Social System and Organizational Culture

1. SOCIAL SYSTEM & ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE

4. Here is an example: American automobile manufacturers have faced a significant challenge in responding to the design, quality, and cost advantages of international automakers such as Toyota, Nissan, Honda and Mazda. In particular the U.S companies sometimes found that it took them much longer to bring a new car to market (total time from its conception to early production) Among many reasons offered is the internal struggle among seemingly competing units of an auto firm, such as product, design, factory engineering, and sales and marketing .An unfortunate and unproductive, disequilibrium sometimes exists. To combat this problem, Ford Motor Company creates cross-functional teams of line managers charged with the task of speeding product development. These teams are housed in the same work area, which makes communication much easier. They also share a common goal –reduction of product development costs by 20 percent. In this way, Ford maintains a more productive equilibrium within its system and keeps the functional subgroups working together.

5. FUNCTIONAL AND DSYFUNCTIONAL EFFECTS A change such as the introduction of cross-functional design teams has a functional effect when it is favorable for the system. When an action or a change creates unfavorable effects, such as a decline in productivity, for the system it has a dysfunctional effect.

6. Psychological and Economic Contracts When employees join an organization, they make unwritten psychological contract with it, although often they are not conscious of doing so. The psychological contact defines the conditions of each employee’s psychological involvement –both contributions and expectations- with the social system. Employees agree to give a certain amount of loyality , creativity and extra effort but in return they expect more than economic rewards from the system. If the organization honors only the economic contract and not the psychological contract, employees tend to have lower satisfaction becouse not all their expectations are being met.

7. The Result of the Psychological Contract & The Economic Contract

9. Social Culture Whenever people act in accordance with the expectations of others their behavior is social.

11. Potential Social Benefits of EEO (Equal Employment Opportunity < EEO > )

12. More useful contrbiutors to society (fewer on welfare) EEO Better self-image for citizens Higher national output Equal citizen access to job Reinforcement of social objectives (the American dream) Higher family earnings Better use of labor force

13. Social Culture Values The work Ethic for many years the culture of much of the western world has emphasized work as a desirable and fulfilling activity. This attitude is also strong in parts of Asia, such as Japan. The result of this cultural emphasis is a work ethnic for many people meaning that they view work as very important and as a desirable goal in life. They tend to like work and derive satisfaction from it. They usually have a stronger commitment to the organization and to its goals than do other employees. These characteristics of the work ethnic make it highly appealing to employers.

14. Social Responsibility Every action that organizations take involves costs as well as benefits. In recent there has been a strong social drive to improve the cost - benefit relationships to make it possible for society to gain benefits from organizations and for the benefits to be fairly distributed .Social responsibility is the recognition that organizations have significant influence must be properly considered and balanced in all organizational actions.

15. STATUS Status is the social rank of a person in a group. It is a mark of the amount of recognition, honor, and acceptance given to a person. Within groups, differences in status apparently have been recognized ever since civilization began. Wherever people gather into groups, status distinctions are likely to arise, because they enable people to affirm the different characteristics and abilities of group members.

16. Status Relationships High status people within a group usually have more power and influence than those with low status. They also receive more privileges from their group and tend to participate more in group activities. They interact more with their peers than with those of lower rank. Basically, high status gives people opportunity to play a more important role in an organization. As a result, lower status members tend to feel isolated from the mainstream and to show more stress symptoms than higher-ranked members.

17. Status Symbols The status system reaches its ultimate end with status symbols. These are the visible, external things that attach to a person or workplace and serve as evidence of social rank. They exist in the office, shop, warehouse, refinery or wherever work groups congregate. They are most in evidence among different levels of managers, because each successive level usually has the authority to provide itself with surroundings just a little different from those of people lower in the structure.

19. Sources of Status The sources of status are numerous, but in a typical work situation several sources are easily identified. A person’s abilities, job skills and type of work also are major sources of status. Other sources of status are amount of pay, seniority, age and stock options. Pay gives economic recognition and an opportunity to have more of the amenities of life, such as travel. Seniority and age often earn for their holder certain privileges, such as first choice of vacation dates, or the respect of coworkers for their longevity at work.

22. Characteristics of Cultures Organizations like fingerprints and snowflakes are unique. Each has its own history patterns of communication systems and procedures mission statements and visions stories and myths which in their totality constitute its distinctive culture. Cultures are relatively stable in nature, usually changing only slowly over time. Expectations to this condition may occur when a major crisis threatens a firm or when two organizations merge with each other (requiring a careful blending of the two so as to avoid culture clash)

24. Communicating and Changing Culture If organizations are consciously create and manage their cultures, they must be able to communicate them to employees, especially the newly hired ones. People are generally more willing to adapt when they w an t to please others, gain approval and learn about their new work environment.