Introduction to Organisational Behaviour and Application to Management

1. Introduction to Organisational Behaviour and Application to Management The Organisation – HR Policies and Practices

2. What is HR? Policies and practices in an organisation relating to people: • Employee selection • Training • Performance management

3. Selection – who to hire? Applicants who don’t meet basic requirements are rejected. Initial Selection Applicants who meet basic requirements, but are less qualified than others, are rejected. Substantive Selection Contingent Selection Applicants who are among best qualified, but who fail contingent selection, are rejected. Applicant receives job offer

4. Initial selection Initial selection devices are used to determine if basic qualifications for the job are met Devices include: • Application Forms • Must be careful about questions asked – legal issues Background Checks • Most employers want reference information, but few give it out – litigation worries • Letters of recommendation are of marginal worth • May use criminal record or credit report checks

5. Substantive selection Written Tests • Testing applicants for: intelligence or cognitive ability, personality, integrity, and interests • Intelligence tests are the best predictor across all jobs Performance-Simulation Tests • Based on job-related performance requirements • Work Sample Tests • Creating a miniature replica of a job to evaluate the performance abilities of job candidates • Assessment Centers • A set of performance-simulation tests designed to evaluate a candidate’s managerial potential

6. Substantive selection - interviews • Are the most frequently used selection tool • Carry a great deal of weight in the selection process • Can be biased toward those who “interview well” Types of Interviews • Unstructured (randomly chosen questions) • Most common, least predictive, and prone to bias • Structured (standardized sets of questions) • More predictive of job success; less chance for bias • Behavioral structured (asking how specific problems were handled in the past) • Past behaviors may be good predictors of future behavior Interviews most often used to determine organisation-individual fit

7. Contingent selection Final checks before hiring • Drug testing • Controversial: perceived to be unfair or invasive • Supreme Court ruled that this is not an invasion of rights • Expensive but accurate • Alcohol not generally tested for

8. Training and Development Basic Literacy Skills • One half of U.S. high school graduates do not have the basic skills necessary for work Technical Skills • Focus of most training, especially given the pace of technological change Interpersonal Skills • Skills like effective listening, communication, and teamwork Problem-Solving Skills • Help sharpen logic and reasoning, and provide helpful decision-making techniques

9. Training methods Formal • Planned in advance with a structured format Informal • Unstructured, unplanned, and easily adaptable • 70% of all current training is of this type On-the-Job (OJT) • Includes job rotation, apprenticeships, understudy assignments, and formal mentoring programs • May be disruptive to the workplace Off-the-Job • Classroom lectures, videotapes, seminars, self-study courses, Internet-based courses, role-plays, and case studies • E-Training (computer-based) • Flexible but expensive and not proven to work

10. Learning Styles Learning styles differ – so should training method Learning styles: • Reading • Give them books and reading materials to review • Watching • Let them observe experts modeling the proper behaviors • Listening • Provide lectures or audiotapes • Participating • Let these learners try out the new skills in a safe experimental environment Employees can learn from multiple styles

11. How effective is the training? Many factors determine training effectiveness: • Training method used • Individual motivation • Trainee personality: those with internal locus of control, high conscientiousness, high cognitive ability, and high self-efficacy learn best • Training climate: ability to apply the learning to the job

12. Performance Evaluation Evaluation affects performance level Purposes of Performance Evaluation: • Provides input to general human resource decisions • Promotions, transfers, and terminations • Identifies skill training and development needs • Provides performance feedback to employees • Supplies the basis for reward allocation decisions • Merit pay increases and other rewards For OB specialists: the key purposes of performance evaluation are the last two - a mechanism for feedback and reward allocation

13. What do we measure? Individual Task Outcomes • These are the metrics that directly result from employee effort such as sales, turnover, or quality Behaviors • More and more companies are focusing on behavior in place of production. The three main areas they concentrate on are: • Task Performance • Citizenship • Counterproductivity Traits • Weak because they don’t reflect productivity; often used, these include attitudes, confidence, and looking busy

14. Who evaluates? 360o Feedback Includes these and more

15. Methods of performance evaluation Written Essay • A narrative describing an employee’s strengths, weaknesses, past performances, potential, and suggestions for improvement Critical Incidents • Evaluating the behaviors that are key in making the difference between executing a job effectively and executing it ineffectively

16. Keeps up with currentpolicies and regulations 1 2 3 4 5 FullyInformed CompletelyUnaware Methods of performance evaluation • Graphic rating scales

17. Methods of performance evaluation • Behaviorally Anchored Rating Scales (BARS) • Scales that combine major elements from the critical incident and graphic rating scale approaches: The appraiser rates the employees based on items along a continuum, but the points are examples of actual behavior on a given job rather than general descriptions or traits.

18. Methods of performance evaluation Forced Comparisons • Evaluating one individual’s performance relative to the performance of another individual or others • Who is “better,” A or B? Group Order Ranking • An evaluation method that places employees into a particular classification, such as quartiles • 10% are A’s, 20% B’s, 40% C’s, 20% D’s, and 10% F’s Individual Ranking • An evaluation method that rank-orders employees from best to worst • Mary is #1, Juan is #2, Liu is #3…

19. Improving evaluation methods • Use multiple evaluators to overcome rater biases • Evaluate selectively based on evaluator competence • Train evaluators to improve accuracy • Provide employees with due process • Individuals are provided with adequate notice of performance expectations • All relevant evidence of a violation is aired in a fair hearing, with the individual given an opportunity to respond • Final decision is based on the evidence and is free of bias

20. Giving feedback Some managers do not like giving feedback: • They are uncomfortable discussing performance weaknesses directly with employees • Employees tend to become defensive • Employees tend to have an inflated assessment of their own performance Solutions to improving feedback: • Train managers on how to give effective feedback • Use performance review as a counselling activity rather than as a judgment process

21. Global implications Selection • Practices differ by nation: global policies need to be modified to fit within local customs • Use of educational qualifications may be universal Performance Evaluation • Not emphasized or considered appropriate in many cultures due to differences in: • Individualism versus collectivism • A person’s relationship to the environment • Time orientation (long- or short-term) • Focus on responsibility

22. Summary Selection Practices • Proper selection devices increase likelihood of hiring the right person for the position Training and Development Programs • Can be used to improve employee skills • Increase employee self-efficacy Performance Evaluation • A major goal is to assess an individual’s performance accurately as a basis for reward allocation decisions • Should be based on behavioral, results-oriented criteria; take a long-term view; and allow employees input into the process

23. Activity • What HR policies and processes will be important for your cake shop? • What training methods might best suit your employees?

24. Introduction to Organisational Behaviour and Application to Management The Organisation – Organisational Change and Stress Management

25. What is change? • When things are different to before • How you get from A to B

26. Forces for change Nature of the Workforce • Greater diversity Technology • Faster, cheaper, more mobile Economic Shocks • Mortgage meltdown Competition • Global marketplace Social Trends • Baby boom retirements World Politics • Iraq War and the opening of China

27. Planned change Planned Change • Activities that are proactive and purposeful: an intentional, goal-oriented activity • Goals of planned change • Improving the ability of the organisation to adapt to changes in its environment • Changing employee behavior Change Agents • Persons who act as catalysts and assume the responsibility for managing change activities

28. Activity • What planned and unplanned changes have you experienced in the past 6 months? • How did that impact upon you?

29. Resistance to change Resistance to change appears to be a natural and positive state Forms of Resistance to Change: • Overt and Immediate • Voicing complaints, engaging in job actions • Implicit and Deferred • Loss of employee loyalty and motivation, increased errors or mistakes, increased absenteeism • Deferred resistance clouds the link between source and reaction

30. Sources of resistance - individual

31. Sources of resistance - organisation

32. Tactics for overcoming resistance Education and Communication • Show those effected the logic behind the change Participation • Participation in the decision process lessens resistance Building Support and Commitment • Counseling, therapy, or new-skills training Implementing Change Fairly • Be consistent and procedurally fair Manipulation and Co-optation • “Spinning” the message to gain cooperation Selecting people who accept change • Hire people who enjoy change in the first place Coercion • Direct threats and force

33. Politics of change • Impetus for change is likely to come from outside change agents, new employees, or managers outside the main power structure. • Internal change agents are most threatened by their loss of status in the organisation. • Long-time power holders tend to implement incremental but not radical change. • The outcomes of power struggles in the organisation will determine the speed and quality of change.

34. Models of change – Lewin’s 3 step model Unfreezing • Change efforts to overcome the pressures of both individual resistance and group conformity Refreezing • Stabilizing a change intervention by balancing driving and restraining forces

35. Kotter’s 8 stages model • Builds from Lewin’s Model • To implement change: • Establish a sense of urgency • Form a coalition • Create a new vision • Communicate the vision • Empower others by removing barriers • Create and reward short-term “wins” • Consolidate, reassess, and adjust • Reinforce the changes Unfreezing Movement Refreezing

36. Use of action research A change process based on systematic collection of data and then selection of a change action based on what the analyzed data indicates Process steps: • Diagnosis • Analysis • Feedback • Action • Evaluation Action research benefits: • Problem-focused rather than solution-centered • Heavy employee involvement reduces resistance to change

37. Organisational development (OD) A collection of planned interventions, built on humanistic-democratic values, that seeks to improve organisational effectiveness and employee well-being OD Values • Respect for people • Trust and support • Power equalization • Confrontation • Participation

38. 6 OD techniques Sensitivity Training • Training groups (T-groups) that seek to change behavior through unstructured group interaction • Provides increased awareness of others and self • Increases empathy with others, listening skills, openness, and tolerance for others Survey Feedback Approach • The use of questionnaires to identify discrepancies among member perceptions; discussion follows and remedies are suggested Process Consultation (PC) • A consultant gives a client insights into what is going on around the client, within the client, and between the client and other people; identifies processes that need improvement.

39. 6 OD techniques Team Building • High interaction among team members to increase trust and openness Intergroup Development • OD efforts to change the attitudes, stereotypes, and perceptions that groups have of each other Appreciative Inquiry • Seeks to identify the unique qualities and special strengths of an organisation, which can then be built on to improve performance • Discovery: Recalling the strengths of the organisation • Dreaming: Speculation on the future of the organisation • Design: Finding a common vision • Destiny: Deciding how to fulfill the dream

40. Ways to create a culture for change - 1 Culture of Innovation • Innovation: a new idea applied to initiating or improving a product, process, or service Sources of Innovation: • Structural variables: organic structures • Long-tenured management • Slack resources • Inter-unit communication Idea Champions: Individuals who actively promote the innovation

41. Ways to create a culture for change - 2 Learning organisation • An organisation that has developed the continuous capacity to adapt and change Characteristics • Holds a shared vision • Discards old ways of thinking • Views organisation as system of relationships • Communicates openly • Works together to achieve shared vision

42. Learning organisation - benefits Overcomes traditional organisation problems: • Fragmentation • Competition • Reactiveness Manage Learning by: • Establishing a strategy • Redesigning the organisation’s structure • Flatten structure and increase cross-functional activities • Reshaping the organisation’s culture • Reward risk-taking and intelligent mistakes

43. Activity • Is HHU a learning organisation? • What is your evidence for your answer?

44. Stress Stress is a dynamic condition in which an individual is confronted with an opportunity, constraint, or demand related to what he or she desires and for which the outcome is perceived to be both uncertain and important Types of Stress • Challenge Stressors • Stress associated with workload, pressure to complete tasks, and time urgency Hindrance Stressors • Stress that keeps you from reaching your goals, such as red tape • Cause greater harm than challenge stressors

45. Demands – Resources model of stress Demands • Responsibilities, pressures, obligations, and uncertainties in the workplace Resources • Things within an individual’s control that can be used to resolve demands • Adequate resources help reduce the stressful nature of demands

46. A model of stress

47. Possible sources of stress Environmental Factors • Economic uncertainties of the business cycle • Political uncertainties of political systems • Technological uncertainties of technical innovations Organisational Factors • Task demands related to the job • Role demands of functioning in an organisation • Interpersonal demands created by other employees Personal Factors • Family and personal relationships • Economic problems from exceeding earning capacity • Personality problems arising from basic disposition

48. Activity Think about yourself: • Which sources of stress are the most difficult for you to manage? • How will this affect your choice of employer and job role? You do not need to share your answer

49. Consequences of stress Stressors are additive: high levels of stress can lead to the following symptoms Physiological • Blood pressure, headaches, stroke Psychological • Dissatisfaction, tension, anxiety, irritability, boredom, and procrastination • Greatest when roles are unclear in the presence of conflicting demands Behavioral • Changes in job behaviors, increased smoking or drinking, different eating habits, rapid speech, fidgeting, sleep disorders

50. Not all stress is bad • Some level of stress can increase productivity • Too little or too much stress will reduce performance • This model is not empirically supported