.D. (1988). Living with Stress. London:
Penguin.
Cooper, C.L. and Marshal, J. (1976). Occupational Sources of Stress: A Review of
the Literature Relating to Coronary Heart Disease and Mental Ill Health. Journal of
Occupational Psychology, 49, 11-28.
Ivancevich, J.M. and Matteson, M.T. (1980). Stress at Work. Glenview, IL: Scott,
Foresman.
Maslach, C. (1982). Understanding Burnout: Definitional Issues in Analysing a
Complex Phenomenon. In W.S. Paine (Ed.), Job Stress and Burnout: Research,
Theory and Intervention Perspectives. London:. Sage Publications.
Paine, LW.S. (1982). Job Stress and Burnout: Research, Theory and Intervention
Perspectives. London: Sage Publications.
Pareek, U. (1982). Executive Glow Up and Burnout. Summary of Larsen and Toubro
Lecture. Ahmedabad: IIM.
Pareek, U. (1983).. Organisational Role Stress Scale. ORS Scale Booklet, Answer
Sheet and Manual. Ahmedabad: Navin Publications,
Pareek, U. (1993). Making Organisational Roles Effective. New Delhi: Tata
McGraw-Hill.
Pestonjee, D.M. (1987). Executive Stress: Should it Always be Avoided? Vikalpa, 12
(1), 23-30.
Pestonjee, D.M. (1992). Stress and Coping: The Indian Experience. New Delhi: Sage
Publications.
Pestonjee, D.M. (1997). Executives Under Stress: Some Findings and Reflections. In
D.M. Pestonjee and Udai Pareek (Eds.), Studies in Organisational Role Stress and
Coping. Jaipur: Rawat Publications.
Selye, H. (1956), The Stress of Life. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Veningle, R.L. and Spradley, J.P. (1981). The Work Stress Connection: How to Cope
with the Burnout. Boston: Little, Brown & Co. 33
 Role Dynamics ignoumbasupport.blogspot.in
UNIT 8 COPING WITH STRESS AND
BURNOUT
Objectives

After going through this unit you should be able to:

• understand the concept of coping with stress
• appreciate the ways of managing stress, at individual and organizational levels
• identify coping strategies for role stresses
• explain the strategies for coping with Burnout
• understand skills for coping with stress
Structure
8.1 Coping with stress : Concept
8.2 Managing stress
8.3 Coping with Burnout
8.4 Individual Interventions
8.5 Organization Interventions
8.6 Summary
8.7 Self-Assessment Questions
8.8 References/Further Reading

8.1 COPING WITH STRESS: CONCEPT

Individuals and organisations cannot remain in a continuous state of tension. Even if
a deliberate and conscious stratege is not adopted to deal with stress, some strategy is
adopted; for example, the strategy may be to leave the conflicts and stress to take
care of themselves. This is also a strategy, although the individual or the organisation
may not be aware of this. This is called avoidance coping strategy.
The word 'coping' has two connotations in literature. The term has been used to
denote .the way of dealing with stress, or the effort to master conditions of' harm,
threat, or challenge when a routine or automatic response is not readily available.
(Lazarus, 1974).
Two different approaches to the study of coping have been pursued by various
investigators. On the one hand, some researchers (e.g., Byrne, 1964; Goldstein, 1973)
have emphasised general coping traits, styles or dispositions -while on the other
hand, some investigators, (e.g., Cohen & Lazarus, 1973; Katz, Weiner, Gallagher &
Hellman, 1970; Wolf & Goodell, 1968) have preferred to study the active ongoing
strategies in a particular stress situation.
Coping traits refer, to a disposition to respond in a specific way in situations that are
stressful. Coping traits are, thus, stable characteristics of the persons that transcend
classes of situation. Coping style implies a broader, more encompassing disposition:
Trait and style are fundamentally similar ideas. Trait and style refer to a characteristic
way of handling situations, they are stable tendencies on the basis of which
inferences are drawn about how an individual will cope in some or all types of
stressful situations. A person's coping style or disposition is typically assessed by
personality tests, not by actual observation of what the person says or does in a
particular stress situation.
The emphasis on process distinguishes this approach from others which are trait-
oriented. Psychologists have identified two major ways in which people cope with
stress. In the first approach, a person may decide to suffer or deny the experienced
stress, this is the passive approach. Or, a person may decide to face the realities of
experienced stress and clarify the problem through negotiations with other member.
34 This is the active approach.
 ignoumbasupport.blogspot.in The Concept and System of
Coping can have an effect on three kinds of outcome - psychological, social, and Roles
physiological. From a psychological perspective, coping can have an effect on the
psychological morale (that is, the way one feels about oneself and one's life), emotional
reaction, e.g., level of depression or anxiety, or the balance between positive trend and
negative toned feeling (Bradburn, 1969), the incidence of psychiatric disorders and even
performance. From a social perspective, one can measure its impact on functioning
effectiveness, such as employability, community involvement, and sociability (Renne,
1974), the effectiveness of interpersonal relationship, or the degree to which useful social
roles are filled. From a physiological perspective, outcome includes short-term
consequences, such as the development and progression of a particular disease.
Lazarus (1974) has emphasised the key role of cognitive processes in coping activity and
the importance of coping in determining the quality an intensity of emotional reactions to
stress. We are constantly 'self-regulating' our emotional reactions, e.g., escaping or
postponing unpleasant situations, actively changing threatening conditions, deceiving
'
ourselves about the implications of certain facts, or simply learning to detach ourselves
from unpleasant situations. He emphasises that the individual is manipulating the
individual's behaviour. His definition focuses explicitly on efforts to manage the dynamic
constellation of thoughts and acts that constitute the coping process.
Although several attempts have been made to classify appraisals and coping responses,
on accepted method has yet emerged. Moos and Billings (1982) have organised the
dimensions of appraisal and coping included in measurement procedures into three
domains:
1) Appraisal-focused coping:- It involves attempts to define the meaning of a
situation and includes such' strategies as logical analysis and cognitive redefinition.
2) Problem-focused coping: This seeks to modify or eliminate the source of stress, to
deal with the tangible consequences of a problem or actively change the self and
develop a more satisfying situation,
3) Emotion-focused coping: This includes responses whose primary function is to
manage the emotions aroused by stressors and thereby maintain effective
equilibrium.
These categories, however, are not mutually exclusive. Their primary focus is on
appraising and reappraising a situation, dealing with the reality of the situation, and
handling the emotions aroused by the situation.
Lazarus (1974) has suggested a classification of coping processes which emphasises two
major categories, namely, direct actions and palliative modes. Direct action includes
behaviours or actions which when performed by the organism in the face of a stressful
situation is expected to bring about a change stress causing environment. The palliative
mode of coping refers to those thoughts or actions whose purpose is to relieve the
organism of any emotional impact of stress. There is no consensus as to which coping
strategies or modes of coping are most effective.
Maddi and Kobasa (1984) talked about two forms of coping: (a) transformational, and (b)
regressive. Transformational coping involves altering the events so they are less stressful.
To do this, one has' to interact with the events, and by thinking about them optimistically
and acting toward them decisively, change them in a less stressful direction. Regressive
approach, on the other hand, includes a strategy wherein one thinks about the events
pessimistically and acts evasively to avoid contact with them.
There are certain resistance resources that increase the likelihood, of meeting stressful
events with transformational rather than regressive coping. The most important of these is
personality hardiness' (Kobasa, 1979). He stated that personality hardiness combines
three tendencies, namely, toward 'commitment' rather than alienation, toward 'control'
rather than powerlessness and toward 'challenge' rather than threat. When stressful events
occur, hardy people do experience them as stressful-but also as somewhat interesting and
important (commitment), at least somewhat influenceable (control), and of potential
value for personal development (challenge).
There is evidence by the study of executives undertaken by Maddi and Kobasa (1984) 35
that constitutional strength, social support, exercise, and personality hardiness are useful
 Role Dynamics ignoumbasupport.blogspot.in
in protecting health. Also that more of these resources one has, the greater is the
buffering effect against stress.

8.2 MANAGING STRESS

Each individual needs a moderate amount of stress to be alert and capable of
functioning. Given that presence of more or less stress is inevitable, many researchers
sought to find what could be done to counteract stress so as to prevent its negative
consequences. Normally, coping is defined as an adaptive respone to stress, that is, a
response intended to eliminate, ameliorate or change the stress producing factors, or
intended to modify the individual's reaction to stressful situation in a beneficial way.
There are basically two ways of managing stress:
1) What an organisation can do?
2) What an individual can do?
What an organisation Can Do?
What can an organisation do to alleviate stress? Pestonjee (1997) has suggested a
number of proactive interventions which an organisation can adopt. Soem of these
interventions are listed below:
Undertaking Stress Audit: Organisations have for almost a century now paid due
attention to maintenance, creation and updating of technology. We are now only
gradually emerging form the stage where machines are better cared for than men. A
stage has now been reached when the significance of "human resource" has been
recognised for productive and healthy functioning of the organisation.
Stress audit refers to the attempt organisations make to study, explore and control the
various types of stresses which the individual executives experience .by virtue of
their organisational membership (Pestonjee, 1992). A stress audit should include
collection of data pertaining to organisational climate, role stress, job anxieties etc.
Stress audit is a four-stage OD intervention designed to minimise and mitigate
stresses in the organisation. At the first stage, data are generated on 'Stress Tolerance
Limit (STL)' factors, as also organisational role stress factors. These may be
observational or through psychometric instruments. the second stage includes a study
of interrelationships (through correlations, regressions etc.) between the factors.. At
stage three, more data, specially qualitative data are obtained by interviews and other
methods to get a first-hand feel of stresses and stress effects in the organisation. The
final outcome, stage four, is to suggest to the organisation what type of remedial
measures will help them overcome the stress effects.
Use Scientific Inputs: Dissemination of information on how to face the stressors
within the organisation and outside is useful One may derive immense benefits from
a knowledge of fundamentals of stress response, dietetics, exercises and meditation.
Check with company doctors: Doctors act as a valuable resource to their
organisation members for coping with identified stresses. They also have valuable
information about interpersonal and organisational conflicts. It is a pity that most of
the top management members think of the doctor only as a clinician.,
Spread the message: The importance of regular habits of work, leisure, proper diet,
exercise and mental peace should be emphasised at the organisational level.
Murphy (1988) has suggested three different forms of stress management techniques
which are as follows:-
1) Employee Assistance Programme: This programme refers to the provision of
employee counselling services by an organisation. This method is increasingly
common: McLeod (1985) estimated that in USA there are at least 800
companies offering this form of stress management technique.
2) Stress Management Training Programme: This programme refers to
36 training courses designed o provide employees with improved coping skills,
including
 ignoumbasupport.blogspot.in The Concept and System of
training in techniques such as meditation, biofeedback, muscle relaxation and Roles
stress inoculation. (Newton, 1992).

3) Stress Reduction/Intervention Programme: This programme is denoted by

interventions designed to change the level or form of job stressors' experienced
by, employees, usually through job design or work reform.

Agrawal (1984) attempted to highlight the applicability of the job characteristics

approach in the management of stress. Like other, he noted that stresses can cause
serious health related problems both for the employees and the organisation.
However, he agreed with other researchers that organisational stresses can best be
managed by creating a fit between a person and his/her work environment. This
congruence can be attained by the job characteristics approach to task design because
the job design approach attempts at linking the individual to the job characteristics,
with expected outcome of high internal motivation, high quality performance, high
satisfaction and low absenteeism and turnover. Callan (1993) has suggested a range
of organisational strategies that may be effective in reducing employee stress and
related problems created by organisational change. Organisations must empower
employees to adopt the role of change agent and encourage them to take action to
solve the problems that stress them. He further suggested that to help employees cope
with change, organisations can pursue strategies related to communication,
leadership, job-related tasks and stress management programmes.

What an Individual Can Do?

When individuals experience stress, they adopt ways of dealing with it as they cannot
remain in a continual state of tension. Pareek (1993) has distinguished between
effective and ineffective coping strategies.

Generally, effective coping strategies are 'approach' strategies, which confront the
problem of stress as a challenge, and increase the capability of dealing with it.
Ineffective strategies are 'escape' or 'avoidance' strategies, which reduce the feeling of
stress, for example, by denying the reality of stress, or though the use of alcohol,
drugs or other escapist behaviour.

Research has shown that social and emotional support available to the person helps
him or her to effectively cope with stress. Persons maintaining close interpersonal
relationships with friends and families are able to use more approach strategies.
Social support includes both material support (providing resources) and emotional
support (listening to the person and encouraging him/her). However, studies have
also shown that unsolicited support may have negative consequences.

Approach or effective- strategies of coping include efforts to increase physical and

mental preparedness for coping (through physical exercises, yoga and meditation,
diet management), creative diversion for emotional enrichment (music, art, theatre,
etc.), strategies of dealing with the basic problems causing stress , and collaborative
work to solve such problems.

Studies of various coping strategies or styles used in role stress reveal-that-approach

styles have a strong relationship with internality, optimism, role efficacy, job
satisfaction, and effective role behaviour in organisations. Two contrasting
approaches (avoidance or dysfunctional and approach or functional) for some role
stresses are illustrated below. Let us take self, role distance. Many individuals who
find a conflict between their self-concept and the role they occupy in an organisation
may play that role in a routine way to earn their living . They take no interest in their
role, and this is indicative of self-role distance, i.e., they have rejected the role. On
the other hand, some other individuals may seriously occupy their roles and, in due
course of time, completely forget their self-concept and play that role effectively but
reject their self. Both these are 'avoidance' approaches and are dysfunctional. If an
individual rejects the role, he/she is likely to be ineffective in the organisation.
However, if he/she rejects the self, he/she is likely o lose his/her effectiveness as an 37
individual which n turn will adversely affect his/her mental health.
 Role Dynamics ignoumbasupport.blogspot.in
An approach or functional strategy of dealing with this stress is to attempt role
integration. The individual may analyse the various aspects of the role which are
causing self-role distance and may begin to acquire skills if this may help him/her to
bridge this gap, or carry his/her own self into the role by defining some aspects of the
role according t his /her own strengths. In other words, an attempt both to grow into
the role and make the role grow to use the special capabilities of the person would
result in role integration, where the individual gets the satisfaction of occupying a
role which is nearer to his/her self-concept. Such an integration is not easy to
achieve, but with systematic effort, it is also not impossible to attain.

Similar is the case with role expectation conflict. when the various expectation from
the role one occupies conflict with one another, role stress may develop. On way to
deal with this stress is to eliminate those expectations from the role which are likely
to conflict with other expectations. This is the process of role shrinkage, i.e., the act
of pruning the role in such a way that some expectation can be given up. Role
shrinkage may help to avoid the problem, but is a dysfunctional approach since the
advantage of a larger role is lost, Instead of role shrinkage, if role linkages are
established with other roles, and the problem is solved by devising some new ways
achieving the conflicting expectations, the individual can experience both the process
of growth as well as satisfaction. For example, if a professor who experiences
conflict between the three expectations from his/her role - those of teaching students,
doing research and consulting with organisation - finds that the stress is essentially
one of personal inadequacy, not having enough skills, he/she may take resource to
role shrinkage. However,- one way to deal with this problem is to develop role
linkages with other colleagues who are good at research and work out an arrangement
whereby research is not neglected. A better way of resolving the problem could be to
find ways of doing things in a more non-traditional and productive manner.

Role stagnation is a common stress within organisations. Individuals who acquire

new roles as a result of promotion or taking over of more challenging roles may feel
apprehensive because the role is new and requires skill which the role occupant may
not have. In many cases, this is the tragedy of the organisations - even after
advancement people at the top continue to play the role of lower level managers. A
foreman, for example, in due course of time may become a General Manager, but
he/she may still continue to play the role of a foreman. This as a consequence'
frustrates the new foreman and others who expect the GM to devote his/her time to
the more productive aspects. In one organisation, after several self-search sessions, it
became clear to many senior management level personnel that this tendency towards
close supervision was really a tendency to continue playing their old roles. This is
especially so if the individual role requires many new skills which have to be
developed. For example, planning roles and the role of scanning the environment
require altogether new skills. In the absence of such skills, the usual tendency is to
fall back on the old and tried out roles. This is called role fixation, it is an avoidance
strategy. It is necessary for an individual to grow out of his role as a boy into that of
an adolescent, and out of adolescence into adulthood. Similarly, it is important for
people to grow out of their old roles into new ones and face up the new challenges.
An approach or a functional strategy to resolve this conflict is that of role transition.

Role transition is the process whereby a previous role, howsoever successful and
satisfying it may have been, is given up to take a new and more developed role. Role
transition is helped by various processes, including anticipatory socialisation, role
clarity, substitute gratification, and the transition procedure, In order to make role
transition more effective, it is necessary to have anticipatory socialisation that is
preparatory to the taking up of the new role. This would also include delegation of
responsibility and functions to people in subordinate roles, so that person can be free
to experiment, and get help in such experimentation from others. Such a process of
role transition may be very useful.
In inter-role distance, an individual may experience stress due to conflict between the
38 roles he/she occupy, and which conflict in expectations. The usual approach to deal
with this problem is to either partition the roles clearly, so that person is a husband or a
 ignoumbasupport.blogspot.in The Concept and System of
father when he is at home, and an executive when he is in his office. The other Roles
alternative is role elimination which is accepting one role at the cost of the other. In
'such a case, the individual takes resource to rationalisation. For example, an
executive who neglects his family at home and in this process eliminates his role as a
father and a husband. He rationalises this process by thinking that he makes a unique
contribution to the company and can, therefore, afford to neglect his family, or that
he earns enough for his family, which. in turn, should pay the price of losing him as a
husband and a father. Such retionalisations are a part of the process of role
elimination. These are avoidance strategies.
A more functional approach to the problem is role negotiation which is the process of
establishing the mutuality of roles and getting necessary help to play the roles more
effectively. For example, an executive who is unable to find time for his family may
sit down and negotiate with his wife and children on how best he can spend time with
them within the given constraints. One executive in a large nationalised bank in India
solved the problem by working out an arrangement with his family whereby he
would give his Sundays to them and would not normally accept invitations to dine
out unless both he and his wife were invited. This proved to be highly satisfying
because nether of the roles had to be sacrificed or eliminated.
For role ambiguity, the usual approach is to make the roles clear by putting the
various aspects on paper. This is called role prescription in which various
expectations are defined clearly. As an alternative, the individual may remove
ambiguity by fitting into the role as described in some of the expectations. This
process is called role taking. Both are avoidance strategies. An approach strategy
may be to seek clarification from various sources and to define the role in the light of
such clarifications. A more creative option is to define the role according to one's
own strengths and take steps in making the role more challenging . This is the
process of role making.
To deal with the stress of role overload, that is, a feeling of too many expectations
from several sources, the role occupant usually prepares a list of all functions giving
top priority to those which are important. This kind of prioritisation may help put
things in the order of importance. However, a problem that might arise is that the
functions with which a person is less familiar and comfortable may tend to be pushed
lower down the priority list, and remain neglected. Those functions which a person is
able to perform without any effort would get top priority. From this point of view, the
approach is dysfunctional. This is an avoidance strategy. A more functional approach
may be to redefine the role and see which of its aspects may be delegated to others.
This in turn may help the other individuals grow. This approach is called role
slimming. The role does not lose its vitality in the process of delegating some
functions; in fact the vitality increases with decrease in obesity.
In role isolation (when there is tension and distance between two roles in an
organisation), the usual tendency is for each role occupant to play the role more
efficiently and avoid interactions. In other words, the role occupant condines himself
to his own role. This may be called role boundness. He voluntarily agrees to be
bound by the role. This strategy aims at avoiding possible conflict. We find that
individual executives and managers who are highly efficient in their own roles but
whose linkages with other roles are very weak, do not take on corporate
responsibility. The individual withdraws into a king of isolated efficiency. He derives
satisfaction out of playing the individual role effectively and efficiently, but does not
contribute as much as he could have towards the overall responsibility to the
organisation. This is likely to be dysfunctional as it does not help the individual play
his role in the larger interests of the organisation. A better method (and an approach
strategy) is role negotiation. In role erosion, an individual feels that some important
functions which he/she would prefer to perform are being taken care of by some
other roles. the usual reaction in such' a situation is to fight for the rights of the role
and to insist on the clarification of roles. Though a solution is sought in making
structural clarifications, this is not likely to be functional and helpful since the basic
conflict is avoided and it continues. An approach strategy may be that of role
enrichment. Like job enrichment, role enrichment can be achieved by analysing the
role systematically and helping the individuals see the various strengths and 39
challenges in the role which might not have been apparent earlier.
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Significant role set members can also help make the role more challenging and
satisfying to role occupant.
Figure I summarises the functional and dysfunctional strategies for the 10 role
stresses.
Figure 1 : Coping Strategies for Role Stresses
Role Stresses Dysfunctional Functional
Strategies . Strategies
1. Self-role distance Role rejection, self rejection Role integration
2. Inter-role distance Role partition, role elimination Role negotiation
3: Role stagnation Role fixation Role transition
4. Role isolation Role boundness Role linkage
5. Role expectation Role prescription Role clarification
6. Role expectation Role taking Role making
conflict
7. Role overload Role reduction Role slimming
8. Role erosion Role visibility Role development
/ enrichment
9. Resource inadequacy : Role atrophy Resource generation
10. Personal inadequacy : Role shrinkage Role linkage
Source: Pareek, U. (1993), Making Organisational Roles Effective. New Delhi: Tata
McGraw-Hill.
In summary, the effective management of stress involves directings stress for
productive purposes, preparing role occupants to understand the nature of stress,
helping them to understand their strengths and usual styles. and equipping them to
develop approach strategies for coping with stress.
In a study, Marshall and Cooper (1979) asked managers How they coped with work
pressure. The most common technique reported was to work longer hours. Others
methods wee: delegation (6 per cent), negotiating and compromising with those
setting work, to produce only that which is really needed (8.5 per cent), redistributing
workload within department (6 per cent), planning ahead of annual demand peaks (3
per cent),: and balancing the department's internally generated load (3per cent).
Lazarus and his associated (1966) have suggested ' intellectualisation',
'
rationalisation', 'isolation', and 'denial' as effective cognitive - coping strategies.
Though 'denial' and isolation' may not be considered very healthy coping strategies
wherein individual denies .the stressfullness of the situation and adopts a detached
attitude towards the situation of stress and threat. this cognitive strategy may be quite
appropriate when the situation of stress is totally beyond the control and coping
capacity of the focal person. The individuals can adopt following cognitive
restructuring and cognitive - coping strategies to avoid or moderate the experience of
stress. Many of these coping strategies are speciality of our Indian culture.
• Consider difficult, Adverse; or demanding job situations as inevitable parts of
job life.
• Perceive stressful job situation as a temporary phase of the job.
• Try to rationalise the situation of stress and its consequences.
• Take the excessive demands as a challenge:
• Assess the severity of your job stress with reference to others who are facing
similar or more severe stresses in their jobs.
• Think that time itself takes care of such situations,
• Accept the situation of stress thinking that there is nothing you can do to
change them.
40 • Simultaneously think about the positive outcomes of successful dealing with
the situation of stress.
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• Believe that every problem ultimately has some remedy. Roles
• Think that no one is totally free from stresses, though of different nature and
severity.
• Accept the situations of stress as realities of life. p Remind yourself that work
is not everything.
• Believe in Geeta's philosophy that 'you right is to' do your job only, not expect
the fruits thereof,
Besides the cognitive-coping strategies, the individuals can develop certain
temperamental qualities and adopt specific behaviour patterns or habits which could
help in preventing, mitigating, or effectively coping with the situations of job stress.
Though practice of some of these behavioural patterns is difficult, the individuals can
develop them through self-imposed behaivour modification method.

• Increase self-esteem and the level of tolerance and patience.

• Do not be rigid in your way of functioning, attitudes and decisions. Do things
at work in a planned and systematic manner.
• Try to separate and maintain coordination between your job and other roles.
Avoid doing many things simultaneously.
• Set your priorities for activities.
• Do work efficiently but avoid competitions.
• Discuss the problems with supervisors or/and other competent colleagues or
superiors.
• Avoid time pressure and role overloading. Be regular and make proper
distribution of the time for your job activities.
• Do not try to reach the perfection level in all-routine job activities.
• Work sincerely, but do not be over enthusiastic all the time in discharging your
duties.
• Frankly tell your limitations and inabilities. Try to nip the problems in the bud,
• Be a realist. Aspire within the framework of your capabilities and resources.
• Try to overlook rather than to react to the irritating situations or behaviour of
people at work.
• Before doing something, consider all its possible consequences.
• If there is no way out, do your best to get out of the situation gracefully.
Besides the above cognitive coping and behavioural interventions, the individuals can
use some off-the job techniques to get relief from his/her job stresses such as
relaxation, yoga, meditation, bio-feedback training,' seeking company of good
friends, attending sports, cultural, religious and entertaining events etc.

Thus, on the whole, it can be said that a stress-free life is not possible in today's
environment. All that we can manage is to reduce it to a reasonable level, even to the
level where it can play a positive role rather than adversely affecting the health and
well-being of the individuals in the organization:

Further, it is difficult to suggest comprehensive approach in the management of stress

as each individual and work environment will call for different solutions. Some of the
primary factors which mediate the experience of stress are very difficult to change.
These include an individual's personality, inherited characteristics and past history,
the quality of interpersonal support inherent in his or her environment and the nature
of the organisation in which he or she works. Each of these depending on its make-
up, can either increase or diminish the impact of stress on the individual.
41
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8.3 COPING WITH BURNOUT

The phenomenon of burnout is the harmful effect of stress resulting in a loss of

effectiveness. Burnout can be defined as the end result of stress experienced, but not
properly coped with, resulting in exhaustion, irritation, ineffectiveness, inaction,
discounting of self and others, and problems of health (hypertension, ulcers and heart
problems/ailments). The opposite phenomenon of glow up occurs when stress is
properly channelised, resulting in a feeling of challenge, job satisfaction, creativity,
effectiveness, and a better adjustment to work and life.

Several factors contribute to burnout phenomenon (Pareek, 1982). These are: stress
being very low or very high, distress, a stress-prone personality, an alienating role or
job, hostile relationships, stress-prone lifestyle, avoidance oriented role style, use of
dysfunctional coping modes of styles, and hostile organisational climate. The
opposite of these contribute to the phenomenon of glow up.

Figure II: Executive Glow Up and Burnout: Contributing

Factors and Conversion Strategies

Note: dotted lines show conversion strategies

Source: Pareek, U. (1993), Making Organisational Roles Effective. New Delhi: Tata
McGraw-Hill

42
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How do we prevent burnout? How do we convert the energy leading to burnout into Roles
one resulting in a glow up? Factors contributing to burnout and glow up and the
conversion strategies are shown in Figure II. It shows that development of inner-
directedness (self - obligating orientation) achieves the optimum level of stress-one
factor contributing to a glow up. Similarly, for each contributing factor, a conversion
strategy has been suggested. Most of these are self-explanatory. To change the
lifestyle, the use of Transactional Analysis has been suggested, i.e., understanding the
life script, and then terminating it (descripting) through new decisions. Some special
interventions may be needed for the effective use of conversion strategies.

Pareek (1997) has suggested that, coping strategy plays a key role in the process of
glow up or burnout. This is shown in Figure III. He is of the view that effective
coping 'strategies are approach strategies, which confront the problem of stress as a
challenge and increase the capability of dealing with it. On the other hand, ineffective
coping strategies are escape' or 'avoidance' strategies, which reduce the feeling of
stress, for example, by denying the reality of stress, or through the use of alcohol,
drugs, or other aids to escapism.

Figure III: Coping and. Burnout

Effective Glow up
Coping

Role Stress

Ineffective Burnout
Coping

Source: Pestonjee, D.M. and Pareek, U. (eds.) (1997). Studies in organisational

Role Stress and coping. Jaipur: Rawat Publications.

A wide variety of specific techniques and strategies have been proposed to deal with
burnout, and it to difficult to relate then within a coherent framework. However,
almost all can be grouped by primary goal and site of intervention. The major goals
are:
i) Identification: techniques for the analysis of the incidence, prevalence, and
organisations (Shinn, 1980; Maslach, 1978);
ii) Prevention: attempts to prevent the burnout process (BOP) before it begins
(Wilder and Plutchik, 1981);
iii) Mediation: procedures for slowing, halting, or reversing the BOP (Tubesing
and Tubesing, 1981; Shapiro, 1981); and
iv) Remediation: techniques for individuals who are already burned out or are
rapidly approaching the end stages of this process (Freudenberger, 1980).
It is to be noted here that many techniques can be used to facilitate the attainment of
more than one goal. Interventions can also be targeted at specific sites or levels. The
four most important sites are:
i) Individual: interventions designed to strengthen an individual's ability to deal
with job-related stress (Wilder & Plutchik, 1981);
ii) Interpersonal: attempts to strengthen interpersonal relations or work group
dynamics either to decrease stress (Golembiewski, 1981);
iii) Workplace: modifications in the immediate work .environment intended to
reduce stress or ameliorate it in some way (Pines, 1980); and
iv) Organisational: changes in policies, procedures or structure intended to deal 43
with organisational factors related to burnout (Golembiewski, 1981).
 Role Dynamics ignoumbasupport.blogspot.in
Again, it is clear that these levels are not completely distinct, since some
interventions have individual effects and organisational changes will often impact
directly on the workplace.
These two sets of categories are shown in Figure IV. To date, most work has been
done on mediation efforts designed to strengthen individuals, and the other areas
have received less attention. Paine (1982) has suggested that some consideration
should be given to all sixteen areas in Figure IV in order to develop comprehensive
programmes.
Figure IV: Illustrative Burnout Interventions

Site Goal of intervention

Intervention Identification Prevention Mediation Remediation
Personal Self- Professional Stress Individual
evaluation training/ management counseling
orientation
Interpersonal Peer Support Creative Group
feedback groups supervision counseling
Workplace' Formal Professional Job Job/Career
surveys development redesign changes
Organizational Performance Organizational Quality Employee
monitoring development assurance. assistance
Source: Paine, W.S.(ed.) (1982). Job stress and Burnout : Research, Theory and
Intervention Perspectives. London: Sage Publications.

8.4 INDIVIDUAL INTERVENTIONS

Any consideration of attempts to deal with the problem of burnout must start with a
consideration of the individual. In many job situations, particularly in human
services, high levels of stress are an integral and largely unavoidable components of
the work. For example, air traffic control centers, burn units in hospitals, and social
service agencies serving sexually abused children: Similarly, the ability to cope with
complexity, ambiguity, conflict, and competing demands is assumed to exist when
individuals assume higher-level administrative positions.
However, this is not to say that individuals have the only responsibility to prevent,
mediate the Burnout Stress Syndrome (BOSS). Shinn (1980) has suggested that
individual organisations have begun to recognise their responsibility to provide a safe
and healthy workplace.
Edelwich and Brodsky (1982) have pointed out that there is a real need for
introductory workshops that clearly communicate. available information on the
problem of burnout. These, in turn, would be supplemented by more specialised
training efforts on specific topics such as time management or relaxation techniques.
The single largest area of intervention involves techniques intended to help
individuals manage personal stress. Tubesing and Tubesing (1981) are of the view
that everything from aerobic dancing to Zen has a potentially useful role in stress
management. They content that there is no "magic bullet" that can be aimed at the
problem. Instead they recommend individualised prescription.based on an
understanding of an individual's needs and. strengths.
Tubesing and Tubesing(1981) have presented a stress skills model linking four
overall strategies (personal management, relationships, outlook, and stamina) to
twenty relatively specific skills that can be learned. Skills from any or all of these
44 groups may be potential components of an individualised plan for preventing burnout
and promoting vitality. Figure V
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Roles

45
 Role Dynamics ignoumbasupport.blogspot.in

Source: Paine, W.S.(ed.) (1982). Job stress and Burnout: Research,

Theory and Intervention Perspectives. London: Sage Publications.
These stress skills are briefly described below:
i) personal Management Skills: Personal management or self-regulation skills
help people reorganise themselves in order to take better control of their time
and energy expenditure patterns. They maximise efficiency and reduce wheel
spinning.
ii) Relationship Skills: Relationship or scene-changing skills help individuals
control the environment by changing the way they interact with the people and
spaces that surround them. Relationships are a primary source of renewal and
replenishment.
iii) Outlook Skills: Outlook or change-your-mind skills facilitate healthy changes
in attitude by allowing one to view situations from a different perspective.
iv) Stamina Skills: Stamina skills represent the more traditional approach to stress
management, focusing on strengthening the individual physically to stress
management, focusing on strengthening the individual physically to stand up to
stress and strain.
Burnout also raises a variety of fundamental ethical issues. These are particularly
troublesome when discussing the legitimate role of an organisation in dealing with
burned-out- employees. Freudenberger (1980) has dealt with the difficult question of
what do with the burned-out professional. He is of the view that many of these
individuals can be salvaged and can continue to contribute productively within
organisations. Burnout as a process cannot be separated from the environment in
which it occurs. For burnout to be diminished in our environment, Freudenberger
(1982) has suggested the following steps:
1) We must reflect on investing more capital in the training of employees and
teaching measures to prevent and lessen burnout among all kinds, of helping
professionals.
2) We must seriously begin to alert organisations to the human and psychic
needs of their professional workforce, and that, by tending to human needs,
their profits will not decrease.
3) We must increase employee communication and participation in the decision
process.
4) We must consider more team approaches and less of the "every person for
themselves" attitude in industry.
5) We must recognise that the Calvinist ethic of working hard is still
determining our work lives.
6) We must realise that no amount of compassion, caring, helping,
understanding, sensitivity, and therapy can act as an adequate substitute for
the seirous reconsideration that our social our work environments are
promoting burnout.
7) We need to determine, through research, what factors that may promote
burnout are inherent in an organisational climate. We also need to evolve
legitimate prevention models.
Activity 8.1
List out the strategies you have used to deal with the role stressor you have faced in
your working environment. Reason out the acts.
46 …………………………………………………………………………………………
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8.5 ORGANISATION INTERVENTIONS
Individual change unaccompanied by organisational change is often ineffective over
the long - term and may even be counterproductive. Edelwich and Brodsky (1982)
have pointed out that training may generate expectations about the willingness of an
organisation to change, if these expectations are not met, the resultant frustration may
accelerate the burnout process. Wilder and Plutchik (1982) have suggested a
preventive strategy for burnout through NAC (Needs Assessment and Coping
Assessment) training method. The following steps are suggested:
1. Sensitise the individuals to their own needs (eight needs related to personality
characteristics, i.e., recognition, stimulation, family and social life.
achievement, competence, autonomy, advancement, and collegiality; and eight
needs closely related to job characteristics, i.e., ambience and working
conditions, variety and change, security, workload, emotional demands,
participation in decisions, time pressures and deadlines, and interpersonal
relations.)
2. Help the individuals to assess the need-fulfilling characteristics of a potential
job.
3. Increase the probability of an appropriate match between an individual and a
jobs
4. Focus individuals' attention on the areas they should work on to provide
maximum satisfaction on the job.
Plutchik (1982) has proposed eight basic coping styles to reduce stress; suppression
(avoid the stressor), help seeking, replacement (engage in direct stress-reducing
activities), blame (other or the system), substitution (engage in indirect stress-
reducing activities), mapping (collect more information), reversal (act opposite to the
way one feels), and minimisation (minimise the importance of the stressful situation).
None of these coping styles is inherently either good or bad. How well the styles
work depends on the situation, how they are used, and the degree to which they are
used.
Golembiewski (1981) has suggested that organisational development (OD) is helpful
in reducing and managing stress. According to him, OD ameliorates and prevents
burnout. Most of OD philosophy and methods ameliorate the conditions that can lead
to burnout OD can be of specific help in dealing with burnout as a phased
phenomenon (eight phases of stags have been proposed). The phase model of burnout
can help in developing ameliorative designs for specific individuals, it can make OD
interventions more sensitive to client characteristics: The model can also help in
timely identification of cases of early burnout. The phase model of burnout also
challenges some established "good practice" to help them to be more situation or
person relevant.
Acticity 8.2
Draw upon your experience and explain what kind of organisational interventions
you have come across in an effort to cope with stress.
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8.6 SUMMARY
Though it is said that a minimum level of stress is necessary to keep organization's
productivity but it is also equally important to cope 'with stress at the same time. One
cannot remain in the state of tension for a long time. Basically in this unit coping
with stress. and Burnout have been discussed. This unit starts with the concept of
coping and goes on to managing stress. Coping can be broadly divided into two parts;
one the organizational efforts and the other individual efforts. This unit in the end
thoroughly explains what both can do to cope with the stress in the individual and at
the organizational levels. Apart from other measures the unit also provides for the
stress skills which should be learned by all to reduce the stress levels.

8.7 SELF-ASSESSMENT QUESTIONS

1. Explain the concept 'coping' and types of coping, with example.
2. How is managing stress different from coping? What are the ways of managing
stress, explain with example.
3. Define and differentiate between the functional and dysfunctional coping
strategies for Role stressors. Explain each one of them with example.

8.8 REFERENCES/FURTHER READINGS

1. Agrawal, N.M. (1984). Application of job Characteristic Approach. in
Management of Organisational Stress. FPM Written Comprehensive
Examination. Paper. OB Area. Ahmedabad: IIM
2. Bradbum, N.(1969). The Structure of Well-Being. Chicago: Aldine
3. Byrne, D. (1964). Repression - Sensitisation as a Dimension of Personality. In
B.A. Maher (Ed..), Progress in Experimental Personality Research, Vol. I.
New York: Academic Press.
4. Collan, V.J. (1997). Individual and Organisational Strategies for Coping with
Organisational Change. Work and Stress, 7(1), 63-75.
5. Cohen, E. and Lazarus,. R.S. (1973). Active Coping Processes, Coping
Dispositions and Recovery from Surgery. Psychosomatic Medicine, 35, 357-
389.
6. Edelwich, J. and Brodsky, A. (1980). Burnout: Stages of Disillusionment in
the Helping Professions. New York: Human Sciences Press.
7. Freudenberger, H.J. (1980). How to Survive Burnout. Nation's Business, 53-
58.
8. Goldstein,. M.J. (1973). Individual Differences in Response to Stress.
American Journal of Community Psychology, 2, 113-137.
9. Golembiewski, R.T. (1981). Organisational Development
10 Interventions: Limiting Burnout. Through Changes in Policy, Procedures and
Structure. In W.S. Paine (Ed). Proceedings of the First National Conference
on Burnout. Philadelphia.
11. Katz, j., Weiner, H., Gallagher, T. and Hellman, L. (1970), Stress, Distress and
Ego Defenses. Archives of General Psychiatry, 23, 131 - 142.
12. Kobasa, S.C.(1979). Stressful Life Events. Personality and Social
Psychology, 37,1-11.
13. Lazarus, R.S.(1974). The Psychology of Coping: Issues of Research and
14. Assessment.. In G.V. Coelho, D.A. Humburg and J.E. Adams (Eds.), Coping
and Adaptation. New York: Basis Books.
15. Lazarus, R.S. (1966). Psychological Stress and the Coping Process. New
York: McGraw-Hill.
48
 ignoumbasupport.blogspot.in The Concept and System of
16. MacLeod, A.G.S.(1988). EAPs and Blue Collor Stress. In C. Cooper and Roles
M.J.Smith (Eds), Blue Collor Stress. Chichester: Wilen.
17. Marshall, J. and Cooper, C.L. (1979). Executives Under Pressure: A
Psychological Study. London: MacMillan Press.
18. Maclach, C. (1978). Job Burnout: How People Cope. Public Welfare, 36(4),
56-58.
Moos, R.A. and Billings, A.G. (1982). Conceptualising and Measuring Coping
Resources and Processes. In L. Goldberger and S. Breznitz (Eds.), Handbook of
Stress: Theoretical and Clinical Aspects. New York: Free Press.
Murphy, L.R. (1988). Workplace Interventions for Stress Reduction and Prevention.
In C.L. Cooper and R.Payne (Eds.); Causes, Coping and Consequences of Stress at
Work. Chichester: Wiley ,
Newton, T.J. (1992). Stress Management in Caring Services. In C.D. Duncan (Ed.),
The Evolution of Public Management: Concepts and Techniques for the 1990s.
Basingstoke: MacMillan.
Paine, W:S.(1982). Job Stress and Burnout: Research, Theory and Intervention
Perspectives. London: Sage Publications.
Pareek, U. (1982). Executive Glow Up and Burnout. Summary of Larsen and
Toubro Lecture. Ahmedabad: TIM
Pareek, U. (1993). Making Organisational Roles Effective. New Delhi: Tata
MacGraw-Hill:
Pareek, U. (1993). Role Stress and Coping: A Framework. In D.M. Pestonjee and U.
Pareek (Eds.), Studies in Organisational Role Stress and Coping. Jaipur: Rawat
Publications.
Pestonjee, D.M. (1992). Stress and Coping: The Indian Experience, New Delhi:
Sage Publications.
Pestonjee, D.M. (1997). Executives Under Pressure: Some Findings and Reflections.
In D.M.Pestonjee and U. Pareek (Eds.), Studies in Organisational Role Stress and
Coping. Jaipur: Rawat Publications.
Pines, A (1981). The Impossible Goal? A Work Environment Without Burnout. In
W.S. Paine (Ed.), Proceedings of the First National Conference on Burnout.
Philadelphia.
Plutchik, R (1980). Emotion: A psychoevolutionary Synthesis. New York: Harper
and Row.
Renne, K.S.(1974). Measurement of Social Health in General Population Survey.
Social Science Research, 3, 25-44.
Shapiro, C.H. (1981). Creative Supervision: An Antidote for Burnout. In W.S. Paine
(Ed.), Proceedings of the First National Conference on Burnout. Philadelphia.
Shinn, M. (1980). Burnout in Human Service Agencies. Patterns of Job Stress,
Psychological Strain and Coping Responses. In K. Reid (Ed.), Burnout in the
Helping Professions. Kalamazoo: College of Health and Human Services.
Tubesing, N.L. and Tubesing, D. A. (1982). The Treatment of Choice: Selecting
Stress Skills to-Suit the Individual and the Situation. In W.S.Paine (Ed.), Job Stress
and Burnout: Research, Theory and Intervention Perspectives. London: Sage
Publications.
Wilder, J.F. and Plutchik, R. (1982). Preparing the Professional: Building Prevention
into Training. In W.S. Paine (Ed:), Job Stress and Burnout: Research, Theory and
Intervention Perspectives. London: Sage Publications.
49
Wolf, S. and Goodell, H. (1968). Stress and Disease. Springfield, II: Thomas.
Power Dynamics ignoumbasupport.blogspot.in
UNIT 10 THE PROCESS OF
EMPOWERMENT
Objectives

After going through the Unit you should be able to:

• Understand the concept of empowerment
• have insight into the process of empowerment
• appreciate the need of self empowerment
• develop ideas empowering different organizational units
Structure
10.1 The concept of Empowerment
10.2 Empowerment at the Societal Level
10.3 Empowerment in Organizations
10.4 Empowerment of Different Organizational Units
10.5 Empowerment Audit
10.6 Power Enhancers of Leaders
10.7 Self Empowerment
10.8 Summary
10.9 Self-Assessment Questions
10.10 Further Readings

10.1 THE CONCEPT OF EMPOWERMENT

We can define empowerment as the process of multiplying power, or creating
utonomy in a social system, to help people take charge of their efforts, promoting the
ability to act collectively to solve problems, influence important issues and contribute
to the achievement of the main, objectives.
Empowerment has been conceived in a variety of ways. The major difference has
been between community related thinkers interventionists on the one hand, and the
organization related scholars and practitioners on the other. While the latter
emphasize competency building and involvement through delegation, the former
emphasize collective power as the central theme.
Power can never be given. Empowerment helps people to recognize their internal
power and exercise it for the benefit of themselves and others.

10.2 EMPOWERMENT AT THE SOCIETAL LEVEL

Social action thinkers and interventionists have emphasized equity, participation,
access to opportunities, sharing of resources and influencing decisions as the
elements of empowerment, Kari and Michels (1991) definition of empowerment as
"the ability to act collectively to solve problems and influence important issues"
seems to aptly summarise these views. Rappaport et al. (1984) defined empowerment
as "a process through which people become strong enough to participate within,
share in the control of and influence events and' institutions affecting their lives."
Distinction has been made between 'psychological empowerment (raised
consciousness and subjective experience of efficacy) and community empowerment
(modified structural conditions for the purpose of reallocating resources) ( Swift and
Levin, 1987).
Empowerment in society includes psychological empowerment, a political action
10 component and the achievement of redistribution of resources or decision making
(Rissel, 1994, 'p.41).
 ignoumbasupport.blogspot.in The Process of Empowerment
Borrowing the concept of Rissel (1994), empowerment can be seen as having passed through
5 main phases: critical consciousness of lopsided distribution of power or conscientisation in
the 50's; social action ideology of 60's; self-help orientation of 70's; centrality of the
individual as a citizen in community psychology in 80's, and citizens' control of most matters
in the 90's. The new decade of the next century will probably be the decade, connecting
integrating and widening network for collective thinking and action.
UNDP has been doing great service in focussing on human development defined as
"enlarging peoples choices", which includes three elements "equality of opportunity for all
people in society, sustainability of such opportunities from one generation to the next, and
empowerment of people so that they participate - and benefit from - development". Let us
look at the situation in todays world. As the Chapter heading of the UNDP report says it is
"Still an unequal world" (UNDP, 1995).
Let us look at some figures. The richest top fifth almost have 85% of GNP, world trade
domestic saving and domestic investment, contrasted with the poorest bottom fifth who have
only about 1 percent or below. The trend shows that this gap is widening. The tragedy is that
inspite of the affluence the rich countries are increasingly facing social and human problems
because of overemphasis on economic growth: ozone depletion, disintegration of the social
fabric, divorce, broken homes, drug addiction, HIV, Cancer, violence. Within the poor or
developing countries also, power is unequally distributed and we have our own problems.
Another aspect of social empowerment relates to gender equality. UNDP has given two
indices, GDI or Gender-related Development Index and GEM or Gender Empowerment
Index. "GEM examines whether women and are able to actively participate in economic and
political life and take part in decision making. While GDI focusses on expansion of
capabilities in economic and political life and take part in decision making. While GDI
focusses on expansion of capabilities the GEM is concerned with the use of those capabilities
to take advantage of the opportunities of life" (UNDP, '1995). GEM concentrates on
participation: economic, political and professional. The conclusion of UNDP is that gender
equality does not depend on the income level of a society, that a lot needs to be done,
although significant progress has been made. The four Scandinavian countries have the
highest four ranks in GDI as well as GEM. While USA ranks no.2 in Human Development
Index, its ranks on GDI and GEM respectively are 5 and 8. China and Cuba made remarkable
progress in gender empowerment. They have demonstrated that strong policy and political
commitment can manage to achieve empowerment similar to that of countries with much
higher per capita incomes.
The main tools of empowerment in societies are of two types: structural and process
interventions. In the former are political and policy commitment, legislation and effective
implementation. In India a new policy decision backed by legislation will help in having one
third women legislators at all levels. India since its independence has been implementing the
policy of reservation in employment and seats in professional schools for minorities
according to their proportion in the society. But these are not enough. Gandhiji taught us that
process interventions are very important and more difficult. These include conscientization
through dialogue, mass movement and mobilisation of people through agitation on issues.
Today in India we have a large number of mobilisation interventions, from environment and
ecology-related "Hug the Trees" or "Save Narmada'.movement to "Science for People and
Adult Literacy mobilisation. This is the result of the great impact of Gandhiji. Organization
Development practitioners working in social development are helping in sharpening
community mobilisation process interventions.
Participatory research is an important tool of empowerment (Tandon, 1981). It has three
major components: research (people collectively analysing the problems they face), education
(creation of common knowledge by people, development of critical awareness, including
"disindoctrination, i.e. unmasking the myth of personal deficit as the cause of misery and
transfer of knowledge to participants), and social 'action (see Yiech, 1996 for a recent
application in creation of a homeless persons union).
To summarise, empowerment in society is concerned with equality, participation, access to
opportunity and influencing decisions, especially by minorities, weaker or marginalised
groups, and women. Both structural and process interventions are necessary for effective
empowerment in societies. A society needs to connect with other societies dealing with
similar issues.
11
Power Dynamics ignoumbasupport.blogspot.in
10.3 EMPOWERMENT IN ORGANIZATIONS
A-pragmatic concept of empowerment has been suggested as "recognizing and
releasing into the organization the power that people already have in their wealth of
useful knowledge and internal motivation". (Randolph, 1995).
In OD literature it has been suggested that empowerment is "giving people the skills
and the information they need to make good decisions and take informed deliberate
actions so organizational members can solve problems and manage change on their
own." (Smith and Tesmer, 1995) . Empowerment has been defined in a simple
equation of Direction x Support x Autonomy (Koestenbahm, 1991), where all the
three elements are equally important in enhancing or reducing empowerment.
In order to assess empowerment level in an organization. We need to examine
empowerment not only of individual employees, but also of other organizational
units: roles, including leaders, teams and the total organisation. It is necessary to
assess the level of empowerment as perceived and experience by individual members
of the organization, role occupants, those in leadership roles (senior managers), teams
permanent, semi-permanent and temporary teams), and the total organization.

10.4 EMPOWERMENT OF DIFFERENT

ORGANIZATIONAL UNITS
Individual members feel empowered if they are listened to their ideas are valued,
they are recognized for their contribution, encouraged, projected as important
members, consulted, etc. Empowerment or roles is also important. In fact, motivation
can be increased in employees by motivating and empowering the roles (see Pareek,
1993 for detailed discussion). If different roles have scope for initiative, creativity,
discretion, growth, linkages, etc., they are empowered. One role deserves special
attention, that of the leaders (senior managers). Even while they can continue to
control by using their leadership role), unless they attend to important functions like
visioning, strategic thinking and planning, searching and nurturing talent, etc. Teams
have their own dynamics, and need to be empowered by clearer goals and freedom to
work, with enough support by, the management. Finally, the organization must also
be an empowered organization, inspiring and supporting other units in this process.
In Exhibit 1 the indicators of empowerment are mentioned for each of the five
organizational units. In the next column are mentioned the instruments which can and
have been used to assess the empowerment level.
Empowerment is both the process and the outcome. So it is difficult to separate the
indicators from the enablers of empowerment; indicators mentioned also contribute
and enhance empowerment in an organization. Indicators-enablers in a way define
empowerment. Empowerment is facilitated by some other factors which also be seen"
as its consequences; these are called enablers/first-level outcomes. These are
mentioned below, and in Column 4 of Exhibit 1. In the next column 5 are mentioned
the relevant instruments to assess these. Finally, empowerment results in some
consequences for making different organizational units more effective; these, are
called second level outcomes.
1. Individual. A feeling of empowerment is generated by recognition, autonomy
and support to work on their tasks and develop strategies to achieve the goals
to which they are committed.
2. Role. For the roles, two aspects are important. The first one is role efficacy or
potential of the role to be effective (perceive scope for using one's assets, take
initiative, try out new ways, solve problems; have a sense of being valued;
opportunities of growth; and working for a large cause). The second aspect is
to have optimum role stress and capability of effectively coping with stress.
3 Leadership. Leadership role requires special attention. Some functions are
more important for an effective leader (called transformational ,functions, like
visioning, the boundary management, searching and developing talents etc.)
compared with what 'are called "transactional" functions (eg. planning,
12 coordinating, rewarding competence, etc.)
 ignoumbasupport.blogspot.in The Process of Empowerment
Exhibit-1
Indicators, Enablers-outcomes and
Assessment Instruments of Empowerment

1 2 3 4 5
Organisa- Indicators Assessment Enablers/Out Assessment
tional Unit (Empowerment Instruments comes Instruments
T Level)
Individual Feeling of Empowerment Persuasive CPP Scale
Empowerment Scale Power SPIRO-M
Managerial SPIRO-B
Style
Managerial
Behaviour
Role Role REC Role REC
Efficacy Efficacy
Leaders Leadership SMF Transforma- VEM Scale.
Functions Schedule tional SMF
PE Scale Leadership Schedule
Team Team TES
Functioning
Organiza Structural DAQ .. Ethos Octapace
tion Aspects Climate Profile
Culture MAO-C
OCP
4. Teams. Teams need to have a clear sense of direction, enough autonomy to
work on their tasks, and enough support to do their work.

5. Organization. The organization needs to have structural mechanisms of

empowerment. One such mechanism is delegation. Three aspects are important
for. delegation: amount of delegation by the role occupant (8 areas), the
process of delegation- (6 aspects) and facilitating factors for delegation (7
aspects). The other aspects of structural empowering are: (a) Dehierarchisation,
usually called delayering - i.e., reducing the levels in an organization in making
decisions; (b) decentralization, i.e., decision making to levels where action is
involved; (c) debureaucratisation, i.e., reducing paper work and red tape in
decision making and simplifying rules and procedures resulting in faster
sharing sensitive and strategic information at various levels, and facilitating
horizontal, top-down and bottom-up communication; (e) decontrol i.e.,
reducing outer control to increase others' autonomy and to free oneself for
more strategic influence.

Activity 10.1

Make an Assessment of your Organisation and prepare a small report as to whether

any of the above mentioned empowerment activities have been undertaken or not.
……….............................................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................................................
Enablers/First-Level Outcomes
The following are both enablers (those which facilitate empowerment) and the first
level outcome of empowerment The first 2 are individual - related, No.3 role -
related, 4 and 5 13
Power Dynamics ignoumbasupport.blogspot.in
are leadership – related, and 6 to 8 organization – related aspects.
1. Persuasive power bases. Bases of power have been classified into two
categories: coercive, which control and reduce the autonomy of others, over or
in relation to whom power is being used (e.g. authority, punishment, emotional
relationship, reflected power, etc.), and persuasive which empower others and
increase their autonomy by widening their choices (e.g. expertise, competence,
role modelling, helping; etc.) Greater use of persuasive bases compared with
coercive bases is both an indicator and consequence of empowering.
2. Enabling managerial styles. Theses are those which encourage and nurture
subordinates, reflect problem- solving behaviour, and indicate creativity,
resilience and ability to explore, contrasted with similar but dysfunctional
styles.
3. Role Efficacy. As already commented, role efficacy has 10 aspects, under
three categories: role making (self-role integration, proactivity, creativity,
confrontation), role-centring (centrality, personal growth), role linking ( inter-
role linkages, helping relationship, and confrontation).
4. Transformational Leadership. Transformational functions (visioning,
boundary management, role modelling, setting standards, culture building,
synergising, searching and nurturing talent) need to be given more importance
than transaction functions (policy making, planning, coordinating, monitoring
performance, rewarding, developing systems, coaching).
5. Decontrol and Dispossession. Developing mechanisms which will reduce
outer control by the leader, releasing his/her energy for more strategic
roles (see Pareek, 1994, Chapter for discussion of the concept).
6. Octapace Ethos. Like climate, the organizational ethos 9the main values
reflected in the working of the organization and thinking of significant
members) is important for empowerment. Octapace ethos is characterized by
eight values of openness confrontation trust, authenticity, proaction, autonomy
collaboration and experimentation.
7. APE Climate. Organizational climate promotes motivation amongst some
individuals more titan in others. APE climate is one which promotes concern
for excellence (achievement), develops expertise (expert power), and concern
for people in the organization and society at large (extension). Such a climate is
contrasted with CAD climate, which promotes need to control, for example,
through rules and regulations, concern for developing close personal
relationships (affiliation) and need for getting approval and conformity
(dependency). Use of APE climate is both an indicator and an outcome of
empowerment.
8. Entrepreneurial culture. Promotes concern for an pursuit of
excellence. Such a culture is differentiates from autocratic, bureaucratic
and technological cultures.
Second Level Outcomes
Empowering results in the following outcomes in the organization, amongst its
individual members and teams:
1. Pride and joy in work.
2. Sense of ownership (i.e. taking responsibility for action).
3. Higher sense of controlling what happens to oneself rather than a sense of
helplessness.
4. Moderate risk taking, contrasted with playing safe or gambling.
5. Taking initiative, rather than waiting to be told what to do, or only
carrying out tasks given.
6. Creativity (trying out new ways of solving problems, experimenting).
7. encouraging subordinates to use autonomy.
14 10.5 EMPOWERMENT AUDIT
 ignoumbasupport.blogspot.in The Process of Empowerment
The term 'audit' has been used in accounting. It has been defined by the New
Encyclopaedia Britannica 91990, Vol.1, p. 695) as "examination of the records and
reports of an enterprise by accounting specialists other than responsible for their
preparation". The spirit- of audit is objective analysis of available data by
independent examiners. The term is used more widely now, including internal audit,
and audit of functions other than accounting. This term means- examining the process
and outcome of empowerment in an organization by independent evaluator (s). There
can also be internal audit of empowerment, undertaken by people belonging to the
organization.
The methodology of empowerment audit includes ways of collecting data, its
analysis, interpretation, and developing action ideas for promoting empowerment.
Four main methods can and have been used for data collection in empowerment
audit; instruments; individual interviews; group discussions; and observation of
various departments, important places like canteens, common facilities, work place,
etc.
The following instruments are used for the various indicators/enablers and
enablers/first level outcomes. MAO-B (Pareek, 1986) had also been used in early
work on empowerment audit. The second level outcomes have not been measured.
All the instruments listed below, except No.1 are contained in Pareek (1996). The
instruments 1 to 3 are for individuals, 4 for role, 5 to 7 for leadership role, 8 for
teams, and 9 to 12 for organizational climate and culture.
Activity 10.2
Have you ever came across any such activity being undertaken by any organisation,
in your knowledge, try and find out and study one where such an activity has been
undertaken. Prepare a brief write-up.
…………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………..
1. Empowerment Scale ( Das, 1992) is a 26- item questionnaire which measures
the perceived empowerment at the individual level in terms of support,
recognition and encouragement received from senior people.
2. CPP Scale (Pareek, 1997, Chapter 18) measures the value given to and need
for coercive power bases and persuasive power bases.
3. SPIRO-M (Pareek, 1997, Chapter 23) measures operating effectiveness of a
manager in nurturing and regulating subordinates, problem solving, creativity,
resilience and confronting problems and issues.
4. Role Efficacy Scale ( Pareek, 1997 Chapters 35, 36) is a 20-item scale, in
measuring 10 aspects of role efficacy.
5. SMF Schedule (Pareek, 1997 Chapter 49) gives assessment of the time and
energy given by senior managers to the seven transactional functions and seven
transformational functions.
6 PE Scale (Pareek, 1997, Chapter 52) assesses the mechanisms of reducing the
amount of outer-control, and thereby helping senior people to use their energy
on more important matters.
7. VBM (Pareek, 1997, Chapter 50, 51) Survey measures the amount of
visioning, sharing of vision and getting employees' commitment to the vision
by top management, and boundary management (protecting the organization,
getting resources, lobbying for the organization, etc.).
8. Team Empowerment Scale assesses the level of clarify about the team's task
15
Power Dynamics ignoumbasupport.blogspot.in
and related issues, among autonomy and. support experienced by the team.
9. Delegation Assessment Questionnaire (Pareek, 1997, Chapter 53) has three
parts. It contains items on the amount of delegation in various areas, process of
delegation and facilitating factors of delegation.
10. OCTAPACE Profile (Pareek, 1997, Chapter 57) measures the level of eight
values of openness, confrontation, trust, authenticity, proaction, autonomy,
collaboration and experimenting.
11. MAO-C (Pareek, 1997, Chapter 55) measures six types of motivational climate
(achievement, expert power, extension, control affiliation, dependency ) for 12
organizational processes orientation interpersonal relationships, supervision,
problem management, management of mistakes, conflict management,
communication, decision making, trust, management of rewards, risk taking,
and innovation and change).
12. Organizational Culture Profile (Pareek, 1997, Chapter 58) gives an
organization's profile on four types of cultures: autocratic, bureaucratic,
technocratic and entrepreneurial. Interviews/ Group Discussions: Individual
interviews and group discussions are done in a non-structured way (Pareek and
Rao, 1980). However the focus of the interviews usually is on the respondents'
concept of empowerment, strengths and weaknesses of the organization in the
empowerment context, hierarchical structure, bureaucratic practices (rules and
regulations, paper work, etc.), communication, functional autonomy
(interference, dysfunctional use of discretion), involvement and participation,
accountability (taking responsibility), initiative, creativity, coordination,
collaboration and team work, functioning of HRD sub-systems.
Activity 10.3

Identity five large organisations and interview at least five top and middle level
managers and find out their response about the empowerment audit and specifically
the indicators/ enablers explained above. Whether they have used it/intend to use
it/don't know about them? Prepare a brief report,

…………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………...

Observation: Observations are made more in what Nevis (1987) calls undirected
awareness or Columbo Style, contrasted with directed awareness of Sherlock Holmes
Style. Instead of' "well organised, precise, knowing and deductively oriented" as
Sherlock Holemes did. "Colombo may be said to act like a sponge immersing himself
in a milieu and waiting for important clues to be drawn to him" (Nevis, 1980. p.110),
being here-and now and noticing whatever seems to be significant. In one unit, a
common canteen' (common for the CE to workers), or different toilets for different
levels of employees in another office were significant indicators. Observations also
include experiences of the auditors.

The Audit: Responses to the instruments are scored and analysed. Responses during
the interviews and group discussions are also analysed. Notes are made on
observations. All these are analysed and integrated to get a profile of the
organization. The audit report on various aspects can then be prepared. In one group
of companies (A) working inn information technology, with young highly skilled
employees, only data collected with the help of the instruments were analysed and
reports were prepared. In the second group of companies, (B) data from all the
sources were analysed and the report was based on the integrated analysis.

The final reports are presented group-wise (company or zone or division or

16 Head/Corporate Office, etc.) and level wise.
 ignoumbasupport.blogspot.in The Process of Empowerment
Post-Audit Action: Action recommendations are made on the basis of the analysis.
These are discussed by the groups/levels concerned for implementation. In company
A, action ideas were discussed with each individual top manager for his/her own
improvement in style, etc. and for implementing suggestions in their concerned
groups. In the second group of companies (B), the reports have been prepared for
each company, level-wise, with suggestions for improvement.
13.6 POWER ENHANCERS OF LEADERS
Leadership is increasingly seen as catalyst for empowerment, and the influence or
power of a leader may be in proportion to his or her ability to "dispossess" the
organization, or become "dispensable". Withdrawing from controlling functions are
then the power enhancers for the leadership: They enhance the leader's real power,
not the coercive power, but his/her indirect influence. This is possible only when the
leader is released from attending to routine tasks and from the use of his/her
discretion in most routine matters. Let us take the example of house or vehicle
allotment. A leader has directive influence if he/she uses his/her discretion to allot
vehicles or houses to people. In that case he/she will not have enough time to plan for
a new vision. However, if clear rules are made, so that the leader does not play any
role, and has no discretion, his real power and influence will increase, as he/she will
be able to perform more important tasks of visioning, boundary management,
lobbying for the organization etc. In this sense these can be seen as power enhancers
rather than as leadership substitutes.
What are these power enhancers? Based on the research literature, and interviews
with some senior Indian managers, a list of power enhancers was prepared, and then
edited. Finally, the following 14 power enhancers were selected.
Professionalisation
Four enhancers fall within this category.
1. Competence Building: Professionalisation is attained through competent
people in the organization. Competence development through various
programmes and HRD practices contributes to this the more competent people
there are in an organization, the greater the opportunity the leader will have to
exercise higher leadership functions.
2. Rewards System: Rewards play an important role in building a culture and
multiplying power. If creativity, innovation and initiatives are rewarded, people
will develop power relating to these, The leaders then have great resources
available to them, adding to their overall power. In this way, rewards are very
effective power enhancers.
3. Feedback System: A well- developed system of giving to the employees
feedback on their performance develops professionalism and reduces the
subjective element in decision making by the leader. In fact, the feedback
system in a releases time to leaders to perform this function.
4 Professionalism: A professional orientation in the organization develops
several "substitutes" or enhancers of power. Professionalisation will include
recruiting trained and competent persons with expertise in their fields, use of
appropriate technology, and periodical competence building of personnel at
various levels. Leadership in a professional organization deals with functions at
higher levels.
Team work: Team work is an effective power enhancer, as it relieves the leader of
attending to many routine matters, and multiplies power in the organization by
increasing the effectiveness of teams. This factor has five enhancers, out of which
professionalism is one, (already discussed). Two enhancers are given below; two
others are common with the next factor and will be discussed later.
5. Strong Teams: "Strong and cohesive teams" are a major power enhancer. The
more cohesive the teams are, the more the leader is able to exercise high- level
power, leaving most of the internal matters to the teams.
6. Self-Governing Teams: When teams can function or their own, with
minimum direction from the top, leadership can be qualitatively different. Such
17
teams help in the
Power Dynamics ignoumbasupport.blogspot.in
7. process of decentralization. For example, autonomous work groups seems to
reduce the role of supervisors (because the teams themselves make most of the
decisions) on the one hand, and on the other they add value to the supervisor's
role in helping them to become real leaders in attending to resource
mobilisation, boundary management, competence building and consultation
when needed by the group. Branches of organizations with enough autonomy
have the same effect.
Formalization
Informality in organizations functions as a lubricant. But too much of it may create .
messiness and slipperiness. Some formalization is needed to increase the
effectiveness of leaders and others, in terms of better use of discretion by them. Four
enhancers are in this group. Two enhancers are common with the previous factor
(tasks and roles) and are discussed first, followed by two others.
7. Satisfying Tasks: intrinsically satisfying tasks are likely to promote both
formalization and team building. Well - designed tasks which are seen as worth
while by employees will build employ motivation and involvement, and the
leader need not have to spend energy on this aspect. These will also contribute
to the effective use of discretion by the concerned employees, and thereby
enhance power in the system.
8. Rules and Procedures: Clear rules and procedures for most routine matters,
an important element in formalization, reduces the need for attention and. time
to be given by the leaders to such matters. Moreover, they minimize the anxiety
level of employees about these matters, again helping in increasing their own
sense of power . For example, most organizations have clear cut rules and
procedures for compensation, perks, facilities, amenities etc. Although not
directly related to team building, such rules reduce bickerings and help in
building of teams.
9. Organizational Structure: A clear well-defined structure helps in
formalization. The structure reduces the leader's discretion in many matters,
and "forces" the leader to pay attention to other important functions, and use
the power available to increase expertise in the organization.
10. Management Systems: In effective organizations well designed systems
replace leaders' roles in most matters. For example, good planning, budgetary,
and information systems generate most processes of decision making.
Recruitment and other human resource systems ensure that these functions are
performed well, without any need for the leaders to attend to them.
Expert Power
Development of expert power in an organization multiplies power within the
organization, and relieves leaders of the necessity of paying attention to most matters
which can now be shared by experts. There are three enhancers in this category, one
(staff functions) being common with the previous factor of formalization,
11. Staff functions: Advisory and staff functions on the one hand develop
formalization by introducing structured and formalised special functions, on
the other hand these help to develop expertise. Power is then distributed and
gets multiplied, and strengthens the leader's ability to lead the organization.
12. Objective Rewards: when rewards are decided on the basis of clear criteria,
are developed by a team, and are also managed by a group of persons (teams),
they become more objective. Experts are involved in such decision making.
The leader gives up his role of deciding about rewards and passes this
responsibility to a team. This will release the leader's time and energy for
higher level tasks.
13. Spatial Distance: Divisionalisation and decentralization contribute to the
development of expert power. When functionaries are removed from the
central or head office, and located away from it, they have to use more
autonomy, thereby enhancing power in the system, and sharing power (and
responsibility) with the leader whose power is also enhanced.
Task Clarity and Autonomy
There is- only one enhancer in this group, although self-governing teams can also be
18 included here.
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14. Task Clarity: Well defined tasks are important for autonomous functioning of
individuals.. This increases their power, as also the power of the leader who
need not be bothered with these matters.

In brief, leaders can empower people and teams at. various level, thereby multiplying
power in an organization. Based on work with 10 companies Randolph (1985) has
suggested a 3 pronged approach to empowerment.
1. Share information
a. Share company performance information.
b. Help people understand the business.
c. Build trust though sharing sensitive information
d. Create self-monitoring possibilities
2. Create autonomy thought structure
a. Create a clear vision and clarify the little pictures
b. Clarify goals and roles collectively
c. Create new decision making rules that support empowerment
d. Establish new empowering performance management processes
e. Use heavy doses of training
3. Let teams become the hierarchy
a. Provide direction and training for new skills
b. Provide encouragement and support for change
c Gradually have managers let go of control
d. Work through the leadership vacuum stage
e. Acknowledge the fear factor.
Activity 10.4
Identify five organisations of large size and prepare a comparative statement about all
the five points given above, based on the response of their HRT) department. Prepare
your report on status of empowerment, discuss this among your peers.
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10.7 SELF EMPOWERMENT

The core of the empowerment process is the individual. While the century of great
leaders is coming to a close. We already have enough signs that the next century will
be the century of great leadership. Individuals will matter, not a few of them, but a
large number. We shall continue to derive inspiration from great leaders like
Mahatma Gandhi who demonstrated the highest degree of authenticity. He practiced
what he preached.
Each individual needs to take charge of himself/herself, and take steps for self-
empowerment, Five lessons can be learned from Mahatma Gandhi about self-
empowerment.

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1. Develop a strong indentity, mainly in relation to the race, class, country or
vocation. This identity should give a sense of pride to oneself. Distinguish this
identity from pseudo or narrow identities.
2. Break out of the narrow or pseudo identities, eg. of sex, language, caste,
religion etc. In other words, empowerment means emancipation from narrow
identities. This thought is at the core of the Indian culture. For example,
connecting the male with the female part of the self is reflected in one of the
highest forms of God called ardhanarisvra, which translated means the "half
man and half woman god", also depicted so in the statue, half being a man and
the other half a woman. Although this thought was in the Indian traditional
concept of androgyny, male domination for centuries clouded this. Gandhiji
brought it out, and emphasized that the complete self would require an
integration of the two. He used to say that he was first a mother and then a
man. His emphasis on values of non-violence, caring, compassion, empathy
etc. was to balance the tilt which was more on male values of confrontation,
competition, aggression etc.
3. Expand your identity to larger identities - or connect with others. But before
connecting with others, connect with yourself. After integration of the self, by
connecting within with several aspects of the self, connecting with others add a
qualitatively different dimension to empowerment. Individuals and groups are
no more in isolation. Connecting is empowerment. With his deep identity of
religion-spirituality of Hinduism, Gandhiji was able to connect with other
religions like Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, Jainism etc. He used to say that he
was a true Muslim, a true Christian, India, with deep spiritual tradition, with its
later connection with Islam, learnt new lesson of serving the needy and the
community. The Indian identity or psyche is an integration of these. And
Gandhiji, through his life, taught millions of young Indians this basic lessons of
empowerment. Connecting with larger groups and significant individuals in
other parts of world, gave a higher degree of empowerment. The youth during
the freedom struggle used to participate in meeting to listen to Paul Robenson's
inspiriting music, or Chilean poet Pablo Neruda's poems of the Turkish poet
Nazim Hikmet. And much later young people were inspired by Martin Luther
King, Fiedel Castro, etc. This gave a sense of empowerment with these
connections - a sense of vibrating support coming from dozens of irresponsible
individuals and groups from all over the world.
4. Gandhiji emphasized the need of going back to self whenever in doubt.
Whenever his action resulted in unintended violence, he used to discontinue his
programme, and go on fast, introspecting and reflecting, and then he discussed
his analysis with his colleagues. Gandhi's lesson was that the core of all
empowerment is self, a liberated self strengthened with introspection and
reflection.
5. And finally, he emphasized the need to go beyond the self and served other
individuals, groups and the society. This was the link between individual
empowerment and empowerment in the society. Gandhiji gave up his busy
schedule, he used to find time to serve needy (eg. taking care of a friend who
had leprosy). Even in USA, based on a longitudinal research it has been
reported that "the more individuals and blocks get involved in helping their
neighbours, informally or through religion and other service organizations, the
more they also get involved in grassroots community action...." (Perkins,
Brown & Taylor, 1996, p.106) Such concern for others (called extension
motivation (Pareek, 1997, Chapter 50 or what Mehta (1994) calls social
achievement), along with internal locus of control is the basis of individual
empowerment, and a building block of social empowerment.
Activity 10.5
Make an honest assessment of yourself and a few close friends of yours and see how
do you fare on self empowerment count.
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10.8 SUMMARY
The primary objective of this unit is to let you understand the concept of
empowerment. The ultimate goal of empowerment is to help achieve the
organisational goals and objectives basically by making people realise the internal
power and help them use it for the benefit of themself and others.
For achieving the above goals, empowerment at various levels. becomes imperative
viz.; Empowerment at societal level, organisation level and at various units level in
the organisation. Having done so it should be checked whether this has adequately
been done or not, we need to audit the whole process and identify the lacunae, if any
at these levels and then chalk out the strategy to bridge the gap._ Towards the end
this unit talks about the power enhancers of leaders. Further such power enhancers
have been identified and may be clubbed under five sub-heads. Finally the unit also
explains how to empower one's ownself.
10.9 SELF-ASSESSMENT QUESTIONS
• What do you understand by the term Empowerment? Explain why .is
empowerment needed at various levels. What is empowerment audit? Why
should it be undertaken at all? What are the advantages, explain with
examples?
• What is power enhancers for leaders, explain each one of them with examples?
10.10 FURTHER READINGS
1. Kali N. and Michels. P. (1991) The Lazarus Project: the politics of
empowerment. The American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 45, 719-725.
2. Koestenbahm, P. (1991) Leadership. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Mehta,
Prayag Pareek, U. (1993) Making organizational roles effective. New Delhi:
Tata McGraw Hill.
5. Pareek U. (1997) Instruments for human resource development New Delhi:
Tata McGraw Hill.
6. Pareek,U. (1997a) Evaluating Human Resource Development. Jaipur: Jaipur
HRD Research Foundation (contains chapter on empowerment audit and case
study of OD through empowerment).
7. Randolph, W.A.(1995) Navigating the journey to empowerment Organizational
Dynamics, 23 (Spring),19-32.
8. Rappaport. J Swift. C. and Hess. R. (1984) Studies in empowerment: Steps
toward understanding and action, Haworth, New York.
9. Rissel, Christopher (1994). Empowerment: The holy grail of health promotion?
Health Promotion International, (1), 39-47.
10. Smith, W.J. and J.A.Temer(1995) Adoption. In W.J.Rothwell, R.Sullivann and
G.N. McLean (Eds.) Practicing organization development: A guide for
cousultants (Chapter 11). San Diego: Pfeiffer &Co.
11. Swift, C. and G.Levin (1987). Empowerment: An emerging mental health
technology. Journal of Primary Promotion, 8, 71-94.
12. Torre, D.A (1986) Empowerment: structured conceptualization and instrument
development Ph.D. dissertation. Cornell University.
13. Wallerstein, N. (1992) Powerlessness, empowerment, and health: implications
for health promotion programs. American Journal of Health Promotion, 6,197-
205.

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UNIT 11 DECENTRALISATION AND
DELEGATION
Objective

After going through the Unit you should be able to:

• understand and appreciate the need of decentralisation
• appreciate the concept and process of delegation
• measure the delegation process in your organisation
Structure
11.1 Decentralisation as a Structured Mechanism of Empowerment
11.2 Decentralisation and Democracy
11.3 Dimensions of Power Sharing
11.4 The Need of Integrating Mechanisms with Decentralisation
11.5 The Concept of Delegation
11.6. The Process of Delegation
11.7 Forces Influencing Delegation
11.8 Summary
11.9 Self-Assessment Questions
11.10 Further Readings/References

11.1 DECENTRALISATION AS A STRUCTURED

MECHANISM OF EMPOWERMENT
Decentralisation has assumed more importance in view of the advocacy in some
circles for greater centralisation as a possible solution to the problem of the growing
tendencies of dissent and confrontation with the central authority. The subject is also
important because of the increasing realisation of the gains of sharing power and
decision making authority with operating levels in many organisations in our country.

The tern decentralisation has been used with different connotations. In the national
context decentralisation refers to "transfer of authority away from the national capital
whether by deconcentration (delegation) to field offices or by devolution to local
authorities or other local bodies" or more specifically "the transference of authority,
legislative, judicial, or administrative, from a higher level of government to a lower"

In the context of bureaucracy it denoted " the distribution, through delegation, of

decision making authority. In the oganisational context decentralisation refers to
delegation of decision making. The concept of decentralisation essentially is one of
power sharing It is the process of giving, creating and enabling more autonomy to be
exercised by the operating levels, and in some measure charring control by the
controlling authority from prescription to support.
Decentralisation, being the process of sharing power between higher and lower levels
of governance or organisations (i.e. decision making authority), is a continuum from
complete control or centralisation to full autonomy. The continuum can also be
treated as phases of decentralisation. The main decisions are made in relation to the
tasks of 'a system, or in relation to resources to accomplish the tasks. Resources are
of two main types: finance and human. Thus we can think of decentralisation as a
continuum of control of three variables. Organisational tasks, finance, and human
resources. Tasks of control or autonomy may relate to policy making, strategy
22 formulation, planning, priorities setting,
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and implementation of programmes. With regard to financial and human resources
the conern for autonomy relate to the generation and procurement of resources,
controlling and owning them, and their utilisation according to one's choice.

Activity - 11.1

Make an honest assessment of your organisation and prepare a brief write up about
the Decentralisation policy in your organization.

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11.2 DECENTRALISATION AND DEMOCRACY

Why is decentralisation so important? Decentralisation has been suggested as
valuable both as a goald and as a means. The objectives of decentralisation, as
investigated, included faster and better communication, people's involvement and
commitment development, mobilisation of support for national development,
reduction of delay in decision making, greater equity in allocation of resources and
investments, reduction in apathy of administrators to the clientele. Recently after the
implementation of democratic decentralisation in Karnataka, a Zilla Parishad
demonstrated its effectiveness in generating resources by increasing the income from
fisheries from its revenues from the source to Rs. 2 crores in a few years. This
amazing story of success shows the inherent creative potential of the people, and the
immense strength of the coordination between people's representatives (Zilla
Parishad Adhyaksha) and the bureaucracy (Chief Secretary of the Zilla Parishad) to
bring about miracies of development.
A study of 30 Indian manufacturing firms showed a positive relationship between
decentralisation and organisational effectiveness (both economic criteria of profit and
sales growth, and behavioural criteria), the relationship being stronger in highly
competitive firms (Negandhi and Reimann, 1972).
Decentralisation has been seen as desirable because it symbolises democratic values.
Decentralisation is the process of sharing power, especially decision making
authority, and is based on the principle that most decisions should be made by people
who are affected by them. Centralisation, efficient as it may seem in the short-run,
results in concentration of power which is both corrupting and dehumanising.
Centralised power, in the name of national security or common good, starts an
opposite process of alienation of the larger groups, domination by a few, and
development or repressive mechanisms. Centralisation eventually leads to
divisiveness. In words; "Finally, when the state, on the eve of ruin, maintains only a
vain, illusory, and formal existence, when in every heart the social bond is broken,
and the meanest interest brazenly lays hold of the sacred name of "public good", the
general will becomes mute; all men , guided by secret motives, no more give their
views as citizens than if the state had never been; and iniquitous decrees directed
solely to private interest get passed under the name of laws, Mahatma Gandhi had a
clear vision of a human decentralised society. More recently Jaya Prakash Naraian
(1972) warned against centralise power :
"An all powerful centre concentrating too many functions on its hands would
only be outwardly strong. Inwardly, it would be under severe stresses and
strains, and the danger of its failing apart would be ever present. Such it strong
Centre would have to gradually move away from democracy and become more
and more totalitarian".
Democratic values underlie the concept and philosophy of decentalisation. But all
forms of democracy may not be conducive to decentralisation. The most prevalent
form of Western democracy has been questioned for its relevance of governance of
smaller systems. Contrast has been made between adversary and unitary democracy 23
(Mansbridge, 1983), the
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former being the usual Western system. While the basic assumption of adversary
democracy is conflicting interests, that of the unitary form is of common. interests.
The central egalitarian ideal in the two models is equal protection of interests, that of
the unitary form is for common interests. The interests versus equal respect; the
decision rule being majority rule versus consensus, and the level of intimacyreflected
in secret ballot versus face to face contact. Jaya Prakash Narayan (1970 p. 72)
contrasted between democracy by consent and participating democracy, by
suggesting that the pyramid of power in the society had been inverted through
centralisation, and needed to be correctly reversed.

It is not proposed here that the Western form of democracy , which we have also
adopted in our country, is not suited for decentalisation. White it may be appropriate
for national polity, it is not suitable and functional for smaller systems which
unfortunately have also been blindly imitating it. With increasing decentralisation we
need to search for newer forms of democratic work which are more unitary and
cohesive and help to strengthen bandages, and focus on common interest. The
adversary model of democracy.

Activity - 11.2

Do you agree with the statement "Decentralisation strengthens democracy." What is

your experience. Talk to ten other colleagues of yours from various organisations
and, form an opinion?

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11.3 DIMENSIONS OF POWER SHARING

Decentralisation is not a uniform concept. Although the basic idea of decentralisation
is sharing decision making authority with lower levels in the organisations, the nature
of power sharing will differ from situation to situation. Power can be shared with the
system, at a lower level, or by creating other mechanisms in the system. Power can
also be shared with outside organisations or agencies. Related to these aspects four
types of decentralisation have been suggested. (1) deconcentration - handling over
some amount of administrative authority or responsibility to lower levels within the
government, ministries or agencies: (2) delegation - transferring responsibility for
specifically defined functions to organisations that are outside the regular
bureaucratic structure and are only indirectly controlled by the Central government
(3) devolution -- creation and strengthening of sub-national units of the government
activities which are substantially outside the direct control of the Central government,
(4) privatisation - passing all responsibility for functions to . voluntary organisations,
or private enterprises independent of the government.

Decentralisation can also be thought of in geographical or functional terms. Most

industrial organisations decentralise their functions by establishing regional offices in
different geographical locations, and giving them enough autonomy to operate.
Functional decentralisation related to autonomy being given to different functional
groups within the organisation.

A typology can also be developed by treating decentalisation as a continuum from

complete control to complete. As already suggested, tasks, finance, and human
resource can be are determined at the centre, and then defined and the levels below
are merely to carry out the define task, we have one extreme in which control is high.
Similarly, decision about allocation of funds for performing some functions are
24 another aspect of extreme
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control. The same is, true in relation to the appointment of employees when
allocating them to the concerned units and controlling them. When some share in the
formulation of task, use of budgeVand management of employees is given to
operating units we have moved one step on the continuum. The third stage of
decentralisation is when discretion in defining priorities and tasks, using funds, and
managing human resources is given to the operating units. The last step of
decentralisation is when the operating units prepare their own policies and strategies
leading to prioritising of tasks, they are also able to generate their own resources, and
are given block grants by the central authority to use according to their choice, and
have the autonomy to recruit and manager their human resources:
11.4 THE NEED OF INTEGRATING MECHANISMS
WITH DECENTRALISATION
Decentralisation is not always an unmixed blessing. If not properly used, it may
result in wastage and dilution of responsibility Decentralisation can increase conflict
between elected representatives and officials. Whenever power has been
decentralised both in the developed and developing countries, it has engendered
power politics. Often complaints have been made that after devolution of power to
the panchayat samities, the vested interests in the villages get more entrenched.
While the national or provincial governments may be able to check misuse of power,
and ensure that the society deprived and weaker sections of the society get due
justice, when decision making is transferred to the block or village 'level, the
dominant groups and individuals monopolise power in these areas. The democratic
machinery requiring a minimum level of affluence, and some amount of education to
understand the intricacies of acts and laws, can deprive people from socially
disadvantaged groups of opportunities to participate and influence the social
processes. They may not have enought means to devote time and energy to politics,
as they cannot neglect their daily work. People who have more knowledge are likely
to exploit those who are less exposed to social understanding. Therefore, people
understand social and political processes and dynamics, decentralisation may only
perpetuate the status quo. With certainly very few benefits to the people.
This raises two issues: a, contingency approach to decentralisation, and conditions
which must be fulfilled if decentralisation is to give the maximum benefit to the
society. We shall first discuss the contingency approach, and later take up the issue of
necessary conditions for the success of decentralisation.
In recent management literature, the issue of cenralisation versus decentralisation has
been discussed in the context of the strategy and the environment in which the
organisations operate. If the environment is highly complex and competitive,
decentralisation has been seen as a more appropriate structural property. On the other
hand, if the tasks are simple and time-bound, or If an organisation is working in a
crisis. Centralised management may be more appropriate. At the national level, since
the social tasks are much more complex and dynamic, and the society is highly
diverse culturally, geographically and in several other ways, the most appropriate
mode for the national polity of India seems to be decentralisation. But within
decentralisation, the use of central functions is also important.
The process of decentralisation does not mean that the central authority is less active
or less important. Decentralisation is based on the non-zero-sum concept of power.
When power is shard between the centre and the periphery, the non-zero-sum concept
implies that power during the process of sharing power with the periphery reduces its
own quantum of power. The importance of the centre does not get reduced, although
the nature of power changes. The famous differentiation-integration model in
management (Larence & Lorsch, 1967) is based on th4e concept that more the
differentiation (decentralisation), the greater is the need for integration. In
decentralisation the role of the central authority, which shares power with the lower
levels, needs to be defined more clearly. The central authority after decentralisation
performs much higher roles, and the quality, of its power changes. The main
functions of the central authority, In the decentralisation model, are coordination,
networking, resource generation, boundary management providing support of skills
etc. To the lover levels. The role of the central authority undergoes a change, from a
regulaltory role to a coordinating and consulting role. The central authority also uses 25
various integration mechanisms to review, coordinate, guide, and frame policies.
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11.5 THE CONCEPT OF DELEGATION
Every person has enough power within him/her. The process of empowering is
concerned with creating conditions in which this inner power can be used effectively.
Empowering is the process of expanding choices for an individual, and helping him
use his/her alternative choices-to others. Thus it is an expanding, the multiplying
concept.
Power can never be given, it is only exercised. Conditions can certainly be promoted
to help people use power effectively. One formal way of creating such conditions is
delegation. The concept of delegation is not to "give" power, Senior persons need, to
evolve (jointly with their junior colleagues) areas in which they would like to use their
competencies, and ways in which they can used their discretion and make the desired
impact. In other words, delegation helps them to work out strategies of doing the same
with their junior colleagues. Delegation, then is a useful way of multiplying power in
an organisation.
The purpose of delegation will fail if it is used by a senior person to "give" tasks
which he does not like or for which he does not have time, to his junior colleague. It
will also fail if the junior colleague feels "overloaded" with responsibility. Similarly, it
cannot succeed in its purpose if it is unilaterally done by the senior persons. It should
involve joint decision making. It is a therefore multi-step process.
11.6 THE PROCESS OF DELEGATION
Delegation is not merely related to structured power devolution, but also involves
some processes. Delegation involves several steps. It is not likely to be effective if we
miss any of the eight steps briefly mentioned below. These steps are stated in action
terms.
1. Jointly define role boundaries : Delegation involves two roles. The role of the
delegator, and tat of the delegatee. It, therefore, involves both of them.
Delegation leads to change of roles and responsibilities. These changes must be
discussed by both concerned and, based on several considerations, must be
decided and formalised. Since others also need to know about the functions the
delegatee will perform, these need to be described fully made known widely.
The decision has to be joint, and the delegatee should not only volunteer to
perform those functions, but should feel that the role will be enriched as a result.
2. Provide needed competencies : Most functions delegated will be new and
contain higher responsibilities, the delegatee may not have the competencies
needed to perform these functions. He/she should do a self-assessment and
openly discuss what new competencies he/she should develop in order to do
justice to the new functions. The delegator then should prepare a plan, in
consultation with the delegatee, of how the latter will develop these
competencies.
3. Provide needed resources : The same is true of resources financial, material,
technological, human) required for effective performance of the new functions.
These should be assessed, and provision must be made to supply these to the
delegatee.
4. Monitor but do not closely supervise : Monitoring of the performance of the
delegated functions for sometime is essential. This may help to provide the
needed support/help. Monitoring may also indicate the delegator's interests and
moral support. If over done, this can be counterproductive. Close supervision of
the performance of delegated functions. by the delegator may indicate lack of
trust in the competence of the delegatee.
5. Reward discretion and initiative : Delegation is an evolutionary and
developmental process; It need to be encouraged and reinforced. Delegation
involves taking initiative and using discretion in the delegated functions. If these
are rewarded, the process of delegation will be stronger and more successful.
6. Respect role boundaries : Once a decision has been jointly taken by the senior
and junior colleagues on delegation, the redefined role boundaries must be
respected. The' delegatee is likely to make mistakes. The delegator may be
tempted to rush to rescue him. This may destroy the spirit of delegation. No
decision should be taken "over the
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head" of the delegatee in matters delegated to the latter. If the decision is to
be changed, the delegatee should do it after discussion with the delegator and
after being convinced of the need to change the decision.
7. Jointly analyse mistakes to plan for the future : In periodical reviews, the
mistakes be used as experiences from which to learn to improve delegation.
The mistakes made, difficulties experienced etc. Can be analysed in such
review meetings in order to plan how these could be avoided in future. The
experiences may raise many issues which could be useful for improvement of
delegation.
8. Review delegation down the line : Most often people want delegation only up
to their Own level. As we said in the beginning, delegation is a widening
process of empowerment. Each senior person involved in delegation should
discuss with his/her junior colleague how the latter will delegate some useful
functions to his/her colleagues at the next level. This will help to multiply
power through delegation.
Activity - 11.3
Make a realistic comparative assessment of the mentioned process of delegation in
three organizations which you feel have well established norms of delegations.
Compare and discuss the report.
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11.7 FORCES INFLUENCING DELEGATION

In an organisation the current level of delegation is determined by opposing forces.
Some positive forces, which facilitate delegation, and some equally strong negative
forces which hinder delegation. It may be useful to identify such forces, and. reduce
or eliminate the negative or hindering forces. In addition to the above, some other
forces have been identified by manager working on delegation in a particular
organisation. These are briefly stated below. The success of delegation depends on.
the delegate; the delegator, on both of them as a team, and on the organisation. The
facilitating and hindering forces are put under these four heads.
Facilitating Forces
A. Factors related to the delegatee :
1. Competence of the delegatee : This is an obvious positive, force. The
more competent a delegatee is, the more effectively he/she will use
delegation.
2 Eagerness to take responsibility : Delegatee's motivation, involvement
and commitment is reflected in his/her willingness to take responsibility.
Delegatee's motivation, involvement and commitment is reflected, in
his/her willingness to take responsibility. This helps to make delegation
effective. .
B. Factors related to the delegator :
3. Role overload of the delegator : If the delegator feels overwhelmed with
many function. He/she is likely to open dialogue with the delegate to share
some responsibility, and is likely to help the latter succeed in the delegated
functions,
4.. Inner security .of the delegator : If the delegator has high sense of
security, he, is not afraid of losing power by empowering the junior 27
colleague (delegating to
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him some important functions). Such a person is likely to delegate more
effectively by trusting, monitoring, reviewing, supporting, providing
resources, etc.
C. Factors related to both :
5. Mutual trust : This is an essential requirement for the success of
delegation. Without mutual trust, periodical frank reviews cannot be done.
D. Factors related to the organisation :
6. OCTAPACE (eight steps) ethos : An ethos of openness, confrontation,
trust. authenticity, proaction, autonomy, collaboration and experimentation
in an organisation promotes delegation.
7. Entrepreneurial culture : Delegation is likely to be higher and more d.
Factors related to the organization.
8. OCTAPACE (eight steps) ethos : An ethos of openness, confrontation,
trust. authenticity, proaction, autonomy, collaboration and experimentation
in an organisation promotes delegation
9. Enterpreneurial culture : Delegation is likely to be higher and more
effectively used in organisations where entrepreneurial culture is high one
which gives importance to new ideas, moderate risk taking, support to
employees, and high demands from various levels of responsibility.
Hindering Forces
a. Forces related to the delegates
1. Dependency motivation : A person who has a high need for dependency is
not likely to use delegation effectively. Such a person feels comfortable in
carrying out instructions given by seniors, seeks approval from seniors for
his proposed action and hesitates to take risk.
2. Lack of initiative : Generally related to the dependency motive is a
hesitation to take initiative. This may be related to fear of failure-tendency
to play safe) or the dependency motive.
b. Forces related to the delegator :
3. High control needs : If the delegator has a high need to control, and uses
personal power to monitor what happens, and what should happen, he/she
may find it difficult to delegate.
4. Inability to develop juniors: Many person do not have the competence to
develop junior colleagues (patience, listening to the juniors, guiding them
by one's own examples, encouraging them to experiment, reviewing,
providing support, etc.). Such persons may find it difficult to delegate.
c. Forces related to both :
5. Lack of role clarity : Delegation may not succeed if there is lack of role
clarity in general and in the role immediately concerned. Role ambiguity
may relate to the main functions of roles (role boundaries), resources
available, linkages, etc.
d. Forces managing to the organisation :
6. Crises managing climate : Crisis situations are not appropriate for
delegation, some organisations create crisis managing climate and they are
continuously engaged in fire fighting. Obviously, such a climate, of crisis
situations prevent the process of delegation which involves
experimentation and risk taking.
7. Autocratic-bureaucratic culture : Delegation is difficult in
autocratic/feudal or bureaucratic organisational culture. I the former
(autocratic or feudal, the whole . organisation hinges on the top man or a
few top people. The top people, even with good intentions, tend to
centralise all powers, and the same norm and behaviour are modelled down
the line. So if systematic delegation is not feasible, delegation is arbitrary
28 and in selected pockets. In a bureaucratic culture rules and regulations are
important, the lines of responsibility, functions and norms are laid
 ignoumbasupport.blogspot.in Decentralisation and Delegation
down in details. An a person is evaluated for his/her faithful performance of the
assigned tasks according to laid down rules and regulations. Since there is no
pressure for innovation and risk taking, the need to delegate is low. Moreover,
everything comes from the top layer of the organisation; so the culture itself
promotes centralisation and does not encourage delegation.
Lowy and Finestone (1986) have suggested a 3-stage model of delegation:
Assessment, interaction and follow-through. They have discussed the interpersonal,
Informational and decisional aspects of every stage, as well as contents of the process
questions.

11.8 SUMMARY
Furthering logically the discussion in the last unit about empowerment, this unit
heavily draws upon the thesis that Decentralisation and Delegation are the measures
of empowerment. Most and effective delegation and decentralisation will mean
effective empowerment. This unit makes you understand the 'need, the concept and
the processes of decentralisation and democracy. It takes stock of power sharing as a
whole for assessment of the same. The unit explains the process and concept of
delegation apart from the factors which influence delegation.

11.9 SELF ASSESSMENT QUESTIONS

• What do you understand by `Decentralisation.' How is decentralisation related
to democracy? explain with examples.
• What are the dimensions of power sharing? explain with organizational
example.
• "Decentralization is not always an unmixed blessing, if not properly used it
may result in wastage and dilution of responsibility." Elaborate this statement
and explain the underlying concept.
• Define delegation, discuss the process of delegation.
• Briefly describe various positive and negative factors influencing delegation,
with examples.

11.10 FURTHER READINGS

1. Udai Pareek's Beyond Management (2nd Edition) (Oxford and 1BH, 1994) has
two chapters (17 and 18) giving details about the processes of decentralisation
and delegation; a lot of material has been borrowed from there. Udai Pareek's
Instruments for Human Resource Development (Tata McGraw-Hill, New
Delhi, 1997) contain an instrument on delegation process, with relevant theory,
scoring and interpretation guidelines.
2. Lawrence, P and J. Lorsch, (1967), Organisation and environment. Boston
Harvard Business School.
3. Lawy, A and P. Finestone (1986). Delegation: A process as well as strategy. In
J.W. Pfiffer and L.D. Goodstein (Eds.) The 1986 Annual: Developing Human
Resources (pp. 163-169), San Diego: University Associates.
4. Mansbridge, J.J. (1983). Beyond adversary Democracy. Chicago: U. Chicago
Press.
5. Neghandhi A. and B. Reimanna, 1972. A contingency theory of organisation
reexamined in the context of a developing country Academy of Management
Journal, 15,137-146.
6. Narain, J.P. (1972) Corurnunitarian society and panchayat. Varanasi Navchetan
Prakashan.

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Unit 12 TRANSFORMATIONAL
LEADERSHIP
Objectives
After going through this unit, you should be able to :
• understand the concept of transformational leadership
• appreciate the transformational processes
• understand organisational framework of the processes
• examine diagnostic aspects of transformational processes for creating a
motivational vision.
Structure
12.1 Introduction
12.2 The Need for Transformational Leadership
12.3 The Transformational Processes and the Organisation
12.4 Individual and the Transformation
12.5 The Alignment Task: Adjusting to the Future
12.6 Creating a Motivating Vision
12.7 Summary
12.8 Self-Assessment Questions
12.9 Further Readings/References

12.1 INTRODUCTION
The concept of leadership as such has been much debated and researched topic in
management as well as other social sciences. Starting from Lewin and his students'
famous experiments on group dynamics involving leadership till the present time,
there has been little unanimity in explaining and defining this concept. However, in
the organizational world, this concept has enormous importance (despite the
prevailing confusion) where one has to keep in mind both the context as well as the
person in order to utilize and optimize the efficiency and effectiveness. This is
especially so at a time the economy of the entire industrialized world is in the midst
of major upheaval and transformation and a new type of leadership in the middle and
senior levels of our organizational world is desperately needed. One needs to come
out of the clutches of traditional thinking which tells about task oriented, person
'oriented or goal oriented leadership. In this present world scenario, the corporate
world cannot afford to look for scapegoats in order to account for the ineffective use
of their resources. The time has come to talk about how our corporations, our wealth
producing institutions, can develop the type of leadership with the courage and
imagination to change the organization life style. According to James McGregor
Burns, what is needed is not the old style transactional leadership, but a new
transformational leadership. Transactional leaders were fine for the earlier era of
expanding markets and nonexistent competition. In return for compliance they issued
rewards. They managed what they found and left things pretty as much as they found
them when they moved on.
Transformational Leadership is about change, innovation and entrepreneurship.
One has agree with Peter Drucker that these are not provinces of lonely half mad
individuals with flashes of genius. Rather, this brand of leadership is a behavioural
process capable of being learned and managed. It is a leadership process that is
systematic consisting of purposeful and organized search for changes, systematic
analysis and the capacity. to move resources from areas of lesser to greater
productivity. This strategic transformation of organizations is not something that
occurs solely to the idiosyncratic behaviour of charismatic geniuses. It is a discipline
30 with a set of predictable steps.
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Transforming an organization to make it strategically competitive is a complex task.
Transformation, if one uses the metaphor of a drama, then it can be visualized in
terms of a three act play:
Act I : Revitalization-recognition of the need to change.
Act II : Creating a new vision.
Act III : Institutionalizing change.
The leaders in this drama go through tough, gruelling and extreme challenges in their
effort to transform companies, save employee jobs and strengthen the fabric of the
society. These people are in a race against time and it is not entirely clear whether
they will be successful or not (The Reliance Group especially the Arnbanis for
example). Whatever the outcome, one thing is becoming clear by day that the
traditional styles of Leadership would not have worked in the present turbulent times
- with mergers, mega-mergers and fast speed of globalization and spread of
informational technology. The message is clear - one has to spread a new way of
thinking about corporate transformation, to make true leadership and everyday way
of acting rather than, a talent limited to a few select individuals. Transformation can
be accomplished and new leadership style can be learned.
The Genesis of the Concept
Abraham Zaleznik contrasted leaders and managers in a 1977 Harvard. Business
Review article. Managers were characterized as individuals who maintain the balance
of operations in an organization, relate to others according to their role, are detached,
impersonal,, seek solutions acceptable as a compromise among conflicting values and
identify with the organization. The leaders on the other hand were characterized as
individuals out to create new approaches and imagine new areas to explore; they
relate to people in more intuitive and empathetic ways, seek risk where opportunity
and reward are high and project ideas into images to excite people. To sum up, the
managers do things right, leaders do right things. Michael Maccoby's book the
leaders specifically shifted our attention to the important bridge between Burns's
work on Transforming leadership and industrial settings. Maccoby argued for
"Gamesman": The gamesman's daring the willingness to innovate and take risks are
still needed. Companies that rely on conservative company men in finance to run
technically based organizations lose the competitive edge. But unless their (the
gamesman's) negative traits are transformed or controlled, even gifted gamesmen
become liabilities as leaders in a new economic reality, a period of limited resources
cutbacks, even the team can no longer always be controlled by promises of more and
one person's gain may be another's loss. Leadership with values of caring and trust
that no one will be penalized for cooperation and that sacrifice as well as rewards
will be equitable.
12.2 THE NEED FOR TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERS
Competitive pressures are forcing companies to reassess the implicit and explicit
employment contract they have struck with employees. The opinions and feelings of
middle managers and others caught up in the organizational change are a part of
growing chorus of anger, confusion and dismay. The change they are being asked to
make is not marginal; it is fundamental, It demands the commitment of the many not
the few. Its nature is revolutionary not evolutionary. It cries out for leaders not
managers, to effect the transformations required by most organizations.
And across the industrial landscape we see the emergence of a new breed of leader,
to meet the challenge - the transformational leader. These people take on the
responsibility for revitalizing an organization. They define the need for change,
create new visions, mobilize commitment to those visions and ultimately transform
an organization.
Transforming an organization is a human drama that involves both joys and sorrows.
Winning - beating the competition is exhilarating, but it is painful to lay off workers,
sell off business and disrupt traditions. These phenomena are often part of a renewal,
for what worked in the past may have become the cause of failure in the present.
Transforming' an organization also requires new vision, new frames of thinking about
strategy, structure and people. While some entrepreneurs can start with a clean slate, 31
transformational leaders
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must begin with what is already in place. They are like architects who must redesign
out mated factories for a new use.
The traditional managerial skills such as financial acumen, manufacturing expertise,
and marketing prowess, are important ingredients in most organizational success
stories, but not sufficient for organizational transformation. We focus on the most
critical element - leadership - as organizations are challenged by an increasingly
competitive enviornment. Systems can be designed to create operating efficiency, but
it is leadership that enables an organization to maintain a dominant position in its
industry. Organization must be revitalize because continued dominance requires
adaptation to changing market conditions. This need for transformation is not limited
to particular country, it is a universal phenomena.
The managers caught in the maelstorm of change express feelings of anguish,
helplessness and acute anger. From a psychological point of view their feelings are
predictable. The human desire to balance the search for variety and adventure with
the need for constancy and security has been documented by poets and philosophers
alike. The reluctance to act is perhaps the main reason behind inefficiency and
productivity loss.
As organizations try to change, they must learn to deal fairly with the anxieties and
criticisms of both managers and employees who will have to adopt to change.
Ironically, still healthy organizations sometimes encounter greater resistance to
change than organizations in the midst of crisis. For example, seeing the prospect of
bankruptcy made change an immediate and acceptable priority at Chrysler.
THE TRANSFORMATIONAL THEMES
Transformational processes develop around three basic themes. As we watch
organizational struggle for the need to change, the developmental sequence involves
three basic themes (as mentioned earlier).
1. Recognizing the Need for Revitalization
This facet centers on the challenges the leader encounter when he or she
attempts to alert the organization to growing threats from the environment.
.
2. Creating a new Vision
This involves the leaders struggle to focus the organization's attention on a
vision of the future that is exciting and positive.
3. Institutionalizing Change
Here the leader seeks to institutionalize the transformation so that it will
survive his or her tenure in a given position.
THE PARADOX OF TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP
The leaders must deal with the tension revolving around a sense of loss regarding the
"good old days". This loss centers around some real and some wishful thinking about
how the things were or could have been. Leaders deal with these feelings by creating
organizations that embrace the paradox. The organizations are characterized by the
ability to manage uncertainty in their environment. The paradoxes create the dramatic
tensions in the transformational enactment. They include
1. A Struggle Between the Forces of Stability and the Forces of Change
Successful organizations must find ways to balance the need for adaptation
with the need for stability. Organization that cling too tightly to tradition fail
eventually decline while organizations which fail to regain their equilibrium
after embarking on change spin out of control and eventually destroy
themselves.
2. Tension Between Denial and Acceptance of Reality
Potential revitalization may end up as tragedies when key players attempt to
deny reality and hide from its implications.
3. A Struggle Between Fear and Hope
Organizations, like legendary phoenix, are capable of regenerating themselves.
The process, however, demands that the ageing and increasingly impotent
forms must be
32
 ignoumbasupport.blogspot.in Transformational Leadership
destroyed before the new form can emerge to again dominate its environment.
This leap of faith that destruction will result in rebirth is tied to the tension
between stability and change and countered by the denial that change is
necessary.
4. A Struggle Between the Manager and the Leader

Managers are dedicated to the maintenance of the existing organization

whereas leaders are often committed to its change. The philosophical
difference between doing things right and doing the right things create tension
in organizations that are being pressured to change.

The transformational act is played both at the individual as well at the organizational
level as portrayed in Figure - A. Leaders must pull the organization into the future by
creating a positive view of what the organization can become and simultaneously
provide emotional support for individuals during- the transition process.

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12.3 THE TRANSFORMATIONAL PROCESSES AND THE
ORGANIZATION
Recognizing the Need for Revitalization
The need for changes is triggered by environmental pressures. But not all
organizations respond to signals from the environment indicating change. The
external trigger event must be perceived and responded to by leader, then, the key
decision makers in the organization must be made to feel dissatisfied with status quo.
The felt need for change provides the impetus for transition, but this process does not
always go smoothly. A key to whether resistant forces deter the organization from
making the needed adjustments to environmental shifts is the quality of the
leadership that is brought to bear. Lee Iacocca created a vision of the "new Chrysler",
mobilized the employees and later institutionalized the change.
Creating a Vision
The leaders involved in organizational transformation need to create a vision that a
critical mass of employees will accept as a desirable change for the organization.
Each leader must develop a vision and communicate it in a way that is congruent
with the leaders philosophy and style. Tlhe long term challenge to organizational
revitalization is less of "how' she visions are created and more of the extent to which
the visions correctly respond to environmental pressures and create transitions within
the organization. There is a need for the leaders to tap into a deeper sense of meaning
for their followers.
Institutionalizing Change
Revitalization is just empty talk until the new vision becomes reality. The new way
of thinking becomes day-to-day practice. New realities, actions, and practices must
be shared so that changes become institutionlized. At a deeper level this requires
shaping and reinforcing a new. culture that fits with the revitalized organization. How
people are selected for jobs, appraised and rewarded on their performance and
developed for future responsibility are of utmost importance.
What happens at the organizational level is by itself not sufficient to create and
implement change. Major transitions unleash powerful conflicting forces in people
and individual psychodynamics of change must be understood and managed. Change
invokes simultaneous personal feelings of fear and hope, anxiety and relief, pressure
and stimulation, threats to self-esteem and challenges to master new situations. The
task of transformational leaders is to recognize these mixed feelings, act to help
people move from negative to positive emotion and mobilize the energy needed for
individual renewal.
12.4 INDIVIDUAL AND THE TRANSFORMATION
1. All individual transitions start with endings. Employees who cling to old ways
of doing things will be unable to adjust to new demands. They must follow a
process that included disengaging from the past; disidentification with its
demands; disenchantment with its implication and disorientation as they kern
new behaviours.
Transformational leaders provide people with support by helping replace past
glories with future opportunities. This will happen only if they are able to
acknowledge individual resistance that is derived from a sense of loss in the
transition. Leaders should encourage employees to accept failures without
feeling as if they had failed. It does not help to treat transition as if the past did
not exist. The past will hold the key to understanding what went wrong as well
as what worked and can frequently provide a useful map to the future.
2. Employees need to work through their feelings of being disconnected with the
past and not yet 'emotionally committed to the future. This phase causes most
trouble in action oriented organizational cultures, but it tends to be viewed as
non-productive. Yet the difference between success and failure in
organizational transformation can occur during this stage. Passing successfully
through this zone requires taking time and thought to gain perspective on both
the endings - what went wrong, why it needs changing, and on what must be
34 overcome to make a new beginning. It is during this
 ignoumbasupport.blogspot.in Transformational Leadership
phase that skills of a transformational leader are really put to test. A timid
bureaucrat who revels in the good old days will not provide the needed support
to help. individuals to traverse the neutral zone. A strong dictatorial leader may
also fail, by forcing a new beginning before people have worked through their
feelings and emotions.
3. Once a stage of psychological readiness to deal with a new order of things is
reached, employees must be prepared for the frustration that accompanies
failure as they replace thoroughly mastered routines with a new act. Adequate
preparation time will be needed before everyone learns their new lines and
masters their new roles so that the play can become again a seamless whole
rather than set of integrated scene.
Conditions for Planful Opportunism
Conditions that facilitate planful opportunism involve diagnosing the source of
problems. Transformational leaders look to four arenas to find the basic information
they need, to make a good diagnosis of their organization.
1. The leader engages in personal introspection to determine his or her strengths,
weaknesses, and blind spots.
2. The leader facilitates analysis and introspection among a critical mass of
individuals who make up the top management team to ensure that they work
together for a common organizational goal and not against one another.
3. Organizational control systems must generate good data on the relative health
of different aspects of the organization.
4. A careful scan of the environment must be made.
Good data are essential to the continued good health of the organization because the
environment in which it is operates is always changing. Thus today's solutions
frequently are the root of tomorrow's problems. Transformational leaders must be
sure that the organization has sensing mechanism that provide early warnings of
possible serious trouble. It did not take Blumenthal and Iacocca long to discover the
extent of the problems they inherited. Blumenthal explained his initial discomfort
with the state of Burrough's health when he discovered that some of the conditions
for planful opportunism did not exist in the organization.
Burroughs had the reputation of having been an extraordinary company. It
hadn't had a down quarter in eleven years……….That viewpoint, however, was
very quickly dissipated. I would say almost within the first week - I may
exaggerate with the first week - but certainly within the first month. Because I
began to sense that the quality of the people that were there, that I was meeting
and talking to, seemed oddly at variance with the performance of the company.
They were very unimpressive. Not only that but they didn't know where their
profits were coming from - where they were making profits. They didn't have
data; they didn't collect data; they didn't use computers!
Transformational leadership requires several simultaneous levels of diagnosis. First,
leaders must make sense of the organization's ability to survive in the competitive
environment they confront. Second, they must be aware of their own abilities;
motivation, and skills in relation to the organization's posture. Third, they must,
assess the individual capabilities, motivation, and skills of their key team member.
Organizational Framework
What makes a transformational leader's job so difficult is the dynamic and complex
nature of large organizations and the unpredictable nature of the world in which they
operate. Donald Schon states,
The first and perhaps most critical leadership task is framing the problem.... The
process by which we define the decisions to be made, the ends to be achieved the
means which may be chosen....they muse: be constructed from materials of
problematic situations which are puz2iicg, troubling and uncertain....
When Fred Fiammer entered the Chase Manhattan Bank, he spent a considerable 35
amount of time getting the lay of the land.
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I basically feel the first year you have to keep your head down, you smile a lot
and ask a lot of questions and then you decide what you want to do and how
you're going to do it - tinning, purpose, and rationalization. I was lucky with the
management team at Chase because it was the first time that the bank was
feeling a need for change...By the end of the first year, it became apparent that
we were losing money and to change that we would have to segment the markets
and sacrifice share. This was a dramatic shift for retail banking within Chase we
were going to have to do less volume, be more selective about our customers,
and we weren't going to grow. If we were going to grow, we were going to have
to go nationwide.
I came to that conclusion after looking at some hodgepodge data about our
customers. We divided them into deciles and then tried to determine how much
money we made in each decile. It turns out we made a lot of money in the first
decile - the top 10 percent. We made a little money on the second and basically
broke even on the third and lost money on 70 per cent of our customers. The first
thing that became apparent was that we had to get our fixed costs down. But, the
high thing was that we were going to price services in such a way that we would
get rid of a lot of customers. We would not seek to do business with a broad
spectrum of the potential customer base.
As it turns out, it was not so important what we did but where we did it. Since
virtually the entire industry raised their price: quickly after we did, we never got
the bad publicity we expected. We were beginning to develop the mentality of.
looking at profits, not just volume. This helped resolve a major question about
the retail business at Chase, whether 141'e were there to generate funds for use
by the rest of the bank or to operate as profit center. I said right away that we
were a profit center.
Framing of the problem is not always conscious, yet there is evidence in all of the
interviews conducted and other leadership studies analyzed that was done.
Transformational leaders framed the set of organizational problems differently, yet
all had a comprehensive systematic approach.
The Technical System
The management literature frequently offers advice to decision makers on the
technical challenges involved in running an organization. Leaders must choose their
goals from among the feasible set of alternatives the organization could pursue and
design the organization to carry out the chosen strategy.
1. Mission and Strategy. The most important technical task facing the leader is
determining the appropriate product or service mix and market targets for the
organization. Leaders are not equally involved in determining the content of strategy.
Some, like Lee Iacocca at Chrysler, dominate the decision making in this area while
others are much more likely to be. influenced by other senior executives when
making decisions about their product service mix and market targets. The degree of
technical expertise that the transformational leader brings to the discussion obviously
affects the role that he or she will choose to play. Iacocca's early success at Ford with
product breakthroughs like the Mustang established his credentials in this area, but
his personality and experiences with Ford also played a role. Whom he started talks
with Chrysler's former CEO, Riccardo, about the possibility of joining the company
he said,
Unless I had full authority to put my management style and policies into effect,
going over to Chrysler would be major exercise in frustration.
At General Electric, where strategy issues span a, large number of products and
market, Jack Welch and the other three members of the office of the CEO, Vice
Chairman Larry Bossedy. and Ed Hood along with Executive Vice President Paul
Van Orden spend their time thinking about the relative viability of businesses in
General Electric's portfolio and leave the determination of specific business strategies
to the general managers running the more than 30 business in the CE/RCA portfolio.
Relevant data are collected from those in the organization whose opinion is most
36 likely to be accurate.
 ignoumbasupport.blogspot.in Transformational Leadership
The data are analyzed and plans are formulated optimizing the organization 's long-
term success. The plans, are communicated through the organization so that
employees have a clear sense of what is expected of them.
2. Organization Structure. The leader's task is to design organizational structure
which are technically sound in terms of the technology and response time demanded by
the environment. What division of labour and what integration mechanism will permit the
organization to effectively achieve its mission? Blumenthal talks about these concerns in
his early days at Burroughs:
I started thinking about how to organize the company because I am not used to
everything being related to everything else and I was looking for profit and loss (P &
L) centers. I couldn't find any. It was all one giant P & L center. Everybody depended
on everybody else. I started experimenting with how to break the company apart and
give some responsibility to individuals...
This is where the fit between strategy and structure emerges. For example, in the late
1970s and early 1980s in U.S. many chemical companies found that uncertain supplies
and rising prices of petroleum feedstocks placed them at a disadvantage in the
commodity chemical market where they were forced to compete with chemical
comapnies owned by major oil producers like Exon and Shell. They repositioned
themselves so they would be less vulnerable to these external threats. For example, one
large chemical company was organized as matrix organization in which the different
lines of business shared production and R &D facilities as well as marketing capabilities.
This arrangement permitted substantial economies of scale which were critical in the
price sensitive commodity chemicals business. The new strategy called for a move to
marketing value-added products targeted to smaller market niches. The structure was
changed from a centralized matrix structure to a more decentralized form that provided
the lines of business with separate marketing capabilities as well as some separation. of
production and R & D. While there was more functional managers to respond more
quickly to market demands and was therefore consistent with the new strategy.
3. Human Resource Management. The final technical task the leader faces to design a
human resource system consistent with the organization's goals and structure. This
involves a proper match between people and roles, specification of performance criteria
for different organizational roles, a way to systematically measure the required
performance, and control systems to ensure that staffing and development practices are
capable of meeting the organization's long-term human resource needs as dictated by the
business strategy.
Only in the most sophisticated companies do we see management's recognition of the
strategic importance of effective human resource systems. All too often lip service is paid
to the idea that "People are our most important asset," but company action do not reflect
the concern. Organizations that fail to evaluate the selection, appraisal, and reward
systems when they wish to change the organization run the risk of producing
organizational schiazophrenia, as employees simultaneously try to achieve organizational
goals and their own person interests.
General Motors' managers spent a considerable amount of time and energy developing a
set of criteria for evaluating people in the new organizational structure. Lloyd Reuss
describes their process:
We talked about the change process, what were the things that were really important
if General Motors was going to succeed? And as Alex (Cunningham) said, all of a
sudden, what were the givens: performance, profitability, return on investment. But
that sort of standard business school wisdom. Going forward, what were the new
criteria? What kinds of things were really going to make a difference. We talked
about competitive edge; we talked about quality of worklife; we talked about
commitment to quality. And we used those criteria to choose our people. Because we
had guys who'd be on everybody's first choice list frame a technical standpoint who
weren't there when some of the other criteria were considered:
The Political System
Political activities are rarely talked about openly in an organization, but they frequently
absorb significant amounts of senior management time. While the political activities that
accompany decisions about resource allocation may not he discussed at management
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committee meetings, they are often the major topic of conversation at lunch, cocktails, and
one-on-one meetings. These discussions frequently center on who is going to be promoted
to an open position, what group is in power, who is going to influence strategic decisions,
how budgets are going to be allocated across business or divisions, which functional areas
have the inside track with the CEO, and who will then benefit from the lates formule to
distribute salary and bonus pools. The problem is that in most organizations it is culturally
unacceptable to say that a given decision is political. Yet political process are an inevitable
part of the allocation of scarce resources. It is the task of the transformational leader to
ensure that the processes produce results that further the organizational goals that they are
perceived as fair and equitable by the parties involved.
Clearly, the ability to decide what the mission and the strategy of the organization will be
is a source of significant power. Technically focussed textbooks and consulting groups
advise organizations on how to do strategic planning, but they do not shed much light on
how to allocate power in the actual strategic decision-making process. What levels of the
organization should be involved in the process? Should technical decisions be made by
those with technical expertise or by general managers? Should the chairperson make the
decision alone? A set of decisions must be made to determine who will influence the
formulation of the mission and strategy. In the absence of leadership on these issues,
coalitions will tend to form to protect the personal interests of key groups in the
organization. Decisions to enter new businesses or markets, to invest in start-up businesses
rather than acquire an existing competitor, or to sell a "dog" business will affect some
people's careers in a positive way while it will have an adverse effect on others. The
allocation of budgets and people will depend on which choices are made in the strategic
process, and it is a rare instance in which key players are indifferent about the outcome.
Therefore, weighing the interests of one group within the company against those of
another is an important part of the political decision making process.
Transformational leaders must carefully think through how to allocate political power in
the strategic decision-making process. The appropriate allocation will depend on an
analysis of the interests of stakeholders, such as suppliers, board members, customers,
employees, and management groups. The key variables are, who has the best information?
For example, when Lee Iacocca accepted the challenge to turn Chrysler around he wanted
the ultimate responsibility for strategic decisions, but he clearly understood that he needed
the cooperation of many constituencies. He spent a great deal of time lobbying groups in
Washington to get the government to guarantee a loan. He placed Douglas Fraser,
president of the United Auto Workers, on Chrysler's board and worked with management
constituencies to get the cooperation he needed to lay off 20,000 white-collar and 40,000
blue-collar workers. He negotiated important concessions from dealers and suppliers to
help Chrysler achieve its strategic objectives. Iacocca understood that if any of the key
stakeholders felt the need to confront rather than cooperate with Chrysler during this
period it would have been doubtful that the organization could have survived.
Transformational leaders like Jack Welch and Jack Sparks are trying to avoid crisis
situations at General Electric and Whirlpool, but their success, like Iacocca's, could easily
hinge on how well they manage the coalitions that emerge as they attempt to reposition
their respective companies. Performance is always affected by the degree to which the
leader effectively manages the organization's governance structures and obtains the
cooperation of key coalitions within them.
Organization Structure. The technical issues in this area focus on how to differentiate
and integrate the organization, The political issues involve the distribution or power in the
organization. Now much power should be exercised at corporate versus strategic business
unit levels of the organization. How much discretion should subordinates have versus their
supervisors? These decisions are reflected in the scope of decision-making authority
regarding budgets and selection and promotion of personnel. Thus when John Harvey-
Jones identifies his task as "making leaders of ordinary men and women", he implicitly
reveals a desire to decentralize power far down into the organization.
A second political design issue involves the distribution of power across organizational
groupings. What is the relative power position of engineering vis-a-vis production, or
production vis-a-vis marketing, or marketing vis-a-vis sales? These are political allocation
decisions that distribute power across the organiazation and simultaneously affect
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The transformational leader must think of power along two dimensions - vertical and
horizontal. Vertically, how centralized is the power in the organization? Horizontally,
how equal are the divisions or functions in the organization? Iacocca moved to centralize
power at Chrysler during the fiscal crisis, but in the fall of 1985 he announced a
restructuring of the organization that would decentralize power. The purpose of this
move, like the restructuring of General Motors, was to increase the flexibility of the
organization and enhance its ability to embark on a strategy of diversification.
Human Resource Management. The other area in the political system is human
resources. One of the most important tasks for a transformational leader to manage in this
arena is the succession process. Decisions must be made as to who will get ahead and
how they will do so. In most organizations the nature of the existing opportunities is such
that there are more qualified candidates than there are positions for them. Promotions are
the most basic win-lose decisions the organization makes. The level of political activity
that surrounds then will correlate with the relative scarcity for alternative moves. In some
organization the succession system is highly structured.
The succession process and attendant politics tends to be most visible at the top of the
organization. If we look at the recent successions in General Electric and Citibank in the
U.S. we find divergent approaches to these important events. At General Electric,
Reginald Jones worked hard to minimize the uncertainty that normally attends CEO
succession. He managed a process that produced not only a new chairman but also two
vice chairmen who. could work together to guide the company. The identity of these
three individuals, chosen from a field of seven or eight candidates, was known for 18
months before Jones actually stepped down. At Citibank, by contrast, the identity of
Walter Wriston's successor was still not known at the time of a board meeting that was
held 4 weeks before he retired. Indeed, the announcement was made only days before he
stepped down. One can be fairly certain that the level of uncertainty was greater at
Citibank than it was at General Electric, and that substantial time and energy were spent
speculating on who the successor would be and what each alternative would mean to the
future of businesses, functions, and individual careers.
While the succession processes at Citibank and General Electric differed, their goal
clearly was to produce the most qualified candidate as CEO. As we watch other
organizations struggle with problems of CEO succession in the business sections of
newspapers or in business weeklies, we realize that the psychological task of letting go is
not always easy. For example, Harry Gray at United Technologies and William Paley at
CBS groomed and dismissed a whole set of successors, ostensibly because they were not
qualified for job, but more likely because they were incapable of turning over to someone
else the reins of companies they had built.
A similarly destructive process takes place when a CEO facing mandatory retirement is
influential in picking an unqualified successor. The reason is that the outgoing CEO
cannot accept the fact that the company could continue without his or her direction.
Blumenthal describes the events that took place at Burroughs in the years before he was
asked to assume of role of CEO.
The company had been run for a long time by one individual. When that individual
left, his_ successor was an obvious choice because he was the only possible choice,
he was the president. He was the number two man, so he was sort of automatically
promoted by the board to the top job. The board, being used to working only with
that previous very strong CEO, had no real knowledge of anyone else - the CEO was
going out reluctantly. His successor was at that point 62 and had two or three years
to go until retirement. He stepped into the job and as he was moving toward
retirement, the board became uneasy over the fact that they were really not very
impressed with any of the other people they knew anything about, so they pressed
strongly that maybe someone from the outside should come in. And that is how I
came to be here.
The second political human resource task is the design and administration of reward
systems. There are many variations in way that people are rewarded. There is not
evidence that the amount of money one makes is in any sense a measure of the
organization's success or of the individual's relative contribution to the bottom line.
Certainly, a perusal of Business Week's annual list of the highest paid executives in the
United States shows that the relationship between organizational performance and the
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executive is best. The distribution among levels in the company also varies
considerably without any discernible pattern that would enable us to say the
distribution was technically rational. Indeed, Blumenthal points out that McDonald's
pay as chairman had been comparable to other chief executive officers, but that the
pay scales of those reporting to him were considerably lower than their counterparts
in other companies. Clearly, this distribution is not meant to attract the type of people
who are able to confront the leader on issues of importance.
Transformational leaders also must consider the impact that short-term bonus plans
have on motivation and performance. When Tom Murrin told the general managers
how important it was to invest in improving productivity, he did not address the issue
of how their bonus was being calculated. Certainly, general managers nearing
retirement had little incentive to make the necessary capital investments in improving
the productivity that would not pay off for a significant time at the expense of this
year's bottom line. Similar conflicts between organizational good and individual gain
existed at General Motors during the decade of the 1970s, when the Japanese made
significant in roads in the U.S. Automobile market.
Finally, an important political issue in organizations involves the performance
appraisal system. Who is appraised by whom and who sets the criteria are important
issues because of the link that often exists between the appraisal issue and the
distribution of pay and promotions. Indeed, an interesting conflict surfaces in this
arena between the technical and political systems.
Research on appraisal shows that a person's subordinates and peers are in a better
position to evaluate that individual's performance and potential than his or her
supervisor is. The original studies date back to World War II, when peers were better
able to predict who would be a successful pilot than were the flight instructors. This
finding, along with one that shows that subordinates also make more accurate judges
than do supervisors, has since been relocated in a number of industrial settings. In
spite of this knowledge, more than 99 percent of U.S. Corporations are not able to
tolerate politically a system in which peers and subordinates evaluate people in the
organization.
Some leaders have decided to bite the bullet and deal with the political implications
of appraisal systems. For example, Walter Wriston decided that it was important to
evaluate how effective key managers were in managing people. Therefore, part of the
appraisal of the manager is based on the results of an attitude survey administered to
the executive's subordinates. Performance on these measures is used as part of the
bonus calculation. The message from Walter Wriston is that making the numbers is a
necessary but not sufficient criterion for a manager's performance. The use of this
technique must be carefully monitored. The survey should be administered at
irregular time periods to random samples of employees to ensure the validity of
results.
At General Electric data are also collected from peers and subordinates as part of the
analysis of key executives' accomplishments. The data are collected and evaluated by
a human resource stall ultimately reponsible to the chairman and not to the general
managers in the business. Such data collection must be handled in a way that protects
subordinates' from the possible abuse of power by supervisors in the event that the
evaluation is not favourable. It must ultimately be supported by a philosophy that
values equity and believes that superior performance by the individual provides the
organization with a competitive edge.
Cultural System
The first technical challenge that the transformational leaders face in the cultural
arena is to separate out the relative impact that the values of philosophies of key
decision makers have on the choice of strategic alternatives. We are not suggesting
that values should not play a role in the choice among strategic alternatives but rather
than these value issued involved should be identified. This helps organizations avoid
the scenario in which individuals distort technical analysis that support certain
business decisions because they are philosophical opposed to them.
The leader's second concern in this area is to ensure that the organization's culture
supports its mission and strategy. This is critical when a change in the strategy has
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support a regulated telephone monopoly to those which support a competitive high-
technology business. The new culture must support innovation, competition, and profit.
Westinghouse and General Motors are also involved in shifting the values in their
organizations to those supporting strategy based on productivity and quality.
Organization Structure. The leader must also align the culture with the organization's
structure. An organization that moves from a functional to a matrix structure requires a
different style of management. Since power is balanced on at least two dimensions in a
matrix organization, the management style must allow for more open confrontation and
negotiation conflict as opposed to the more authoritarian style that accompanies a
traditional chain of command in a functional organization.
A second; cultural issue is the self-conscious development of subcultures to support
different parts of the organization. Thus the leader must encourage a tolerance for the
seemingly deviant behaviour needed to foster high levels of innovation in a production
oriented organization. To the extent that variety of subcultures are required to
effectively accomplish the organization's mission, the leader must design mechanisms
to integrate them into a company wide culture so that factional, geographic or business
subdivisions in the organization work to accomplish common goal rather than expand
rather than resources to create personal freedoms. Companies like Exxom and IBM go
to great extremes to create an organizational culture that transcends its. subcultures.
The transformational leader must carefully weigh the advantages and disadvantages of
integrating, subcultures into an overarching corporate culture. Leaders in
conglomerates like ITT and Gulf and Western have concluded implicitly that the price
paid for maintaining such a culture is too high, whereas General Electric believes that
such a culture is necessary so that senior management focuses on the need to do what is
best for the entire company rather than for some portion of it at the expense of the
whole organization. Millions of dollars are spent creating common ways of thinking
and acting about issues. Much of this socialization is disseminated through extensive
management development programs carried out at the management development
facility. In addition to formulized development experiences, organizations like GE,
Exxon, IBM and Hewlett-Packard rely on systematic rotation and movement of key
executives to spread the gospel to plants and installations far removed from corporate
headquarters.
Human Resource Management. The final area for managing culture is the human
resource system. It is in this area that Japanese management has been more
sophisticated and more attentive than American management. The Japanese have used
the human resource system very skillyfully to shape and reinforce cultures that provide
the organization with a strong commitment to organizational goals. The process begins
with the selection of people who are carefully evaluated as to how they fit in with and
reinforce the dominant culture of the organization. In companies where this method is
used, the interviewing process involves many people, and workers have a large role in
the decision to select one of their peers.
Like their Japanese counterparts, American firms that are committed to maintaining
their culture employ a careful screening process to candidates who are technically equal
to assess the best fit in terms of values and philosophy. As Fred Hammer found out,
you can also systematically create dysfunctional subcultures in an organization. In his
diagnosis at Chase he found that the retail banking subculture was going to be one of
his biggest hurdles in transforming the organization :
It took me about six months' to figure out what was going on, what they were doing.
I used to talk with a lot of people and then I would realize there was a timid quality
about the human resources in this sector.... I said, well these people are not going
to lead us over the hill regarding change. But it was also evident that the rest of the
bank had people that were outstanding, bright, well-educated, and aggressive. It
was clear that this group was at a different level.
The problem was exacerbated when all the lending authority was taken out of the
branches the month before I arrived. After indotrainating people that "real
bankers" make loans, remember the culture of chase was one that worshiped at the
feet of lending authority, this decision figuratively emasculated branch personnel.
Morale was devastated. It was not that the decision was wrong, but that the culture
was one that stifled the growth of retail banking.
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The second human resource tool for shaping the culture of the organization is the
way in which people are developed and socialized. Organizations that use the human
resource system to shape culture invest heavily in training and development. Much of
this education is aimed at inculcating people with the dominant values of the
organization. An explicit part of the IBM and GE training programs, for example
deals with company values.
Finally, the management of rewards is a potent tool to shape and reinforce the culture
of the organization by promoting and compensating those who fit best with the
dominant value of the organization. The human resource system can be a very
powerful tool in making the cultural system congruent with the technical and political
system.
12.5 THE ALIGNMENT TASK; ADJUSTING TO THE
FUTURE
The transformational leader's task is to align the organization with its external
environment. To do this, the organization's TPC systems must be adjusted to enable
the organization to deal effectively with changing issues. The challenge for these
leaders is to recognize that the drama is best represented as a dynamic jigsaw puzzle
with pieces that need to be fitted together. The fit is never perfect and constant
adjustments must be made. The extent of these adjustments depends on the relative
stability of economic, political, and cultural factors in the organization's environment.
Self-Diagnosis
Transformational leaders know their strengths and weaknesses. Along with the
organizational diagnosis, a process of self assessment occurs. Like an actor
approaching a new role, the leader must understand the scope of his or her technical
skills and then decide what nuance of the role they will highlight, Jack Sparks's
technical strength at Whirlpool was in marketing, not the engineering or production
end of the business. Both Jim Renier and Mike Blumenthal moved into computer
business needing revitalization without in-depth knowledge of computers.
Blumenthal's technical expertise was in finance, whereas Renier brought an
outstanding track record in implementing a change effort in the control systems
division at Honeywell. Lee Iacocca, however, had made his mark with his product
and marketing skills at Ford. In a television interview NRC News, Iacocca frankly
assessed his strengths and weaknesses when he discussed the options he considered
in the summer after he was fired by Henry Ford. He had offers to paper and steel
companies, but he turned them down, because he thought it would take too long for
him to learn a new business. Iacocca's technical expertise, coupled with his need the
to run the show, determined his decision to accept Chrysler's offer.
Once technical capabilities are understood, the leader must assess personal feelings
about the exercise of power. If things are to be accomplished in organizations, the
leader must understand what motivates his or her own behaviour and the behaviour
of others in the organization.
Finally, the transformational leader must have insight into his or her values-what is
the source of the commitment that must be made to the organization.
In his television interview, Iacocca also addressed the issue of values when he said
that he believed that everyone has to be accountable to someone, and that his primary
concern during the crisis period at Chrysler was the 6,00,000 jobs that would be lost
if the company went bankrupt. His sense of values is also apparent when he talks of
the need to ensure that both the sacrifice in difficult times and the rewards in good
times are equitably shared in the company.
No single individual is persuasive enough and energetic enough to transform a large,
complex organization single handedly. There must be a critical mass of managers in
the organization who share the leader's sense of urgency about the need for change
and who join in framing the problem. The same analytical issues, therefore, must be
addressed with regard to this cadre of leaders.
The importance of a cohesive group of leaders is illustrated in Mike Blumenthal's
reaction when he first learned of Burroughs's problems the summer before he was to
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It seemed there were lots of problems. At this point I did not feel very qualified
to deal with them because they involved technical issues and judgements - I
really had no technical judgement where was I going to get it from? I had
reached the point where I did not trust anyone.... I felt there were only two or
three people capable and willing to give me honest answers if I asked them
questions.... So by the time we got to the third quarter I realized there would have
to be susbstantiate change.... There would have to be a new team of people, since
there were people here that clearly I could not work with.
It was also one of Lee Iacocca's first concerns at Chrysler :
What I found at Chrysler were 35 vice presidents, each with his own turf There
was no real committee setup, no cement in the organizational chart, no system of
meetings to get people talking to each other. I couldn't believe, for example, that
the guy running the engineering department wasn't in constant touch with his
counterpart in manufacturing. But that's how it was. Everybody worked
independently. I took one look at that system and I almost threw up. That's when
I knew I was in really deep trouble.
Diagnosis : Avoiding the one-minute quick-fix seduction
The systematic, organizational, individual, and team diagnosis characteristics of our
transformational leader provide the best antidote against the snake oil cures so readily
used by U.S. managers.
Instant gratification is part of modem culture. Managers are no exception. Over the years
they have picked up and discarded hundreds of "management hula hoops" developed to
solve fundamental or organizational problems. Taylor's scientific management, time-
motion studies, human relatives gimmicks, management by objectives, zero based
budgeting, quality, and Japanese management are a few example of business search for a
quick fix.
The One-Minute Manager and all of its follow-up books are a symbol of this search.
There• is nothing wrong with the basic message, which is to set goals with your
subordinates, give them positive feedback when they do something right and negative
feedback when they do something wrong. There is also nothing new in these ideas. What,
then, captured set many managers' fancy that they purchased more than a million copies?
For many managers the seduction was that this was a simple "managing people" program
that they could utilize - it offered a quick solution for difficult problems.
Unfortunately, difficult problems rarely lend themselves to simple solutions. The
message is not harmful unless the manager sees it as a quick fix in a complex world.
Other quick-fix seductions (most of them did take more than a minute) that we have seen
in the past decade include many of the strategic planning techniques, the recent focus on
corporate culture, and the search for excellence. If properly interpreted and implemented,
many of these prescriptions would have led to more effective organizations.
The more likely scenario, however, was similar to the reaction of many managers to In
Search of Excellence. As the bad news spread about Japan's ability to achieve dominance
in industries that the United States had controlled for decades, American managers
looked for something that would make them feel good. After all, it was not reassuring to
hear that the Japanese success story emanated from a societal culture that was very
different from our own. Theory Z and In Search of Excellence arrived in the midst of this
self-doubt with the reassuring news that U.S. companies, too could be excellent.
Peters and Waterman wrote an important book. The focus was an attempt to identify the
cultural characteristics of "excellent companies." Many managers latched onto the eight
dimensions as a cookbook for success. Two quick-fix scenario all too often emerged. The
first occurred in companies, where the CEO got a copy of the book, became upset
because his company was not listed as excellent, and asked the management team to read
the book and then go on a retreat to figure out how the organization could implement the
eight dimensions of excellence. This approach is equivalent to finding an involved recipe
for French pastry and copying the list of ingredients without noting the quantities, the
method, or the banking directions, and assuming that the finished product will be a
success.
A more sophisticated use of In Search of Excellence is as a catalyst for change. In some
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process. In this scenario, the CGO reads the book and comes to the conclusion that
the organization should have clearly articulated set of values. Many of the excellent
companies identified by Peters and Waterman have their values explicitly stated and
understood by employees. In this case the off site meeting that follows the reading of
the book is devoted to coming up with the 10 commandments of XYZ Corporation so
that, like Hewlett-Packard, they can be widely disseminated to the employees.
Frequently, there is a very strong commitment on the part of the group involved in
the development of the 10 commandments of XYZ Corporation. They return as it
were from the mountain and ask those responsible for internal communication to
tighten up the language and print a sufficient number of impressive brochures to
distribute to all of the employees so they will know what the company's values are.
And so ends the "excellence" program. Companies tempted to write their own 10
commandment it is useful to remember what happened when Moses were down from
the mountain with the original tablets of stone. The people were involved in an orgy
and were not terribly negative to the new rules and values. Indeed, thousands of later
we are still struggling with the problem of implementation.
Implementation is a very difficult task. Going off-site for a few days to articulate the
organization's core values is a good last step, as long it is done with the realization
that it takes literally years to implement new cultural values in the organization. It is
not enough to distribute the message; it is probably more important to review the
control systems in the organization to see if they reinforce the espoused cultural
values. It is only when managers come to the realization that they are no quick fixes
that they can start to transform their organizations with patience and hard work.
Diagnosis : Setting the Stage for Creating a vision
Perhaps the most essential component of a transformation is a vision of the future
desired state.. Transformations require a dream and require the organization to aspire
to be something. Yet some way of assessing the current reality is also required in
order to determine whether the vision fits with reality.
We have discussed the diagnostic portion of the transformation process as a linear
process, but in is a less ordered exploration. It is a period when hypothese are
generated and tested out with some data. Nevertheless, we argue that the basis for
future action depends on this process of diagnosis. It's here that the capacity for planf
it opportunism is created. It readies the organization for its own renewal. Iacocca
says that Robert McNamara, whome he worked for at Ford, was a master of
diagnosis :
McNamara knew more than the actual facts-he also knew the hypothetical ones.
When you talked with him, you realized that he had already played out in his
head the relevant details for every conceivable scenario...
Ed Thompson talks about new systems to frame the problem at Schneider Trucking
when he says
Our industry has been largely internally focused. We are going directly to the
customer. We will do the work to define their real needs and set up partnerships.
The temptation is to assume we know what's going to play out in our new
environment and jump rapidly into the organizational and technological changes
we already know about. This would be shortsighted. We have the opportunity to
be detailed rather than feeling driven. We want to know what our customers are
thinking and what they need to do to be successful in their marketplace. This data
collection and competitive analysis will take time at a point in our history when
there is a pressure to move fast. As this piece of the picture clears up we will do a
better job of formulating ways to organize around the cost and service desired
outcomes.
Three principles emerge as we think about what happens during diagnosis. Leader
can apply them in a variety of circumstances from very systematic, quasi-scientific
analysis to more artistic, intuitive problem solving.
Principle Number I - Frame the Problem. The transformational leader must have a
coherent view of the world so that a diagnosis can take place. It enables leaders to
focus on the best technical alignment for the organization while addressing the
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cultural alignment issues' that may well determine the success or failure of the
transformation process.
Principle Number 2 - Collect Data. The transformational leader is always collecting
and analyzing data obtained through vast informal networks as well as through
systematic studies.
Perhaps the most systematic and formalized diagnosis occurred at general Motors. In
September 1982, the General Motors executive committee created a special task
force to study organization. Roger Smith selected John Dehhink; former general
manager of Delco Marine Division, to lead the task and called in McKinsey and
Company as consultants. The mission of the study was to:
Examine each element of the organization; particularly the structure and the
systems that tie it together, so that they could identify where changes could
improve their effectiveness. In short, they wanted to make certain that the
organizational structure end systems provided them with the most effective
delivery system.
A clear distinction was drawn between effectiveness and efficiency was defined as
simply doing a task well; effectiveness was defined as doing the right task in the right
way. The focus of the study was on effectiveness, knowing that efficiency was a
natural by-product of an effective organization. A second aspect of the study was
described by Roger Smith :
A fundamental principle from the beginning was that the organization itself
would generate the new organization concept. The ideas which are being
implemented today in a very real sense came from the operating people in the
corporation.
Over a 15-month period, more than 500 General Motors employees, representing all
levels of the company, were interviewed and surveys. These surveys revealed that
while GM had certain strengths in its financial reserves, brand, loyalty, dealer
network, technical know-how, and people, it also had some key weaknesses. These
weaknesses were identified as a poor decision-making process, product decisions that
were not market driven, and lack of strategic planning.
One GM engineer characterized the problems from his perspective :
We had some really fine modern cars to offer. Things as good or better than the
Japanese. But big executives from downtown would come in and point to the
models and say "make this one and that one and that one." They were always the
same cars, the muscle cars. It killed us when we stayed with them too long.
The study also discovered that GM's employees recognized that GM had to change
and were willing to help in that change.
What was needed was an organizational concept that would keep the strength while
addressing the problems... A task force examined a wide variety of options before
making its recommendations to the executive committee. As Roger Smith noted, "We
did not start with preconceived notion that we were going to do something."
Fred Hammer Kent generating hypothese about retail banking. But he would then test
them empirically. He described one such incident :
There was no question in my mind that we were very close to being the number
one credit card bank in the country. We were the first bank to understand what
the opportunities were. We could issues cards outside our banking territory. You
know the old wives' tale that the only place you got credit card was in your own
bank, and the argument was that,_ you can't issue these things out of your own
area because as soon as someone gets into a financial bind, he won't pay you, he
will only pay a local bank. Some of us did not believe that so we said lei's test it.
We put together a small, well designed test and we went to four states and it
turned out that we had fewer collections problems than we had in New York.
Then we checked delinquency and loss patterns because we wanted to make sure,
since this would be a big step for us, and it turned out that the delinquency and
loss rates were lower.
Principle Number 3 - Dumb It Down. Complex realities must be reduced to a few
central issues before others are asked to consider them. There is no inference here
that the audience is incapable of understanding the full complexity of the diagnoses
but rather than 45
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people confronted with pressing operational will be more likely to respond to a
parasimonious presentation of what changes the organization needs make..:
Ongoing diagnosis creates significant demands on an organization stretched to deal
with operational problems, but it is a critical managerial process that frequently
separates the best performers in an industry from those who are mediocre.
Transformational leaders must find ways to motivate employees to stay alert to the
warning signs of danger and to the opportunities to gain on the competition and make
the organization more secure.
12.6 CREATING A MOTIVATING VISION
The soul.... never thinks without a picture. Aristotle
Transformational leaders mast not only diagnose their organization's strengths and
weaknesses and match them against the environmental opportunities, but they must
also find ways to inspire employees to meet these challenges. This vision- of the
future must be formulated in such a way that it' will make the pain of exchanging
worth the effort.
Dr. Martin Luther King created an enormously inspiring vision in his famous "I Have
a Dream" 'address at the Washington Monument. In that speech he painted a picture
of a /United States that would be a better place. He talked about the little children,
white and ' black, playing and holding hands in the rural towns in Alabama; blacks
and whites working together in urban centres. That vision had a motivational pull. It
created a positive image that people could strive for.
The challenge for transformational leaders is both to find and create a vision of an
organization that is in some way better than the old one and to encourage others to
share that dream. They must provide people with an image of what can be and
motivate them to move ahead into the future they envision.
Jeff Campbell told us how he developed his vision for Burger King and shared it with
his management group:
While I was running the New York region, I was complaining to the then
chairman about a number of things. He said, "Why don't you put your thoughts
on paper?" Well, I wrote a memo that must have been 10 pages long. I said,
"Here's all the things. I think are wrong and here's how I would attack them." I
never heard from him about any of it, but after I had been made president of
Burger King, I said, "Hey, I've been thinking about this for a long time. I know
what we need to do short-term but as I thought about what we were and where
we might go, a vision took shape. About one year into the turnaround, I was
made chairmen. We had a meeting of all the officers, at Marco Island, Florida. I
was sitting in my den thinking about where we had to go and listening to a
recording of the theme from chariots of Fire and I got an idea of making a
speech about where we needed to go and punctuating it with music just to get the
guys thinking about it. I know that sounds corny, but sometimes corny things
work and I decided to go with my gut on this one.
So I talked about us becoming not only the best company in the portfolio, but the
best convenience restaurant in America by 1992. I talked about what kind of a
company we would be and the kinds of careers we would build for people. At the
end I said, `I'm going to put on one more piece of music and I want you to think
about everything we've talked about. Don't talk to your friend or look at anybody
else. Just sit there a second and listen to the musk and ask yourself if it's
something you really think you can do and - if you really want to do it. Then,
when the music is over, get up and I will be waiting at the back door to shake you
hand.,
I was pretty nervous, but when the music ended guys in their early sixties - not
just the younger people - started coming back You know it was a corny thing to
do but what happened was magic. We had a 76 per cent increase in earnings.
Campbell is an example of a transformational leader meeting an important challenge-
mobilizing energy in the. organization. While diagnosis prepares the leader and the
organization for change, it is the vision that launches them into action.
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Diagnosis is never enough, nor is ad-hoc action a satisfactor basis for continuity.
Certainly it does not give meaning to the organization nor form a coherent focus
for the needs of the people in it, nor does it provide a structure to. translate that
meaning into continuity of organizational behaviour. The point to note therefore,
is that each of our CEO's took charge of his organization and took it in a new
direction... Jones and Watson pushed into electronics, Wriston into consumer
financing, McGregor into aluminum manufacturing, Hanley downstream into
proprietary products, and Sulzberger into acquisitions.
When we look at these CEO's who took their organizations in new directions, we
certainly find leaders who used diagnosis to assess their new business opportunities.
But these leaders and the ones that-we studied were able to effect transformations
because they developed new frameworks for the future. This resulted in new
standards, .new values, and new ways of looking at the world and new kinds of
actions. These leaders developed holistic visions of the future.
What may separate transformational from transactional leaders is that
transformational leaders are more likely to be proactive than reactive in their.
thinking; more creative, novel and innovative in their ideas; more radical or
reactionary than reforming or conservative in ideology: and less inhibited in
their search for solutions. Transaction leaders may be equally bright but their
focus is on how to best keep the system running for which they are responsible
reacting to problems generated by observed deviances: looking to modify
conditions as needed and remaining every mindful of the organizational
constraints within which they must operate.
It is up to all of our transformational leaders to develop these holistic visions of the
future for the organization and to stimulate a critical mass of leaders within the
organization to do the same.
Jack Sparks did not arrive at the helm of Whirlpool when that company was in the
valley of the shadow of death. But he did have a vision that involved transforming
the way Whirlpool did business and in the process making it stronger in the face of
competition:
I set out to change the image of the corporation from a conservative operation
with some marketing skills to a marketing operation with some manufacturing
and engineering skills.... I will know when I get there because you will see more
excitement, you will see people really trying to accomplish things. You will see a
better operation in total end of course you will see the things that go along with
that, like growth. In fact my goal is.... a very sophisticated organization with a
broader vision.
One of the first things I did as CEO was take all the officers down to Washington
for two-and-half days to meet senators, congressmen, bureaucrats - even take a
tour of the White' House, the Executive Building - because these guys were so.
out of touch with what was going on in the world, I was the only executive officer
in this corporation that was doing this kind of thing... I wanted these guys to
know you're in a big, grown-up,'world. There's more twit than Michigan,
Indiana, Illionis, and Arkansas. I hope to have a more sophisttcated team.
Jack Welch is a transformational leader who keeps articulating and reiterating his
vision. In speaking with his managers four years after becoming CEO he told them:
That drive to be number one or two, to be more competitive in an ever'
increasing competitive world, has got to be at the forefront. And I don't mean
static competition. We aksed every person who comes into a meeting in our place
to be sure to have a session on competitiveness in the first 15 minutes of the
meeting. Immediately the bureaucracy got fired up, memos went out, let's get
those damn static strategic planning pages out again... Who are the five
competitors? What is their share? How many employees do they have?.....They
didn't look at the dynamics of what these competitors: will look like in 1990,
what moves would y'ou make if you were running those% companies: How many
plants should they close? What investments'should ,they make? What they should
do? that's what competition is .about, Competition is about 1990, not some
strategic planner's view of today. So we desperately want to take a look at :our 47
competition in a live,
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vibrant, passionate way. At what they are going to be doing to beat the hell out of
you over the next five years.... In the end that drive to be number one and two is
still the biggest focus we must keep in this company, and yes it is going to get
tougher and tougher and tougher and toughter. As we move down this road we
are playing in an every increasing competitive world…………
You can't feel "I am at GE and therefore I am safe." GE is not safety your own
competitive business is safety, winning in your markets is safety GE has no wall
around it that can protect anything.......... Candor is calling it as you see it.... dealing
with it, getting it up on the table.... talking about it here with people who can do
something about it, not people who can commiserate with you about it.:..
We are concerned both with what the characteristics of motivating visions are, as
well as the process transformational leaders use to transmit that vision to others in the
organization creating a vision is much more than traditional, rational business
planning. If involves both right and left brains -- both intuition and creativity. It is
holistic in its view of the organization, dealing with business strategies, values, inner
political relationships. Thus, in order to achieve an organization, driven by vision,
transformational leaders need to call into play a new set of leadership skills.
Holisitc Vision
The vision is the ideal to strive for. It releases the energy needed to motivate the
organization to action. It provides an overarching framework to guide day-to-day
decisions and priorities and provides the parameters for planful opportunism. A
successful vision has a tension that's the result of its having been created both from
intuition (right-brain thinking) and logical analysis (left-brain thinking). This is not
an easy task. Managers often resist right-brain activities. Alex Cunningham describes
the birth of the vision at General Motors. It was a very intuitive and organized
process that laid the groundwork for the greatest transformation of GM since Alfred
Sloan's leadership.
Basically it. was very simple. The first key word that everybody said was
"effectiveness - we wanted to create a more effective organization. The next one
we hammered one was "responsiveness" and that's responsiveness to the market,
to the customer. So we wanted to be more effective, we wanted to be more
responsive. And those two words really sum it all up. Responsiveness was our
ability to react both with product and timing to the demands of the market place,
effectiveness was to do things in a better manner. Then they brought in all the
things that go with effectiveness - being able to do more with the same number of
people, and so on.,..
Transformational leaders talk about, visions as an phenomenon. For example, Ed
Thompson of Schneider Port, talked about the development of a vision for his
company :
We started the process with rather structured approach. We picked a time period
out three to four years to get us out the influence of the pressures of the current
state. We worked in make statements of what we would look like at that point-
revenue levels, number of employees, equipment types; mainteance and support
systems, technology and operating methods, desired customer base, and so on.
As we involved more people in the process the focus shifted and became more
mature. For example, working through a lot of the human dimensions generated
direction. We explored new ways to' align end, empowerpeople. You know in
service' industries like ours over half our people touch the customer in. some,
way each day. We really have some ideas on new ways to do the human side of
trucking. The vision also grew as we pushed ourselves in areas like building in
an ongoing change orientation, and viewing ourselves as innovators in asset
management. We kind of picture that this visioning will be an organic or ongoing
part of our work. We are getting more and more of our people involved.
Mike Blumenthal talks about his vision for Burroughs six years after he became CEO :
It's amazing to me as I look back on it now, because when I look back I realize
that I went by the seat of my pants. Today it is very clear and tomorrow I will
leave for a press conference in New York where we are announcing major new
products. I would say the vision has evolved. In preparation for the speech I will
48 give tomorrow I looked back at the speech I gave to this group back in the spring
of 1981 and to
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the speeches that Paul Stern and I have given since that time and I realize that
you can see a trend. There is no one flash-no one moment when the vision is
established. The vision has evolved helped along by executive retreats- we went.
to Vermont for three days, we went to upper Michigan for three days and we
went to the Homestead for three days.
The Recurrent theme as these transformational leaders talked about the development
of a vision for the organization is that while vision of a founder/entrepreneur, visions
in large organizations tend rarely to be one person's dream but expressed
commitment of a group.
Jim Renier explains it in the following terms :
Developing a vision in a big organization I believe is a completely different
process than developing a vision in a small entrepreneurial business, because
there are many possible visions as opposed to a vision. In a large organization
you must get the whole organization to buy in. You can't just say, we're heading
for this place or that with an immediate buy in. We are apt to end instead with a
bunch of people reacting with something like, "listen to that smart bastard."
What you've got to do is constantly, engage in iterating what you say and what
they say is possible. And over a couple of years the different visions come
together. If you try to jam them together on day one in an organization like this,
it will not work.
In these cases the vision was a complex collage of what their organization should
strive to become. It included a basic component of business strategy (namely
markets, product, and services) but it also included a strong sense of how the
organization should be structured and the part that the human resources would play.
A vision is motivating for two reasons. First, it provides the challenge for which the
organization and its members strive, it is the reach for excellence and the source of
self-esteem for the members.
The second purpose is to help provide a conceptual road, map or a set of blue prints
for what the organization will be in the future. Utilizing the metaphor of erecting a
building : the vision starts with the architect's renderings ---the idealized project that
inspires people to move ahead - and then specifies the particulars that will be needed
to get there.
At the core of the vision is the organization's mission statement. Since the
organizations we are discussing have an economic, rather than a normative purpose,
we frequently find that the mission is not clearly articulated. This may be the reason
it is so difficult for people to develop a sense of purpose about their membership in
these organization apart from their own career goals and economic security. It is
frequently the absence of a sense of purpose that causes organizations to fail in their
efforts to bring about needed change and to gain commitment from employees. The
Japanese understand the importance of developing a sense of common purpose, and
much of the commitment they gain from their employees results from organizational
socialization processes that clearly outline how the parties involved share
responsibility for the survival of the company. Japanese employees are told that their
job security depends on the economic viability of the firm and that both management
and workers must always do their best to ensure a safe future for all.
Many American firms that have been labeled paternalistic have basically had the
same concern for their employees as was voiced by Renier. IBM, whose core value is
"Respect for People developed the concept of lifetime employment during the
Depression, and employees understand that the promise was of an exchange between
the worker and the company that could be kept only if the firm continued to prosper.
Somewhere in the intervening decades this understanding has eroded in many
organizations. A colleague of ours, Vlado Pucik, who was in Czechoslovakia and has
spent a great deal of time in Japan as a researcher, pointed out that in America it is
more favourite sports team than it is to be enthusiastic about one's job. Our people
show an eagerness to be part of the organization when they are hired. We can only
wonder what we do breed the enthusiasm out of them in the workplace. Thus a major
challenge for transformational leaders is to develop missions for their organizations 49
that enable all stakeholders to commit themselves to the survival of the venture.
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Element of the Vision
Vision has two fundamental elements. One is to provide a conceptual framework or
paradigm for understanding the organization's purpose - the vision includes a roadmap.
the second important element is the emotional appeal : the part of the vision that has a
motivational pull with which people can identify.
Both the cognitive, intellectual understanding and the emotional pull give the vision
meaning. Fundamental or quantum change requires shifting the basic assumptions,
values, and paradigm that the organization uses for problem solving. This is true
whether creating a new paradigm for world competitiveness.
The notion of a holistic vision is at odds with most practices in organizations that
utilize a static planning model rather than the projection of images in visions of the
future. If one were to go randomly into the Fortune 500 companies and ask for any
documents that capture the future of the organization, one would most likely be handed
the strategic plan.
Most strategic plans are kept in thick three-ring notebooks. The majority of them are
filled with short, concise mission statements followed by strategic objectives, followed
by hundreds of pages of data on market share, return on investment, return on assets,
manufacturing, productivity, engineering figures and so on. It's not surprising that an
outsider does not get a vision of the future reading through this material.
If, however, you randomly interview senior management and asks them to describe the
future organization, there is often great variance between their own intuitive, verbal
vision of the future and what is captured in the planning documents. Again, it is like
carefully examining the blue prints of a complex building structure and trying to get a
visual image of what the finished project will look like. An artist's rendering of the
building lacks a great deal of the technical detail that is an actual part of a structure
because attention is given to creating a model with the purpose of communicating the
concept and the architect's vision.
Why Visions are Motivating
People regulate much of what they do by following fairly standard routines. There are
more complex areas, problems that occur less frequently and that involve some degree
of uncertainty, such as meeting new people, entering new organizations, dealing with a
subordinate who is having a problem, or running into problems with the business. In
these situations, we develop what some social psychologists refer to as scripts.
A script is a set of way of dealing with different problems some us have specific ways
in which we enter new groups and get to know people. Others have specific scripts for
dealing with peers or when faced with a new project. These behaviour patterns become
embedded in our minds and form a part of our self image, a part of our behavioural
repertoire. Over time, they define our self-worth and self-esteem. To alter these scripts
we must go through the psychodynamics of change described by Bridges that is, go
through the transitions which include working through the endings or disengaging from
an old script. As with other transitions there is confusion. Frequently it is impossible to
begin this process unless we can first write a new script based on a new vision of the
future. Without the vision, we tend to get stuck in the middle of the process of change.
The old behaviour pattern, or the oldscript does not work, but no new one has been
found.
If we think of making difficult life transitions of any kind, we just imagine or develop a
vision of what it is like to live on after the death of a loved one or what it will be like to
put a life together after a divorce or after having been fired. To be revitalized we need
to get in touch with something that will pull us into the future. These same basic
dynamics operate in the work setting, when we dramatically redefine global
competition and put a whole new set of demands on management in terms of how they
will manage people, resources, and their competitors.
Organizations are made up of thousands of people, each with his or her own set of
psychodynamics. Thus, at the organizational level, it is important to go beyond the
technical view of the future most often captured in strategic plans - the product market
mix of the organization, how it is going to be organized, and so on. If people are going
to visualize themselves in the future organization, they need a vision of what the
political system will be like, who will be influencing, decisions, who will have power,
how much power they will have, how people will get ahead, and how. the rewards will
50 be allocated.
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They will envision themselves paying out their own personal agendas in the future
political environment.
Understanding all this will be the values. What are the norms going to be like in the
future? What values will be needed to drive the business strategy, what will be the style
of management, how will people treat each other, what kind of people will be selected,
what values will be used as a screen for admitting people to the organization and
permitting them to climb the corporate, ladder? Thus the vision needs to incorporate the.
TPC systems of the organization.
Not all of our transformational leaders define their visions in such holistic terms.
Nevertheless, we have seen them articulate and refine their visions, it is clear that they
provide glimpses ,of all three of these systems. Jim Renier at Honewell started with the
value system and clearly articulated role models. He mobilized the work force around a
new set of values about the way people were going to be treated. At the same time a great
deal of energy went into redefining the technical strategy for Honeywell Information
Systems, articulating that there would be integration with the rest of Honeywell and
control systems. That certain mainframe computers would depend on product
developments of NEC not only Honeywell driven product development, and that people
with different skills and values were going to get ahead. Control systems people were
coming over from that side of Honewell to take key positions in the computer business,
people with entrepreneurial flair' were moving ahead, and bonuses were going to be
allocated differently.
When we look at Welch at General Electric, we see him stressing the need to be
competitive GE people had to achieve a dominant position in .the industry if they wanted
to stay at GE. Beyond that he began to articulate a set of cultural values that were going
to be important in implementing that strategy. And as his vision unfolded over the early
years of his chairmanship, it was clear that a different set of stars had begun to emerge at
General Electric. Some of the people gaining power came from the inside, some from the
outside. Some traditional managers were being moved aside. Different criteria were
developed for distributing rewards. After three or four years, Welch's vision of the
company he wanted General Electric to be in 1990 began to' come into focus for more
and more people. Finally, in his fifth year, Welch led the largest notioil acquisition in
U.S. history when he initiated the purchase of RCA. This move lent credence to the
theory of . quantum change that he had been espousing at General Electric since he
became chairman.
John Harvey-Jones, a visionary , who had a great deal of fun shaking people up and
trying to shift paradigms and scripts at ICI, reported in his interview that the management
meetings he ran were marked by frequent laughter. He sees the primary thrust of his
vision as the cultural shift needed at ICI, even though his first years were spent in
technically pruning, reshaping, and repositioning the organization.
Lee Iacocca's great success m turning Chrysler around was due to his ability to create a
motivating vision of the new Chrysler Corporation while simultaneously tearing 60,000
people out of the workforce: 'He was able to get those who remained excited and signed,
up by helping them understand the new business strategy, the new niches they were going
after, the. importance of productivity and quality. He was able to negotiate deals with the
UAW, the bankers, the government, his own management, his board, the dealers, and the
suppliers, and make them all see in that vision how they would get something out of the
turnaround. As he communicated this vision he also began laying the foundation for a
new culture at Chrysler. The irony of Iacocca's success in turning Chrysler around is that
it created tremendous pressure in 1985 and 1986 for him to develop a new long-term
strategy for the company that was not based on crisis.
Across town at General Motors Corporation, Roger Smith started out as a real sleeper.
Many people saw him as a traditional financial man coming into the chairmanship. They
anticipated an emphasis on control, not innovation, but he fooled them. He acquired EDS,
Hughes Electronics and the Servicing Business of the Northwest Corporation and the
Colonial Group CG of Core States Financial Corporation. He launched the most
significant reorganization of General Motors since the days of Alfred Sloan and oversaw
the launching of the Saturn organization. Smith has created a vision of a high-tech,
somewhat diversified automobile company. At the same time he sent signals about the
new political structure, the new visions for who is going to get ahead at General Motors. 51
He started a major
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cultural change to get the bureaucracy out of the company and to stimulate more
entrepreneurial behaviour and participation.
John Akers at IBM is the transformational leader for the next decade. Soon after he
became CEO, he announced his goal to transform IBM into a $ 185 billion company
driven by software and systems rather than hardware. This transformation will
require major reorientation and reprogramming. Individuals will be asked to write
new cscripts. The dilemma will be that the company is so successful and so profitable
that the urgency for change will be difficult to create.
What is common in all these cases is that the leaders kept working at a holistic
vision. None of them had a vision of an ideal organization appear to them in a dream,
but all of them knew the importance of being able to visualize the organization in the
future. All of them shared that vision with the organization and continued to
articulate, develop, and elaborate on it.
Michael Blumenthal described the process of developing a vision at Burroughs.
I tend to gather six or eight people around me awl we talk about everything, we
are very open: I am very open and I listen to them, and I travel around and talk
to a lot of people, and then eventually I try to enunciate what it is that we have
learned and I suggest that this is what we are going to do. And then people react
to it and at the end I say, okay.
We develop a set of priorities which involve first of all strengthening the product
line, closing the holes, and managing the company in at least rudimentarily
intelligent fashion, with somenumbers, some forecasts, introducing variance
analysis, getting some kine of financial measurement, assigning responsibility for
decision-making farther down the organization. Beginning to talk to people
about 'what it means to take responsibility, what it means to match authority with
responsibility, and how to find the right balance in taking individual
responsibility and yet being a member of a team……….. They agree that that's
really what we ought to do.
Creating a Vision of the Future
People can be encouraged to project themselves into some future time period by
asking them to write an article to appear in their favourite business publication
describing the organization five years from now and the role they played in the
transformation of the organization. They are asked not to talk about the changes and
their accomplishments in a rational linear format but rather to use a journalistic style
in describing how the projected organization differs from its present state. Since
journalists engage our interest by using words to paint graphic pictures, the exercise
forces executives to "abandon the terse outline with bullets backed by data that they
favour when they make presentations to their peers and superiors. While some people
resist trying this activity, it is useful to ask that they do what all writers ask us to do
when we begin to read a story - willingly suspend our disbelief. Criticism is to be
reserved for the finished product, not for the process. Once involved most people find
the activity that we find pleasurable-daydreaming.
Identifying the Themes
Once the article is completed, the individual is asked to identify both the personal
and organizational themes in the article. It is useful to be able to discuss the article
with someone who can be used as a sounding board.
Creating a Common Vision
In large organizations this activity can serve as springboard for reaching a consensus
about the organization's future. Strategic plans frequently focus people's attention on
quantitative projections, and that can lead to arguments about their accuracy. Lost in
the shuffle is a discussion of whether the basic thrust underlying the numbers is the
correct direction for the organization to take. This exercise tends to focus attention on
the overall direction of the company - what would it look like if the plans were to
succeed? The leader can gain valuable information from such an exchange about the
degree of consensus that exists amount key decision makers in the company. The
result can be a vision that most of the team shares, or it may result in a less
52 democratic decision, which CEO understand he or she must sell to the team.
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Creating a Mission Statement from a Vision
A vision contains an implicit mission statement, for embedded in every vision is a
sense of what kind of a company we want to be at some point in the future. When
Jack Sparks poke of a more sophisticated, aware management team at Whirlpool, he
would begin to identify the values such a company would espouse. Blumenthal was
explicit about the things that the "new Burroughs" would and would not do. The
themes that comprise a mission statement were embedded in their visions.
Developing a Leadership Agenda
Once the vision has been created and the mission statement has been articulated, a
transformational leader must develop an agenda. This agenda will contain a set of
priorities that are necessary if the dream is to come true. If the vision and mission
statement have been developed as part of a team exercise, each member of the team
can work up a personal agenda setting priorities for himself or herself.
The major benefit derived from this exercise is that it provides a culturally acceptable
way for many people to 'tap into their right-brain thinking, while the cultures that
support people engage in artistic endeavors permit a greater deviation from rational
norms than we find in cultures gearted to business organizations, the use of a
business media fantasy is one to which most executives can relate. As a matter of fact
there is a videotape of Jack Welch filmed at the Harvard Business School soon after
he became chairman of General Electric, in which he ends by telling the audience
what he would like Fortune or Business Week to write about him in 1990.
Another technique is that used with the senior management team at Detroit Diesel
Allison, where the top management team was attempting to develop a vision of the
organization in the future. In preparation for a two-day workshop, each of the ten
senior executives were asked to picture his or her ideal organization three years into
the future. They approached the activity in a left-brain way. Each drew an
organization chart, specifying some of the characteristics of the roles, and how things
would be carried out. Essentially, they developed a set of blueprints. When they
arrived at the workshop, they were asked to engage in an exercise that opened them,
up to right-brain visioning activities. They wee put in pairs, with half of them
assigned to the role of reporter for the Wall Street Journal, writing a story about
Detroit Diesel Allison three years into the future. The other half of the group was to
fantasize what they would say to that reporter. The results of this exercise were
similar to those obtained when executives are asked to write scenarios. After the
"interviews" were presented to the group, organizational and leadership themes were
extracted and abridge was made to a fairly disciplined left-brain planning activity.
Without Vision, No Revitalization
One message should be clear in this unit: leaders are responsible for the creation of a
vision, and the vision provides the basic energy source for moving the organization
toward the future. The vision is completely complex because it mirrors the
organization. Staying with our architectural metaphor, we can talk about the
difference between designing a building to fit a specific site and renovating an
existing structure. Both are creative endeavours, but the design of a new structure is
clearly the easier task because it is frequently more difficult to imagine what can be
when confronted with what is. We are limirted and constrained by the current
structure, and it is often harder to visualize how it can differ in both function and
form;
The difficulty comes from the inability of the architect to assess the total-structural
soundness of the building before work begins. Just as Jim Renier talked about the
fact that deep-seated organizational problems often exist before the numbers go
down, so the architect of a renovation project is frequently forced to guess about the
condition of the writing, plumbing, and support structure until the wall are torn out.
The renovation is also complicated by the fact that the. existing tenants may have to
live in the building while it is being renovated. The inconvenience frequently results
in second thoughts about the wisdom of the decision to rebuild the structure.
A Case Study
53
Lee Iacocca, Chrysler Corporation, Highland Park, Michigan.
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After being fired by Henry Ford from his position as the President of Ford Motor
Company, he joined Chrysler Corporation in 1971. The Chrysler Corporation at that
time was on the brink of bankruptcy. He managed to assemble a new top
management team at Chrysler and moblized the organization to fight its way through.
one of the most well known turn around in American history. In the process Iacocca
became the best known business leader in America and assumed the status of a
national folk hero.

12.7 SUMMARY
The objective of this unit is to create awareness about the transformational leadership
processes, concept and various other dynamics. The individual and the
transformation is one issue which needs to be tackled very carefully. The
organizational framework of this process is equally sensitive, if not taken care of
properly. Any overdoing may boomerang and an understatement may lead to further
complication without showing any result. Diagnosis for identifying and filling the
gap is another area which needs careful attention with clear motive. Diagnosis has to
be done with reformative approach for creating a long-term motivating vision and
identifying themes for developing a long-term agenda for the leadership to sustain the
motivation.

12.8 SELF-ASSESSMENT QUESTIONS

1. Draw the line between the traditional concept of a corporate manager and a
leader.
2. What are the precautions one must take as a transformational leader?
3. Do all transformational leaders face the same resistance in organizations?
4. Draw out the profile of a corporate leader in India who in your opinion is a
transformational leader. Explain the reasons why you consider him/her so?

12.9 FURTHER READINGS/REFERENCES

Avolio, B.J. and Bass, B.M. (1985). "Transformational Leadership - A Charisma and
Beyond" Working paper, School of Management, State University of New York,
Binghamton.
Bass, B.M. (1981). Stogdill's Handbook of Leadership, N.Y. Free Press.
Bass,. B.M. (1985). Leadership and Performance Beyond Expectation, N.Y. Free
Press.
Conger, J.A. and Kanungo,R.N. (1987). "Towards a Behavioural Theory of
Charismatic Leadership in Organizational Settings". Acad. of Mgt. Rev. 12, 637-
647.
Conger, LA., Kanungo, R.N. and Associates (1988). Charismatic Leadership,
London, Jossey-Bass Pub.
Maccoby, M. (1981). The Leader, New York, Simon and Schuster,
Tichym N.M. and Devanna, M.A. (1986). The Transformational Leader, New York,
John Wiley & Sons.
Kanungo, R.N. (1988). The Ethical Dimensions of Leadership, New York, Sage.
Sinha, J.B.P. (1996). The Cultural Context of Leadership and Power, New Delhi,
Sage.

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Organisations
UNIT 14 SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITIES
OF ORGANIZATIONS
Objectives
After going through this unit you should be able to:
• define and explain the role of organisations towards the society
• appreciate the organisations' co-existence in the society.
Structure
14.1 The Beginning
14.2 Defining the Social Existence of the Organisations
14.3 Organisational Role Extended Towards the Society
14.4 Summary
14.5 Further Readings/References

14.1 THE BEGINNING

Organization constitute one of the most important elements that make up the social
web of modern societies. Most citizens of modern society are born in a hospital,
educated in a school, work in one organization or another, and to the degree that they
participate in religious and political activities, these too, frequently take place in the
organized contexts. In short members of modern society obtain a large part of their
material, social, and cultural satisfactions from large organizations. The way to
understand modern man and society is, therefore, to the study the organizations viz-a-
viz their, political, educational,' material and many such important functions.

The organizations are principal vehicles for societal guidance. That is, such units
especially those that a part of or link to the state are major instruments for setting,
pursuing, and implementing collective goals for nation. Goods, services and capital -
society's wealth are created and dispersed mainly by organizations. Health, education
and social services are now largely the responsibility of organizations. Whether we
can overcome the pressing problems of our time (inequality, pollution, energy crisis,
alienation and so on) depends heavily on our society's "organizational potential".
Good ideas and good intention alone cannot eliminate human miseries. Thus
organizational analysis provides a key to understanding of modern society, its
prospects for transformations.

Activity 14.1

Do you feel that the organisational analysis provides a key to understanding of

modern society. If possible do a survey of five private and public sector and
multinational organisation to examine what are their agenda towards their social
responsibilities. Make an assessment as to how serious are they in implementing
these, if at all they have any. Prepare a comparative statement and discuss in the peer
group:

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14.2 DEFINING THE SOCIAL EXISTENCE OF THE

ORGANIZATIONS
Organizations play a leading role in modern world. Their presence effects some
would insist that it infects - virtually every sector of social life. Peter Drucker thus
observes: "Young people today will have to learn organizations the way their
forefathers learned farming". Ours is an organizational society - the organizations are
a prominent, if not dominant characteristic: of modern society. Organizations were
present in older civilizations - Chinese, Greek, Indian - but only in modern
industrialized societies do we find large number of organizations engaged in
performing may highly diverse tasks. To ancient organizational assignment of
soldiering, public administration and tax collection have been added such as
discovery (research organization) child and adult socialization (schools and
universities), resocialization (mental hospitals and prisons), production and
distribution of goods (industrial firms, whole sale and retail establishments),
provision of services (organizations dispensing assistance ranging from laundry and
shoe repair to medical care and investment counselling), protection of personal and
financial security (police department, insurance firms, banking and trust companies),
preservation of culture (museums, art galleries , universities, libraries),
communication (radio and television studios, telephone companies, the post office),
and recreation (bowling alleys, pool halls, national park service, professional football
teams). Even such a partial, listing testifies to the truth of Parson's statement that, "the
development of organization is the principal mechanism by which, in highly
differentiated society, it is possible 'to get/things done', to achieve beyond the reach of
individual".
The prevalence of organizations in every arena of social life is one indicator of their .
importance. Another rather different index of their significance is the increasing
frequency with which organizations are singled out as the source of many ills
besetting contemporary society. C. Wright Mills way back in 1956 pointed out with
alarm to the emergence of a "power elite" comprised of members occupying the top
positions in three overlapping organizational hierarchies: the state bureaucracy, the
military and the larger corporation. At about the same time Ralf Bahrendorf (1959) in
Germany was engaged in revising and updating Marxist doctrine by insisting that the
basis of the class structure was no longer the ownership of the means of production
but occupancy of positions that allowed the wielding of organizational authority.
Such views which remain controversial; focus on effects of organization on social
stratification systems, taking account of the changing basis, of power and prestige
occasioned by the growth in number and size of organizations.
Activity 14.2
Prepare a list of areas in the social life where you feel (at the least) the organisations
should be visible and then assess the organisations in your reach and see how many
of them achieve score more that 75%. Discuss the criteria before hand in a group of
peers.
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A related criticism concerns the seemingly inexorable growth in public sector
28 organizations. The two great German sociologists Max Weber (1947) and Robert
Michels
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(1949) were among the first to insists that the central political issue for all modern Organisations
society were no longer what type of economic structure prevailed - whether
capitalists, socialist or communist - but the increasing dominance of the public
bureaucracy over the ostensible political leaders.

Other .criticism points to the negative consequences of the growth of organizations

virtually in every area of social existence. Mailer (1968) writes, "civilization extracts
its thousand fees from the best nights of the man, but none so cruel as the
replacement of the good fairly by the expert, the demon by the rational crisis, and the
'witch by the neurotic female". Organizations are viewed as the primary vehicle by
which, systematically, the areas of our lives are rationalized, planned, articulated,
scientized, made more efficient and orderly, and ,managed by 'experts'. The dark side
of this progress is depicted by Rozak (1969), who defines the technocracy as "that
society form in which an industrial society reaches the peak of its organizational
integration". He writes, "under technocracy we become the most scientific societies,
yet ………….. Men through out the 'developed world' become more and more the
bewildered dependents of inaccessible castles wherein inscrutable technicians
conjure with their fate". For example, even in India, which is behind the West, the
technological intervention especially in the information technology area is only
available in a few chosen cities. The majority lives in the village where the television
gives the information but fails to extend the implication as well as applications to
major extent. The youth and other population who are at the impressionable age find
it difficult to integrate and cope with the information. Some of them flock the cities
in search of the Pandora's box, but instead of meeting the hope, most of them end up
in disaster.

Activity 14.3

Identify the issues raised in the two Foams above relating to role of organisations in
society namely the role of public bureaucracy, excessive growth and reach in
virtually every facet of society, effect on the life in general in becoming an industrial
society etc. and their impact or the rural population. Organise a panel discussion or
these topics and report the outcome. Try to crystalise the outcomes.

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Still other critics have called attention to how organizational structure affects the
personality and psyche of its participants. Alienation, over conformity and stunting of
normal personality development are among the consequences attributed, not to such
special cases as prisons and concentration camps, but to every day common types of
organizations. Here one notes that these aforementioned negative views towards
organizations provide further testimony to their importance as well as their social
responsibility in the modern world.

14.3 ORGANIZATIONAL ROLES EXTENDED TOWARDS

THE SOCIETY
Like media, organizations represent extension of our selves. Organizations achieve
goals that are quite beyond the reach of any individual - from building skyscrapers
and dams to 29
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putting the man on the moon. But to focus on what organizations do may conceal
from us the more basic and far reaching effects that occur because organizations are
mechanism - the media by which those goals are pursued. For example, when we
visit any hospital or clinic, we seek 'health' but what we get is 'medical care'. Clients
are encouraged to view these outputs as synonyms although their may be no relation
between. them. In some cases relations can even be negative: More care may result in
poorer health as immunity. Another example may be that products manufactured by
organization reflect the manufacturing process. They often reflects the need to
subdivide the work and to simplify task, and the manufacturing pressures towards
standardization of parts and personnel. Customization in genuine sense becomes
prohibitively expensive. Metal. replaces wood and plastic replaces metal in many
products to satisfy organizational, not consumer, needs.
To suggest that our organizational tools shape the products and services they produce
would appears to be a' relatively sweeping and unsettling generalization on which
might be content to rest our case. We fail to perceive the importance organizations
for our lives if view them merely as tool for achieving goals. Organizations must be
viewed as actors in their own right, as corporate persons. They take actions utilize
resources, enter into contracts. Coleman (1974) describes the rights of organizations
as they have developed gradually since the Middle Ages to the point where now it is
accurate to speak of two kinds of persons - 'natural' persons (like you and me) and
corporate or 'juristic' persons (like the Red Cross and Maruti Udyog Limited). The
social structure of modern society can no longer be described accurately as consisting
only of relations among natural persons: our understanding must be stretched to
include as well those relations between natural and corporate persons. In brief, we
must come to the recognition that society has changed over the past few centuries in
the vary structural elements of which it is composed.
Further, organizations provide the setting for 'a wide variety of basic social processes,
such as socialization, communication, ranking, the formation of norms,. the exercise
of power and goal-setting and attainment. If these generic social processes operate in
organizations, then we can add as much to our knowledge of the principles that
govern their behaviour by studying organizations as by studying any other specific
type of social system. Organizations are characterized by somewhat distinctive
structural arrangements that affect the operation of the processes occuring within
them. For example, social control processes occurs in all social groups, but there are
some forms or mechanisms of control for instance a hierarchical authority structure -
that are best studied in organizations, since it is within these systems they appear in
their most highly developed form. Thus, the study of organizations can contribute to
the basic knowledge by increasing our understanding of how generic social processes
operate within distinctive social structures.
The Social Boundaries of Organization
The problems controlling organizations in setting and policing their boundaries are
complex and subtle. Given the essence of organizations as open systems, their
boundaries must necessarily be sieves and not shells, admitting the desirable flows
and excluding the inappropriate or deleterious elements. Determining what is
desirable or harmful can be a difficult decision, in past because the criteria can vary
from time to time and from location to location in the organization.
The Boundaries of Collectivities
The collectivity can be viewed as an identifiable "chunk" of the social order. The
criteria for determining the existence of a collectivity are (1) a delimited social
structure, that is, a bounded network of social relations and (2) a normative order
applicable to the participants linked by the network. All collectivities - including
informal groups, communities organizations and entire societies - possess, by
definition, boundaries that distinguish them from other systems.
Many different indicators can help to identify the boundaries of collectively, some
30 focus attention on the behavioural structure and some on nominative. A widely used
behavioural
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indicator is interaction rates. Attentively, we may focus on the nature of conduct of Organisations
the activities being carried out, we would expect to observe a change in the activities
performed by individuals as they cross the boundaries between collectivities.
Organizationally controlled recruitment criteria are important mechanisms fostering
insulation of the organization from its social environment. As the number and variety
of people recruited in organizations grow its supplies new identities and sources of
power. Salient identities can also develop as the result of interactions and exchange
processes occuring among participants within the organization, and these give rise to
informal status distinctions.
There are barriers that the total institutions place between its incumbents and the
external world marks the first curtailment of self. In civil life, the sequential
scheduling of the individual's roles both in the life cycle and in the repeated daily
routines ensures that no one role the individual plays will block his performance ties
another. In total institutions in contrast, membership automatically disrupts role
scheduling, since the incumbent's separation from the wider world lasts around the
clock and may continue for years. However, except in total institution, generally the
usual kind of organizations, do not produce such role dispossession or totally
segregate the organizational roles from non-organizational one's.
Thus, by now it must be clear, the significance for organizations in the modern
society. If one wants to identify the specific responsibilities of organizations it will be
a mammoth task. However, to reorganize our thoughts towards the issue, we may
identify the responsibilities from two angles. One pertains to the social responsibility
of the organization towards its own individual self the corporate and the
responsibility towards the external environment consisting of communities, physical
and other types of environment etc. The second angle' is a more wide spread as well
as difficult one as it takes into account a wide range of issues which may vary from
context to context.
While talking about the inner social responsibilities, we would like to raise the issues
of organizational structure, its processes, its culture and the like. Here one may
examine the meaning of work in the lives of workers. The positive values of work
become issues of paramount interest and concern. During the last century technology
and legislation have changed the nature of duties and the implications of jobs for the
lives of workers. The skills have changed so have the attitudes of worker. Every
organization needs to think and understand the implications of such changes. The
"privilege" of having a job and the personal, responsibility of job holders to develop
the necessary skill and prove their worth have shifted toward the "right" to have a job
and the organizations responsibility to provide training and guarantee full
employment.
The meaning of work has also been influenced by shift in the power positions of the
employers and the employees to protest collectively and feel secure regarding the job.
Social securities provide income to retirees. and death benefits to the surviving
family members. The workers compensation benefits cover accidents long-term
disability.
Technology has dramatically changed 'the nature of work. From labour intensive
industry, the shift to slowly growing towards the capital intensive industry. Such
changes are especially in the mining, heavy machinery and such industries where the
hand and strenuous jobs are being taken care of by machines. One looks are the
prospect of having a paperless office. The psychological and social implications of
such a change has to be understand by these organization because today's worker
does not use much of his cognitive skills. The use of such skills have been left to the
top management. The stress of being mindless worker is a serious threat to the
employees mental as well as physical health. The organizations need to look into the
requirement of job design and redesign from psycho-social perspectives along with
the need to humanize the work place to keep away workers alienation.
Many managers complain that today's work force does not have the same values as
previous generations. There is a lack of work ethic. It is true that today's young
worker 31
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who is more educated than the earlier generations do not have the same attitudes
toward importance of handwork and craftsmanship and their reasons for holding a
job is quite different. There is a tremendous uncertainty about the working values of
today's workers. It is the responsibility of both the organization and its members to
think collectively and create an appropriate work culture not only to extend the
enhancement of profit and productivity but also to give a dignified work life to the
employees.

The responsibility that are coming through the external sources is reflected in the
composition of work force in the form of minorities and female employees. Of course
the political and economic uncertainity is also a significant factor but the
organizations (except the political one) can only contribute indirectly. It is now very
important to understand interactions in groups composed of people of different
cultural categories or states. Four groups can be identified on the basis of various
proportional representation of kinds of people. Uniform groups have only one kind of
person, one significant social type. The acquire salient statuses such as sex, race or
ethnicity. Skewed groups are those in which there is a large preponderance and one
type over another. Few of the skewed groups can be called as tokens because often
they are treated as representatives of their category as symbols rather than
individuals. Next tilted groups begin to move towards the less extreme and less
exaggerated effects. They begin to become individuals differentiated from each other
as well as a type differentiated from the majority. Finally the balanced group - which
is reflected by culture and interaction. In today's world the major concern is
emanating from the skewed group especially the women in organizations. The use of
term 'token' for minority members especially women is rather prevalent. The
proportional scarcity of women is not unique to them, the uniqueness lies with them
entering the all-male fields of occupation. The proportional rarity of tokens is
associated with three perceptual phenomena: visibility, polarization and assimilation.
Regarding visibility, the women as tokens capture a large share of the groups'
awareness. Polarization of difference and exaggeration of the same is another
common dynamic. In assimilation usually there is an use of stereotypes or families
generalizations is used to. define the persons social type. Visibility creates
performance pressure on the token. Polarization leads to group boundary heightening
and isolation of the token. And assimilation results in the tokens role entrapment, All
these dynamics create a glass ceiling effect and restrict the career movements of the
minority whether it is based on gender, race, or language. The social responsibility of
the modern organization is prevent such harmful effects and optimize the resource in
its diverse forms.

14.4 SUMMARY
Organisation being the principal vehicles for societal guidance, play very important
role in setting, pursuing and implementing the collective goals for the nation. The
objective of this unit has been to explain and examine the role of organisations in the
society, to prove its social existence in the society. Surroundings around any
organisation have vital linkages (tangible and intangible) with the organisation. It
becames the duty of the organisation to discharge its due for the society, which even
in the long run will be beneficial for the organisation.

14.5 FURTHER READINGS/REFERENCES

Argyris. C and Sehon, D. (1978). Organizational Learning Reading, MA, Addison-
Westey
Baum, W.C. and Tolbert, S.M. (1985). Investing in Development : Lessons of world
Bank Experience. New York;? Oxford Univ. Press.
Chatrabarti, S.K. (1996). Management by Values Delhi, Oxford Univ. Press.
32 Dayal, I.(1977). Change in Work Organizations : Some Experience of Renewal of
Social System. New Delhi, Concept
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D'e.Souza, K.C. (1984). "Organizations as Agents of Social Change". Vikalpa, 9, 233- Organisations
247.

Khandwalla, P.N. (Ed.) (1988). Social Development. .A New Role for the
Organisational Sciences, New Delhi, Sage

Mehta, P.(1983-84). "Parlicipatory Education of Rusal Workers". People's Self

Action for Socio-economics Development. NLI Bulletin-9.

Pareet, U. (1968). Motivational Paradigm for Development". Jous. of Soc. Issues 24 :

115-122.

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UNIT 15 ORGANIZATIONAL ETHICS AND
VALUES
Objectives

After going through this unit, you should be able to:

• explain the organizational ethics and values
• explain why it is so important and what are the issues involved
• understand various theories on ethics
• appreciate the uniqueness of Indian Ethos
• explain relevance of ethics in various management function, and
• explain how ethics can be incorporated in organizational culture.
Structure
15.1 History of Modern Business Ethics
15.2 Why Business Ethics
15.3 Issues Involved in Business Ethics
15.4 Why Business Ethics has become so Important Today
15.5 Theories of Ethics
15.6 Values
15.7 Indian Ethos
15.8 Ethics and Marketing
15.9 Ethics and Purchasing
15.10 Operations Management and" Ethics
15.11 Human Resources Management and Ethics
15.12 Issues Involved in Ethics Related to Finance and Accounting and Business
Scams
15.13 Examples of Good Ethics in Indian Organizations
15.14 Creating an Organizational Culture for Ethics - The Tool. to Promoting
Ethical Corporate Behaviour
15.15 Case Studies and Examples on Ethics
15.16 Summary
15.17 Self-Assessment Questions
15.18 Further Readings

15.1 HISTORY OF MODERN BUSINESS ETHICS

Business Ethics is. the study of morality in business and is concerned with the
conducted and wisdom related to business decisions. Business ethics has emerged
recently as an important area of study in view of the sordid events of the past few
years in public affairs. The nexus between business, crime and politics has forced us
to ask a basic question -Is business leading to any deterioration in society instead of
growth and harmony? Increasing

34
 ignoumbasupport.blogspot.in Organisational Ethics and Values
number of business scams, unethical use of mass media appeals, destruction of earth
environment, etc has led to a new approach that ethics and values needs to be tought
at management schools °so that future management leaders are fully aware of the
consequences of their decisions and can restraint themselves.
Although our classical books and scholars like chanakya has written a lot on ethics
for practice and the society, businessman has been adopting it, the modern day
business ethics as a subject in management was introduced around 1976 at premium
business schools of USA like Harvard and Wharton. USA itself has now more than
half a dozen journals on business ethics. In India the sustained research efforts on
values were started by Indian Institute of Management Calcutta way back in 1978
and it has now established a centre for Human values in Management with an
estimated budget of Rs. 4/- crores fully supported by many big organizations. Many
organizations are quite well known for starting code of ethics for their executives and
staff and specific names to be counted can be Punjab National Bank, Alacrity
foundation etc. Ethical education should be designed to produce balanced: pleasant,
flexible and effective managers with the powers of insight and the courage to create
and use ethically desirable means to sustain organizations in an age of competition
and liberalization. They must also learn that people are basically good but sometimes
they can be vicious and education on ethics and values can provide that wisdom to
prevent the vicious.
Business ethics are the desired norms of behavior exclusively dealing with
commercial transactions. Moral values are-deep-rooted ideas and feelings that
manifest themselves as behavior or conduct and are not so easy to express or
measures in words: Hence if we know the consequences of our actions we can
convert values into rules of behaviors that can be described as ethics.

15.2 WHY BUSINESS ETHICS

(i) Ethics helps the Market do its best
− 200 years back Adam Smith has said in his book wealth of Nations "Our
system of capitalism does not work well unless it has moral cooperation of its
participants.
− Every time we bribe or use corrupt practices we lower down the efficiency of
market to generate true wealth as decision in such cases are not based on price
and quality but on other consideration
− Wall. Street magazine quoted Japan's secret weapon of success as courtesy.
Even a low paid employee can harm a billion dollor organizations by being
rude to customers.
− Companies like Procter & Gamble uses more than 800 toll free telephone
booths merely to allow the customers to give complaints freely.
− Honesty of Taxi Drivers and others involved in Hospitality services of
Singapore is considered a major factor in promotion of tourism of that country
and they are specially trained. on ethics values and ettiquets.
− Tata's- credibility has been rated very high the world over because it started
joint consultative process, and supported their employees with measures like
education; housing and medical and other welfare facilities much before the
law was created in India.
− In a business round table report in USA, the myth about the contradiction
between -ethics and profit got thoroughly debunked by the attitudes and actions
of top managers who stated that good reputation for fair and honest business is
a prime corporate asset that all employees should nurture with greatest care.
− It does not hurt to be ethical.
(ii) Law can not alone protect society but Ethics can
− No regulation can go to a deep extent where ethics can. Technology races
ahead much faster than any Govt, can regulate. People in Industry only know 35
better the. danger of any technology than Govt.
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− In the well known Chiso corporation case at Minimata Japan, mercury was
dumped in the water along with effluents which got absorbed by fishes and
finally eaten by human beings leading to eye and birth defects. While the
lawyer could establish in the court that there was no violation of norms
prescribed by the Govt. the corporation was held responsible on moral grounds
and bad to suffer a lot.
− Law only speaks of a minimum. Of course the Govt. in most of the countries
are getting awakened at a faster rate with stringent punishment for violation of
norms or adoption of non desired behaviors by business and organizations but
the issue can only be handled fully by ethics and morality.
(iii) Ethics is good in itself
− Following ethics give one courage, satisfaction, peace and leads to
overall growth and harmony in society. Gandhiji has said that if you
treat your employee merely an object as a means to make profit you are
basically demeaning the humanity. Gita the holy book written to guide
us in our actions says that we should act without carving for out comes.
In Christianity the concept if stewardship has a meaning that we do not
own properties but act as steward so that others can benefit.
− Fairness has to be consistent. If a father punish his child for stealing the pencil
of his class fellow but brings- one from his office he is not consistent and
hardly provides a good example of ethical behavior.
− There are well known example of Indian Business Organizations who failed
due to not following the ethics or the owner has to face humiliation and close
his business (Examples provided later on in the text).
Activity 15.1
Talk to your colleagues in your organisation and find out their view on "why business
ethics" and prepare a small write up, discuss among your peers.
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15.3 ISSUES INVOLVED IN BUSINESS ETHICS
(i) Ethics and profit :
− California management review has published a report under which
business results of 7 years period was studied for various companies and
it was established well that most companies which showed the highest
concern for ethics tended to show highest growth and profits.
− In India also the Alacrity Foundation a Chennai based housing
development company is an excellent example of ethics. It adopted
honesty and fair practices as its values and discouraged its employee to
pay any bribe while dealing with any Govt. official. While for a few
months its projects got delayed and it had to pay even extra interest to its
customers but it earned a strong goodwill which helped later on for more
business and reputation as provider of good housing units.
− Johnson & Johnson which followed ethics in its practices and is well
known for the loss it had to incur in lifting back its stock of certain
capsules of Tylenol which got laced with pioson in transit. J&J has
grown at a much faster rate in the last 35 years with a high stock market
appreciation.
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(ii) What is an ethical responsible organization?
− It is concerned with stakeholders not merely stockholders. It cares in
business all stakeholders like employees, suppliers, and people who live
in surroundings, consumers, future citizen's etc.
− It undertakes its responsibility to society and stakeholders as a social contract
for the benefit it draws from society.
− It has a management structure to facilitate ethical functioning. In the well
known Bhopal Gas Tragedy of Union Carbide it came clear that no one was a
culprit but people were not knowing what other part of corporation is doing as
functioning and accountability was found lacking
(iii) Codes and Culture :
− Ethics comes by values, which are not a one-day outcome but shaped by the
long traditions followed in an organization and the examples set by its top
leaders. The key leader's role is very important in the beginning. When Mr.
Deepak Pareek CMD HDFC was awarded the businessman of year award he
has stated ethics as -"Do not do anything in your dealing which if becomes
public you have to feel ashamed".
(iv) Economy and Environment :
− Ethical organization encourages a harmony with environment. Do not destroy
-the mother earth and its equilibrium.
(v) Competition and Ethics :
− Organizations / Companies known for their ethics adopted their high values not
when they had become big and prosperous but when they were small outfits.
And it is precisely these values that gave them backing of the public, which
enabled them to grow to their present giant size.
− Delta Airlines started its ethical code when it just had 12 planes with 2.5
million and today it has crossed the turnover of more than 2.5 billion.
− Tata started value based organization way back in 1904 in a small way and it
emerged as one of best organization. Tisco had no strike in the last 58 years.
− Johnson & Johnson started practicing values when it was very small and
imbibed these values with its growth.
(vi) Values help a better decision making in the organization :
− If the organization has defined its code of conduct and values to be followed it
becomes easy for managers and employees to decide.

15.4 WHY BUSINESS ETHICS HAS BECOME SO

IMPORTANT TODAY
Why suddenly the ethics has become so important today in business. The answer lies
in some of the changes that are taking place around us. Examples.
I. New Products
(a) Are all products needed Plastic bags.
(b) Do people know its safe use - Pesticides.
(c) Do they deliver what they promise.
(d) Are there any side effects / long term repurcussions.
(e) What is its impact on environment / natural resources.
II. Affluence
Are the rich not becoming more richer and can a society live in harmony by the
exploitation of poor. 37
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III. Marketing techniques
(a) Marketing cost is going up.
(b) Desire to win at all cost. It is not leading to bribes, corruption.
(c) Harmful advertisement - Imagine the 3 years old Lucknow child who
jumped from a building after seeing an advertisement of a famous cold
drinks in order to fly like the hero.
IV. Customer getting more educated
Today can you fool a customer by hiding relevant information.
V Litigation Cost
Just image the cost Union Carbide had to pay for Bhopal Tragedy.
VI. Changing business relationship
− Dealing with unknowns across the globe.
− Use of Internet avoiding face to face dealing.
− Need for more trust and a better brand name.
VII. Rising Personal Expectations
− Customer want better product at low cost.
− Need for continuous improvement.
− Employees want respect and dignity.
− Stockholders want more voice.
− Management wants to be trusted.
− Environmentalist want better control.
VIII. Resources Scarcity
− Increased role of business in public life.
− All business is now becoming a public affair with public money and for benefit
of public at large.
− Social audit of business.
− Professional codes of ethics for all emerging.
− Business ethics is a global phenomenon today.
− International trade.
Activity 15.2
Identify five HRD heads from private, public and multinational organisation and try
to know their view about the importance and need of having or not having Business
Ethics in organisational situation.
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15.5 THEORIES OF ETHICS
(A) Non-Cognitive theory of ethics is subjective in nature and is based on the.
attitudes. It believes that there is no truth or false and nothing is either good or
had in behavior but our thinking makes it so. Attitudes towards religions, race,
subgroups are all result of moral relativism. As a result of which one State Govt.
prohibits the use of alcohol while other does not find anything wrong with it. One
society does not encourage the woman to work while other's would call it
exploitation. In certain countries bribe is still acceptable as a norm because
public servant is low paid and it may be considered as extra motivation to allow
him to take: initiative beyond his duty. While in other society such a corruption is
dealt with severe punishment. In other society where the dealing public servants
are paid good salary as a norm itself the problem may not even exist. Only the
circumstances makes a situation good or bad. Similarly the attendant system or
giving tips in hotels can not be evaluated, as good or bad and are all subjective
based on relativism. In other words certain culture have discovered a practice as
morally right while other culture found it wrong.
(B) Religious Morality : This theory is based on the concept that if God exist who,
better than God can decide what is wrong or right. Under Divine command
theory God will reward the righteous with a joy of heaven and those with
wickedness to hell. Accordingly all religions has prescribed to its followers
certain ethics and codes which binds people together since belonging to a
community required following of certain obligations. Campassion, honesty,
fairness &. Justice, giving of surplus, equanimity, truthfulness etc. are mostly
found in all religions and has allowed us to survive to the present day.
(C) Consequentialism theory on ethics : This theory is dependent on the
measurement of consequences as to what is good in that and what is bad in that
and allows us to decide on the weightage while non consequentialism is principle
centred approach which clearly specifies, what is good or bad or what is
beneficial or harmful based on that something is just right or wrong.
Consequentialism provides us answers which are more pragmatic. For example,
If in a factory there is shrinkage (loss of stock pilferage by employees) the non-
consequentialist would clearly argue that stealing is bad and needs to be punished
severely. A consequentialist would weight the conseques in terms of its morals
on employees, cost of extra security, impact of dismissal etc. Both agree that
stealing is wrong, they differ in their understanding of why it is wrong. One
thinks of the socially disruptive effects of the stealing as a practices while the
other feels that there is something intringically wrong in the act of taking
someone's property. Similarly-in the case of abortions, consequentialist would
argue about the social effect of unwanted pregnancy (Pro-choice lobby), while
nonconsequentialist would argue about the unborn child's right to life (Pro life
lobby). Adherence to principle is the basis of non-consequentialist under which
only one response gets elicited while other person responds with situation and
this can produce the best result possibly.
(D) Utilitarianism i.e. ethics of welfare is based on. consequential approach and on
the concept of welfare. Utility means capacity in action to have good results i.e.
usefulness. Accordingly actions are not good or bad in themselves but only in
what they are good or bad for utility means happiness and an action would be
right if it leads to maximization of happiness or minimization of unhappiness and
one can take a decision based on this principle. It has to be a sum total of human
happiness which needs to be maximized and not simply our own individual
happiness. It is called greatest happiness principal which majority feel happy.
However this principle can be modified further that unhappiness or suffering is
felt more than happiness and needs to be given extra weightage. The decision on
various long projects. like dams etc. can be evaluated based on the above
concepts as nothing in such situation can be said right or wrong.
(E) Kantiasm : The ethics of duty - It is based on the concept that all of us have
certain duties to perform in our roles like a mother has a duty to a child and
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what benefit she will gain in bringing up the child. We should perform our
actions without motive and a sense of duty. A personnel officer has a duty to
maintain confidentiality of employee's personal history.

15.6 VALUES
Can Wealth Satisfy a Man
In an age of consumerism where success is getting measured by comparisons, man is
sacrificing his happiness. Over ambitious and keen ness to earn fast is leading to a
stage. of excessive burnout where the person is forced to think how much is his need
for money. Even when we are giving is it really for giving or for the sake of
recognition. There are who have a little but give it all and they are never empty.
Much of management education unfortunately is converting human being into a
money making machine.
"
People who work only for money making, gets slowly enslaved by the desire for
getting more money by exploiting others which becomes a conditioned refex with
these people, resulting restlessness, tension, secret, fear and total loss of peace."
BAGWAT GITA
NEITHER MAXIMUM NOR MINIMUM BUT OPTIMUM
In our day to day functioning we are faced with many contradictory values over a
time and have to face which one to follow. We can seek an optimum mix in such
values that can function satisfactorily in real life. Some of these values are.
(1) Controlled greed: This is the most crucial value needing discussion in
business ethics because most people would agree that business entity can not
operate unless an element of greed is inbuilt into its operations. How much of it
is the debatable issue. Indian thinkers mostly depend on internal controls,
genetic cultivation and family culture to curtail greed. There is nothing wrong
in materialism if it is secondary i.e. secondary to honestly, love, equality,
justice, and compassion. If it comes first it can lead to exploitation, misery and
loss of peace.
(2) Pursuit of Pleasure: (Anand) Happiness and Pleasure are not just Pleasure of
flesh but also of mind. Pleasure must be distinguished from greed .Absence of
greed can indeed be a cause of giving pleasure, like in the case of Alacrity
Foundation of Tamil Nadu whose shareholders accepted with pleasure a lower
return on investment in favour of high ethical values of honesty. Excell
Industry of Gujrat is also a similar example where Mr. Narayanan CEO, called
Guru by his staff draws a greater pleasure in social welfare programme of the
firm. This company even goes to jails to recruit the reformed inmates as an
investment and great pleasure. If you are keen to know the impact on business,
this company has done wonderful in results too.
You get pleasure only when you are detached by the out come which has been
beautifully described as "management by detached involvement" by Dr.
Jagdish Pareekh. Phd. (Harvard) in his best selling book managing yourself.
(3) Efficiency and Action: Action only leads to improvements and productivity' of
resources: "They only live by right who 'till the soil and raise their food. The
rest are parasites". Kural Virse - 1033.
(4) Truthfulness: Truth is ethically valued because of its Universalisability and in
business or organizations it is the first step to build trust.
(5) Transparency and honesty: It requires total openness and nothing to be
hidden from those who would be affected by the information.
(6) Compassion and Charity: All religions have laid a strong emphasis on these
values and Jains have extended it even to all living beings, Charity should
40 never be combined with arrogance.
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(a) "Do something good for those who can not reciprocate it and your self
esteem will go up". - Mahatma Gandhi.
(b) Mr. P. Rajgopal, 47 years old MD. of Sarvanana Bhavan chain of hotels
in Tamil Nadu who started merely as cleaner in a restaurant in a small town
is now a successful person with 41 crores turnover. He spends 2.5 lakhs
(Rs. 2001- each) per month on monetary support to the old parents of his
employees with Karuna Bhava (Compassion) like a True Kamayogi. The
pay off is more automatic than expected, as he concentrated in Karma
(Responsibility) and not on pay off.
(7) Self-Sacrifice: Where individuals undertake intensive effort of great
deprivation to themselves but yielding immense social benefits had greater
impact in terms of contribution and is strongly advocated by Jains, Buddhists,
Vedanta and other scholars.
− What Swami Vivekananad said is truly relevant. "Unselfishness pays a lot
only the people have not the patience to practice it."
− Indian tradition had always searched for ideal heroes as models for living
an ideal life of work. The Mahabharata offers us two powerful models, one
in Arjun and the other in Duryodhana.
Both are equally brilliant, powerful, having intensive organizing capabilities. In
fact, Duryodhana, as a statesman, was more sagacious than Arjuna. Yet why
did Duryodhana fail and Arjuna succeed? The simple answer is that with all his
extra-ordinary valour, Arjuna accepted the message of Krishna:
"Those who accept all works as a sacrifice for the welfare of all, they are
freed from all sins (and attain success). But those who work only for their
own benefit and profit, eat only sins (and they get defeated in their
purpose).
Gandhari the symbol of righteous knowledge advised her son, before the war,
just as Krishna advised Arjuna; but Duryodhana refused to listen to his mother.
In Mahabharata Gandhari said (Udyoga Parva) (128:2:21)
"O my extremely brilliant and mighty-powerful son, no one can get Kingdom if
he fights only for his personal benefits; even if he gets it, he can neither keep
nor enjoy it". Again Gandhari says to Duryadhana "Unless the leader is self-
controlled, the assistant ministers will never listen to him, nor can he give
punishment to evil-doers if he takes rash decisions with an unsteady-mind. The
Goddess of Wealth never comes to such a person". (128:2:30) She predicted to
Duryodhana that, the Pandavas were going to win over him because they had
excelled him in dharna (righteous action) - Dharmastu Abhyadhikoh tatah
(128:2:51-52).
− P. C Roy lived an aster life but. developed the basic pharmaceutical and
chemical industry in India.
− He Who Sacrifices is a True Leader:-
On his way to India, young Alexander and his huge army were gripped by
severe drought and thirst. Some soldiers dug the soil and with great difficulty
brought a little drinking water for their leader. Alexander smiled and spread the
water on the burning sands. He was one with the army. It is with such a spirit
of sacrifice that Columbus had succeeded to steer to the new continent, even
when his convict-sailors turned against him.
"Kill self first if you want to succeed", says Vivekananda. And again, he said,
"We are the servants of all". 'The brutal mania of egotistical leadership has
brought death to many institutions. Aurangzeb with his pious geocentricism
brought ruin on the Mughal Empire. "He who will offer his own head, will lead
other heads too", says the Sikh Slogan - Sardar Sirdar.
(8) Evenness of mind - The Secret of successful management:
Should one always expect success? No, All movements in the world are non- 41
linear,
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with regular ups and downs like sound wave, light wave, and the waves of joy
and sorrow. in one's life.
If with all the efficiency and struggle success does not come, what should the
Manager do? He should be calm and accept the situation with equanimity. This
equanimity is the secret of facing all situation in work - Yogah Karmasu
Kausalam (Yoga is skill in action) - says the Gita.
That skill, according to Shankara, consists in maintaining the evenness of mind
in success and failure, in the performance of work as one's duty.
The calm mind in failure will lead him to deeper introspection and see clearly
where the process went wrong and eventually lead the person to lasting
success.
Face Adverse Situation with Strength and Calmness:
Once an executive asked, "How to face the situation when things fall apart and
workers go wild? Vivekananda's answer was. "Face the brute Face it with all
the infinite strength and courage of the Self within.
`Abhayam' (Fearlessness) is the first requisite of a man of action, according to
Gita. And this strength and fearlessness which comes from the. infinite strength
within, must be combined with the calmness, evenness, tranquility of mind and
spiritual approach for solution. "Religion is the manifestation of the natural
strength that is in man", said Vivekananda. Krishna's immortal exhortation to
Arjuna "Yield not to unmanliness O Partha, it does not befit you", has
become the classic Indian invocation for fearlessness. It is tragic that Arjuna,
the scorcher of foes, got suddenly frightened by the specter of the colossal
army of the enemy and lost all faith in his own world-conquering power.
Krishna, by sheer power of words, the celestial song (Gita), removed his
delusion and restored the faith. "Faith is not belief, it is a grasp on the ultimate,
an illumination", said Vivekananda: A man of faith is invincible. He can turn
the tides of history. And this faith comes out of the knowledge that there
always is the Self, the ever-present divinity which is the repository of all
strength, and bliss. All executives in. troubled times will derive immense
strength and benefit if they remember the few lines Vivekananda had written to
his young enterprising Madras disciples: "Try to manifest the divinity within
and everything will be harmoniously arranged around it". (Complete
Works 4:351)
(9) Trust, Cooperation and Working together:
Without trust business transactions can become tortuous, chimsy and expensive
After globalization it has became all the more important. Without working
together as a team, organizations can work at low efficiency.
The Brass industry of Moradabad and Hosiery units at Tripur provides an
excellent example of collaborative working where excess order is passed on to
the neighbour which has enabled these cities to be the leader of industry and
many benefits in terms of lower cost of production, 'good quality, export
incentives gets automatically passed to all manufactures with industry growing
as a whole because an importer knows that he can always be assured of getting
his order fulfilled from these cities in view of the norm and values followed by
manufacturers.
Nature knows that fighting is foolish, it wastes time, it wastes energy, it risks
unnecessary injury and it makes no sense. Peaceful co-existence mutuality and
cooperation shall achieve the highest welfare" writes K Matsushita in his book
`Thought on Man' ! "If Japan forty years ago had been firmly resolved to seek
mutual prosperity instead of dominance in Asia, the country would. have been
spared the devastation of war and the horrible suffering that came with being
the world's first victim of a nuclear attack.
(10) Gratitude and Respectfulness:
The importance of these values in business is obvious and it is to be seers in
conjunction with other values. It helps the person in avoiding jealosy leakage
of efforts, ego trap and will bring the support of others. The famous Japanese
Company Matsushita uses these in its value education and Japan's success is
also attributed a lot by this value in their society:
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In the book "The Art of Japanese Management" by Richard Tanner Pascale
and Anthony G. Athos, the authors give a whole chapter entitled "Spiritual
values" where `Matsushita philosophy' and `Matsushita values' are described as
the most powerful trend-setter in today's Japanese management.
The authors wrote: "The Matsushita philosophy provides a basis of meaning
beyond the products it produces. Matsushita was the first company in Japan to
have a song and a code of values. It seems silly to Westerners, but every
morning at 8 a.m. all . across Japan, there are 87,000 people reciting the code
of values. It is like we are all a community".
The Matsushita "Spiritual Values" are:
• National Service through industry
• Fairness .
• Harmony and Co-operation
• Struggle for Betterment
• Courtesy and Humility
• Adjustment and Assimilation
• Gratitude
(11) Harmony with Self, Society and nature: With the resurgence of
environmental ethics these trends are now fending universal acceptance all
over the world.

15.7 INDIAN ETHOS

Indian ethos derived from Vivelcananda, other scholars and relevant to management
are listed here which are based on holistic approach and values like personal purity,
self sacrifies (Tapasya), internal happiness, forgiveness, donations of excess (Dana),
Compassion (Daya), Responsibility (Karma), Modesty (Vinayam), dedication
(Samarpan) etc. Some. of the saying are highly relevant in our life: work and
otherwise:
"Karamyogi is a person who is committed to truth i.e., the well being of others. Only
a pure mind in its serenity and calmness discovers the truth".
"Happiness has to be searched internally. The inner should be given priority in
human development. If the inner world is not coherent things will remain
complicated".
"Purity, patience and perseverance are. the three essentials of success and love".
"Knowledge comes from others and is a great power, wisdom is your own
understanding. Knowledge along without wisdom can bring sorrow
"One can enjoy life by sacrificing selfishness".
"We are normally focused on what is missing in life. The 'moment you start operating
from what you do not have, then whatever you have also goes into darkness".
"Every human being has potential".
"All work is an opportunity for doing good to the world".
"Strength and inspiration for excellence in work conies from the Atman, the Self, the
God -within, through prayer, meditation, holy readings and unselfish work".
"He who works with calm and evenness of mind achieves the most as he acts from
his mind not reacts (Retalliation)".
"A calm mind touches the core of infinite and thus gets re-energized from that
infinite which is the Self of man. Power, joy, hope, confidence, and introspection
flow in the person who can make his restless mind calm".
"Face adverse situation with strength and calmness (Equanimity)". 43
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"Empowerment is the power that lives within each one of us. It is a self realization
that I am responsible for the choice I make".
"By mutual co-operation, respect and fellow-feeling, all of us will enjoy the highest
good, both materially and spiritually".
"Righteous action leads to wealth, victory, general welfare of the masses, and
constant justice".
"Trust leads to trust and mistrust leads to mistrust".
"Morality comes to a manager by constant introspection and self-discipline".
"The moral person like the Saint arouses the enduring faith of his followers. This is
the faith that will lead to better performance".
"The king's (Leader) behavior should be such that each of his subject thinks that he is
very dear or close to the king - If a Leader has this quality, the organization will run
most satisfactorily".
Chanakya's Quoatation, on Leadership and Management
"The root of kingdom lies in the Self-controlled life of the ruler".
"The root of self-control lies in genuine humility".
"Humility comes from serving enlightened persons".
"From the services of enlightened persons comes wisdom".
"By wisdom is gained the knowledge of the Atman-Self ".
"A man of Self-Realization conquers. everything in the Universe"
Jain Dharam
Paropkar (doing good to others) and Parahita Chinta (thinking good of others) are the
first two values in Jain religion towards a joyful living. In Jain tradition a true
leader must have his life based on the following holistic qualities:
− Maitri Bhava (Friendliness towards all).
− Pramoda - Bhava (Joy in seeing qualities in others).
− Kiruna Bhava (Respect and Compassion even to inferior beings).
− Madhyastha Buddhi Bhavana (Impartial, calm, even attitude of mind towards
all people and all situations).
Guru Nanak
"Main Jite Jag Jit (A man of self control conquers the world)".
Mahatma Gandhi
"No one can take your self esteem away unless you choose to give it away".
Inter-connected - Sapta Sheela - Principles
1. The Basic Principle: "AHAM BRAHMASMI TATTWAMASI"
Each soul is potentially Divine. I have immense potentialities. You have infinite
Potential.
2. Why work? "ATMANO MOKSHARTHAM JAGAT-HITAYA CHA":
For your own salvation (upliftment) and for the good of the world. Synchronise your
private benefit with the public benefit.
3. What is work? YAGYARTHAT KARMANAH/ PARASPARM
BHACYANTAH" Karma is to be done in the spirit of YAJNA Nurturing each
other.
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4/5. How to work? SEVA +IYAGA
Serve others. Give your best for the good of others.
6. Spirit of work: YOGAHA KARMASU KAUSHALAM
Excellence in work is YOGA.
7. The resources: SUKSHMA STHULA: PRAGYANAM BRAHMAN
Subtle / subjective factors are more important than gross/ objective factors.
Activity 15.3
Even though you have gone through this unit, you should talk to various
friends of yours and try and keep a record of what Indian ethical practices are
being .adopted by various organisations. Having done so, try to disseminate
this information as far as possible in your organisation and beyond. List out
the issues evolving out of it.
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15.8 ETHICS AND. MARKETING
Some ethical issues involved in marketing are listed below:
(i) Deceptive advertisement
(ii) Price fixing
(iii) Withholding test data
(iv) Falsifying Marketing research behavior
(v) Marketing strategies
− Making the other competitor lose. Pepsi vs. Coca Cola.
− Warfare terms - attaching competitors.
(vi) Impulsive and pyramid marketing (influencing innocent buyers as one
gets a commission)
(vii) Selling out-dated products.'
(viii) Pricing - higher prices
− Cartel marketing
− Taking over small firms and fixing higher prices.
(ix) Doubtful reliability
(x) Poor customer service and lack of responsiveness after sale
Coming to the specifics of the ethics of advertising, Hymen et al. (1994) cover the
following issues :
1. Does it misinform?
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2. Does it mislead?
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3. Does it make false promises?
4. Does it criticize other products - truthfully or otherwise?
5. Does it create socially undesirable demands?
6. Does it cause socially undesirable action by the target audience?
7. Does it try to influence target groups who are not mature enough to understand
and discriminate, e.g. children?
8. Is it any way offensive to good taste?
9. Is it in using money power to blackball fair competition?
10. Does it lower the dignity of women?
11. Does it revel in intimate physical details which good taste should leave alone?
12. Does it defame any person or class of persons?
13. Does it build a stereotype which results in some class of persons having a
disadvantage in normal social relationship?
14. Does it manipulate the viewer by subliminal suggestions or emotional
blackmail by wrongly, unreasonably, irrationally invoking basic and hidden
fears of death and injury, or visions and fantasies?

15.9 ETHICS AND PURCHASING

Ethical issues involved in purchasing may relate to the following.
1. Gifts and commissions - Diwali gifts. There is nothing as free gift.
2. Kick back.
3. Free holidays and inducing the buyer.
4. Deceptive orders - promising too large an order which may not exist.
5. Calling quotation without intention of buying.
6. Favouratism - Giving chance to only known persons or disclosing important
information to a selected few.
7. Information disclosure - Passing the secret of one competitive to other.

15.10 OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT AND ETHICS

Some issues involved
1. Employees theft
2. Fiddling with expenses account
3. Misuse of company assets
4. Environmental pollution and effluents
5. Delayed payments.
6. Poor quality and service - like hospitals (A case when a patient was discharged
in 4 days instead of 5 days needed to adjust a new patient)
7. Political donations
8. Giving excessive gifts

15.11 HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT AND.

ETHICS
A few areas where ethics can be an issue in HRM
1. Recruitment of favourable persons.
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2. Wrong advertisement. No full information.
3. Sex discrimination in selection / promotions.
4. Not maintaining confidentiality.
5. Tie up with recruitment agencies.
6. Discrimination in compensation fixation.
7. Wrong method used in separation - using union leaders to intimidate
employees in opting for V.R.S.
8 Curving genuine trade unionism.
9. Wrong incentive calculations.

15.12 ISSUES INVOLVED IN ETHICS RELATED TO

FINANCE AND ACCOUNTING & BUSINESS SCAMS
Finance
1. Seeking rewards not from productivity but from speculative forcasting.
2. Focus of management not on governance for a long term trust building but on
the naked greed of high profits.
3. Transactions are hidden from public. No transparency.
4. Systems can be such that rewards for risk taking goes to one set of persons
whereas cost are likely to be borne by many others or public.
5. Looking for astronomically high rewards.
6. Weak internal controls for several reasons.
Accounts
Accounting is supposed to provide information to the accountee even if it is
uncomfortable to the accounter as this information helps in decision making and for
accountability.
1. Undue dependence on junior level staff or untrained persons by over
committed certified accountants.
2. Charging fee higher than needed.
3. Compromising on ethics of accounting.
4. Receiving undue hospitality and favours.
5. Hiding information or facts and not advising correctly for the fear of loosing
contract.
Bank Scams
(a) Are the Banks supposed to invest public money in highly speculative areas.
(b) Is not certain portion of their investment to be made in no risk areas.
(c) Banking regulations requires certain standards of public disclosure of
information.
Reason of Indian Banking Scam: Harshad Mehta Case
• An unscruplous operator forged documents and created fake transaction which
seems to satisfy banking regulations.
• He took the money from banks for temporary periods and paid them handsome
'
returns till overheated market of his creations collapsed.
• Govt. securities, had very low rate of returns whereas the interest rate of market
was high (unwise interference by the Govt. in market mechanism)
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• Failures of internal control system.
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• Most of the banks were running in losses till 1993. Various banks like
Allahabad Bank, - Bank of Baroda, Bank of Maharashtra, Canara Bank,
Syndicate Bank, State Bank of India were reporting losses and were under
pressure to turn around.
• However the banks had the direction to invest in priority sector with low
interest (No profit even with efficient operations appeared possible).
• Labour cost in banks was very high as no computerization was allowed by staff
unions.
• Inadequacy in disclosure standards of banking in India. Still banks were
expected to make profits and their rewards were dependent on it.
• It was then natural to compromise and cut ethical corners by the bank officials.
What is inside trading
To buy or sell shares / securities on the basis of privileged information. It is a breach
of trust and requires strong monitoring boards for control by the Govt. agencies.

The Other Sides of Mergers and Acquisitions

It is commonly believed that in India also companies merging or acquiring other
companies will become a trend soon . It is well understood that these mergers and
acquisitions have an ethical side, some of which has been incorporated into laws.
Many others have not.
The ethics of mergers and acquisitions have six basic issues:
1. Manipulations of market and share purchase transactions.
2. Processes of valuation of companies and their share prices.
3. Unfair consequences for the shareholders.
4. Unfair consequences for the genuine investors as against those who have never
grown even. a blade of grass.
5. Unfair consequences for the consumers and society.
6. Unfair consequences for the employees.
15.13 EXAMPLES OF GOOD ETHICS IN INDIAN
ORGANIZATIONS
A. The Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC): Thanks to this
organization, one million middle-class Indians have been able to buy their own
homes. About 5,000 new applicants approach HDFC each day. As they enter
any branch of the organization, they know they will be treated efficiently and
fairly, as wanted customers. The customer orientation percolates down all the
way from the corporate headquarters to the branches located at different places.
To quote Deepak S Parekh; CEO, HDFC, who was conferred the JRD Tata
corporate leadership award by ALMA for the year 1996: "A house is the
biggest and single most important asset that a family buys, and it is for life. So,
we have to be helpful."
This business philosophy coupled with good ethics catapulted HDFC into the
leadership position in the home mortgage market, growing at 30 per cent on an
average every year and adding to shareholder wealth.
B. Ratan Tata (1993), in an interview, said: "Ethics for Tatas means conducting
business in a manner which is fair and just to employees, suppliers and
shareholders, having a concern for the community in which one is operating. It
would involve putting combined interests above personal gain or exploitation.
A similar view was echoed by Russy Mody, who was in Tata Steel for
half-a-century when he said: "My values were fashioned by the House of Tatas.
These were to so conduct your business that profit was not your only motive.
The happiness of those
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who worked in your business; a fair deal to customers who bought your goods;
and efficiency in your job."
C. Infosys Technologies Ltd: "The peon of the company is worth Rs 6 lakh, and
an executive, anywhere aroundRs 25 lakh". Thus, reads the write-up on Infosys
in Business India. This company is a dream employer for all its employees,
thanks to the employee stock option plan in vogue. Every employee is made a
partner in the common endaviour to achieve excellence in the software
industry. No other fact testifies to this more than Infosys' annual sales revenue,
which zoomed from about Rs 10 crore in March 1992 to about Rs 135 crore by
March 1997 (i.e., in just 5 years)! One, we recognized that, to succeed, we had
to operate to go public, we made sure that wealth is created within the
business."
A transparent company to the core, Infosys became the first Indian company
last year to prepare its accounts in compliance with US Generally Accepted
Accounting Practices and Securities Exchange Commission disclosure norms;
a step, indeed, towards attaining global-level transparency.
D. Hero group: Hero cycles entered The Guinness Book of World Records as the
world's largest manufacturer of bicycles. The patriarch chairman, Brijmohan
Lail Munjal, has come a long way in the last 20 years. From bicycles, he
demonstrated his business acumen in a fiercely competitive two-wheeler
market, and he has now set his eyes on the passenger car segment Commenting
on Munjal, Tejendra Khanna, former commerce secretary, once said: "His
complete humility, humaneness and cordiality in dealing with all sorts of
people - other businessman, government officials and employees - resulted in
everyone wanting to help him. "Munjal was also one of the first to introduce
just-in-time inventory and provide support to ancillary units. They provide
support to ancillary units whose production is dedicated to Hero's
requirements. Hero Honda, for instance, is recognized as one. of Honda's best
managed units outside Japan. The Japanese have found the highest rates of
labour productivity in the world in all the Hero group companies.
E. Alacrity Foundation: This medium-sized property developer became a
household name in. Tamil Nadu in less than 10 years. The company has the
courage to pronounce its business philosophy aloud – i.e., "it still pays to be
honest".
Alacrity promises to develop, build and market residential accommodation
without any black money, fulfilling, all the taxation and legal requirements.
The company gets all clearances for the title deeds, building permission,
drainage, water and power without any bribes.
Incredible? That,, too, in an industry riddled with corruption. The company
strictly adheres to the delivery schedule and indemnifies the customer for
delays beyond time delivery period.
F. Maruti Udyog Ltd (MUL): Just a few months ago, we had seen the- biggest
ever recall of cars in this country. The company concerned was MUL, and the
product, the Maruti 800 passenger car. Of the Maruti ' 800s sold between
January and April 1997, about 50,000 cars were recalled. The story goes like
thus: "In January 1997, Sona Steering's raw material supplier, Mukand
Limited, supplied it low alloy steel dubbed SCM 415 for manufacturing the
pinions. But due to an error at Mukand's stockyard, the batch of raw material
consignment dispatched to Sona Steering was of a different grade of steel,
which was not meant for pinion manufacturing". Fortunately, it was detected
during the gruelling test drives the cars are subject to, and the whole batch of
50,000 cars has been recalled at the company's expense.
G. A look at the Indian corporate sector enables one to identify many more
relatively bigger entitles than discussed so far. Mention may be made of the
Tata group companies, the Aditya Birla group, Choksi's Asian Paints, NDDB
in the public sector, the TVS group, and many others. All these companies, 49
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distinct corporate philosophies, largely aim at sound business practices.
H. Bad and Unethical Practices: The list of companies that usually indulge in
unethical business practices perhaps far exceeds the list of good companies. A
few companies which could attain the dubious distinction of appearing in the
business papers are presented here along with the kind of unethical practice the
company was associated with - (the names of the company / group has been
changed and ficticious name are used).

A Group: 'Between 1976 and 1986, the group floated half-a-dozen companies
and raised about Rs 500 crore from the capital market. Its outstanding loans to
the FIIS are estimated to be around Rs 700 crore.

The group's recipe for fast growth was - Raise money for an existing
profitable company, start a new project, spin off the project into a separate
company, and raise further money from the market for another new project.

B Group: The Hyderabad Stock Exchange recently delisted the B group for
failing to submit its annual results. In a hurry to join the big league, the group
started, in less than ten years, six companies, and drifted too far.

And as if that were not enough, it entered the newspaper industry, and
concieved a mega cement project! As a result of such hasty decisions and over
ambitious plans, the entire group is now languishing.

C Group: The less said the better about the C group, the rage of investors till a
couple of years back. The group raised more than Rs 7,000 crore in the last five
years, and went to the public for money ten times between 1991 and 1995. The
shares of almost all the group companies are now quoting below par. Agro,
Paper, Tea Gardens, Airlines, TV, Textiles, and what not. The group owes
money to its suppliers and faces numerous court cases.

D.Shoes: Its owner was in the, news in 1995 for having misled the investing
public. The company has not given a true picture to the investors regarding the
share price movement of the existing company. The whole episode led to the
subsequent arrest of promoter.

E.Group: Kabra was instrumental in wrecking the fortunes of about half-a-

dozen companies he had acquired with much fanfare in the eighties. He is now
busy facing investigations on FERA violations, piling up of debt and interest
burdens, several raids, the ire of his senior galore that his main intention was to
'siphon off the funds from the acquired companies. All `his' acquisitions do not
have much left to cheer..

Many other scams , claims of a host of others engaged in teak plantations,

violation of excise laws all point to how management, out of greed to make
more money and achieve goals, take the various constituents of the company
for a ride in the most unfair ways.

15.14 CREATING AN ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE

FOR ETHICS - THE TOOL TO PROMOTING
ETHICAL CORPORATE BEHAVIOUR
Where does the solution lie? The practice of good ethics in various operational areas
of business does not happen on its own. In companies where organization culture is
strong, in terms of the top management's commitment to good business practices,
open communication, share values, beliefs and norms for the good of all, ethics,
obviously, take center stage, influencing the organizational behavior.

As Per Mordsjo, the global quality manager for Volvo Trucks, which is setting up a
plant
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in Bangalore, puts it: "Even if we have a truck which is 99 per cent assembled and
holding up its full assembly, we will not use that part just to keep our delivery
schedule".

Such pronouncements from the top functionaries of any organization obviously

signify the company's commitment. Culture in the organizational context refers to the
set of values, dominant beliefs and guiding norms of a people. It denotes 'mental
programmes' shared by the members of an organization. A strong culture provides a
basis for the productive ethos of an organization. Excellent companies rich in
legends, anecdotes, a sense of pride, excitement and achievement orientation and a
unique corporate folklore provide the basis for a strong culture.

Such a culture spearheads the company's commitment in respect to quality,

reliability, customer service, employee welfare, etc. The concern for the values the
company holds dear is diffused throughout the organization.

Kilmann, one of the prominent writers on organizational culture, views culture in

terms of `right'. or `wrong' – i.e., he holds that culture governs people's behavior in
either the right or wrong direction. As organizations are viewed as systems composed
of ideas, metaphors, myths, rituals and ceremonies, rich networks of legends and
parables of all sorts pervade effective organizations.

Having understood the interface between corporate ethics and culture, let us. examine
the ways in which conductive culture can be fostered in an organization to promote
acceptable ethical behavior.

Top management's initiative

Top managers have to serve as exemplary role modes for the young as the latter draw
meanings easily from the behavior of their bosses. The `superiors', through
pronouncements, decisions, interpretations and communication, should demonstrate
their disposition towards ethical business practices. Their role is crucial in developing
and institutionalising creation of symbols, ideologies, language, beliefs, rituals and
myths.

A summary of the research findings in this area made by Kao indicates how top
management build a strong culture by:
• Creating, diffusing and sharing a vision of the organization's mission and
purpose;
• Communicating openly, clearly and persuasively towards securing and
sustaining shared perceptions;
• Providing an environment for supportive interpersonal relationships;
• Exhorting and coaching towards high standards of ethical behavior;
• Praising and recognising accomplishments of good behavior through symbols,
rituals and ceremonies.

15.15 CASE STUDIES AND EXAMPLES ON ETHICS

EXAMPLE: Textile Engineering Company
The firm's practices are as detailed by one of the personnel officers. The company
carefully scans the legal decisions and lists the offences in which dismissals will not
be overturned by the courts. It is seen that violence inside the factory never gets any
sympathy.
It marks its victim and asks a confidante to pick up a fist-fight with him. An inquiry
is ordered. The confidant turns approver. The witnesses are cooked up. The marked
man is found guilty and sacked. The state labour department is `kept happy'. Sounds
like a typical Indian movie but is nevertheless true to life.
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EXAMPLE: Dr. Jacquelline Verret

Dr. Jacquelline Verret (JV) was a scientist in the Food and Drug Administration
(FDA) of America. She was working on the sugar substitute cyclamates. She found
that chick embryo injected with cyclamates developed cancer, and held a press
conference to release this information. As a consequence, a national television
network sought her interview. She informed her superiors of the TV interview
and assured them that it would not be conducted to cause panic.
Nevertheless, the FDA accused her of being unethical as the correct procedure would
have been to punish her work in a scientific journal and subject herself to peer
review. They felt that research on chicks did not necessarily mean that the results
would be the same for human beings.
JV replied that publications in scientific journals take too much time and there was an
urgent need to take action. FDA could not fire her as meanwhile a public outcry
ensued, nor could they cut her budget as she had built up a reputation. But JV
admitted that the press had unfortunately used panicky language. Nevertheless, it was
the moral duty of scientists to keep the public informed without creating any panic.
Analysis for the reader
Can we see this in terms of only absolute ethics or also in terms of its consequences?
If we think over the consequences, we have to realistically assess (a) the pressure that
could be building on the FDA by asymmetry of information among the users,
scientists and producers.
EXAMPLE: Murarka Market Research Consultants
Murarka hires Arun Menon, a fresh MBA, and puts him in charge of a major market
consultancy contract. The consultancy was obtained by them on the assurance that it
would be functioning more or less unsupervised as the partners had other
international commitments. Arun is a novice and knows next to nothing, Should he
tell the clients about this?
EXAMPLE: The Ultraviolet Ink
Usha, an executive in a firm of market research consultants, is assigned a massive
postal market research of 30,000 respondents. The client Fas been assured of a
thorough job. Her boss Ram Saxena tells her this can be done only if she personally
cross-checks with the respondents. This would require the names and addresses, of
the respondents to be recorded on the response sheets. But the client has said that as
the products is for personal use, the respondents should be informed that their names
would not be recorded. Saxena suggests that the names should be recorded in
ultraviolet ink and decoded at the office. Usha is told that if the project goes through,
both she and Ram would get a promotion. Should Usha agree to this?
EXAMPLE: Gita Garment Exports
Gita Garment Exports had a flourishing business exporting garments to the USA.
Suddenly, the US administration banned the imports because they found that the
garments, made of synthetic material, could cause dermatitis, a skin disease. Faced
with this debacle, Gita Exports explored other markets and found that several African
countries may like to import this product. The profits would be lower but the
company would avert financial disaster. Should they export to Africa without
confirming that there would be no risk of dermatitis?
EXAMPLE: Hyderabad Asbestos
Hyderabad Asbestos had two pricing which were investigated by the MRTP
Commission (RTPE 1987 decided on 26 'December 1980). The first involved very
high variations in pricing between different order sizes. The second was that they
sold below cost to the
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public sector and the government (predatory pricing) due to excessive competition.
The Commission allowed it to continue. As for discriminatory pricing, they
instructed the company to follow uniform pricing with suitable discounts based on.
cost savings subject to the size of the orders.
EXAMPLE: Philips India
Philips India used to give the 'recommended price' in their price lists. This gave the
impression that the product should not be sold below that price. The MRTP
Commission (RTP 5 of 1978 decided on 26 September 1979) directed that the price
lists should show the maximum retail price and the dealers should have the freedom
to charge less.
EXAMPLE: The Statesman
The Statesman was offering concessional rates for advertisements published in all its
issues. The MRTP Commission (RTP 53 of 1974 decided on 2 April 1976) decided
that there should be separate rates for the Calcutta and Delhi editions, and the
combined rates should not be less than- 92.5 per cent of the individual rates.
EXAMPLE: Snowline Clothiers
Snowline Clothiers advertised an unusually high discount of 50 per cent. The MRTP
Commission (UTP 13 of 1984 decided on 2 May 1986) ordered the following
guidelines for the future:
1. The period of discount should not be less than ten days and should be
mentioned in the advertisement.
2. The normal price of each category should be mentioned.
3. The quantity of the articles for the maximum and minimum discount should be
mentioned.
EXAMPLE: The Grim Mother-in-Law
A masala (spices) advertisement shows the mother-in-law menacingly standing in
front of her trembling daughter-in-law who is trying to pick up the right ingredients
for cooking. She makes the inevitable mistake, to the glee of her mother-in-law. If
only she had chosen this, masala powder, she would have got it all right - so goes the
advertisement. Can mothers-in-law object to the stereotyping?
EXAMPLE: Deepak Ghosh and the Campaign Sale
Deepak's company had a special compaign sale in March 1995. Knowing this,
Deepak held back the sales figures of January and February, and included these in the
March figures so that he could get the bonus on the campaign sale. Since the
campaign sale provided a special discount for the dealer, overall the company lost in
the bargain. Had Deepak been ethical?
EXAMPLE: Rajesh Menon's Gift
This was Rajesh Menon's first job at HIPRO, a company which prided itself on its
ethical standards. Rajesh had been inducted to this philosophy. Their sales targets
were tight. At the year end, the only way he could meet the target was by gifting a
clock to the purchase manager of the buying company. He decided to buy the gift
from his own pocket as he was terrified of not being confirmed it he did not fulfil the
target. Was he being ethical?
EXAMPLE: The Special Computers of HIPRO
Ram Kumar, a sales executive, had the best record for sales in HIPRO. He was very
good at demonstrating his company's computers. He waxed eloquent on their ethics
and their record of being the first computer company to get the ISO 9000. But he did
not tell the clients that spare parts of their computers were non-standard and available
only with them. Their systems also did not match others in the field. Consequently,
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companies could not carry out their repair jobs. HIPRO's own service department had
therefore a monopoly. Were Ram Kumar and HIPRO ethically upright?
EXAMPLE : Territorial Restrictions on Hindustan Lever
The dealership contracts at Hindustan Lever (HLL) contained restriction on the
dealers selling outside their territories. HLL was encouraged to insert this
Orestriction as the Supreme Court in an earlier case allowed such restrictions to
TELCO. The MRTP struck HLL down (RTPE 1 o f1974 decided in July 1975). HLL
appealed to the Supreme Court but the court upheld the decision of the MRTP
Commission (Appeal Number 650). They clarified that the territorial restrictions for
TELCO enabled better servicing of their machines and could not be extended to
consumer articles like soaps and detergents.
EXAMPLE : Sangeeta's Cost Reduction Drive
Sangeeta, a company manufacturing consumer electronic products, found its market
dwindling. Wishing to reduce its prices, it undertook a major cost-reduction drive. It
cam, up with the idea of a new design for part X. Chandra, the GM Purchase, was
given the task of negotiating the price with the vendor, within a ceiling proposed to
Chandra. They wanted Chandra to also firm up the price. The part involved
development of a costly mould by the vendor. Chandra painted a rosy picture of the
firm's future production plans which he knew were not true. He also told the vendor
that several others were eager to supply the parts to them. In fact, because of their
poor track record of payments, supplier were dropping off. Lastly, Chandra offered
the vendor a price much higher than his currei costs as encouragement, provided he
held his prices. Chandra knew through inside source that the raw material prices for
the parts were to increase sharply six months from now. He did not share this
information with the vendor. This way he succeeded in clinching the deal with the
supplier. Once the moulds were made, Chandra knew that the vendor was it his
clutches, unless he cheated him by supplying the design to the competitor. Was
Chandra being ethical and / or wise?
CASE : Madhulika Bose
Madhulika Bose was an MBA. She had specialized in marketing and market
research. Sh joined Mudrika. Her referee, her ex-professor of ethics, was asked for a
confidential report by Mudrika before she joined the firm. The report said,
`Madhulika is a competent marks researcher with a good understanding of statistics
and the statistical computer packages to analyze data. She has varied interests in life
and had to he counselled often during her stay at the institute to concentrate on fewer
things so that she does not cut corners. Guided properly, she can work reasonably
hard. She has a soaring ambition for a bright career.
Her first assignment on market research involved working with part-time field
investigators whom she had to train. Soon after training them she told her immediate
boss Ajay Dixit that they seemed to be very poorly paid for their work and that their
traveling allowances were hardly enough to look after their basic needs. She felt that
they were likely to avoid traveling and fudge their response sheets. They would need
too much supervision which would be very costly. Ajay ridiculed her line of thinking
and said that the rates were competitive and not less than what others paid.
When the response sheets started coming in, Madhulika found that many of them
seemed to have similar answers. She told Ajay that she would like to supervise and
recheck some, of them by reinterviewing the respondents. Ajay had a look at the
response sheets and so that this was not unnatural and could be quite representative
of the population. He did not agree to her undertaking the tour to cross-check the
response sheets.
A little later, she was surprise by a call from the Managing Director Ram Ambani
who said that the clients wanted the report a fortnight earlier and that if she accepted
the challenge she could get a promotion and could directly report to him. Madhulika
said she would accept the challenge. She requested for a generous travel budget. Ram
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As she proceeded with her work, she realized that meeting the deadline was going to
be difficult with the slow progress. She decided on a whirlwind tour to personally
interview the respondents. Even then she found time overtaking her. She felt that the
first sample of respondents she had interviewed herself confirmed Ajay Dixit's theory
that the population was homogeneous. She argued with Ajay that the sample size
could be reduced without any risk of coming to the wrong conclusions. Ajay, without
referring to Ram, said that the client had specified a minimum sample size and so she
could not change it..
Madhulika in a panic just cooked up the data for a large number of respondents. She
satisfied herself that the clients would not be .misled with wrong results. Ajay
guessed the evidence of this fudging and reported it to Ram. `Here is what your
favourite has done,' he said with a sneer.
A furious Ram called up Madhulika. He knew that there was no time to cross-check
and prove Ajay's accusation. But Madhulika confessed before he could verify
anything. But -she said that stalisitically she was satisfied that no harm had been done
and the client would get a sound and reliable report and in time. but Ram felt that his
company would be in serious trouble if this were known outside. Moreover, his father
the chairman was a moralist and would not tolerate this slip-up of moral behavior.
(This case has been discussed with some of the top market research organizations in
the country and they confirm that the situation is a realistic one.)
Analyze for the reader
1. What do you think Madhulika should have done as a good professional?
2. Should Ram Ambani sack her?
EXAMPLE : The Barrings Case
Leeson, a young enthusiastic executive of Barrings Bank, was posted in the
Singapore branch. He started with the less precarious arbitrage trading, where he
made profits by using the difference in the price of security between different stock
exchanges. It was just smartness and information-readliness that enabled him to make
money. But then he moved .over to derivatives. Call and put options, straddles, index
options and naked options, instruments which could be used less transparently and
more dangerously.
Lesson traded in derivatives with precarious stakes. More disastrously, he did not put
the loss-making transactions through the account hooks of Barrings; the day of
reckoning could wait till the dealing parties pressed for the related settlement. It was
also suspected that on some occasions he misclassified cash transactions deliberately
to stow them away under heads where they would not attract attention. Lesson was
given the combined responsibility of trading and its accounting in the books. This
was atrocious internal control, never done that way anywhere, `like a school-boy
grading his own tests'. It should have been plain to even a casual observer that losses
were mounting as London had to send absurdly large funds to Singapore - 900
million - in a very short period to discharge pressing liabilities. Much earlier, in 1992,
a Barrings executive had warned against trusting Leeson with so much authority with
such little independent check. On 8 February 1994, the treasurer of Barrings,
Anthony Hawes, assured a worried Singapore Exchange that Barrings would honour
its liabilities. But Peter Barring, the Chairman, woke up to the disaster only after
Leeson had fled from Singapore on 28 February. Such was his trust in Leeson or
alienation from reality or connivance with the scam, °depending upon what one
would infer his unusual behavior. Barrings' losses were more than its capital and
there was no way it could survive. Several people all over the world including the
British royalty who had trusted their money to the bank had to face a financial
disaster.

15.16 SUMMARY
The objective of this unit has been to make you aware of the various aspects and
dynamics of organisational Ethics and Values. This unit raises various issues and 55
tries to
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provide probably solution as well. The unit has successfully explained the history of
ethics, why to study business ethics, issues involved in it and discusses the reason for
its importance in today's world. Discussing Indian Ethos and various theories this
unit identifies ethical issues involved in various functions of management. Having
told you about all the above issues the unit, towards the end, explains various
quotable ethical practices in Indian Organisations.

15.17 SELF-ASSESSMENT QUESTIONS

• What do you understand by "Business Ethics", explain why is it so important in
today's world?

• What are the theories of Ethics, describe in detail?

• Identify and discuss ethical issues in various functions of management.

15.18 FURTHER READINGS

Chakraborty, S.K. Ethics in Management Vedantic Perspectives, Oxford India.

Dabas, R.S., 1996. Article on Indian Ethos in Management. National HRD Network
Newsletter. July,

Parikh, Jagdish. Managing Yourself. Management by Detached Involvement. India

book Distributors.

Sekhar, R.C. Ethical Choices in Business. Response Books, New Delhi.

Swami, Jitamananda. Indian Ethos for Modern Management, Ramakrishna Ashrama.

Vipassana Research Institute Igatpuri., The Art of Living. Vipasana Meditation.

Swami Anjaneya, G. Article on Organizational Culture Published in Indian

Management.

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UNIT 16 PROCESS OF LEARNING

ORGANIZATIONS
Objectives
After going through the Unit you should be able to:

• understand the concept of organizational Learning

• appreciate the significance and spirit of a learning organization

• explain the processes of learning organizations

Structure
16.1 Self-Administered Instrument
16.2. The Concept and Process of Organizational Learning
16.3 Mechanisms of Organizational Learning
16.4 Facilitators and Retarders of Organizational Learning
16.5 Sources of Learning
16.6 The Concept of Learning Organization
16.7 Processes of Learning Organization
16.8 Measuring Learning Organizational Processes
16.9 Building Learning Organizations
16.10 Summary
16.11 Self-Assessment Questions
16.12 Further Readings

16.1 SELF ADMINISTERED INSTRUMENT

Before reading the Unit, respond to the following short instrument.
OLD & P
Rate each statement from 1 to 5 in relation to your organization.

1. means it has very low value and/or is seldom done

2. means it has low value and/or occasionally done
3. means it is valued and/or is sometimes done
4. means it is highly valued and/or frequently done
5. means it is very highly valued and/or is or very frequently done
…..1. Experts and experienced creative practitioners are invited to share
their ideas with members of the organization.
…..2. Employees are encouraged to attend external programs.
…..3. Experiences and concerns of the organization are shared
with other organizations.
…..4. Employees are encouraged to experiment.
…..5. Task groups are created for implementing and monitoring
new projects and experiments.
…..6. Detailed plans reflecting contingency approaches are prepared. 57
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…..7. Task groups are created to examine common elements between old
practices and innovations.
…..8. Newly proposed practices are linked with known practices
…..9. Task groups are created for data based critiquing of the
innovations.
…..10. Periodic meetings are held to review and share experiences.
…..11. Task groups are created to evaluate and report on plus-and-minus
aspects of innovations.
…..12. Task groups are created to follow-up on experiments.
…..13. The organization is alive to the changes and is strongly connected
with the environment.
…..14. People in the organization generally see and deal with things in
isolation; they seem to miss their interconnections.
…..15. The organization encourages managers to priorities their tasks in
terms of their strategic thrust.
…..16. People ignore working out consequences or implications of most
actions they plan.
…..17. The revision of the organization is developed by its top
leaders, without involving most members in its development.
…..18. The organizational vision is inspiring for most of its people, and
seems to be linked with their own personal goals.
…..19. There is enough decentralisation and delegation in the organisation.
…..20. Employees in the organization feel that they lack proper direction for
the work they are supposed to do.
…..21. Most of the critical information is shared in an authentic way at most
levels in the organization.
…..22. People generally hesitate to communicate negative information to
their seniors.
…..23. Most people in the organization are not clear about organizational
goals.
…..24. Most people are highly committed to their plans and work.
…..25. The organization gives importance to and facilitates self development
of its people.
…..26. The organization is rather insulated, and does not learn from other
organizations.
…..27. People in the organization generally have empathy for their colleagues.
…..28. People who have strong views during discussions, continue to hold
them, even after a decision has been taken.
16.2 THE CONCEPT AND PROCESS OF
ORGANIZATIONAL LEARNING
The concept of learning has traditionally been used in the context of individual
persons (and animals). Recently this concept has been extended to organizations,
distinction being made between individual learning and organizational learning.
Organizational learning can be seen as a continuum from no learning ( insensitive or
close to experiences and realities ) to full learning ( effective use of experiences for
action). Organizational Learning (OL) can be defined as the process by which an
organization acquires, retains, and uses inputs for development, and the process
results in an enhanced capacity for continued self-learning and self renewal.
The above definition has five main elements.
1. Organizational Learning (OL) is a process - continuous series of inter linked
58 activities producing several changes. It is not seen as a product, although OL
results in the product.
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2. It has three main systems or subsystems. The first is that of acquiring an input and
Process of Learning Organizations examining it. The new input may be a new
structure, a new planning and control system, new technology, new ways of dealing
with problem etc. Any change being introduced in an organization, small or large, is an
input. The organization acquires a new input and examines its suitability for its needs
by reflecting on its feasibility, advantages, cost consequences etc.
3. The second system or subsystem is concerned with retaining the input. Not only an
input needs to be quickly acquired, but it also needs to be retained - sustained in the
organization for a longer time. Retention of an input would depend on how well it gets
integrated with the organization for a longer time. Retention of an input would depend
on how well it gets integrated with the existing systems in the organization. An
organization is not interested in collecting a number of inputs; if the, inputs are
independent of each other an organization may be schizophrenic. For example, it a new
performance appraisal system with self-assessment elements may be introduced and the
employees may continue the previous practice of not meeting their bosses for appraisal
feedback and counseling, the new input may become a ritual. OL will be effective only
if the new inputs get integrated with the current practices.
4. Once the acquired inputs get integrated in an internalized by the organization they
should be used whenever needed. If what has been acquired is only ornamental ( for
example, new technology) and not used, OL is not effective. Use would also involve
adaptation of the new input in the light of the experience gained in its use. This may be
an indicator of OL. For example, the various behavioral dimensions in a new
performance appraisal system may be slightly changed, of the rating system may be
modified to suit the needs of the organization, after it experiences some difficulties.
5. Finally, learning results in increasing the capability of an organization to learn more on
its own. Self - learning may not necessarily involve an outside stimulus or input. An
organization may develop mechanisms of examining its experiences, retaining more
functional ways, and discontinuing dysfunctional ways of dealing with issues. This is
self - learning leading to self - renewal. Organizational Learning is a continuous
evolutionary or growth, process. It involves three phases, corresponding to the three
sub-systems. These are innovation, implementation, and stabilization. These are similar
to the well - known Levinian phases of change unfreezing, moving, refreezing.
Innovation is concerned with exposure of the organization to a new idea or practice,
acquiring the new input and reflecting on its costs and benefits. The second phase of
retaining moves to a new qualitative level, when the organization is concerned with the
continued use of the innovation, its internalization by the organization, mainly reflected
in, the adaptation of the innovation. One excellent example of learning at the cultural
system level is that of Indonesia. Exposure to new cultural dimensions, and their
acceptance by the Indonesian society did not result in a wholesale rejection or
discontinuation of the old cultural ways, nor mechanical adoption of the new ones, but
an integration of the new 'with the existing forms, resulting in a new synthesis reflected
in the highly aesthetic forms of artistic creativity and evolution of a society with high
developed values of synthesis, mutual support, and openness to innovations.
Different learning process are involved in the three sub-systems of OL.
In the first subsystem ( acquiring-reflecting), inflow of new ideas/practices or exposure
of the organization to them is an important element. This is followed by trying out the
innovation on a small scale. And finally the organization arranges foe exchange of
results of the experimentation; so that concerned members of the organization may
reflect on the costs and benefits. In the second sub-system of retaining-integrating,
three learning processes re involved. The new ideas or practices are first assimilated by
the organization. Assimilation involves acceptance as a regular feature of the
organization. Whatever experiences are generated on the innovation are put together
(cumulated), so that the organization may be able to use its experience. And finally, the
top levels in the organization provide support to build the innovation into an accepted
and acceptable practice. For example, a new performance appraisal system, aft its trial
and positive feedback is accepted for regular use (assimilation). The person monitoring
the system collects all the experiences periodically (cumulating), and organizes
periodical meeting with top management present, where these experiences are shared
and the top management provides encouraging support 59
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for the new system (building). The top manager ideals and support play a
critical role in organizational learning.
In the third subsystem (using - adapting ) the main emphasis is on stabilization
and internalization of the innovation. This is possible by continued use of, the
innovation. The experiences gained while using the innovation need to be
reviewed and gained while using the innovation need to be reviewed and
critiqued. Such a critique - review will help in finding out what changes are
required to make the innovation serve a useful function in the organization.
Thus the innovation will get adapted to the organization, and will not remain an
external phenomenon. All these contribute to make an innovation a part of the
organization (internalization).
Now examine your responses to the instrument given at the beginning of the
Unit. Total your ratings of items 1 to 4, 5 to 8, 9 to 12: These give you the
scores of three phases of innovations, implementation and stabilization
respectively. The higher the score, higher is the potential of the organization
for learning.
16.3 MECHANISMS OF ORGANIZATIONAL LEARNING
Some mechanisms of OL are used by organizations at the three phases of OL. These
can also be used to diagnose the state of OL system, and the areas where interventions
are needed. A mechanism is a specific action an organization takes to achieve a
purpose. However, it may be useful to discuss the general areas of such mechanisms.
Below are give five areas, and a number of mechanisms are suggested under each area.
(a) Experimentation and flexibility
An organization needs to develop flexibility and a positive attitude towards
experimentation, trying out new ways to deal with issues and problems. Several
mechanisms can promote this. Some are suggested below.
1. Invite experts and experienced and creative practitioners to share their ideas and
experiences with selected members of the organization.
2. Encourage employees to try out new ways of dealing with problems, even if these
may not always succeed.
3. Reward new ways which are successful in solving a problem. the reward may be
related to the benefit. For example, if an innovation results in saving, about 10-15
per cent of the saving can be given as a reward.
4. Hold periodical meetings to share results of the experiments. Such meeting will
help in encouraging persons to know about innovation, create a climate of
experimentation, and show legitimate experimentation and flexibility.
5. Hold periodical meeting to share the objectives, design, and experiences of
innovations being tried out. The same purpose as suggested above in 4 is
accomplished.
6. Organize employee seminars on new developments. This educational measure
will help the member of an organization to become aware of new developments
in a particular field, and create a positive attitude towards experimentation.
employees may be encouraged to raise relevant questions and issues in such
seminars.
7. Set up an implementing and monitoring task group for the new
projects/experiments. The task group will have responsibility of educating the
members of the, organization with the purpose and progress of an experiment.
This mechanism may indicate the. seriousness of the organization in starting -an
experiment or a project.
8. Set up a task group to examine common elements between old practices and the
innovation, findings of such a task group may help the employees perceive, the
innovation as a useful evolutionary step, rather than supplanting all the old
practices.
9. Hold periodical reviews of experiences and share experiences. It serves the same
purpose of sharing the experiences widely, at all ,stages of introduction of
change.
10. Modify the plan of implementation, if needed. In a large and complex organization
60 adoption of an innovation may require some modification in the innovation to the
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organization. For example, an organization may decide to implement the
innovation first in one department, review the results, and then introduce it in
other departments. Another organization may like to introduce it in one region,
and modify it slightly for another region. A third organization may want to
introduce some parts of a new system first, and after these get internalized, may
move to introduce the other parts. Sharing the rationale, modus operandi, and
experiences of such modifications may create a climate experimentation rather
than of conformity to one accepted way of doing things.
11. Encourage preparation of alternative forms of implementation of a change. If
different groups have freedom to adapt a change to suit their own needs and
requirements, a general message of openness and experimentation is generated
in the organization,
(b) Mutually and teamwork
Organizational Learning requires mutual support, mutual respect, learning from one
another, collaborative work, and effective teams to solve problems. Without team
work OL can not be effective. In the concept of OL is team-based learning by a group
of persons to deal with problems, and their capacity as a group to sustain it for future
use. Several mechanisms involve promotion of team work and mutuality. We shall
mention below some of these . Those already discussed will only be mentioned
without comments.
1. Invite experts and experienced and creative practitioners to share their
experiences.
2. Share own experiences, concerns, ideas etc. with outside organizations. When a
change is introduced in an organization, different organizations have different
experiences: Mutuality can be enhanced if the organizations concerned, build
mutual trust and openly share their experiences (happy and unhappy) : further
plans, concerns, problems, and how they overcame the problems.
3. Hold periodical meeting to share results of experiments.
4. Hold periodical meeting to share ongoing experiments.
5. Organize employee seminars on new developments.
6. Set up an implementing and monitoring task group for the new
projects/experiments.
7 Set up a task group to examine common elements between old practice and the
innovation.
8 Hold periodical review meeting chaired by top/senior management. Such
meetings not only enhance the importance of the innovation, but also produce
collaborative relationship between those responsible for implementing the
change and the top management. The top management will both understand
the. process of implementation as well as contribute to this process.
9. Set up a task group on critiquing the innovation,, based on data collected on the
trials of the innovation. The task group will use experiences in looking at
different aspects of the innovation, and. increase collaborative arrangements.
10. Hold periodical reviews and share experiences.
11. Set up a task group for follow-up of the experiment. The task group will collect
experiences on various aspects of the implementation of the change: intended
and unintended consequences of the innovation, factors contributing to the
speed of implementation (both organizational and innovation - related), further
competencies needed to stabilize the change, adaptations needed in the
innovation etc.
12. Hold widespread debate on experiences of the implementation. This may
legitimize open and uninhibited participation of members of an organization in
understanding, analyzing, and adapting the innovation to suit the'.orgat1ization.
(c) Contingency and incremental planning
OL is enhanced by an attitude of learning, rather than by an' attitude of certitude, The
planning process can vary on this continuum, with certitude and rigidity on the one end,
and tentativeness and flexibility on the other. A blueprint type of planning represents the
first end of the continuum (reflecting the assumptions that the planners know fully all the 61
dimensions, that the same planning is equally relevant to all parts of the organization, that
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a fool-proof plan can be prepared and should not require any change). An incremental
model of planning represents the other end of the continuum, based on the assumptions
that a plan can be prepared with the known variables, that these may undergo change
requiring some change in the plan, that a better plan should use the learning and should
therefore be an evolutionary and developmental phenomenon, that different parts of the
organizational may require some variations of the plan. The incremental approach is
more learning based. This approach promotes organization learning. The following OL
mechanisms both reflect this approach of planning, and are likely to strengthen it.
1. Prepare a detailed plan reflecting contingency approach. PERT is a good example
of detailed contingency planning. Time-bound commitments may be prepared,
with contingency plans, indicating what alternative action will be taken if a
particular thing is not done or if an expected result fails. Contingency planning
will help the organization to think of possible difficulties and handicaps, and take
steps both to prevent these as well as take alternative action if they become
impediments.
2. Link the new proposed practices with the known ones. Learning of new. inputs is
faster if these are seen as related to some existing practices/ideas. The new then
does not produce a threat to most members of the organization. The new builds
on rather than supplants the old.
3. Maintain records of experience. Effective planning would require continuous
review, and learning from experiences. This may not be possible unless
experiences are properly recorded and analysed.
4. Hold periodical review meetings chaired by top\senior management. The
meetings are likely to produce ideas for better planning of the innovation.
5. Hold periodical reviews and share experience. Sharing of experiences produces
ideas which can be used in modifying parts of the plans being prepared.
6. Set up a task group on evaluation. The task group may prepare detailed reports
on the progress of an innovation, positive and negative effects in the
organization, conditions needed to make the innovation successful etc.
7. Hold widespread debate on experience of implementation.
8. Have realistic appraisal of the support needed for continued use of an innovation.
Planning is also concerned with reviewing a the stage of implementation of a
change, what resources need to be provided to ensure. effective internalization of
a change. These may be in terms of structural changes, competence building,
setting up of temporary systems etc.
9. Modify the plan of implementation, if required by the experience. This shows an
attitude of incremental planning.
10. Encourage preparation of alternative forms of implementation by different
groups in an organization. This may help to select more functional ones, and also
decide on several forms of a programme coexisting with one another.
(d) Use of temporary systems
Temporary systems are effective mechanisms to generate ideas and take quick
action. Some generate ideas and take quick action. Some examples of temporary
systems are task groups, task forces, special committees, project' groups, problem
identification teams etc. There are several advantages of temporary systems;
interfunctional, interdepartmental or interregional groups can be formed to have diverse
points of view, more persons get exposed to members of other
departments/regions/functions etc.; work is done faster because of time-bound nature of
a temporary ;system there is more objective view of a problem; more risks can be taken
because the members of a temporary system do not have vested interests; there is more
flexibility because these systems are not part of the organizational structure and can be
created and dissolved according to the needs. Effective use of temporary systems may
enhance OL. These' can be used at different stages of implementation of a change.
These have already been mentioned above. However, these are again listed below.
1. Set up and implementing and monitoring task group for the new.
2. Set up a task group to examine group to examine common elements between old
practices and the innovation.
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3. Hold periodical review meetings chaired by top/senior management.
4. Set up a task group for data-based critiquing of the innovation.
5. Set up a task on evaluation and reporting on plus and minus aspects.
6. Set up a task group for following up the experiment.
(e) Competency building
To make OL effective it is necessary to build resources which the organization can
use when needed. Building needed resources may ensure continuity of organizational
learning. Competencies are the primary resources. Competency building can be
achieved if training facilities are provided by an organization for both external and
internal programmes, members of the organization are exposed to new ideas and
experiences, opportunities are created for sharing of experiences and plans, and
existing competencies are effectively used by the organizations. Several mechanisms
relevant for competency building have already been mentioned. These and two new
ones are listed below.
1. Invite experts and experienced creative practitioners.
2. Encourage employees to attend external training programmes. This may be
done after examining the programmes which will be relevant, for the purpose
of the organization.
3. Hold periodical meetings to share results of experiments.
4. Hold periodical meetings to share ongoing experiments.
5. Organize employee seminars on new developments.
6. Utilize relevant existing skills are utilized, the more such competencies
develop. Unutilized competencies get atrophied and discourage people from
acquiring new competencies, as it is highly frustrating not be able to use one's
strengths.
Again look at your responses to the instrument. Add your ratings to find out the
organizational Learning Potential, for five mechanisms as follows: experimentation
(items 1, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11), playing (10, 12), temporary systems(9, 11), competency
building (1, 2, 6, 7, 8). These are sample items taken from Pareek (1980). In each
case find the mean. You will note that some items appear in more than one category.

16.4 FACILITATORS AND RETARDERS OF

ORGANIZATIONAL LEARNING
Several factors facilitate OL. Below are given 20 factors, the first 13 are suggested by
Cavaluzzo ( 1996 ), and the other 7 by Ramanarayan and Bhatnagar (1993).
1. Performance tension (gap between desired and actual performance)
2. Trust relationships
3. Leadership
4. Systems perspective
5. Multiple advocates
6. Learning confidence
7. Organizational curiosity
8. Appreciation for measurement
9. Learning resources
10. Appreciation of diversity
11. Scanning imperative
12. Shared vision
63
13. Learning enjoyment.
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14. Commitment to well – defined organizational priorities
15. Effective HRD systems
16. Mechanisms of collective thinking and reflection
17. Flexible and participative leadership styles
18. Collaboration and team work
19. External orientation for learning
20. Measuring devices for hitherto neglected aspects.
Some other factors, hindering organizational learning, suggested by Ramanarayan,
Bhatnagar are given below:
1. Frequent changes at the top, leading to loss of continuity and absence of long -
term orientation.
2. A culture of complacency arising from past successes: inadequate
efforts for improvement leading to the process of slow decline setting
in.
3. Excessively bureaucratic and, centralized methods of working leading to
delays in decision making, missed opportunities, and loss of energy and
enthusiasm at operating levels.
4. With a community of functional specialists having little appreciation of each
other's area, learning gets fragmented and this leads to functional myopia. the
tunnel vision of information sharing blocks learning.
5. Due to hierarchical organizations with strong command and control
orientation, roles of organizational members become too narrowly defined, and
as a result, they merely ensure implementation of decisions. Organizations lose
employees' ideas and inputs.
6. Due to preoccupation with day- to day firefighting, time and attention do not
get allocated to issues of change and innovation. As a result changes are not
backed up with visible support and energetic action.

16.5 SOURCES OF LEARNING

Individuals, groups and organization's learn from several sources. These are listed
below; the list is suggestive rather than exhaustive. the listed sources do not require
any explanation.
1. Action
2. Reflection and Review
3. Introspection
4. Books, Journals, Newspapers, Magazines
5. Failures (Self and Others)
6. Styles of Seniors
7. Performance Appraisals
8. Training
9. Task forces and special assignments
10. Meetings
11. Job rotation
12. Visits to other organizations
13. In company conference
14. Counselling sessions
64
15. OD interventions
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16. Consultants and their reports
17. Visitors

16.6 LEARNING ORGANIZATION

The concept of learning organization is a natural extension of organizational learning.
How can an organization continue to learn and can remain a learning organization? A
Learning Organization can be defined as one which promotes learning from internal
and external experiences and is capable of internal reframing of information and
processes to reposition itself for proaction in the changing context. A Learning
Organization's values learning, information flow, visioning and a holistic view,
strategic thinking and empowerment at all levels. Watkins and Marsick(1993),
presented a model of a learning organization reflecting common features of learning
organizations. The model depicts two interacting triangles, the lower one
representing the people in the organization, and the upper one representing the
organizational structure and culture. In the interacting space between the triangles is
the team, and the top beyond the organization is the global environment, with which
the organization needs to be connected. They have subsequently (Watkins and
Marsick, ' 1996) given 22 cases of learning organizations, 5 on changing the whole
systems, 7 focusing mainly on individual learning, 5 on. team and action learning,
and 5 on organizational restructuring. To summarize, they suggest that the learning
organizations:
1. Create continuous learning opportunities ( Individual)
2. Promote enquiry and dialogue (Individual)
3. Encourage collaboration and team learning (Team)
4. Establish systems to capture and share learning (Organization)
5. Empower people towards a collective vision (Organization)
6. Connect the organization to its environment (Global)
7. Use leaders who model and support being at the individual, team and
organizational levels.
16.7 PROCESSES OF LEARNING ORGANIZATION
Based on the survey of literature, and in - depth interviews with leaders of three
learning organizations, we suggest the following 8 characteristic of learning
organizations. Under each characteristics some of its main aspects are also
mentioned. This is a "bullet" list.
A. Holistic Frame: This includes systems thinking, mainly perceiving
interconnections and patterns amongst key variables. This includes the
following:
1. Connecting the organization to the environment
2. Seeing interconnection to the environment
3. Seeing patterns rather than discrete events
4. Seeing beyond the immediate and the present
5. Systematic problem solving
6. Working on the root cause rather than dealing with symptoms
7. Critical examination of one's theories or premises
8. Using boundary workers as scanners of the environment.
B. Strategic Thinking: This includes the following;
1. Preparing patterns of things to be done in an order
2. Thinking of consequences\implications of each action
3. Choosing the most important ones, key variables making the most impact,
prioritising 65
4. Willingness to close down unprofitable, irrelevant units\activities
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5. Reframing information at the strategic level
6. Differentiating roles of policy, strategy and operations
7. Providing support at individual, team and organizational levels
8. Sharing strategy at all levels, inviting comments and suggestions.
C. Shared Vision: This includes the following. Vision has been discussed in more
details elsewhere (Pareek,1997 pp. 423-5).
1. Developing vision through participation

2. Inspiring members by linking the vision with their personal goals

3. Creating an inspiring vision by the top

4. Communicating the vision

5. Committing people to the vision

6. Concretising the vision

7. Valuing creativity

8. Developing and using transformational leadership

D. Empowerment: Empowerment has been discussed in details earlier (Pareek,
1994 pp. 215-45)
1. Creating enabling structures
2. Decentralization and delegation
3. Providing proper direction
4. Trust
5. Widespread participation
6. Providing support when needed
7. More use of persuasive ( rather than coercive) power
8. Rewarding initiative and decisions.
E. Information Flow: This includes:
1. Sharing of authentic and critical information at all levels
2. Free flow of information
3. Willingness to pass on negative information
4. Minimum role of rumours
5. Opening formal channels of communication (in the absence of which outside
sources of information are used more )
6. Encouraging internal exchange of ideas
7. Monitoring
8. Formative account and control (use of information for action).
F. Internality : This includes a sense of control over most part of one's destiny,
self efficacy, clear goals, moderate risk taking. The main items are:
1. Clear goals
2. Commitment
3. Belief that one can influence events
4. Self-efficacy and competence
5. Taking responsibility ( self-monitoring)
66 6. Postponement of immediate gratification of own needs for a larger goal
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7. Bold, moderate, risk taking
8. Faith in people, that they are the critical competitive edge
G. Learning : includes several mechanisms and sources.
1. Valuing and encouraging self-development
2. learning from outside
3. Interdisciplinary functioning
4. Creating conducive climate for learning
5. Encouraging and practicing "appreciative enquiry"
6. Encouraging and using dialogue and discussions
7. Openness
8. Rewarding flexibility
H. Synergy : including collaboration and team work
1. Empathy
2. Suspending own assumptions and thinking together
3. Accepting and making commitment to consensual decision.
4. Large use of dialogues and debates
5 Enough attention to the process - spending time on working through
differences, negative feelings etc.
6. Coordinated action
7. Consensus building
8. Using cross-functional teams

16.8 MEASURING LEARNING ORGANIZATIONAL

PROCESSES
Several instruments have been developed for organizational learning and learning
organizations. Organizational Learning Diagnostics ( Pareek, 1988 ) measures key
OL mechanisms at three phases of change in an organization. DiBella (1997) has
developed Organization Learning Inventory (OLI). Adapting his mode, Learning
Advantage measures learning orientations and facilitating factors for OL (Cavaluzzo,
1996). Ramanarayan (1996) has developed Organization Learning Climate
Questionnaire. Deshpande and Pendse (undated) have prepared two questionnaires a
25-item questionnaire on the five aspects of Learning Organizations suggested by
Senge (1990),and another 44-item questionnarie on four aspects suggested by Garvin
( 1993 ) : Systematic problem solving, experimentation, learning from past
experience and others, and transferring knowledge. Guns ( 1996 ) has prepared FLO
Foundations, an instrument on faster learning organizations suggested above, Pareek
has developed a 64-item instrument, LOP survey (Learning Organization Processes
Survey). 'Half the items in the survey are stated in positive, and half in negative form.
Now go back to the instrument to which you responded in the beginning of this unit.
Reverse your ratings on items 14, 16, beginning of this unit. Reverse your ratings on
items 14, 16, 17, 20, 22, 23, 26, 28 (1 becomes 5, 2 becomes 4, 4 becomes 2, 5
becomes 1 and 3 remains 3 ). Your can rating on the eight Learning Organisation.
Processes stated above by adding your ratings on two items. These items have been
.taken from Pareek's LOP Survey. The ratings will range from 2 to 10. Use reversed
values while rating.

LOP Process Items

1. Holistic frame 13, 14

2. Strategic thrust 15, 16
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3. Shared vision 17*, 18
4. Empowerment 19, 20*
5. Information flow 21, 22*
6. Internality 23*, 24
7. Learning 25, 26*
8. Synergy 27, 28*
* Ratings to be reversed

16.9 BUILDING LEARNING ORGANIZATION

Organizational learning can be promoted by a conducive climate, transformational
leadership and empowerment. Correlation of OLD scores with climate variables
suggest that climate and ethos are very important in the implementation phase, that
trust and Extension climate play very positive role and Dependency climate is
detrimental to OL ( Pareek, 1997, pp. 479 - 80 )
Organizations need to develop action guidelines or policies to facilitates the
process of OL. Focusing on the following concerns has been helpful to some
organizations as they develop the policies:
1. Enhancing functional autonomy with accountability The policies should
promote autonomy (within defined limits) of a subsystem (For example, a
department or unit) and emphasize accountability for the tasks that the
subsystem agrees to undertake. Without functional autonomy a system cannot
be innovative.

2. Availability of support and resources Implementing change requires

resources, and accountability is possible when needed resources are
provided. Providing resources also shows an interest in the employees and
the system and indicates high expectations for them.

3. Competency building Organizational policies should promote and upgrade

competencies needed for the objectives of the organization.

4. Networking Various subsystems involved in a particular area of work need

to learn from one another, and they can collaborate in many areas. The
development of a network of experts, groups, and organizations enhances
learning. Organizational policies need to promote such networking.

16.10 SUMMARY
The objective of this unit was to explain the concept, processes, mechanisms and
various other aspects of organizational learning and then the learning organization.
This unit systematically explains the concept and process of organizational learning,
the various mechanisms, and facilitators and retarders of organizational learning. The
unit further explains in detail the concept and processes of learning organization and
also more importantly measuring learning organizational processes. Towards the end
the unit explains you how to build learning organization.

16.11 SELF-ASSESSMENT QUESTIONS

• What is the concept of organizational learning, explain the mechanism?

• Identify and discuss the facilitaters and retarders of organizational

learning with suitable examples.

68 • What is learning organization, explain the process?

 ignoumbasupport.blogspot.in Process of Learning Organizations
16.12 FURTHER READINGS AND REFERENCES
1. Chris Argyris' Organizational Learning: A Theory of Action Perspective
(Addison-Wesley,1978) discusses the concept of double loop learning in
organizations. The discussion on organizational learning processes and
mechanisms have been borrowed from Pareek (1997). Ramanarayan .&
Bhatnagar (1993) discuss facilitators and retarders of OL.
2. The basic books for Learning Organizations are by Garratt (1990), Senge
(1990), Senge et al. (1994), Watkins & Marsick (1993, 1996). Shukta is the
only book published in India; it contains good examples from Indian
organisation
3. The following bibliography and references also contain useful material for
further reading.
Argyris, C. (1977). Double loop learning in organizations. Harvard Business Review,
55(5)
Argyris, C. (1990). Overcoming organizational defense. New York: Doubleday.
Argyris, C. and D. Schon (1978 ). Organizational learning: A theory of action
perspective. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
Carlson, B.P. & J.B. Martin (1976), R&D organizations as learning systems. Sloan
Management Review, 17 (3), 1-15
Cavaluzzo, L. (1996). Enhancing team performance, Health Forum Journal, 5, 59-
61.
Cohen, M. and L. Sproull (Ed.) (1991). Organizational Learning (Special Issue).
Organization Science, 2 (1)
Deshpande, M. and U. Pendse (undated). Organization learning questionnaires.
Personal Communications,
Dixon, N. (1994). The Organizational Learning Cycle; How we can learn
collectively.. London: McGraw-Hill.
DiBella, A.J. (1996). Organizational. Learning Inventory. Natick, MA: Organization
Transitions.
DiBella, A:J.; E.C. Nevis & J.M. Gould (1996). Understanding organizational
learning . Capability. Journal of Management Studies, 33(3), 361-379.
Etheredge, L.S. (1983). Government learning. NY: Pergamon Press.
Fiol, C.M. & M.A. Lyles (1985). Organizational learning. Academy of Management
Review, 10 (4), 803 - 813.
Garratt, Bob (1987). The learning organization. London: Fontana.
Garratt, Bob (1990): Creating a Learning Organization: A Guide to Leadership,
Learning and Development. Cambridge: Director Books.
Garvin, D.A. (1993). Building a learning organization Harvard Business Review, (4),
78-91.
Guns, Bob (1996) The faster learning organization: Gain and sustain the competitive
edge. San Diego: Pfeiffer & Co,
Huber, G. (1991)'. Organizational learning: The contributing piocesses and, literature.
Organization .Science, 2, 88-115.
Inkpeh,-A.C.& M.M. Crossan (1995). Believing is Seeing: Joint Ventures and
Organizational Learning. Tournat of Management Studies, 32 (5), 595-617. ,
Kolb, D. (1979). On Management of the Learning Process. In D.L. Rubin and F.
McIntyre (Eds.) Organizational: Psychology: A Book of Readings. Laxington;
Prentice-Hall.
Levitt. B & J.G. March (1988). Organization Learning. Annual Review of Sociology,
14, 319-340.
Lipshitz, R.; M. Proper & S.oz (1996). Building Learning Organizations: The Design
and Implementation of Organizational Learning Mechanism. Journal of
Applied Behavioral Science, 32 (3), 292-305. 69
Organisational Dynamics ignoumbasupport.blogspot.in
McGill, M.E.; J.W. Slocum & D.D. Lei, (1992). Management Practices in Learning
Organizations. Organizational Dynamics, 22(2), 5-17.
Marquardt, M. & A. Reynolds (1994). The Global Learning Organization: Gaining
Competitive Advantage Through Continuous. Burr Ridge, Il.: Irwin.
Nevis, E.C.; A.J. DiBella & J.M. Gould (1995). Understanding Organizations as
Learning Systems. Sloan Management Review, 36 (2), 73-85.
Pareek, U (1988). Organizational Learning Diagnostics (OLD). In J.W. Preiffer (Ed.)
The 1988 annual: Developing Human Resources. San Diego: University
Associates.
Pareek, U. (1994). Beyond Management (2nd Edition). New Delhi: Oxford & IBH.
Pareek, U.(1997). Training Instruments for Human Resource Development. New
Delhi: Tata McGraw-Hill.
Pedler, M.; J. Burgoyne & T. Boydell (1991). The Learning Company: A
Strategy for Sustainable Development. London: Mc-Graw Hill
Ramnarayan, S. & J. Bhatnagar (1993). How do Indian Organizations Meet
Learning Challenges? Vikalpa, 18 (l), 39-48.
Ramanarayan, S ( 1996). OLC Questionnaire: Coping with Change. In D.S.
Sarupriya, T.V. Rao and P. Sethumadhavan (Measuring Organizational
Climate (pp. 253-257). Ahmedabad: Academy of Human Resource
Development.
Redding, J. & R.F. Catanello. (1994). Strategic Readiness: The Making of the
Learning Organization. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Schein, E. (1993). On Dialogue, Culture and Organizational Learning.
Organizational Dynamics, 22 (2), 40-51.
Schein, E.H. (1993) How can Organizations Lean Faster? The Challenge of
Entering the Green Room. Sloan Management Review,. 34 (2), 85-93.
Shukla,. Madhukar (1997) Competing Through Knowledge: Building a
Learning Organisation. New Delhi : Response Books (Sage).
Senge, P.M. (1990) The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the
Learning Organization. New York: Doubleday.
Senge, P., C. Roberts, R. Ross, B, Smith & A. Kleiner (19("). The Fifth
Discipline Fieldwork. New York: Doubleday.
Stata, R. (1989). Organizational Learning: They Key to Management
Innovation. Sloan Management Review, 30(3).
Torbert, W. (1973). Learning from Experience. New York: Columbia.
Watkins, K.E. & V.J. Marsick (1993). Sculpting the Learning Organization San
Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Watkins, K. & V. Marsick (1996) (Eds.) Creating the Learning Organization.
Alexandria, Va: ASTD.
Wick, C.L. Leon (1993). The Learning Edge: How Smart Managers and Smart
Companies Stay Ahead. New York: McGraw-Hill.

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UNIT 17 CROSS CULTURAL DYNAMICS

All people are the same. It's only their habits that are so different.
Confucius
Objectives
After going through this unit, you should be able to:
• understand what is culture
• appreciate the dimensions of culture
• examine the competitive advantage of culture.
Structure

17.1 Concept of Culture

17.2 Key Dimensions of Culture
17.3 Underlying Cultural Assumptions
17.4 Converging Cultures
17.5 Culture as a source of Competitive Advantage/Disadvantage
17.6 When Culture Clash
17.7 Recognizing Culture
17.8 Discovering Cultural Advantage
17.9 Summary
17.10 Self-Assessment Questions
17.11 Further Readings/References

17.1 CONCEPT OF CULTURE

The term "culture' has been adopted from the Latin word cultura and in the broadest
sense `the result of human action'.

According to Hall (1959) culture is the pattern of taken-for-granted assumptions

about how a given collection of people should think, act, and feel as they go about
their daily affairs. Other definitions include:

− Common values

− Common beliefs

− Common attitudes

− Common Behaviour

− Common norms

− Heroes - Morals

− Symbols

− Customs - Rituals

− Ceremonies 5
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− Assumptions
− Perceptions
− Etiquette
− Patterns of ………

culture is simultaneously a product of human action as well as a determinant of future

human action, .a composite of meanings and associated traditions which define,
inform, and constitute the range of our understandings and investments'. Segall
(1986) suggests that culture is made up of research variables. Further, Poortinga, Van
de Vijer, Joe and van de Koppel (1987) argued that culture is merely a label, and that
empirical testing is an idea or judgement about an entire class of objects, people,
events and assumptions by uncovering the similarities as well as differences in
behaviours across culture can create problems.

The concept of culture has proved to be fuzzy concept of varying relevance to

various scientific projects (Freilich, 1989). Its definitions vary from the very
inclusiveness like "culture is the human - made part of the environment", to the
highly focussed "culture is a shared meaning system. Two important values which
distinguish people from one culture to another: (i) Core values are set-up during the
childhood socialization and is very difficult to change; and (ii) Peripherals values, set
up in later life and it is changeable. Peripheral values can be changed by
organizational socialization but not in the core values..

Hofstede (199.1) describes that culture as "Collective programming of the mind

which distinguishes the members of one group or category of people from another'.
There is a diffuse range of elements ' involved in cultural programming:

− Language - both verbal and non verbal

− Economics

− Religion

− Politics

− Social institutions; social strata or classes and family structure

− Values

− Attitude

− Manners

− Customs

− Material items

− Aesthetics

− Education
Bonthous (1994) suggests that there are two basic reasons for business failure - (i)
inadequate information regarding the business environment, and (ii) lack of
knowledge of foreign culture.

1.2 KEY DIMENSIONS OF CULTURE

Schneider and Barsoux (1997) discussed several key dimensions of culture that are
6 frequently used by the management scholars.
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Scheim Trompenaars
• Relationship with nature • Relationship with nature
• Human activity • Relationship with people
• Human nature • Universalism vs. particularism
• Time • Individualism vs. collectivism
• Truth and reality • Activity
• Diffuse vs. specific
• Achievement vs. ascription
• Relationship with time

Kluchkonl and Strodtbeck

• Relationship with time
• Human activity
• Human nature.
• Relationship with people
• Time

Adler Hall
• Human nature • Space: Personal/physical
• Relationship with nature • Time: Monoxhornic/
• Individualism/ Collectivism Polichronic
• Human activity (being/doing) • Language: High context Low
• Space (private/public) context
• Time (past/present/Future)

Hofstede
• Uncertainty avoidance
• Power distance
• Individualism/collectivism
• Masculinity/Femininity

1.3 UNDERLYING CULTURAL ASSUMPTIONS

Culture has been seen as a shared solution to. the problems of external and internal
integration (Schneider and Barsoux (1997). They also suggest that time, space and
language are related as linking assumption between these two. The following model
depicts their position.

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People are affected by the culture where he/she is born and where he/she lives. A
person of either middle class or high class family is usually taught the beliefs, values
and expected behaviours viz. are common to that family. The same is also applicable
in the context of organizational participants where people spend most of their
working life.

Schneider indicates that the relationship between corporate and national culture
influenced acceptance and implementation of human resource practices. Such
practices often is corporate career Planning, appraisal and compensation system and
selection and socialization. Adler (1991) in a study found that national culture has a
greater impact on employees than does their organizational culture. German
employees at an IBM facility in Munich would be more influenced by German
culture than by IBM's culture. Some Japanese management systems were supported
by American social scientists (Likert, 1991; and Likert, 1976) and continued for a
long time by American companies that Ouchi Called Type Z. Ouchi and Jaeger
(1976) found that Type `Z' is a successful American process being adopted of an
:organizational culture to the national culture.

There are seven primary characteristics that, in collectively, succeed in representing

the essence of an organizations's culture.
1. Innovation and risk taking- The degree to which employees are encouraged to
be innovative and take risks.
2. Attention to detail- The degree to which employees are expected to exhibit
precision, analysis, and take detail.
3. Outcome orientation- The degree to which management focuses on results or
outcomes rather on the techniques and process used to achieve these outcomes.
4. People's orientations- The degree to. which management decisions take into
consideration the effect of outcomes on people within the organization.
5. Team orientation- The degree to which work activities are organized around
teams rather than individuals,
8 6. Aggressiveness- The degree to which people are aggressive and competitive
rather than easygoing.
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7. Stability- The degree to which organizational activities emphasize maintaining
the status quo in. contrast to growth.
Each of the characteristics continue for a long time on a continuum from low to high.
These characteristics become the basis for a sense of apportion understanding that the
members have the organizational feelings, how things are done in the organization
and the way members are supported by each other.
Some other important characteristics are:
1. Culture is learnt- Individual beliefs, attitudes and values are learnt from the
individual environment. The internal environment is social and technical system
which helps decision making, planning and control procedures for recruitment,
selection and training and the behaviour of the members. Externally, the organization
is in a surrounding mass like social, political, legislative, economic and technological
system. These factors play a different role in the organization and make a new
learning environment.
2. Culture is historically based- The role of the founder is important and the
culture of the organization is influenced by the founder through their beliefs, values
and attitudes.
3. Culture as commonly held beliefs, attitudes and values- In addition to the beliefs,
attitudes and values are uniquely common to the work group, department, function or
unit, organization and to the society.
How Organizational culture Form:

Functions of Organizational culture

Some of the functions are discussed below:
1. Culture has a boundary - defining role, i.e., it makes distinguished one
organization from others.
2. It communicates a sense of quality for organizational members.
3. Culture promotes the generation of commitment to do something for the sake of
organization to a larger extent than one's individual self - interest.
4. Culture improves social system constancy. Culture is the adhesive, helps the
organization and the employees what they commit to do in the organization.
5. Culture can promote sense-making and control mechanism which in turn shapes
the attitudes and behaviour of the employees.
Culture identifies the principal goals, work methods and behaviour, how individuals
interact, address each other, how friendships and personal relationships are
conducted. It guides organizational memberships, how the boundaries are
maintained, who is an insider and who is an outsider etc.
Importance of culture to the organization
Culture facilitates organizational commitment and makes the consistency in the
behaviuor of the employees. Culture is valuable because it reduces ambiguity and
provides information on how things are done and what is important.
Recruitment and selection are related areas of management development, have an
impact on the organization's culture. Organizational socialization is an important
process by which "an individual is taught and learns what behaviour and perspective
are customary and desirable within the work setting as well as what ones are not"
(Van Mannen and Schein, 1979; pp.213-214). Leadership also plays an important
role in developing organizational culture. "Culture and leadership…. are two sides of 9
the same coin …..In fact, there is possibility
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under -emphasized in leadership research - that the only thing of real importance that
leaders do is create and manage culture" (Schein, 1985, p.2).

17.4 CONVERGING CULTURES?

Convergence myth 1: the world is getting smaller....
We are often told the world is getting smaller. Thanks to advantages in television,
telecommunications, and transportation we are en route towards what Marshall
McLuhan called the "global village". So by the year 2000, we would all look alike
and act alike wearing Levi jeans, Lacoste (alligator) shirts, Adidas running shoes, and
Swatch watches CNN on Samsung televisions, drinking Heineken, eating at
MacDonalds, and singing in karaoke bars. Yet this is a vision that few find appealing,
and many find appealing. And while it may be true that on the surface we appears to
be converging on our dress (jeans and T-shirt) and even eating habits (fast food), the
pull of culture runs deep, and cannot be easily detected.
Convergence myth #2: management is management
Belief in the convergence of management practice and the creation of a global
corporate are village is strongly held among many managers and management
scholars. Their core argument is that management is management, consisting of a set
of principles and techniques (like management by objectives) that can be universally
applied. Management is considered to be similar to engineering or science, and
therefore, transcends national boundaries. And yet even in science and engineering;
this assumption may be misplaced.
For example, while it may be true that civil engineers designing road systems have an
inherent logic with regard to speed and safety, this has not prevented them from
implementing different systems, even in ostensibly similar environments. Take the
simple problem of crossing roads. Depending on where you are in the world, there is
preference for simple stop signs, traffic lights, roundabouts (with priority to those
going on or those coming off), or an overpass. Each solution corresponds to a
different mind-set: either collective or individualistic, contractual or negotiated,
everyone's responsibility or no-one's.
Forces for and against convergence
Those who argue for the universality of management practice may concede that
management differs in Malaysia or Poland. This, they argue, is due to an economic or
technological lag. The assumption is that once those countries catch up, then it will
be business as usual. In fact, the pace of technological and economic development in
eastern Europe and southeast Asia has been quite impressive, and indeed bears
evidence of convergence.
Convergence is also encouraged through management education, which is being
exported wholesale to these regions. This training not only provides the tools and
techniques of finance, accounting, and marketing but also transmits a particular
business philosophy and ideology, such as notions of the free market, the divine
rights of shareholders, and the bottom line. Teaching the meaning of free enterprise
in the former Soviet Union carries with it a set of business norms, as shown in Figure
1:2, that may or may not be particularly relevant or useful in the local context.

17.5 CULTURE AS A SOURCE OF COMPETITIVE

ADVANTAGE/DISADVANTAGE
Rather than seeing culture as a problem to be solved, there is evidence that culture
can provide a source of competitive advantage. Michael Porter has argued that
nations derive competitive advantage from a set of country-level factors such as the
availability of resources, the size and sophistication of the market, the nature of
10 government intervention, and the type of strategic linkages or networks. For example,
he attributes the success of
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the shoe industry in a particular region in northern Italy to the network of
relationships between suppliers, manufactures, and distributors. The strategic link
between business and university research centers is credited with the development of
insulin in Denmark. And Holland is the world's export leader in the flower business
due to unique resources, such as top research institutes.
Many argue that it is these types of unique institutional arrangements that are
responsible for the success of "Japanese management". This 'model is considered
effective, not because of anything unique to Japanese culture, but because of the role
of government, the nature of ownership and methods of financing, the structure of
unions, and the linkages among Japanese business?
Nevertheless, culture, although difficult to separate out, is deeply embedded in the
institutional arrangements. For example, given the importance placed on the
collective or group, it is not surprising to find such linkages among business, or
between business and government which in more individualist countries would be
considered unjust collusion or undue interface. Similarly, in Japan the existence of
Keiretsu, the networks of tight relationships between customers and supplier, relies
on a high degree of mutual trust, which is rare in countries which place more value
on individual initiative and independence. Thus, culture and institutional
configurations work interactively to create potential competitive advantage or
disadvantage.
France's many industrial innovations (the TGV high speed train, the Minitel videotxt
system, the Airane space rocket, and the extensive nuclear power program) can be
attributed to the nature of the education system which places high value on
engineering and administration and the close relationship between state and industry.
These very features considered responsible for technological success, however, are
being challenged given a more competitive and international business environment as
potential impediments to commercial success.
Critics now say that this very system of education (which is heavily based on math
and science, focusing on abstract knowledge instead of concrete experience) is too
narrow. As a result, alumni of the grandes ecoles tend to be "too inflexible and
hierarchical", not taking initiative nor having the "communication, negotiation or
imaginative skills" thought necessary for "the fast-changing scenarios of modern
economic warfare".
In Denmark, the concern for the impact of culture on competitive advantage was
raised by the daily newspaper, Morgenavisen. It warned that the competitiveness of
Danish companies entering the common market could be constrained by the cultural
influence of Janteloven. Janteloven means that you are supposed to keep a low
profile and not to act superior to anyone else. (In Sweden, it is called "Royal Swedish
Envy"! They argued that, as a result, Danish companies would not be aggressive
enough in marketing' and in competing with their European rivals. '
When Jan Carizon took control of SAS, Janteloven did not help his efforts to create
an internationally competitive airline. First of all, his market-driven approach caused
a certain discomfort among Scandinavians: fancy cabin interiors and uniforms
designed by Pierre Cardin were considered too flashy, and the promotional activities
were considered excessive - overdone and expensive.
Furthermore, the focus on business clients was resented - why treat them specially?
The strategy of targeting the business customer did not stir well with Scandinavian
.sense of egalitarianism. In Norway, there is a sign above the SAS check-in counter
for business class which reads: "Euroclass -FULL PRICE", in other words, not
special treatment. This may have been designed to make the class distinction more
culturally acceptable.
The point of these example is to demonstrate that each country has its unique
institutional and cultural characteristics, which can provide sources of competitive
advantage. However what may have provided a source of competitive advantage in
the past can become an Achilles heel in the future. Managers therefore, need to
evaluate the extent to which national culture can interfere with their company's 11
efforts to respond to strategic requirements, now and in the future.
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17.6 WHEN CULTURE CLASH
There is no shortage of evidence of cross-cultural friction between business. In every
cross-border alliance there are seeds of potential cultural conflict and
misunderstanding. One survey conducted by a consulting firm in Europe has found
that "cultural differences are the biggest source of difficulty in integrating European
acquisitions". Another found that 35 percent of senior executives ranked cultural
differences as the number one problem in foreign acquisitions (compared with 20
percent who ranked unrealistic expectations, and 13 percent who attributed poor
management).
The problem is that this cultural malaise may go unrecognized. It may therefore be
some time before cultural differences are surfaced and diagnosed. In one Franco-
American joint venture the problem was only recognized after eight years of
collaboration. Called in to investigate problems .of cooperation, a French consultant
interviewing American managers was shocked at the litany of complaints aimed at
their French counterparts. Such complaints may seem trivial at first glance, but were
apparently rather important, as eight years of collaboration had not resolved them.
The blended realization that cultural problems were responsible for poor cooperation
alerts us to the need to anticipate potential misunderstanding. Failure to pay attention
to culture can, in fact, have disastrous consequences.
Consider the example of the shoe store in Leicester, England. Eager to attract
customers from the large local Muslim community, it advertised it footwear with the
saying in Arabic, "There is no God but Allah". A subsequent arson attack on the
store, with a car ramming through the front window, was claimed to be protest.
Although the, desire to attract the local Muslim market was well-intended the
implementation was ill-conceived due to lack of understanding that it was insulting to
associate the name of Allah with products (shoes) that were to be trampled in the dirt.
In another instance, an American oil company set up a drilling operation on a Pacific
island and hired local labour. Within a week, all the foreman were found lined up on
the floor, their throats cut. Only afterwards did they understand that hiring younger
men as foremen to boss older workers was not acceptable in a society where age
indicates status. Using their own cultural criteria for recruitment, they failed to
anticipate the deadly consequences.
While the reaction was far less dramatic, the next example demonstrates that subtle
differences can still have far-reaching impact. This was the case of an American firm
that purchased a textile machinery company near Birmingham, England, in the hope
of using it as a bridgehead into Europe. Shortly after the takeover, the US manager
set about tackling what he perceived to be a major production problem, the time lost
on tea-breaks:
In England, tea breaks can take a half-hour per man, as each worker brews his own
leaves to his particular taste and sips out of a large, pint size vessel with the
indulgence of a wine taster .... Management suggested to the union that perhaps it
could use its good offices to speed up the "sipping time": to ten minutes a break ....
The union agreed to try but failed……. Then one Monday morning, the workers
rioted. It seems the company went ahead and installed a tea-vending machine - just
put a paper cup under the spigot and out pours a standard brew. The pint-sized
container was replaced by a five-ounce one imprinted - as they are in America - with
morale building messages imploring grater dedication to the job and loyalty to the
company .... The plant never did get back into production. Even after the tea-brewing
machine was hauled out, workers boycotted the company and it finally closed down.
The reason behind the preceding disasters, is not only that behaviour, values, and
beliefs are different across cultures, but also that importance to those cultures should
not be underestimated. What people in one culture value or perceive as sacred
(seniority or tea) may be considered irrelevant in another culture. The trouble is that
it is difficult to recognize just what matters (and how much) to another culture -
especially when we find it so hard to recognize what is important in our own. The
complaints expressed by the American managers about their French joint-venture
partner tell as much, if not more, about what is important to the Americans.
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Whether engaging in strategic alliances, setting up operations abroad, or attracting
the local market, companies need to discover how culture can be harnessed to derive
business forward. Companies also need to analyze the potential for cultural clashes
that can undermine good intentions. Managers involved in these cross-border
adventures need to recognize the symptoms of cultural malaise and to find out what
is causing the irritation. To capture the potential benefits while limiting the potential
understanding, manners must be prepared to articulate how they see their own culture
and recognize how others may experience it. This, however, is not as easy as it
stands.

17.7 RECOGNIZING CULTURE

As we see us/as they see us
If you were asked to describe your own culture, what would you say? Describing
one's own culture is, in fact, not an easy task. It is a bit like asking a fish in water
what it is like to swim in the water. Washed up on the beach, the fish quickly
recognize the difference, but may not may able (nor inclined) to describe it. Its
immediate objective is to get back into the water.
We only begin to perceive our culture when we are out of it, confronted with another.
"I understand my country so much better"., said Samuel Johnson, the eighteenth
century British writer, "when I stand in someone else's". Or in the words of French
philosopher, Jean Baudrellard, "To open our' eyes to the absurdity of our own
customs is the charm and benefit of travel". Another way of exploring our own
behaviour and values is to introduce an outsider, someone from an alien culture who,
unfettered by preconceptions, could point out the absence of the Emperor's
newclothes. Such was the story of Gulliver's Travels by Swift or Voltaire's Candide,
outsiders or innocents who questioned what they observed.
Culture serves as a lens through which we perceive the other: Like the water
surrounding the fish, culture distorts how we see the world and how the world sees
us. Furthermore, we tend to use own culture as a reference point to evaluate the other.
For instance, as far as many continental Europeans are concerned the British do not
drive on the left side of the road; they drive on wrong side of the road.
It is easy when encountering differences to evaluate them according to what we take
as normal. This can give rise to a perceived hierarchy of civilization, whereby some
cultures are seen as only slightly less civilized than our own, while others are
considered primitive, as shown in Figure 1. For example, Chinese negotiators, among
themselves, often refer to their Western counterparts as "harmless barbarians".
Recognizing cultural differences is the necessary first step to anticipating potential
threats and opportunities for business encounters. But in order to go beyond
awareness and to create useful interaction, these differences need to be open for
discussion. One model known as the "Johari window" provides a way of discussing
and "negotiating" the different perspectives, as shown in Figure II.
The Johari window tries to shed light on what I know and do not know about myself
and what others know and do not about me. Through self-disclosure and feedback,
we can "become more aware of the potential blind spots in how we see ourselves and
how others see us that may interface with effective interaction. This technique,
popular in the 1960s era of sensitivity training in the United States, may be helpful in
making cultural differences discussable.
For example, an American tends to be rather direct and explicit when making a point.
Her Indian colleagues often try to advise her to be more subtle or diplomatic. This
characteristic of being direct is one, that both parties are aware of and which can
therefore be discussed and joked about. In other respects, she may be seen as
"typically American" in ways that she does not even suspect. To be told "That's so
American" can be quite disconcerning when she is not sure why, and tends to elicit a
defensive response.
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On the other hand, there are features of American culture which she knows but they
either do not know or may have misapprehended. This provides opportunities to learn
about the cultural riches of the other. Finally, despite the best intentions of both
parties, a business relationship can turn sour because of something cultural of which
neither side is aware.

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Thus they can discuss differences that are plain to see (obvious to both), and begin to
explore or shed some light on what she cannot see' (her blind spot), what they cannot
see (their blind spot), and try to imagine what it is that both cannot see (shared blind
spot).
Stereotypes: for better or for worse.
In trying to describe one's own culture, we often call up stereotypes that others have of
us. In fact, while we may find it difficult to describe ourselves, characterizing someone
else's culture seems relatively easy. Stereotyping comes naturally. However, many of
us have been brought up to think of stereotyping as bad - as ignorant and immoral - as
evidence of prejudice and bigotry, and far from being politically correct. Stereotypes
can indeed be wrong, based on misinformation, and harmful, used to discredit the
other. But they can also be used in a positive way to sort out what William James, a
prominent turn-of-the-century psychologist, referred to as the "buzzing confusion".
Stereotypes represent mental "files" that are used to process new information by
comparing it with past experience and knowledge. When we meet someone from the
United States, we are apt to think, "This is an American" (much to the consternation of
Canadians and South Americans). What is happening is that we are calling up the
mental file of our experience or knowledge of Americans. We then simplifies the
current reality, but is necessary given the uncertainty and ambiguity inherent in cross-
cultural encounters. However, although stereotypes may be necessary, they are far from
sufficient.
The problem with stereotypes is not their existence but the way they are used. For
example, if on meeting an American I assume that "all Americans are alike", then I
simply imposed my mental file, or stereotype, on the current reality cramming new data
into old boxes. New input is distorted to fit the file - a bit like the Procrustean bed,
wherein the visitor's arms and legs were cut off of stretched to fit. Or, this encounter
can serve as an opportunity to enrich the cultural file on Americans.
Research indicates that managers are ineffective in cross-cultural situations when they
either deny having stereotypes or get stuck in them. Managers rated most effective by
peers were those who admitted having stereotypes, using them as starting point but
continually revising them as gained more experienced. These managers were constantly
checking and rechecking, always updating the files against first hand information. They
were willing to question themselves and their stereotypes, to consciously unlearn and to
redefine their experiences. This requires careful observations, suspending judgement,
and looking for explanations - reasons that makes sense from the "native" perspective.
Getting beyond stereotypes
A famous American comic of the 1960s Lenny Bruce, would start his routines by using
every bad name for ethnic groups. Having shocked his audience, he would then say,
"now that I have attention, lets get down to business". The purpose of the above
discussion is to encourage managers to recognize and accept the existence of
stereotypes in order to consciously go beyond them. In your next business encounter
with Russians, the point is not to say, "let me tell you about my stereotypes of
Russians", but rather to call up the file and be ready to modify. Further more, you do
not have to become a Russian to do business with one. Consider the example in
reverse. Figure 1.5 shows an American journalist interviewing the farmer head of the
USSR, Gorbachev, on his views of opening up trade with the United States.
Gorbachev, based on his stereotype of Americans, has come prepared the point, then, is
not to act out the stereotype of the other, but rather top be aware of how the difference
may influence business interactions.
Cultural briefing are used with increasing frequency for managers; therefore, to parties
coming into an international negotiation are likely to have a rudimentary understanding
of each others business customs. This is a useful starting point. But unless each party
moves beyond that, one can imagine a rather bizarre scenario taking place; Japanese
managers showing up, slapping the backs of their American counterparts, and saying,
"call me kaz"; while the American managers look on bemused, bow their heads and
quietly introduced themselves as smith - desu, however unlikely the more we
understand each others cultures, the more important it will be to arrive at a shared way 15
of working together, rather than imposing our ways or adapting to theirs.
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17.8 DISCOVERING CULTURAL ADVANTAGE
The Johari window, described earlier can be used to stimulate awareness, first by
asking managers to describe their culture as they see it (as we see us),. then as others
see it (as they see us).
Describe your culture as you see it:
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
Describe your culture as others see it:
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
Often managers find that it is far more difficult to complete the first part of the
exercise than the second. They report difficulty in describing their own culture, and
have to rely on what others have said about their culture as a point of reference.
Those who find it less challenging tend to have had experience abroad. They
acknowledge that it is in confrontation with other cultures that they have to recognize
themselves.

Although recognizing the difficulty in describing one's own culture, managers are
surprised at how easy it is to describe other's culture. And although acknowledging
stereotypes, they are at the same time rejecting them. After all, business is business,
or we are all engineers, bankers Yet when asked to give tips to others about to
embark on business endeavour in their country the advice can be pretty specific.
Through this exercise, managers begin to recognize that what they expect and what
they take for granted in doing business may not be shared.

Furthermore, managers can be asked to indicate which aspects of their culture are
seen as a plus, which might be leveraged to achieve competitive advantage in
conducting business, and which may prove a hindrance. In this way managers can
begin to think through the implications of national culture for competitiveness.

For example, managers from a British travel business identified "being traditional" as
part of their (British) culture. They were then asked to work through how this could
get in the way of their success (with potential partners for example) or could be used
to enhance their success. This led to brain storming on how being traditional could be
used in a way to attract customers and to strengthen links with suppliers.

For example, being seen as traditional, this travel company could promote itself as
having been in the business for a long time, as being interested in establishing long-
term relationships with customers and suppliers, and as being reliable. They could
position themselves against some fly-by-night operations that you leave you stranded
on the other side of the world.

A similar challenge can confront an American consulting firm based in London.

When, for example, developing strategies to internationalize it needs to help its
British clients to recognize their company's strengths and weaknesses (including
cultural ones). At the same time, this consulting firm must question its own value-
aided (in terms of culture) to British client firm. What value-aided does their being an
16 American firm bring to British industry? In what ways could being an American
consultancy be viewed negatively by potential
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clients? In other words, what are the potential cultural competitive advantages and
disadvantages for the client as well as for themselves?
Again, our aim here is to alert managers to the potential risks, or missed
opportunities, of ignoring the impact of culture. In each interaction across cultures
there are cues which signal potentially powerful undercurrents which can either
undermine or propel our efforts. Very often our initial reactions and stereotypes of
others can provide important signals to help cultural differences. By allowing these
differences to be open to discussion we can achieve insights instead of accumulating
blind spots. Not only do we begin to appreciates the other person's culture, but we
begin to understand our own better. By being alert to these cues, we can then
anticipate the potential impact of culture, and consider alternative approaches to
management. But what is this thing called culture any way? The next chapter tackles
that question.
Dimensions of cultural differences as suggested by Hofstede
A well known Dutch researcher's discussion of worldwide difference across cultures
in the values of organizational employee behaviour have been focussed around the
pioneering study of Great Hofstede (1980s). In an extensive study involving 116,000
respondents (IBM) he found highly significant differences in the behaviour and
attitudes of employees from seventy countries can be thought of as varying along lust
four dimensions which Hofstede identified as individualism - collectivism, power
distance, uncertainty avoidance and masculinity Femininity.
(i) Power distance
Hofstede (1996) expressed that `inequality is a normal and desirable thing', which
means large power distance, to `inequality should be avoided as much as possible',
which means small power distance (p. 152).
(ii) Individualism and Collectivism
Hofstede (1996) states that `everybody for him or herself', which is called
individualism, and `people should remain attached to tight throughout life' which is
called collectivism (p. 152).
(iii) Uncertainty Avoidance
Hofstede (1980:b) states that `the extent to which society feels threatened by
uncertain and ambiguous situation providing career stability, establishing more
formal rules, not tolerating deviant idea and behaviour, and believing in absolute
truth and the attainment of expertise'.
(iv) Masculinity and Femininity
According to Hofstede (1996) "Social gender roles should be maximally different"
which is called masculinity, to "social gender roles should be maximally
overlapping" which is called Femininity. A large difference between gender roles
leads to a "tough" society; whereas, large overlap leads to a "tender" society.
Further, Hofstede (1996) suggested another dimension namely Long-term, vs. Short
term orientation.
(v) Long-term vs. Short-term orientation
According to Hofstede (1996), "Long-Term Orientation implies a stress on virtuous
living in this world, with thrift and persistence as key virtue. Short-Term orientation
goes together with a stress on finding the Truth with a capital T : Truth rather than
Virtue assures salvation" (P.152).
Some of the more important factors that affect the managerial behaviour are:
Personal values, manager's backgrounds, interpersonal skills and decision-making.
(a) Personal values
Personal values help the managers to take decision in the Organization. Personal
values help shape their (manager's) perception of a situation, exert influence upon the
managers to analyze or think alternatives to solve a problem. The flower's personal
values also exert influence upon the managers and the followers easily understand
how they accept authority 0 their power distance, their loyalty and commitment etc. 17
England, Dhingra and Agarwal
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(1974) inn a study found that North American and Japanese managers are apt to be
pragmatic and their personal values put emphasis on productivity, profitability and
achievement;' whereas Indian managers who tend to be less programmatic and
moralistic, lay emphasis on equity, fairness and the overall goodness of the work.
England and Lee (1974) in a study of managers in America, Japanese, Indian, and
Australian found that the four countries. Whitely and England (1980) in a study on
Personal Values Questionnaire with managers in the U.S.A., Japan, Korea, India and
Australia found that there are differences between countries in their judgements.
(b) Manager's Background
McClellands' (1961) study shows that U.S. managers come from all economic strata
such as - lower, middle, and upper classes. In Japan, those who passed their school
education from a prestigious school have much better chance of becoming top
managers.
There are some other factors such as - educational qualification, class, family
background that make a difference. In the U.S., managers come from all classes; in
Turkey, many of the top managers come from upper classes. In Poland, most of the
business leaders come from the lower middle class. In Chile, the landed aristocracy
are the managerial leaders. Time and family upbringing are also an important factors
in this regard. In India, the top boosts is all-in-all, exercising a directive leadership
style which every one has to follow. In contrast, the U.S. managers come from
different classes, are well-educated and have a liberal upbringing. They prefer
participatory decision-making and delegating of authority to solve any problem.
(c) Inter personal skill
Research studies reveal that the managers differ across cultures in their interpersonal
skills. Brass and Burger (1979) in a comprehensive study of managers in the U.S.A.,
Belgium, Britain, France, Germany, Austria, Iberia, India, Japan, Latin America and
Scandinavia found that : (i) Spanish and Portuguese managers were too concerned
with their subordinates' welfare. The German, Australian and French were less
interested, about their subordinates' welfare; (ii) Indian managers themselves were
most dependent on higher authority; whereas, German and Austrian managers were
very independent; (iii) Indian managers very much follow bureaucratic rules;
whereas, the Japanese managers were least concerned; (iv) Dutch manager were
cooperative with others; whereas, the French were least willing; and (v) U.S. and
Latin American managers emphasize much greater interpersonal
skill/communication, competence than other managers.
(d) Decision. Making
This explain how managers make their decisions that differs across culture. Heller
and Yuki (1969) in a study found that in Argentina, Chile; and Uruguay authority is
equated with quick decision-making acid emphasized on speed which is more
important to them than generating information or carefully analyzing the data.
Luthans, Hodgetis and Rosenkrantz (1988) found that the managers of U.S.A.,
Germany and Sweden prefer rationality in decision-making. Yates and. Lee (1995)
found that Chinese and several other east Asian groups (but not Japan) were more
confident than Americans and their decisions were correct. Wang and Heller (1993)
in a cross-cultural study compared decision-making of British and Cjhinese managers
participation and supervisor consultation for both the countries. Redford, Mann, Ohta
and Nakane (1993) found that there were also differences between Japanese and
Australian students in decision making.
(e) The influence of political context
In the 1970s and early 1980s, as far as the importance of political factors such as
(Marxist) socialism and capitalism are concerned, the main difference between public
and private ownership was in industrial organizations. Political factors whether of the
country or of the culture (organizational culture) is important as a variable for cross-
culture , study. Robbins (1987) suggests that there are three important political
factors/dimensions working from within such as (i) Complexity which referring to
the degree of differentiation in an organization. (ii) Formulization referring to the
degree of standardization in tasks, ranging from almost total absence of any rule to a
high degree of programming of what to do and how to do, (iii) Centralization
meaning the concentration of decision making, which can be concentrated at a single
point in the organization or widely dispersed.
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In a study on Chinese people, Laaksoner (1988) suggested that "Perhaps, taken as a
whole the changes after all only rubbed the surface of Chinese society, and the basic
structure, 'learning upon the old culture, has not been destroyed too much" (p.223).
Again he argued that most of the Chinese still live in the rural areas and a large
number of Chinese are untouched by the political changes. Maurice (1979) in a cross-
culture study between the hierarchical structure of matched pairs of firms from
France and the (then) Federal Republic of Germany on similar technological
advancement and political orientation observed that there were considerable
differences in salary between employees in the hierarchy. He explained these
differences in terms of cultural factor such as the education system and social
stratification. In another study Maurice, Sorge and Warner (1980) found that there
were differences within Great Britain, France, and Germany based on cultural
factors. According to Child (1981), external factors impose certain limits within
which organizations develop in harmony with the culture of country. Cultural
variable can moderate the effects of an existing political and economic systems as
well as organizational characteristics. According to IDE (Industrial Democracy in
Europe, 1981) group their results indicate that democracy in industries is influenced
by socio-political factors rather than by requirements of a technological or structural
nature. Finally, it may be noted that no effect was found in cultural values
(cooperation and equality in power) on the extent to which participation promotion
legislation existed in various countries. In other words, cultural values did not appear
to become manifest indirectly in laws and regulations. According to Kanungo and
Jaeger (1990) the political and legal environment also provides either facility or
inhibitory conditions for the successful operation of organizations. For example, the
stability of Government (local/regional/or national) creates business confidence.
Legal systems which provide protection from foreign competition and establish
specific labour mores and practices either promote or inhabit healthy organizations.
Political interference in the management often encountered are widely known to
contribute to organizational failure.
Tayeb (1988) conducted a literate survey, a national culture survey and a work
attitude survey and later, on proposed a casual model.
CONTINGENCY VARIABLES- Conditions for organization 666 Formalization,
Centralization, Communication
POLITICAL - ECONOMIC- Conditions. of markets, labour 66 control strategies,
rewards and punishment

CULTURAL VARIABLES.- Work related attitudes Formalization, power and

autonomy, delegation of authority, consultation, communication.
The basic assumption of the model Is that cultural variables appear as a result of
political and economic factors that change social characteristics.
From the above discussion, it may be said` that it is very difficult to conclude that
whether political factor play an important role or not in the cultural context and thus
it is a subject of controversy.
(f) The role of religion
Some religious values put emphasis on allowing event to develop in their own way.
For example the development of ,capitalism is a result of the Protestant ethic. Now-a-
days, the Japanese success is also a result of a religion based on the Confucian ethic
(Fry, 1991; Saha, 1991; Durlabhji, 1990; Coates, 1987). In the west, many business
leaders look for meaning and guidance for their lives from religious activities. For
example, Von Steenbergen, (1989) observed that in the San Farncisco Bay area most
small-scale businessmen accept and practice their inspiration from Eastern
philosophy and life style. Eastern philosophies and life styles emphasize: (i) simple
living (living on less, material simplicity); (ii) sharing with each other (mutual
support and cooperation); and (iii) service ,to community, self reliance and doing it
all with joy.
Fallon (1988) observed that a Chicago-based financial company in its 11 years
existence emphasized on religion and an ego-less team 'culture and the company had
19
a phenomenon growth rate.
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Madlin (1986) in a survey found that among 1,512 American business owners and
managers, nearly two-third considered themselves either religious or very religious.
Cushmir and Koberg (1988) in a survey found that in America the degree of religious
belief was deeper among the nonmanagerial employees than the managerial
employees. Carl Jung observed that religion is an important factor, playing a central
role in the psychological transformation of individuals life style (Coward; 1989).
Besides, religion and religious orientation play a great consequence in the life of
Indians. For example, Sinha (1977) reviewed more than 300 publications related to
industrial and organizational psychology and management in India. These articles
were published between 1971 and 1976. Though the topics were parallel in the west
but there was unique finding, in India in the context of leadership. In India leadership
is limited within religion, caste and class as compared to the west. Further he viewed
that in the case of Indian cooperatives, education and landholdings are important
antecedent factors of leadership than caste or religion.
There are several aims and objectives of cross-cultural study
(i) Cross-cultural study helps to understand the systematic co-variation between
cultural and behavioural variables
(ii) Cross-cultural study can also reveal the total range of the board variability and
every possible difference which exists in human social behaviour.
The Utility of Cross-Cultural Study are as follows
(i) The utility of cross-cultural 'study is to examine the psychological laws. It is
done to establish laws which are truly universal and which are modified by the
cultural variation. The cross-cultural studies give the both culture general and
culture specific. Intact, it is only within the context of similarities that one can
understand the differences '(Campbell, 1964).
(ii) Cultunits provide us the "natural quasi-experiment" by being higher or lower on
variables of a particular interest,
(iii) Culture constitutes different aspects of psychological functioning. The planning
can be less developed as a characteristics response. The planners are less.
employed to value planning to enjoy planning and to support one another
(Triandis,1980).

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Cultural Spheres of Influence in the Context of International Management
There are several spheres that can explore the influence on the basis of business
practice, These `cultural spheres of influence' act reciprocally on each other in
complex ways that limit the relevance of simple directions for doing business in any
particular country or. region. However, we may be able to identify and to estimate the
value of which dimensions as pertinent, regardless of which cultural sphere of
influence is performing or causes to perform an act. How relationships could be
tactfully controlled in a particular unit or department of that particular company, in
that part of the country or region.
In this sense, culture can be perceived in different ways in many places, such as
regional culture within nations (urban vs. rural, East vs. west), among groups of
nations (Nordic vs. Latin America), individual cultures (private vs. public). Basically,
the culture concept assumption depends on the beliefs and values of a manager that
he holds; the importance of rules, regulations, communication styles and the
informations available. Thus, it is necessary to analyze the culture that is relevant in
mergers and join ventures and also managers from different countries, industries and
companies which try to achieve a common goal for the benefit of these strategic
alliances. In this context, J. Santos proposed a model to explore multiple cultural
spheres of influence on management styles across whatever boundaries.
17.10 SUMMARY
The objective of this unit has been to explain and make you understand the meaning
of culture, various dimension which play crucial roles in inculcating culture and the
advantages and disadvantages of culture in the organizational situation. This unit has
brought out very well the dynamics of culture clash and convergence of culture.
Towards the end the unit has explained the cultural advantage at the organizational
level.
17.10 SELF-ASSESSMENT QUESTIONS
• Explain the concept of culture, and discuss the underlying assumptions.
• What is culture convergence, explain the dimensions which play crucial role in
culture?
• Enumerate the advantages and disadvantages of culture at the organizatinal
level, explain with example.
• What are the functions of organizational culture? Why is it so important for an
organization?
17.11 FURTHER READINGS/REFERENCES
Bateson, M.C. (1994). Peripheral Vision, New York, Harper Collins.
Deal T. & Kennedy A (1982). Corporate Cultures, The Rites of Rituals of Corporate
Life. Reading MA, Addison Wesley.
Ghoshals & Westney D.E. (ed.) (1993). Organization Theory and the Multinational
Corporation New York, St. Martins Press.
Hoslete, G. (1980). Culture's Consequence, London, Sage.
Kanter, R.M. (1991). Transcending Business Boundaries : 12,000 World Managers
View Change, Harvard Business Review, May-June.
Martin J (1992). Cultures in Organizations : Three Perspectives. New York : Oxford
Univ. Press.
Ratwi, I (1983). Thinking Internationally : A Comparison of How International
Executives Learn. International Studies of Management and Organization, XIII
(1-2).
Rotten, S. & Shentar, O. (1985). Clustering Countries on Attitudinal Dimensions : A
Review and Synthesis, Academic Management Review, 10(3).
Schneider, S.C. & Basoux, J.L. (1997). Managing Across Cultures, Paris, Prentice
Hall. 21
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UNIT 19: STRATEGIC ALLIANCES
AND COALITION
FORMATION
Objectives
After going through this unit, you should be able to:
• understand the meaning and scope of strategic alliances
• appreciate how strategic alliances evolve
• explain why is it important to study alliances and coalition formation
• examine how alliances work.
Structure
19.1 Nature and Forms of Alliances
19.2 Strategic Alliances in Developing Country Markets
19.3 Tenets of Strategic Alliances
19.4 Why Study Strategic Alliances
19.5 How Alliances Evolve
19.6 Making Strategic Alliances Work
19.7 A Road map of Emerging Market Alliances
19.8 Managing the Trade-Offs
19.9 Summary
19.10 Further Readings

19.1 _ NATURE AND FORMS OF ALLIANCES

• "In a truly happy and successful marriage, love blossoms only after you are
married for a while"
• "In any relationship, the power equation shifts over time"
Strategic alliances are cooperative arrangements between organizations belonging to
some country or different parts of the world or different ends of the supply chain.
These' alliances represent connection between otherwise independent organizations
that can take many forms and contain the potential for additional collaboration',
which are more than just the deal. They are mutual agreements to continue to get
together to avail of stream of opportunities.
Business alliances have come to be recognized, in the business world since the early
1970s as prominent tool to derive synergistic benefits, combat competitive threats,
access to latest technology, widen market base, strengthen financial position and
above all to achieve competitive edge on a sustainable basis. Alliances are a response
to uncertainty and provide comfort that the firm is taking action. They are a tool for
extending or reinforcing competitive advantage, but rarely a sustainable means for
creating it. The alliances open up possibilities that could not have existed for either
partner acting alone.
There are a variety of arrangements for joint developments and alliances. Some may
be very formalized inter-organizational relationships; at the other extreme there can
be very loose arrangements of cooperation between organizations, with no
shareholding or ownership involved'. The reasons why these different forms of
alliances might occur are
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varied, but they are likely to be conceived with the assets involved in the alliance. As Formation
such, the form of the alliance is likely to be influenced by asset management, asset
separability and asset appropriability.
Thus, alliances may take the form of networks opportunistic alliances, subcontracting
Iicenses and franshises, consortia, joint ventures and acquisitions and mergers. Joint
ventures are typically thought of arrangements where organizations remain
independent but set up a newly created organization jointly owned by the parents.
Consortia may well involve two or more organizations in a joint venture arrangement
and would typically be more focused on a particular venture or projects.

In joint ventures and consortia, the inter-organizational relationships are likely to be

formalised, in the form either of shareholding or agreements specifying asset sharing
and distribution of profits. In such form of alliances the assets involved need to be
jointly managed. However, the assets can be separated from the parent companies
without damaging knock-on effects in that company. For example, expertise can be
specifically used for the joint venture without its removal harming the parent
organization.

As against joint ventures and consortia, networks are arrangements whereby two or
more organizations work in collaboration whereby two or more organizations work in
collaboration without formal relationships, but through a mechanism of mutual
advantage and trust.'

More opportunistic alliances might also arise which are likely to be more focussed
around particular ventures or projects, but may not be formalized. Such kind of
alliances are more akin to market relationships, than to contractual relationships. In
such alliances, assets do not need joint management. Capital, expertise, know how
and so on can come together more informally. Further, assets can not be separated
easily from the firms involved, or without harm being done. For example, one partner
may provide access to distribution channels which are part of their operation as a
whole. Informal alliances are useful if the assets involved were split off into a
separate organization, there would be high risk of their being appropriated by another
party involved. This is particularly found in the case of the know-how and skills of
the different parties involved.

There may exist other arrangements in between the formal and informal ones, such as
franchising, licensing, subcontracting. In franchising, the franchiser hold specific
activities such as manufacturing, distribution or selling but the franchisee is
responsible for the brand name, marketing and probably training. In licensing, right
to manufacture a patented product is granted for a fee. In sub-contracting a company
chooses to subcontract particular services or part of a process to other companies.

In these intermediate arrangements, relations are contractual in nature but ownership

is not involved. Such arrangements are common in the cases where particular assets
can be separated from the parent organization to their advantages, for example, by
setting up distribution or manufacturing in a country in which it would find problem
in operation.

The concept of partnerships for profit and growth is nothing new. Businesses have
long been inclined to lean towards this form of organizational arrangement for
achieving cross-border growth. The traditional objectives were primarily driven by
mercantilism, either to seek captive markets in erstwhile colonies or to seek raw
material or other low cost factor inputs. Consequently, it is not surprising that most of
the first wave of alliances tended to have a dominant partner from a former colonial
power, with the other partner from the former colony being the conduit for the host
country market, or to serve as a cheap, reliable source of resources. The dominant
partner typically exercised management control and more often than not, flow of
communication and information was uni-directional. The dominant partner tended to
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investments in the partnership, and policies Were oriented towards satisfying the
home country shareholders. This arrangement did not create serious conflict of
interests at the time, partly because of previous historical ties, and* partly because of
the clearly understood teacher - disciple role of the partners.
The rationale for cross-border business partnerships, if anything, has become even
more compelling than ever before, given the following megatrends
• explain why
• Universalization of customer preferences and tastes
• Rapid dispersal and diffusion of technology and increasing rate of its
obsolescence
• Internationalization of financial markets
• The emergence of global competition
The implications of these developments are clear :-
• The markets are becoming ever so large for any single organization to service
efficiently
• The risks of technology dispersion and obsolescence make a sound case for
forming alliances
• The internationalization of financial markets facilitates listing by companies in
various bourses - this in turn creates the need for local partners to foster
investor confidence
• The emergence of global competition further fuels the need for alliances among
national companies
However, the driving force for alliances today is somewhat different from the first
wave of alliances. This is more for strategic considerations of achieving a sustainable
competitive .advantage,. than for straightforward reasons of market access or
resource mobilization. Moreover, the nature and scope of partnerships has expanded
for these very reasons, ranging from equity joint ventures to other hybrid forms such
as franchises to agreements covering specific activities in the value chain, such as
research and development, distribution, outsourcing, etc. The umbrella name for such
business arrangements is Strategic Alliances.

19.2 STRATEGIC ALLIANCES IN DEVELOPING

COUNTRY MARKETS
Companies in developing country markets can and do find strategic alliances
attractive. For those in a position of strength, such as the large business houses of
India or the Chaebols of Korea, it can be a powerful vehicle for growth, or a way to
leverage inherent strengths, such as a unique distribution network or a low cost
manufacturing base. For other local companies in these markets, this could be the
only viable alternative to survive in the home market which has opened up the
economy.
The house of Tatas, and Samsung of Korea provide good examples of the strong
companies in the developing country markets going the route of strategic alliances,
while Sanmar, which started as a small company in Tamil Nadu, is a good illustration
of a local company competing successfully with global companies by forming a
series of strategic alliances (Figure I and II ).
That there is a potential for gain in a strategic alliance for both partners is an
established fact, considering that it is, currently, an accepted choice, for mode of
entry into the Latin American, Asian and East European markets in as many as half
the number of instances. Some are successful. For example, Nintendo and JVC are
54 two Japanese companies which have alliances with Gradients, a leading Brazilian
Electronics company, to manufacture and/or market products under their own brands
 ignoumbasupport.blogspot.in Strategic Alliance and Coalition
as well as under the brand name Gradiente. The alliances have helped the Japanese Formation
companies to gain market penetration rapidly in what they obviously consider an
important market. The Brazilian company has acquired skills in manufacturing, and
has become a profitable company with a secure market: position.
Figure I and II show partial and selected list of partnerships for purposes of
illustration only.

Figure I

TATAS
Business Segment Partner
Computers IBM
Materials Ryerson

Source: Press reports SAMSUNG

Business Segment Partner
Consumer Electronics Sanyo
NEC
Corning

Semiconductors Texas Instruments

Multimedia Hewlett-Packard
GTE

(Note: Crosslicencing, technology, R & D agreements not shown)

Source: History of Samsung Electronics

Figure II

SANMAR

Business Segment Partner

Safety Valves Crosby
Control Valves Gulde

Source: Company reports

Alliances in India:
Tectonic changes in economic policy of the Government leading to opening up of the
domestic economy to outside world witnessed 'a flurry of alliances struck between
Indian companies and transnationals to seize the emerging opportunities in the
market place. As many as 4470 alliances of various forms between transnationals and
Indian companies were formed in India during the post liberalization period. It may
be noted from Table I that wave of joint ventures and alliances started blowing since
1991 when 285 alliances were forged. Number of alliances tended to increase in the
subsequent four years to touch an all time high figure of 1208 in 1995. Reasons for
increase in formation of joint ventures and alliances are many. Liberated from the
stranglehold of FERA, MRTP Act and the Industries Development and Regulation
Act, 1961, firms began to substitute their greenfield growth plans with merger and
alliance strategies so as to enter new business areas or to consolidate in existing lines.
Moreover, corporate restructuring has forced many organizations to reshuffle their
businesses and consolidate their chosen areas of operation keeping in view core
competencies so as to cope best with tomorrow.
Another facilitating factor for merger and alliance deals has been redefinition 55
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by the Board for Industrial and Finance Reconstruction (BIFR). According to
this, firms, which have eroded their net worth, no longer have to post net
losses for two successive years before they can be declared sick. This is
putting more firms than ever on the chopping block.
Table 1
Alliances in Post Liberalization Period

Year No. of Alliances

1991 285
1992 842
1993 858
1994 872
1995 1208
1996 524
Source: Business Today, October, 7-21, 1996.
Further, the legal hurdles to the mergers and alliances have been dismantled paving
the way for firms to hit. the takeover trail.
The wave of mergers and alliances which took place between 1977 and 1985 and
then in 1989-90 culminated in 1995. However, the difference is that in the last wave,
the game has been no longer dominated by a single player. Firms and businessmen,
small and large, low-profile and high profile. Indian and foreign ... are into mergers
and alliances.
It is interesting to observe that while the number of alliances in post liberalization
period has multiplied, number of divorces is also increasing in the business world,
creating apprehensions about the effectiveness of this tool to squeeze opportunities
and counteract competitive threats. The basic reason for this apprehension is the
mistaken belief of the management that alliances are designed for immortality. Top
executives devote more time to screen potential partners-in financial terms than to
managing the partnership in human terms. They tout the future benefits of the
alliance to their shareholders but do not help their managers create those benefits.
They worry more about controlling the relationship than about nurturing it. In short,
they fail to develop their company's collaborative advantage and thereby neglect a
key resource.3
Forming and managing alliances successfully are based on certain fundamental tenets
which are discussed below.

19.3 TENETS OF STRATEGIC ALLIANCES

Tenet of Maximization
Selfishness is the paradigm of the perfect joint venture. The alliance partners must
strive to maximize benefits to each other. Besides the immediate benefits to the firms
coming together, the arrangement offers the parties an option on the future, opening
new doors and unforeseen opportunities to both the partners. The longer both partners
can extract gains from their collaboration, the longer will the relationship last.
Conversely, JVS self-destruct when one partner gets more from it than the other.
Therefore, the starting point is to short list the benefits that one can expect from the
other.
Tenet of Flexibility
Another fundamental principle of alliance is that the conditions governing the
creation and the continuance of joint venture and other collaborative arrangements
change
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continuously in view of change in government policy, market conditions and Formation
corporate imperatives. These changes force the partners to review their own
objectives which, in turn, may rob the alliance of its raison de etre. At this stage, the
arrangement either has to be renegotiated under a fresh set of assumptions and
conditions or it must be disbanded. It will, therefore, be in fitness of things to look
upon their collaborative arrangement as essentially mortal enterprises, whose
existence should be reviewed and if necessary, renewed at intervals instead of being
assumed to be immortal.

However, no joint venture should start out with objectives common to both partners.
The JVs between Godrej Soaps and Proctor & Gamble for marketing and distributing
soaps and detergents and between Coca-cola and Parle Group for bottling and
distribution of soft drinks disintegrated precisely because the objectives of the
partners started overlapping.

It is, therefore, essential, to differentiate the gains of partners so that they strive to
maximize them. For example, Times watches and Titan industries obviously had their
eye on the same watch market when forming their JV. However, while Timex entered
the JV to leverage its partner's powerful distribution and retail chain, Titan's objective
was not marketshares, but protection against other rivals. As a result, both partners
both partners are focussing on getting their own objectives fulfilled, with the
harmony between the objectives ensuring that there is no collision of visions. Titan
industries even transferred its best selling - Aqura brand to the JV in order to make.it
worth. Timex continued the relationship so that the protection afforded by the
partnership was not withdrawn.

Tenet of Clarity

In order to ensure smooth functioning of joint venture, it is imperative to delineate

the roles and responsibilities of the partners. A crucial factor behind the smooth
functioning of Wipro-GE is the clear demarcation of responsibilities, based naturally
on the unique competencies of each. While technology and globalization are GE's
preserve, human resources, finance, corporate affairs and legal issues are those of
Wipro's. This role definition will also help the partners to gain synergistic benefits.
However, the role of the partners should be reviewed constantly in view of the
change in the comparative advantages each partner will derive over a period of time.

Tenet of Value Addition

The basic premise of an alliance is a pooling of complementary skills. As such, the

partners should strive to add value not only to the joint venture but also to each other
by complementing their resources. Indian companies entering JVs can use their
classic strengths - quick market access, distribution depth and knowledge of local
conditions - not as stand-alone skills, but as supporting elements to their transnational
partners' abilities.

Tenet of Autonomy

One of the basic requisites for the successful functioning of any alliance is its
autonomy, for the fact that only an autonomous organization can succeed in the
marketplace, delivering to the partners the benefits they seek.

Joint venture or any other form of alliance should not be an appendage or node of
either of the partners. This is why RPG's Goenka leaves the effective management of
his group's JVs to a management committee which meets at two-month intervals to
iron out all issues relating to the partnership and meets the CEO's to review
operations.

Further, the partners must have the freedom to exit from the alliance. For, only the
security that comes from the knowledge that it is bound to the relationship can give
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each partner the freedom to pursue its strategies without feeling trapped. This is why
Times and Titan frequently explore the possibility of breaking their JV, checking
whether either partner would be better of by going it alone.

Tenet of ownership

One of the reasons for the fall out of any form of alliance is ownership. At the time of
formation of alliance, when the partners are unsure about the commercial viability of
the alliance, they agree to settle for minority stakes. But as the venture succeeds,
establishing ownership control often becomes' an issue. For instance, the Indian
partner often wants an increased holding, for greater managerial control. Likewise,
the transnational partner may need 51 per cent so as to corner the major portion of the
gains of the venture. In view of these conflicting interests, the partners should meet
periodically and thwart out the issue amicably. Otherwise, the venture's possibility of
success will be killed.

Matching Tenet

At times, alliances collapse because one of the partners finds itself unable to finance
the JV's needs after its initial contribution to the equity. A JV continues to work if the
partners are investing their resources as per the agreement. JVs can fall apart due to
poorly planned financing.

For instance, Voltas had to pull out of its Joint Venture with Pepsi once it realized
that it was not possible for it to sustain the losses that Pepsi anticipatedf the venture
to ride in its bid to corner the soft drinks market.

It is, therefore, desirable for the partners to determine in advance the financial
requirements of the venture, pattern of funding the requirements and audit their
financing capacities. They should discuss issues threadbare so as to avoid any
misunderstanding in future.

19.4 WHY STUDY STRATEGIC ALLIANCES

While the rationale for strategic alliances appears to have been taken for granted, the
specific objectives underlying many a strategic alliance have obviously either not
been clearly understood by the partners, or the importance of cultural differences
among them have been overlooked. Some partners view an alliance as a temporary
solution to a problem such as access to a market or plugging a current resource gap.
Yet some others view a strategic alliance as an inevitable loss of control and waste
precious time and energy building silos of protection which defeat the very purpose
for which they entered into such an alliance in the first place. These are some of the
factors contributing to the business trauma of failed strategic alliances.

Especially in the Indian context, as a recent entrant in the mainstream of the global
economy, it is important for us to understand what makes for a successful strategic
alliance. Far too often, it is tempting to make the simplistic assumption that if
partners belong to the same cultural background, a strategic alliance will be
successful, with disastrous consequences.

A major Indian business house and another highly successful Indian trading
company, set up a joint venture with a leading Indian business group from Kenya, in
Indonesia. The local Indonesian partner also happened to be of Indian origin, a
.second generation immigrant. Their common initial cultural origins notwithstanding,
the collaboration broke up in less than six months I The same Indian business house,
set up yet another joint venture in Indonesia with an Indonesian partner not long
thereafter, to manufacture Viscose Staple Fiber, with technology and some equity
58 from an Austrian company. This venture has turned out to be highly successful, in
spite of differing cultural origins of the partners !
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Other factors, notably the popularity of alliances between companies in the emerging Formation
markets and global companies and the hype surrounding their inevitable success can
tend to underestimate their complexity. They are hard to achieve and often highly
unstable, when you consider that even alliances between companies from compatible
economic and cultural backgrounds have at times failed.
It is in this context important to understand that to make strategic alliances in
emerging markets work, both partners must overcome formidable differences if they
are to develop successful alliances. Failure to overcome these differences
expeditiously have resulted in many high profile joint ventures in Asia and Latin
America being dissolved, restructured, or in some instances, being bought out by one
of the partners.
Sources of Differences Between Alliance Partners
Al the outset, it is necessary to identify the sources of differences between partners as
well as other factors which affect strategic alliances, given the fact that the success of
an alliance is of strategic importance to both partners.
• Size : First, most global companies are considerably larger than their
potential emerging market partners, possess an abundance Of financial
resources, and have a broader range of skills. This makes it very difficult to
find, equal, complementary and compatible partnerships - a balance that is at
the heart of many a successful and enduring alliance. A research by Mckinsey
and Company, a leading firm of management consultants, concluded that
among alliances executed in India, the global partner typically has a sales
volume of around 30 times that of the local partner. Perhaps a case illustrates
the implications of size differentials starkly. A worldwide leader in the
consumer non-durables business, with global sales of several billion dollars and
a $ 70 million Indian company enjoyed a successful joint venture that trebled
its market share in four years and . became the third largest company in its
business in India. But then the global partner wanted to add capacity and make
India a regional supply source for Asia and Africa. The local partner's share of
the necessary additional investment, approximately $17 million, amounted to
almost a quarter of its annual turnover. When it declined to invest, the global
partner ended up buying out the venture.
• Ownership structure : In emerging markets, companies are usually either
state-owned, or family- owned or controlled. State-owned enterprises can lead
to frustrating negotiations for multinational partners because they have no
single decision maker; often, they have to seek approval from a range of
political constituencies. But on the other hand, a multinational partner can
equally frustrate a local partner whose business is family-owned if its country
manager has to seek approval for decisions from other senior managers, while
the patriarch or matriarch of the family business can make decisions
unilaterally.
• Objectives : The differences in ownership structure implies that the different
partners may have conflicting agendas. The family-owned business may be
more interested in ensuring a steady stream of dividends for shareholders than
in maximizing growth or short-term shareholder value,
• Culture : Cultural differences lead to different value systems for the potential
partners, which could have implications for leadership, motivation and
organization structure.
• Management styles : Cultural differences and differences in ownership
structure have implications leading to differences in management styles which
have a profound impact on the joint venture's performance.
Other Factors Affecting Alliances
Besides partner differences, there are ripples caused by environmental and 59
evolutionary
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changes in the emerging markets :

• Expansion of free trade zones : This ntrend promotes a regional approach to

business undermining national joint ventures. Many times, MNCs invest in
several states because of inter-state rivalry in attracting foreign direct
investment. In emerging markets, this results in subscale operations. The result
is, either closure of unviable units or rationalization.

• Consolidation of local companies : The forces of globalization and

deregulation have led rival local companies to consolidate which has resulted
in the same local company having joint ventures with two different
multinationals or vice versa.

• Errors of judgment : Many multinationals have overestimated their partner's

strength and now want to increase control.

• Growth of emerging markets : As emerging markets become more important,

there is an imperative for global companies to reevaluate their historic alliances
and considering how to either expand or break their relationships.

• Changing priorities of local partner : Many family-owned businesses and

seeking to restructure alliances in order to divest or improve performance. This
trend is increasingly evident in India, because of the growing sophistication of
the investor in the stock market.

19.5 HOW ALLIANCES EVOLVE

Formation of Strategic Alliances:
Relationships between organizations begin, grow and develop or fail in the manner
similar to relationships between people. Successful alliances normally pass through
four overlapping, phases, viz., courtship, engagement, discovery of differences and
developing mechanisms to bridge differences.
Courtship
Courtship is the first phase of any alliance. The two organisations meet, are attracted
and discover their compatibility. It is also an exploratory phase in which the partners
explore their alliance making options in the form of a marketing arrangement, a
technology transfer deal, a licensing arrangement, etc.
Alliances and partnerships are initially romantic in as much as their formation rests
largely on hopes and dreams. In fact, collaborative relationships draw energy largely
from the optimistic ambition of their creators. Risk of missing a rare opportunity also
motivates corporates to form a joint venture.
The initial romantic relations may go well if the process of choosing the partners is
based on the criteria of self-analysis, chemistry and compatibility.
Self-analysis gives confidence to and strengthens bonds of relations the partners
know themselves and their industry, they assess changing business milieu and the
executives of both the companies evaluate the potential partners.
At times, deals are. based on rapport between the two chief executives. The feelings
between them that clinch or negate a relationship transcend business to include
personal and social interests. Also, a good personal relationship between the
executives creates a good deal of image to be helpful in smooth sailing of the venture
in future.
Compatibility is the crux of the successful courtship. Compatibility should be in
terms of broad historical, philosophical and strategic considerations. Initial
relationship building between the partners helps in identifying common experiences,
60 values and
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principles, and hopes for the future which matter a lot for maintaining and Formation
strengthening relationship in future.

Engagement

During the second phase of alliance engagement the two companies draw up plans
and finalize the deal. At this stage, the top executives should institutionalize and
disclose to the stakeholders what starts as personal relationship, philosophical and
strategic compatibility, and shared vision of the two organizations and their chief
executives. This is necessary to get approval of the new tie by other people in the
companies and of other stakeholders.

At this stage, agreements between the partners should be made. These agreements
should consist of three major aspects, viz., specific venture to be taken, commitment
to deploy resources and continuing autonomy for all the partners. Alliance becomes
reality only when the organizations agree to set up a venture or project. This project
provides opportunity to the partners to work together and learn from each other and
provides basis for measuring performance.

There should be an agreement between the partners regarding the resources-financial

and human-to be committed by each partner in the venture. Such a commitment
reflects a willingness to connect the fates of the organizations. Issues like ownership
and management should also be settled so as to avoid any possibility of break out of
the alliance in future.

Specific agreement should also be made about the continuing independence for the
organization joining the alliance. So as to maintain and strengthen the relations, the
partners should preserve continuity in their product lines.

Discovery of Difference

As the alliance is underway and functionaries of both the organizations get involved
in its day-to-day functioning, top management may discover that the organizational
people have different perceptions about the alliance undermining the commitment
forged at the top. This could be because employees at different levels were less
visionary and cosmopolitan than top managers and less experienced in working with
people from different culture. Further, people in both organizations may not
experience the same attraction and rapport as the chief executives did.

Differences in organizational relationships such as who will be involved in decisions,

how quickly decisions are made, how much reporting and documentation are
expected; what authority comes with position and which functions work together,
emerge as the alliance begins to work. Numerous other logistical and operational
differences are also discovered to be hiding behind the assumed compatibility such as
different product development schedules, views of the sales process or technical
standards, etc.

The most common conflicts in relationships occur over money: Capital infusion,
transfer pricing, licensing fees, compensation levels and management remuneration.

The above problems tend to become complex with increasing areas of collaboration
which, if not, dealt with properly may lead to disintegration and departure.

Developing Mechanisms to bridge differences

Before the differences between the alliance partners and the employees of the
organizations go out of control, the top management should resolve them.
Comprehensive mechanisms relating to structures, processes and skills for bridging
organizational and interpersonal differences should be devised. Establishing multiple
ties at different levels helps in proper communication, integration and control. The 61
relationships should strive for strategic, tactical operational and cultural integration.
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Strategic integration can be achieved if top executives constantly interact among
themselves to evolve broad purpose and mission and objectives of the venture or
bring about changes therein, if required. Broader and more frequent exchange of
views among the top leaders will help the alliance companies moving in
complementary directions.

Tactical integration is equally important so that middle level managers meet together
to develop plans for specific projects or joint activities to identify organizational or
system changes that will link the companies better, or to transfer knowledge. Such
integration can be achieved through constitution of working groups which may meet
periodically to define specific ways of cooperating in each area.

Operational integration provides ways and means for the employees in the alliance
companies to carry out the day to day work to have timely access to the information,
resources or people they need to accomplish their tasks. The operation integration can
be achieved through participation of employees in each other's training programs.
This may help in developing a common vocabulary and product development
standards. Computer connections between two companies provide direct interchange
which quickens product development and delivery cycles.

Interpersonal integration is essential to build a strong foundation for creating future

value. This can be achieved through sharing of information among the organizational
people and holding conferences and workshops for executives and country managers
from both the organizations to suggest measured for business development, creative
excellence and international client management.

Cultural integration is necessary to ensure harmony. It is not enough to first ensure

that the two organizations have compatible cultures. For cultural congruence in case
of a transnational and an Indian company planning a joint venture cannot really
extend beyond some broad commonalties in terms of the degree of freedom offered
to people, the extent to which systems are present and corporate values.4 Cultural
integration can be achieved if managers from the two affiliated companies commit
themselves to teaching and learning. With this commitment, they demonstrate
interest and respect which help build the goodwill which is so useful in smoothing
ever cultural and organizational differences.

Above all, productive relationships and also the integration demand changes within
the partners. The partners should develop the culture of learning and borrowing ideas
from each other. This may be helpful in creating new roles for regional and country
managers as well as for the directors.
In order to expand the dimensions of collaborative ventures successfully, it is
inevitable to empower the managers and other executives engaged in decision
making to review and revise their companies' current procedures to make venture-
specific decisions.
However, the staff involved in alliance activities often need more knowledge and
skills. They require strategic and financial information and negotiating skills to work
effectively with one another.
Having seen the complexities of sustaining a successful and enduring alliance across
borders, it seems logical to develop an understanding of how alliances evolve, before
we can formulate some ideas on how to make them work.
When an industry is deregulated and national markets are opened up, the forces of
international competition are unleashed and domestic companies are typically faced
with choices of consolidating nationally to achieve scale economies or to seek global
partners with a view to seek new technologies and/or skills. As there are changes in
the regulatory environment, so too do the options available for multinational and
local companies. The implication of this is that alliance structures established under
one set of rules can quickly become obsolete under another. Pressure to restructure or
62
dissolve partnerships may ensue.
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Drawing on the concept of the product life cycle theory, it seems reasonable to Formation
suggest that alliances in emerging markets typically go through four evolutionary
stages : nascent, frenzied, turbulent and mature ( see Figure III ). The; transaction
cost theory helps to understand the nature of the alliances at each stage of its
evolution. In the Nascent stage, strict regulation and lack of market transparency
limit alliance activity to non-equity technology licensing and distribution
arrangements. This is because at this stage, the costs of internalization of the activity
through an equity joint venture is greater than an arms-length transaction such as a
license or a marketing tie-up. When the deregulation of an industry or a country gets
under way, it can create a Frenzy of alliance activity, as global companies seek to
gain access to a new market, influence government policy, or build a portfolio of
options, and local companies attempt to acquire world-class skills. Many alliances
formed in this stage are created to comply with local ownership provisions.

Further deregulation, and a multinational's growing familiarity with the local

environment lead next to a period of Turbulence. This is evidenced by the
restructuring or dissolution of alliances as alternatives become available. Foreign
partners can now decide to go it alone or increase their ownership stakes. As the
market for corporate control develops, merger and acquisition activity commenes.
When regulations unravel, the alliances which especially become fragile are the ones
which were motivated by regulation rather than by business economics. For example,
until 1992, India's Foreign Exchange Regulation Act prohibited non-indians from
holding a stake more than 40 % in any Indian company. Since liberalization, this
limit has been eliminated or raised to 51 % in most industries.. The consequence is
that existing shareholder are coming under strain as foreign partners attempt to
increase their holdings.

The risk of conflict deepens if a multinational launches a wholly owned subsidiary

that competes with its partly owned subsidiary. Questions then arise over where the
parent company will want to launch its new products and focus its investment. The
potential for trouble in a company such as RPG-Ricoh, which is a joint venture with
Ricoh of Japan, with a company such as Getetner Duplicators, which is now a wholly
owned subsidiary of Ricoh, should be obvious.

Eventually, as the emerging market stabilizes, the Mature stage is reached. At this
point, the environment starts to resemble developed markets, in which alliance
structures are driven by business logic.

19.5 MAKING STRATEGIC ALLIANCES WORK

These challenges do not mean that emerging market alliances should be avoided. But
they do raise the costs of failure and therefore increase the risks of failure. Before
entering these deals, therefore, prospective partners should ask three fundamental
questions:-

• Is an alliance really necessary, or would an outright acquisition, direct

investment, or contractual relationship suffice?

• How sustainable will an alliance be, given the partners' ambitions and
strengths?

• And how should the strategy and tactics, they adopt reflect the distinct
challenges of alliances between global and emerging market companies?
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Is An Alliance Really Necessary?

Given the differences between partners and the complexities of managing a
relationship, a reasonable (but rarely asked) question is: "Why are we forming an
alliance in the first place?" If the main benefit of an alliance would be inside
knowledge of customers, government, and suppliers, for example, the global
company should ask whether it might be possible instead to hire five or ten key
people who would bring this inside knowledge.
In China and India, acquisitions and direct investments by overseas companies have
64 increased, although alliances are still the main modus operandi foreign companies
use
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to enter the market. The proportion of wholly foreign-owned enterprises in China Formation
rose from less than 10 percent of incoming investment in 1991 to more than 30
percent in 1995. * In India, the figure grew from 5 percent in 1992 to 25 percent in
1995. Many global companies have operated as wholly owned entities in Latin
America for decades.
Acquisitions can be equally effective for domestic companies in the emerging
markets. It is true that many domestic companies have responded to
globalization by looking to joint ventures or broad-based technology licensing
arrangements with international partners, particularly when they needed to
bridge a technology gap. But India's Piramal group, for example, has
expanded its pharmaceuticals business at a compound annual growth rate of
almost 60 percent since 1988, largely by acquiring other local pharma
companies that already have non-equity licensing arrangements with global
concerns.
Other emerging market companies are experimenting with "virtual" alliances-piecing
together the technology or abilities they seek without forming an alliance. One large
Indian textile manufacturer aspired to enter the clothing business, but lacked
manufacturing technology and marketing expertise. Rather than form an alliance, it
cobbled together what it needed by hiring experienced people, persuading the
equipment manufacturers to serve as technical consultants, and licensing certain
technologies. This approach seems to have been followed in the Indian ceramic Tile
Industry, when it was deregulated in 1985; previously this industry was reserved for
the small removing scale sector. Since embarking on the program four years ago, the
company has grown by 150 percent. Such a strategy would not suit all companies,
however; the learning and coordination of relationships it involves call for highly
developed skills and consume a great deal of management time.
These alternative approaches are especially relevant when technology is readily
available and global brands are not needed. Cheap, double-edged razor blades based
on a common technology continue to take 83 percent of the Indian market, for
example, despite the introduction of high-quality blades by Gillette in 1993.

Will the Alliance Last?

When an alliance is deemed necessary, both companies should assess at the outset
how the partnership will evolve - whether it is a marriage of equals that will endure,
or something else. Achieving an equal balance in an emerging market is particularly
challenging because of the differences in size, culture, skills, and objectives that were
mentioned in the earlier section. Such alliances are also vulnerable to rapid regulatory
change.

Two factors influence the sustainability and likely direction of an alliance: each
partner's aspirations-that is, the desire to control the venture-and relative
contributions. Aspirations can tip the balance. Does the global partner desire full
control in the long run? (If it does, the alliance is likely to wind up in acquisition or
dissolution.) Or does it want a permanent alliance in which the local partner provides
specific elements of the business system, as with Caterpillar's long-standing
relationships with its local distribution and service partners? Is the emerging market
player's focus on the home market, or does it harbor global ambitions? If it does, and
it wants to compete on its own against the multinational, conflict will be inevitable.

Ultimately, though, the evolution of an alliance will be driven by each partner's

strengths and weaknesses, and by the relative importance of its contribution.
Examples of valuable contributions might include privileged assets (ownership of
mining rights or oilfield reserves, for example); advantaged relationships such as
access to regulators, operating licenses, and exclusive distributor relationships; or
intangible assets such as brands, marketing, manufacturing, technology, management
expertise, and patents.
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* "Multinationals in China: Going it alone, " The Economist, April 19,, 1997.
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Usually, the global company contributes intangibles, such as technology, brands, and
skills, that grow in importance over time. The local partner's contributions, on the
other hand, are more likely to be local market knowledge, relationships with
regulators, distribution, and possibly manufacturing-assets that may fade in
importance as its partner becomes more knowledgeable about the market, or as
deregulation undermines (sometimes overnight) the value of privileged relationships
or licenses.
Manufacturing cost leadership can also be fleeting in a globalizing economy. If the
local partner essentially provides an "escort" service, it will almost certainly become
less important. A survey of Chinese joint ventures indicated that Chinese partners
systematically deliver less value than expected in terms of sales, distribution, and
local relationships.*
Given the fleeting nature of the importance of the relative contributions of the
partners, and the inherent potential for conflict arising from different aspirations of
the partners, it becomes obvious that for an alliance to be regarded as successful by
both partners, building a strong coalition between the partners has to be the
overriding and lasting aim of both partners. The coalition has to be further nurtured,
based on mutual trust and continued commitment to the success of the alliance, even
as specific objectives which determine success for each partner may evolve
differently overtime.
To assess whether an alliance will be a marriage for life and how it will evolve,
partners in emerging markets should catalog the current contributions of each partner,
plot how they are likely to shift (Figure IV), and negotiate to ensure that the venture
will be sustainable or to protect shareholders against a likely shift in power.

Figure IV

66 * Stephen M. haw and Johannes Meier, "Second generation 'MNCs in ,China, “The
McKinsey Quarterly, 1993 Number 4, pp. 3-16.
 ignoumbasupport.blogspot.in Strategic Alliance and Coalition
Figure V Formation

19.6 A ROAD MAP OF EMERGING MARKET

ALLIANCES
Emerging market alliances tend to evolve along one of four paths (Figure V). The
first is that trod by successful long-term alliances such as Samsung-Corning,
established in 1973 as a 50-50 joint venture to make CRT (cathode-ray tube) glass for
the Korean electronics market. Samsung needed a technology partner to pursue its
strategy of integrating vertically into electronics components and materials; Corning
wanted to expand in Asia. The joint venture had about 20 percent of the global
market, revenue of $695 million, and net income of $49 million in 1996, with
investments in Malaysia, India, China, and eastern Germany. Heineken and
Anheuser-Busch also have a number of successful alliances with brewers in emerging
markets, in which the local partner continues to produce and sell its local brand for
the mass market, while producing or importing and selling the global partner's brew
as a premium brand.

The second path involves a power shift toward the global partner, often followed by
a buyout. Take the case of two consumer goods companies that formed an alliance to
target the Indian toiletries market. At the outset, their contributions were balanced.
The global company brought international marketing experience, world-class
management systems, and additional volume to fill local manufacturing capacity. The
local company brought the technology to make soap from vegetable fat (the use of
animal tallow is banned in India), low-cost manufacturing, local market knowledge,
and established products and brands. The global company wanted access to an
enormous and potentially lucrative market; the Indian company aimed to increase its
capacity utilization and enhance management and marketing skills and systems.

Gradually, however, the balance of power shifted. The global partner succeeded in
getting an organization up and running and gained local acceptance for its product,
whereas the Indian company was prevented from filling its capacity by slower than 67
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expected sales. Moreover, the expected transfer of skills and systems to the Indian
partner never materialized, while its own brands, which had been transferred to the
joint venture, suffered. The alliance was dissolved by mutual consent in 1996.

The way an alliance is structured and managed can determine its outcome. In one 50-
50 joint venture, an emerging market company brought important relationships,
brands, and distribution skills that might have led to a sustainable alliance had the
venture been structured differently. But the global partner enhanced its own
bargaining position by placing its people in key positions in marketing,
manufacturing, and finance; introduced its own products and brands; built the
manufacturing plant; and imposed its systems and culture on day-to-day operations.
The venture reportedly lost money for several years until it was bought out by the
global partner, whereupon performance improved. Notwithstanding this outcome, the
emerging market partner may have rated the exercise a success, since it sold its 50
percent stake at a premium.

The third path sees a shift of power toward the emerging market partner. Local
partners do sometimes build their bargaining muscle, increase their ownership stake,
buy out their global partners, or exit the alliance to form other partnerships. Sindo-
Ricoh illustrates how a power shift toward a local partner can lead to the
restructuring and continued success of an alliance. Sindo has been Ricoh's exclusive
distributor in Korea since 1962. It built low-cost manufacturing capability, expanded
the relationship to a 50-50 joint venture, then took majority ownership with a 75
percent stake. In 1996, it boasted sales of $309 million and net income of $38
million.

The fourth path is competition between partners, followed by dissolution or

acquisition of the venture by one of them. A 50-50 joint venture between GM and
Daewoo to manufacture cars in Korea lost money until Daewoo acquired it outright.
The partners had incompatible strategies: GM wanted a low-cost source for a limited
range of small cars; Daewoo aspired to become a broad-line global auto
manufacturer. Conflict and collision often result when the partners fail to agree on
whether the joint venture or the parent companies will compete in related product
areas or in other countries.

Finally, although alliances are often likened to marriage, a successful alliance does
not have to last. Success is measured not the duration, but by whether objectives have
been met. Take the joint venture between GE and Apar to make light bulbs for the
Indian market. The arrangement was dissolved after only three years, yet GE
emerged from it a leader in the Indian lighting industry, and Apar was handsomely
remunerated.

Recognizing what path an alliance is following and how its balance of power is
shifting is critical to ensuring that both partners have the opportunity to satisfy their
objectives. Studies of strategic alliances in Asia and Latin America - and a growing
body of experience - documented in business literature - help to identify some
practical steps that companies can take to address the challenges of emerging market
alliances.

Alliance Strategies and Tactics for Companies in Emerging Markets

Companies in emerging markets must recognize that they may be vulnerable over the
lone term because of inherent power imbalances. Indeed, research studies conducted
on alliances in many emerging markets offer evidence to support the suggestion that
global partners are more likely to wind up with control when the balance of power
shifts. On the other hand, emerging market partners may possess sources of value that
cannot easily he replicated in the short term, such as customers, channel control, local
brands, control over key supply sources, manufacturing capacity, and relationships
with government officials and regulators. They should make the most of these
68 bargaining assets. Above all, they should invest to ensure that they last.
 ignoumbasupport.blogspot.in Strategic Alliance and Coalition
Before a company can develop a strategy to build power, it must set objectives for Formation
the alliance that reflect its aspirations and a hard-nosed assessment of its own
strengths. Is its goal one of becoming a world-class operator able to compete in some
areas with global companies on their own turf? Is it to develop a sustainable home-
market alliance based on an enduring source of strength? Or is the alliance a
defensive measure to protect the business against threats from global brands or
technology? And is it acceptable - or even inevitable - that the alliance will evolve
toward a sale?

When the aim is to develop a genuine alliance or build a platform for growth,
strategies to maximize power include:

• Invest today to build power for tomorrow. The most critical issue for local
companies is how to establish a sustainable source of value and thus maintain
the balance of power. There are a number of ways to do this:

• Develop your own brands: Recent experience suggests that local brands can
be more powerful than their owners tend to believe. In Brazil, electronics
producer Gradiente has laid the foundation for more balanced partnerships by
building name recognition and sales volume that match those of global brands.
Wenezuelan building products manufacturer entering a joint venture with a
global partner retained its own brands in several segments in which global
technology was not required, and where craftsmen trusted the local product.

• Control distribution: Distribution is an area in which emerging market

companies typically have initial advantages that can be extended to enhance
their bargaining power. One industrial equipment manufacturer in Latin
America increased its influence over distributors - and its clout with its global
partner by offering inventory management systems, financing, and extensive
technical support. Investing to keep the advantage is crucial. Rallis, an Indian
agrichemicals company, owns the country's leading nationwide agricultural
inputs distribution system and has distribution agreements with several global
chemical companies. But though it may command the dominant dealer
relationships today, new market entrants are beginning to go directly to the
farmer. If direct distribution should take hold, what will happen to Rallis's
power? Perhaps anticipating this, the company is itself experimenting with
direct distribution.

• Secure proprietary assets. Most industry value chains in emerging economies

have "chokehold" points - privileged assets in short supply. Locking these in
can establish a continuing source of value. Indian Hotels owns the best
properties near all the country's main tourist destinations, for example. And one
metals company in Brazil entered a long-term arrangement with a key supplier
for a crucial input that was in short supply.

• Preemptively acquire local competitors: Provided that these acquisitions

make sense in their own right, they can strengthen a local company's
negotiating hand by limiting the entry options for would-be players.

• Become a regional hub for your partner. Many multinationals have their
hands full exploring the larger emerging markets such as China and Brazil.
Few have the time and management capacity to concentrate on smaller but still
important economies such as Chile or Peru. Local partners can improve their
market position and their long-term stature in a partnership by becoming a
regional hub. One Indian engineering consumables company expanded its joint
venture with a European manufacturer to distribute products throughout Asia.
Similarly, a Colombian industrial concern acquired its counterpart in Peru and
is expanding in Venezuela, thereby not only increasing the contribution it
makes to its alliance with a European company but also strengthening its own
position by attaining economies of scale in regional distribution. 69
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• Think twice before allying with a global leader. Global market leaders
are often the most obvious partners because of their products, skills,
capital, and prestige. But they usually have global aspirations too, and
may well seek to tighten their control over any alliance they undertake in
order to optimize purchasing, pricing, product development,
manufacturing, and brand strategy. Autonomous ventures - or, worse
still ventures in which a local partner calls the shots - can be anathema to
truly global players. In the words of one chemical industry executive,
"How can we serve our global customers in the same way across 20 or
more countries when our partner operates the business? We can't even
assure our customers that they can buy the same products with the same
specifications from one country to the next."
Emerging market companies should ascertain whether a prospective partner is
pursuing a "global" strategy - same brands, centralized decision making, global
purchasing, unified R&D, consistent product portfolio and pricing - or a
"global/ local" strategy with, for instance, local and global brands, strong
country or regional managers, and regional product development.
Considering alternative partners is especially important if the leading global
players in an industry are inclined to swallow up local partners' stakes. A
pattern has emerged in the behavior of one global consumer goods company in
key emerging economies in Latin America and Asia. It enters a market by
allying with a leading local consumer goods company; introduces its own
brands, systems, and managers; becomes embroiled in conflict with its partner;
and finally buys out the venture. An analysis of joint ventures in India indicates
that majority control in 60 percent of Indo-American alliances lies with the US
partner, while Asian partners have control in only 10 percent of their ventures
with Indian companies. Europeans fall between these two extremes in their,
hunger for control.
• Consider less obvious partners. A smaller, non-global company may present
less of a long-term threat to a company from an emerging market. One Latin
American metals producer decided to form an alliance with a medium-sized
German firm rather than a world leader. The alliance has prospered for 20
years, with neither partner aspiring to take full control. YPF, Argentina's
privatized petroleum company, and Petrobras, Brazil's state-owned energy
company, have proposed a $750 million project for the joint development and
operation of a network of 1,500 gas stations, principally in southern Brazil,
over five years.
• An alliance with a global leader from a different industry is another
possibility. Telecom companies from emerging markets could consider allying
with information technology providers to build their capabilities, instead of
entering more predictable arrangements with global telecom service
companies.
Emerging market companies seldom consider taking a "financial" partner, yet
this may make sense if they can build the internal capabilities to compete over
the long term. Companies with attractive business propositions can win
funding from sources as diverse as private equity funds, offshore Chinese
holdings, and' industrial investors.
• Protect your future, by securing access to key intangible assets. Emerging
market companies should consider. locking in key assets such as brands,
technology, or distribution rights, for 10 to 2Q years if possible, rather than
risk losing them within a short period or being forced to renegotiate the
venture. They should also think how they, would survive termination of the
alliance. This risk is highest. when the local partner contributes physical assets
and capital that. rely on the intangible assets controlled by, its global partner.
70 One Andean Pact manufacturer of transport equipment would have faced the
loss of a, $200 million
 ignoumbasupport.blogspot.in Strategic Alliance and Coalition
business had its partner rescinded the license agreement on which their joint Formation
venture was based. It therefore insisted on a clause stipulating three years'
notice of termination. A less canny Latin American industrial company had to
consider a shotgun wedding with a new partner when its original partner quit
before it had internalized the skills to operate the business alone.
• Create world-class alliance capabilities. For multibusiness companies that
may form as many as 20 alliances across unrelated industries, it is better to
employ a few experts with well-honed negotiating skills than 20 gifted
amateurs. Mahindra & Mahindra, a leading Indian business house, has
designated a single senior executive to work with the leaders of each business
unit as they develop and manage their alliances to ensure that the lessons each
one learns are transferred to the rest of the company.
It assumed so far that emerging market partners do not wish to sell their share
of the business. In actuality, they frequently do. The problem is that potential
buyers can be unwilling to acquire joint ventures outright because of the
importance of local operating know-how and relationships, or because of
capital constraints. In this situation, a joint venture can be an effective step
toward a sale, but the negotiations should look more like an auction than a
typical alliance discussion. The local company should pursue simultaneous
discussions with several potential partners or buyers, each of which should be
asked to develop a proposal that includes an initial valuation for a controlling
shareholding, proposed dividend flow, and terms for ultimate sale.
Alliance Strategies and Tactics for Global Companies
Global companies, like local companies, need to adapt their alliance approaches to
succeed in emerging market alliances.
• Position early. Alcatel, VW, and AIG are leading operators in China today
partly because they were early entrants into the telecommunications,
automotive, and insurance industries, respectively. Procter & Gamble leads the
Chinese detergents market because it secured access to production assets
through majority ventures, then moved quickly to establish local sales and
distribution. Early entrants frequently have more opportunities to lock up the
most promising distribution channels, gain access to attractive production
assets, and invest to build the business before competition intensifies.
In many product categories in emerging markets, the desirable assets, brands,
and distribution systems are controlled by a handful of attractive partners. Once
they are spoken for, competitors may be locked out, especially if the cost of
setting up alternative distribution is prohibitive (as it is for many consumer
goods), and where adding capacity (in chemicals, for example) would create
overcapacty. India's health insurance market, which is about to be deregulated,
is a case in point. In effect, India has a single government insurer, one hospital
group with locations in various metropolitan areas, and no provider groups.
The partner options are limited, even for early birds.
• Shape the market. The "toe in the water" approach of seeding dozens of
growth options at low cost in many markets may seem appealing. In reality,
however, joint ventures established in this way often perish from a lack of time
or commitment. The global companies that do best in emerging market joint
ventures invest heavily and act to shape the market by introducing new
business approaches or products.

• Think broadly about your partner's capabilities and consider the overall
set of relationships that it can bring, not just the immediate joint venture
or licensing proposition. The flow of opportunities that local partners,
especially

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conglomerates, can contribute may exceed the value of the initial deal. When a
multinational wants access to local relationships, it may be wise to consider
companies outside its industry that could play an advisory or ambassadorial -
rather than operating - role. It is in this light that Camargo Correa, one of
Brazil's largest family-owned conglomerates, views its role in its long-standing
alliance with Alcoa. Camargo encompasses one of the country's leading
construction companies, and has widespread relationships with industry and
government at all levels. It is also involved in related industries such as the
development of power projects and infrastructure. Alcoa has the clear leading
role in their aluminum smelting joint venture, while Camargo has, over time,
assisted in negotiations with government authorities, built manufacturing
facilities, and provided capital.

As most emerging economies are still at the nascent stage, industry experience
may not be of lasting value in an alliance. Consider the case of a multinational
seeking to join forces with a local company to enter India's non-durable
consumer goods market. The key asset to acquire is distribution, but India's
distribution system is archaic and will probably change dramatically over the
next decade. The multinational could select the local market leader (and
perhaps thereby educate a future competitor), but a more interesting choice
might be a tobacco company, which is likely to have extensive retail
distribution systems in India.

• Identify the key decision makers and involve them early. This is especially
critical when dealing with a state enterprise. In China particularly, proposals to
establish joint ventures must often be approved by a dozen or more government
or quasi-government entities.

• Bring all your global capabilities to the table. Global companies have a
strong suite of technical skills, geographic presence, business units, and
systems, but rarely bring their full power to the negotiating table. The losers in
several recent joint venture negotiations in the Chinese automotive and
machine tool industries offered a solid but narrow manufacturing partnership;
the winners offered technology, local parts sourcing, and substantial capability
building. One Latin American state enterprise selected its partner because it
could provide technical expertise on the ground to improve the business.
Another Latin American company places as much weight on how potential
partners might help it secure growth opportunities as on the immediate
business they could do together.

• Recognize that 'a "51 percent or nothing" mindset will close off
opportunities. Having 51 percent ownership does not guarantee control.
Effective control has more to do with management structure, ownership of key
intangibles such as technology and relationships, and knowledge. In fact, a 49
or 50 percent stake can provide an opportunity to gain full control later, with
less risk and more flexibility.

In one emerging market joint venture, the global partner owns the brand,
controls the patented process technology, and is rapidly building its knowledge
of the local market - yet it has only a 50 percent stake because its local partner,
while recognizing that it needs an alliance in order to introduce new products,
is unwilling to sell the "family silver" by giving up 51 percent. The 50-50
venture has none the less proved attractive for the global partner, given that its
other options were to sink $200 million into a greenfield operation, form a
partnership with a second-tier player, or forget about entering the market. It
will, after all, have effective control over the most important business levers,
72 and be positioned as the logical buyer of the business should the partners fall
out or the family owners decide to sell.
 ignoumbasupport.blogspot.in Strategic Alliance and Coalition
It is often worth asking, "What do we really need to make sure we can protect Formation
our interests in a 50-50 deal?" The notion of control can be broken down into
rights to determine specific issues - capital expenditures, dividend policies,
production volumes, and human resources, for instance. Some multinationals
have found creative ways to address particular issues. One leading international
oil company signed a 50-50 joint venture in the Indian market after concluding
that a casting vote on capital expenditures was enough to protect its interests.
Another global company agreed to a 50-50 joint venture with the proviso that it
would have the right to build additional capacity if its partner vetoed expansion
by the joint venture.

• Beware of entering long-term licensing arrangements without

performance contracts. Many global companies have granted licenses
because they had no other way to enter a market, or because at the time the
market was negligible. In so doing, some have tied up the value of their
intangible assets without any exit mechanism or promise of fair value in return.
One US manufacturer granted a 20-year exclusive license covering several
large emerging markets to a single company in the region, with royalty fees set
as a percentage of revenues. When its partner underperformed and competitors
proliferated, it had little leverage to renegotiate the arrangement.

• Recognize that the aims of family owners may differ from those of public
companies. For one family owner of a profitable business, assuring an annual
dividend of $20 million was one of the key terms of its alliance agreement-far
more important than maximizing the value of each partner's contribution. Other
family owners may be concerned that their name will stay with the business
and that the deal should not be seen as a sale, even when they want to transfer
control. And there is usually some sensitivity about preserving operating roles
for qualified family members. Acknowledging these wishes may cost little, but
can be worth millions. It can make the difference between being the chosen
partner or one of the runners-up.

19.7 MANAGING THE TRADE-OFFS

The most crucial issue pertaining to strategic alliances is to decide as to what extent
the partners should accommodate the demands of an alliance. To decide this issue.
requires weighing the potential value of the relationship against the value of all other
company activities. Even if relationships have high value, and organization can
handle only so many before demands begin to conflict, and investment requirements
outweigh perceived benefits.

Since joint business ventures are generic examples of the opportunistic alliance, the
alliance is vulnerable to dissolution once one of the partners has gained experience
with competence of the other and the opportunity can now be pursued without the
partner.

At times, fundamental differences between the objectives of the two companies lead
to breakdown of alliance. For example, while the transnational seeks to integrate the
JV into its global strategy, the Indian organization prefers that the venture remains
rooted in the country so as to be responsive to local developments. Some times, the
transnational wishes to strengthen its ownership and control while the Indian
company has not intention of becoming subservient partner which led to the JV
between Royal Dutch Shell and NOCIL being terminated after 28 years.'

Changes in market conditions, policy framework and corporate imperatives may

force the alliance companies to review their objectives which, in turn, may bring
about change in particular relationship to the extent of its jeopardization.

In view of the above, effective management of alliance demands managers to respond

73
economic, political, cultural, organizational and human development and review and
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renew the relationships periodically. Inter company relationships are a key business
asset, and knowing how to nurture-them is an essential managerial skill.

19.8 SUMMARY
Emerging market alliances can create sustainable growth platforms for both' local and
global companies. But they pose different challenges from those faced by alliances in
mature markets, and are often less stable. Before getting caught up in the heat of
negotiations, companies should ensure they have a clear strategy and endgame in
mind. They should also determine not only how many chips prospective partners
bring to the deal, but how the value of those chips will evolve.

19.9 FURTHER READINGS REFERENCES

1. Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Collaborative Advantage. Harvard Business Review,
July-August, 1994 P-98.

2. H.B. Thorelli, `Networks: between markets and hierarchies', Strategy

Management Journal, Vol.7

3. Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Opcit P-96

4. Business Today, October 7-21, 1996 P-99

5. Bengamin, Gomes "Casseres, Group versus Group: How alliance Networks

Compete" Harvard Business Review, July - August, 1994.

6. Business Today, October 7-21, 1996 P.86

Strategic Alliances by Michael Y. Yoshino and U. Srinivasa Rangan, HBS Press,

1995

Corporate Encironmentalism in a Global Economy. Halina Szenwald Brown, Patrick

Derr, Ortwin Renn and Allen White, Quorum Books, 1993

Partnerships for Profit, Jordan D. Lowism Free Press, 1990.

"How to Make a Global Joint Venture Work " by Peter J Killing, HBR, May-June
1982, pp. 120-127.

"How to Control a Joint Venture Even as a Minority Partner" by Jean-Louis Schaan,

Journal of General Management, Vol. 14 No.1, Autumn 1988, pp. 4-16

"Learning Amount Joint Venture Sophisticated Firms" by M A Lyles, MIR Special

Issue, 1988, pp. 85-97.

"Competition for Competence and Inter-Partner Learning within International

Strategic Alliances" by Gary Hamel, Strategic Management Journal, Vol. 12,
1991, pp. 83-103.

"Joint Ventures: Theoretical and Empirical Perspectives" by Bruce Kogut, Strategic

Management Journal, Vol. 9, 1988, pp. 319-332.
"
Bargaining Power, Ownership, and Profitability of Transnational Corporations in
Developing Countries" by Donald Lecraw, Journal of International Business
Studies, Spring and Sumrnar, 1984, pp. 27-43.

"Knowledge, Bargaining Power; and the Instability of International Joint Ventures"

74 by Andrew C Inkpen, and Paul W Beamish, Academy of Management Review,
Vol. 22, No.1, 1997, pp.1997-202.