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Areas of Legitimate Organizational Influence

Every organization develops certain policies and requirements for performance. If the
organization and an individual define the boundaries of legitimate influence differently, then
organizational conflict is likely to develop.

Areas of General Approval of Organizational Influence

Job Conduct the tidiness of ones office and ones working hours (high legitimacy of
influence).
Personal activities off the job as the church one attends, where charge accounts are
maintained, and where one goes to vacation (low legitimacy of influence).

Type of Conduct

On-the-Job



Off-the-Job

Job Related Non-Job Related
Job Relatedness
Figure 10.1: Model of Legitimacy of Organizational Influence of Employees.
RIGHTS OF PRIVACY
Primarily are related to organizational invasion of a persons private life and unauthorized
release of confidential information about a person in a way that would cause emotional harm or
suffering.
Lie detector
Personality test
Location trackers
Medical examinations
Treatment of alcoholism
Monitoring of employee lifestyles
Treatment of drug abuse
Surveillance devices
Computer data banks
Confidential records
Genetic screening/biometric data
Inquiry into personal relationships
Figure 10.2: Business activities that may involve Employee Rights of Privacy

High
Legitimacy
Moderate
Legitimacy
Moderate
Legitimacy
Low
Legitimacy
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Policy Guidelines Relating to Privacy
Because of the importance of employee privacy, most large employers have developed
policy guidelines to protect it. These guidelines also helps establish uniform practices and
facilitate handling of any unusual situation that may help.
Relevance
Recency
Notice
Fiduciary duty
Confidentiality
Due process
Protection of the psyche

SURVEILLANCE DEVICES
Protection of the psyche implies that, except for compelling reasons, employers should
avoid surveillance of private places such as locker rooms or secret surveillance unknown to
the employee, as with secret listening devices.

Two Other Forms of Surveillance Devices
Electronic Sensor Badges are microcomputers in clip-on ID Cards, which emit infrared
signals.
Cyberslackers persons that are known to use electronic monitoring to identify the most
abusers of their internet privileges.

HONESTY TESTING
Employee theft is a major problem. There are two ways to test honesty:
The Polygraph is an instrument that was developed to record those changes and provide
evidence of lying.
Paper-and-Pencil Test is also known as integrity tests, attempt to get the respondent to
disclose information about his or her previous or prospective honesty. These appear in two
forms:
- Over test (inquire about attitudes towards theft)
- Personality-based test (identify dishonest individuals by relating scores on selected
personality-test items to a theft criterion).


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TREATMENT OF ALCOHOLISM
Alcoholism presents major medical and job problems, employers need to develop responsible
policies and programs to deal with it without endangering rights of privacy.















Figure 10.3: Program for Treatment of Employees Who Are Abusers of Alcohol and Other
Drugs

DRUG ABUSE
Abuse of drugs other than alcohol, particularly if used at work, may cause severe problems for
the individual, the employer, and other employees.
Drug Testing the direct consequences of employee drug abuse are enormous. A possible
solution to the problems with drug testing lies in impairment testing. This method usually
consists of a brief motor-skills test performed on a computer; the test is much like playing a
video game.
Employee develops problem

Supervisor initiates
Job-oriented action

Problem Problem
Is solved continues

Supervisor and
Employee meet
With counselor

Problem Problem
Is solved continues

Counselor recommends
Treatment

Treatment is Treatment is
Accepted refused

Problem is Treatment Problem is Problem
Solved fails solved continues

Employee is Employee is
Terminated terminated
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Genetic Testing developments in the field of genetics allow physician to use medical tests to
accurately predict whether an employee may be genetically susceptible to one or more types of
illness or harmful substances.
Discrimination - law generally prohibit job discrimination on the basis of race, color, national
origin, sex, religion, handicapped status, and other factors.

Two Key issues stand out as contemporary problems are:
Sexual Harassment
AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome)

DISCIPLINE
Discipline is management action to enforce organizational standards. There are two types of
discipline:

Preventive discipline an action taken to encourage employees to follow standard
rules so that infractions do not occur.
Corrective discipline an action that follows infraction of a rule; it seeks to discourage
further infractions so that future acts will be compliance with standards.

QUALITY OF WORK LIFE
The term refers to the favorableness or unfavorableness of a total job environment for people.




Steps 1 2 3 4 5

Figure 10.4: A progressive Discipline System


Verbal
reprimand by
supervisor
Written
reprimand, with
a record in
personnel file
1-3 day
suspension
from work
Suspension
for 1 week or
longer
Discharge for
cause
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Job Enlargement versus Job Enrichment

Higher-order


Accent on Needs
(Focus on depth)

Lower-order

Few Many
Number of Tasks
(Focus on breadth)

Figure 10.5: Difference between Job Enrichment and Job Enlargement












Figure 10.6: Benefits of Job Enrichment Emerge in three Areas.
Routine
Job
Job
Enrichment
Job
Enlargement
Job
Enrichment
And
Enlargement
JOB
ENRICHMENT
BENEFITS

Individual:
Growth
Self-actualization
Job satisfaction

Organization:
Intrinsically motivated employees
Better employee performance
Less absenteeism and turn-over; fewer grievances
Society:
Full use of human resources
More effective organizations
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Core-Dimensions: A Job Characteristics Approach
The core dimensions affect an employees psychological state, which tends to improve
performance, satisfaction, and quality of work, and to reduce turnover and absenteeism. The
five core dimensions is composed of skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy
and feedback. A job must have all five dimensions to be fully enriched.











Figure 10.7: How Core Job Characteristics Affect Work Outcome through Three Psychological
States

Enrichment Increases Motivation
The degree to which the five core dimensions are present in job needs to be evaluated before
job enrichment can take place. An employer studies jobs to assess how low or high they are on
skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy and feedback often in comparison to
desired level of each.

Social Cues Affect Perceptions
Not all attempts to enrich jobs have been as successful as the experiment that was just
described. One explanation for the lack of predicted changes from enrichment lies in the
presence of social cues, which are often rather subtle bits of information workers receive from
their surroundings. Social cues may serve either to support or to counteract the direction of
objective task characteristics.
Core dimensions Direct effects Work Outcomes
Skill variety (psychological states)
(Different skills
And abilities used)

Task identity
(Complete piece Perceived meaningfulness Improved performance
Of work)

Task significance
(Importance of work) Heightened satisfaction

Autonomy
(Control over task Perceived responsibility
Performance)

Feedback
(Information about Perceived knowledge of results Reduce absenteeism
Performance) and turnover
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Figure 10.8: Social Cues Affect Employee Reactions to Task
The key to job enrichment lies in how employees use the social cues provided by their peers
and others to arrive at their own perception of their jobs. This activity is called social
information processing.
Contingency Factors Affecting Enrichment
Job enrichment does not apply to all types of situation. It appears to apply more easily to high-
level jobs, which are less likely to be dictated by the technological process. If the technology is
stable and highly automated, the cost of job enrichment may be too great in relation to the
rewards.










Figure 10.9: Some limitations of Job Enrichment and QWL Programs
Objective task characteristics
Perceive task characteristics
(e.g., skill variety)
Employee attitudes
And behaviors
(e.g., motivation, turnover)
Social Cues
Supportive
Counteracting

Some workers may not want enriched jobs
- If they are unable to tolerate increased responsibility
- If they dislike more complex duties
- If they are uncomfortable with group work
- If they dislike relearning
- If they prefer security and stability
- If they are comfortable with supervisory authority
- If their skills are not adaptable
- If they prefer to quit their jobs
Expensive equipment may not be adaptable
The program may unbalance the production system
Supervisory or staff roles may be reduce
Enriched jobs may increase pay satisfaction
Costs may increase
- Start-up costs
- Long-term costs
Unions may oppose some enrichment efforts
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THE INDIVIDUALS RESPONSIBILITIES TO THE ORGANIZATION
Organizational Citizenship
Employees who are organizational citizens engage in positive social acts designed to help
others, such as volunteering their efforts on special projects, sharing their time and resources,
and proactivity cooperating with others. They also are expected to use their talents and energies
fully to help the organization achieve its goals of efficiency and effectiveness.
Dues-Paying
Consists of the total costs that a persons group believes an individual should pay for the
privileges of full acceptance and continuing membership in it. These costs may include:
Minimum qualifications of the employee
willingness to get ones hands dirty while not complaining about undesirable tasks
Showing proper respect to others
Not acting superior to others
Performing at an above-average level
Spending the appropriate amount of time at ones job
Blowing the Whistle on Unethical Behavior
Being a good organizational citizen does not extend to blind conformity supporting illegal
activities of the organization, bending to organizational pressures, or engaging in any other
serious activities which seriously violate social standards.
High

Approximate
Strength of
Response





Low
Figure 10.10: Alternative Employee Response to Wrongful Acts

Mutual Trust
It is a joint faith in the responsibility and actions of the parties involved; when it is present, each
person has strongly positive expectation that the other person will do the right thing.
Development of mutual trust occurs over a period of time through the emergence of mutual
understanding, the development of emotional bonds, and the demonstration of trustworthy
behaviors.
Sabotaging the implementation
External whistle-blowing
Internal whistle-blowing
Threatening to blow the whistle
Expressing concerns
Passively withdrawing