Organizing for Horizontal Coordination

One reason for the growing use of teams and networks is that many companies are recog- nizing the limits of traditional  vertical organization structures in today’s fast-shifting envi- ronment. In general, the trend is toward breaking down barriers between departments, and many companies are moving toward horizontal  structures based on work processes rather than

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Factors Shaping Structure

Despite the trend toward horizontal design, vertical hierarchies continue to thrive because they often provide important benefits for organizations.67 How do managers know whether to design a structure that emphasizes the formal,  vertical hierarchy or one with an emphasis on horizontal communication and collaboration? The answer lies in the contingency fac- tors that influence

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Changing Things: New Products and Technologies

1. Turbulent Times and the Changing Workplace Today’s organizations  face an almost continual need for change. Sometimes, forces outside the organization bring about changes,  such as when a powerful  retailer such as Wal-Mart demands annual price cuts, or when a key supplier goes out of business. Many U.S. companies revised their procedures to comply

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Changing People and Culture

All successful changes involve  changes in people and culture  as well. For example, getting products to market fast requires that people learn to work collaboratively. Changes in people and culture pertain to how employees think—changes  in mind-set. People change pertains to just a few employees,  such as sending  a handful of middle managers to

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Model of Planned Organizational Change

Change does not happen easily, but change can be managed. By observing external trends, patterns,  and needs, managers use planned  change to help the organization adapt to exter- nal problems and opportunities.63  When organizations  are caught flat-footed, failing to anticipate or respond to new needs, management is at fault. An overall model for planned

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Implementing Organizational Change

The final step to be managed in the change process is implementation.  A new, creative idea will not benefit the organization until it is in place and being fully used. One frustration for managers is that employees often seem to resist change for no apparent reason. To effec- tively manage the implementation process, managers

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Environmental Influences on HRM

1. The Strategic Role of Human Resource Management The strategic approach to HRM recognizes three key elements. First, as we just discussed, all managers are HR managers. For example, at IBM every manager is expected to pay atten- tion to the development and satisfaction of subordinates. Line managers use surveys, career planning,  performance appraisal,

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The Changing Nature of Careers

Another current  issue is the changing nature of careers. HRM can benefit employees and organizations by responding to recent changes in the relationship  between employers and employees and new ways of working such as telecommuting, job sharing, outsourcing, and virtual teams. 1. THE  CHANGING SOCIAL CONTRACT In the old social contract between organization and

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Attracting an Effective Workforce

The first goal of HRM is to attract individuals who show signs of becoming valued, pro- ductive, and satisfied employees. The first step in attracting an effective workforce involves HR planning, in which managers or HRM professionals predict the need for new employ- ees based on the  types of vacancies that exist, as illustrated

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Developing an Effective Workforce

Following  selection, the next goal of HRM is to develop employees into an effective work- force. Development includes training and performance appraisal. 1. TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT Training and development represent a planned  effort by an organization to facilitate em- ployees’ learning  of job-related skills and behaviors.70  Organizations  spent some $51.1 billion for training in

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Maintaining an Effective Workforce

Now we turn to the topic of how managers and HRM professionals maintain  a workforce that has been recruited  and developed. Maintenance  of the current workforce involves compensation,  wage and salary systems, benefits, and occasional terminations. 1. COMPENSATION The term compensation refers to (1) all monetary payments and (2) all goods or commodi- ties

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Diversity In Organizations

Many managers  are finding innovative  ways to integrate diversity initiatives into their organizations.  These initiatives  teach current employees to value differences, direct corpo- rate recruiting efforts, influence supplier decisions, and provide development training for women and minorities. Smart managers value diversity and enforce the value in day-to-day decision making. In the United States, today’s

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Valuing Diversity

Top managers  say their companies value diversity  for a number  of reasons,  such  as to give the organization access to a broader range of opinions and viewpoints, to spur greater creativity and innovation, to reflect an increasingly  diverse customer base, to obtain the best talent in a competitive  environment,  and to more effectively compete

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Current Debates About Human Resources and Diversity

1. Current Debates About Affirmative Action Affirmative  action refers to government-mandated programs that focus on providing opportunities to women and members of minority groups who previously faced discrimina- tion. It is not the same thing as diversity,  but affirmative action has facilitated greater re- cruitment, retention, and promotion of minorities and women. Affirmative action

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The Changing Workplace

Diversity is no longer just the right thing to do; it has become a business imperative  and perhaps the single most important factor of the twenty-first century for organizational performance.125  One reason is the dramatic change taking place in the workplace, in our society, and in the economic environment.  These changes include globalization  and

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Organizational Behavior

Organizational behavior, commonly called OB, is an interdisciplinary  field dedicated to the study of human attitudes, behavior, and performance in organizations. OB draws concepts from many disciplines, including  psychology, sociology, cultural anthropology, industrial  engineering,  economics, ethics, and vocational  counseling, as well as the disci- pline of management. The concepts and principles of organizational  behavior

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Perception in organization

Another critical aspect of understanding behavior is perception. Perception is the cogni- tive process people use to make sense out of the environment by selecting, organizing, and interpreting information from the environment. Attitudes affect perceptions, and vice versa. For example, a person might have developed the attitude  that managers are insensitive  and arrogant,  based

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Personality and Behavior in organization

Another area of particular interest to organizational behavior is personality. In recent years, many employers showed heightened interest in matching  people’s personalities to the needs of the job and the organization. In the workplace, we find people whose behavior is consistently pleasant or aggressive or stubborn in a variety  of situations. An individual’s personality

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Learning in organization

Years of schooling condition many of us to think that learning is something students do in response to teachers in a classroom. With this view, in the managerial world of time dead- lines and concrete action,  learning  seems remote—even  irrelevant. However,  successful managers need specific knowledge and skills as well  as the ability to

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Stress and Stress Management

Just as organizations can support or discourage learning, organizational  characteristics also interact with individual differences to influence other behaviors. In every organization, these characteristics include  sources of stress. Formally  defined,  stress is an individual’s physiological and emotional response to external stimuli that place physical or psychologi- cal demands on the individual  and create uncertainty

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