Groupthink, status differences, hidden agendas, one-person domi- nation, resistance to change, continued conflict, and lack of creativ- ity can all lead to an ineffective group. Strategies to resolve barriers include changing the group’s norms, identifying the specific prob- lems, and changing the group’s composition.
LO 7-4 Define leadership, leadership styles, and types of power. Lead- ers are able to influence others toward attaining goals. Leadership styles include autocratic, consultative, participative, and free-rein.
Sources of power among leaders include legitimate, reward, coer- cive, networking, expert, and charismatic power.
LO 7-5 Explain the steps in teambuilding. Effective teambuilding requires time and effort. Trustbuilding and identification of goals are
necessary steps. Implementation and purpose must be defined.
Good communication and clarity are essential.
LO 7-6 Improve the organizational climate of the workplace. The climate of a workplace is the tone of its day-to-day functioning. Climate includes physical environment of the workplace, attitudes of managers, com- munication between employees, and norms of the organization.
LO 7-7 Understand the new organizational or corporate culture. Every organization and corporate entity has a culture. Culture includes deeply held values that are used to set goals. Culture stories help transmit and describe the culture. The “new” organizational or cor- porate culture focuses on fairness, respect, equity, justice, balanced emotions, truth, integrity, shared influence, and trust. This type of culture promotes a more humane, loyal, and productive workplace.
1. Think of groups you have joined, both formally and informally. What were the benefits you expected to receive upon joining? Were those expectations fulfilled?
2. Recall a group to which you have belonged and identify the major norms the group followed. What were the penalties for breaking from a group norm?
3. Recalling groups to which you have belonged, how did they assign sta- tus in the group? Was it easy to see who had higher and lower status in the group? Did you agree with the statuses that seemed to be assigned within the group? Explain.
review questions
authority 162
autocratic leaders 161 charismatic power 163 coercive power 163 conformity 158
consultative leaders 161 culture stories 167 expert power 163 formal group 156 free-rein leaders 161 group 156
key terms
group process 157 groupthink 157 hidden agendas 159 informal group 156 leadership 160 legitimate power 162 networking
power 163 norm 156 organizational
climate 165
organizational or corporate culture 166 participative
leaders 161 power 162 psychological
contract 170 reward power 162 status 158
task activity 157 team building 163 work team 163
4. Recall a leader whose direction you once followed. Do you recognize that leader’s style as autocratic, consultative, participative, or free-rein?
Provide examples of behaviors that showed that style. Explain whether you liked or disliked this style of leadership.
5. Imagine a leader with whom you have worked using more than one of the styles of leadership explained in this chapter. Would this improve his or her abilities as a leader? How can flexibility influence a leader?
Are there any drawbacks to flexibility?
6. Think of an ideal version, in your opinion, of a perfect organizational climate. What characteristics would be included? Why?
7. Fairness is an important quality of a positive, or warm, organizational climate and culture. What qualities are necessary for a perception of fairness to exist throughout an organization?
8. Explain the “New Organizational or Corporate Culture.” In your opin- ion, would this type of culture lead toward success for America as an international competitor? Why or why not?
9. At a national conference attended by one of your authors, a facilitator introduced a workshop topic as “How to Work in Teams, and Other Raising-Morale Crap.” The audience’s reaction was one of surprise at the speaker’s negativity toward the announced topic. Based on informa- tion from this chapter, what type of corporate culture would you guess this facilitator worked in? How well does it fit with the “new” corporate culture?
10. Imagine yourself as (a) a ship captain, and (b) a football team player and captain. How would you describe the advantages and disadvantages of each? Considering these advantages and disadvantages, why do you suppose that the team captain, rather than the ship captain, is a more popular analogy for management styles today in the United States?
11. Which of the leadership styles is yours or would most likely be yours?
Why did you choose this particular style? Does your profession of choice match with this style? How does this leadership style reflect your personality?
12. Is an organizational or corporate culture necessary? That is, can we all just go to work and get our tasks done in an organization that does not have a shared culture? How important is it for an organization to have a shared corporate culture? Why is this such a common—practically universal—phenomenon? Think about an organization that has no corporate culture: What would that be like? Would people get as much accomplished?
critical thinking questions
HOW IS THE “WEATHER” IN YOUR ORGANIZATIONAL CLIMATE?
School-to-Work Connection: Resource Skills, System Skills, and Interpersonal Skills
Organizations have a pleasant or unpleasant climate, whether it is stated or not, whether it is admitted or not. The corporate culture that may be cap- tured in a company’s mission statement can sometimes give you clues about the organizational climate. Even though an organization may formally state its climate goals, and these are then agreed upon by an organization as a whole, the intended organizational climate may be interpreted in different ways by different members of the organization.
In this exercise, think about three different offices you have visited within the same organization (your own workplace, or somewhere else), or think about three different instructors’ offices at the college you are attend- ing. What differences do you note in pleasantness or unpleasantness of the organizational climate?
Consider these factors in your descriptions of each of the three offices:
1. How is the furniture arranged? Does the desk act as a barrier between the office occupant’s chair and the visitor’s chair? (Are there even any chairs for visitors?)
2. Is the office stark or inviting? Are there personal effects in the office, such as plants, pictures of family members, or artwork?
3. Is the office cluttered and disorganized, or neatly arranged?
4. How is your interaction with the office occupant? Does he or she make eye contact, or avoid it? Does the person do other tasks while talking with you—take phone calls, look at his or her watch or cell phone while talking—or give you full attention? Does the person smile and act inviting, or frown and act annoyed to see you?
Compare your evaluations of the three offices and discuss your findings in a small group of classmates. What does this exercise tell you about how you will set up, or modify, your own office?
working it out 7.1
ROLE-PLAY
School-to-Work Connection: Interpersonal Skills
Procedure: Break the class into groups of five or fewer. One person will be the team leader, and the others will be the team members. The team leader will read the following script while the team members respond where they think
working it out 7.2
appropriate, correcting the team leader on his or her misunderstood con- cepts of work teams.
Scenario: You are working in a company that has just now enthusiastically embraced the idea of work teams. Your former supervisor, now “Team Leader,” hasn’t been to the team leader training yet, but really likes the idea of working as a team. The team leader delivers the following pep talk on teamwork one Monday morning.
As you listen, decide what your response will be whenever you think your team leader is saying the wrong thing. Try not to interrupt the team leader as he or she speaks.
“Hey, Group! Team of mine! Good morning! Wow, we’re all together again after a great weekend! Hey, how about that Trailblazers–Lakers game?
So, this morning we’re going to start working as a team, just like the Miami Heat. You all know what to do, you know your parts, so get out there and play ball! I’m going to be calling each one of you into my office, one at a time, to talk about this team thing. Now, when I call you in, bring in a pad and pen- cil, because I’m going to be giving you all the team directions. Don’t worry about thinking up stuff to say or making any decisions, I’ve got it all figured out how this is going to run. In the meantime, if you need me, I’ll be in my office; but try to make an appointment, because I’ll be doing my regular administrative stuff. Okay? Then here we go, team! Go team, go! ”
When the team leader is finished with the pep talk you may do the following:
1. Ask any questions you have about the pep talk.
2. (Gently!) Correct his or her misconceptions about working as a team.
GROUP COHESION
School-to-Work Connection: Thinking Skills, Personal Qualities Skills, Informa- tion Skills, Interpersonal Skills, and Systems Skills
“NASA: Survival on the Moon” is a famous exercise by Dr. Jay Hall that demonstrates the effectiveness of group interaction. Following is a list of 15 survival-related items. On your own, rank them from highest (what you need to survive on the moon) to lowest (what you want or need the least). At this time you will not be sharing your list with your group. Place number “1” by the most important item, number “2” by the second most important, and so on through number “15,” the least important.
Matches, 1 box Food concentrates Nylon rope, 50 feet Parachute silk
working it out 7.3
Portable heating unit, solar-powered Pistols, two.45-caliber
Dehydrated milk, 1 case Oxygen, two 100-pound tanks
Stellar map (of the moon’s constellation) Life raft, self-inflating
Magnetic compass Water, 5 gallon Signal flares
First-aid kit (w/injection needles) FM receiver–transmitter, solar-powered
• Form into groups of four to six. Each member should have his or her own list of survival-related items completed.
• Each group should arrive at a consensus on each rank. Don’t use a dem- ocratic vote or try to change someone’s vote. Consensus means that each team member must at least agree somewhat with each conclusion, so the decision will be unanimous.
• Next, the instructor will provide the numbers that go into the “Survey Score” section. The “Survey Score” section is in the Instructor’s Resource Manual. These rankings are the result of an official survey of astronauts’
opinions.
• Subtract the difference between the rankings in the individuals’ core column and the survey score column, and add up the total at the bot- tom. Ignore plus and minus; what you are measuring is the degree of difference in either direction.
• Next, subtract the difference between the group score column and the survey score.
• Add up this total at the bottom.
Answer the following questions:
1. Did any individual have a total higher than the team? If so, either the group was not working as efficiently as it could have, or the individual member was not being sufficiently assertive with his or her knowledge.
2. Also, describe the group processes of each group.
a. Did any of the groups function without a leader? If so, how did they make decisions?
b. If the group had a leader, what style of leadership did the leader use?
c. Were there any disagreements? If so, how were they resolved?
Source: Reprinted with permission from Teleometrics International. All rights reserved.
insulting caricatures of some of the managers on the walls, with equally insulting comments written below them.
Also, all of the employees seemed to be heavily involved in outside activities that had nothing to do with company business, or even with the talents needed to work there. The very idea of working late voluntarily was laughable.
Mariko began wondering whether she should have accepted the promotion. Instead of being excited and happy, she began finding it difficult to get up in the morning and drive to work. “I won- der if I could get back to the other division,” she found herself thinking one day.
Case Study Questions
1. If you knew Mariko as a friend, what would you advise her to do at this point?
2. Is Mariko helpless in her new position? If you don’t think so, suggest some courses of action she could take.
3. Evaluate Mariko’s situation in terms of norms and status.
P art of Mariko Koide’s promotion in the adver-
tising firm where she worked was a transfer to another division of the company. The promotion seemed like a totally positive experience for her, and she was very happy—at least initially. Her first day in the new division was one of handshaking, smiles, and welcoming comments. Things looked really positive.
However, after a few weeks had passed, it became apparent to Mariko that this division had a different “feeling” to it. In her old office, her fellow employees had spent a great deal of time on what they called “idea creation.” Some nights, when ideas were a bit slow in coming, everyone would work two or three hours late. Throughout the process, everyone had seemed positive and upbeat and not at all resentful of the long sessions.
The new division was not like that at all. It seemed that a great deal of conflict was always afoot. One worker was always complaining about what a “ jerk” someone else was. Overtime ses- sions, when they rarely happened, were resented and typically resulted in dozens of oral and writ- ten complaints. The walls of the ladies room had
Mariko’s Promotion
case study 7.1
case study 7.2
Through the Ranks
D aura had been promoted through the ranks
of her company to her present supervisory position in management. The president of the company recently asked her to create another administrative position—one that would report directly to Daura—which would be filled inter- nally. The president was aware that a lot of recent conflict between administration and nonadminis- trative staff members had led to low morale and high employee turnover, and she had decided one way to reduce this was to create the new position to bridge the gap between these two employee groups. Seven people applied for the newly cre- ated position, and Daura sent each of them an e-mail saying that she would be interviewing only the top two or three candidates.
Soon, grumbling among applicants and other employees interested in the process began to be heard, based mainly on the decision to interview only a few candidates. Since interviews for seven applicants could be managed pretty easily, and employee morale was already low, they reasoned, all applicants deserved at least a “courtesy inter- view.” Before the final candidates were announced,
Daura’s administrative assistant approached her and asked her if it would be possible to sched- ule interviews for all seven candidates as a way to reduce growing resentment among employees.
Daura’s response was straight to the point as she snapped: “If they don’t like the process, they can quit. They’d better be happy I even agreed to go along with the decision to open this position.
I’m in charge here, and none of you had better forget it. Anyone who wants to stand up to me on this had better do it now, so I know who the trou- blemakers are and I can make sure they don’t get promoted.”
Case Study Questions
1. What leadership style does Daura seem to be using?
2. What are Daura’s sources of power? Are these the most appropriate ones she should be using in this situation?
3. If you were Daura’s manager, would you try to change behaviors in her leadership methods?
Which ones? Why?
8
L E A R N I N G O B J E C T I V E S
After studying this chapter, you will be able to:
LO 8-1 Identify the eight forms of intelligence.
LO 8-2 Explain the significance of emotional intelligence and how it compares with earlier theories of measuring intelligence.
LO 8-3 Describe how to apply emotional intelligence.
LO 8-4 List ways to deal with anger.
LO 8-5 Compare and contrast assertiveness, aggressiveness, and anger.
LO 8-6 Give examples of defensive behaviors and how they affect the workplace.
LO 8-7 Distinguish among the various scripts that influence our actions.
LO 8-8 Explain why people “play games” in the workplace, and how to deal with games.
S T R A T E G I E S F O R S U C C E S S
Strategy 8.1 Stopping Games before They Start