organisational behaviour chapter 11. the future for organisational behaviour objectives: identify...

Organisational BehaviourChapter 11

© Mike Maughan, Organisational Behaviour, Palgrave (2014)

The future for organisational behaviour

Objectives:• Identify trends in the development of OB• Discuss these trends in the light of global

economies and geo-political developments• Use a variety of perspectives to understand

the forms and functions of modern organisations


Two areas of future development

1. Development of critical theory and knowledge on understanding and running organisations at the levels of the individual, the group and the whole organisation. This includes ongoing evaluation of current theory and practice as well as trying to predict the impact of global events on our organisational life.

2. A critical enquiry into the subject of OB, its underlying assumptions, philosophies and ideologies. This includes comparative perspectives from other disciplines.


Modern influences on OB: The global economy

• Globalisation and the rise of new, modernising economies are challenging the primacy of western countries.

• Global ownership and finance models have led to greater inequality in previously affluent western economies and we have seen the rise of a super-wealthy elite of financiers and industrialists

• Many markets are now global and production of anything can be carried out almost anywhere

• Communication technologies enable instant contact with anyone in any part of the world


Modern influences on OB: the knowledge economy

• Many businesses have knowledge as their principal product

• All businesses have much greater access to knowledge than ever before

• Availability of new knowledge can fuel innovation• Workers who can develop, exploit and market the

innovations knowledge can create will be well rewarded


Modern influences on OB: cross-cultural working

• The global nature of markets and organisations means that we will increasingly be working alongside people from very different cultures and backgrounds

• The management of staff will require greater variety of approach from managers

• Staff will need to have greater awareness of the expectations and norms of people from other cultures


Modern influences on OB: changes in technology

• Communication technologies will speed up the transmission of information and decision-making.

• Medical technologies will enable people to have longer lives potentially changing perceptions about the length of working life, the organisation of pension provision, care, etc.

• Automation technologies has largely dispensed with the need for large numbers of production workers in many industries.


Modern influences on OB: organisation structure

• There3 will probably be an increase in network structures where organisations contract with individuals or other organisations for specific goods or services

• Networks can be widely dispersed• It is likely that more management will be focused on

managing contracts than on day to day supervision of staff• However, we are unlikely to see the end of traditional

structural forms


Developments in the human sciences

• Continuing research into genetics and human psychology could have an impact on our understanding of key individual differences.

• They could also provide insights into responses to new ways of working.


The environment Two issues are certain to influence our organisations in the near future:• Climate change will inevitably alter natural and

political landscape of the planet. Clearly this will have an effect on goods and services needed, but there are certain to be other, unpredictable changes which will affect organisations

• Population growth and increased life expectancy will have an erect not only on the goods and services we need, but also on the life-work balance


Critical Management Studies (CMS)

Since the 1990s criticism has been made of the ‘business school model’ of understanding management. This way of understanding and educating for management has been criticised on two main counts:1. Promoting and supporting an economic neo-

liberalism2. Teaching a ‘managerialist’ ideology


Neo-liberal economics

This can be summed up in three key ideas:1. Markets must be free to operate with as little regulation or

state intervention as possible2. Public expenditure should be cut and the size of the state

drastically reduced 3. The 'public good' is best served by the free operation of

markets Criticisms of neo-liberalism are that it increases inequality in society and favours a global elite at the expense of the needs of national populations


ManagerialismBroadly speaking, the term is used for the emergence of a cadre of senior workers trained in the theories and techniques of the western business schools. Some of the features of managerialism are:• There are a generic set of theories and techniques which can be applied in

any management situation. • Managerialism takes little account of the nature of the organisation's

purpose or of the professional status of its workers. The knowledge base and techniques of management can be applied as effectively to running a circus as to a supermarket.

• Everyone in the organisation can be subjected to the same reporting procedures and accountabilities no matter what their professional status .

• Managerialism empowers management over workers and even owners.


Managerialism relies on two main premises for its legitimation

1. 'Legal-rational authority' as described by Weber. Authority is deemed to be delegated by owners. In the case of public organisations, it arises from government.

2. Professional managers have a knowledge base and set of techniques which makes them uniquely and professionally capable of exercising the roles of management more effectively than others


CMS has two philosophical foundations

1. Critical theory – whose purpose (according to Horkheimer) is to 'liberate human beings from the circumstances that enslave them.

2. Post-structuralism - sheds light on the limits of objectivity and rationality. So the individual is shaped by their individual psychology, their social context and their language and culture. The individual has no control over these factors, though they can be uncovered using specialised investigative techniques (such as psycho-analysis for example).


Criticism from within the OB community

This criticism mainly centres around the role and effectiveness of the business school.

'In short, business school courses serve as rites of passage -- shaping the values, commitments, habits and mores of aspiring leaders. Let me be clear. I am not saying they should. I am saying that they already do. The questions are: how mindfully? How skilfully? On whose behalf?' He goes on to suggest that the business school curriculum needs to be both technical and humanistic and that their alumni should make the case for 'authenticity, service, equality, concern for the planet just as fervently as the case for shareholder value maximization'. (Petriglieri)

organisational behaviour chapter 11. the future for organisational behaviour objectives: identify...

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