Organizational Theory and Contemporary Ethical Issues in the Workplace
Organizational Theory and Contemporary Ethical Issues in the Workplace
PAD 3003 – Module 4
How does this week relate to PA?
Organizational behavioral theories provides perspectives on how to get the most production out of workers while achieving consistency.
These serves as the inspiration for management styles and structures that are applied in government and private organizations.
We will discuss Classical Theories, then Neo-Classical Theories, then Humanistic Theories, and Contemporary Theories. After all of that, we will have a special “Zoom guest” to discuss military culture in the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” era
Fredrick Taylor, Father of the Scientific Management Movement
Born into a wealthy family in Philadelphia in 1856.
1870: Traveled around Europe for 18 months after home school education; Went to Exeter Academy in 1872 (New Hampshire).
1874: Breezed through the Harvard entrance examinations with honors, yet waning eyesight led him away from law, which was the family business.
Taylor went in to machinery instead of law school.
1881: Won doubles tournament the U.S. Open.
Married in 1884; Adopted three orphans
1890-1893: Worked as a GM and consulting engineer to management for the Manufacturing Investment Co. of Philadelphia; Bethlehem Steel 1898-1901.
Began teaching at Dartmouth in the early 20th Century; Awarded honorary doctorate from Penn.
Wrote Principles of Scientific Management in 1911
Died of pneumonia in 1915
Principles of Scientific Management (1911)
Replace rule-of-thumb work methods with methods based on a scientific study of the task.
The adoption of laws and formulas to figure out how to make an organization the most efficient.
Taylor used time and motion studies to determine the highest level of worker output in accordance with a particular procedure
Scientifically select, train, and develop each worker rather than passively leaving them to train themselves.
By studying the capabilities of workers, management can better identify the strengths and limitations of each worker and offer specialized training to maximize his/her capabilities
Co-operate with the workers to ensure that the scientifically developed methods are being followed.
“You may develop all the science that you please, and you may scientifically select and train workmen as much as you please, but unless someone brings the science and the workmen together all your labor will be lost”
Divide work nearly equally between managers and workers, so that the managers apply scientific management principles to planning and the workers actually perform the tasks.
The success of Scientific Management is contingent on an equal division of responsibility between management and workers. When there is an equal division of labor, management can better supervise the workers – and ensure standard procedures are followed.
History has given Taylor a bad rap – stating that he was “anti-worker” However, this is not how he saw himself.
Lillian Gilbreth (1878 – 1972)
Born in Oakland, CA
Engineer and trained psychologist
Co-authored books with her husband Frank
Frank conducted time/motion studies as a building contractor
Applied Taylorism via Gilbreath Inc.
A consulting firm to apply management principles, which they owned 1910-1924
Taught workers how to be more productive and efficient
UC-Berkley, Columbia/ UC-Berkley, Brown
Had 12 children
Husband believed what worked for a factory could do the same for a homestead
Thought to inspire their time/motion studies
Children wrote a book about their parents use of scientific management in the context of child rearing “Cheaper by the Dozen” which was later turned into a film
Husband (Frank) died in 1924
Taught at Bryn Mawr College, Rutgers, and became a full-professor at Purdue University in 1935
Max Weber (1864 -1920)
Max Weber, German sociologist and educator
Weber’s model of bureaucracy has several components that mirror Taylor’s principles of scientific management
Economy and Society (1922): Bureaucratic models have hierarchical elements, which makes authority (power / decision making) centralized.
They are jurisdictional (territorial)
Bureaucracy mandates uniform procedures which should be executed in an impersonal fashion
Bureaucracies work best when responsibilities are split up and completed by people with knowledge on how to complete them. (Hello, Taylor)
Bureaucracies are machine-like structures, with efficiency is at the heart!!
Henry Fayol (1841 -1925)
French philosopher / miner / studied organizational management.
Born just outside of Istanbul during the Ottoman Empire.
Family returned to France when he was 6.
Joined his father, went into mining in 1860 after graduating from a mining academy.
Worked at a major French mine which produced steel; Became management director in 1888, and held position until 1918.
Published work on mining 1870’s-1890’s
Fayol’s work exploded posthumously with the 1949 publication of
General and Industrial Administration, which is simply his 1916 article Administration Industrielle et Générale translated into English.
Fayol’s 14 Principles
Division of work
Specialization allows for continuous improvement in skills and methods, which leads to increased productivity
Delegation of authority,
The right to give orders and the expectations that they will be followed comes with responsibility
Discipline,
Employees are expected to obey the rules. At the same time, management should provide good leadership
Chain of command
“One master” principle. A worker should answer to one superior and only one superior to avoid conflicting lines of command
Unity of Direction
A single mind establishes a single plan that everyone in the organization has a role in. Unity of direction assumes a strategic planning focus
Subordination of individual interest to the common interest
When at work, employees must focus only on work-related activities, while the management ensures that they stay focused on achievement of organizational goals
Remuneration of personnel
Payment is an important motivator and should be fair, although there is no perfect system of payment (everyone will always want more money)
Centralization,
Consolidation of management functions
Scalar chains,
Line of authority. Formal chain of command running from the top to the bottom of the organization where superiors have authority over and responsibility for a number of subordinates
Order,
All material and personnel have a proper place
Equity,
Equity of treatment (not equal treatment)
Stability of personnel tenure
Employees work better when there is some measure of job security and future career prospects (trajectory). High employee turnover is bad (lose institutional knowledge)
Initiative,
Affording employees opportunities to take initiative is a means of building a strong organization
Team-Spirit / Esprit de corps
Management must foster harmony, morale and cohesion among its employees
*Fayol believed his principles of management were universal and applicable to any organization
Luther Gulick (1892 – 1993)
Born to missionaries in Japan
PhD from Columbia in 1920; Taught there 1931-1942
Appointed to Brownlow Committee by FDR to reorganize the executive branch
Served on Institute of Public Administration from 1921-1982
NYC City Administrator 1954-1956
Lyndall Urwick (1891 – 1983)
Born in Worcestershire to an executive of a glove manufacturer
Finished his education at New College (Oxford)
Fought in WWI, earned honors
Produced numerous writings on scientific management
Gulick and Urwick (1937) POSDCORB
Written for the Brownlow Commission in 1937.
President’s Committee on Administrative management
Presidentially commissioned panel of political science and public administration experts that recommended a five-point plan to reorganize the Executive branch
Modernize the White House business and management by giving the president six high-grade executive assistants
Strengthen the budget and efficiency research, the planning, and the personnel services of the government so that these can be effective managerial arms for the president
Place the whole government administrative service on a career basis and under the merit system by extending the civil service upward, outward, and downward to include all non-policy-determining positions and job
Consolidate the 100+ departments, boards, commissions, administrations, authorities, corporations, committees, agencies, and activities that are a part of the executive branch into 12 regular departments.
Inspired by Fayol’s principles.
Gulick, rhetorically: “What is the work of the chief executive? What does he do?“
A set of organizational processes that provide executives with a tangible understanding of administration.
Planning, that is working out in broad outline the things that need to be done and the methods for doing them to accomplish the purpose set for the enterprise;
Organizing, that is the establishment of the formal structure of authority through which work subdivisions are arranged, defined, and coordinated for the defined objective;
Staffing, that is the whole personnel function of bringing in and training the staff and maintaining favorable conditions of work;
Directing, that is the continuous task of making decisions and embodying them in specific and general orders and instructions and serving as the leader of the enterprise;
Coordinating, that is the all-important duty of interrelating the various parts of the work; OR that means is a common thread that run through all the activities of the organization.
Reporting, that is keeping those to whom the executive is responsible informed as to what is going on, which thus includes keeping himself and his subordinates informed through records, research, and inspection;
Budgeting, with all that goes with budgeting in the form of planning, accounting and control.
Urwick’s 10
Drawing from and building on Fayol’s theories, Urwick (1952) established “Ten Principles” which are now regarded as classical guidelines for organizational management
Principle of the Objective- must be guided by central purpose
Specialization-Single responsibility = Max. efficiency
Limiting workers to a single responsibility engenders greater productivity
Coordination- Unify workers efforts
Authority- Identifiable person who has it. Clear chain of command
Responsibility-Managers must be held accountable for people below them
Definition- In writing of their position and responsibilities
All employees must be informed in writing of their responsibilities
Correspondence- More authority = More responsibility
Control- Subordinates shouldn’t exceed 6
Manager should have no more than 6 direct reports
Balance- Organizational Subdivisions should be in balance
Continuity- Never-ending process to maintain consistency
Organizing is a never-ending process
Criticisms of Gulick & Urwick
Criticisms in mid 1940’s from scholars Waldo, Simon and Dahl.
Chief among them: Administration is simply not that easy to breakdown.
There is a counterpoint to each of the elements in the POSDCORB.
One cannot simply be that efficient with every single process.
NEO-Classical Theory
Hebert Simon (1946)
Scientific Management Principles are merely proverbs, as none of the terms of truly scientific
The “principles” should be tested empirically if they are to maintain their names.
Should embrace the quasi-scientific methods of controlled experimentation and quantitative analysis
Robert Merton
Challenged Weber’s model of bureaucracy
Being trained as a “machine” limits one’s full capacities.
Bureaucracy = organizational rigidity. Adaptability becomes limited, which is against what organizations are needed to be
Bureaucracies tend to be closed systems, without any input from the outside- It flies in the face of democracy which is built to be open
Transparency and citizen participation are absent in Weber’s bureaucracy (model predicated on secrecy) – antithetical to democratic governance
Philip Selznick (1949)
Introduced informal organizations existing within formal organizational structures.
Arguing that embedded within formal organizations are informal organizations that can either support the organization’s formal goals and functions or in some cases serve as tools of resistance, impeding what the formal organization is trying to accomplish
Cliques, politics, etc.
Introduced organizational co-optation
It deals with welcoming new or outside elements into an organization’s leadership decision-making structure.
Its purpose is to help an organization identify and protect itself from outside threats.
Example: Giving locals a voice in decisions that are believed to be controversial
Chester Barnard
Management insights came from his tenure as president of New Jersey’s Bell Telephone Company
Stresses that monetary and non-monetary incentives help to secure greater worker cooperation, in turn making an organization more stable and more likely to see greater worker performance.
Classical theory assumes that worker cooperation is a function of money + negative reinforcement (wage reductions, punishments, threats of punishment)
Gives 8 types of worker incentives in his 1938 work titled The Functions of the Executive.
Barnard’s Incentives
General Incentives
The ability to work with people that have compatible values
Continual and improved working conditions (organizational culture/Desirable physical conditions of work)
The opportunity to contribute to a vision of a company via large projects or general input
The opportunity to feel comradery and social comfort within a work setting.
Specific Incentives
Money and other material items (Material inducements)
Awards / Attention for a job well done
Improved physical work conditions
Ability to achieve and / or maintain pride in one’s work
How does this section relate to PA?
Classical theory vs. Seeing people as people
Org theory serves as the inspiration for management styles and structures.
“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” is a policy enforced by old ideas and reinforced by authoritarian styles of management
Seeing people as… people
Mary Follett: The Giving of Orders (1926)
Importance of effective leadership
Friction exists between upper management and the proletariat.
If the friction isn’t mitigated through proper leadership it can negatively influence the productivity and efficiency of an organization
Disagrees with the scientific management call for depersonalized orders from management
Recognizes that negative behavioral responses are more likely to emerge with superiors who embrace an overly authoritative leaderships style
Leaders must be able to unify, resolve conflicts, and motivate employees.
Without dehumanizing employees
Humanistic considerations + classical principles
Abraham Maslow: A Theory of Motivation (1943)
Hierarchy of Needs
Human beings are motivated by a hierarchy of needs
Needs are organized in a hierarchy in which more basic needs need to be more or less met prior to higher needs
The order of needs is not rigid, but instead may be flexible based on external circumstances or individual differences
Most behavior is multi-motivated, simultaneously determined by more than one basic need
Maslow’s five-stage model can be divided into deficiency needs and growth needs. The first four levels are often referred to as deficiency needs and the top level is known as growth of being needs.
Deficiency needs arise due to deprivation and are believed to motivate people when they are unmet. The motivation of these needs will become stronger the longer they are denied.
Maslow (1943) initially stated that individuals MUST satisfy lower level deficit needs before progressing on to meet higher level growth needs. However, he later clarified (1987) that satisfaction of needs is not an “all-or-none” phenomenon, admitting that his earlier work may have given the false impression that a need must be satisfied 100% before the next need emerges
When a deficit need has been more or less satisfied it will go away and our activities become habitually directed towards meeting the next set of needs we have yet to satisfy
Physiological needs – if these needs are not satisfied the human body cannot function optimally. Maslow considered these needs to be the most important
Safety needs – People want to experience order, predictability and control in their lives. These needs can be fulfilled by family and society (think police, schools, business, and medical care)
Love/Belonging needs – Belongingness refers to a human emotional need for interpersonal relationships, affiliating, connectedness, and being part of a group
Esteem needs – Maslow classified esteem needs into two categories
Esteem for one’s self – dignity, achievement, mastery, independence
Desire for reputation or respect from others – status or prestige
Maslow said the need for respect or reputation is most important for children and adolescents and comes before real self-esteem of dignity
Self-actualization needs – The highest level in Maslow’s hierarchy and refers to the realization of a person’s potential, self-fulfillment, seeking personal growth and peak experiences.
Maslow describes this as the desire to accomplish everything that one can, to become the most that one can be
Practical Application: Maslow’s Hierarchy is used in conjunction with progressive discipline plans in K-12 education (at least in Florida). The idea is that when students’ needs are being met, their behavior in the classroom improves. Teachers are encouraged to investigate what may be missing from the first levels of the hierarchy prior to disciplinary action being taken.
Douglas MacGregor: The Human Side of Enterprise (1960)
Considered one of the most influential organizational humanists
Theory X and Theory Y
Two conflicting management theories that make specific assumptions regarding human nature
Based work on Maslow, to explain why Theory X assumptions led to ineffective managementTheory X is an authoritarian style of management
Emphasis is on “productivity, on the concept of a fair day’s work, on the evils of feather-bedding and restriction of output.
Assumes people don’t like work, always need encouragement. Negative view of individuals
Makes intense supervision necessary b/c workers avoid responsibility and are incapable of solving problems
Incentives through economic factors, threats, and punishment
Classical Weberian model of bureaucracy
Douglas MacGregor: The Human Side of Enterprise (1960)
Theory Y is a participative style of management
It assumes that people will utilize self-direction and self-control in the achievement of administrative goals
People prefer not to be micromanaged
Orgs must commit “to innovate, to discover new ways of organizing and directing human effort, even though we recognize that the perfect organization, like the perfect vacuum, is practically out of reach”.
Style Macgregor Embraced due to more realistic assumptions regarding human nature and motivation
Theory X Theory Y
Theory X places importance on managerial control (What Finer and Weber wanted)
Theory Y places importance on self-direction
The difference between the two is the difference between treating people like children vs. treating them like adults
Contemporary Theories: Structural Theory
Structural Theory: Assumes that organizations are rational and their purpose is to accomplish articulated goals and objectives.
There is a “best structure” and general organizational problems can be addressed by implementing the best structure.
Grounded in the classical principles of efficiency, effectiveness, and productivity
Burns and Stalker (1961) – research on electronic firms in the UK
Developed two disparate but complimentary organizational management systems
Organic systems – adaptability and innovation over efficient repetition
Mechanistic systems (Weberian) – emphasis is placed on being able to efficiently repeat procedures
Organic systems
Better suited for environments where instability and change are frequent
Worker roles and responsibilities are less clearly defined and more flexible, workers of different ranks are exchange ideas through consultative networks, organizational structure is horizontal and decisions are made on the basis of knowledge and expertise as opposed to hierarchical position
Mechanistic systems (Weberian)
Suited for stable environments
Worker roles and responsibilities are clearly defined, communication is formal (top-down), organizational structure is hierarchical, and the decision making process is authoritarian
Which type of organization would you prefer to work in?
Systems Theory
In general, a system is a collection of parts that interact together and function as a whole (Ackoff and Rovin, 2003) (p.191)
Neighborhoods, schools, organizations, and communities are complex and dynamic; their character emerges through the interactions and interdependencies across the many actors, niches, and activities that exist within them. Attention to only one or a few system characteristics when attempting to foster organizational change can create null results and even have dire consequences
Systems are made of parts- and their interactions – and it is the interaction between parts that define system functioning, give birth to entrenched patterns of interaction, and generate root causes to significant problems (Senge, 1990)
A shift in a system part – like a policy change – will only transform the status quo if that part also leverages necessary changes in other system elements. The character of the interdependencies and patterns across system components ultimately determine if such leverage can occur.
Based on the idea that an organization is comprised of several Interconnected parts
Each part is designed to achieve organizational goals and objectives
Looks at the organization in terms of Inputs, processes, outputs and feedback mechanisms
Inputs: Organizational resources
Processes: What an organization does with resources
Feedback mechanism: means organization collects and analyzes data regarding impact of its outputs
Outputs: goods or services organization produces
Feedback mechanisms: how an organization collects and analyzes data regarding the impact of its outputs
Theory is cyclical, ever-changing to respond to internal and external changes
Inputs feed into processes which feed into outputs which are analyzed by feedback mechanisms.
Contemporary Theories: Quality Circles
Deming: Quality Circle
Emerged in late 1940’s in Japan
Gen. Douglas MacArthur sent Dr. W Edwards Deming to train managers in continued process management
Also asked to train engineers and scientists in statistical methods
Introduced the Union leader to Dr. Juran, an expert on quality control (1952)
Dr. Juran: “Quality begins in the design stage and ends after satisfactory services are provided to the customer. An organization’s success depends on total quality not simply manufacturing quality” (Juran, 2004)
Management concept: A Quality Circle is a small group of employees that work on similar tasks and meet to solve work-related issues.
Overall purpose is to improve quality of an organization’s services.
Employee as expert.
The person closest to the work knows the problems best and can be trained to solve them
Sessions are not for venting, but rather to be proactive
To discuss problem related to work processes, bureaucratic rigidity, organizing physical facilities and resources, staffing issues (over/under), lateness/absenteeism, communication issues, organizational goals, on-the-job safety
The perks include overall management awareness of potential organizational issues, a building comradery among employees and management, renewed commitment from employees.
Organizational Economic Theory
Organizational Economic Theory: Attempts to ensure that worker interests are consistent with organizational interests, personified by the organizational leader’s interests.
Identifiable issue: All motivations stem from self-interest.
Principal-Agent Theory, or how do I make sure my employees/3rd party contractors are not slacking off
Principal – Managers
Agents – employees
Both principals and agents are motivated by self-interest
Principals – themselves in the context of how the org is performing
Theory attempts to reconcile the inherent conflict between principal interests and agent interests, while taking into account the information disadvantage of principals (don’t know if their agents are performing in ways that benefit the org)
Compensate and oversight is the answer.
Compensate agents in a way that influences the interests of the agents to converge with the interests of the principals
Implement oversight mechanisms to make sure agents are performing as expected
Organizational Culture: Schein (1993): Shared notions that unite individuals in an organization.
Organizational Culture
Parts of Organizational Culture
Behavioral Regularities when people interact:
Greetings, asking about the weekend
Group norms and values
Guiding mission and formal rules what is and is not appropriate behavior
Climate and Environment – physical layout
Shared Skills and Modes of Thinking
WHAT MAY WORK IN ONE ORGANIZATION MAY NOT WORK IN OTHERS. KNOW YOUR WORKERS, KNOW YOUR ENVIRONMENT, SHAPE TO CREATE THE CULTURE YOU WANT
Egan Case Study (1998)
History of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell1950: President Harry Truman signs “Uniform Code of Military Justice
Sets up discharge rules of people that engage in homosexual activity.
1982: President Reagan states “homosexuality is incompatible with military service”
People who engaged in homosexual behavior should be discharged
Early 1990’s: Gov. Bill Clinton says he will lift ban of gay military service if elected.
1994: Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell becomes a law.
1994: Col. Grethe Cammermeyer is reinstated to Washington National Guard, serves openly until her retirement in ‘97.
Was married for 15 years. Had 4 sons. Divorced in 1980. Met wife in 1988.
In 1989, she disclosed that she was a lesbian during a routine security clearance interview. Nat Guard started discharge proceedings
Honorably discharged in 1992. She filed a lawsuit against the decision in civil court. IN June 1994, a Judge ruled that her discharge and the ban on gays and lesbians serving in the military were unconstitutional.
She returned to the Guard and served as one of the few openly lesbian service members until her retirement in 1997
1994: President Clinton passes ”Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.’‘
Lasted until September 2011
Under policy, non-cisgender service members may serve as long as they tell no one about their sexual orientation, refrain from ”homosexual acts” and forgo same-sex marriage.
An inquiry cannot begin without credible information that a person has made a statement of homosexual orientation or engaged in homosexual conduct, but what exactly makes up ”credible information” is up to the commanding officer.
After investigating, a commanding officer must decide whether a service member has, in fact, made a statement of homosexuality or engaged in homosexual acts, which current policy defines as any bodily contact that ”a reasonable person” would understand to be for purposes of sexual gratification or an expression of homosexuality.
One of the biggest hurdles facing a service member in a homosexual case is the near impossibility of proving that he or she is unlikely to engage in homosexual acts.
The military was adamant that it could not allow homosexuals to serve openly without greatly compromising the readiness and effectiveness of its troops.
