Ii M Com-Ob Notes
Ii M Com-Ob Notes
(AUTONOMOUS)
(An Autonomous College Affiliated to Periyar University, Salem)
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Katteri – 636 902, Uthangarai, Krishnagiri District
PG & Research Department of Commerce
UNIT-I
Organizational Behaviour
INTRODUCTION
Each of us is a student of behaviour. We are aware that certain types of behaviour
are linked to certain types of responsibilities. As we mature, we expand our observations
to include the behaviour of others. We develop generalizations that help us to predict and
explain what people do and will do. How accurate are these generalizations? Some may
represent extremely sophisticated appraisals of behaviour and prove highly effective in
explaining and predicting the behaviour of others. Most of us also carry about with us a
number of beliefs that frequently fail to explain why people do what they do. As a result, a
systematic approach to the study of behaviour can improve an individual’s explanatory
and predictive abilities.
Organizational Behavior (OB) can be defined as the understanding, prediction and
management of human behavior both individually or in a group that occur within an
organization. Internal and external perspectives are the two theories of how organizational
behavior can be viewed from an organization’s point of view. In this tutorial, we will be
learning in detail about both the theories. While working in an organization, it is very
important to understand others behavior as well as make others understand ours. In order to
maintain a healthy working environment, we need to adapt to the environment and
understand the goals we need to achieve. This can be done easily if we understand the
importance of OB. The total discussion of this book has been given in twenty-five chapters.
Let’s start the chapter wise discussion.
Each of these models sheds light on distinct aspects of organizational behavior. Delve deeper
into each model to understand their unique principles and applications.
Each of these models sheds light on distinct aspects of organizational behavior. Delve deeper
into each model to understand their unique principles and applications.
1. Feudal Model
The Feudal Model of organizational behavior originates from early hierarchical systems
resembling monarchies. It emphasizes a strict chain of command where loyalty and
obedience are paramount.
This model emerged during periods when organizations prioritized order and control over
innovation. It addressed the challenge of managing large workforces with minimal resistance.
It fits within the broader spectrum of organizational behavior models by highlighting
authority as a key driver of employee behavior.
Characteristics of the Feudal Model
2. Autocratic Model
The Autocratic Model relies on centralized power, where leaders dictate policies, and
employees follow orders without question. Historically, it emerged to manage unskilled labor
in industrial setups.
It addresses challenges like enforcing discipline and ensuring compliance. Compared to the
collegial model of organizational behavior, this model limits collaboration but excels in
authority-driven contexts.
This model proves beneficial in certain scenarios. Here are some of those benefits.
3. Custodial Model
The Custodial Model of organizational behavior focuses on employee welfare and security,
emphasizing benefits over authority. In response to dissatisfaction with autocratic systems, it
prioritizes financial rewards and job stability. This model arose in the mid-20th century when
organizations sought to improve morale through economic incentives.
It fits within the broader spectrum of organizational behavior models by offering a structured,
security-driven approach, contrasting with the collaborative, collegial model of
organizational behavior.
The custodial model offers notable benefits. Here are some of them.
IBM uses the custodial approach, focusing on job security, benefits, and pensions to create a
stable work environment. This model leads to employee loyalty but may lack motivation for
innovation.
4. Supportive Model
The Supportive Model shifts the focus to leadership, which shapes organizational behavior.
Unlike autocratic systems, this model empowers individuals by fostering personal growth.
Originating during the human relations movement, it addresses the need for job satisfaction.
Google exemplifies this model by fostering employee development and satisfaction through
flexible working conditions and employee support programs. This boosts morale and
encourages innovation and productivity.
5. Collegial Model
6. System Model
By recognizing that actions in one area influence the whole, this model stands out as a
holistic organizational behavior model, complementing the collaborative, collegial model of
organizational behavior.
Toyota employs a system model where every employee’s role contributes to overall
organizational goals. Through methods like the Toyota Production System, it achieves
continuous improvement and efficiency.
The Human Value Model centers on respecting and leveraging human potential. This model
emphasizes individual dignity, self-worth, and growth, fostering an environment where
employees thrive. It gained prominence during the rise of the human relations movement,
addressing the need for ethical treatment and intrinsic motivation.
As part of the spectrum of organizational behavior models, it aligns with the empathetic
collegial model of organizational behavior but focuses more on individual growth.
Characteristics of the Human Value Model
Patagonia focuses on respect, transparency, and employee well-being. This model integrates
corporate social responsibility and employee welfare, resulting in high job satisfaction and
commitment to company values.
8. Contingency Model
The Contingency Model asserts that no single management approach fits all situations. This
model tailors strategies to specific organizational contexts, emphasizing flexibility.
General Electric (GE) applies the contingency model, adapting its approach based on changes
in the business environment. It has shifted between structures as needed, adapting to market
demands and internal capacities.
The changing economic world is throwing new challenges to the managers. The management
concepts and practices are shaping ‘tomorrow’s history’. A number of changes are taking
place which are influencing the work of managers. Some of these changes are globalisation,
total quality management, work force diversity, innovation and change, empowerment and
teams, downsizing, contingent workers etc.
Globalisation:
Most of the countries are opening their borders to foreign products as well as foreign
producers. The companies of developed countries are entering foreign countries by opening
manufacturing facilities there. The companies like Siemens, Remington, Singer, for instance,
were selling their products in foreign markets during nineteenth century. The companies like
Fiat, Unilever and Royal Dutch had become multinationals by 1920. Since 1960
multinational companies have become a common sight.
These companies first go to foreign countries just by exporting their products. The orders are
fulfilled when received. In the second stage, companies make commitment to sell these
products in foreign countries or have them made in foreign factories. It involves an active
international involvement. The next stage is of pursuing international markets aggressively.
Management can license or franchise to another firm the right to use its brand name,
technology or product specifications.
Managements of global companies are adjusting their organisational structures as per the
requirements of situations. The managers are being taught to be global in approach.
Generally, the executives from concerned countries are given the responsibilities for running
the subsidiaries.
The composition of work force is fast changing. Earlier work force consisted mainly of male
persons who had to support a non-working wife and children. At present, women have joined
almost every type of job. In some professions their number is exceeding that of men folk. In
India women are entering education and medical professions in large number and are also
cornering most of the office jobs. This is already there in America and other developed
countries. Workers are now more heterogeneous in terms of gender, race, ethnicity, age and
other characteristics that reflect differences.
Some managers feel that diversity can be asset because it brings a broad range of viewpoints
and problem solving skills to the company. It also gives a powerful competitive advantage.
The managers will have to use diversity to their advantage. The diversity brings in different
cultural values, different lifestyles, ethics etc. It was assumed earlier that persons coming
from different backgrounds will assimilate themselves in the organisational culture. This is
not happening at present.
The challenge for management is to make their organisations more accommodating to diverse
groups of people addressing different lifestyles, family needs and work styles. Managers will
have to shift their philosophy from treating everyone alike to recognizing difference and
responding to those differences in ways that will ensure employee retention and greater
productivity. Many companies such as Eastman, Kodak, Reebok, Ryder Systems, Baxter
Healthcare have developed on-going diversity management programs.
The times are changing fast. Earlier the change was slow and managers were working in
stable environment. The organisational world which existed in those companies who set up
manufacturing facilities in foreign countries had to send technical experts at initial times.
Normally, only a few persons come from the parent company and other managerial personnel
are employed from the host country. The managements of multinational and transnational
companies have to study the legal-political and cultural environment of the host country and
device managerial practices and policies accordingly.
There is a new awareness about quality in industry. The developed countries gave proper
emphasis to the quality of gods produced. Underdeveloped and developing countries
concentrated more on quantum of production than on quality of products. The goods
produced by under-developed countries could not find a place in world markets due to their
lower quality standards. India has suffered on this account due to its own policies.
Total quality management is the mobilisation of the whole organisation to achieve quality
continuously, economically and in entirety. Quality cannot be improved through production
process only. It is possible through an improvement in purchasing, marketing, after sale
service and many other factors. Total quality can be achieved with the co-ordination of
various aspects related to purchase, production, sales etc.
In Atkinson’s views, total quality is a strategic approach to producing the best product and
service possible through constant innovation. Total quality control is an effort in which
everyone and every function of the organisation participates.
Quality consciousness has now become an international phenomenon. All types of companies
are adopting latest quality standards. The quality gurus namely Dr. W. Edwards Deming,
Joseph M. Juran, Dr. Genichi Jaguchi, Philip B. Crosby created quality consciousness among
manufacturers and suggested better and improved ways for improving it. Total quality
management has now become a wave and it is receiving due attention of producers as well as
consumers. Every management has to take care of total quality management otherwise its
products will not find place in present competitive world.
The earlier thinking of Frederick Taylor where division of work was done in such a way that
thinking process was assigned to managers while doing part was left for workers. The
workers were supposed to do the repetitive work again and again this division of work may
be valid during Taylor’s times but this is not valid at present. The workers at present are
considered more knowledgeable and are relied to complete their work in a better way.
Sometimes workers are considered to be performing better than even their managers.
Managers now recognise that they can often improve quality, productivity and employee
commitment by redesigning jobs and letting individual workers and work teams make job-
related decisions. This is called empowering employees. Many organisations have achieved
better results by empowering employees and allowing them to plan and execute their work.
Human resource theorists have been criticising over specialising of employees and stifling
their capabilities. Hallmark, AT & T, Motorola have successfully tried this method.
Downsizing:
The downsizing or reduction in force has been going on in the last some years. Every
company is restructuring its organisation and laying off those employees who are no more
required. About 85 per cent of Fortune 1000 companies have downsized their white collar
force in recent years. Not only white collar jobs, blue collar jobs are also been reduced. Most
of the commercial banks in India have offered VRS (Voluntary Retirement Scheme) to their
employees and employees in large number have accepted this offer.
Maruti Udyog has recently repeated its VRS and many employees have vacated their jobs
voluntarily. Downsizing does not mean that work has been reduced in the organisation. In
fact work has increased and reduced number of work force is doing up this work. Managerial
layoffs create problems for the organisation.
Those who leave do not feel good and have resentment against the management, those who
remain in service also become a worried lot. They are uncertain about their future and do not
involve themselves whole heartedly in the work. The work productivity and quality may
suffer until employees again feel secure about their jobs.
Contingent Workers:
Another trend in management practices is the use of contingent workers. These are part-time,
temporary or freelance employees. Some labour experts contend that contingent workers
make up 13 percent of the work force, while others say that the figure is as high as 30 per
cent. The percentage of contingent workers is increasing every day. The companies have
started downsizing their work force, some of these employees try to get part-time jobs to earn
their living.
The corporations are also of the view that the employment of a contingent employee does not
bring much of financial liabilities as compared to regular permanent employees. Managers
have an additional responsibility to see that contingent workers are treated properly at work
place. The managers have to keep the whole work force motivated and creatively involved in
work.
Managing a challenging individual can become frustrating and easily dampen your morale
and the morale of your team. It can be tempting to fall into despair and think the situation is
hopeless. Approaching the situation with an encouraging spirit and cultivating the mindset
that each of us can personally grow and develop will help remind everyone that problems are
solvable, and the situation can be improved. Rewarding and applauding the wins, no matter
how small, can inspire a forward momentum and uplift even the most difficult personalities.
Don’t shy away from the truth. Being the leader who is willing to bring up hard facts and
work through issues with integrity and kindness will maintain a culture of transparency and
honesty in your teams. It creates a sense of accountability, which may encourage more
challenging individuals to own their mistakes and be a part of solutions rather than creating
hurdles. It is also important to recognize the truth of how our own personalities as leaders
might be contributing to the challenge!
Bringing attention to your shared goals encourages people to keep their heads in the game.
Some people get sidetracked by personal agendas and ideas. When things are a bit chaotic,
heated, or emotional, directing people back to the reason you’re all there can take pressure off
the situation and bring clarity to move forward.
Staying levelheaded during difficult conversations or when things become too animated can
help restore productive thinking. Being calm creates a safe space for people to think clearly
and resolve conflicts, avoiding the unnecessary eruptions that occur in a more volatile
environment. Individuals with a more turbulent personality will find stability in your
example.
5. Find the Silver Lining.
Being willing to see the positive attributes of all different types of personalities can make you
a binding force in your organization. Utilizing the best of what people have to offer makes for
a more effective, productive team. People who feel valued are more willing to work together
with others. While superfluous positivity can be toxic, recognizing your team members’
assets makes it possible to move past current obstacles to the opportunities on the other side.
When working with and leading challenging people, it helps to think outside the box and
innovate new ways to interact. Not every person can be managed in the same way—different
people need different communication styles and different solutions. Allowing for creative
thinking and being open to try new methods can alleviate the difficulties that arise with more
rigid or taxing personalities.
We will all encounter a myriad of personalities throughout our work lives, and some will
inevitably challenge us more than others. There is no one-size-fits-all approach to working
with and leading individuals who may try our patience but developing these skills can
increase the probability we will find an effective way forward in our relationships with them.
Perception:
Perception" is defined as the "process by which individuals select, organize, and interpret the
input from their senses to give meaning and order to the world around them".[3] This
definition overlaps with the higher-order perceptual processes as defined biologically (the
lower-order biological processes are not susceptible to management; these low-level
processes include underlying perceptual categorization performed prior to conscious
categorization.[4]). Components of perception include the perceiver, target of perception, and
the situation. Factors that influence the perceiver include:
History
The phrase "perception management" has often functioned as a euphemism for "an aspect of
information warfare." A scholar in the field notes a distinction between "perception
management" and public diplomacy, which "does not, as a rule, involve falsehood and
deception, whereas these are important ingredients of perception management; the purpose is
to get the other side to believe what one wishes it to believe, whatever the truth may be."[5]
The phrase "perception management" is filtering into common use as a synonym for
"persuasion." Public relations firms now offer "perception management" as one of their
services. Similarly, public officials who are being accused of shading the truth are now
frequently charged with engaging in "perception management" when disseminating
information to media or to the general public.
Although perception management operations are typically carried out within the international
arena between governments, and between governments and citizens, use of perception
management techniques have become part of mainstream information management systems
in many ways that do not concern military campaigns or government relations with citizenry.
Businesses may even contract with other businesses to conduct perception management for
them, or they may conduct it in-house with their public relations staff.
As Stan Moore has written, "Just because truth has been omitted, does not mean that truth is
not true. Just because reality has not been perceived, does not mean that it is not real."[6]
ATTITUDE:
Good attitudes supercharge organizational performance beyond what the skill/talent level
would indicate," according to Perry Miles. "Attitude is one of the strongest determinants of
performance," added Richard McLaughlin. Their characterizations reflected the views of
nearly all respondents to the August questions of the month. And many respondents believe
they know who is responsible for the "attitude deficit": leaders and managers.
Edward Hare summed up the views of many respondents most succinctly: "Of course we
have an attitude problem... The 'attitude problem' is at the top, not the bottom!" Meenal
Dandavate concurred: "[Attitude]...can be cultivated consciously, but mostly it has the
tendency to flow/cascade from the top down." Others concentrated on reasons for the
dilemma as well as possible solutions.
The biggest problem, according to several readers, is identifying attitude in the first place.
Bradburne Millett asks, "What sort of measurements are you contemplating to reveal desired
attitudes on the scale needed to recognize their presence or absence and correct for
shortcomings?" Pamela Woodnick pointed out that "So many managers are afraid that
attitude is too soft, too difficult to assess and to use as a key hiring criteria." Saurabh
Dwivedy commented that "...attitude, morals, ethics, and leadership skills are all linked
together on a broader plane...They are difficult to comprehend because they lack an operative
definition." Art Warbelow (who emphasizes attitude in selecting aviation pilots) said, "The
tough part is assessing attitude in the job interview... I can't assess it beforehand, but I know it
when I see it..."
Arindam Mukherjee suggested, "The best way to go about it in the corporate world is to have
good leaders who can lead by example with positive and solution-oriented attitudes." Kevin
Bowe added, "Attitudes can be learned, and winning behaviors fostered, with principle-
centered management and a conscious investment in value-based employee development."
Khadija Khan, while agreeing that "...it is hard to identify attitude problems in a short
interview process," proposed a response: "One innovative approach that we use is to organize
a collective activity for a day or two...and ask prospective candidates looking for executive
positions to join in before finally short-listing them for the interview."
Individual knowledge
Individual learning involves a single employee learning new information, ideas and skills.
When individual employees integrate new information into their work, this can cause their
performance and productivity to improve, allowing them to affect their team positively. An
employee can maximize the benefit of their individual learning by sharing their new
knowledge and techniques with their coworkers.Related: Learn About Organizational
Leadership and Its Components
Group knowledge
Teams and groups of employees may also learn new skills and ideas together. When
members of a professional team spend several hours working alongside each other, they
coordinate and develop particular dynamics that allow them to learn as a unit. Because of a
phenomenon called "social-psychological awareness," members of a group identify as being
part of a team and recognize that one group member's actions have the power to affect the
rest of the team.If one member of the group encounters a particular challenge, they bring their
knowledge and experience to the rest of the group when confronting a similar issue,
benefiting all members of the group by spreading the information. Group learning can affect
your team by having multiple employees change their behavior to reflect new insights,
increasing productivity and problem-solving skills across various teams and projects.
Organizational knowledge
Organizational knowledge is the business's or team's system of gaining information related to
its function and success and the spread of this knowledge across the organization. Members
of the organization can then use this information to adapt to industry changes and increase the
efficiency of its processes. Business leaders may consider organizational learning to be
successful when the organization as a whole learns from a single incident or experience.
Organizational knowledge can help ensure that a company is constantly growing and
adjusting, which may contribute to its continued success.
What is Organizational Learning Theory?
It’s easy to focus on individual learning but it’s becoming more vital than ever to put an
emphasis on learning as an organization.
An industry survey states that, despite investing in digital transformation for two years to
survive the pandemic, 75 percent of companies fear lagging innovation will lead to
competitive displacement.
Companies like Apple and Microsoft have been around for decades. As they’ve navigated the
ups and downs, they’ve continued to provide their customers with the best products and stay
competitive.
Argyris and Schön explain that both single-loop and double-loop learning processes are
present in organizations and are two types of organizational learning. Single-loop
learning occurs when an organization detects a mistake, corrects it, and carries on with its
present policies and objectives.
contents: introduction · life · theories of action: theory in use and espoused theory · single-
loop and double-loop learning · model I and model II · organizational learning · conclusion ·
further reading and references · links · cite
Chris Argyris has made a significant contribution to the development of our appreciation of
organizational learning, and, almost in passing, deepened our understanding of experiential
learning. On this page we examine the significance of the models he developed with Donald
Schön of single-loop and double-loop learning, and how these translate into contrasting
models of organizational learning systems.
Our starting point is Argyris and Schön’s (1974) argument that people have mental maps with
regard to how to act in situations. This involves the way they plan, implement and review
their actions. Furthermore, they assert that it is these maps that guide people’s actions rather
than the theories they explicitly espouse. What is more, fewer people are aware of the maps
or theories they do use (Argyris, 1980). One way of making sense of this is to say that there is
split between theory and action. However, Argyris and Schön suggest that two theories of
action are involved.
The notion of a theory of action can be seen as growing out of earlier research by Chris
Argyris into the relationships between individuals and organizations (Argyris 1957, 1962,
1964). A theory of action is first a theory: ‘its most general properties are properties that all
theories share, and the most general criteria that apply to it – such as generality, centrality and
simplicity – are criteria applied to all theories’ (Argyris and Schön 1974: 4). The distinction
made between the two contrasting theories of action is between those theories that are
implicit in what we do as practitioners and managers, and those on which we call to speak of
our actions to others. The former can be described as theories-in-use. They govern actual
behaviour and tend to be tacit structures. Their relation to action ‘is like the relation of
grammar-in-use to speech; they contain assumptions about self, others and environment –
these assumptions constitute a microcosm of science in everyday life’ (Argyris & Schön
1974: 30). The words we use to convey what we, do or what we would like others to think we
do, can then be called espoused theory.
Single-loop learning
This level focuses on actions and correcting errors within the organization's policies,
goals, and assumptions. For example, if sales are down, marketing managers might
tweak the strategy to improve sales.
The most common way to measure organizational learning is a learning curve. Learning
curves are a relationship showing how as an organization produces more of a product or
service, it increases its productivity, efficiency, reliability and/or quality of production with
diminishing returns. Learning curves vary due to organizational learning rates. Organizational
learning rates are affected by individual proficiency, improvements in an organization's
technology, and improvements in the structures, routines and methods of coordination.[
Group learning is the next largest community[13] There are conflicting definitions of
group learning among researchers studying it. One belief is that group learning is a
process in which a group takes action, gets feedback, and uses this feedback to modify
their future action.[14] Another belief is that group learning happens when a member
shares their individual knowledge with other group members. Others have suggested
that group learning is primarily a process of error detection and correction[15] or that
group learning is primarily about the processes of interpretation and integration.[16]
Once this happens, individual learning turns into group learning.[11] Reagans, Argote,
and Brooks (2005) studied group learning by examining joint-replacement surgery in
teaching hospitals. They concluded that "increased experience working together in a
team promoted better coordination and teamwork."[17] Working together in a team also
allowed members to share their knowledge with others and learn from other members.
To sum up the different definitions cover following aspects: task independence (what
one group member does affects and is affected by another group member); social
psychological awareness (members perceive themselves as a group and are perceived
as a group); and social embeddedness (the group exists in a larger social system).[18]
UNIT-2
MOTIVATION AND JOB SATISFACTION:
Theories of Motivation
Understanding Theories of Motivation and types of motivational theories, what are the types
of content motivational theories and process motivational theories, and the difference
between the two.
The word ‘Motivation’ is derived from the Latin word movere, meaning “to move”. It is
referred to as a combination of motive and action. Theories of motivation or motivation
theory are the study of understanding what drives a person to work for achieving a particular
goal or outcome. There are two types of motivational theories:
Motivation is a huge field of study. Psychologists have proposed many different theories of
motivation. Some of the most famous motivational theories include the following:
Abraham Maslow postulated that a person will be motivated when all his needs are
fulfilled. People do not work for security or money, but they work to contribute and to use
their skills. He demonstrated this by creating a pyramid to show how people are motivated
and mentioned that ONE CANNOT ASCEND TO THE NEXT LEVEL UNLESS LOWER-
LEVEL NEEDS ARE FULFILLED. The lowest level needs in the pyramid are basic needs
and unless these lower-level needs are satisfied people do not look at working toward
satisfying the upper-level needs.
Physiological needs: are basic needs for survival such as air, sleep, food, water,
clothing, sex, and shelter.
Safety needs: Protection from threats, deprivation, and other dangers (e.g., health,
secure employment, and property)
Social (belongingness and love) needs: The need for association, affiliation,
friendship, and so on.
Self-esteem needs: The need for respect and recognition.
Self-actualization needs: The opportunity for personal development, learning, and
fun/creative/challenging work. Self-actualization is the highest-level need to which a
human being can aspire.
The leader will have to understand at what level the team members are currently, and seek
out to help them to satisfy those specific needs and accordingly work to help fulfill those
needs. This will help the team members perform better and move ahead with the project.
A PMP certification will help you better understand this concept. Also, as their needs get
fulfilled, the team members will start performing, till the time they start thinking of fulfilling
the next upper level of need as mentioned in the pyramid.
Hertzberg classified the needs into two broad categories; namely hygiene factors and
motivating factors:
poor hygiene factors may destroy motivation but improving them under most
circumstances will not improve team motivation
hygiene factors only are not sufficient to motivate people, but motivator factors are
also required
McClelland affirms that we all have three motivating drivers, which do not depend on our
gender or age. One of these drives will be dominant in our behavior. The dominant drive
depends on our life experiences.
Expectancy: Here the belief is that increased effort will lead to increased
performance i.e., if I work harder then it will be better. This is affected by things such
as:
o Having the appropriate resources available (e.g., raw materials, time)
o Having the appropriate management skills to do the job
o Having the required support to get the job done (e.g., supervisor support, or
correct information on the job)
Instrumentality: Here the belief is that if you perform well, then the outcome will be
a valuable one for me. i.e., if I do a good job, there is something in it for me. This is
affected by things such as:
o A clear understanding of the relationship between performance and outcomes
– e.g., the rules of the reward ‘game’
o Trust in the people who will take the decisions on who gets what outcome
o Transparency in the process decides who gets what outcome
Valence: is how much importance the individual places upon the expected outcome.
For example, if someone is motivated by money, he or she might not value offers of
additional time off.
Motivation = V * I * E
The three elements are important when choosing one element over another because they are
clearly defined:
E>P expectancy: our assessment of the probability that our efforts will lead to the
required performance level.
P>O expectancy: our assessment of the probability that our successful performance
will lead to certain outcomes.
Theory X and Theory Y were first explained by McGregor in his book, "The Human Side of
Enterprise," and they refer to two styles of management – authoritarian (Theory X) and
participative (Theory Y).
Theory X: Managers who accept this theory believe that if you feel that your team members
dislike their work, have little motivation, need to be watched every minute, and are incapable
of being accountable for their work, avoid responsibility and avoid work whenever possible,
then you are likely to use an authoritarian style of management. According to McGregor, this
approach is very "hands-on" and usually involves micromanaging people's work to ensure
that it gets done properly.
Theory Y: Managers who accept this theory believe that if people are willing to work
without supervision, take pride in their work, see it as a challenge, and want to achieve more,
they can direct their own efforts, take ownership of their work and do it effectively by
themselves. These managers use a decentralized, participative management style.
His theory suggests that there are three groups of core needs: existence (E), relatedness (R),
and growth (G). These groups are aligned with Maslow’s levels of physiological needs, social
needs, and self-actualization needs, respectively.
Existence needs concern our basic material requirements for living, which include what
Maslow categorized as physiological needs such as air, sleep, food, water, clothing, sex and
shelter and safety-related needs such as health, secure employment, and property.
Growth needs describe our intrinsic desire for personal development. These needs are
aligned with the other part of Maslow’s esteem-related needs such as self-esteem, self-
confidence, and achievement, and self-actualization needs such as morality, creativity,
problem-solving, and discovery.
Alderfer is of the opinion that when a certain category of needs is not being met, people will
redouble their efforts to fulfill needs in a lower category.
Maslow’s theory is very rigid and it assumes that the needs follow a specific and orderly
hierarchy and unless a lower-level need is satisfied, an individual cannot proceed to the
higher-level need i.e., an individual remains at a particular need level until that need is
satisfied.
For e.g., when growth needs aggravate, then an individual might be motivated to accomplish
the relatedness need and if there are issues in accomplishing relatedness needs, then he might
be motivated by the existence needs. Hence in this manner, frustration or aggravation can
result in regression to a lower-level need.
Another example could be, if someone’s self-esteem is suffering, he or she will invest more
effort in the relatedness category of needs.
Content theory
Content theory is a subset of motivational theories that try to define what motivates people.
Content theories of motivation often describe a system of needs that motivate peoples'
actions. While process theories of motivation attempt to explain how and why our
motivations affect our behaviors, content theories of motivation attempt to define what those
motives or needs are. Content theory includes the work of David McClelland, Abraham
Maslow and other psychologically.
1. Learning Outcome
2. Introduction
3. Meaning and Definitions of Motivation
4. Importance of Motivation
5. Classification of theories of Motivation
6. Content theories
7. Summary
1. Learning Outcome:
After completing this module the students will be able to: Understand the concept of
motivation.
Describe the importance of motivation in an organisational context. Comprehend the
content theories of motivation.
Critically evaluate advantages and disadvantages of content theories of motivation
2. Introduction
Performance of every individual depends upon hisr ability to do work and level of
motivation. In other words we can say that both of these factors largely influence efficiency
of individuals. Without motivation, performance of even a highly competent employee will
be very low. It also means that motivation is an utmost important factor that encourages
individuals to give their best efforts and reach to their personal as well as organisational
goals. A strong positive motivation will always facilitate an employee to increase his
abilities, performance and output, whereas a negative motivation will lead to decreased level
of performance. Therefore, in order to optimally utilise human resources of the organisation
and to retain the same in an organisation, management should make all possible efforts to
motivate its employees. The motivated employees always prove an invaluable asset to the
organisation as motivated employees always tend to maximise their contribution in
achievement of organisational goals and perform beyond their role profile.
The word motivation is derived from the Latin word which means ‘to move’. Motivation is a
psychological phenomenon which generates within an individual an urge to act in a certain
manner. If an individual has some unfulfilled need, he will always be motivated to work more
in order to satisfy the same. The behaviour of such individual will always be directed towards
achievement of his needs. The process of motivation has three key elements viz: Intensity,
direction and persistence. An individual’s motivation towards his goal is explained by his
intensity, direction and persistence of efforts towards his goal. The following equation can
describe this phenomenon.
Motivation=Intensity*Direction*Persistence of efforts
Direction in which efforts of an individual are directed determine how well an individual
will perform. Efforts of an individual should always be directed in a direction which is
beneficial.
Persistence is for how long an individual keep on working hard to achieve his goals.
The above discussion explains that the process of motivation starts with a need deficiency,
which activates behaviour of an individual towards achievement of the goal or need.
Following definitions of motivation will further elaborate the process of motivation:
According to Dublin, “Motivation is the complex of forces starting and keeping a person at
work in an organisation.”
According to Berelson and Steiner, “A Motivation is an inner state that energizes, activates or
moves and directs or channels behaviour goals”.
From the above definitions, following inferences about the motivation can be drawn:
4. Importance of Motivation
a) Motivated employees always search for better and novel ways of doing their tasks. When
employees seek new ways of doings the things, they usually find them.
b) Motivated employees are more conscious for quality of their work. Such employees
contribute a lot in building image of the company amongst the customers as well as society.
d) All organisations need human resources in addition to non human resources in order to
achieve their goals. The concept of motivation is catching attention because it not only
motivates the employees perform better and go beyond their profile, but also help in retaining
them.
From the very initial stages, when organisations were established, various psychologists had
tried to search out the answer to one question: What motivates the people? F.W. Taylor in his
concept of Scientific Management advocated that individuals were primarily concerned with
satisfaction of their basic needs viz. need for food, shelter, water and air. Therefore, their
prime focus was on economic gains to satisfy their basic needs. Theorists of scientific
management linked performance of individuals with monetary rewards and incentive gains.
Thus, this theory focused on external motivation and pointed out that external motivation is
sufficient to encourage an individual to satisfy their basic needs. But, this theory did not take
into account the work climate, job situation and other factors related to the job of an
individual. Since then, many researchers and academicians have been trying to find out what
motivates the people? An in depth examination of theories will help us understand the
concept of motivation in better way. All theories of motivation can be classified into two
broad categories:
a) Content theories
b) Process theories
In this module we will study content theories of motivation in the following section
Content theories attempt to describe the basic needs and drives that motivate an individual to
work more and better. These theories explain the linkage between human needs and their
work related behaviours. The content theories postulate that:
The above figure elaborates that unsatisfied individual needs creates urge in the individuals to
perform better to fulfil their needs. Theorists of content theories suggest that unsatisfied
needs activate behaviour towards achievement of goals. Monetary rewards and incentive
schemes can be used in organisation as a motivational tool to activate individual needs and to
motivate the employees. Maslow’s need hierarchy theory, Herzberg’s two factor theory,
Alderfer’s ERG theory, McClelland’s achievement theory are classified as content theories.
Abraham Maslow’s Need Hierarchy theory of motivation is the most common and simplest
theory of motivation. Maslow in his theory summarised that:
a) Every human being has a different set of needs and unsatisfied needs act as strong
motivators.
b) As every individual has many needs, they are arranged in the order of their importance
starting from most basic need to most complex needs.
c) The individual moves to the advanced level need only when the basic need is satisfied. If
basics needs are not satisfied, the higher level needs will be postponed.
d) There are five basic needs and human beings tend to satisfy them in the order of their
hierarchy.
e) A satisfied need does not act as a motivator, only unsatisfied need continue to motivate a
human being.
f) Physiological and safety needs are finite in nature but higher level needs are infinite in
nature.
1) Physiological needs: These needs include the most basic and obvious needs for survival
of human beings. These are the most powerful needs which motivate an individual till they
are satisfied. The need for food, water, oxygen, sleep, shelter, air etc may be categorised as
physiological needs. This category of needs represent the need for basic necessities of life
which are indispensible for the biological maintenance of a human being. If any of these
physiological needs is unsatisfied, the individual will primarily strive to satisfy that particular
need and will forget about other higher level needs. For example, a hungry person will never
seek any luxury of life or dream of building a new world until his need for food is fulfilled. In
the organisational context, employees’ need for salary and basic working conditions represent
his physiological needs.
2) Safety needs: Safety needs are next in the hierarchy of needs given by Abraham maslow.
Once the basic needs of an individual are satisfied, he will strive for fulfilment of second
level of needs which are popularly known as safety or security needs. Safety needs here
emphasise upon an assurance of continuity of job, security of source of income, provision for
old age, insurance, prediction of environmental factors surrounding an individual etc. In
an organisational context, safety needs are represented by job security, salary hike, safe
working conditions and unionisation etc.
3) Social needs: Social needs are at the third level of need hierarchy. When physiological
and safety needs of a human being are met, he starts putting efforts to satisfy his social needs.
These needs represent the need for love, affection, friendship, membership in groups, social
acceptance etc. In an organisational context, social needs are fulfilled by participation in a
work group, team and friendly supervision etc.
4) Self-esteem needs: Fourth level of need hierarchy is called self esteem needs. These
needs are concerned with self respect, self confidence, recognition, appreciation, prestige,
power etc. These needs give a sense of self worth and ego satisfaction. In an organisational
context, esteem needs are satisfied by job title, recognition by leader, challenging work,
responsibility, performance feedback and participation in decision making etc.
5) Self-actualisation needs: At the top of the hierarchy of needs is need for self
actualisation. These needs represent the need to be what a person is capable of becoming.
This need constitute an individuals’ mission of his life. An individual who has satisfied all
levels of his needs tries to fully utilise his talent, potential, skills and capacities. This need
signifies a person’s desire of personal achievement. The sense of personal achievement leads
to sense of psychological satisfaction. In an organisational context, self actualisation needs
are categorised as need to excel in one’s job and career, successfully managing a unit etc.
b) It helps the managers in understanding how to motivate their employees. This model helps
the managers to identify varied needs of employees, recognising the fact that the every
individual has different needs and thereby offering rewards to satisfy particular needs.
c) This theory helps in explaining inter personal and intra personal variations in human
behaviour. The theory suggests that human behaviour changes with change of needs.
Despite of its simplicity and other advantages, maslow’s theory was criticised on following
grounds:
a) Some researchers have proved that there is no hierarchy of needs as suggested by Maslow.
Some people may be deprived of lower level needs but may be motivated for higher level
needs. Mahatma Gandhi is a renowned example of this. Likewise, the people who are
motivated for higher order needs cannot forget about their need for food.
b) Assuming that the hierarchy of needs exists, the hierarchy is different in different
countries. Not only in different countries, but the hierarchy is different amongst the people
with in a country itself.
c) Need and satisfaction of need is purely a psychological phenomenon and some people
especially illiterate people may not be aware about their needs.
d) The theory is also criticised on the grounds that managers will never find enough time to
leisurely diagnose the level of need of every employee of their organisations.
b) Motivational factors
b) Motivational factors: These factors are intrinsic factors. These factors are related to job
satisfaction and are known as motivators, satisfiers, intrinsic factors, job content factors.
These factors provide a sense of satisfaction among the employees and increase the level of
performance by motivating them. Any increase in these factors lead to increase in the level of
satisfaction and motivation among the employees.
According to Herzberg, satisfaction and dissatisfaction are not opposite poles of same
dimensions but they are two separate dimensions. Satisfaction is the result of motivators and
dissatisfaction is the result of hygiene factors. To motivate the employees, managers must
take into account both hygiene and motivational factors. Hygiene factors will reduce the
sense of dissatisfaction amongst the employees and motivational factors will provide the
sense of satisfaction to the employees. The following figure presents the contrasting views of
satisfaction and dissatisfaction as explained by Herzberg.
6.2.1 Critical analysis of Herzberg’s theory:
This theory was appreciated on the grounds that this theory draws attention towards the job
factors which are usually overlooked when it comes to motivate the employees. However, the
theory was criticised on the following grounds:
a) The methodology followed by Herzberg for carrying out survey was limited to engineers
and accountants only.
b) Moreover, respondents were asked to narrate the factors which they like about the job and
which they dislike about the job, and it is a common practice that when things go well people
take credit of it and on the other hand they put blame on extrinsic factors for their failure.
c) The theory largely provides the explanation of the job satisfaction. It is not really a theory
of motivation.
d) This theory did not take into consideration the impact of situational variables.
e) The two factors given by Herzberg: hygiene and motivational factors are not actually
distinct. They both contribute to job satisfaction and dissatisfaction.
On the lines of Maslow’s need hierarchy theory, Clayton Alderfer gave ERG theory of
motivation. Alderfer’s theory was revised version of Malsow’s theory, as he condensed the
five needs given by Maslow into three needs. The E, R and G of ERG theory stand for
existence, relatedness and growth. These are the three sets of needs defined by Alderfer.
a) Existence needs: These needs represent the basic needs of human beings for their
existence and survival. This set of needs combine the physiological and safety needs of
Maslow’s hierarchy model.
c) Growth needs: These needs are similar to Malsow’s self-actualisation needs. These needs
represent an individual’s intrinsic desire for personal development, achievement and utilising
one’s full potential in the existing work environment.
Apart from the above discussed similarities between Maslow’s theory and Alderfer’s
theory,
a) Instead of five levels of needs, Alderfer gave only three sets of needs.
b) Maslow’s theory advocated the rigid and step by step progression of needs. Whereas
Alderfer’s theory assumed that more than one need may be operative at the same time.
c) Maslow assumed that an individual will move to the next level of needs only when the
previous needs are fully satisfied. Whereas, Alderfer counters that when a higher level need is
frustrated, individual’s desire to increase lower level need takes place. In other words, we can
say that if an individual is not able satisfy the higher level of need, he will increase his desire
and efforts to increase his previous level need. For example, an individual who is not able to
fulfil his social needs will increase his desire for money. This way Alderfer gave a
Frustration-Regression dimension.
This theory was appreciated because Alderfer’s theory was consistent with the fact that every
individual is different from each other and therefore their needs are also unique. Variables
like age, education, family background, cultural context may influence one’s needs and how
much importance an individual give to one set of needs. Despite of this appreciation, this
theory was criticised on the grounds that this theory does not provide clear cut guidelines and
assumed that an individual may satisfy any of the three needs first. Therefore, this theory
does not guide about how we will determine that which of the three needs is more important
for a person.
David C. McClelland and his associates gave three sets of needs that motivate human
behaviour. McClelland assumed that every individual has all three needs, but the degree to
which these needs motivate an individual vary from individual to individual. The three needs
are discussed as follows:
a) Need for Achievement (nAch): This set of needs represent the desire to excel, achieve
given set of standards and become successful. Employees with a high need for achievement
derive maximum satisfaction from the success and goal achievement. McClelland provided
that need for achievement can be developed in the employees:
i. By providing them proper feedback about their performance. This will help them in
correcting their performance.
ii. By giving them opportunity to pursue challenging tasks and responsibilities. Avoid the
tasks which are extremely difficult or easy.
iii. By offering moderate degree of control to the employees, so that they may control their
imaginations. They must be trained about how to think realistically and positively regarding
goal accomplishment.
b) Need for Power (nPow): This need represent an individual’s desire to for power and
mould other’s behaviour as per one’s own wish. The employees who have high need for
power derive satisfaction from being in the positions of influence and control.
c) Need for affiliation (nAff): This is the desire to maintain friendly interpersonal
relationships. The people who have high need for affiliation gain satisfaction from
participating more in social and interpersonal activities.
7. Summary
Job satisfaction:
Job satisfaction is a term we hear often, but do you know its exact definition, and how its
absence could be bringing down your company’s productivity? Read our definitive guide on
job satisfaction, its drivers, and its benefits for 2020, and how your organization can benefit
from increased satisfaction in the workplace.
These are exciting times for workplaces, with business demands growing steadily and
employers working hard to keep their workforce satisfied. A 2019 survey by The Conference
Board (U.S.)Opens a new window found that job satisfaction is now at its highest in 20 years.
So, how does this impact your company? First, you need to know precisely what job
satisfaction is and how you can measure it accurately for 2020 and beyond.
It’s important to remember that job satisfaction varies from employee to employee. In the
same workplace under the same conditions, the factors that help one employee feel good
about their job may not apply to another employee. For this reason, it is essential to have a
multidimensional approach to employee satisfaction, covering the following areas:
The challenging nature of work, pushing employees to new heights
A level of convenience (short commutes, access to the right digital tools, and flexible
hours)
Regular appreciation by the immediate management and the organization as a whole
Competitive pay, which employees maintain a good quality of life
The promise of career progression in sync with employees’ personal growth targets
Job Satisfaction comprises of several key components that collectively influence how
employees feel about their jobs. Understanding these components can help organizations
better address the needs and expectations of their workforce:
1. Work: The nature of the work is crucial. Jobs that are interesting, engaging, and provide
variety can lead to higher satisfaction. Employees tend to feel more satisfied when their jobs
entail meaningful tasks, allowing them to use their skills effectively and offering a degree of
autonomy.
2. Compensation: Fair and adequate compensation including salary, bonuses, and benefits
plays a significant role in job satisfaction. Competitive and equitable pay that aligns with
industry standards and rewards employees for their contributions is essential.
3. Job Security: Stability and security at work are vital. Employees who feel that their job is
secure are more likely to be satisfied. Uncertainty about job continuity can significantly
impact employee morale.
7. Co worker Relations: Good relationships with colleagues can enhance job satisfaction. A
supportive, friendly team environment where employees can form positive connections adds
to their job contentment.
9. Work-Life Balance: Managing the demands of work and personal life is crucial.
Employers who support work-life balance through flexible schedules, remote work options,
and sufficient time off tend to have more satisfied employees.
UNIT-III
ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE AND COMMUNICATION:
An organizational structure is a system that outlines how certain activities are directed to
achieve the goals of an organization. These activities can include rules, roles, and
responsibilities.
The organizational structure also determines how information flows between levels within
the company. Decisions flow from the top down in a centralized structure. Decision-making
power is distributed among various levels of the organization in a decentralized structure.
Having an organizational structure in place allows companies to remain efficient and focused.
An organizational structure is a system that outlines how certain activities are directed to
achieve the goals of an organization. These activities can include rules, roles, and
responsibilities.
The organizational structure also determines how information flows between levels within
the company. Decisions flow from the top down in a centralized structure. Decision-making
power is distributed among various levels of the organization in a decentralized structure.
Having an organizational structure in place allows companies to remain efficient and focused.
No matter what industry you’re in or how big (or small) your business is, team structure in
the American workplace always seems to follow the same organizational hierarchy: decision-
makers at the top and doers at the bottom.
And that structure works for a lot of companies, which is why we’re so used to seeing it.
However, this one-size-fits-all approach to organizational design isn’t practical or even
feasible for everyone. Each business is unique and often demands a more adaptive and
flexible approach to organizational structure.
Read on to find out which organizational factors you should consider when deciding the best
organizational structure for your company.
In a competitive environment, more companies choose to give their staff the autonomy and
support they need to implement fresh solutions, express greater accountability, and achieve
lasting results.
For example, managers (and even executives) at startups may find it necessary to provide
hands-on assistance with basic work responsibilities or other customer-facing duties. Or when
facing tight turnarounds, junior employees may need to rely on their own judgment, delegate
tasks, or exercise authority without direct approval from above.
Though job titles and management roles have their place, these instances show that they
aren’t always the be-all and end-all of a business. By having a clear understanding of
organizational factors of team structure, you’ll be able to create a more optimized
organizational structure, empower all employees to work effectively and add to the bottom
line.
Many different factors affect organizational structure, so you likely won't be able to include
all of them in your organizational design strategy. Prioritize the ones that are most relevant to
your situation when planning or re examining your team structure.
Does your organizational structure make it possible for all your employees to do their jobs
and do them well? And is it optimal for its current scale and growth stage? Smaller
companies or new businesses, like start ups, often have to operate with an “all hands on deck”
mentality where everyone has to wear several different hats. In that case, it doesn’t make
sense to have different tiers of managers if there aren’t even enough employees to make up
different departments.
As companies grow larger, become more established, and add more specialized roles, adding
a hierarchical structure with managers and department heads becomes a help rather than a
hindrance––it would be overwhelming and inefficient for a general manager or CEO to have
hundreds or even thousands of employees report to him or her directly. Use our
organizational structure roles and responsibilities template to better understand each
member's duties.
Office cultures have changed as technological advances make alternative work operations
possible. Office layouts have changed from cubicles to more open workspaces that encourage
collaboration, and many employers have shifted from set work schedules to more flexible
hours. The ongoing shift from physical to virtual organizations is a direct reflection of
technological evolution and rose in prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic when health
officials encouraged employers to let workers conduct their duties remotely.In this article, we
discuss what a virtual organization is, including its components, and list the advantages and
disadvantages of virtual organizations.
Increase employee engagement: Engaged employees are more productive and have
higher morale.
Improve customer satisfaction: Satisfied customers can increase sales and bring more
attention to a business.
Build strong teams: Clear and focused communication can help build strong teams and
ensure a good feedback system.
Ensure transparency: Effective communication can help ensure everyone is aware of
organizational strategies, news, and direction.
Make it easier to manage employees: Effective communicators can better inform staff
of their responsibilities and expectations.
Provide feedback on employee performance: Performance feedback can help
employees grow and develop their skills.
An organization's communication climate can influence whether communication is
encouraged or hindered among employees. In organizations with defensive climates,
employees may be less likely to communicate their needs.
Here are some forms of organizational communication:
Formal communication
Horizontal communication
Also called peer-to-peer communication, this is communication between individuals, groups,
or teams on the same level. It's important for cross-team collaboration and can lead to
business innovation.
Upward communication
When employees communicate with higher-ranking officials, such as speaking with a
manager. Upward communication can be used to share ideas, exchange information, or solicit
feedback.
Informal communication
The spontaneous and free-flowing spread of information in the workplace, often between
employees in small groups or one-on-one. It can also include quick interactions between
employees and customers or shareholders.
Nonverbal communication
Uses body language, facial expressions, gestures, and tone of voice to convey a message
without using words. It can be an important way to convey emotions and feelings that might
not be expressed verbally.
Downward communication
When higher-level officials communicate with those below them in terms of position or title.
This type of communication often uses memos, letters, notices, newsletters, emails, and
company manuals.
Control
Motivation
Emotional Expression
Information
Control
Communication acts to control member behavior in several ways. Organizations have power
ranking and formal recommendations that employees are required to follow.
When employees, for example, are necessary to first communicate any job related objection
to their instance head, to follow their job explanation, or to act in accordance with company
strategies, communication is executing a control function. But informal communication also
controls behavior. When work groups make fun or provoke a member who build too much
(and makes the rest of the group look bad), they are casually communicating with, and
supervising, the member’s behavior.
Motivation
The establishment of individual goals, opinion on development toward the goals, and benefit
for desired behavior all refreshing motivation and need communication.
Emotional Expression
Information
Organizations need to keep their employees informed of their goals, industry information,
preferred processes, new developments and technology, etc., in order that they can do their
jobs correctly and efficiently. This information might come to employees in formal ways, via
meetings with managers, news and messaging via a centralized system (like an intranet site),
or it could be informal, as when a team member on the assembly line suggests a quicker way
to approach a task and gets his co-workers to adopt the method.
Organizational climate
Organizational climate is the shared perceptions of employees about the work environment
and how it affects their well-being. It's a real occurrence that can be positive or negative and
can significantly impact the success of the organization.
Organizational climate is influenced by many factors, including:
Leadership style
Communication patterns
Open and transparent communication is crucial for a positive organizational climate.
Work-life balance
Organizations that prioritize work-life balance tend to have more satisfied and motivated
employees.
Diversity, equity, and inclusion
Promoting an inclusive environment can help all employees feel like they belong.
Organizational context
This includes the mission, vision, goals, objections, and functions of a company.
An appropriate organizational climate can be effective in: Motivating employees, Improving
morale, Increasing creativity and innovation, and Increasing productivity.
Organizational culture is the set of values, beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors that define an
organization and influence how people work and think:
What it is
Organizational culture is the core of a company and is made up of the shared values,
norms, and practices that define the work environment. It's also known as business
culture, corporate culture, or company culture.
Let’s say you own an ecommerce company, but you’re struggling to convert leads into
customers. To solve this, look no further than email marketing. It’s an effective way to
generate a high return on investment (ROI) for your business by targeting customers in a
personalized way, even if you already are converting leads into paying customers. After all,
there’s always room for more sales and profits.
Looking forward to leverage email as a marketing tool to drive more traffic, sales, and
conversions? Then check out the Advanced Email Marketing Course now.
Email is a cost-effective marketing tactic that can save time, enhance visibility and brand
awareness, and impact customers at all stages of the sales funnel:
Awareness
If a customer has a specific problem, you can come to the rescue with an informative
email that explains how your product can offer a solution
Consideration
If a customer is researching and comparing similar products, your email can showcase
what makes yours stand out
Purchase
If a customer needs extra incentives to make a purchase, you can provide an offer or
discount
Retention
If a customer has already made a purchase, you can send an exclusive offer to ensure
they remain brand-loyal
Advocacy
If a customer is willing to share your product or the noteworthy causes you support,
they can become a brand advocate
Below is our breakdown of the best comms tools, all proven to bring businesses together and
help workers communicate better.
Of course, no company necessarily needs everything on this list. That said, the internal and
external tools here can highlight areas where your business’ comms might need a tune-up.
1. Asana
Especially given the rise of remote teams, project management tools are a must-have for
companies big and small.
Tools like Asana provide businesses with a unified place to plan and track the progress of any
given project. From tasks and to-do lists to full-blown project timelines and department
calendars, Asana makes it all easy to track with:
Multiple project views (including Kanban boards, lists and calendars) that provide a
constant pulse on the progress of a task
The ability to assign roles and permissions for collaborators (including entry-level
employees, contractors and C-level) to keep workflows structured
Automated updates and notifications to keep a constant pulse on task progress
2. Slack
It’s hard to find a team that isn’t using Slack (or a similar team chat tool) to stay connected
With Slack, you can organize your team’s communications into company-wide, department-
specific or role-specific channels. This allows for immediate, timely communication that
doesn’t totally interrupt workers or cause needless meetings. Arguably the biggest selling
point of Slack is its ease of use and endless integrations (including many of the tools on this
list).
3. Teamwork
A project management solution that’s almost a hybrid of the two tools above, Teamwork sets
itself apart with its ability to track granular project data in addition to updates and messaging.
For example, you can track individual contributions to any given task as well as team-wide
time spent on tasks.
Teamwork answers “what’s been done, what needs to be done and what’s next” in one place.
The platform’s project tracking features represent a massive time-saver and create fewer
back-and-forths among collaborators.
4. Confluence
From internal docs and policies to reference pages and wikis, Confluence represents a sort of
“home base” for teams to refer to.
The platform serves as a project management tool in its own right but also provides teams
with a digital whiteboard to brainstorm and make notes as needed. Confluence’s features are
yet another example of how you can consolidate corporate communications rather than jump
between multiple apps, inboxes or internal drives.
Employee advocacy is all the rage right now. Sprout’s Employee Advocacy platform
empowers your teammates internally to earn maximum on external marketing messages.
For example, Employee Advocacy makes it easy to boost your brand’s biggest
announcements and latest blog posts. Rather than craft individual updates or captions, the
platform provides templates, inspiration and creative options to boost your social posts
messages in the most engaging way possible.
6. Dialpad
Dialpad represents an all-in-one video conferencing, chat and phone solution that’s ideal for
distributed teams.
Perhaps the most “corporate” of our corporate communications due to its enterprise clientele,
Dialpad boasts a number of features to improve team comms. This includes AI tools such as
call sentiment analysis, automated notes to address sales objections and automatic call
transcriptions.
For the second half of our breakdown, we’ll look at external tools you might consider as part
of your marketing tech stack.
7. Sprout Social
No surprises here! Sprout Social is a powerful, all-in-one tool for streamlining internal and
external comms related to social media.
How so? For starters, we allow teams to consolidate all of their social messages and
notifications in one place. Not only does this mean less jumping between platforms, but also
empowers teams to respond to more messages faster via collaborative features. The ability to
combine your inboxes is a massive time-saver and likewise gives you a more comprehensive
view of your customer comms.
Beyond that, Sprout also serves as the home base for all of your external social content.
Updates and announcements. Videos and images. Stories, Reels and everything in-between.
With Sprout, you can schedule and optimize your content across multiple social networks at
once. Having all of your social media assets and updates in a single platform allows you to
maximize your reach and get your message across to the appropriate audiences faster.
Below are a few more ways you might use Sprout as a corporate communications tool:
Developing and rolling out your social media crisis plan
Listening to crucial social conversations and shout-outs to uncover opportunities to
intervene or answer questions for customers
Encouraging cross-team collaboration and unified comms among your entire
marketing department (including social, design and content marketing)
8. SendinBlue
While trends in marketing come and go, email remains a staple of external comms.
Platforms like SendinBlue are scalable and make it a cinch to set up automated workflows for
any campaign you can think of. The ability to assess engagement metrics and fine-tune your
campaigns over time means that you can maximize the eyes on your marketing messages.
9. HubSpot
HubSpot’s suite of corporate communications tools includes a robust CRM, email marketing
platform and CMS rolled into one.
Having all of the above in one platform gives marketers the opportunity to have a more
complete understanding of their customers and their needs.
For example, which content do our leads engage with the most? What’s our most common
sales objection? Which of our campaigns results in the most direct revenue?
With HubSpot, you have a holistic view of your marketing channels and likewise what makes
your customers tick.
PR and relationships with bloggers, journalists and media outlets are key for businesses
looking to earn some much-needed exposure.
Tools like Muck Rack make the process of finding relevant outreach targets and pitching
them faster. Providing instant access to thousands of journalists, the platform allows you to
track the progress of your pitching campaigns and automate the process of conducting
follow-ups as needed.
Email
Because every missed deadline, bottleneck and minor misunderstanding trickles down to
impact your team’s productivity.
But the bigger your company, the faster these issues tend to snowball out of control.
That’s why dedicated business communications tools have become a staple of in-person,
remote and hybrid teams alike.
The problem? There’s no shortage of software out there. Couple that with the fact that
onboarding your team to new tools is no small feat. This is especially true for enterprises.
If you don’t know where to start, we’ve got you covered in our comprehensive guide to
corporate communications.
And so corporate communications tools represent the software and apps that stakeholders use
to manage the interactions above.
These tools can be put into two buckets based on their respective audiences — internal and
external.
To manage these relationships and keep stakeholders up-to-date, companies might use:
On the flip side, external communications tools are used to deliver key messages to
customers, subscribers or partners. These tools might include:
Investing in dedicated digital communications should be a matter of “when” and not “if” for
companies of all shapes and sizes.
Enterprise. SMBs. Solo. You name it.
Encourage meaningful collaboration among your team. When teams’ tasks and
goals are aligned, they create better business outcomes. There’s a reason why
effective communication and higher rates of employee engagement go hand in hand.
Empower people to be more productive. Recent research from Teamwork notes that
people are up to 25% more productive when they have quick access to deliverables,
requirements and other critical project information. With the right business
communications tools, you can consolidate all of the above in one place.
Create a more connected company culture. Food for thought: only 7% of workers
feel that communication is “accurate, open and timely” at work. This signals the need
for businesses to really put their corporate communications under the microscope for
the sake of not only productivity but their workers’ well-being.
Also, keep in mind that the efficiency of internal communications has a direct impact on how
you communicate with customers.
For example, consider how marketing messaging and creatives for campaigns require
multiple steps, stakeholders and approvals.
When a department is on the same page and able to communicate effectively, its messages to
external stakeholders are more likely to resonate.
Below is our breakdown of the best comms tools, all proven to bring businesses together and
help workers communicate better.
Of course, no company necessarily needs everything on this list. That said, the internal and
external tools here can highlight areas where your business’ comms might need a tune-up.
1. Asana
Especially given the rise of remote teams, project management tools are a must-have for
companies big and small.
Tools like Asana provide businesses with a unified place to plan and track the progress of any
given project. From tasks and to-do lists to full-blown project timelines and department
calendars, Asana makes it all easy to track with:
Multiple project views (including Kanban boards, lists and calendars) that provide a
constant pulse on the progress of a task
The ability to assign roles and permissions for collaborators (including entry-level
employees, contractors and C-level) to keep workflows structured
Automated updates and notifications to keep a constant pulse on task progress
2. Slack
It’s hard to find a team that isn’t using Slack (or a similar team chat tool) to stay connected.
With Slack, you can organize your team’s communications into company-wide, department-
specific or role-specific channels. This allows for immediate, timely communication that
doesn’t totally interrupt workers or cause needless meetings. Arguably the biggest selling
point of Slack is its ease of use and endless integrations (including many of the tools on this
list).
3. Teamwork
A project management solution that’s almost a hybrid of the two tools above, Teamwork sets
itself apart with its ability to track granular project data in addition to updates and messaging.
For example, you can track individual contributions to any given task as well as team-wide
time spent on tasks.
Teamwork answers “what’s been done, what needs to be done and what’s next” in one place.
The platform’s project tracking features represent a massive time-saver and create fewer
back-and-forths among collaborators.
4. Confluence
From internal docs and policies to reference pages and wikis, Confluence represents a sort of
“home base” for teams to refer to.
The platform serves as a project management tool in its own right but also provides teams
with a digital whiteboard to brainstorm and make notes as needed. Confluence’s features are
yet another example of how you can consolidate corporate communications rather than jump
between multiple apps, inboxes or internal drives.
5. Employee Advocacy by Sprout
Employee advocacy is all the rage right now. Sprout’s Employee Advocacy platform
empowers your teammates internally to earn maximum on external marketing messages.
For example, Employee Advocacy makes it easy to boost your brand’s biggest
announcements and latest blog posts. Rather than craft individual updates or captions, the
platform provides templates, inspiration and creative options to boost your social posts
messages in the most engaging way possible.
6. Dialpad
Dialpad represents an all-in-one video conferencing, chat and phone solution that’s ideal for
distributed teams.
Perhaps the most “corporate” of our corporate communications due to its enterprise clientele,
Dialpad boasts a number of features to improve team comms. This includes AI tools such as
call sentiment analysis, automated notes to address sales objections and automatic call
transcriptions.
For the second half of our breakdown, we’ll look at external tools you might consider as part
of your marketing tech stack.
7. Sprout Social
No surprises here! Sprout Social is a powerful, all-in-one tool for streamlining internal and
external comms related to social media.
How so? For starters, we allow teams to consolidate all of their social messages and
notifications in one place. Not only does this mean less jumping between platforms, but also
empowers teams to respond to more messages faster via collaborative features. The ability to
combine your inboxes is a massive time-saver and likewise gives you a more comprehensive
view of your customer comms.
Beyond that, Sprout also serves as the home base for all of your external social content.
Updates and announcements. Videos and images. Stories, Reels and everything in-between.
With Sprout, you can schedule and optimize your content across multiple social networks at
once. Having all of your social media assets and updates in a single platform allows you to
maximize your reach and get your message across to the appropriate audiences faster.
Below are a few more ways you might use Sprout as a corporate communications tool:
While trends in marketing come and go, email remains a staple of external comms.
Platforms like SendinBlue are scalable and make it a cinch to set up automated workflows for
any campaign you can think of. The ability to assess engagement metrics and fine-tune your
campaigns over time means that you can maximize the eyes on your marketing messages.
9. HubSpot
HubSpot’s suite of corporate communications tools includes a robust CRM, email marketing
platform and CMS rolled into one.
Having all of the above in one platform gives marketers the opportunity to have a more
complete understanding of their customers and their needs.
For example, which content do our leads engage with the most? What’s our most common
sales objection? Which of our campaigns results in the most direct revenue?
With HubSpot, you have a holistic view of your marketing channels and likewise what makes
your customers tick.
10. Muck Rack
PR and relationships with bloggers, journalists and media outlets are key for businesses
looking to earn some much-needed exposure.
Tools like Muck Rack make the process of finding relevant outreach targets and pitching
them faster. Providing instant access to thousands of journalists, the platform allows you to
track the progress of your pitching campaigns and automate the process of conducting
follow-ups as needed.
11. Shorthand
Key Concepts:
1. Ego States:
o Parent Ego State: Represents the attitudes, behaviors, and rules learned from
authority figures (parents, teachers, or society). It can be:
Nurturing Parent: Supportive, caring, protective.
Critical Parent: Controlling, judgmental, directive.
o Adult Ego State: Rational, logical, objective. Processes information and
makes decisions based on facts, not emotions.
o Child Ego State: Reflects emotions and behaviors from childhood, including
both Free Child (spontaneous, creative, playful) and Adapted Child
(compliant, rebellious).
2. Transactions:
o Complementary Transactions: When communication flows smoothly, with
both parties in compatible ego states (e.g., Adult-to-Adult, Parent-to-Child).
o Crossed Transactions: When individuals are in incompatible ego states,
leading to misunderstandings or conflict (e.g., Parent-to-Adult, Adult-to-
Child).
o Ulterior Transactions: Involve hidden or double-layered messages where the
spoken words are not the entire message (e.g., "I’m fine" but body language
suggests otherwise).
3. Strokes:
o Strokes are units of recognition that can be either positive (affirming,
supportive) or negative (critical, dismissive). Positive strokes enhance self-
esteem, while negative strokes can cause resentment or conflict.
o Conditional Strokes: Given for specific behaviors (e.g., "You did a good
job").
o Unconditional Strokes: Given regardless of behavior (e.g., "I love you").
4. Games:
o Psychological Games: Repetitive, unconscious patterns of behavior that
obscure the real issues and can escalate conflict. Examples include:
"Yes, But..." (someone always rejects solutions).
"Ain’t It Awful" (complaining about how bad things are).
"I’m Only Trying to Help" (giving unsolicited advice and then
criticizing the recipient).
5. Scripts:
o Life Scripts: The unconscious life plans formed in childhood, influenced by
parental messages, societal norms, and early experiences.
o Positive Scripts: Encouraging personal development and success.
o Negative Scripts: Limiting beliefs, such as "I’m not good enough" or "I must
always please others."
6. Berne’s Theory of Communication: The theory proposes that every communication
is a "transaction" between the different ego states of participants. Recognizing the ego
states allows individuals to change their behavior for better communication.
7. TA in the Workplace: Understanding which ego states individuals use in a
professional setting can significantly improve interpersonal communication, reduce
misunderstandings, and resolve conflicts.
8. Transactional Analysis and Personality Development: TA is widely used in
therapy, coaching, and organizational development to help individuals recognize
unhealthy patterns of communication and shift to healthier interactions.
9. Self-Awareness: The first step in applying TA is self-awareness—recognizing which
ego state you are communicating from and whether it's appropriate for the situation.
10. Developing Adult Ego State: A key goal in TA is to increase the frequency of
Adult-to-Adult communication, which is logical, assertive, and grounded in facts,
reducing the influence of emotional or critical patterns from Parent and Child states.
Conflict Process:
1. Latent Conflict: The potential for conflict exists due to differences in values, goals,
resources, or working styles. Conflict is not yet recognized.
2. Perceived Conflict: Individuals begin to perceive a conflict due to communication
breakdowns, competing goals, or resource constraints.
3. Felt Conflict: Emotions are involved, and individuals experience stress, frustration,
or anxiety due to the conflict.
4. Manifest Conflict: The conflict becomes visible through open disputes, arguments, or
uncooperative behavior.
5. Aftermath: The conflict is resolved or exacerbated, impacting morale, productivity,
and relationships. Effective resolution leads to learning, while poor resolution may
result in long-term damage.
5. Conflict Management
Negotiation is the process by which two or more parties with differing needs and goals
discuss an issue to find a mutually acceptable solution.
Types of Negotiation:
Negotiation Process:
1. Meaningful Work: Employees find purpose in their work, aligning it with personal
values, enhancing motivation and engagement.
2. Respect for All Individuals: Creating a culture of dignity and respect, recognizing
the inherent worth of every employee.
3. Sense of Community: Encouraging a feeling of connectedness, cooperation, and
support among employees.
4. Work-Life Balance: Promoting policies and practices that allow employees to
balance professional and personal commitments, reducing burnout and increasing job
satisfaction.
5. Mindfulness and Reflection: Encouraging employees to practice mindfulness, which
can help reduce stress and improve focus.
6. Ethical Behavior: Encouraging values such as integrity, honesty, and fairness in
decision-making.
7. Holistic Development: Supporting employees' personal growth, including spiritual,
emotional, and intellectual development.
8. Employee Empowerment: Providing employees with autonomy, responsibility, and
opportunities to contribute meaningfully to the organization’s mission.
9. Workplace Well-being: Prioritizing physical, mental, and emotional well-being
through supportive policies, benefits, and programs.
10. Social Responsibility: Encouraging organizations to contribute to social,
environmental, and ethical causes, aligning with employees' values and creating a
sense of shared purpose.
UNIT-V
1. Unfreeze: This stage involves preparing the organization for change by challenging
existing beliefs, processes, and behaviors.
2. Disrupting the Status Quo: To “unfreeze,” organizations need to show the need for
change, create urgency, and motivate employees to embrace new approaches.
3. Change: In this stage, new methods, processes, and structures are implemented, and
people begin to experiment with and adopt new ways of working.
4. Refreeze: Once the change has been implemented, it needs to be solidified through
reinforcement, ensuring it becomes part of the organization’s culture.
5. Overcoming Resistance: Lewin’s model helps identify areas of resistance and
provide strategies to overcome them during the transition.
6. Stability after Change: The "refreeze" phase stabilizes the changes and integrates
them into day-to-day operations.
7. Continuous Change: The model suggests that organizations should constantly
“unfreeze” to make space for future improvements.
8. Employee Participation: Active involvement of employees at all stages is essential
for successful change.
9. Simple Yet Effective: Lewin’s model is simple but widely used because it provides a
clear roadmap for managing change.
10. Evolutionary Change: The model supports gradual and planned changes rather than
abrupt transformations.
1. Create a Sense of Urgency: Highlight the importance of change and make employees
feel that change is necessary for survival.
2. Build a Guiding Coalition: Form a team of influential leaders and change agents to
champion the change.
3. Develop a Vision and Strategy: Clearly articulate the vision for change and how it
will be achieved.
4. Communicate the Vision: Ensure the vision is communicated consistently across all
levels of the organization.
5. Empower Employees for Action: Remove barriers to change and provide employees
with the autonomy and resources to act.
6. Generate Short-Term Wins: Identify and celebrate quick wins to build momentum
and demonstrate the success of the change.
7. Consolidate Gains: Use early successes to drive further change and prevent
regression to old ways.
8. Anchor the Change in the Culture: Make the change a permanent part of the
organization's culture by aligning systems and values.
9. Clear and Structured Process: Kotter’s model provides a structured approach to
managing change in a way that reduces resistance.
10. Long-Term Commitment: The model emphasizes the need for sustained
commitment to embed the change into everyday practices.
c. McKinsey 7S Framework
1. Strategy: The plan an organization follows to compete in the market and achieve its
objectives.
2. Structure: The organizational design, including hierarchy, departmentalization, and
reporting lines.
3. Systems: The formal and informal processes that govern day-to-day activities within
the organization.
4. Shared Values: Core values and culture that guide behavior, decision-making, and
organizational practices.
5. Skills: The competencies and capabilities required to execute the strategy and meet
organizational goals.
6. Style: Leadership style and organizational culture, which impact how decisions are
made and employees interact.
7. Staff: The employees in the organization, their roles, skills, and development
opportunities.
8. Interdependence: All seven elements of the framework are interdependent, and a
change in one area will affect the others.
9. Alignment: Organizational change efforts need to align all seven elements for
success.
10. Holistic Approach: The 7S Framework emphasizes a comprehensive approach to
organizational change that considers both hard (strategy, structure, systems) and soft
(skills, style, staff, shared values) elements.