Organizational Linkages Understanding the Productivity Paradox (1994) / Chapter Skim
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4 WHAT IS ENOUGH? A SYSTEMS PERSPECTIVE ON INDIVIDUAL-ORGANIZATIONAL PERFORMANCE LINKAGES
4 WHAT IS ENOUGH? A SYSTEMS PERSPECTIVE ON INDIVIDUAL-ORGANIZATIONAL PERFORMANCE LINKAGES
Pages 81-104
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From page 81... ...
In sum, to change organizational productivity, it is not enough to change one aspect of the organization at one level of performance. THE NATURE OF ORGANIZATIONAL PERFORMANCE As noted in earlier chapters, the organizational psychology and organizational behavior literatures often refer to individual, group, and 81
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From page 82... ...
described a series of studies in which individuals' jobs were changed to be more enriched and, therefore, more motivating, in the hope of improving individual and organizational performance. They showed that an intervention can fail to yield changes even in individual performance unless a network of larger system attributes is in place to facilitate the primary intervention.
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From page 83... ...
But together, employee ownership and worker participation in decision making may improve organizational performance. Interventions, be they technological or human resources management in nature, are often implemented in ways that limit their effectiveness at both the individual level at which they are initially targeted and the organizational level.
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From page 84... ...
We- conclude by presenting summary propositions that address the conditions under which individual and organizational performance will be more closely linked. THE NATURE OF OFFICE AUTOMATION Office automation refers to the application of information technology (IT)
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From page 85... ...
Even if the hardware and software meet the rudimentary requirements suggested above, implementation may nevertheless stall or fail altogether as a result of a variety of social and organizational factors. Indeed, the literature on the implementation of computerized systems suggests a veritable laundry list of organizational factors that may determine the success of implementation.
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From page 86... ...
, it may not yield improved organizational performance for at least two important reasons. The first reason, which is well documented in the literature on computer automation and indeed may be unique to computer automation, was discussed in Chapter 2.
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From page 87... ...
The point is that improving only one aspect of employee performance is unlikely to be linked to total organizational performance unless attention is also paid to the larger organizational system in which the employee performs. ORGANIZATIONS AS OPEN SYSTEMS: THE OTHER SYSTEMS THAT MATTER Even if office automation did increase individual performance, would that be enough to augment organizational performance?
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From page 88... ...
Building on von Bertalanffy's work, Katz and Kahn identified four major principles that characterize all open systems, be they plant cells, animal organs, individuals, dyads, groups, or organizations. Below, we use their four principles to hypothesize further why single-level, targeted interventions, such as office automation, may fail to yield improvements in organizational performance.
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From page 89... ...
Below, we present some hypotheses derived from these open systems principles that are useful for understanding individual-organizational performance linkages. Again, we focus on office automation as a continuing foil for the explication of our perspective, but the principles apply equally well to other performance-enhancing interventions.
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From page 90... ...
; and may, as we discuss below, tax other organizational subsystems, particularly the maintenance subsystem. The analysis thus far points to one reason office automation may not engender improvements in organizational performance: Even if the automation is successfully implemented, the positive effects may be limited and the unintended negative consequences may cancel the positive effects.
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From page 91... ...
Thus, from the principle of reverberation, we derive additional reasons why the implementation of office automation may fail to yield the anticipated improvements in organizational performance: Gains in the outputs of some subsystems (e.g., production) may be offset, at least for some period of time, by increases in the costs of other subsystems (e.g., maintenance)
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From page 92... ...
advised organizations to alter dramatically their human resource practices (plant culture, job design, career advancement, reward and compensation systems, and personnel selection the human element of what we are calling the maintenance subsystem) in order to realize the benefits of advanced manufacturing technologies.
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Such innovations are unlikely to yield outcomes that improve organizational performance. Consider, for example, an organization that has functioned on the basis of close teamwork yet adopts an
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From page 94... ...
Indeed, it probably will not. Implications of Open Systems Theory Although our focus has been on explaining why interventions designed to improve individual performance fail to enhance organizational performance, open systems theory suggests a number of strategies by which organizations can maximize the potential performance benefits of an intervention.
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From page 95... ...
Fourth, the open systems model suggests that organizations should undertake multiple kinds of interventions in multiple subsystems of the organization when the goal is to enhance total organizational performance. In combination, suggestions three and four hypothesize that when a multifaceted intervention is placed into the organization the consequence can be enhanced organizational performance.
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From page 96... ...
It suggests several provocative and convincing hypotheses about why the implementation of any one intervention in an organization may fail to augment organizational performance. Nevertheless, the open systems framework may be limiting in some respects.
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From page 97... ...
Bolman and Deal's third frame, the political frame, acknowledges the fact that organizations do not have an unlimited supply of resources to meet all individual, group, and functional desires. Limited resources create conflict in all systems.
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From page 98... ...
In a large-scale qualitative effort, Pettigrew gained access to letters exchanged between members of the retail chain and potential suppliers of the new computer system. He showed that members of one coalition within the retail chain, who favored one vendor over all others, were able to dominate negotiations, to solicit favors from the preferred vendor, and to dictate the eventual choice.
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From page 99... ...
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION In this chapter we have outlined a number of reasons why a single, individual-level intervention, such as office automation, may fail to improve organizational performance. To summarize, we offer the following propositions regarding the relationships one may expect to find between interventions targeted on improving individual performance and increments in organizational performance: 1.
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From page 100... ...
The effects of an intervention on organizational performance will be determined by the degree to which political issues are dealt with in a way that yields a sense of trust throughout the organization. It is our hypothesis that all of the issues illuminated in these propositions require simultaneous attention if an intervention targeted on improving individual performance is to improve organizational performance.
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From page 101... ...
Mankin 1984 Individual and organizational consequences of computer-based office informa
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1988 Computerized Manufacturing and Human Resources. Lexington,Mass.: Lexington Books.
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National Research Council 1986 Human Resource Practices for Implementing Advanced Manufacturing Technology. Manufacturing Studies Board.
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From page 104... ...
Schneider, eds. 1988 Facilitating Work Effectiveness.
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