Without discussing his background and life, I will directly come to his theory.He has highlighted three elements in an organization
1.
Common
Purpose-
a. Objective Purpose-
He refers to the organizational purpose or the common purpose. He calls this as individual's purpose or individual’s goal. Unless the individuals come together,
cooperate with each other, it won’t be possible for the organization to exist.
b. Subjective Purpose
2.
Willingness
to Contribute- Organizational survivability requires
that the individuals must contribute willingly towards the organizational goal. By this, he is trying to explain the motivation of the individuals. He has dismissed the
classical view on motivation i.e. classical theories are mono-motivational in
nature. For classical theories, economic reasons are the only factors for
motivation. He emphasized that the motivation is not just monetary but also
based on non-monetary factors.
He has come out with a concept called as Contribution-
Satisfaction Equilibrium to explain individual motivation. By contribution,
he refers to individual’s efforts and activities undertaken in pursuance of the
organizational goal. By satisfaction, he refers to the incentives or the
benefits provided by the organization towards the individual in exchange for
the contribution. He says that the individual’s motivation depends on
individual satisfaction being more than individual’s contribution. Individual
becomes fully motivated when he derives a feeling that individual’s
satisfaction is more than the individual’s contribution. Equilibrium refers to
the balance in the system i.e. system to be functional requires that the
individual contributes towards the organizational goal. Satisfaction of the
individual has been explained through the concept of Inducement. Inducement refers to the factors which are provided by
the organization to the individual to induce him to do work. He has discussed
eight types of inducements. The main
purpose of all these theories is to achieve efficiency in the organization. He has given few important points in this regard.
a. Specific Inducements
i.
Material
Incentives- This refers to money or salary.
ii.
Personal
Non- Monetary Opportunities- This refers to personal power or
personal recognition etc.
iii.
Desirable
Physical Condition of Work- The working space should not be
dingy or dirty.
iv.
Ideal
Benefaction- He refers to the job which satisfies
individual’s values, ideals or ideologies etc.
b. General Inducements-
i.
Associated
Attractiveness- This refers to a desirable social
condition in the workplace. Here, social refers to Individual to Individual
relationship or the relation among the colleagues. Undesirable social condition
is a disincentive to work. A friendly atmosphere is always welcomed by the
employees.
ii.
Adaptation
of the Working Condition of Work towards Individual’s habits and attitudes-
He refers to the matching of the individual’s habits and attitudes to the job
requirements or job conditions.
iii.
Opportunity
for Enlarged Participation- He refers to the opportunity to
participate in the decision making or the opportunity to participate in various
organizational activities.
iv.
Opportunity
to undertake Desirable Communication- Freer communication
with colleagues and supervisors in the organization acts as an incentive.
c. Authority-
He dismissed the classical theories of organization and their view as being
the Positional View on Authority. He developed his own Acceptance View of
Authority. Positional view means that the authority flows from the position
and the authority lies with the superordinate. Whereas, he has emphasized that the authority does not lay with the
position which issues command rather lies with the position which accepts it.
According to him, the authority lies with the subordinate and does not lie with
superordinate. ForAuthority to be meaningful requires that it be accepted first
i.e. Command only when it is going to be accepted by the subordinate. If the
command is not accepted by the subordinate, it won’t be complied resulting into
non- meaningful authority. The acceptance of command depends on four
conditions.
i.
It should be intelligible.
ii.
It should be consistent with the
organizational goals.
iii.
It should be compatible with
individual’s personal goal.
iv.
It should be within the physical and
mental limits.
In order to substantiate Authority, he used
a concept called as the Zone of
Indifference. Within the organization, individuals carry Zone of
Indifference as well as Zone of Denial. There are individuals who have more of
Zone of Indifference. On the other hand, there are also individuals who have more
of Zone of Denial. An individual who carries of Zone of Indifference, command
issued towards them is more likely to fall within the Zone of Indifference and
thereby will be complied. On the other hand, Command issued towards the individuals
having more of Zone of Denial is more likely to fall within the Zone of Denial
and thereby is liable to be disobeyed. The executives within the organization
should always strive to increase the Zone of Indifference while decreasing the
Zone of Denial. This can be done by working on individual’s Contribution- Satisfaction Equilibrium.
Zone of Indifference or Denial refers to a psychological condition of being
obedient or disobedient. While being in the Zone of Indifference, the
individual being indifferent towards the merit (four conditions discussed
above) of the authority complies with the authority. Within the organization,
while the acceptance of authority lies with the subordinate, the power of Veto
lies with the superordinate. Power of Veto has been symbolically used and it
means that the responsibility for the failure of authority or negation of
authority lies with the superordinate.
d. Fiction of Superior Authority-
He emphasizes that the manager should be aware of the myth and the reality
about the authority. Functionaries in the organization carry a number of
beliefs such as
i.
Superiors carry superior authority.
ii.
Disobedience will lead to loss of
incentive or even loss of job.
iii.
Lack of performance may result into loss
of reputation.
These beliefs may not be real but it
helps the supervisor to exercise the authority meaningfully. Such beliefs can
be manipulated by the superior to exercise more and more control over the
subordinates. The fiction of Superior Authority will lead to making the
subordinates delegate the authority upwards.
3.
System
of Communication (Exchange of ideas between the sender and the receiver) -
Communication helps in conveying the purposes and helps in exercising
authority. Because of this, he believes that Communication is Authority (Everything within the organization is
sustained through communication). Thus, there should be a proper system of
communication within the organization. The characteristics of proper system of
communication.
a. The
entire channel of communication should be known.
b. Every
functionary should have access to the formal channel of communication.
c. The
line of communication should be as direct as possible. The communication
centres should be competent.
d. The
entire channel of communication should be used. The communication must not jump
layers. Jumping of layers will lead to misgivings, misunderstandings or even
indiscipline.
e. The
channel of communication should not be interrupted. The positions acting as
Communication centres should not fall vacant. If it falls vacant, the chain of
communication will break. There should be immediate replacement for these
positions.
f. The
communication should be authentic. The communication should be made within the
domain of the authority.
g. The
communication centres should be competent. The functionaries should be skilled,
able and be equipped with tools, techniques and technologies of communication.
Barnard’s
View on Responsibility
He discussed the
moral aspect of the responsibility. While referring to the responsibility
within the organization, he says that the responsibility is carried out through
multiple codes such as legal code, cultural code, social code etc. Within the
job situation, the individual’s responsibility might face conflict of codes.
One code might go contrary to other code. When there is a conflict between the
internal codes and the external codes, most likely, the external code
surrenders to the internal code.
Based on the conflict
of codes, the behaviour of individuals is identified.
1.
It might result into paralysis of action
or inaction.
2.
Individual might choose one code as
against other code or codes. In this case, individual goes through a feeling of
guilt.
3.
Individual while following one code
might find a way to satisfy the other codes. In this case, the individual does
not go through the feeling of guilt.
He recognizes that his
study is inadequate in this regard and further studies are required on these
topics.
Classical theories say
that individual does exactly what has been prescribed by the law. Thus,
classical theorists believe only in one code i.e. legal code.
Decision
Making
Barnard is called the
pioneer in Decision Making. Decision is an act of choice reached through
deliberation, calculation and thought. Choice becomes available only when there
are more than one alternative. Decisions are of two types.
1.
Organizational Decisions- Barnard refers
to the decisions undertaken to advance the organizational goal or decisions
made in organizational capacity. These decisions are to be based on logical or
non-logical analysis.
2.
Personal Decisions- It refers to
decisions made outside the organization. These might be based on logical
analysis, non-logical analysis or even illogical analysis. (Non- logical refers
to decisions based on inadequate or hybrid information)
Every decision carries
two elements. He has used the Means- End Paradigm in this regard. He says every
decision contains the goal component and the means component. The goal
component is the moral component because the goal is a desirable one for the
individual who is making the decision. The means through which the goal is to
be achieved has been referred to as the opportunistic component.
1.
Moral Element
2.
Opportunistic Element
a. Complementary
Factor- He refers to all the factors which help in achieving the goal.
b. Strategic
Factor- He refers to all the factors which when absent helps to achieve the
goal.
Nice information
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