Participation is based on democratic value of organizational life.
The basic feature of democracy as applied to organizational life can be seen by
quoting Bennis. He observes that democracy is not permissive or laissez faire,
but system of values – a climate of beliefs governing behavior – which people
are internally compelled to affirm by deeds as well as words. These values
include:
1.
Full
and free communication, regardless of rank and power.
2.
A
reliance on consensus rather then on the more customary forms of coercion of
compromise, to manage conflict.
3.
The
idea that influence is based on technical competence and knowledge than on the
vagaries of personal whims or prerogative of power.
4.
An
atmosphere that permits and even encourages emotional expressions as well as
task oriented acts and
5.
A
basically human bias, one which accepts the inevitability of conflict between
the organization and individual but which is willing to cope with and mediate in this conflict on rational
grounds.
Such values involve participative management in the organization
which incorporates getting things done through other people by creating a
situation in which subordinates may develop mental and emotional involvement in
a group situation which encourages them to contribute to group goals and share
the responsibility in them. There are important ideas in this concept of
participation. Mental and emotional involvement , acceptance of responsibility
and motivation to contribute.
1.
Mental and emotional involvement: Perhaps the basic feature of participative system is mental and
emotional involvement which emphasizes humanization of administrative system.
The involvement is psychological rather then physical. A person who
participates is ego – involved instead of merely task – involved. If there is
no mental and emotional involvement, it is not participation in real sense,
rather a pseudo – participation which implies that the manager tries to make
people think they are participating and having an influence while really they
do not. It is manipulation in nature.
2.
Acceptance of responsibility: A second characteristic of participation is that it encourages
people to accept responsibility. Since people have active participation in
decision – making, they are both decision – makers and executors. Thus, it is a
social process by which people become self – involved in an organization and
want it to work successfully. Davis observes that ‘as individuals begin to
accept responsibility for group activities, they begin to be interested in, and
receptive to ream work, because they see in it a way to do what to do, that is
to get a job done for which they feel responsible. This idea of getting the
group to want teamwork is the key step in developing it into a successful work
unit. When people want to do something, they will find a way. Under these
conditions, employees perceive managers as supportive contributors to the team.
Employees are ready to work actively with mangers, rather reactively against
them.
3.
Motivation to contribute:
A third feature of participation is that it motivates persons to contribute to
the situation. They are given opportunities to release their won resources of
initiative and creativity towards the objectives of the organization. Thus, it
is different from consent in that the latter process only confirms what has
already been decided. A consenter does not contribute to decision – making
rather he merely approves. Participation uses the creativity of all persons
thereby all of them contributes something in decision making.
ORGANISATIONAL
CHANGE
“Around 25 to 30 percent of the
existing companies might be forced to stop operations in the country in the
next 2 – 3 years. This trend is likely to take place because of the increasing
change in the Indian economy which has moved from the regulated and protected
regime towards a more open and competitive the regulated and protected regime
towards a more open and competitive
economy. In this changing perspective, only those who have capacity to compete
and survive would emerge and take over the place of old ones.”
FACTORS IN
ORGANISATIONAL CHANGE
Organizational changes are
required to maintain equilibrium between various external and internal forces
to achieve organizational goals. Therefore various factors which may be
important for necessitating organizational changes may be grouped into two
categories: external and internal.
EXTERNAL
FACTORS
Every organization exists in some
context: no organization is an island in itself. Each must continually interact
with other organizations and individuals – the consumers, suppliers, unions,
shareholders, government – and many more. Each organizations has goals and
responsibility related to others in its environment. Thus not only an
organization must deal with its environment in conducting its affairs, but it
must also give considerations to the goals of others as it establishers its
foals and conducts its operations. The present – day environment is dynamic and
will continue to be dynamic. Changes in social, political, economic
technological and legal environment force organizations to change themselves.
Such change may result in organizational changes like major functions,
production process, labour – management relations, nature of competition,
economic constraints, organization methods etc. in order to survive in the
changing environment, organization must change. How the change in various
environmental factors necessitate change in the organization may be seen in the
following context:
1.
Technological
Changes: when there is a change in technology in the organization’s
environment and other organizations adopt the new technology, the organization
under focus becomes less cost effective and its competitive position weakens.
Therefore, it has to adopt new technology. When the organizations adopts a new
technology, its work structure is affected and a now equilibrium has to be
established. For example computers and automation have made significant impact
on organizational functioning.
2.
Changes
in Marketing Conditions: Since every organization exports
its outputs to the environment, an organization has to face competition in the
market. There may be two types of forces which may affect the competitive
position of an organization – other organizations supplying the same products
and buyers who are buying the product. Any change in these forces may require
suitable changes in the organization. For example, when Indian economy was
liberalized (the process still continues), there were many foreign
organizations which entered the Indian market. This forced many Indian organizations
to realign themselves with the new situation. The result is that there have
been many cases of divesting the businesses and concentrating on the core
businesses, acquiring core businesses, and developing competitive competence to
face competitive threats. Similarly, there may be changes in buyers in terms of
their needs, liking – disliking and income disposal for a product. These
changes force the organizations to bring those products which meet buyers
requirements.
3.
Social
changes: Social changes reflect in terms of people’s aspirations, their
needs, and their way to working. Social changes have taken place because of the
several forces like level of education, urbanization, feeling of autonomy and
international impact due to new information sources. These social changes
affect the behavior of people in the organization. Therefore it is required to
make adjustment in its working so that it matches with people.
4.
Political
and Legal Changes: Political and legal factors
broadly define the activities which an organization can undertake and the
methods which will be followed by it in accomplishing those activities. Any
change in these political and legal factors may affect the organizational
operation.
INTERNAL
FACTORS
It is not only the change in
external factors which may necessitate organizational change, any change in
organization’s internal factors may also necessitate change. Such a change is
required because of two reasons: change in managerial personnel and deficiency
in existing organizational practices.
1.
Change
in Managerial Personnel: Besides environmental; changes,
there is a change in managerial personnel. Old managers are replaced by new
managers which is necessitated because of retirement, promotion, transfer or
dismissal. Each new manager brings his own ideas and way of working in the
organization. The manager brings his own ideas and way of working in the
organization. The relationships more particularly informal ones, change because
of changes in managerial personnel. Moreover, attitudes of the personnel change
even though there is not change in them. The result is that an organization has
to change accordingly.
2.
Deficiency
in Existing Organization:
Sometimes, changes are necessary because of deficiency in the present
organizational arrangement and process. These deficiencies may be in the form
of unmanageable span of management, large number of managerial levels, lacks in
coordination between various departments, obstacles in communication,
multiplicity of committees, lack of uniformity in policy decisions, lack of co
– operative between line and staff and so on.
PLANNED
CHANGE:
One of Newton’s law is that
“bodies in motion tend to stay in motion: bodies at rest”. There is an
organizational version of this basis truth. Those who believe in growth and
forward movement tend to be exemplars of change, while those who believe in
“this is how we do things around here” lead to doom. Therefore, bringing change
in planned manner is the prime responsibility of all managers who are forward
looking. Planned change aims to prepare the total organization, or a major
portion of it, to adapt to significant changes in the organization’s goals and
direction. Thomas and Bennis have defined planned change as follows:
“Planned change is the deliberate
design and implementation of a structural innovation, a new policy or goal or a
change in operating philosophy, climate or style.”
Planned change attempts at all
aspects of the organization which are closed interrelated: technology, task,
structure, people as shown in figure 25.1
Structure
|
Task
|
Technology
|
People
|
TECHNOLOGY
RELATED CHANGES:
Technology refers to the sum total
of knowledge providing ways to do things. It may include inventions and
techniques which affect the way of doing things, this is designing, producing
and distributing products. Technology related changes may include:
1.
changing
problem – solving and decision making procedures.
2.
introduction
of automated data processing devices like computers to facilitate managerial
planning and control.
3.
change in
methods of production like conversion of unit production to mass production.
Thus any change in technology
necessitates change in all these factors.
TASK RELATED
CHANGES:
Technology – related changes
determine the types of task that may be required to complete an operation.
However what alternatives are chosen must consider the core job characteristics
– skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy, and feedback from
the job. Task related changes must focus on :
1.
High internal
work motivation.
2.
High quality
work performance.
STRUCTURE –
RELATED CHANGES
Structural changes redefine nature
of relationships among various organizational positions and may include:
1.
changing the
number of hierarchical levels.
2.
changing one
form of organization to another form.
3.
changing span
of management and
4.
changing line
– staff and functional authority.
5.
When structural changes are
effected, these may affect the formal reporting relationships, formal
interaction pattern and consequently informal relations.
PEOPLE –
RELATED CHANGES
Changes of any type as pointed out
above require changes in people in an organization. These changes may be of two
types – skills and behavior. The magnitude of these changes depends on the type
of change. For example , if there is a change in technology say from manual to
automated, it requires different type of skills in the operators as compared to
the previously used skills. Similarly, changes in behavior and the social –
psychological factors determining behavior are required.
OBJECTIVES OF
PLANNED CHANGE
The planned change is needed to
meet the overall objectives of the organization. Since there may be changes in
the forces – both internal and external – affecting organizational functioning
the organization has to make suitable change to meet its objectives. Thus
objectives for such change may be two fold:
1.
modification
of the organizations mode of adaptation to changes in its environment and
2.
modification
of structure, technology attitudes, values and other behavioral construct of
people in the organization.
1.
Environmental Adaptation:
Organization is basically adaptive – coping system . it has to work in an
environment which is marked by dynamic characteristics. Every organization has
a tendency to maintain balance and equilibrium. Because of changes in the
environment, the organizational equilibrium is affected. If the changes are
minor and come within the preview of existing programmers, the organization
will accommodate them automatically. However, if the changes cannot be adapted
to the existing framework, the organizational equilibrium will be imbalanced
and organizational effectiveness is adversely affected. IN this case, the
organization requires some innovation. This innovation is in the form of
various changes which the organization has to incorporate. Simply because of
this reason, every organization has adaptive subsystem, such as research and
development department, marketing research department and so on.
2.
Individual Adaption: The second
objective of planned change is to achieve individual adaptation. The
organization cannot reach to the objective of its environmental adaptation
unless some basic internal adaptation is achieved. These internal factors may
be individuals, organization structure, technology, and task. Individuals are
the first in this contact. For organizational effectiveness, people have to
change themselves so that they can cope with the requirement of changed
circumstances. Such changes may be required in their attitudes, communication
system, way of behaving, leadership and work styles, and other relevant
organizational behavior. Such changes must be made according to the need for
the new situation.
3.
Structural Adaption: Organization
structure is the pattern of relationships among various positions and among
various position holders. Structural adaptation involves changing the internal
structure of the organization. This change may be in the whole set of
relationships, work assignment and authority structure. Change in organization
structure is required because old relationships and interactions no longer
remain valid and useful in the changed circumstances.
4.
Technological Adaptation:
The impact of recent technological development has forced the organization to
take into account the role of technology in organizational success. In order to
cope with the changed environment which may include technological factor as
well, the organization has to incorporate new technology. Thus this
technological adaptation forces directly the organization to change its task.
5.
Task Adaptation:
Technological changes may bring many types of changes in organizational task.
Task forces on the job performed by the individuals in the organization. Since,
there may be many new type of jobs, the existing job performing techniques may
not be suitable. Moreover there may be new job load because of the job
enlargement. In such a case, a new equilibrium has to be found out which
matches people with jobs. In this matching process, there may be several
problems which must be encountered by planned change.
