Incompatible goals are what cause most conflicts at workplaces. This can be because each person has different views and perspectives and different ways of marching to success. Most conflicts are caused because of the way things are communicated, but there are times that people’s approaches are very different to the others. “Conflict is “the interaction of interdependent people who perceive opposition of goals, aims and values, and who see the other party as potentially interfering with the realisation of these goal. (Putnam & Poole 1987 in Miller p.183)
The levels of organizational conflict are:
Interpersonal level
Intergroup conflict
Interorganizational
A good example of the interorganizational conflict is the “ 4000 Foxonn workers on strike over iPhone5 quality control measures, inadequate training”.
This conflict is a Manifest conflict according to Pondy’s phases of conflict “conflict is enacted through communication, escalating and de-escalating through different strategies. This is where it’s really happening - confrontation occurs, even where there is an attempt at problem solving”
The workers of Foxonn are on strike because of the very high demanding quality standard from apple, without receiving a proper training.
The most relevant article I found on
the metamorphosis was the “9 things that motivate employees more than money” by
Ilya Pozin.
“Don't show 'em the money (even if you
have it). Here are nine better ways to boost morale”.
In this article it is explained in detail how to invest on the development of
an employee in order for them to absorb the information, use their skills to
the max and have them to offer to the company 200% of their best. I find this
article very relevant to the third stage of the socialisation process.
Here is the secret of the 9 things that
motivate employees
1.Be generous
with praise. Praise every improvement
2.Get rid of
managers. Allowing people to work together as a team, on an equal level with
their co-workers, will often produce better projects faster
3.Make your
ideas theirs. Instead of telling people what you want done; ask them in a
way that will make them feel like they came up with the idea “Do you think it’s
a good idea if we do it this way?”
4.Never
criticize or correct. Try an indirect approach to get people to improve, learn
from their mistakes, and fix them.
5.Make everyone
a leader. You’ll set the bar high and they’ll be motivated to live up to their
reputation as a leader.
6.Take an
employee to lunch once a week. It’s an easy way to remind them that you notice
and appreciate their work.
7.Give recognition
and small rewards. Try things like dinner, trophies, spa services, and
plaques.
8.Throw
company parties. Don’t just wait until the holidays to do a company activity;
organize events throughout the year to remind your staff that you’re all in it
together.
9.Share the
rewards—and the pain. If you expect high performance, your team deserves to
know where the company stands. Be honest and transparent.
This week we learnt about the critical
approaches but I will focus most on the
ideology and hegemony. That is:
Ideology
Structures our thoughts and controls
interpretations of reality
Involves assumptions that are rarely questioned
Can influence our behaviours
Tied to systems of power and domination
Hegemony
Process in which dominant group leads
another group to accept subordination as the norm
Manufactured consent
The
news media for this week is the one from the Sydney Morning Herald “Facebook
killer jailed for 21 years” dated August 31, 2012 from court reporter Louise
Hall.
This article talks about a man who
created a fake Facebook account to lure a teenage animal lover into bush land
before killing her. He was sentenced 21 years of jail on the 31st of
august. Christopher James Dannevig, 22, murdered Nona Belomessof 18, on May 12,
2010. As soon as he learnt that she was an animal lover he created a fake
profile and friend requested her telling her he was a team leader at the NSW
Wildlife Information Rescue and offered her a job. I chose this story for this
week because of the hegemony and ideology relevance. Nona, as other teenagers
trusted the guy under NSW Wildlife Information Rescue organisation, because of its
hegemony. However, the bottom line of the story is that Facebook’s hegemony is
that of a non-trusted source and Nona is not the first teenager to get
kidnapped because of a Facebook trap. The hegemony of both these organisation,
in particular Facebook, which provides the means, are responsible of Nona’s
death.
Organizational culture is not always easy to define or capture because of its diverse nature from one organization into another, however it has been defined as a “force” in an organization.
An organizational culture is made by its members shared values and beliefs, behaviours, decisions, actions, beliefs of an organization. The role of culture in an organization is considered to be a kind of direction for its organization.
The result of the above can have a very strong effect on the company’s/organization’s success.
Schein’s model defines culture in organizations such as:
·A group phenomena
·A patern of basic assumptions - this explains some very big failures in very powerful organizations such as schools and other companies (examples to be given below).
·As an emergent and developmental process
·Having a socialising role
In this week’s summary, I will focus on the “patern of basic assumptions” from the Schein’s model. I believe this explains clearly the why and how of the “beyond prescriptive culture”, the culture of bullying and the non-pleasant situations that are such a massive issue in many organizations. The below link of YouTube, is the one of Casey Heynes, the Sydney schoolboy that was all over the news last year as a result of bullying exposed on youtube by an amateur video. None of the articles online have claims from their school teacheror anyone from the school. A few articles from The Daily Telegraph state the same paragraph “The Department of Education is already undergoing a review of its anti-bullying policy and has given all schools until December this year to "ensure anti-bullying plan complies with the updated policy", but there is not one single line from anyone from the school and how this organization dealt with this very big issue. According to an article from Frank Furedi on The Australian on the 7th of July 2012, bullying is costing Australian businesses over 36 billion (not specified in what) when 70 per cent of employees are being bullied. Why this culture? What needs to be done in order to have effective changes? Maybe the subcultures need to be revisited and also changed with some more responsibilities. There is so much I would love to write about this.
Furedi, F 2012, ‘Entrenched in a culture of workplace politics, or could it be you’re picking on me again?’, The Australian, viewed 25 August 2012 <http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/opinion/entrenched-in-a-culture-of-workplace-politics-or-could-it-be-youre-picking-on-me-again/story-e6frgd0x-1226419327996>
McDougall, B 2011, ‘Victim of School bullying a web hero’ The Daily Telegraph, viewed 26 August 2012 <http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/sydney-news/bullied-boy-at-chifley-college-dunheved-campus-suspended-after-fighting-back/story-e6freuzi-1226022076411>
Week three lecture and tutorial were about system
approaches. I got exposed to the system metaphor and system concepts and the
key founder of the movement Ludwig Von Bertalanffy, a theoretical biologist
whom was very interested in “living systems”.
Systems, as everything else, have its own components. In an
organizational system, the components are the people and the departments that
make the organization. There are three key system components in this theory, and
they are:
Hierarchical ordering - hierarchical
system, system components are arranged in ways to involve subsystems and
supersystems.
Interdependence – this implies that the
functioning of the components of the system relies on the other components
Permeability – the one that allows the
information and material to flow in and out
I think the article from Eric Jonston about
the bank chief executive Ralph Norris, is very much a demonstration of the
hierarchical system and also the interdependence and permeability. The story is
about the former Commonwealth Bank Chief that received a total package of $9.61
million in his final months at the bank – this is fresh news released Sunday
morning. The payments for Mr. Norris who retired last November and received
about $63.000 a day for that period, an amount that is higher than full-year
salary for most Australians. It is crazy how CEO’s get these crazy amounts of
money; I just simply don’t know how they justify it. The system, besides being
quite hierarchical for the obvious reasons, it is also very strongly
interdependent.
References:
Jonston, E 2012, ‘Ex-CBA chief Norris's pay
topped $63,000 a day’, Sydney Morning
Herald, viewed 20 August 2012 < http://www.smh.com.au/business/excba-chief-norriss-pay-topped-63000-a-day-20120820-24h8j.html>
Miller, K 2012, Organizational Communication: Approaches and Processes, Wadsworth,
Boston MA, USA, pp. 60-64
SABA has had a powerful influence
on the Australian fashion scene since 1965. Starting in Melbourne's Flinders
Lane as The Joseph SABA Shirt Shop, the company has remained at the forefront
of Australian fashion ever since, and is now seen as a chic, contemporary label
for both women and men.
In 1996 SABA took part in the
very first Mercedes Australian Fashion Week (MAFW). Front lining the show and
showcasing their Spring Summer collection, MAFW defined SABA as the leading
Australian fashion label of the time. Also in 1996 the company won the
Australian Fashion Menswear Award and was inducted as the Powerhouse Museum's
Fashion House of the Year. SABA became a favourite at L'Oreal Melbourne Fashion
Festival (LMFF) when they premiered their first solo show at Melbourne's
Federation Square in 2005.
SABA's appeal stems from styling
that is both sophisticated and contemporary. Part of SABA's uniqueness lies in
its ability to integrate elegant silhouettes with beautiful fabrics. The design
philosophy is coupled with a passion for quality - every design must also be enduring,
comfortable and versatile. For SABA these are the hallmarks of great design.
Saba was acquired by the Apparel
Group in July 2005 and moved its Head Office to Sydney shortly after. A leader
in the Australian fashion industry, Apparel Group designs and manages its
brands in Australia with strong manufacturing relationships in Asia.
How does SABA head office
communicate to staff all over the country and how clear and effective is the
communication?
How does SABA operate as an
organisation?
How does SABA train staff?
Is online training effective?
What is staff's reaction to it?
How was it
communicated?
Was it completed? How?
Did it have any outcomes?
What is staff’s behaviour at work? What was it before training and after?
Can Hawthorne studies apply somehow here to help us get a result?
I will be focusing on
this in the coming weeks and will be updating with findings.
If you want to know more about SABA fashion designsClick here Below there are some pictures of the SABA online training for staff.
The
highlighted learning for this week was the Hawthorne studies and the Maslow
theory. During the
early part of the century, Frederic Taylor, developed a school of thought for
Scientific Management in which, he explained he use of
time and motion studies on how workers should break down the tasks and the best
way how to execute them.
The Western Electric Company carried out the Hawthorne
studies in the 1920's at their Hawthorne plant. Initially, the study focused on
lighting. From the beginning of the studies, the experimenter effect and the
social effect emerged out. To observe the workers, they put them in a special room – this was the bank
wiring room, which was designed to study the social effects. It took a few
weeks to the workers to act ‘normal’ in front of the observer. Medibank Private did some similar study the
“Stand up Australia, Sedentary behaviors in workers” where they assessed their
workers behavior at work and had an understanding of their behavior after work
as a consequence of the behavior at work.
Maslow hierarchy of needs explains human beings motivation
by using a hierarchy of needs. This hierarchy of needs is made of 5 essential
ladders to the top: 1.Psychological
needs 2.Safety
needs 3.Social
Needs 4.Esteem
needs 5.Self-
Actualization Maslow explains that while a person is motivated to fulfill
these basal desires, they continue to move toward growth. Once they overcome
one level they look to grow on the next one.
Analytic technologies, 2012, Hawthorne studies, Lexington USA, viewed
9 August 2012 <
http://www.analytictech.com/mb021/handouts/bank_wiring.htm> Medibank for better health, 2009, Stand up Australia, Sedentary behaviors,
viewed 9 August 2012 <
http://www.medibank.com.au/Client/Documents/Pdfs/Stand_Up_Australia.pdf>
