The study of organisational culture Hofstede: Hofstede developed 5 dimensions of culture operating within organisational culture:

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1 Informal Organisation: perceptions of the organisation -The unofficial and less visible part of the organisation -What the workers really think about the organisation? -What is portrayed to the public is not necessarily what goes on in the organisation Four Challenges for Managers Relating to Change: 1. Globalization 2. Technological innovation 3. Workplace diversity 4. Ethics and character The study of organisational culture Hofstede: Hofstede developed 5 dimensions of culture operating within organisational culture: Individualism vs. Collectivism: Power distance index: Uncertainty avoidance: Masculinity vs. Femininity: Long-term orientation vs. Shortterm orientation: -In individualistic societies the stress is put on personal achievements. People are expected to stand for themselves. -In collectivist societies, individuals act predominantly as members of a cohesive group or organisation -Power distance is the extent to which the less powerful members of an organisation accept that power is distributed unequally -People in cultures with high uncertainty avoidance try to minimise the occurrence of the unknown and unusual circumstances, and to proceed with careful step by step planning -Low uncertainty avoidance cultures accept and feel comfortable in unstructured or changeable environments, and try to have as few rules as possible -Masculine cultures have values of competitiveness, materialism, ambition -Feminine cultures place more value on relationships and quality of life -Long-term oriented cultures attach more importance to the future -In short-term orientated societies, values promoted are related to the past and present. Criticisms of Hofstede include: -Studies were conducted entirely within on firm (IBM). People in this type of job are relatively better off -It is possibly out dated Diversity: Forms of individual difference in relation to culture, gender, age, personality, religious affiliation, economic class, social class, sexual orientation, etc. Australian workplaces are trying to get away from a homogeneous group of people who are all the same. This is important for an organisation to be competitive in today s environment.

2 How diverse is the Australian Workforce: Around 45% of the workforce is female Around 25% of the workforce is from overseas Australia has become increasingly diverse in recent times Diversity benefits and problems: Benefits: Problems: -Attracts and retains the best talent -Improves marketing and PR efforts -Promotes creativity and innovation -Resistance to change -Communication problems -Interpersonal conflicts -Slower decision making Is discrimination really a problem? Discrimination does occur frequently in the workplace, however it is rarely reported There is a need to educate the workforce and have policies in place to protect people from being discriminated against Ethics: Ethics is all about what is right or wrong Should we do what we believe is good (ie based on our values) or do we do what is best for the organisation Theories of ethics: Consequential theories: Rule-based theories: Character theories: -Look at the consequences and choose the action that has the best consequences -Look at the rules and follow the rules (ie commandments, human right laws, etc) -People who develop strong positive character traits will tend to do the right thing, so paying attention to specific rules becomes unnecessary Examples of ethical dilemmas: -Employee rights such as surveillance and free speech -Sexual harassment and bullying -Organisational justice; how rewards are given out Corporate Social Responsibility: Is where it is the social responsibility of an organisation for the impacts of its decisions and business activities on society and the environment Organisations should contribute to the sustainable development, health and welfare of society, they

3 Attitudes: An attitude is a psychological tendency by evaluating an entity with some degree of favour or disfavor Two influences on attitude formation: Direct experience: Social learning: -Learning through experience deepens and strengthens attitudes -Acquired attitudes through observation Job Satisfaction: A pleasurable or positive emotional state resulting from the appraisal of one s job Job satisfaction is thought to lead to motivation and performance -Work in general is good for our health Six measurements for job satisfaction: 1. Pay 2. Hours of work 3. Future prospects (promotion and job security) 4. How hard or difficult the job is 5. Job content: interest, independence, etc 6. Interpersonal relationships (with co-workers and with management). This is extremely destructive to job satisfaction if not managed well A satisfying job is one with: -Skill variety -Task identity (how much of the product people make rather than a piece of it) -Task significance (how much the work is believed to influence the lives of others) -Autonomy (freedom to do the task) -Feedback (from employers and others) Job satisfaction = Commitment: Increasingly employers are seeking job commitment -Commitment is the relative strength of an individual s identification with and involvement with the organisation -Employees must believe and accept the values and goals of the organisation. Job satisfaction is important, because recruitment and restraining cost a lot of money. Further, if employees are not satisfied they may try to hurt the organisation in other ways (eg. Through theft, sabotage, etc)

4 Journal Articles: Inner work life : Key issues and concepts in article: The article explains that the person s inner work life is a crucial driver of a worker s performance. That is, having the highest intellect, access to good information, and using incentives will not always lead to improved job performance. Experiencing emotions, such as mild states of satisfaction or irritation, or feelings of pride and frustration can affect your work motivation which can ultimately have consequences for your job performance It is very hard to understand a person s inner work life through just observation. Instead it is easier to examine through day-to-day diaries along If people are happy and excited about the task they will put great effort behind it. If people feel highly valued they will be more motivated to accomplish a task. Team members rarely displayed their emotions or described their perceptions to the organisation or even other colleagues There is a strong link between performance and positive inner work life. That is, people perform better when their workday experiences include more positive emotions, stronger intrinsic motivation (passion for work), and more favourable perceptions of their work, team, leaders, and the organisation. -People are more creative when they are motivated primarily by the interest, enjoyment, satisfaction, and challenge of the work itself not by external pressures or rewards Many of the events that shape inner work life are caused, directly or indirectly by managers Managerial behaviours shouldn t just involve giving people daily pats on the back or making the workplace fun. Instead they should primarily enable people to move forward in their work and treat their workforce like human beings -People make more progress when managers clarify where the work is heading and why it matters -Good work progress without any recognition can engender anger and sadness. When managers recognize the good work that it is done, it gives boosts to inner work life. Why Emotional Intelligence Should Matter to Management : Leaders who are able to establish mutual trust, respect, and a certain warmth and rapport with members of their group will be more effective. Emotional intelligence is describes as the ability to monitor own and other s feeling and emotions. It involves knowing when and how to express emotions, as well as controlling emotions. The development of abilities such as being able to handle frustration, control emotions, and learning to get along with other people help determine one s success A threshold competence exists for any given position in which a minimal IQ is required to keep the job. However, it is usually EQ that determines the success of an individual in an organisation. People who were best at identifying others emotions were more successful in their work, and this is the key to relationship management at work Emotional intelligence usually develops with age, that is, it develops through life experience.

5 Journal Articles: Equity or Equality : Key issues and concepts in article: In eastern cultures, researchers believe that equality, not equity, is the main allocation norm of choice The equality allocation rule is based on the equal distribution of rewards to all members involved in the group performance, regardless of individual contributions -Outcomes are fixed and equal, and not directly related to individual inputs -There is a belief that an equal allocation of rewards is more likely to foster group harmony and loyalty, rather than an equitable distribution of rewards Overall it is stated that westerners prefer equity and easterners prefer equality Equity theory: individuals believe that, in a just distribution rewards will be allocated amongst themselves in proportion to their contributions -Major components of this theory include: Inputs: Outcomes: Choice of referent other: Motivation to reduce inequity: -Inputs are described as a person s perceptions of his contribution to the exchange -In individualistic cultures they include effort, education, experience, skill, seniority, etc -In collectivistic cultures they include loyalty, support, respect, adherence to group norms, etc -Outcomes are defines as an individual s receipts from the exchange -The assumption underlying western views of outcomes is that people will be unwilling to make relatively high inputs in an organisation unless they can look forward to high outcome levels -Typical individualistic outcomes include pay, autonomy, seniority, fringe benefits, etc -The choice of a referent other is based on the availability of information about the referent other, as well as hi/her relevance to the individual -The enduring social nature in groups severely limits association with members of an outer group -Individuals in strong homogeneous groups will make fewer individual or cross-group comparisons -Individualistic methods include: altering inputs or outcomes, altering comparison with referent other, leaving the field, distorting inputs or outcomes -Perception of inequity will cause tension which will motivate the individual to reduce the inequity -Workers attempt to bring the equity equation back into equilibrium Concern for others is the essence of the Eastern value system -Eastern cultures have a strong-other orientation, interdependence, and interest in other people -Primarily found in countries such as China, Taiwan, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, and Vietnam Hofestede; individualism and collectivism cultures -Cultures that endorse individualism, such as countries in North America and Western Europe, place a high value on autonomy, competitiveness, achievement, and self-sufficiency -Cultures that endorse collectivism, such as countries in Asia, place a high value on interpersonal harmony and group well-being