CHAPTER 8

Authority, Responsibility and Accountability

CHAPTER OBJECTIVES

After reading this chapter, you should be able to:

1. Understand the meaning of authority
2. Describe the process of delegation
3. List the different types of delegation
4. Describe centralization vs. decentralization of authority
5. Enumerate the guidelines for measuring the extent of decentralization
6. Define job design
7. Describe the critical components of job design
8. Present an overview of organizational structure

India’s Inspirational Managers

Deepak Parekh is the non-executive chairman of Housing Development Finance Corporation Limited (HDFC). He has been associated with this corporation for a long time in different capacities. His astute business acumen, farsightedness and belief in professional management has not only made HDFC the leader in mortgage financing but also transformed it into a financial conglomerate. Parekh emphasized on sound values such as professionalism, integrity and transparency in administration. In Deepak Parekh’s words, “You can’t manufacture culture. Culture builds in an organization over a period of time, and the tone at the top must be integrity, value systems.” Parekh, known for attributes like accessibility and informality, is also on the board of several leading corporations across varied sectors. His quality as a master trouble-shooter has made him a guiding force and an active member of various high-powered economic groups constituted by the government of India. Parekh has received many awards for his brilliant administrative styles and managerial acumen. Parekh’s style of administration sets the background for a discussion on authority, responsibility and accountability.

Introduction

Authority refers to the right to influence the activities of the subordinates. After deciding the type of departmentation and span of control the next stage in organizing is deciding the extent or degree of authority to be given to each person/position in the organizational structure. This authority enables independent functioning by employees but within the prescribed limits. Generally, the amount of authority to be given to each position depends on where that position is located in the organizational hierarchy. Managers at the top levels are usually given more authority than those at the middle and lower levels. Similarly, managers at the middle level will have more authority than those at the lower or supervisory levels.

Managers are given the authority to make decisions and use organizational resources for realizing the organizational goals and plans. Authority empowers managers to do what is needed for their job. But managers cannot do all the work by themselves, so they delegate a part of their work and authority to their subordinates. Generally the transfer of formal authority to people at the lower level of hierarchy for a specific purpose is called delegation. Delegation of authority as well as responsibility is necessary for getting things done through others and also for organizational goal accomplishment. Delegation of authority by the managers does not mean giving away of authority to the subordinates, it only means sharing. The ability to delegate is important for managerial success. The authority of each person must be well-defined and they should know clearly the scope of their authority. Typically, authority is delegated to the lower positions in the chain of command. It thus flows from the top to the bottom of the organization. We shall now discuss the delegation of authority and responsibility.

Authority

Delegation of authority is essential for developing the skills and abilities of the subordinates. It is an important technique for preparing the lower-level managers for higher positions at the later stage. Delegation of authority also plays an important role in increasing the productivity of the employees. While delegating, managers must ensure that authority is accompanied with appropriate level of responsibility and accountability. Authority should be equal to the responsibility. If somebody is given responsibility for something, then he or she must have adequate authority to take the action needed for achieving success.¹

Responsibility

The term responsibility refers to the obligation or duty of employee to complete the tasks assigned by performing the required activities. Responsibility may also be defined as the employee’s obligation that arises when accepting the manager’s delegated authority.² Responsibility requires the employees to perform specified tasks with the authority delegated. Responsibility gives employees the feeling of usefulness and pride in their work. But, it is essential for managers to ensure that the subordinates have just enough authority to meet their responsibility. When the subordinates are given responsibility without appropriate authority, it will result in job stress and frustration, and employee dissatisfaction. In such a situation, employees may view responsibility as a burden and not as a privilege. On the contrary, if too much authority goes with too little responsibility, it may result in employee malpractice, recklessness, and other dangerous situations. Managers must therefore ensure a balance between responsibility and authority. A right blend of authority and responsibility is necessary for achieving high employee cooperation, motivation and productivity. A right combination is also essential for fulfilling the organizational goals and plans. Managers must also make sure that their subordinates become answerable for all their actions. This can be done by bringing in accountability for employees’ action. Box 8.1 shows ITC’s method of balancing authority and responsibility.

Accountability

Fixation of accountability after the delegation of authority and responsibility is of utmost importance. Accountability makes the employees answerable for the satisfactory completion of a specific task or assignment.³ Accountability is actually a mechanism through which authority and responsibility are brought into alignment.⁴ At the time of delegation, managers must make certain that each employee knows clearly what they are accountable for. This will then ensure that employees constantly report and justify the outcome of their actions to the managers. Though it is easy for managers to fix accountability for the employees, there should not be any arbitrariness in such decisions. We shall now discuss the steps involved in delegating authority and responsibility along with accountability to the employees.

Process of Delegation

Delegation, which involves the transfer of formal authority and responsibility, is a multistep process. It is one of the difficult tasks of the managers for two reasons. The first reason is that it is difficult to find the right person to whom the tasks and authority can be delegated. The second reason is that managers may find it hard to share some of their authority with another. However, the hardest part of any delegation is in ensuring right balance between authority and responsibility. Managers should delegate neither too much nor too little authority to their subordinates. Managers, through a systematic delegation process, can make certain that authority and responsibility are properly delegated. The process shown in Figure 8.1 can be adopted by managers after making necessary changes to make it suitable for them.

Determining the Need for Delegation

The process of delegation begins only when the managers feel a need for sharing of some of their tasks and authority with others. Changes in the nature of work, expansion of business operations, changes in the organizational objectives, policies, procedures, practices, etc. can create such need for delegation in organizations. To make delegation beneficial, managers must have a clear understanding of the goals of their job and the job of other people who work for them.⁵ In other words, managers can achieve success in their delegation initiative only if they know well about their subordinates and organizational environment and practices.

Assigning the Tasks and Duties

Once managers decide to delegate, they should prepare a list of tasks to be delegated to their subordinates. In this regard, it is essential that these tasks are well-defined. It is better to keep a written description of the tasks to avoid any possible confusion in the future. Managers should also define the goals of delegation and the result expected from it. They must communicate this information clearly to the subordinates to whom the tasks are delegated. Managers must also ensure that the subordinates understand what tasks need to be done by them and how they should do it. They must also be aware of the degree of difficulties involved in the job.

Transferring Authority for Task Accomplishment

After tasks are assigned to the subordinates, managers should empower them to carry out the tasks assigned and fulfil the goals. This requires the transfer of adequate authority to the subordinates. Authority is necessary for subordinates to make and execute decisions, to use organizational resources, to direct their own subordinates and to represent their superiors. The quantum of authority to be delegated normally depends on the nature and kind of tasks assigned. Authority can be classified into four categories based on the end purpose for which it is transferred. They are as follows:

1. Authority to inform—Subordinates have the authority to inform the managers of all possible alternative courses available for solving a problem. However, the managers retain the right to accept or reject the suggestion and to make their own decision.
2. Authority to recommend—Subordinates are permitted to identify all possible alternative course of actions, evaluate them and choose the best course of action. Subordinates’ recommendation is then communicated to the managers, who finally decide whether to act on the recommendation or not. Often, committees are delegated with this type of authority only. In case the manager is not satisfied with the recommendation, he may ask the committee to make fresh recommendations.
3. Authority to report—Subordinates are empowered to gather and analyze all possible courses of actions and then choose the best course of action for implementation. Certainly, subordinates with this kind of authority can also proceed with further actions based on their decisions. However, they are duty-bound to provide reports to the managers about their activities.
4. Total authority—Subordinates get almost complete authority from their managers. Besides deciding the best alternative, they can also implement their decisions without the knowledge of the managers. In practice, subordinates however keep the managers informed of their actions and results.

Creating Responsibility and Accountability

When authority is delegated to the subordinates, it creates an obligation for them to complete the tasks and goals assigned. This obligation to the superior is called responsibility. The subordinates’ responsibility to the superior is absolute and cannot be shifted under any circumstances. This responsibility makes them accountable to the managers for all their actions and the consequences of such actions. Managers can evaluate the performance of the subordinates by comparing their actual performance with the performance standards. Subordinates become accountable to the managers for performance deficits, if any. However, it should be clearly understood here that managers too can delegate only their authority and not their responsibility to the subordinates. This is because managers are responsible for the acts of the subordinates to whom authority is delegated. Managers cannot escape from their responsibility arising out of the failure of their subordinates.

Ensuring Follow-up Through Feedback

Managers can enhance or reduce the delegated authority depending on the changing requirements and situations, it is essential for them to be aware of the efficacy of the whole delegation process. Besides measuring the performance of the subordinates, managers should also get their views on the existing delegation system. This will make the managers more sensitive to the needs and difficulties of the subordinates. It can also help the managers to determine the training requirements of their subordinates as related to delegation. Box 8.2 depicts the delegation of authority in GAIL.

Effective Delegation of Authority

Delegation of authority and tasks can be effective only if the managers:

1. Delegate duties and authority to the right and trustworthy persons at the right time for the right purpose.
2. State clearly, simply and directly how the delegation is important for the achievement of organizational goals.
3. Assign the complete task to a subordinate, rather than dividing it among many subordinates.
4. Provide specific and required level of instructions and also clarify the expected results.
5. Allow only as much authority as is required to the subordinate to perform the delegated tasks. Managers should enable the subordinates know the extent of their authority.
6. Desist from delegating their entire authority and work to the subordinates.
7. Ensure unperturbed guidance to the subordinates and also be supportive of their initiatives.
8. Anticipate and answer the questions of the subordinates responsibly and in order.
9. Develop effective review mechanism to measure the performance of the subordinates accurately and also recognize their superior performance.
10. Attach accountability to the delegated authority and responsibility.
11. Consult the subordinates during the delegation process and obtain their feedback continuously.
12. Keep the promises made to the subordinates at all times.

Types of Delegation

Generally, delegations can be classified into different types based on its characteristics. We shall now look at a few important classifications.

• General vs. specific delegation—In general delegation, the subordinates are given the authority to do all the activities of the department. However, they seek general guidance from their managers while exercising their authority and performing duties. In specific delegation, the authority given to the subordinate is limited to the performance of certain specific functions only. Specific delegation is usually well-defined and task-based.
• Formal vs. informal delegation—When the delegation confirms to a well-defined line of command and control, it is a formal delegation. It is normally written and the authority is formal. In the case of formal delegation, subordinates will enjoy absolute authority after delegation. In contrast, when the delegation is not formally written or orally conveyed, it is informal delegation. This type of delegation usually does not confirm to any established organizational structure or formal procedure.
• Conditional vs. unconditional delegation—When authority is delegated without any preconditions, it is unconditional authority. In conditional delegation, subordinates are expected to get their decisions approved by the subordinates. Managers should accept and confirm the activities of the subordinates. They may also refuse to confirm the subordinate’s action and demand revisions.
• Simple vs. complex delegation—When the subordinates are given the authority to perform what they are presently doing, it is normally called simple delegation. They are responsible for their existing job. In contrast, when the managers delegate a part of their own job and authority to their subordinates, it is called complex delegation. In this case, subordinates will get new tasks, assume more authority and responsibility.
• Direct vs. indirect delegation—When no third person is involved in the delegation, as an intermediary between the two immediate parties to the delegation, namely, the manager and subordinates, it is direct delegation. In contrast, when the delegation is made through some third person or intermediary, it is called indirect delegation.
• Downward, sideward and outward delegation—When managers or superiors assign tasks and delegate authority to their immediate subordinates, it is called downward delegation. This is a common form of delegation. When subordinates transfer some of their duties and authorities to other subordinates of the same rank, it is called sideward delegation. When authority is delegated to someone outside the organization, it is normally called outward delegation. For example, when the authority to recruit certain categories of employees is given to an external agency, it is outward delegation.

Apart from the above categorizations, delegations can also be classified into the following:⁶

• Time-bound delegation—When the delegation is for a specific time period only, it is called time-bound delegation. For instance, delegation may be valid for a few weeks, months or years.
• Group delegation—When work and authority are delegated to a group after it satisfies prescribed conditions, it is called group delegation.
• Redelegatable delegation—When subordinates are given the right to redelegate their delegated tasks and authority to others, it is called redelegatable delegation.

Lastly, delegations can also be classified as weak, mild and strict delegations. In these, weak delegation normally involves no agreement, no request and very little influence or authority. Mild delegation involves no agreement, no request but significant influence to perform the tasks and accomplish the goals. Strict delegation involves explicit agreement, specific request and active goal achievement through task completion.⁷

Advantages of Delegation

The primary objective of management is to get things done through others. Delegation helps the management in accomplishing this core objective by assigning tasks and authority to others. In addition to this main benefit, delegation brings several other benefits to the management. They are as follows:

• Delegation helps the managers to focus on important and non-routine activities by delegating routine and less important works to others.
• It can boost the motivation and morale of subordinates by providing them enhanced job involvement, interest, satisfaction, challenge and autonomy.
• It enhances the capacity of the managers to manage more number of employees.
• It facilitates the organization to make timely decisions as authority is widely distributed across the organization.
• It ensures that decisions are made by people who have firsthand information about the problems or issues.
• It provides recognition and legitimization to the individual initiatives and achievements of the subordinates.
• Delegation is a type of on-the-job training as it provides subordinates with new learning, new experience and new skills.
• It enables teams to work cohesively as members will have greater understanding of the different aspects of work and also about the team issues and goals.

Challenges to Delegation

Though delegation is essential for getting things done through subordinates, there are certain factors which act against effective delegation in organizations (Figure 8.2). They are as follows:

• Absence of confidence in subordinates—When managers lack confidence in the ability of their subordinates to perform well in the delegated tasks, they may hesitate to delegate their work to them. Further, managers may skip delegation when they fear too much damage for the organization or the department, when the decisions of the subordinates go wrong. Similarly, managers may prefer not to delegate their work when they believe that they alone can perform it well and their role is just indispensable.
• Fear of comparison—Managers may be disinclined to delegate their tasks, when they fear that their subordinates could outshine them. When managers fear that a possible comparison of the performance of their subordinates with their own could end up in their own ouster from the job, they will prefer to do all the work by themselves.
• Refusal by the subordinates—Subordinates may refuse to take up additional tasks, authority and responsibility for a variety of reasons. For instance, they may fear victimization by their managers in the event of goal or plan failures. Some subordinates may view delegation as a pretext for the managers to lighten their work and burden them. Thus, subordinates may view delegation by their managers as a form of exploitation, especially when it comes without any reward. Managers’ level of tolerance can also influence subordinates’ attitude towards delegation. When managers indulge in frequent fault-finding, subordinates will prefer not to be a part of any delegation. Lack of training may also discourage subordinates from accepting any new task, authority and responsibility.
• Difficulties in justifying the surplus time—Top management will normally agree to the delegation proposals of the managers only if they can convince their higher authorities about the need for such delegation. In this regard, managers may find it difficult to justify their surplus time available after delegation. This is because the top management will expect the managers to prove that the spare time could be more productively used for promoting organizational interest.

Factors like effective skill training for subordinates, a well-planned delegation, improved understanding between managers and subordinates, reward-linked delegation and top management’s positive attitude towards delegation can facilitate effective delegation in organizations.

Centralization vs. Decentralization of Authority

Organizations have to decide where a decision should be made within a given hierarchical level. The levels at which decisions are made in an organization usually indicate the management’s belief in centralization or decentralization. We shall now discuss centralization and decentralization of authority.

Centralization of Authority

When decision-making authority is retained at the top levels of the organization, it shows management’s preference for centralization or top-down management style. In centralization, top-level managers delegate little amount of authority to the middle-or lower-level managers in an organization. They also usually keep a strong team of advisors to help them in the decision-making process. Most traditional organizations usually have a highly centralized decision-making system.⁸ Similarly, organizations with an efficient and speedy communication system may favour a centralized decision system. This system is better suited for an organization which has fewer qualified and experienced people at the lower levels. Similarly, this method is necessary when the organizations’ decisions are crucial and the risk of loss is high. Let us now discuss the benefits of and limitations to the centralized decision-making authority.

Benefits of Centralization

Organizations with centralized authority and decision-making system can have the following benefits:

• Centralization enables the top management to exercise close control over the operations of the organization.
• It ensures that the expertise of specialized staff is made available throughout the organization and not restricted to any one department or division.
• It enables the top management to directly plan and implement the important organizational activities without deviation or distraction.
• It helps organizations to protect themselves from the risk and cost associated with the faulty decisions of people at the lower levels.
• It ensures that there is uniformity in the policies and practices governing decision making across the organization.
• It makes sure that there is no duplication of any activities in the different departments of the organization.
• It makes certain that all the decisions of the organization are always consistent with the overall goals and strategies. It also ensures that there is continuity and consistency in an organization’s dealings with different stakeholders.
• It ensures that various activities of an organization are effectively directed and properly coordinated towards goal accomplishment.

Limitations to Centralization

Though centralization has many benefits, it has a few limitations. They are as follows:

• Centralization slows down the organizational decisions as the employees have to wait for directions from the top management for future course of actions.
• Managers at the higher levels may not be able to understand the exact situation as they are away from the grass root levels. As such, they may not possess firsthand, in-depth knowledge of problematic situations.
• It forces senior managers at the top to spend their time on matters that can easily be dealt by managers at the lower levels of the organization.
• It may not permit the organizations to know and utilize the expertise available at the lower levels of the management. It can also curb the individual initiatives and innovations of the managers and supervisors at the lower levels of the organizational structure.
• It can demoralize the people at the lower levels as they may not have any job autonomy. In the long term, it can lead to increased job dissatisfaction, low employee morale and motivation, and high labour turnover.

Decentralization of Authority

When the decision-making authority is delegated to the people at the lower levels of the organizational structure, it shows the management’s preference for decentralization or bottom-up management style. The principle behind decentralization is to ensure that the decisions are made by those people who aware of the situation very well. Since middle- and lower-level managers are empowered to make decisions in a decentralized setup, top managers will have fewer staff as advisors. Further, decentralization enables managers to respond quickly to any situation with fewer formalities. This method is better-suited for a very large and diversified organization where it is too difficult to administer from the top.

Benefits of Decentralization

The benefits available to an organization from decentralization are as follows:

1. Decentralization helps organizations to make fast, timely decisions to capitalize the market opportunities effectively. It facilitates managers to make faster and flexible responses when there are greater changes and uncertainty in the environment.
2. It ensures that the local expertise available with the managers at the lower levels of the organizational structure is put to best use. It also ensures that decisions are tailor-made to deal with the local conditions.
3. It allows the people who are closer to the grass root levels to directly deal with the customers, employees, competitors and markets to make decisions.
4. It is an effective instrument to enhance the job satisfaction, job involvement, motivation and morale of employees at the lower levels of the organizations. This is possible as the decision-making process offers challenges and satisfaction to the employees.
5. It provides a perfect setting for organizations to train and develop their lower-level managers for higher responsibilities at a later stage.
6. It allows organizations to make managers accountable for decisions and performances at the departmental or unit levels.
7. It provides scope for the people at the middle and lower levels to take initiatives and try innovations at their levels.
8. It enables experienced managers at the top levels of the management to use their time more productively by delegating routine, less important decisions to the lower-level managers.

Limitations of Decentralization

The drawbacks of decentralization are as follows:

1. Top management may find it difficult to adopt a consistent, uniform and unified approach towards the decision-making process across the organization.
2. The cost and failure of coordination of different activities can be high in decentralized form of organizations.
3. Managers at the lower levels may make decisions that may serve their departmental interest but not the overall organizational interest. Similarly, lower-level managers may attach too much importance for issues in their immediate surroundings while ignoring larger organizational issues.
4. Expertise of highly paid, specialized staff cannot be used to benefit the whole organization.
5. There may be duplication in the functions or activities performed by the managers of different departments.

Guidelines for Measuring the Extent of Decentralization in Organizations

According to Warren R. Plunket,⁹ the degree of decentralization is normally high in those organizations, where:

1. A large number of decisions are made at the lower levels of the management.
2. Critical decisions are allowed to be taken at the lower levels in organizational hierarchy.
3. The organizational policies offer adequate operational flexibility to the employees at lower levels. They may have the freedom to interpret the policies differently depending upon the situation. For instance, organizations may permit the employees dealing with customer grievances to be more prudent than procedural in settling their grievances.
4. Subordinates need to consult their managers less number of times—only before any decisions are made.
5. Operations of the firm are widely dispersed across different geographical locations.

Centralization or decentralization is basically a relative concept in organizations. This is because no single method (centralized or decentralized) works well for all types of organizations. It is therefore important for managements to consider the suitability of each method based on the prevailing conditions before choosing a specific method. However, the organizational decision to adopt a specific method is often an evolutionary process.¹⁰ It is because the extent of centralization changes in organizations as their scale of operation grows in size and complexity.

While deciding whether to centralize or decentralize the decision-making authority, management must consider the factors that favour centralization or decentralization. For instance, factors like skills and ability of the lower-level managers, cost of decision failures, time gap available for decision responses, size of the organization, geographical dispersion of the organizational facilities, need for local responsiveness, difficulties in effective coordination, etc. can decisively influence an organization’s decisions relating to centralization or decentralization of the decision-making authority.

Managements typically execute their decentralization plans through job designs. In a simple sense, job design is the division of the work of the organization among its employees. The fundamental purpose of job design is to define and organize tasks, duties and responsibilities into a single unit of work for the fulfilment of organizational goals. Job design also describes the methods and relationships that are essential for job performance. It is used as an effective technique for achieving the degree of decentralization necessary for organizational goal accomplishment.¹¹ It also helps managements to state their philosophy and policies on decentralization. We shall now discuss job designs in detail.

Job Design

Job design is¹² basically a combination of the job content and the work method adopted in the job. Job content states the tasks to be performed as a part of the job while the work method deals with the mode of performing the job. Certainly, a well-designed job can have a definite impact on decentralization, job performance and the overall growth of the organization. It can also make the work experience of the employees more rewarding and productive. In contrast, a poorly-designed job often causes difficulties in the proper alignment of various functional activities, and also on decision making and goal accomplishment. Thus, the basic aim of job design is to clearly establish the role of each job and the job holder in the overall structure of an organization.

The designing of a job often involves responding to certain questions: What tasks need to be done as a part of a job? At what level should it be done? Who should do the job? How should it be done? While designing a job, the firm must keep in mind the organizational interest in terms of productivity, performance and quality. At the same time, it should also consider the employee interest in terms of satisfaction, challenges and the growth potential available in the job. In simple terms, it should be agreeable to both the management and the employees. In any case, job design should always be in alignment with the strategic goals of the organization.

Definitions of Job Design

Job design definitions basically focus on the job content and work methods associated with a job. We shall now see a few definitions on job design.

“Job design is the specification of the contents, methods, and relationships of jobs in order to satisfy technological and organizational requirements as well as the social and personal requirements of the job holders.”¹³—L. E. Davis.

“Job design is the process of determining the specific tasks to be performed, the methods used in performing these tasks, and how the job relates to other work in the organization.”¹⁴ —R. Wayne Mondy.

“Job design refers to the study of jobs, tasks, constellations of tasks that encompass properties, perceptions, and response to properties and/or to perceptions.”¹⁵ —Ricky W. Griffin and Gary C. McMahan.

Critical Components of Job Design

The main purpose of job design is to increase the ability of a firm to meet its objectives effectively and to provide job satisfaction to the employees. Usually, job design is done on the basis of ergonomics (which means designing a job according to the worker’s strength and ability in order to avoid strain injuries caused by repetitive operations), task characteristics (refers to the manner of construction of a job and the arrangement of tasks in that job), work practices (refer to the customs or norms developed over a period of time, which deeply influence the employees’ behaviour and their way of doing the work), corporate cultures (refer to the norms, practices, assumptions and beliefs followed by an organization) and technological environment.

As shown in Figure 8.3, the components of job design are job enrichment, self-managing teams, job rotation, job reengineering, job enlargement, participative management, peer performance review and high performance work design. We shall now discuss these concepts in detail.

Job enrichment—Job enrichment refers to the development of work practices that challenge and motivate the employees to perform better. It often results in achieving desired improvements in productivity, safety of work, quality of products/services and job satisfaction. Organizations also adopt job enrichment to encourage multitasking by the employees in the job. Job enrichment may include, among others, the formation of a quality circle, self-directed team, job rotation and better communication. In a nutshell, job enrichment aims at achieving reduction of costs and inprovement of job satisfaction. In fact, studies have shown a positive correlation between job enrichment and job satisfaction.¹⁶

How to enrich a job?—The main aim of job enrichment is to provide an enhanced autonomy for the employees and increased operational efficiency for the organization. To achieve the desired results in job enrichment, the following guidelines could be followed:

• Enhancing the scope of the job to utilize the diverse skills of the employees.
• Allowing the employees to do the whole job, i.e., from the beginning till the end, so that they could develop a sense of achievement.
• Providing necessary autonomy to the employees on matters relating to the method, speed and order of doing the job.
• Encouraging the employees to know the significance of their work in terms of its contribution to the accomplishment of the overall goal of the organization.
• Constantly challenging the employees to adopt innovation in job by acquiring new knowledge and skills.
• Improving the information-sharing process by strengthening the existing communication channels and also by introducing new communication channels.
• Ensuring that the employees get timely and adequate recognition and appreciation for their effective performance and successful completion of the job.
• Enabling the employees to get constant feedback of their own performance by communicating the results of the work done by them.
• Encouraging the employees to involve themselves in goal-setting and accomplishment activities.
• Making employees believe that the present job is not an end but only a means for better prospects in the organization.

Self-managing teams—Self-managing teams are usually entrusted with the overall responsibility for the accomplishment of work or goal. They enjoy autonomy in decision making on matters involving when and how the work is done. They are given adequate freedom to determine the mode of execution by planning the pattern of work, distribution of assignments, rest breaks, performance evaluation and so on. However, accountability for the outcomes should be clearly defined. This method is appropriate for group activities. It is capable of providing intrinsic motivation to employees as the team members here enjoy better work autonomy and control their own work. Self-managing teams need to do a lot of groundwork to ensure the success of the whole process. The preparatory requirements for self-managing teams are as follows:

• Work mapping—This involves defining the boundaries of the teams clearly in terms of authority, responsibility and accountability. Each team should have a distinct identity, purpose and sphere of activities within the organization.
• Determining the size of the team—The size of the team contributes critically to the success of the self-managing team. The team should be neither too big nor too small. It is essential to identify the right size for the team. There are various factors that influence the decisions relating to the size of the group. They are the nature of process and products, the physical distribution of activities, the style of leadership and the rate of delivery.
• Leadership development—Effective leadership is critical to the success of self-managing teams. The leaders of the teams should be given training in leadership tasks, leadership styles, communication, motivation and other necessary leadership qualities.
• Fixing the team norms—It is essential for each team to develop rules and regulations to govern the behaviour of its members. It should have a categorical list of do’s and don’ts for its members and they should not be allowed to misuse their authorities.

Job rotation—Job rotation refers to moving employees from one job to another in a predetermined way. This enables an employee to perform diverse roles and gain exposure to the techniques and challenges of doing several jobs. An organization may adopt job rotation in two ways. One, the employee might be moved from the existing job to a new one as a part of promotion or transfer after he spends a few years in the current job. The purpose here is to offer new challenges and to avoid boredom in the job. Two, job rotation is viewed as a part of the training process. The trainee is moved from one job to another to enable him learn each of these jobs. The uses of job rotation are as follows:

• It facilitates the horizontal movement of employees to widen their knowledge and varied skills.
• It enables the organization to identify the skill deficit and training requirements of its employees.
• It enhances the interest and satisfaction of the employees in the performance of the job.
• It reduces or eliminates the boredom associated with the performance of the same job for longer periods.
• It helps in the identification of the latent talents of the employees and also in finalizing the career growth plan of each employee.

Job reengineering—Job reengineering is the process of streamlining jobs by combining a few jobs into one, redistributing the tasks among various jobs and reallocating resources. It also involves reconsideration of the methods of job performance, physical layouts and performance standards. The basic aim of job reengineering is to reduce costs, delays, absenteeism and conflicts.

Michael Hammer¹⁷ defines job reengineering as, “the fundamental rethinking and radical redesign of business processes to achieve dramatic improvements in critical contemporary measures of performance, such as cost, quality, service, and speed.” Job reengineering involves redesigning of each work system to make the organization more competitive in the market. It calls for radical rethinking by the organization on the existing work pattern and its task characteristics. The reengineering process involves the following:¹⁸

• Pattern breaking—This involves radically changing the existing rules and regulations to suit the conditions of the existing environment.
• Realigning with corporate goals—This implies revisiting the work processes to ensure that they are properly aligned with the goals of the organization. Wherever necessary, redesigning must be done in the job activities to achieve the alignment required.
• Abolishing the power structure—This process involves substituting the traditional hierarchy with self-managed or autonomous teams. It also involves decentralization of authority, responsibility and accountability.
• Redesigning the work flow—In this process, the organization should reexamine the work flow designs to ensure that they revolve around the goals and strategies.
• Enhancing IT applications—The developments in technological environment facilitate the application of information technology (IT) in every possible sphere of process design. Similarly, IT can also be used to enable process reengineering in an organization.
• Redefining titles and positions—Job reengineering may require redefining of job titles, relationships, positions and responsibilities to suit the changes made in the process.
• Establishing a learning organization—Job reengineering often requires continuous learning by the employees. In this regard, on-the-job training is emphasized to reduce the time taken to perform a task, inculcate quality consciousness and improve productive.
• Redesigning performance-based incentives and rewards—It may require a redesigning of performance evaluation techniques to assess the individual and group effectiveness. The reward structure and incentive programmes may have to be revised as a consequence of job redesign.

Job enlargement—Job enlargement transforms the jobs to include more and/ or different tasks. Its basic aim is to make the job more attractive by increasing the operations performed by a person in the job. Job enlargement techniques aim at designing jobs in such a way that the interest and needs of both the management and the employees are fulfilled. While deciding job enlargement, the organization should consider whether it wants to adopt a horizontal or vertical enlargement.

• Horizontal enlargement—It refers to the extent of a job containing many tasks. It involves the enlargement of duties by adding new but similar tasks. It aims at making the job low in specialization and boredom. It also attempts at developing new skills among the employees. In practice, horizontal enlargement is adopted when the tasks are complex and structured. In this method, the percentage contribution of each employee in the complete product is increased significantly. Finally, it aims at removing difficult tasks in a job to promote greater productivity.
• Vertical enlargement—It is the extent to which the employees decide how the task is to be done. It enables an employee to participate in the planning, organizing and controlling aspects of a task. The primary purpose of this method is to enhance the status and self-fulfilment needs of the employees. It involves the assignment of an absolute task unit to an employee. Vertical enlargement is suitable when the tasks are routine and well-structured.¹⁹

Participative management—Participative management means allowing employees to play a greater part in the decision-making process.²⁰ It has been found to be useful in improving the quality of work life, job enrichment, quality circles, total quality management and empowerment. In fact, participative management is considered to be the panacea for the ailments of an organization.²¹ In participative management, employees are allowed to participate in the strategic planning process as a part of their job. In this way, organizations make the employees feel that their views are important.

Peer performance review—Peer review is a performance evaluation technique adopted by an organization in which the employees in the same rank rate one another. Peer monitoring is one of the strategies for achieving job enrichment.²² In this method, team members evaluate one another’s performance.

In addition to this, the team members review the performance of the entire team or group. In peer review, performance evaluation becomes a collaborative and mutual process. Performance appraisal for the employees becomes more personalized and is conducted on a regular basis.

High performance work design—Developing a high performance work design is also a strategy for job enrichment. Effective work groups are created in an organization through this technique to achieve a high level of performance.²³ Certainly, a high performance system can produce the desired effects on the organizational productivity and performance. It can also achieve the required employee satisfaction and involvement. The key characteristics of a high performance work system²⁴ are as follows:

• Presence of highly-skilled, dynamic, coordinated and loyal employees.
• Existence of flat and flexible organizational structure and modern management practices.
• Capability of retaining experienced and skilled employees for a long time.
• Presence of full-fledged self-managed teams with adequate authority, responsibility and accountability.
• Existence of supportive rather than autocratic style of leadership and management.
• Payment system that counts on team performance but gives due importance to the skills of the individual.

Job design, which involves the integration of job content, work method and qualifications necessary to perform a job, has many uses for an organization.

Merits of Job Design

Job design has the following benefits:

• It enables an organization to develop a competent, dynamic and responsive workforce.
• It ensures that the customers get high-quality goods and services without any delay and interruption.
• It helps a firm in achieving cost reduction by eliminating the causes of accidents and injuries through enhanced health and safety measures.
• It enhances the employees’ satisfaction, motivation, involvement and commitment levels, leading to improved cooperation between the management and the employees.
• It offers wide opportunities to the employees to convey their views and opinions to the management through participative management programmes.
• Its implementation often requires the employees to undergo periodic training to upgrade their skills and thus helps them in their career growth.
• It contributes effectively to the organizational effectiveness and, as a result, to the competitiveness of the organization in the market.

Limitations of Job Design

Despite several merits, job design programmes often meet with a number of challenges that affect its efficiency. Let us study them.

• Job design techniques are usually job-specific programmes. They may prove to be difficult in the case of jobs that require sophisticated technology and specialized tools and methods.
• Highly motivating jobs created out of job enrichment may cause frequent mental tiredness and stress, leading to increased absenteeism and attrition rates.
• Job design programmes were resisted by employees on the ground that enriched jobs presented more challenges and hence resulted in more mistakes and lapses. They viewed it only as job enrichment and not as a job holder enrichment programme.
• Job design techniques require managers to change their attitude and perception of the employees. They should have empathy and be ready to work sincerely to improve the job quality of their subordinates. But, managers may not be willing to spare their busy time in enriching the jobs of their subordinates.
• Employees may oppose job design when they fear reduced autonomy and loss of individual identity in the team as a result of job enrichment.
• The high cost of implementing job design programmes has discouraged many companies from adopting this technique.

Informal Organizations

The informal working relationship existing among organizational members is called informal organization. The purpose of existence of informal organizations is to fulfil the common needs of groups and their members. The needs of members of informal groups may include among others social affiliations, psychological well-being and support. The main reason for employees becoming a part of informal groups is to seek and get useful information and knowledge. This information may not usually be available in their formal or official groups. The formation of informal organizations is mostly spontaneous. Grapevine is an important communication network available in an informal organization for information gathering and dissemination. Messages are spread through grapevine to the members often by word of mouth.

The behaviour of members of formal organizations is guided by hierarchy of authority, rules, procedures and regulations and also by impersonality. In contrast, the behaviour of members of an informal organization is largely guided by unofficial norms, sentiments, rituals common interest and personality²⁵.

Informal organizations are mostly the hidden side of an organizational structure. The behavioural patterns of people in an organization are the indicators of existence of informal organization. Managers must identify and recognize the existence of informal organizations within their formal organizations. This is because informal organizations are capable of influencing individual commitment and motivation and the organization’s performance and productivity. For both organizational and personal interest, it is important for managers to keep track of information flows within an informational organization. This information can help them to be aware of the true responses and reactions of their employees to the formal communications and recent happenings within the organization. They can also use informal organizations to replace the attitudes of hostility prevailing among members with those of trust and confidence.²⁶ Informal organizations have several benefits and a few limitations.

Benefits of Informal Organizations

The important benefits of informal organizations to the management are:

• Since informal communication networks (grapevine) function faster than formal communication systems, managers can use these networks to send messages quickly to the whole organization. Consequently, procedural delays, if any, in formal communication can be overcome with the help of an informal communication system.
• Managers can also discreetly use the communication network of informal organizations to present their views to the members. They can also use it to counter false and distorted messages circulated among the members.
• Informal organizations help members to develop bonds and personal friendship among themselves. This can enhance workplace cohesion, team spirit and employee morale in organizations. It can act as a forum for members to relieve their emotions and anger by allowing free and frank discussions on the management and other members.
• Informal organizations help managers to get true and unbiased feedback about their style of management. They can also listen to the views and sentiments of employees on certain crucial issues or situations.
• Informal organizations can act as effective liaison between top management and grass root-level employees. This is possible because employees are considered as individuals only. Employees’ positions and status are not given any importance while forming relationship in informal organizations. Members of informal organizations can fearlessly express their opinions to the managers at all levels.
• Informal relations between managers and their subordinates may let the managers share some of their tasks and authorities informally and also in a friendly manner.

Limitations of Informal Organizations

Even though informal organizations can help the management in many ways, it is capable of causing disquiet and disturbances in organizations. We shall now look at a few limitations of informal organizations.

• Informal organizations can be used easily to mobilize members to resist the changes in the organization. Understandably, informal organizations can become a symbol of resistance to changes in the system.
• False and unconfirmed information circulated through grapevine can cause tension and frictions in the relationship between the labour and management.
• The possibility of conflict between the leaders of formal organizations and informal organizations is high as they often have conflicting and competing interests and goals.
• Social pressures on members of informal organizations may force them to confirm their behaviour more to the norms of informal organizations than formal organizations. This attitude can stifle the initiative of organizational members and also the plans of the management. The norms of informal groups may disallow the members to work up to their true potential.

Organizational structure, whether formal or informal, works within an organizational culture. In fact, organizational culture and structure are clearly intertwined. For instance, leadership styles, degree of decentralization, grievance procedure, etc. depend on the nature of organizational culture as well as organizational structure. We shall now take an overview of organizational culture.

Organizational Culture—An Overview

Organizational culture reveals the personality of an organization. Culture is usually made up of the practices, values, beliefs and assumptions held by the members of an organization. Each organization develops its own unique culture and this culture provides a sense of identity and exclusiveness to the organization. Within a culture, subcultures based on age, ethnicity, gender and regional affiliations may also exist. Cultures and subcultures shape the personality of the members of an organization by influencing their thoughts, emotions, motives, attitudes and behavioural patterns. Organizational culture creates a common understanding among the members of the organization. It also influences the behaviour of the members. However, culture as an internal environment factor, cannot be created overnight. It requires a great deal of time and efforts to form an organizational culture.

Definitions of Organizational Culture

“Organizational culture is a system of shared meaning held by members that distinguishes the organization from other organizations.”—Stephen P. Robbins.²⁷

“Organizational culture is the system of shared values and beliefs that develops within an organization and guides the behaviour of its members.”—Edgar H. Schein.²⁸

“Organizational culture is a cognitive framework consisting of attitudes, values, behavioural norms and expectations shared by organization members.”—Greenberg and Baron.²⁹

“Organizational culture is a set of customs and typical patterns of ways of doing things.”—Porter.³⁰

Characteristics of Organizational Culture

According to Chatman and Jehn,³¹ the important characteristics of organizational culture are:

• Innovation and risk taking—the extent of encouragement available to the employees to be enterprising and creative.
• Attention to detail—required level of precision, detailed attention and analysis from the employees.
• Result orientation—the relative importance of results or outcomes for the management as compared to the process and techniques employed to achieve these results.
• Consideration for people—degree of importance given for “people (employees) factor” in decision making.
• Team focus—relative importance of team efforts in an organization as against individual efforts.
• Competitiveness—the degree of competitive spirit or aggressiveness displayed by employees.
• Stability—degree of importance for “status quo” in organizational planning and execution as against growth.

Importance of Organizational Culture

The role of organizational culture in the development of the business strategies and functional strategies is remarkable. Certainly, culture influences the value systems and the decision-making patterns of an organization. The primary functions of organizational culture in any organization are formalization and adaptation of decisions, combination of activities, and ensuring employee motivation and decision implementation.³² By revamping culture and subculture, a firm can create a perfect fit between the organization and its mission, vision and goals. Thus, cultural change is important for carrying out the organizational changes. Organizational culture should be continuously improved by reinforcing those factors that form its culture. Box 8.3 shows the organizational culture at Wendt (India) Ltd.

Though culture is difficult to explain, it can be felt by every member of the organization. In fact, a newly-joined member of an organization can sense the prevailing culture when he/she observes the behaviour of other members. When the members adopt a specific form of behaviour, the new employee, for instance, tends to view the behaviour as acceptable behaviour and adopts the same. For example, in the case of safety precautions, a new employee usually follows the behaviour of the other members. Safety perception of members forms the safety culture which, in turn, influences the behaviour of all the members. When the existing culture is indifferent to safety regulation, the new member adopts that behaviour and remains indifferent to safety management.

Summary

1. Authority refers to the right to influence the activities of the subordinates or make decisions concerning them and to issue instructions or orders pertaining to their work.
2. Responsibility refers to the obligation or duty to complete the tasks assigned by performing the required activities.
3. Accountability makes the employees answerable for the satisfactory completion of a specific task or assignment.
4. The steps in the process of delegation are: (i) determining the need for delegation, (ii) assigning the tasks and duties, (iii) transferring authority for task accomplishment, (iv) creating responsibility and accountability and (v) ensuring followup through feedback.
5. Delegation can be classified into different types based on the characteristics. They are: general vs. specific delegation, formal vs. informal delegation, conditional vs. unconditional delegation, simple vs. complex delegation, direct vs. indirect delegation, and downward, sideward and outward delegation.
6. Challenges to delegation are absence of confidence in subordinates, fear of comparison, refusal by the subordinates and difficulties in justifying the surplus time.
7. When the decision-making authority is retained at the top levels of the organization, it shows the preference of the management for centralization. In centralization, top-level managers delegate little authority to the middle- or lower-level managers in the organization.
8. When the decision-making authority is delegated to the people at the lower levels of the organizational structure, it shows the management’s preference for decentralization.
9. Job design is basically a combination of the job content and the work method adopted in the job.
10. The critical components of job design are job enrichment, self-managing teams, job rotation, job reengineering, job enlargement, participative management, peer performance review and high performance work design.
11. The informal working relationship existing among organizational members is called informal organization.

Review Questions

Short-answer questions

1. Define the terms authority, responsibility and accountability.
2. How will you delegate authority effectively?
3. Distinguish between general delegation and specific delegation.
4. Write a note on downward, sideward and outward delegation.
5. State the advantages of delegation of authority.
6. What do you mean by job design?
7. Differentiate between horizontal enlargement and vertical enlargement.
8. Define the term organizational culture.
9. State how the extent of decentralization is measured in organizations.
10. State the guidelines for measuring the extent of decentralization in organizations.

Essay-type questions

1. Enumerate the process of delegation of authority and responsibilities with relevant examples.
2. Discuss in detail the different types of delegation with suitable examples.
3. Why is delegation necessary? State the challenges facing effective delegation.
4. Evaluate the merits and limitations of centralization in detail.
5. How far is decentralization superior to centralization of authority?
6. Discuss the critical components of job design in detail.
7. Examine the characteristics and importance of organizational culture.
8. Enumerate the strengths and weaknesses of informal organization.
9. Distinguish between centralization and decentralization of authority.
10. Authority without responsibility is dangerous. Substantiate.
11. Responsibility without authority is meaningless. Prove.
12. Why do managers dislike delegating tasks in organizations?

Case Study

The Consequence of Faulty Job Design

Aravind Suiting is a global textile has presence in company based in India. The company more than 35 countries. It has succeeded in getting a decent share in an increasingly competitive global market. It has employed more than 5, 800 employees. This company always views its employees as its strength and as the secret of its success. It has got several HR practices oriented towards employee satisfaction and motivation. The uniqueness of the HR practices of this company are: (i) its accent on extensive training programme for its employees during their probationary period of two years; and (ii) its compensation packages, which are excellent for the industry. The HR department of the company is managed by Mr Ravi Varma, a post-graduate in human resource management.

However, the company has been plagued by quite a few HR-related problems in the recent past. One of them is the high rate of attrition witnessed by the company, especially among the employees promoted to the higher positions in the organization. Some other recently promoted employees were asking for reversals to their original positions. Apparently, the company was perplexed by the developments as the employees leaving the organization were indeed performing activities critical to the organization. The company took the matter seriously and was determined to identify its reason. It appointed a team of HR experts to look into the issue and suggest necessary remedial measures.

The team approached all the employees who were leaving the organization and conducted an exit interview to ascertain the reason for their quitting the firm. It also interviewed the employees who applied for reversals to their previous positions. Similarly, it interviewed all the existing employees in that cadre as on that date. Finally, it went a step ahead and contacted the employees who had already left the company in the recent past and elicited their views on the different aspects of employment and the reason for leaving.

Shockingly, almost all the employees spoke negatively about their job. They also informed the team about the presence of an anomaly in authority, responsibility and accountability. A number of them perceived a lack of fit between the level of authority and responsibility. They opined that the job carried too huge a responsibility but provided little authority for the job holder. They also revealed that the lack of demarcation of job authority of different employees often led to misunderstanding and quarrels with their subordinates. Several employees felt that the compensation package was not commensurate with the difficulty and accountability of the job. Based on its interviews with the present and former employees, the team of HR experts prepared a report and presented it to the top management. The report squarely blamed the job analysis report (that had been made earlier) and the resultant HR practices as responsible for the present situation. It held the job analysis report as poorly investigated and drafted. The HR manager was asked to respond to the report and present his own report about the situation. In his report, the HR manager cited the lack of cooperation of the employees for job analysis exercises as the reason for inaccuracies in the job analysis report. However, he strongly defended the methods and techniques adopted in the job analysis process.

Finally, the company decided to undertake a fresh job analysis for all the job titles and integrate the information with the HR practices by revising these practices thoroughly. An external HR consultancy agency with relevant expertise in job analysis was hired this time to prepare the job analysis report even though it charged a high fee.

Questions

1. How do you view the developments in Aravind Suitings from your perspective?
2. Do you agree with the findings of the team of HR professionals regarding the recent spate in employee resignations and requests for reversal?
3. What is your response to the report of the HR manager blaming employees for the defective job analysis report?
4. Do you have any alternative suggestions for controlling attrition in the organisation?

Note: The solution for the above case is available at www.pearsoned.co.in/duraipom2e

References

1. Ernest Dale, Management: Theory and Practice (Tokyo: McGraw-Hill, 1973), p. 149.
2. Donald C. Mosley and Paul H. Pietri, Jr., (eds.), Supervisory Management: The Art of Inspiring Empowering and Developing People (Mason, OH: Southern Western Cengage Learning, 2011), p. 8.
3. Harold Kerzne, Project Management: A Systems Approach to Planning, Scheduling, and Controlling, 10th ed. (New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, 2009), pp. 94−95.
4. Richard L. Daft and Dorothy Marcic, Management, 8th ed. (Mason, OH: Southern Western Cengage Learning, 2011), p. 250.
5. Bruce B. Tepper, The New Supervisor: Skills for Success (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1993), p. 75.
6. Mohammad Salameh Obaidat and Noureddine Boudriga, Security of E-Systems and Computer Networks (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007), p. 123.
7. Cathérine Tessier and Heinz Jürgen Müller, Conflicting Agents: Conflict Management in Multi-Agent Systems (Massachusetts: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2001), p. 39.
8. William M. Pride and O. C. Ferrell, Marketing (Mason, OH: Southern Western Cengage Learning, 2012), p. 48.
9. Warren R. Plunkett, Raymond F. Attner, and Gemmy S. Allen, Management: Meeting and Exceeding Customer Expectations, 9th ed. (Mason, OH: Southern Western Cengage Learning, 2008), p. 219.
10. Mark Hirschey, Managerial Economics, 12th ed. (Mason, OH: Southern Western Cengage Learning, 2009), p. 721.
11. James A. F. Stoner, R. Edward Freeman, and Daniel R. Gilber, Jr., Management, 6th ed. (New Delhi: Pearson Education, 2009), p. 389.
12. Richard B. Freeman and James L. Medoff, What Do Unions Do? (New York: Basic Books, 1984).
13. L. E. Davis, “The Designs of Jobs,” Industrial Relations (1966), 6: 21–45.
14. R. Wayne Mondy, Robert M. Noe, and Shane R. Premeaux, Human Resource Management (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2008), pp. 114–7.
15. Ricky W. Griffin and Gary C. McMahan, “Motivation through Job Design,” in Jerald Greenberg, (ed.) Organizational Behavior: The State of the Science (Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1994), p. 24.
16. Robert D. Mohr and Cindy Zoghi, “Is Job Enrichment Really Enriching?,” 2006, available at www.bls.gov.
17. Michael Hammer and James Champy, Reengineering the Corporation: A Manifesto for Business Revolution (New York: Harper Collins Publishers, 1993), p. 32.
18. Howard Wilbert Miller, Reengineering Legacy Software Systems (Newton, MA: Digital Press, 1998), pp. 3–7.
19. Gordon Bitter Davis, (ed.), The Blackwell Encyclopedic Dictionary of Management Information Systems (Cambridge, MA: Blackwell Publishers, 1999), pp. 161–165.
20. B. Stevens, Quoted at the Conference of the Institute of Personnel Management, Harrogate, 1990.
21. Charles Ehin, Unleashing Intellectual Capital (Woburn, MA: Butterworth-Heinemann, 2000), pp. 16–18.
22. Robert D. Mohr and Cindy Zoghi, “Is Job Enrichment Really Enriching?,” 2006, available at www.bls.gov.
23. Michael Armstrong, A Handbook of Human Resource Management Practice, 8th ed. (London: Kogan Pages, 2001), pp. 282–285.
24. R. E. Walton and G. I. Susman, “People Polices for the New Machines,” Harvard Business Review (1987), 86: 71–83.
25. Jon M. Shepard, Sociology, 10th ed. (Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2010), p. 160.
26. O. Jeff Harris and Sandra J. Hartman, Organizational Behavior (New York: The Haworth Press, 2002), p. 111.
27. Stephen P. Robbins, T. A. Judge, A. Odendaal, and G. Roodt, Organizational Behaviour: Global and Southern African Perspectives (Cape Town: Pearson Education, 2009), p. 424.
28. Edgar H. Schein, “Organizational Culture,” American Psychologist (1990), 45: 109−19; Edgar H. Schein, Organizational Culture and Leadership, 2nd ed. (San Francisco: Jossey Bass, 1997).
29. Jerald Greenberg and Robert A. Baron, Behavior in Organizations (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1997), p. 471.
30. L. W. Porter, E. E. Lawler, and J. R. Hackman, Behaviour in Organizations (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1979).
31. J. A. Chatman and K. A. Jehn, “Assessing the Relationship between Industry Characteristics and Organizational Culture: How Different Can You Be?” Academy of Management Journal, 37: 522−33.
32. Toyohiro Kono and Stewart Clegg, Transformations of Corporate Culture: Experiences of Japanese Enterprises (New York: Walter de Gruyter, 1998), pp. 103−24.
33. http://www.itcportal.com (last accessed in May 2014).
34. http://www.gailonline.com (last accessed in May 2014).
35. http://www.wendtindia.com (last accessed in May 2014).