THE MANAGER: OMNIPOTENT OR SYMBOLIC?

How much difference does a manager make in how an organization performs?

The dominant view in management theory and society, in general, is that
managers are directly responsible for an organization's success or failure. We
call this perspective the omnipotent view of management. In contrast, others
have argued that much of an organization's success or failure is due to external
forces outside managers' control. This perspective is called the symbolic view
of management.

OMNIPOTENT VIEW OF MANAGEMENT

This view of managers as omnipotent is consistent with the stereotypical
picture of the take-charge business executive who overcomes any obstacle in
seeing that the organization achieves its goals. And this view isn't limited to
business organizations.
It also explains turnover among college and professional sports coaches, who
are considered the "managers" of their teams. Coaches who lose more games
than they win are usually fired and replaced by new coaches who are expected
to correct the poor performance.

SYMBOLIC VIEW OF MANAGEMENT.

The symbolic view says that a manager's ability to affect performance
outcomes is influenced and constrained by external factors. According to this
view, it's unreasonable to expect managers to affect an organization's
performance significantly. Instead, performance is influenced by factors over
which managers have little control, such as the economy,
customers, governmental policies, competitors' actions, industry conditions,
and decisions made by previous managers.
This view is labeled "symbolic" because it believes that managers symbolize
control and influence. How do they do that? Developing plans, making
decisions, and engaging in other managerial activities to make sense of
random, confusing, and ambiguous situations. However, the actual part that

Contemporary Management- Chapter 2

Dr. Amira Omar
Robbins, Stephen P.Management / Stephen P. Robbins,
2
Mary Coulter. — 11th ed
managers play in the organizational success or failure is limited according to
this view.

WHAT IS ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE?

Organizational culture has been described as the shared values, principles,

traditions, and ways of doing things that influence the way organizational
members act. In most organizations, these shared values and practices have
evolved over time and determine, to a large extent, how "things are done
around here."
Our definition of culture implies three things. First, culture is a perception.
It's not something that can be physically touched or seen, but employees
perceive it on the basis of what they experience within the organization.
Second, organizational culture is descriptive. It's concerned with how
members perceive the culture and describe it, not whether they like it. Finally,
even though individuals may have different backgrounds or work at different
organizational levels, they tend to represent the organization's culture in
similar terms. That's the shared aspect of culture.

Research suggests seven dimensions that can describe an organization's

culture.
These dimensions range from low to high, meaning it's not very typical of the
culture (low) or is very typical of the culture (high). Therefore, describing an
organization using these seven dimensions gives a composite picture of the
organization's culture.

Contemporary Management- Chapter 2

Dr. Amira Omar
Robbins, Stephen P.Management / Stephen P. Robbins,
3
Mary Coulter. — 11th ed
In many organizations, one cultural dimension is often emphasized more than
the others and essentially shapes the organization's personality and how
organizational members work.

COMPETING VALUES FRAMEWORK

Clan culture
• Internal focus.
• Flexibility over stability.
• Collaboration among employees.

Contemporary Management- Chapter 2

Dr. Amira Omar
Robbins, Stephen P.Management / Stephen P. Robbins,
4
Mary Coulter. — 11th ed
Adhocracy culture
• External focus.
• Values flexibility.
• Adaptable, creative, and quick to respond to changes in the
marketplace.
Market culture
• Focused on the external environment
• Values stability and control
• Driven by competition and a strong desire to deliver results
Hierarchy culture
• Has an internal focus
• Values stability and control over flexibility
• Formalized, structured work environment

Contemporary Management- Chapter 2

Dr. Amira Omar
Robbins, Stephen P.Management / Stephen P. Robbins,
5
Mary Coulter. — 11th ed
STRONG CULTURES
All organizations have cultures, but not all cultures equally influence
employees' behaviors and actions. Strong Cultures — those in which the key
values are deeply held and widely shared—have a more significant influence
on employees than weaker cultures.

Why is having a strong culture important? For one thing, in organizations with
strong cultures, employees are more loyal than are employees in organizations
with weak cultures.

Research also suggests that strong cultures are associated with high
organizational performance.
And it's easy to understand why. After all, if values are clear and widely
accepted, employees know what they're supposed to do and what's expected
of them to act quickly to take care of problems. However, the disadvantage is
that a strong culture might also prevent employees from trying new
approaches, especially when conditions change rapidly.

Contemporary Management- Chapter 2

Dr. Amira Omar
Robbins, Stephen P.Management / Stephen P. Robbins,
6
Mary Coulter. — 11th ed
However, once the culture is in place, certain organizational practices help
maintain it. For instance, managers typically judge job candidates on the job
requirements and how well they might fit into the organization during the
employee selection process.
At the same time, job candidates find out information about the organization
and determine whether they are comfortable with what they see.
The actions of top managers also have a major impact on the organization's
culture.
The original source of the culture usually reflects the vision of the founders.
Finally, organizations help employees adapt to the culture through
socialization, a process that helps new employees learn the organization's way
of doing things.
One benefit of socialization is that employees understand the culture and are
enthusiastic and knowledgeable with customers. Another benefit is that it
minimizes the chance that new employees who are unfamiliar with the
organization's culture might disrupt current beliefs and customs.

How Employees Learn Culture

Employees "learn" an organization's culture in several ways. The most
common are stories, rituals, material symbols, and language.
STORIES: Organizational "stories" typically contain a narrative of
significant events or people, including the organization's founders, rule-
breaking, reactions to past mistakes, etc.
CORPORATE RITUALS: these are repetitive sequences of activities that
express and reinforce the important values and goals of the organization.

Contemporary Management- Chapter 2

Dr. Amira Omar
Robbins, Stephen P.Management / Stephen P. Robbins,
7
Mary Coulter. — 11th ed
MATERIAL ARTIFACTS AND SYMBOLS: When you walk into
different businesses, do you get a "feel" for what type of work environment it
is—formal, casual, fun, serious, and so forth? These reactions demonstrate the
power of material symbols or artifacts in creating an organization's
personality.

Material symbols convey the essential, expected, and appropriate behavior.

Risk-taking, conservative, authoritarian, participative, and individualistic are
examples of these behaviors.

LANGUAGE: Many organizations and units within organizations use

language to identify and unite members of a culture. By learning this
language, members confirm their acceptance of the culture and their
willingness to help preserve it. Over time, organizations often develop unique
terms to describe equipment, key personnel, suppliers, customers, processes,
or products related to their business. In addition, new employees are
frequently overwhelmed with acronyms and jargon that become a natural part
of their language after a short time. Once learned, this language acts as a
common denominator that bonds members.

HOW CULTURE AFFECTS MANAGERS

A manager's decisions are influenced by the culture in which they operate. An
organization's culture, especially a strong one, influences and constrains the
way managers plan, organize, lead, and control.

Contemporary Management- Chapter 2

Dr. Amira Omar
Robbins, Stephen P.Management / Stephen P. Robbins,
8
Mary Coulter. — 11th ed
Planning

• The degree of risk that plans should contain.

• Whether plans should be developed by individuals or teams.
• The degree of environmental scanning in which management will engage.
Organizing

• How much autonomy should be designed into employees’ jobs.

• Whether tasks should be done by individuals or in teams.
• The degree to which department managers interact with each other.

Leading
• The degree to which managers are concerned with increasing
employee job satisfaction.
• What leadership styles are appropriate.
• Whether all disagreements ‒ even constructive ones ‒ should be
eliminated.
Controlling
• Whether to impose external controls or to allow employees to
control their own actions.
• What criteria should be emphasized in employee performance
evaluations.
• What repercussions will occur from exceeding one’s budget.

Contemporary Management- Chapter 2

Dr. Amira Omar
Robbins, Stephen P.Management / Stephen P. Robbins,
9
Mary Coulter. — 11th ed