Leadership and Organizational Culture
Lectures blok 1
Lecture 1 – Introduction
- Magee, J.C. & Galinsky, A.D. (2008). Social Hierarchy: The self-reinforcing nature of
power and status. p.351 till p.365.
Hierarchy is always present in organizations, even when tried to minimize its existence.
Social hierarchy is an implicit or explicit rank order of individuals or groups
with respect to a valued social dimension.
-can be consciously conceived (through rules) or unconsciously understood.
-there are subordinated groups (rank order)
-there must be a specific understanding of the dimensions along with the rank people are
ordered in (valued social dimension) context will determine which dimension is most
relevant at any given moment
To arrive at a hierarchical form of social relations, members of social
groups must either engage in creating a formal system with rank-ordered roles
or take part in a process of informal interaction where rank ordering of
individuals or groups organically develops on at least one valued social
dimension. Regardless of how it takes shape, we call this process hierarchical
differentiation
formal hierarchies
As groups and organizations grow, and their work becomes more complex, they tend to
increase the formalization of their hierarchies. Within the boundaries of the
organization, greater value inheres in positions of higher formal rank. Although the sources
of value that increase from low to high rank are not always explicit, they include
control over resources and deference from subordinates.
-the sorting of individuals into appropriate roles and ranks is a dynamic problem, the
hierarchy has a fluid nature but is stable because it is costly to change their structure
Informal hierarchies
Hierarcies are also established informally in groups. One reason for this incipient
hierarchical differentiation is that individuals form inferences and make judgments of
others’ competence and power based on only seconds of observation. Differences in
task participation, which emerge within minutes of interaction can produce hierarchical
differentiation that shapes the entire group experience. There also tends to be high
agreement between group members about the rank of each individual suggesting that the
process of hierarchical differentiation is meaningful to group members, even when the
rank ordering is based on a feature as subtle as nonverbal behavior.
- As soon as one dimension—a characteristic or a resource—is judged more
important in a group or organization, individuals will naturally and
spontaneously differentiate hierarchically along that dimension.
- Informal hierarchy also emerges from stereotypes
,Functions of social hierarchy
1) hierarchy establishes social order and facilitates social coordination (individual
needs for stability
- hierarchy provides clear cut lines of direction
- increases job performance
- fosters more satisfying working relationships (dominant and submissive)
2) hierarchy provides incentives for individuals in groups and organizations (motivated
to obtain higher ranks to satisfy self-interest
- motivational function (autonomy and internal control)
- Motivational function benefits organizations (career ladders)
-hierarchy creates conditions of compliance and can institutionalize corruption
The basis of hierarchy
1) Status
- Social status = the extent to which an individual or group is respected or admired by
others (can be inter- or intragroup)
- Primarily subjective (but high degree of consensus)
- status emerges from expectations that individuals have for their own
and each others’ performance (based on past performance or qualities)
- distinct from attention and influence
2) Power
- Social power = asymmetric control over valued resources in social relations
- Dependence Is important in this definition and value because the resources need to
be valued by both parties
- Negative value – punishment and resources you want less of
- Positive value – resources you want more of/ rewards
- Legitimate power – power by a formal position which provides control over
resources and status
- Referent power – the extent to which individuals want to associate with an
individual
- Resource dependency theory - power resides among a set of interdependent
subunits or organizations that exchange resources with each other. The value
of the resources that a subunit/organization controls and the extent to which
those resources can be obtained elsewhere. f the value that a
subunit/organization provides can be replaced (i.e., substituted), then there is
little dependence on that subunit/organization, which consequently has little
power in that social relationship.
- Distinct from capacity to influence
Power is based in resources, which belong to an actor whereas status exists entirely in
the eyes of others; conferred by them. Power, more than status, therefore, is a property
of the actor. Status, more than power, is a property of co-actors and observers
-power can lead to status and status can lead to power
, -when power leads to status it is more difficult for actors to cope (especially in exchange
oriented contexts/ negotiations)
-when status leads to power it is more distressing for observers
-Modliński, A., & Gladden, M.E. (2021). An Organizational Metaphor for the 4th Industrial
Revolution: The Organization as Cyborg.
Employ metaphors as tools for recognizing and understanding meaningful organizational
elements.
Gareth Morgan – eight metaphors for different aspects of an organization
1 The organization as a machine, which is associated with bureaucratic processes and
scientific management;
2 The organization as an organism, which is associated with contingency theory,
environmental adaptation, and a population- ecology view;
3 The organization as a brain, which is linked with cybernetics, learning, and holographic
design;
4 The organization as a culture, which is connected with corporate cultures, subcultures,
and rules leading to the enactment of a shared reality;
5 The organization as a political system, which is associated with stakeholder interests,
conflicts, political activity, power, and governance;
6 The organization as a psychic prison, which is linked with cognitive biases, repression, and
unconscious archetypes;
7 The organization as flux and transformation, which is connected with autopoiesis, mutual
causality, dialectical change, and chaos and complexity; and
8 The organization as an instrument of domination, which is associated with workplace
hazards, stress, exploitation, and control.
The cyborg organization
-to be a cyborg a human being must possess some active artificial devices that have been
incorporated into his/her body and which posses at least some limited form of agency
(some ability to gain and process data and select actions on basis of that info) and whose
functioning somehow supports, influences or is controlled by the natural biological agency
- a “cyborg organization” possess two visibly disparate types of constituents—human
workers and artificially intelligent devices or systems—that have become structurally and
operationally integrated to form a dynamic whole.
