Maintaining Organisation Structures and

Systems
Week 6

Learning Outcomes
You will be able to critically discuss the
mechanisms that need to be in place to
maintain organisation structures and
systems
Communication systems and networks
Organisational decision making
Power and Politics

The Basic Communication Process

Noise

Noise

Sender
Encodes a
message

Communication
channel

Receiver
Decodes
Interprets

Transmits
Interprets
response
Noise

Responds to the
communication
Feedback

Champoux 2006

Noise

Effective Organisational
Communication
Sender- awareness of receivers
background, culture, social status, training
Receiver- understanding the sender
Message- complexity
Medium- message transmission

Champoux 2006

Purpose of Communication
Coordination- between different aspects of
the organisational structure
Control- flow of accurate information to
monitor goal achievement
Human Factors- providing information to
employees - change
Rollinson et al 2002

The Main Barriers to Effective

Organisational Communication
To do with the sender
Message formulation
Inability to transform thoughts into appropriate
symbols for the channel selected

Perceptions
Inaccurate perceptions of receivers ability to
understand the message or reactions to the
message

Encoding
Inability to convey the complexity of the

Barriers Continued
Media and/or Channel
Noise
Physical
Psychological

Inappropriateness of media and/or Channel

Receiver
Decoding selectivity in attention, coupled
with perceptions and value judgements
Information overload

Formal and Informal Communication

Direction of Travel
Downward/Upward/Diagonal/Lateral

Leavitts Communication Paths 1978

The Wheel a centralised network
The Circle- a decentralised network
The Y or chain
The all channel - Completely Connected
Network

Informal CommunicationThe Grapevine

Does not depend on the formal network

The most important part of the communication

network for any social group (Noon and Delbridge
1993)

Grapevine exists because

Lack of information through formal channels

People feel insecure
Conflicts, resulting in information sharing
Political tactics
The need to spread new information quickly
More reliable than that issued by management
(Robbins 1998)

The Communication Escalator

Quirke (2008) Making Connections: Using Internal Communication to turn strategy in to action
Gower

Degree of Change

Degree of Involvement

Communication and Change

The importance of communication and
involving employees in decision making
isnt a new phenomenon..
Study into employee Participation
Resistance to changes in jobs and working
methods
1. No participation group
2. Participation through representation group
3. Total participation group
(Monitored for 30 working days)
Coch and French 1948

Communication Strategies for Change

Management
Stace D. Dunphy D. (2001)
Combine scale of change with styles of
Change to create 4 communication strategies

Style
Collaborative widespread employee
participation
Consultative Limited involvement in goal
setting
Directive Use of authority in reaching
decisions about change
Coercive Imposing Change

Fine Tuning

Incremental
adjustment

Modular
Corporate
TransformationTransformation

Stace and Dunphy 2001

Power, Politics and the role of

Organisational Decision
Making in Change

Environmental Factors Influencing

the Decision Making Process

Culture
Structure
Political
Legal
Ethical
External Environment
Technological

Decision Making Continuum

Programmed- Tried and tested protocols,
formulae or procedures. Safely left to
subordinates.
TO
Non-programmed- Unfamiliar, have not
been encountered in quite the same way
before. May require senior management
involvement and strategy change

Rational Models of Decision Making

Identify the Problem

Definition of problem
Search for alternative courses of action
Gather and analyse data about
alternatives
Evaluate alternatives
Select and implement the preferred
alternatives

Descriptive Models of Decision Making

Focus on how individuals actually make
decisions (Cyert and March 1963)
Behavioural theory of decision making
Individuals make decisions while operating
within limits of Bounded Rationality
The definition of the situation is likely to be
incomplete
It is impossible to generate all alternatives
It is impossible to predict all consequences
Final decisions are influenced by personal
and political factors

Conditions Favouring Different

decision-making processes
Beliefs Certainty
about
causeandeffect
Uncertainty
relations
hips

Consensus on goals or problem

definition?
Agree
Disagree
Computational
Compromise
Strategy
Strategy
Rational Model
Political Model
Judgemental
Strategy
Incremental
Model

Inspirational
Strategy
Garbage Can
Model

Based on Thompson and Tuden (1959) and Thompson 1967

Power and Influence

Power is inherent in any relationship in which
one person or group is dependent on another.
Three faces of power (Lukes 2005)
Power exercised to secure a decision in situations
where there is observable conflict
Power that is exercised to keep issues off the
decision making agenda, so that conflict is precluded
Institutionalised power defines reality for others,
indicating what is normal or taken for granted.

Power as a property of
relationships
French and Raven (1958)
What people offer or promise in order to
persuade you
Reward power (money/promotion)
Coercive power (demotion/redundancy)
Referent power (charisma)
Legitimate power (position)
Expert power (knowledge)

Activity - Sources of Power and

Influence
Identify a change you have tried or would
like to introduce at work.
Who are the people who were/are able to
facilitate or block your efforts to implement
this change?
Why were/are they able to exercise this
influence?
What is the basis of their power?

The Impact of Politics Upon the

Decision Making Process
Why does political activity sometimes seem
to get in the way of organisational
decision making?

Politics and Power in

Organisations
The effective use of power is becoming increasingly important. Yes
we have flatter organisations and more cross-functional teams than
we had in the past. But getting things done in a less hierarchical
system actually requires more influence. And as strategies become
more complicated, the importance and difficulty of effective
execution increase accordingly so, welcome to the real world. It
may not be the world we want, but it is the world we have. You
wont get far and neither will your strategic plans, if you cant build
and use power. Some of the people competing for advancement or
standing in the way of your organisations agenda will bend the rules
of fair play or ignore them entirely. Dont bother complaining about
this or wishing things were different. Part of your job is to know how
to prevail in the political battles you will face. Jeffery Pfeffer (2010)

Political tactics

Image building - looking the part

Information games withholding, white lies etc
Scapegoating blaming someone else
Alliances secret deals, coalitions
Networking friends in influential places
Compromise taking in turns to back each other
Rule games refusing because rules not followed
Positioning making yourself visible
from Buchanan.
Issue selling selling your ideas Adapted
D.A. and Badham R. J
(2008) Power, Politics
Dirty tricks spying, discrediting etc.
and Organisational
Change

Activity
Individually, think of an event that involved
political activity.
Make a note of the constructs from the
previous slides that were evident.
Discuss with your neighbor and be
prepared to feed back.

Political Tactics in Decision Making

Power is a means to an end.
Three ways interests seek to influence
decision making
Controlling the general decision
Controlling alternatives considered
Controlling information about the alternatives
Pfeffer 1982

Political Behaviour and Outcomes

All decision making activity is potentially
political.
Decisions often represent the triumph of
one set of interests over another.

Implementation
Delegation creates the opportunity for
subversion, because it provides others
with a margin of discretion. These
subversive tactics can include
Ignoring instructions
Sabotage
Selective interpretation

Non - Decisions
Best way to prevent change is to ensure
the issue is never raised in the first place!
Maintaining diminished consciousness
Control of the agenda
Exploiting taboo and institutional bias
Co-option
Invoking rules
Calculated inaction
Drummond 1991

Acquiring and Exercising Power

and Influence
Promoting their reputation
Increasing others dependence on the
leader increasing others sense of
dependence
Minimising leaders dependence on those
they are seeking to influence
Building collaborative relationships
Negotiating advantageous agreements
Hayes 2014

Summary
The significance of integrating processes
and systems to support, maintain and
change organisation design
Communications
Considerations relating to decision making
Power and politics
The acquisition and exercise of power

References
Champoux J.E. (2011) 4th Ed Organizational
Behaviour Routledge
Hayes J (2014) The Theory and Pracitce of
Change Management (online version)
Huczynski A. Buchanan D. (2013)
Organisational Behaviour Pearson
Mullins L.J. (2013) Management and
Organisational Behaviour Pearson
Rollinson D. (2008) 4th Ed Organisational
behaviour and analysis