Social Systems and Organizational Culture

Chapter 4
Social Systems and Organizational Culture
UNDERSTANDING A SOCIAL SYSTEM

Social system: A social systems is a complex set of human relationships interacting in many ways. Open systems: Social systems are open systems that interact with their
surroundings.
Social Equilibrium: A system is said to be in social equilibrium

when there is a dynamic working balance in its interdependent parts.The system is like a sea.
Functional and Dysfunctional Effects:
When a change creates favorable effects for the system it has a functional effect and if a change creates unfavorable effects, it has a dysfunctional effect.
Enhanced creativity Productive employees Quality improvements
Functional effects

Dysfunctional effects
Lower productivity Lower satisfaction Lower commitment
Psychological and Economic Contracts:

When employees join an organization,they make an unwritten psychological contract with it, this contract is in addition to the economic contract where time, talent, and energy are exchanged for wages, hours, and reasonable working conditions.
UNDERSTANDING A SOCIAL SYSTEM

Figure The results of the psychological contract and the economic contract
SOCIAL CULTURE Social Culture:Culture

is the conventional behavior of ones society and it influences all his/her actions even though it seldom enters her conscious thoughts.
Cultural Diversity:Employees are divided into sub-groups of various

kinds. Formation of groups is determined by two broad sets of conditions: 1)Job related conditions ii) Non-job related conditions.
Equal employment opportunity (EEO):EEO is the equal opportunities to
secure jobs and rewards in them, regardless of conditions unrelated to job performance. Affirmative action:Many organizations developed Affirmative action plans
which includes nondiscrimination policies, reviewed their personnel practices and monitored their progress.
Discrimination: Discrimination is generally exhibited as an action. Prejudice: prejudice is an attitude hold by an individual.
POTENTIAL SOCIAL BENEFITS OF EEO

Equal citizen access to jobs Reinforcement of social objectives Better use of labor force EEO Higher family earnings Higher national output Better self image for citizens More useful contributions to society (Fewer on Welfare)
Social Culture Values

The Work Ethic: Work ethic to many people mean
that they view work as very important and as a desirable goal in life.they tend to like work and derive satisfaction from it.
Social Responsibility: Social responsibility is the
recognition that organizations have significant influence on the social system and that this influence must be properly considered and balanced in all organizational actions.
ROLE
ROLE: A role is the pattern of actions expected of a person in activities involving others.Role reflects a persons position in the social system, with its accompanying rights and obligations, power and responsibility.
ROLE PERFORMED BY EMPLOYEE
A Follower
A Spouse
A Worker Who is an Employee? A Leader
An Accountant
An Advisor
A Parent
A Consumer
ROLE
Role Perceptions:Activities of managers and workers alike are guided by their role perceptions,that is , how they think they are supposed to act in their own roles and how others should act in their roles.
ROLE
Figure The complex web of manager-employee role perceptions
Mentors
Mentors: A mentor is a role model who guides another employee( protg) by sharing valuable advice on roles to play and behaviors to avoid. See tips for protg and mentors from the book.Tips for mentors protgs (See p-82, Newstrom)
Role Conflict: when others have different perceptions or expectations of a persons role, that person tends to experience role conflict. For example, A company president faced role conflict when she learned that both the controller and the personnel director wanted her to allocate the new organizational planning function to their departments. Role Ambiguity: When roles are inadequately defined or substantially unknown, role ambiguity exists, because people are not sure about how they should act in situations of this type.Example of an union steward and his supervisor ( see from the book)
STATUS
STATUS:
Status is the social rank of a person in a Group. It is mark of the amount of recognition, honor, and acceptance given to a person
Status systems:Individuals are bound together in status systems, or

status hierarchies, which define their rank relative to others in the group
Status anxiety:If people become seriously upset over their status, they
are said to feel status anxiety.
Status deprivation: Loss of status sometimes called losing face or

status deprivation- is a serious event for most people
Continued
Status Relationships:
High status people within a group usually have more power and influence than those with low status,.
Status Symbols:
There are visible external things that attach to a person or work place and serve as evidence of social rank such as exclusive furniture, interior decorations, facilities at work etc.
Sources of Status: See the following figure
SOURCES OF STATUS
Figure Major sources of status on the job
ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE
Organizational culture:
It is the set of assumptions,
beliefs,values and norms that are shared by an organizations members.
CHARACTERISTICS OF CULTURE
Ten Characteristics of Culture: Distinctive
Stable
Implicit Symbolic No one type is best Integrated Accepted A reflection of top management
Subcultures
Of varying strength
Communicating and Changing Culture
(Impact of organizational culture on Employee; acceptance of norms)
High
Conformity
Socialization
Creative Individualism
Low
Isolation
Rebellion
Low High Individualization

(Impact on employee on organizational culture; Deviation from norms)
Very great
Effectiveness of Methods for Changing Organizational Culture
Great
Probable Effectiveness
Moderate
Minimal
Communicate Formulate Use stories Publicly Appoint a Train Reward Use Recognize Top Value And Manager of Heroes Slogans Management Employees statement behaviors myths And heroines culture support
Culture-change methods
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Chapter 4

Social Systems and Organizational Culture

UNDERSTANDING A SOCIAL SYSTEM

Social Equilibrium: A system is said to be in social equilibrium

Functional and Dysfunctional Effects:

Psychological and Economic Contracts:

UNDERSTANDING A SOCIAL SYSTEM

SOCIAL CULTURE Social Culture:Culture

Cultural Diversity:Employees are divided into sub-groups of various

POTENTIAL SOCIAL BENEFITS OF EEO

Social Culture Values

Social Responsibility: Social responsibility is the

ROLE PERFORMED BY EMPLOYEE

A Worker Who is an Employee? A Leader

Status systems:Individuals are bound together in status systems, or

Status deprivation: Loss of status sometimes called losing face or

Sources of Status: See the following figure

It is the set of assumptions,

beliefs,values and norms that are shared by an organizations members.

Communicating and Changing Culture

(Impact of organizational culture on Employee; acceptance of norms)

Low High Individualization

Effectiveness of Methods for Changing Organizational Culture

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