Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Chapter 1
In Search of A Paradigm Organizational Behavior is the study and application of knowledge about how people, individuals and groups act in organizations.
B = f(P,E)
Lewin's Equation It states that Behavior is a function of the Person and his or her Environment. The equation is the psychologist's most well known formula in social psychology, of which Lewin was a modern pioneer. When first presented in Lewin's book Principles of Topological Psychology, published in 1936, it contradicted most popular theories in that it gave importance to a person's momentary situation in understanding his or her behavior, rather than relying entirely on the past.
It follows that organizational environment is a key to influencing organizational behavior. The behavior of the people in an organizational life arises from the interaction between their inner motivational needs and characteristics (temperaments, intelligences, beliefs, perceptions) and characteristics of organizational environment.
Organization and its environment is a socially constructed reality. It is not tangible. Building is tangible, furniture and equipment, files and other artifacts that make up the physical entity that we often call school. But this is not the organization.
Organization exists largely in the eye and the mind of the beholder, it is in reality pretty much what people think it is.
Bureaucratic Views
Classical/traditional/ factory model of organization Epitomized by the 18th century army of Frederick the Great with its characteristically mechanical regimentation , top-down authority, going by the book. On this view an organization is though as an old fashioned clockwith all the various parts articulated so that everything works smoothly and predictably. Up to this day this is the most common ideal of an organization.
Bureaucratic Views
Five mechanisms for dealing with controlling and coordinating the behavior of people in an organization.
1. Maintain firm hierarchical control of authority and close supervision of those in the lower ranks. (role of administrator as an
inspector and evaluator)
(assure that good information will be transmitted up the hierarchy to the decision makers and orders will be clearly and quickly transmitted down the line for the implementation.)
Develop clear written rules and procedures to set standards and guide actions. (these includes curriculum guides, policy, handbooks,
instructions, standard forms, duty rosters, rules and regulations ad standard operating procedures)
Bureaucratic Views
4. Promulgate clear plans and schedules for participants to follow. (these includes teachers lesson plans, bell
schedules, meeting schedules, budgets, special teacher schedules, lunch schedules, and many others)
Add supervisory and administrative positions to the hierarchy of the organization as necessary to meet problems that arise from changing conditions confronted by the organization. (new positions appeared as the need arises)
The overwhelming widespread acceptance of these preferred mechanism for exercising control and coordination in schools is illustrated by the reform movement that burst upon the scene in the earl 1980s in America. The effectiveness of the school arose as the major theme in the agenda on education in 1980s to joined the linked duo that had been inherited from the 1970s
In 1982 a virtually unrelated reform movement suddenly erupted that seized the center stage and strongly influenced numerous efforts to improve the functioning of schools. In 1983 , A Nation at Risk and other reports brought recommendations that resulted in longer days, focus on time on task, more homework, career ladders, call for stronger school leadership of the principal, tougher curriculum, longer school calendar and others
Virtually all of the reform proposals have assumed a top-down strategy similar to this: that is, decision are made in the legislature or another place in the hierarchy, such as the state department, and handed down to be implemented by teachers in their classrooms.
Human Resources Development (HRD) views the teacher as foremost in creating instructional change. HRD uses newer concepts such as loose coupling (allowing subunits autonomy) and the power of organization culture to influence behavior. HRD exercises coordination and control through socialization of participants to the values and goals of the organization, rather then through written rules and close supervision.
Theory X rests on four assumptions that an administrator holds about people in organization.
They dislike work, must be supervised closely, will shirk responsibility and seek formal direction, and have a little ambition.
Theory Y embraces four different assumptions administrators hold about the nature of people at work.
They view work as satisfying, exercise initiative and self direction if committed to the organization, learn to accept responsibility and seek it, and have the ability to make good decisions.
Comparison of Assumptions underlying Chris Argyris Behavior Pattern A and Behavior Pattern B.
With Regard to Expectations 1. Sharing information with teachers 1. The overall quality of decision and involving them in school making and performance will decision making will help satisfy improve as administrators and their basic needs for belonging and teachers make use of the full range for individual recognition. of experience, insight, and creative 2. Satisfying these needs will improve ability that exists in their school. teacher morale and will reduce 2. Teachers will exercise responsible resistance to formal authority. self-direction and self-control the accomplishment of worthwhile objectives that they understand and have helped establish.
Rensis Likerts Management Systems Theory related to McGregors Theory X and Theory Y
Theory X
System 1
Management is seen as having no trust in subordinates. a. Decision imposed made at the top b. Subordinates motivated by fear, threats and punishment. c. Control centered on top management. d. Little superior-subordinate interaction e. People informally opposed to goal by management. Management has condescending confidence and trust in subordinates. a. Subordinate seldom involved in decision making. b. Rewards and punishment used to motivate c. Interaction used with condescension d. Fear and caution displayed by subordinates. e. Control centered on top management but some delegation
System 2
System 3
Management seen as having substantial but not complete trust in subordinates a. Subordinates makes specific decisions at lower level. b. Communication flows up and down hierarchy. c. Rewards, occasional punishment, and some involvement are used to motivate. d. Moderate interaction and fair trust exist. e. Control is delegated downward Management is seen as having complete trust and confidence in subordinates. a. Decision making is widely dispersed. b. Communication flows up and down and laterally. c. Motivation is by participation and rewards. d. High degree of confidence and trust exists. e. Widespread of responsibility for the control process exists.
Theory Y
System 4
Climate
Is generally defined as the characteristics of the total environment in a school building. According to the work of Renato Tagiuri the total environment of an organization, that is the organizational climate, are comprised by 4 dimension.
1. Ecology refers to physical and material factors in the organization: for example the
size, age, design, facilities, and condition of the building or buildings. It also refers to technology used by people in the organization: desks and chairs, chalkboards, elevators, everything used to carry out organizational activities.
2. Milieu is the social dimension in the organization. This includes virtually everything relating to people in the organization . This would include race and
ethnicity, salary level of teachers, socioeconomic level of students, education levels attained by teachers, the morale and motivation of adults and students, level of job satisfaction and others.
3. Social System refers to the organizational and administrative structure of the organization. It includes how
the school is organized, the ways in which decisions are made and who is involved in making them, the communication patterns among people, what work groups there are, etc.
4. Culture refers to the value, belief systems, norms, and ways of thinking that are characteristics of the people in the organization. It is the way we do things around
here.
School Climate
Ecology Physical/Material Factors Size of the Buildings Design of the Building Technology
Once a culture is established it is not only shapes peoples behavior, perception and understanding of events, it provides a template for learning. Culture exerts a profound impact on the induction and orientation of organizational members and on the way an organization responds to changes in its environment.
Schein describes the culture of a group as: A pattern of shared basic assumptions that the group learned as it solved its problems of external adaptation and internal integration, that has worked well enough to be considered valid and, therefore to be taught to new members as the correct way to perceive, think, and feel in relation to those problems.
Components of Culture
Scheins Model of Levels of Culture
Artifacts and Creations Technology/Art Visible and Audible behavior patterns
Basic Assumptions Relationship to environment Nature of reality, time and space Nature of human nature Nature of Human activity Nature of Human Relationships
Physical and social environment Includes the myths and stories about the organization, the architecture ,published lists of values, the norms of behavior, the technology, the style of dress, rituals, ceremonies, customs and languages
Most easily observed and readily visible but it is often difficult to interpret.
Organizational Values
Testable in the physical environment. Testable only by social consensus.
Less visible and very complex. Sometimes encoded in written language such as mission statement statement of philosophy, or credo.
Basic Assumptions
Relationship to Essence of culture environment Assumptions are Nature of reality, time and those unconscious space taken for granted Nature of human nature beliefs, Nature of Human activity perceptions, thoughts, Nature of Human underlying shared Relationships convictions that to environment. guide behavior and Nature of Relationship on time and space are the ultimate
Norms. An important way in which organizational culture influences behavior is through the norms or standards that the social system institutionalizes and enforces. These are encountered by the individual as group norms, which are ideas that can be put in the form of statement specifying what members . Should do. They are in other words , rules of behavior which have been accepted as legitimate by members of a group. They are of course, unwritten rules , that nonetheless express the shared beliefs of most group members about what behavior is appropriate in order to be a member in
Assumptions. Underneath these behavioral norms lie the assumptions that comprise the bedrock upon which norms and all other aspects of culture are built. These assumptions deal with what people in the organization accept as true in the world and what is false., what is sensible and what is absurd, what is possible and what is impossible. Assumptions are tacit instead, unconsciously taken for granted, rarely considered or talked about and accepted as true and nonnegotiable.
Theory Z by William Ouichi (1981) It was published at a moment when American corporate managers were groping for some solution to their difficulties in meeting Japanese competition. Ouichi a Japanese-American compared and contrasted the management styles used in the two nations. He found that Japanese management practices tended to be quite different from American and that some of them (not all, due to societal differences) could profitable be adopted by American corporations.
6. 7. 8.
A bias for action, active decision making getting on with it. Close to the customer learning from people served by the business. Autonomy and entrepreneurship fostering innovation and nurturing champions Productivity through people treating rank and file employees as a source of quality. Hands-on, value driven management philosophy that guides everyday practice management showing its commitment. Stick to the knitting stay with the business that you know. Simple form, lean staff some of the best companies have minimal HQ staff. Simultaneous loose-tight properties autonomy in shopfloor activities plus centralized values.
Do various organizational cultures produce different outcomes, in terms of effectiveness, in the organization achieving its goals? Measuring organizational effectiveness is a complex undertaking. Here you need to consider a lot of factors that is not sometimes quantifiable. So instead of measuring organizational effectiveness researcher focused for defining and describing the variables of organizational culture or in some cases cautiously suggesting a possible relationship.
1. Causal Variables
Under the control of administration choose the design of the organizations structure. can choose the leadership style choose a philosophy of operation
2. Intervening Variables
Flows directly from the causal variables. Thus the nature of motivation, communication, and other critical aspects of organizational functioning is determined.
The measure of an organization success, depends heavily, of course on the nature and quality of the internal functioning of the organization.
Helped to clarify what culture is: a system of shared values and beliefs that interact with an organizations people, organizational structure, and control systems to produce behavioral norms. They helped make clear that in practical terms, shared values means what is important; beliefs means what we think is true; and behavioral norms means how we do things around here
Steve Gruenert School leaders who want to address morale in their buildings must know the distinction between culture and climate
Rosabeth Moss Kanter findings: most high performing companies is found to have a culture of pride and a climate of success. Culture of pride means there is emotional and values commitment between person and organization ; people feel that they belong to a meaningful entity and can realize cherished values by their contributions. With this feeling of pride in belonging to a worthwhile organization with a record of achievement, of being a member rather than an employee, the confidence of an individual is bolstered : confidence that the organization will be supportive of creative new practices and will continue to perform well.
School climate is a term that has been used for many decades. Its early use denoted the ethos, or spirit, of an organization. More recently, school climate is thought to represent the attitude of an organization. The collective mood, or morale, of a group of people has become a topic of concern, especially in our new age of accountability. It seems that a happy teacher is considered a better teacher, and this attitude influences the quality of instruction.
If happy people truly perform better, then leaders must create conditions in which happiness thrives. Unfortunately, some leaders do not research the most effective strategies for creating a happy school climate, instead relying on extrinsic rewards. Bringing doughnuts to the faculty lounge on Fridays may help a few teachers wake up quicker, but this act will not affect the morale of the building.
Activities designed to address low morale by creating a more positive climate need to be scrutinized using the following criteria: How much of an investment of time, money, and energy is involved? How much time will elapse before the activity begins to make a difference? Is the activity designed to impact an individual or a group? Is the activity built around intrinsic or extrinsic rewards? What will the culture say about it?
The last criterion is significant because an organizations culture determines its climate.
Whenever a group of people spend a significant amount of time together, they develop a common set of expectations. These expectations evolve into unwritten rules to which group members conform in order to remain in good standing with their colleagues. Groups develop a common culture in order to pass on information to the next generation. That information, however, represents a set of beliefs that have been passed down by imperfect humans with personal preferences.
In schools, new teachers arrive with their own ideas about how to do their jobs. Through their schooling, they will have been immersed in theories of best practices and cutting-edge methodologies. If the culture of their first job does not embrace these new ideas, they will soon learn that to fit in they will need to assimilate. Because new teachers want to fit in and to feel like experienced teachers, they are vulnerable to the schools culture and all the unwritten rules that have been passed on through the decades.
An organizations culture dictates its collective personality. Continuing this analogy, if culture is the personality of the organization, then climate represents that organizations attitude. It is much easier to change an organizations attitude (climate) than it is to change its personality (culture).
The relationship between culture and climate can be observed through our perceptions of the days of the week. Typically in U.S. schools, Mondays are perceived as miserable and Fridays are thought of as fun. This viewpoint reflects the business models values and, thus, we learn that we are not supposed to want to come to school on Mondays. Teachers and students often talk about the weekend or the next holiday or vacation, often counting down the days. To come in on Monday morning, happy about being there and not looking forward to the weekend would challenge the existing climate. As a result, we can expect the climate to be less positive on Mondays than it
Placing a higher value on weekends is a particularly American phenomenon. There are many societies, or cultures, that do not place value on the day of the week. Cultures create the negative stigma of Monday mornings and we teach this preference to each generationit usually takes hold around the fourth or fifth grade for students. When the climate is negative, as is the case on most Monday mornings, it is the culture that dictates how members of the group are supposed to feel. The culture tells us that were supposed to feel miserable on Mondays.
Table 1 provides some examples of the differences between climate and culture and how culture influences climate.
CLIMATE Monday versus Friday permission to Attitude or mood of the group Provides a state of mind Flexible, easy to change Based on perceptions beliefs Feel it when you come in the door Is all around us The way we feel around here around First step to improvement Its in your head
CULTURE Gives Mondays be miserable Personality of the group Provides a (limited) way of thinking Takes many years to evolve Based on values and Members cannot feel it Is part of us The way we do things here Determines if improvement is possible Its in your head
Climate is the main leverage point for any culture, which means that if school leaders want to shape a new culture, they should start with an assessment of the climate.
If the culture is ineffective, there are probably climate issues that were missed before they became rooted in the culture. In the doughnut example, if the principal brings doughnuts to the teachers lounge on Friday, the climate might change that day. If the principal brings doughnuts every Friday for a year, that behavior will become part of the culture, an unwritten expectation. The first Friday the principal doesnt bring doughnuts, however, the climate might change that day. You can replace doughnuts with a smile, formal attire, tardiness, a walk around the building, or practically anything.
The two concepts are also related in that they are both conceptual. Everything around you, including what you see, hear, feel, and smell, are all artifacts of the culture. Reaction to each of these senses is influenced by the culture because culture taps into belief systems and helps to decide preferences, dislikes, who to trust, when to go home, what to wear, how fast to drive, and how to teach. The culture will provide you with information about customs and how you should react to certain situations.
How we behave in the light of student misfortunes is determined by the culture; conversely, how we reward student success must also fit within the social architecture of the group.
A holistic view of the statements in Table 1 reveals that changing the climate can be accomplished without much effort, suggesting that it is somewhat out of our control.
For example, events may transpire that will affect the attitude of teachers before they get to school. If happy teachers are better teachers, should we be concerned about what they are happy about? Or for that matter, what might make them sad? Would a teacher who won $10,000 from a lottery ticket on his or her way to work do a better job of teaching that day? Would a teacher who slipped on ice outside his or her home do a worse job of teaching that day?
The answer lies in what the culture expects them to do. Perhaps all that school leaders can do is attempt to create optimal conditions for staff and remain vigilant over those aspects that may sabotage their efforts.
Understanding the differences and similarities between culture and climate gives us a more precise instrument by which we might improve our schools. To implement a strategy designed to change our mood, or climate, is certainly not the same as one that targets our belief systems, or culture. Real school improvement has been boiled down by many authors as simply changing the way teachers teach. This will not be accomplished by bringing doughnuts to school.