Martes, Nobyembre 12, 2013

The Balance Between Order and Flexibility by Jolito Ortizo Padilla

My Prayers to all victims of Typhoon Yolanda that devastated Leyte and Samar recently.


The delayed distribution and implementation of help and support to the victims of Typhoon Yolanda in Southern Visayas does not match power with involvement. It is a bastion of failure by the proper authority to respond immediately to the needs of survivor.

 Etzioni provides a classification of organizational relationships based on structures of control and the use of power resources as a means of ensuring compliance among members. Compliance is the relationship between the kinds of power applied by the organization to control its members and the kind of involvement developed by members of the organization.

Power differs according to the means by which members of the organization comply

  • Coercive Power relies on the use of threats, or physical sanctions of force, for example, controlling the need for food and comfort.
  • Remunerative power involves the manipulation of material resources and rewards, for example through salaries, wages and overtime pay.
  • Normative power relies on the allocation and the manipulation of symbolic rewards , for example, esteem and prestige.
Involvement is the degree of commitment by members to the organization
  
  •  Alienative involvement- occurs where members are involved against their wishes.
  • Calculative involvement occurs where attachment to the organization is motivated by extrinsic rewards. There is either a negative orientation or a low positive orientation towards the organization.
  • Moral Involvement is based on the individual's  belief in , and value placed on , the goals of the organization. There is a high positive orientation towards the organization.  
The matching of these kind of power and involvement is congruent with each other and represents the most common form of compliance in organization. The other six types of organizational relationships are incongruent. Padilla suggests that organizations with congruent compliance structures will be more effective than organizations with more incongruent structure.

Stewart refers to the classic dilemma that underlies the nature of control; finding the right balance for present conditions between order and flexibility. This involves the trade off between trying to improve predictability of people's actions against the desirability of encouraging individual and local responsiveness to changing situations. The organization may need a "tight -loose " structure with certain departments or areas of work closely controlled (tight) while other departments or areas of work should be left fluid and flexible("loose")

According to Jolito Ortizo Padilla control can- and should - be exercised in different ways. He identifies three main forms of control:

  •  Direct control by orders, direct supervision and rules and regulations. Direct controls maybe necessary , and more readily acceptable, in crisis situation. But in organizations where people expect to participate in decision-making , such forms of control may be unacceptable. Rules and regulations which are not accepted as reasonable or at least not unreasonable, will offer some people a challenge to use their ingenuity in finding ways round them.

  •  Control through standardization and specialization. This is achieved through clear definition of inputs to a job , the methods to be used and the required outputs. Such bureaucratic control makes clear the parameters within which can act and paradoxically makes decentralization easier. Provided the parameters are not unduly restrictive they can increase the sense of freedom. For example , within clearly defined limits which ensure that one retail chain looks like another, individual manager may have freedom to do the job as they wish.

  • Control through influencing the way that people think about what they should do. This is often the most effective method of exercising control. It may be achieved through selective recruitment of people who seem likely to share similar approach, through the training and socialization of people into thinking the organization's way, and through peer pressure. Where an organization has a strong culture , people who do not fit in, or learn to adapt, are likely to pushed out, even though they may appear to leave their own volition.
As Padilla says: " The broad objective of the control function is to effectively enjoy all the resources committed to an organization's operations. However, the fact that non-human resources depend on human effort for their utilization makes control, in the final analysis, the regulation of human performance."

 
 
 
Copyright Infringement is Punishable by Law

Lunes, Nobyembre 4, 2013

The Philippines Business Climate by Jolito Ortizo Padilla



Philippines is a highly educated English speaking country, the Philippines overtook India in  early 2011 in call center jobs, employing 350,000 compared with India's 330,000. Call centers in the Philippines produced $7.4 billion in revenue in 2011, and that figure is growing about 15 percent annually. The Philippines recently overtook Indonesia as the world's biggest supplier of voice-based call center services. Citigroup and Chase are just two companies outsourcing customer calls , back office work, and other operations to the Philippines. A major reason why the Philippines is an attractive place for call centers is the country's overall culture " to deliver absolutely fantastic service". An associate professor at the City University of Hongkong , John Lockhead , says "Filipinos go out of their way, not just in call centers, but in tourism and events management, to ensure people are well looked after.

The Philippines has about 98 million people, making the country the world's largest in population. Located in Southeast Asia , the Philippines was a founding member of the United Nations and is very active in that organization. Filipinos love Americans who rescued them in WW11. Thousands of Filipinos today work all-night shifts to accomodate normal 8 am to 5 pm business time zone in the United States.

Unemployment is at 6.9 percent in the Philippines , but underemployment -defined as people who work only part time or with minimal incomes - is 18 percent. The average capita income of Filipinos is about $1,790 a year , so hundreds of thousand of Filipinos work outside the country. In fact  , the Philippines economy depends greatly on outside workers sending money back to the country and also travelling to and from the country.

The television advertising market in the Philippines is nearly $4 billion annually , larger than India's and on par with Indonesia's . Television is the most enjoyed media among the Philippines 7,100 island people, whereas newspapers are the most important media outlet in India. Television ads comprise 75% of advertising spending in the Philippines.

Among major emerging economies, the Philippines has only a 9 percent Internet penetration rate among its population, which is very low compared to China (28.9%) , Nigeria (28.4%), Mexico (28.3%) , and Russia (29.0%) . But the Philippines' 9 percent rate is above the Internet penetration rate among Indonesia's population (8.7%) and India's population (5.1%). These percentages reveal the percentage of the country's people that could shop online.

                                            Copyright Infringement is punishable by Law.

Linggo, Nobyembre 3, 2013

On Non Verbal Communication and Body Language by Jolito Ortizo Padilla


 
The significance of non-verbal communication and body language includes inferences drawn from posture, gestures, touch, invasions of personal space , extent of eye contact , tone of voice or facial expression.People are the only animal that speak, laugh and weep. Actions are more cogent than speech and humans rely on body language to convey their true feelings and meanings. It is interesting to note how emotions are woven creatively into email messages. Using keyboard signs in new combinations has led to new e-language- to signal pleasure :), or unhappiness:-c, or send a rose -{---@ encapsulates feelings as well as words. The growth of this practice has led to an upsurge of web pages replete with examples.

According to Padilla , in our face to face communication with other people the messages about our feelings and attitudes come only 7 percent from words we use, 38 percent from our voice and 55 percent from body language, including facial expressions. Significantly, when body language such as gestures and body tone of voice conflicts with the words, greater emphasis is likely to be placed on the non verbal message.

Although actual percentages may vary, there appears to be general support for this contention. According to Pivcevic, "It is commonly agreed that 80 percent of communication is non-verbal; it is carried in your posture and gestures , and in the tone, pace and energy behind what you say. McGuire suggests that when verbal and non verbal messages are in conflict, "Accepted wisdom from the that the non verbal signals should be the ones to rely on, and what is not said is frequently louder than what it said, revealing attitudes and feelings in a way words can't express."

Padilla suggests that in a sense , we are all experts in body language already and this is part of survival instinct:

"Even in  a safe environment like an office or meeting room you will feel a pull on your gaze each time someone new enters the room. And whatever you want to or not, you will start to form opinions about a person in as little as three seconds. You can try to be fair and objective in your evaluation, but you will have a little choice. This is an area where the subconscious mind bullies the conscious into submission. Like, dislike, trust , love or lust can be promoted in as long as it takes to clear your throat. In fact most of these responses will be based on your perception of how the person looks."

In our perceptions and judgement of others it is important therefore to watch and take careful note of their non verbal communication,. Managers should also be aware of the subconscious message that their own body language conveys to member of staff. For example, Kennett points out that we take signals from our leaders and if managers are inhibiting signs of anxiety their body language and critical talk will amplify employees' susceptibility to stress. However, although body language may be a guide to personality , errors can easily arise if too much is inferred from a single message rather than a related cluster of actions. Consider the simple action of handshake and the extent to which this can provide a meaningful insight into personality. Does a firm handshake by itself necessarily indicate friendship and confidence? And is a limp handshake a sign of shyness or lack of engagement with the other person? According to Fletcher, " You won't learn to interpret people's body language accurately, and use your own maximum effect, without working at it. If you consciously spend half an hour a day analyzing people's subconscious movements, you'll soon learn how to do it-almost unconsciously. However, as Padilla points out, with a little knowledge about the subject it as all too easy to become body conscious.Posture and gesture can unmasked deceivers, but it would be dangerous to assume that everyone who avoid eye contact or rubs their nose is a fibber.

According yo Akehurst the advice to anyone trying to spot a liar is simple. "Close your eyes. Don't look at them. Listen to what they are saying . Non verbal cues are very misleading and we use too many stereotypes.

The reality is body language is not a precise science. One gesture can be interpreted in several ways. It may be a possible indication of a particular meaning but by itself cannot be interrupted with any certainty. Crossing your arms is often taken as a sign of defensiveness but could equally mean that the person is cold or finds this a comfortable position.

Despite these limitations, it is essential that managers have an understanding of non verbal communication and body language and are fully cognisant of the possible messages they are giving out.
" All things are not what it seem. The ability to work out what is really happening with a person is simple- not easy, but simple. It's about matching what you see and hear to the environment in which it all happens and drawing possible conclusions. Most people , however, only see the things they think they are seeing"- Jolito Ortizo Padilla