BEHAVIOR of Organizations

EMPOWERING YOUR PROFESSIONAL LIFE

1. Reducing the gap between you & your org

2. Connecting with both insiders & outsiders

3. Turning economic agendas into human agendas

4. Going beyond hollow amoral goals

PRO SUCCESS TOOLSSurfing on dual waves (see Org-Human Interface topic slides)

Org zoology(diverse org species)

FOR-PROFIT orgs

NON-PROFIT orgs

PROFIT vs. NON-PROFIT ORGS• Profit orgs (Porgs) are driven by $; Non-profit orgs (NPOs) by people.• Porgs usually have multiple owners; NPOs have no official owners. • Porgs focus most on human wants; NPOs more on needs.

• Porgs use money to make money; NPOs use money to generate services. • Porgs operate more impersonally than NPOs.• Porgs are run mainly by power; NPOs by influence.• NPOs worry about $ more than Porgs, b/c NPOs have no way to “make” $.

ALL orgs

Profit orgs are the main focus of this class. Click the “PVA Writing” link on my home page for access to innovation/practical information about guidingnon-profit orgs.

“ORG” ME

WE CONs

Since “organizations” don’t really exist (only people do), your actual work environment consists only of “ME” (you) + “WE” + those you and we serve (CONstituents). Since each ME is outnumbered by WE, each ME must subordinate herself/himself to the WE “pods” (departments, teams, or projects) who serve some of the same CONs. And all WEs must subordinate themselves to the CONs they serve. No CONs, no We’s; no WE’s, no ME’s.

Since ME’s, WE’s, & CONs have differing agendas, org GAPs often develop: lack of teamwork; conflicting goals; miscommunication, etc. In fact, people in the same pod sometimes try to use each other for self-gain. Thus, gap analysis is the STARTING POINT for understanding human behavior in orgs.

“Gapology” is the #1 drama of corporate life: how to achieve success day-in & day-out balancing the competing, conflicting agendas of investors, customers, employees, & markets

EXECUTIVES GAP EMPLOYEES

• Impersonal Personal• Profit People• Markets Client service• Wealth Wages • Power

Dependency

• Competing Cooperating

Another gap: Corps have

ECONOMIC agendas > human ones.

• Corps want profit, employees want pay.• Corps want efficient automated operations, employees want the personal touch.• Corps want hyper-productivity, employees want enjoyable work.• Corps want cost reductions, employees want raises.

• Corps want control, employees want empowerment.

• Corps want mission accomplished, employees want personal needs met.

• Corps want risk-reduction, employees want job security.

• Corps want hard work & over-work, employees want a life away from work.

• Corps want to enforce rules, employees want to ignore them.

THE PERSONAL-IMPERSONAL ORG GAP

Most employees work in a personalized org environment of person-to-person work relationships vs. the impersonal executive environment of abstract markets, industries, competition, stock reports, & financial statements. Orgs are a complex blend of two different worlds.

A major focal point of our course is discovering ways to bridge the gap between the org & its constituents (insiders vs. outsiders).

INSIDERSOUTSIDERS

Insiders (power holders) DECIDE

Outsiders (employees) HIDE

Insiders (executives) must master the art of sailing across impersonal (automatically-operated) amoral capitalism systems in the same way sail boaters master wind & sails towhisk overthewater.

AMORAL ORG BEHAVIOR

Amoral org behavior = values-neutral (neither moral nor immoral) actions designed to attain a self-serving agenda (profit, power, personal wealth, etc.). Pursuing your personal agenda is culturally acceptable in capitalist nations.

Corporations compete for their agenda (private profit) via exploiting amoral/impersonal economic & social systems (mass global markets for goods & financing; productive use of impersonal technology; managed economies, etc.).

ZAMPLE AMORAL CORPORATE BEHAVIORS

• “Off-shoring”: Use of cheap foreign factories & suppliers Corp. downsizing: eliminating some employees while doubling the work of others• Debt-financed consumerism to

stimulate corporate growth/profit• Advertising & PR for consumer

brainwashing & competitive imaging

• Political campaign donations to influence politicians to favor/support certain industries or companies

• Harvesting marketing data off Facebook pages without permission

• Posing as a legitimate “consulting” company while telemarketing for consumer information

• “Ponzi” schemes: using the money of new investors to pay abnormally high investment “dividends” to previous investors

ZAMPLE AMORAL CONSTITUENT BEHAVIORS

• Purchasing products made in “sweatshops”

• Staying permanently in debt• Buying stock in companies that

engage in socially irresponsible activities

• Buying products (such as gas-guzzler vehicles & illegal drugs) that damage American freedom & independence.

• Hiring illegal aliens to work at non-subsistence wages.

WHY AMORAL?• Surviving in a tough,

competitive, me-first world• Problems & challenges

everywhere• Everyone cutting corners• I want to thrive, not just survive• Getting ahead ain’t EZ

EXAM

Vincent went from HR head to Human Resources V.P. for using

outsourcing & off-shoring to reduce overall corporate payroll

costs by 39%.

The Amoral Agendas• Corp: Cut company

labor costs for more profit

• Vince: Get promotion/higher salary, etc.

Insider-outsider GAPS created by fulfillment of the conflicting

agendas (HR + Vince) 1. Employee job loss, but higher

dividends for stockholders2. A rip in the org-employee

psychological contract at the benefit of those in power

3. American unemployment & higher foreign trade deficit at the benefit of foreign economies