Unit 1

Strategic Management
Page 20 (Kazmi)

 ‘Strategic management is that set of decisions and actions which

+6
 1leads to the development of an effective strategy or strategies to
help achieve corporate objectives.’ – F.Glueck
 ‘Strategic management is defined as the set of decisions and
actions in formulation and implementation of strategies designed to
achieve the objectives of an organisation.’ – W.F. Glueck

Benefits of SM
 Increased sales

 Improved profitability

 Enhanced productivity

 Enhanced awareness of external threats

 Improved understanding of competitors’ strategies

 Increased employee productivity

 Reduced resistance to change

 Clearer understanding of performance-reward relationships

 Enhanced awareness of external threats

 Improved understanding of competitors’ strategies

 Increased employee productivity

 Reduced resistance to change

 Clearer understanding of performance-reward relationships

 Provides basis for identifying and rationalising the need for change

 Helps the employees to view change as an opportunity

 Permits organisations to identify, prioritise and exploit

opportunities.

 Gives an unbiased and real picture of management problems.

 Provides guidelines to stimulate coordination and control of

activities.

 Reduces the impact of adverse conditions and changes in the

business environment.

 Helps in taking good decisions to support established objectives.

 Allows effective allocation of time and resources to identified

opportunities.

 Helps in reducing the wastage of resources and time.

 Encourages internal communication.

 Integrates the behaviour of individuals into total effort.

 Defines clear individual responsibilities.

  Promotes forward thinking.

 Stimulates a favourable attitude toward change.

 Creates discipline in the management of a business.

Strategic Management Process / Planning Process (SMP)

Page 21 (Kazmi)

Forward Linkage and Backward Linkage

PPT-2

2 (Forward and
backward linkage).pdf

Strategy Implementation Process

Strategy Implementation refers to the execution of the plans and strategies, so
as to accomplish the long-term goals of the organization. It converts the opted
strategy into the moves and actions of the organisation to achieve the objectives.

Simply put, strategy implementation is the technique through which the firm
develops, utilises and integrates its structure, culture, resources, people and
control system to follow the strategies to have the edge over other competitors
in the market.

Strategy implementation is the second phase in the strategic management

process. It is concerned with putting the strategy into operation or translating
the chosen strategy into strategic action. In other words, it is the strategic
management process of activating the chosen strategy through structure,
leadership, and culture.
Implementation in the Strategic Management Process
A new strategy doesn’t start with the implementation. Instead, strategy
implementation follows three other stages in the process of strategic
management. The first step is to identify your mission, vision, values and
objectives. This is done by performing research and organizational analysis.
This analysis concerns itself with all aspects of a business.

First, a business identifies potential areas of improvement. Next, a strategy is

formulated to best address changes. Strategic implementation follows after.
Afterwards, leaders continuously evaluate the implemented approaches.

They are broadly classified into three namely:

1. Operationalising the strategy,
2. Institutionalising the strategy, and
3. Evaluation and control of the strategy.

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com/strategic-management/process-of-
strategy-implementation/19854

Selection of an implementation
approach

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implementation.24xls.com/en110
 Unit 2
Organization Structure
An organizational structure is a system that outlines how certain activities are
directed in order to achieve the goals of an organization. These activities can
include rules, roles, and responsibilities.

The organizational structure also determines how information flows between

levels within the company. For example, in a centralized structure, decisions
flow from the top down, while in a decentralized structure, decision-making
power is distributed among various levels of the organization.

Having an organizational structure in place allows companies to remain

efficient and focused.
Types of Organisational Structure
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types-of-organisational-structure/3448

Approaches of Organizational Structure

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management/organizational-design-and-structure/five-approaches-to-
organizational-design

Matching Strategy with Structure

PPT-7

7(Matching Strategy
With Structure).pdf

THE IMPORTANCE OF ALIGNING THE STRUCTURE WITH THE BUSINESS

STRATEGY
The key to profitable performance is the extent to which four business elements
are aligned:

Leadership. The individuals responsible for developing and deploying the

strategy and monitoring results.

Organization. The structure, processes and operations by which the strategy is

deployed.

Jobs. The necessary roles and responsibilities.

People. The experience, skills and competencies needed to execute the strategy.

An understanding of the interdependencies of these business elements and the

need for them to adapt to change quickly and strategically are essential for
success in the high-performance organization. When these four elements are in
sync, outstanding performance is more likely.

Achieving alignment and sustaining organizational capacity requires time and

critical thinking. Organizations must identify outcomes the new structure or
process is intended to produce. This typically requires recalibrating the
following:

 Which work is mission-critical, can be scaled back or should be

eliminated.
 Existing role requirements, while identifying necessary new or modified
roles.
 Key metrics and accountabilities.
 Critical information flows.
 Decision-making authority by organization level.

Unit 3
Strategic Change
PPT-8
8(Change - Need and
Types).pdf

Strategic change is the movement of a company away from its present state
toward some desired future state to increase its competitive advantage. It is an
approach to bringing about congruence among the organization’s strategy
structure and human resource systems and the larger environment.

Need for Change

1. Crisis: Obviously September 11, 2001 is the most dramatic example of a
crisis which caused countless organizations and even industries such as
airlines and travel to change. The 2008 financial crisis obviously created
many changes in the financial services industry as organizations
attempted to survive.
2. Performance gaps: This occurs when an organization's goals and
objectives are not being met or other organizational needs are not being
satisfied. Changes are required to close these gaps.
3. New technology: The identification of new technology can lead to more
efficient and economical methods to perform work.
4. Identification of opportunities: Opportunities are identified in the
market place that the organization needs to pursue in order to increase its
competitiveness.
5. Reaction to internal and external pressure: Management and
employees, particularly those in organized unions often exert pressure for
change. External pressures come from many areas, including customers,
competition, changing government regulations, shareholders and financial
markets in the organization's external environment.
6. Mergers and acquisitions: Mergers and acquisitions create change in a
number of areas often negatively impacting employees when two
 organizations are merged and employees in duel functions are made
redundant.
7. Change for the sake of change: Often an organization will appoint a
new CEO. In order to prove to the board they are doing something, they
will make changes just for their own sake.
8. Something sounds good: Another reason organizations may institute
certain changes is that other organizations are doing so, such as the old
quality circles and reengineering fads. It sounds good, so the organization
tries it.
9. Planned abandonment: Changes as a result of abandoning declining
products, markets, or subsidiaries and allocating resources to innovation
and new opportunities.

Types of Change
Happened Change

This kind of change is unpredictable in nature and is usually takes place due to
the impact of the external factors. Happened change is profound and can be
traumatic as it’s consequences are unknown and out of direct control. This kind
of a change happens when an organization reaches the plateau stage in its life
cycle and gets victimized by the environmental pressures or demands. For
example, currency devaluation may adversely affect the business of those
organizations who have to depend upon importing of raw materials largely. In
certain cases, some political, as well as social changes, are unpredictable and
uncontrollable.

Reactive Change

Changes which take place in response to an event or a chain of various events

can be termed as Reactive Change. Most of the organizations indulge in reactive
change. This kind of change usually occurs when there is an increase or
decrease in the demand for company’s products or services. It can also be a
response to a problematic situation or a crisis which an organization may be
faced with. For example, due to the advancements in technology or growing
technological changes, an organization may be forced to invest more in
technology to stay ahead to face the stiff competition. Recreation can also be
regarded as a reactive change, which involves the entire organization and occurs
during the stage when an organization is undergoing a serious crisis.

Anticipatory Change

If a change is implemented with prior anticipation of the happening of an event

or a chain of events, it is called as anticipatory change. Organizations may
either tune in or reorient themselves as an anticipatory measure to face the
environmental pressures. Tuning in essentially involves implementing
incremental changes which mean dealing with the subsystems individually or
just with the part of a system. Reorientation essentially involves changing the
organization from the existing state to a desired futuristic state as an
anticipatory measure and then dealing with the entire process of transition.

Planned Change

Planned change is also regarded as the developmental change which is

implemented with the objective of improving the present ways of operation and
to achieve the pre-defined goals. Planned change is calculated and is not
threatening as in this the future state is being chosen consciously. The
introduction of employee welfare measures, changes in the incentive system,
introduction of new products and technologies, organizational restructuring,
team building, enhancing employee communication as well as technical
expertise fall under the category of Planned Change.
Incremental Change

Change which is implemented at the micro level, units or subunits can be

regarded as incremental change. Incremental changes are introduced or
implemented gradually and are adaptive in nature. It is based on the assumption
that these small changes will ultimately result in a large change and establish
the basis for forming a much healthier and a robust system. It even offers an
opportunity to an organization to learn from its very own experiences and create
the adaptive mechanisms for meeting the ultimate organizational vision. The
extent of damage due to a failed incremental change effort is expected to be
much lesser than the change which is implemented on a large scale or
introduced universally.

Operational Change

This kind of change becomes a requirement or the need when an organization is

faced with competitive pressures as a result of which the focus is laid more on
quality improvement or improvement in the delivery of services for an edge
over the competitors. Similarly, changes in the customer’s buying patterns or
demands or the internal dynamics of an organization equally necessitate the
implementation of operational change. Operational change as the name implies
means introducing changes in the existing operations for realizing the intended
goals. This may include bringing in changes in the current technology,
improving/re-engineering the existing work processes, improving the
distribution framework or the product delivery, better quality management and
improving the coordination at an inter-departmental level.

Strategic Change

Strategic Change is usually implemented at the organizational level, which may

affect the various components of an organization and also the organizational
strategy. A change in the management style in an organization could be
considered as an example of strategic change. A multinational organization like
Toyota has taken a step ahead in bringing in a change in the overall
organizational philosophy for availing the advantages of being a leaner
organization structurally, flexibility, decentralized decision making and
functioning of organizations and equally allows a greater extent of freedom or
autonomy in implementing proactive decisions. This kind of change is expected
to have a cascading effect on the entire organization and accordingly would be
having an influence on the overall performance.

Directional Change

Directional change may become a necessity due to the increasing competitive

pressures or due to rapid changes in the governmental control or policies, which
may include changes in the import/export policies, pricing structure and
taxation policies, etc. Directional change can also become imperative when an
organization lacks the capability of implementing/executing the current strategy
effectively or during the circumstances when a strategic change is required.

Fundamental Change

Fundamental Change essentially involves the redefinition of organizational

vision/mission. This may be required during extremely volatile circumstances
like volatility in the business environment, failure of the leadership, a decline in
productivity as well as the overall turnover or problems with the morale of the
employee.

Total Change

A Total Change involves change in the organizational vision and striking a

harmonious alignment with the organizational strategy, employee morale and
commitment as well as with the business performance. Total Change becomes a
requirement during those circumstances when an organization is faced with
many criticalities such as long-term business failure, incongruence between the
employee and organizational values, failure of leaders/management in
anticipating the realities of business environment or the growing competitive
pressures and concentration of power in the hands of few. A new organizational
vision along with major strategic changes as well as complete organizational
surgery can be the only solution at this point of time.

Change Agents
In business parlance, a change agent is an individual or group, who carry
out the task of instigating and managing change in the organization.
He/She is someone, who directly or indirectly influences change, i.e. the
change agents are appointed by the organizations to transform the ways,
the organization is managed, or the business is conducted.

A change agent, or agent of change, is someone who promotes and enables

change to happen within any group or organization.

In business, a change agent is an individual who promotes and supports a new

way of doing something within the company, whether it's the use of a new
process, the adoption of a new management structure or the transformation of
an old business model to a new one.

Types of Change Agent

The change agent can be internal or external to the organization who plays

the role of a catalyst to implement change in the organization.

1. Internal Change Agent: When the change agent, is internal to the

organization then he/she is usually the employee such as a manager,
 senior executive, leader, HR professional or any other person from the
staff who has mastered in behavioural sciences and intervention
technology of organization development. They are appointed by the
organization to look after the change process.

2. External Change Agent: The external change agent is the one who is
brought to the organization from outside such as consultants. The
company’s rules regulations and policies are not imposed on them, and so
they can deeply analyze and bring different viewpoints to a situation and
challenge the existing state of affairs.

However, this can also be seen as a disadvantage, as the external change

agent is not aware of the company’s history, work processes, and
personnel.

What change agents do

Change agents aim at making changes in the existing processes or culture of the
organization that sticks. And to do so, they focus on the matters relating to
organizational effectiveness, innovation, and advancement.

He/She is someone who always seeks an opportunity for change, determines the
best approach and bring about change. They are the one who possesses skills
and competencies to initiate, facilitate and coordinate organizational change.

Change Agents help the organization in understanding the requirement and

relevance for change and takes all necessary steps required to manage change
and also anticipates the problem; that might take place during or after the
change is implemented in the organization. He/She is responsible to transform
vision into a realistic plan and execute it.
Regardless of the actual position or job title a change agent holds, an individual
who takes on the task of being an agent of change assumes responsibility for:

 promoting the value of the transformation that is being undertaken by

the organization;

 formulating how the transformation will happen;

 guiding and supporting others through the transformation; and

 ensuring that the new processes, procedures, structures, etc., are

implemented in ways that deliver the expected value that the
organizational change was to produce.

Skills of a Change Agent

 Cognitive Skills: The skills which require some level of pro-action from
the side of the change agent for the purpose of self-understanding,
conceptualization, and evaluation.

 Action Skills: Change Agent works as a consultant, researcher, trainer,

counsellor, etc. in an organization, so, he/she should possess the required
skills and competencies.
  Communication Skills: He/She is responsible for spreading change
information, and making the organization realize the need for change, for
which he/she must possess excellent communication and pervasive skills.

Levels of Change
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models-and-approaches-you-need-to-know

The various  levels of organizational change programs may be classified into

individual  level changes, group level changes and organisational level changes.

Individual Level Change Programs

Individual level changes may take place due to changes in job  assignment,
transfer of an employee to a different location or the changes in the  maturity
level of a person which occurs over a passage of time. The general  opinion is
that change at the individual level will not have significant  implications for the
organisation. But this is not correct because individual level  changes will have
impact on the group which in turn will influence the whole  organisation.
Therefore, a manager should never treat the employees in  isolation but he must
understand that the individual level change will have  repercussions beyond the
individual.

Group Level Change Programs

Management must consider group factors while implementing any  change,

because most of the organisational changes have their major effects at  the
group level. The groups in the organisation can be formal groups or  informal
groups. Formal groups can always resist change for example, the trade
unions can very strongly resist the changes proposed by the management.
Informal groups can pose a major barrier to change because of the inherent
strength they contain. Changes at the group level can affect the work flows, job
design, social organisation, influence and status systems and communication
patterns.

The groups, particularly the informal groups have a lot of influence on  the
individual members on the group. As such by effectively implementing change
at the group level, resistance at the individual level can be frequently
overcome.

Organization Level Change Programs

The organisational level change involves major programs which  affect both the
individuals and the groups. Decisions regarding such changes  are made by the
senior management. These changes occur over long periods of  time and require
considerable planning for implementation. A few different  types of
organisation level changes are:
 1. Strategic Change: Strategic change is the change in the very basic
objectives  or missions of the organisation. A single objective may have
to be changed to  multiple objectives. For example, a lot of Indian
companies are being modified  to accommodate various aspect of global
culture brought in by the multinational  or transnational corporations.
2. Structural Change: Organisational structure is the pattern of
relationships  among various positions and among various position
holders. Structural change  involves changing the internal structure of the
organisation. This change may be  in the whole set of relationships, work
assignment and authority structure.  Change in organisation structure is
required because old relationships and  interactions no longer remain
valid and useful in the changed circumstances.
3. Process Oriented Change: These changes relate to the recent
technological  developments, information processing and automation.
This will involve  replacing or retraining personnel, heavy capital
equipment investment and  operational changes. All this will affect the
organisational culture and as a result  the behavior pattern of the
individuals.
4. People Oriented Change: People oriented changes are directed towards
performance improvement, group cohesion, dedication and loyalty to the
organisation as well as developing a sense of self actualization among
members.  This can be made possible by closer interaction with
employees and by special  behavioral training and modification sessions.
To conclude, we can say that  changes at any level affect the other levels.
The strength of the effect will  depend on the level or source of change.

Resistance to Change
One of the most important tasks of managers is to facilitate changes smoothly.
Change is always inevitable but so is resistance to change. It is
basic human nature of people to try and keep their methods and customs constant.
This is where change management comes into play. An organization always must
strive to adapt to change if it wants to be successful.

Introduction to Resistance to Change

Change is basically a variation in pre-existing methods, customs, and conventions.

Since all organizations function in dynamic environments, they constantly have to
change themselves to succeed.

Change management contains several strategies that help in facilitating the

smooth adoption of such changes.

One of the most important facets of change management is resistance to change. It

is simply human nature to counteract any changes and maintain the status quo.

But since change is inevitable, instead of resisting changes the organization must
try to implement them with minimum hassle.

Resistance to change may be either overt or implicit. For example, employees

may react to a change in policies with outright rejection and protests.

They may even refrain from showing disapproval expressly, but they may do so
implicitly by not accepting changes. Managers must understand these problems
and help the employees adopt these changes smoothly.
Reasons for Resistance to Change

In order to facilitate transitions and changes, managers must first be able to

identify the exact reason for resistance. Such resistance to change is common in
all organizations. The following are some common reasons for this:

 People generally find it convenient to continue doing something as

they have always been doing. Making them learn something new is
difficult.

 Changes always bring about alterations in a person’s duties, powers,

and influence. Hence, the people to whom such changes will affect
negatively will always resist.

 People who are adamant on maintaining customs instead of taking

risks and doing new things will always resist changes. This can
happen either due to their insecurities or lack of creativity and will.

Types of Resistance to Change

Resistance to change may be of the following three types:

a) Logical resistance: This kind of resistance basically arises from the time

people genuinely take to adapt and adjust to changes. For example, when
computers became common, accountants had to shift from accounting on paper to
digital accounting. This naturally takes time to adapt to.

b) Psychological resistance: Under this category, the resistance occurs purely

due to mental and psychological factors. Individuals often resist changes for
reasons like fear of the unknown, less tolerance to change, dislike towards the
management, etc.
c) Sociological resistance: This resistance relates not to individuals but rather to
the common values and customs of groups. Individuals may be willing to change
but will not due to peer pressure from the group they are members of. For
example, if a workers’ union protests against new management policies, all
workers face pressure to protest together.

Overcoming Resistance

While change will almost always face resistance, it is certainly possible to

overcome it. Managers must strive to help their employees adjust to changes and
facilitate new variations in functioning.

Firstly, managers must be able to convince workers that the changes they are
proposing are necessary. They should show how the workers and the organization
itself will benefit from these changes.

Secondly, the management can keep the following considerations in mind to

implement changes smoothly:

 Changes should not happen in one go because it is easier to implement

them in stages.

 Changes should never cause security problems for the workers.

 Managers must consider the opinions of all employees on whom the

proposed change will have an effect.

 If managers portray leadership by first adapting to the changes

themselves, employees are less likely to resist.
  Sufficient prior training of employees can help them accept changes
with confidence.

Organisation Culture and

Climate
Organisation Culture
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culture

Organizational culture, also known as corporate culture, refers to the values,

attitudes, beliefs and behaviors that characterize and contribute to organization's
unique social and emotional work environment. Organizational culture is unique
for every organization and one of the hardest things to change and consists of
written and unwritten rules that have been developed over time

Organizational culture is a system of shared assumptions, values, and beliefs,

which governs how people behave in organizations. Organizational culture
includes an organization’s expectations, experiences, philosophy, and values
that hold it together, and is expressed in its self-image, inner workings,
interactions with the outside world, and future expectations.

It is based on shared attitudes, beliefs, customs, and written and unwritten rules
that have been developed over time and are considered valid.
These shared values have a strong influence on the people in the organization
and dictate how they dress, act, and perform their jobs.

Every organization develops and maintains a unique culture, which provides

guidelines and boundaries for the behavior of the members of the organization.

Organizational culture/corporate culture includes-

 The ways the organization conducts its business, treats its employees,
customers, and the wider community,
 The extent to which freedom is allowed in decision making, developing
new ideas, and personal expression,
 How power and information flow through its hierarchy, and
 How committed employees are towards collective objectives.

Many Scholars had given the definition of organizational culture. Some of the
popular definitions are given below:

According to Robbie Katanga, “Organizational Culture is how organizations do

things.”

According to Alec Haverstick, “In large part, Organizational culture is a product

of compensation.”

According to Bruce Perron, “Organizational culture defines a jointly shared

description of an organization from within.”

According to Richard Perrin, “Organizational culture is the sum of values and

rituals which serve as a glue to integrate the members of the organization.”

According to Alan Adler, “Organizational culture is civilization in the

workplace.”
According to Elizabeth Skringar, “Organizational culture is shaped by the main
culture of the society we live in, albeit with greater emphasis on particular parts
of it.”

According to Abdi Osman Jama, “An organization is a living culture that can
adapt to the reality 4s fast as possible.”

Organizational, culture affects the organization’s productivity and performance

and provides guidelines on customer care and service, product quality and
safety, attendance and punctuality, and concern for the environment.

It also extends to production methods, marketing, and advertising practices, and

to new product creation.

Organizational culture is unique for every organization and one of the hardest
things to change. Corporate culture reflects the values, beliefs, and attitudes
that permeate a business.

Corporate culture is often referred to as “the character of an organization”

representing the collective behavior of people using common corporate vision,
goals, shared values, attitudes, habits, working language, systems, and symbols.

Corporate culture is interwoven with processes, technologies, learning, and

significant events. It is a total sum of the values, customs, traditions, and
meanings that make a company unique.

Characteristics of Organizational Culture

As individuals come into contact with organizations, they come into contact
with dress norms, stories people tell about what goes on, the organization’s
formal rules and procedures, its formal codes of behavior, rituals, tasks, pay
systems, jargon, and jokes only understood by insiders and so on.
Organizational culture is composed of seven characteristics that range in
priority from high to low. Every organization has a distinct value for each of
these characteristics.

Members of organizations make judgments on the value their organization

places on these characteristics, and then adjust their behavior to match this
perceived set of values.

Characteristics of organizational culture are;

 Innovation (Risk Orientation).

 Attention to Detail (Precision Orientation).
 Emphasis on Outcome (Achievement Orientation).
 Emphasis on People (Fairness Orientation).
 Teamwork (Collaboration Orientation).
 Aggressiveness (Competitive Orientation).
 Stability (Rule Orientation).

Let’s examine each of these seven characteristics.

Innovation (Risk Orientation)

Companies with cultures that place a high value on innovation encourage their
employees to take risks and innovate in the performance of their jobs.

Companies with cultures that place a low value on innovation expect their
employees to do their jobs the same way that they have been trained to do them,
without looking for ways to improve their performance.
Attention to Detail (Precision Orientation)

This characteristic of organizational culture dictates the degree to which

employees are expected to be accurate in their work.

A culture that places a high value on attention to detail expects its employees to
perform their work with precision. A culture that places a low value on this
characteristic does not.

Emphasis on Outcome (Achievement Orientation)

Companies that focus on results, but not on how the results are achieved, place a
high emphasis on this value of organizational culture.

A company that instructs its sales force to do whatever it takes to get sales
orders has a culture that places a high value on the emphasis on outcome
characteristics.

Emphasis on People (Fairness Orientation)

Companies that place a high value on this characteristic of organizational

culture place a great deal of importance on how their decisions will affect the
people in their organizations.

For these companies, it is important to treat their employees with respect and
dignity.’

Teamwork (Collaboration Orientation)

Companies that organize work activities around teams instead of individuals

place a high value on this characteristic of the organizational culture.
People who work for these types of companies tend to have a positive
relationship with their coworkers and managers.

Aggressiveness (Competitive Orientation)

This characteristic of organizational culture dictates whether group members are

expected to be assertive or easygoing when dealing with companies they
compete within the marketplace.

Companies with an aggressive culture place a high value on competitiveness

and outperforming the competition at all costs.

Stability (Rule Orientation)

A company whose culture places a high value on stability is rule-oriented,

predictable, and bureaucratic in nature. These types of companies typically
provide consistent and predictable levels of output and operate best in non-
changing market conditions.

These are the seven characteristics that are common in the context of
organizational culture.

Of course, it is true that the characteristics are not the same in all times and
spheres.

Drawbacks
Poor Communication

Whenever there isn’t any team chemistry in a business, then things can get
pretty toxic pretty quickly. It’s no surprise, therefore, that one of the things
you get in the wrong kind of corporate culture is poor internal communication.
If you seek to create a culture where everyone is friendly and supports their
colleagues, you must emphasize proper communication. When you ensure that
communication flows freely in your organization, then the culture will follow.
When people start to feel as if it’s too difficult to speak to each other, or the
conversations feel forced and are not enjoyable, then there is a problem.

Start with clear corporate communication, from recruitment and in every phase
after. Encouraging employees to communicate openly in a respectful, friendly
manner will benefit your corporate culture.

Micromanagement

Whenever employees feel as if management is being Big Brother, then the

employees will feel tense and the atmosphere will be one of anxiety.

Micromanagement doesn’t work under any circumstances. In fact, it puts your

employees under unnecessary pressure and slows down the rate at which they
work, not to mention the quality of their output.

To avoid such a situation, avoid micromanagement altogether. Your hiring

process should be the right one. When you craft the right hiring process, in
which you hire the employees, then you don’t have to worry, because they will
be employees that you can trust.

You should also try to create an environment where the tasks are clearly set
out and everyone knows exactly what they are meant to do. That way,
individuals can work on their own without supervision and at a speed that is
comfortable for them.
Too Much Competition

Competition isn’t an inherently bad thing. It is a great way to get work done.
In fact, when co-workers have a bit of friendly competition, the quality of their
output can skyrocket. However, everything should be in moderation and this is
true about competition as it is true for just about everything else. When
competition becomes unfriendly, then not only will employees start to develop
hostile relationships, but their productivity will also be negatively impacted.

That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t implement schemes like “Employee of the
Month” and so on. Such schemes are great for motivating employees to do
their best. However, be sure to watch out so the competition doesn’t get out of
hand.

Leniency Toward Bad Habits

Bad habits can, and often do, start with upper level management. If the
management seems to have bad habits, then the employees will emulate this
behavior thinking it is okay. After all, the management is doing it.

If a manager comes to work late on a consistent basis, then employees will

come to think that that kind of behavior is okay. If management doesn’t
observe industry standards when they perform tasks, then the employees won’t
regard them either. Eventually, this will pervade the entire organization.

Bad habits can also come about because you are too lenient on your employees
and do not properly manage them. If that is the case, you need to put a plug in
it before it goes too far.
An Unhealthy Focus on Profit

Of course every non-profit is in business, by definition, for profit. There is

therefore nothing wrong with trying to have a good quarter. However, your
bottom line isn’t the only thing you should be focusing one. In fact, this often
a symptom of a company that doesn’t have much of a sense of purpose since
such companies are more interested in short-term results than long-term goals.

Businesses that focus only on the profit they make tend to have no time to
engage their employees. These are the same businesses that have incredibly
high employee turnover. It’s easier to work at a company that values you.

Too Much Gossip

It doesn’t matter whether the environment is corporate or not; gossip is bad.

When gossip is carried out in the office, the atmosphere can be destroyed. It
can encourage such things as bullying and wrongful termination. The object of
the gossip can be hurt and have their self-esteem battered, not to mention the
potential for depression.

In order to deal with this, it is important to speak to the employees who are
directly affected by gossip as well as the chief perpetrators. Once this is done,
you can then speak to the office collectively.

Low Engagement in the Office

One of the reasons employees choose to leave companies is that they no longer
feel like they are being engaged. This is actually one of the most common
disadvantages of a bad corporate culture. Still, it can be easy to fight it by
trying to breathe some new life into your corporate culture.
It could be something as simple as celebrating birthdays or something as
complex as installing a gaming and relaxing room in the office where
employees can go to just chill and chat. Good engagement for employees is
one of the benefits of organizational culture.

No Empathy

Empathy is one of the most important elements of human interaction. When

you show your employees that you have empathy for them and the lives that
they lead then you are creating a firm foundation that makes for very strong
relationships with your employees.

In the same way, it is important that you show your employees that you
understand their strengths and weaknesses, and to value them. Without
showing this, they will feel undervalued and will seek out other opportunities.

Poor Leadership and Management

The management and the leadership of a company often are the employees
who start bad trends, which trickle down to lower-level employees. Whether it
is a case of not managing employees in a helpful manner or of setting bad
habits, when the leadership of the company is not right, then the culture of the
company will often suffer.

To prevent this, make certain that you have the right leaders in the company,
beginning with recruitment. Additionally, make sure that there is some kind of
oversight, which ensures that the leaders are setting the right examples for the
employees.
Organization Climate
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ional-climate/
Organizational climate is a concept that was introduced in the year 1940s and
has been able to describe the patterns that have an impact on human behaviour
as well as workplace behaviour.

It is a reflection of the perceptions that an employee has about his work

environment. Organizational climate is also known as corporate climate as it
quantifies the culture of a corporation. It has a significant impact on job
satisfaction, productivity and motivational levels of the employees in the
organization.

Various types of organizational climate

The different types of organizational climate that results because of the culture
of an organization are

1. People-Oriented Climate 

The organizational culture that includes a core set of values and puts its onus on
care and concern for the employees’ results in people-oriented climate

2. Rule-Oriented Climate 

The organizational culture that provides for featured benefits and puts its burden
on attention to details by all the members’ result in rule-oriented climate
3. Innovation-Oriented Climate 

The organizational culture that introduces new ways and processes to develop
new and innovative things results in innovation-oriented climate

4. Result-Oriented Climate 

The organizational culture that gives preference to values and puts its onus on
refining every detail of the processes to refine and achieve results is known as
result-oriented climate

Drawbacks
PPT-10

10 (Change Agent,
OrganizationCultureandClimate).pdf

Organizational Development (OD)

Interventions
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Organizational Development (OD) Interventions are structured program

designed to solve a problem, thus enabling an organization to achieve the goal.
These intervention activities are designed to improve the organization’s
functioning and enable managers and leaders to better manage their team and
organization cultures. These OD interventions are required to address the issues
that an organization might be facing ranging from process, performance,
knowledge, skill, will, technology, appraisal, career development, attrition, top
talent retention and the list can actually be pretty exhaustive.

There are 3 types of interventions that an organization should be able to identify

and plan to implement.

1.      Individual : Interventions pertaining to an individual.

2.      Group : Interventions pertaining to a group.

3.      Organization : Interventions related to the organization’s strategy and

policy.

What is OD Interventions?
OD interventions are the building blocks which are the planned activities
designed to improve the organisation’s functioning through the participation of
the organisational members.
OD interventions include team development, laboratory training, managerial
grid training, brainstorming and intergroup team building. The intervention
should take place at all three levels, namely, individual, group and organisation.

OD Interventions Meaning
OD intervention refers to the range of planned, programmatic activities client
and consultant participate in during the course of OD program.

French & Bell

OD intervention is a sequence of activities actions and events intended to help

an organisation improve its performance and effectiveness.
Types of OD Interventions
We can classify the OD interventions into three categories:
1. Behavioural Techniques: These techniques are designed to affect the
behaviour of individuals and the group. These include:
1. Sensitivity Training
2. Role Playing
3. Management by Objectives
4. Grid Organisation Development
2. Non-Behavioural Techniques: These techniques are much more structured
than behavioural techniques. These include:
1. Organizational Redesign
2. Work design
3. Job enrichment
3. Miscellaneous Techniques: In addition to the above techniques, there are
certain other techniques which are used in organisation development, such as:
1. Survey feedback
2. Process consultation
3. Team building
Types of OD Interventions

Some of these intervention techniques are discussed briefly:

Behavioural Techniques
Sensitivity Training
The purpose of sensitivity training sessions or T-groups (T for training) is
to change the behaviour of people through unstructured group interaction.
Members (ten to fifteen individuals) are brought together in a free and open
environment, away from work places, in which participants discuss themselves
freely, aided by a facilitator. No formal agenda is provided.
The objectives of the T-groups are
  To provide the participants with increased awareness of their own
behaviour
 How others perceive the, greater sensitivity to the behaviour of others
 Increased understanding of group processes.
Role Playing
Role playing may be described as a technique of creating a life situation,
usually one involving conflict between people, and then having persons in
group play the parts or roles of specific personalities. In industry, it is used
primarily as a technique of or modifying attitudes and interpersonal skills.
For instance, two trainees may play the roles of a superior and a subordinate to
discuss the latter’s grievances.

The purpose of role playing is to aid trainees to understand certain business

problems and to enable observers to evaluate reactions to them.
Role-playing is generally used for human relations and sales training. This
technique makes trainees self-conscious and imaginative and analytical of their
own behaviour.
Management by Objectives (MBO)
Managing by objectives is a dynamic system which integrated the company’s
need to achieve its goals for profit and growth with the manager’s need to
contribute and develop himself.
Management by objectives (MBO) is a technique designed to

1. increase the precision of the planing process at the organisational level.

2. reduce the gap between employee and organisational goals.
3. MBO encourages performance appraisal through a process of shared
goal setting and evaluation.
Grid development
Grid organisational development is based on Blake and Moution’s model of
leadership called the managerial Grid. Their model depicts two prevailing
concerns found in all organisations-concern for productivity and concern for
people.
Some managers are high in concern for productivity but low in concern for
people; others are high in concern for people but low in concern for
productivity.

Besides helping managers evaluate their concern for proper and productivity,
the Managerial Grid stresses the importance of developing a team-
management leadership style.
In grid OD, change agents use a questionnaire to determine the existing styles of
managers, help them to re-examine their own styles and work towards
maximum effectiveness.

Non-Behavioural Techniques
Organizational Redesign
The organisation’s structure may be changed to make it more efficient by
redefining the flow of authority. There are call also be changes in functional
responsibility, such as a move from product to matrix organisational structure.
Organisational structure often reflects the personal desires, needs, and values of
the chief executive. Changing structure, therefore, may create resistance and
concern because people are worried about their power or status, or how the
change will affect their work groups.

Job Enrichment
Job enrichment implies increasing the cents of a job or the
deliberate upgrading of the responsibility, scope and challenge in work.
Job enrichment is a motivational technique which emphasises the need for
challenging and interesting work. It suggests that jobs be redesigned, so that
intrinsic satisfaction is derived from doing the job.
In its best application, it leads to a vertically enhanced job by adding functions
from other organisational levels, making it contain more variety and challenge
and offer autonomy and pride to employee.
The job holder is given a measure of discretion in making operational decisions
concerning his job. In this sense, he gains a feeling of higher status influence
and power.

Work Design
Work design is a broad term meaning the process of defining tasks and jobs
to achieve both organisational and employee goals, it must, therefore, take
into account the nature of the business (organisational interest), the
organisational structure, the information flow and decision process, the
differences among employees, and the reward system.
Within the board scope of work, design is the design of individual jobs, that is,
job design.

 Job analysis is the process of obtaining information about jobs.

 Job redesign makes use of job analysis to redefine a job in terms of

tasks, behaviours, education, skills, relationships, and responsibilities
required.
Miscellaneous Techniques
Survey Feedback
Survey feedback is one of the most popular and widely used intervention
techniques, in the field of OD.
It involves two basic activities:
  collecting data about the organisation through the use of surveys of
questionnaires, and
 conducting feedback meetings and workshops in which the data are
presented to organisational members.
Survey feedback is useful in as much as it helps bring about changes in
attitudes and perceptions of participants. Used along with team building the
impact of the survey feedback is much more positive.
Process Consultation
Process consultation includes “a set of activities on the part of a consultant
which help the client to perceive, understand, and act upon process events
which occur in the client’s environment”.
Process consultation assumes that an organisation’s effectiveness depends on
how well its people relate to one another. An organisation’s problems, therefore,
often can be traced to the breakdown of critical human processes at key places.

Consultation concentrates on certain specific areas as communication,

functional roles of members, group problem-solving and decision-making;
group norms and growth, leadership and authority, and intergroup cooperation
and competition.
 Unit 4
Strategic Leadership
Kazmi Ch12(408-416)
Strategic leadership refers to a manager’s potential to express a strategic vision for the
organization, or a part of the organization, and to motivate and persuade others to
acquire that vision. Strategic leadership can also be defined as utilizing strategy in the
management of employees. It is the potential to influence organizational members and to
execute organizational change. Strategic leaders create organizational structure, allocate
resources and express strategic vision. Strategic leaders work in an ambiguous environment on
very difficult issues that influence and are influenced by occasions and organizations external to
their own.

The main objective of strategic leadership is strategic productivity. Another aim of strategic
leadership is to develop an environment in which employees forecast the organization’s needs in
context of their own job. Strategic leaders encourage the employees in an organization to follow
their own ideas. Strategic leaders make greater use of reward and incentive system for
encouraging productive and quality employees to show much better performance for their
organization. Functional strategic leadership is about inventiveness, perception, and planning to
assist an individual in realizing his objectives and goals.

Strategic leadership requires the potential to foresee and comprehend the work environment. It
requires objectivity and potential to look at the broader picture.

A few main traits / characteristics / features / qualities of effective strategic leaders that do

lead to superior performance are as follows:

Loyalty- Powerful and effective leaders demonstrate their loyalty to their vision by their
words and actions.

Keeping them updated- Efficient and effective leaders keep themselves updated about
what is happening within their organization. They have various formal and informal sources
of information in the organization.

Judicious use of power- Strategic leaders makes a very wise use of their power. They must
play the power game skillfully and try to develop consent for their ideas rather than forcing
 their ideas upon others. They must push their ideas gradually.

Have wider perspective/outlook- Strategic leaders just don’t have skills in their narrow
specialty but they have a little knowledge about a lot of things.

Motivation- Strategic leaders must have a zeal for work that goes beyond money and
power and also they should have an inclination to achieve goals with energy and
determination.

Compassion- Strategic leaders must understand the views and feelings of their

subordinates, and make decisions after considering them.

Self-control- Strategic leaders must have the potential to control distracting/disturbing

moods and desires, i.e., they must think before acting.

Social skills- Strategic leaders must be friendly and social.

Self-awareness- Strategic leaders must have the potential to understand their own moods
and emotions, as well as their impact on others.

Readiness to delegate and authorize- Effective leaders are proficient at delegation. They

are well aware of the fact that delegation will avoid overloading of responsibilities on the
leaders. They also recognize the fact that authorizing the subordinates to make decisions
will motivate them a lot.

Articulacy- Strong leaders are articulate enough to communicate the vision(vision of where

the organization should head) to the organizational members in terms that boost those
members.

Constancy/ Reliability- Strategic leaders constantly convey their vision until it becomes a

component of organizational culture.

To conclude, Strategic leaders can create vision, express vision, passionately possess vision and
persistently drive it to accomplishment.

10_IJRG17_A05_279.p
df

Sources of Organizational Power and Politics

Power
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The capacity or ability to direct or influence the behavior of others or the course
of events. “Power refers to a capacity that A has to influence the behavior of B
so that B acts following A’s wishes”
What is Power in Organizational Behavior?

According to Kingsley Davis, “Power as the determination of the behavior of

others following one’s own ends.1‘

According to Sheriff, “Power denotes the relative Weights of behavior by a

member in a group structure.”

According to Weber, “Power as the probability that one actor (individual or

group) within a social relationship in a position to carry out his own will despite
resistance, regardless of the basis on which this probability rests”.

According to Green, “Power is simply the extent of the capability to control

others so that they will do what they are wanted to do.”

According to Lundberg and others, “By power, we mean the extent to which
persons or groups can limit or regulate the alternative courses of action open to
other persons or groups with or without their consent.”

According to Michel Foucault. “Power is a complex strategic situation in a

given society social setting”.

10 Sources of Power

Power refers to the possession of authority and influence over others. Power is a
tool that, depending on how it’s used, can lead to either positive or negative
outcomes in an organization.
  Where does power come from?
 What is it that gives an individual or a group influence over others?

We answer these questions by dividing the bases or sources of power into two
general groupings – formal and personal – and then breaking each of these
down into more specific categories.

In 1959, American sociologists John French and Bertram Raven published an

article, “The Bases of Power”, that is regarded as the basis for classifying power
in organizations. They identified some sources of power.

10 sources of power are;

1. Formal Power.
2. Legitimate Power.
3. Expert Power.
4. Referent Power.
5. Coercive Power.
6. Reward Power.
7. Informational Power.
8. Connection Power.
9. Political Power.
10.Charismatic Power.

Let’s explain 10 sources of power.

Formal Power

Formal power is based on an individual’s position in an organization. Formal

power can come from the ability to coerce or reward, from formal authority, or
the control of information.

The formal power is based on rank—for example, the fire chief or the captain.

Legitimate Power

In the formal groups and organizations, probably the most frequent access to
one or more of the power bases is one’s structural position. This is called
legitimate power.

Legitimate power is also known as positional power. It’s derived from the
position a person holds in an organization’s hierarchy.

Job descriptions, for example, require junior workers to report to managers and
give managers the power to assign duties to their juniors. For positional power
to be exercised effectively, the person wielding it must be deemed to have
earned it legitimately.

An example of legitimate power is held by a company’s CEO.

Expert Power

Expert power is influence wielded as a result of expertise, special skill, or

knowledge. Expert power is derived from possessing knowledge or expertise in
a particular area.

Such people are highly valued by organizations for their problem-solving skills.

People who have expert power perform critical tasks and are therefore deemed
indispensable. The opinions, ideas, and decisions of people with expert power
are held in high regard by other employees and hence greatly influence their
actions.

Possession of expert power is normally a stepping stone to other sources of

power such as legitimate power.

For example, a person who holds expert power can be promoted to senior
management, thereby giving him legitimate power.

Referent Power

Referent power is based on identification with a person who has desirable

resources or personal traits.

If I like, respect, and admire you, you can exercise power over me because I
want to please you. It is derived from the interpersonal relationships that a
person cultivates with other people in the organization.
People possess reference power when others respect and like them. Referent
power is also derived from personal connections that a person has with key
people in the organization’s hierarchy, such as the CEO.

It’s the perception of the personal relationships that she has that generates her
power over others. •

Coercive Power

Coercive power is derived from a person’s ability to influence others via threats,
punishments or sanctions.

A junior staff member may work late to meet a deadline to avoid disciplinary
action from his boss. Coercive power is, therefore, a person’s ability to punish
fire or reprimand another employee.

Coercive power helps control the behavior of employees by ensuring that they
adhere to the organization’s policies and norms.

Reward Power

The opposite of coercive power is reward power. People comply with the
wishes or directives of another because doing so produces positive benefits;
therefore, one who can distribute rewards that others view as valuable will have
power over those others.

These rewards can be either financial – such as controlling pay rates, raises, and
bonuses; or nonfinancial – including merit recognition, promotions, interesting
work assignments, friendly colleagues, and preferred work shifts or sales
territories.
In an organization, people who wield reward power tend to influence the actions
of other employees. Reward power, if used well, greatly motivates employees.

But if it’s applied through favoritism, reward power can greatly demoralize
employees and diminish their output.

Informational Power

Informational power is where a person possesses needed or wanted information.

It comes from access to and control over information. This is a short-term
power that doesn’t necessarily influence or build credibility.

For example, a project manager may have all the information for a specific
project and that will give him/her “informational power.”

But it’s hard for a person to keep this power for long, and eventually, this
information will be released.

This should not be a long-term strategy.

Connection Power

It is where a person attains influence by gaining favor or simply acquaintance

with a powerful person.

This power is all about networking. If I have a connection with someone that
you want to get to, that’s going to give me power.

People employing this power build important coalitions with others. It is a

natural ability to forge such connections with individuals and assemble them
into coalitions that give him/her strong connection power.
Political Power

This power comes from the support of a group. It arises from a leader’s ability
to work with people and social systems to gain their allegiance and support.

It develops in all the state-owned organizations, especially when a certain

political party holds power and their supporters show power in many aspects in
the organizations.

By using political power, leaders can influence others and get some facilities
from the organization.

Charismatic Power

Charismatic power is an extension of referent power stemming from an

individual’s personality and interpersonal style.

Charismatic leaders get others to follow them because they can articulate an
attractive vision, take personal risks, demonstrate environmental and follower
sensitivity, and are willing to engage in behavior that most others consider
unconventional.

But many organizations will have people with charismatic qualities who, while
not in formal leadership positions, nevertheless can exert influence over others
because of the strength of their heroic qualities.

The above-mentioned bases/types of power are normally practiced in many

organizations.

But, indeed, all the powers are not seen in a single organization. The uses of
powers vary organization to organization, time to time, person to person,
situation to situation, etc.
Organisational Politics
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As we know that politics in an Organisation or anywhere is an unavoidable

part. 
On this earth, billions of people leave with different mindsets, which ultimately
create different opinions and conflicts. 
It is frequently seeing that politics happens more on top managerial levels rather
than at lower managerial levels in the Organisation.
There were two organisational behaviour experts Newstrom and Davis who
describe a definition for Organisational politics as – 
“Intentional behaviour’s that are designed to enhance /protect a person’s
influence and self-interest”.
It is also mentioned that if politics be practice professionally then it creates a big
difference in the Organisation. 
Like it could result in someone promotion, increase in responsibility, increase in
personal status, and reputation in the Organisation. 
But nowadays everyone’s try to get their benefits and interest at any cost.
Which leads to ultimate loss for Organisation objectives and vision.
Organizational politics are informal, unofficial, and sometimes behind efforts to
sell ideas, influence an organization, increase power, or achieve other targeted
objectives. Political behavior in organizations involves many activities such as
spreading rumors, leaking confidant information, favoring others in the
organization for mutual benefit. Organizational Politics is self-serving behavior
not approved by the organization.
Organizational politics has the following characteristics:–
 Its purpose is personal gain arising from the use of power and not
organizational gain.
  It is a deliberate attempt to use politics as a source to broaden its power
base.
 It is not part of a person’s job requirement. It is used to benefit a
person.
 It may be legitimate or illegal mate political behavior.
What are the consequences of organizational politics?
Although political behavior has positive consequences for those involved in
moral politics, those who do not have political skills do not face positive results.

The negative consequences of political behavior are as follows:-

1. Low job satisfaction:- Although personal benefits are achieved,
people who do not receive promotions or awards based on their
completeness on the job may have lower job satisfaction. Those who
want to achieve goals on the basis of merit, but politics are not
satisfied with their jobs if they have to adopt political behavior as an
inevitable course of action.
2. High tension:- If a person does not engage in political behavior on the
basis of morality and ethics, he loses his chances of promotion, as
others are overtaken by political behaviour, it increases his job stress.
3. Organizational Conflict:- Organizational conflict is a disagreement
between two or more organization members or groups arising from the
fact that they must share scarce resources or work activities and / or the
fact that they have different conditions, goals, values and perceptions.
It negatively affects productivity.
4. Goal Displacement:- Organizational politics broadens the power base
of some people who use it to promote personal goals rather than
organizational goals. This leads to target displacement.
 5. Low Performance:- The political environment reduces people’s
motivation to work which negatively affects their job performance.
6. High absenteeism and turnover:- When low work performance, low
job satisfaction, employees struggle to handle and job stress become
too much, absenteeism of workers from the workplace will increase.
Employee turnover refers to the number or percentage of workers who
leave an organization and are replaced by new employees..

Reasons for organisational politics

Some important reasons for organisational politics are-

 Do not want to work hard 

Numerous individuals wish to have everything that life has to offer and
sometimes even more without making an effort to achieve them through hard
work. These people always look-out for an easy short-cut so that they can come
in the limelight without much effort. Organisational politics is a tool for them to
create a negative image of the people they think are boulders in their pathway.

 Cannot adjust to change 

Change is a part of an organisation, and employees must always be ready to

accept the fact and work towards it. Some employees are unable to
acknowledge the changes, and it proves unsettling for them.

When you have winners and losers because of change, then the employees on
the losing side will lash out through underhand and subtle behaviour to demean
the individuals who have willingly and happily accepted the changes in the
workplace.
  Personal relationships

The personal relationship has no place in the professional world environment,

and people must keep personal and professional relations separate. It is often
seen that supporting someone you have a good relationship will drag you down
the wrong path and at the end of the day it becomes a reason for organisational
politics

 Lack of clarity

Lack of clarity leads to accusations and encourages rumour mills to work in full
force. The assumptions and perceptions have no basis on facts but often leads to
organisational politics.

 Manipulations 

If someone wants to mislead his superior then he will try to manipulate the
information and pass the wrong one with the help of organisational politics

 Jealousy 

Jealousy is bound to creep up between co-workers if someone is smarter than

others and especially if his efforts are appreciated by the top brass. This leads to
organisational politics as the rest of the individuals will try to tarnish his image
in the company

 Lack of trust 

An essential reason for corporate politics is the lack of trust between colleagues.
Employees do not want their colleagues to get more attention and
acknowledgement for work, and this becomes an essential reason for playing
office politics and finding ways to destroy their image and reputation in the
company

 Blame game

It is necessary to speak relevance without finding fault with others, but it does
not always happen this way. People generally overlook their shortcomings and
tend to shift the blame on others

 Gossips 

One of the reasons for office politics is the habit of employees in taking part in
unnecessary chatter about co-workers, peers and other people in the
organisation

 Struggle for power 

The struggle for power in a company often becomes one of the primary reasons
for organisational politics. As one moves up the ladder the opportunities for
quick growth becomes less. Individuals struggle to prove themselves and reach
the top.

Employees who lack confidence generally start showing themselves as superior

at the expense of others. This results in organisational politics where employees
use wrongful tactics to prove their worth

 Promotions are less plentiful 

When several employees are vying for a promotion, but there are only a few
seats left, then it causes organisational politics. Ambitious employees tend to
become aggressive and in their zeal to reach the coveted position they start
spreading suspicion and rumours about others.

This perpetuates a climate of mistrust and proves detrimental for the health of
the organisation

 Reward system 

Most business houses have several reward systems in place to encourage

employees to give their best. Sometimes this concept backfires as everyone
wants to attain the so-called reward.

This gives rise to unhealthy competition and employees start sabotaging the
work of their colleagues in their zeal to become better than others. The reward
system at the end of the day becomes an important reason for organisational
politics.

 Changes in upper levels 

When there is a new appointment at higher levels, then individuals get busy to
score brownie points. After a certain period, it is not only
about positioning themselves as best but demeaning, bad-mouthing,
questioning abilities and tarnishing the reputation of colleagues. Getting ahead
of others by hook or crook leads to organisational politics at its worst.

What are the factors affecting organizational

politics?
Some of the major factors that contribute to political behavior are as
follows:-
1. Competition for power:- Political behavior emerges because people
want to gain power, that is, over and above authority they have been
assigned formalities. They want to gain power because it is satisfactory
to them. Since the amount of electricity, like other resources, is
limited, often, there is competition to obtain power.
2. Discretionary Authority:- Organizations confer status with
discretionary authority to exercise such powers in the case of special
needs such as emergencies in organizations. Such authority is
exercised on the basis of personal judgment.
3. Subjective evaluation of performance:- Adjective evaluation of
performance can also lead to political behavior in many cases,
performance evaluation cannot be based on any concrete achievement,
and it is the decision of the superior that is taken as the basis of
performance evaluation is. This can happen where performance cannot
be measured quantitatively.
4. Saturation in promotion:- People feel that they have reached the
saturation level of promotion. When they reach the maximum level
according to their talent and skills, they resort to political behavior.
Some of the principles it describes are that in a hierarchy, each
employee rises to a level of incompetence and will have no other
occupation than to engage in politics that has undesirable
consequences.
5. Joint decision making:- Large organizations emphasize joint decision
by various units to solve common problems. Conflict and politics arise
from joint decision making. To make favorable decisions, it is to
involve people in politics by forming alliances and associations, which
they will be able to achieve their objectives.
Managing organisational politics

The most crucial tip for managing organisational politics is to find the right
balance. The strategies that one can use in this endeavour are as follows-

 Maintain your core values 

Recognise and accept your core values so that it becomes easy to stick to them
despite differences. Knowing what is essential in life is necessary from a values
perspective as it provides a sense of purpose. This helps in dealing with
organisational politics in a positive manner

 Understand the organisation’s politics

It is a fact that politics is an integral part of work culture. There is a very well
saying that if you cannot ignore it then at least understand it so that you can play
the game fairly and come out the winner.

 Recognise the source of power

The first thing one should do is recognise the actual origins of both informal and
formal power. Who is that one person or a few people who yield the stick and
are known as game-changers? It is also imperative to be aware of the people
who play the game from behind-the-scene and have the ability and resources to
influence people at high positions.

 Develop your people skills 

Look beyond your comfort zone and immediate team members and cross to the
other side to make connections with executives, managers, and colleagues from
other departments. Know and make high-quality connections so that you can
align with various types of people. Developing people skills mean never
breaking the trust or confidentiality of other people.

Be emotionally intelligent so that your interpersonal skills stand you in good

stead and helps in building and maintaining connections.

 Listen attentively

Listening attentively is an essential trait if you are looking for ways to manage
organisational politics. It is like investing critical time so that one can slow
down and focus on crucial things.

 Priorities of the organisation

Make sure that you are aware of the preferences of the organisation as it will
prove a blessing in making decisions. When you know what is essential and
what is not then you can ignore things that do not matter and pay attention to
those which do

 Unwritten rules 

There are understood norms of behaviour in a workplace that one should adhere
to. The best way to manage organisational politics is by discovering and
following the unwritten rules at all costs; otherwise, it can lead to severe
repercussions.

 Rewards and repercussions

Some actions are appreciated and will be rewarded, whereas others can result in
consequences. Better know them from the beginning if you want to become
adept at managing organisational politics. If you are not aware of these things
then the chances of being a victim to a co-workers manipulation are high

 Be proactive 

Being proactive means building a network of people around you that will
support you no matter what. It includes having leverage in a system that plays
dirty to win. A good network leads to significant alliances that provide ample
clues about the opportunities as well as pitfalls that come in your way.

It acts as an early warning system about the people that can drag you down so
that you are aware of their activities from the beginning. An essential aspect of
being proactive in a workplace is that it assists an employee in fighting for his
position or expressing his point of view. Being ethical and proactive is one of
the best ways to manage organisational politics.

 Be protective 

Being protective does not mean that you have to go and protect someone else; it
implies being aware of your surroundings and protecting yourself from people
who can backstab you at any time. It means not being naive and having blind
faith and simply being on your toes.

An individual has to be smart enough to understand nuances in the workplace so

that he can shield himself from dirty and underhand things and effectively
manage organisational politics.

 Be prepared 

An individual has to be prepared to face challenges if he is looking for ways to

manage organisational politics. Never turn a blind eye to the happenings around
you and assume everything is fine when it is not. In case you have not formed
alliances be ready for the worst as this will keep you on your toes.

Even if you have your so-called supporters never show blind trust because just
like politics there are no real friends and foes in the workplace, it is the situation
that creates friends and turns right supporters into adversaries.

Functional Policies
Kazmi Ch-13(P-444)
Functional policies is concerned with operational level
decision making, called tactical decisions, for various
functional areas such as production, marketing, research
and development, finance, personnel and so forth.
These decisions are taken within the framework of
business strategy, strategists provide proper direction
and suggestions to the functional level managers
relating to the plans and policies to be opted by the
business
 Unit-14.pdf

Unit 5
Organizational Control and Strategic Control
Course 401(P-113)
Everything you need to know about strategic control. Strategic
controls are intended to steer the company towards its long-term
strategic direction. After a strategy is selected, it is implemented over
time so as to guide a firm within a rapidly changing environment.
Strategies are forward-looking, and based on management
assumptions about numerous events that have not yet occurred.
Strategic control is concerned with tracking the strategy as it is being
implemented, detecting problems or changes in the premises and
making necessary adjustments.
Waiting until a strategy has been fully executed often involves five or
more years, during which many changes occur, that have major
ramifications for the ultimate success of the strategy. Consequently,
traditional control concepts must be replaced in favour of strategic
controls that recognise the unique control needs of long-term
strategies.
Strategic control is concerned with tracking the strategy as it is being
implemented, detecting problems or changes in the premises and
making necessary adjustments. In contrast to post- action control,
strategic control is concerned with controlling and guiding efforts on
behalf of the strategy as action is taking place.
Managers responsible for a strategy and its success are concerned
with two sets of questions:
1. Are we moving in the proper direction? Are our assumptions about
major trends and changes correct? Do we need to adjust this strategy?
2. How are we performing? Are we meeting objectives and
schedules? How are costs, revenues and cash flows matching
projections? Do we need to make operational changes?

Strategic Control – Definitions Provided by Julian

and Scifres 
What is strategic control?

Strategic control is a way to manage the execution of your strategic

plan. As a management process, it’s unique in that it’s built to handle
unknowns and ambiguity as it tracks a strategy’s implementation and
subsequent results. It is primarily concerned with finding and helping
you adapt to internal or external factors that affect your strategy,
whether they were initially included in your strategic planning or not.

The various components of the strategic control process generate

answers to these two questions:

1. Has the strategy been implemented as planned?

 2. Based on the observed results, does the strategy need to be
changed or adjusted?
In many senses, strategic control is an evaluation exercise focused on
ensuring the achievement of your goals. The process bridges gaps and
allows you to adapt your strategy as needed during implementation.

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Important types of strategic controls used in organizations are:

1. Premise Control:  Premise control is necessary to identify the

key assumptions, and keep track of any change in them so as to
assess their impact on strategy and its implementation. Premise
control serves the purpose of continually testing the assumptions
to find out whether they are still valid or not. This enables the
strategists to take corrective action at the right time rather than
continuing with a strategy which is based on erroneous
assumptions. The responsibility for premise control can be
assigned to the corporate planning staff who can identify key
asumptions and keep a regular check on their validity.
2. Implementation Control: Implementation control may be put
into practice through the identification and monitoring of
strategic thrusts such as an assessment of the marketing success
of a new product after pre-testing, or checking the feasibility of
a diversification programme after making initial attempts at
seeking technological collaboration.
3. Strategic Surveillance: Strategic surveillance can be done
through a broad-based, general monitoring on the basis of
selected information sources to uncover events that are likely to
affect the strategy of an organisation.
4. Special Alert Control: Special alert control is based on trigger
mechanism for rapid response and immediate reassessment of
strategy in the light of sudden and unexpected events called
crises.  Crises are critical situations that occur unexpectedly and
threaten the course of a strategy. Organisations that hope for the
 best and prepare for the worst are in a vantage position to handle
any crisis.

Process of Strategic Control

Kazmi Ch.14 (P-501-510)
Strategic control processes ensure that the actions required to achieve
strategic goals are carried out,  and checks to ensure that these actions
are having the required impact on the organisation. An effective
strategic control process should by implication help an organisation
ensure that is setting out to  achieve the right things, and that the
methods being used to achieve these things are working.
Regardless of the type or levels of strategic control systems an
organization needs, control may be depicted as a six-step feedback
model:

1. Determine What to Control: The first step in the strategic control

process is determining the major areas to control. Managers usually
base their major controls on the organizational mission, goals and
objectives developed during the planning process. Managers must
make choices because it is expensive and virtually impossible to
control every aspect of the organization’s

2. Set Control Standards: The second step in the strategic control

process is establishing standards. A control standard is a target against
which subsequent performance will be compared. Standards are the
criteria that enable managers to evaluate future, current, or past
actions. They are measured in a variety of ways, including physical,
quantitative, and qualitative terms. Five aspects of the performance
can be managed and controlled: quantity, quality, time
cost, and behavior.

Standards reflect specific activities or behaviors that are necessary to

achieve organizational goals. Goals are translated into performance
standards by making them measurable. An organizational goal to
increase market share, for example, may be translated into a top-
management performance standard to increase market share by 10
percent within a twelve-month period. Helpful measures of strategic
performance include: sales (total, and by division, product category,
and region), sales growth, net profits, return on sales, assets, equity,
and investment cost of sales, cash flow, market share, product quality,
valued added, and employees productivity.

Quantification of the objective standard is sometimes difficult. For

example, consider the goal of product leadership. An organization
compares its product with those of competitors and determines the
extent to which it pioneers in the introduction of basis product and
product improvements. Such standards may exist even though they
are not formally and explicitly stated.
Setting the timing associated with the standards is also a problem for
many organizations. It is not unusual for short-term objectives to be
met at the expense of long-term objectives. Management must
develop standards in all performance areas touched on by established
organizational goals. The various forms standards are depend on what
is being measured and on the managerial level responsible for taking
corrective action.

3. Measure Performance: Once standards are determined, the next

step is measuring performance. The actual performance must be
compared to the standards. Many types of measurements taken for
control purposes are based on some form of historical standard. These
standards can be based on data derived from the PIMS (profit impact
of market strategy) program, published information that is publicly
available, ratings of product / service quality, innovation rates, and
relative market shares standings.

Strategic control standards are based on the practice of competitive

benchmarking – the process of measuring a firm’s performance
against that of the top performance in its industry. The proliferation of
computers tied into networks has made it possible for managers to
obtain up-to-minute status reports on a variety of quantitative
performance measures. Managers should be careful to observe and
measure in accurately before taking corrective action.

4.  Compare Performance to Standards: The comparing step

determines the degree of variation between actual performance and
standard. If the first two phases have been done well, the third phase
of the controlling process – comparing performance with standards –
should be straightforward. However, sometimes it is difficult to make
the required comparisons (e.g., behavioral standards). Some
deviations from the standard may be justified because of changes in
environmental conditions, or other reasons.

5. Determine the Reasons for the Deviations: The fifth step of the

strategic control process involves finding out: “why performance has
deviated from the standards?” Causes of deviation can range from
selected achieve organizational objectives. Particularly, the
organization needs to ask if the deviations are due to internal
shortcomings or external changes beyond the control of the
organization. A general checklist such as following can be helpful:

 Are the standards appropriate for the stated objective and

strategies?
 Are the objectives and corresponding still appropriate in light of
the current environmental situation?
 Are the strategies for achieving the objectives still appropriate in
light of the current environmental situation?
 Are the firm’s organizational structure, systems (e.g.,
information), and resource support adequate for successfully
implementing the strategies and therefore achieving the
objectives?
 Are the activities being executed appropriate for achieving
standard?

6. Take Corrective Action: The final step in the strategic control

process is determining the need for corrective action. Managers can
choose among three courses of action: (1) they can do nothing (2)
they can correct the actual performance (3) they can revise the
standard.

When standards are not met, managers must carefully assess the
reasons why and take corrective action. Moreover, the need to check
standards periodically to ensure that the standards and the associated
performance measures are still relevant for the future.

The final phase of controlling process occurs when managers must

decide action to take to correct performance when deviations occur.
Corrective action depends on the discovery of deviations and the
ability to take necessary action. Often the real cause of deviation must
be found before corrective action can be taken. Causes of deviations
can range from unrealistic objectives to the wrong strategy being
selected achieve organizational objectives. Each cause requires a
different corrective action. Not all deviations from external
environmental threats or opportunities have progressed to the point a
particular outcome is likely, corrective action may be necessary.
To conclude, strategic control is an integral part of strategy. Without
properly placed controls the strategy of the company is bound to fail.
Strategic control is a tool by which companies check their internal
business process and environment and ascertain their progress
towards their goal.

Procedure of implementing strategic

control

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