Effectiveness & Efficiency

Although it would be nice to believe that happy workers are also productive workers, as Cheney et al point out, more than 30 years of research has been unable to demonstrate a direct correlation (p. 49). Table 3.1 illustrates four combination of possibilities related to effectiveness and efficiency, while it underscores the limitations of measuring qualitative data on a quantitative scale. How happy do you have to be to be considered "happy" for the purpose of the study? Were study participants required to be happy 24/7, or were brief periods of unhappiness acceptable?
I was reminded of a staff meeting I once attended, where the "agenda item" was low morale. At one point in the discussion, our department manager said: "If someone is unhappy in their job, they should just leave." The remark was met with silence. I sat back in my chair and fantasized about walking out the front door, followed by every member of the department, at that very moment. As the authors remind us, the link between job satisfaction and productivity is impacted by a complex variety of factors.

Qualified Recommendation

In their discussion of bureaucracies, Cheney et al state that "In principle, bureaucracy is intended to promote fairness" (p. 32), and credit bona fide occupational qualifications (BFOQs) with helping women and minority groups break through the glass ceiling. I found myself to be skeptical of such a claim, especially since the authors provided no evidence to support it. The assumption that job applicants to bureaucratic organizations are selected only on the basis of their BFOQs, ignores the human factor present in all hiring decision. Although organizations frequently argue that there is a lack of qualified ....(fill in the blank)... applicants, studies have demonstarted that gender, race, ethnicity, age, and other characteristics frequently play a signficant role in the screening of job applicants. On-line applications and phone interviews do not level the playing field, as even seemingly beneign demographic information, such as an address, can carry negative or positive associations. I think the most that can be said of bureaucratic hiring practices, is that they screen for a minimum common denominator of qualification.

Dis-Organized

As professor Cyborg indicated in her post hospitals are highly bureaucratic systems, in which various components often work at odds with each other. When I was a department manager at a healthcare facility in Los Angeles, I reported to my division chief in another city. The division would periodically send out staff members to my facility to assess the effectiveness of department operations, and make recommendations to improve organizational efficiency and customer service. Recommendations often included hiring additional staff members, or the purchase of new equipment. Increases in the department budget, or capital expenditures, needed the approval of the facility CFO, who responded to each request with a resounding NO! Although the division recommendations would have made a positive impact on the department, I soon learned that making requests was a pointless exercise, since the reporting structure of the organization was a formidable roadblock to change.

Structuration

The term structuration represents the tension between enabling and constraint, that gives form to an organization . The text cites several examples of balancing these two forces, from the Burley Design Cooperative (p.25) to the Second Vatican Council (p.23) thereby, illustrating that similar tensions define all forms of social organization from systems of government to religion. The degree to which one force is percieved to predominate over the other influences public perception of corporate identity, in ways that have economic consequences. For example, Microsoft is often percieved as a brittle, hierarchical organization, that imposes its vision of personal computing through the use of monopolistic business practices. Although Apple is probably no less hierarchical, it has cultivated the image of an innovative company, responsive to the technological (and emotional?) needs of consumers. By creating an organizational culture that seems to favor enabling attributes such as responsiveness and flexibility, Apple continues to make inroads into formerly Microsoft territory.

Ethnicity and a New Type of Identity

The nature of identity as contemplated by Dr Dominique Bouchet (box 13.9) in our text , marks a departure from the demographic definition traditionally used by organizations. Rather than physical characteristics, or "country of origin," post modern identity is a selective and strategic expression of individual style (p. 400) that demonstartes particular elements of one culture, while embedded in another. Although professor Bouchet cites North African immigrants to France as her example, the same holds true for immigrants to the United States who continue to practice the unique cultural traditions of their homeland, while adopting elements of American culture. Ultimately, practices within a diverse society often become a hybrid of influences. Within the constrains of traditional business organizations however, diversity is often reduced to token expressions such as "Cinco de Mayo" day in the cafeteria.

An Impersonal Idea

According to research by scholar Joseph Walther (p. 362), a leaner communication media than personal interaction, was more conducive to idea generation. At first, I thought the idea was counterintuitive but after considering it for a while, it makes sense. Brainstorming in group sessions often layers the communication environment with personal currents that detract from the business at hand. Virtual meetings allow participants to focus on work-related tasks while mitigating concerns that critical feedback will be taken personally.
The use of emoticons is discussed in a pervious paragraph, as a way counter the absence of emotional cues. Emoticons are considered inappropriate under most circumstances of business communication, and I think of them as too cartoonish to convey deep emotions therefore, I generally avoid their use altogether.

Tech Turbulance

On my way to class Tuesday afternoon I was listening to to the business news radio program Market Place. One segment of the show was devoted to news that United Airlines stock had dropped by 75% in value, in a matter of 5 minutes, the previous day. The declined occured after a "financial news aggregate service" fed a story to The Bloomberg Report, with the headline "United Files for Bankruptcy to Slash Costs." As a result, millions of shares were sold in a matter of minutes.
Shortly thereafter, it was discovered that the electronic search of bankruptcy filings for 2008, by the news service, had pulled an undated story from 6 years ago and posted it with the current search date. The stock had recovered "most" of its value by the end of the day, but analysts were still in the process of sorting out the fallout.
Commentators on the radio briefly posted the question of how to prevent the malicious planting of stories to manupulate financial markets. Perhaps it was beyond the scope of the program to consider this serious issue, but the commentators' only response was to point out that the Bloomberg Report deflected all responsibility by stating it was not their policy to fact check news feeds, only stories by their own reporters. The question raises the issue of who takes responsibility for identifying, correcting and preventing mistakes in an interconnected world, when the reprecussions of an honest or intentional "mistake" could seriously effect the lives of millions.