Definition of Committee

The term committee may be referred to as team, board, taskforce, commission etc. It implies the existence of a group to accomplish certain acts. It may be defined as "a group of persons to whom, as a group, some matter is committed".

It is sometimes difficult to draw sharp distinction between committees and other small groups. The essential characteristics of the committee is that it is a group charged with dealing with a specific problem or problem areas.

Committees are widely used, although they are often criticised for being time-consuming and inefficient. Research studies indicate that the right use of committees can result in a greater motivation, improved problem solving and increased output. In fact, the problem is not the existence of committees but rather the way they are conducted and where they are used.

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Nature of Committee

There is a wide variation in the authority assigned to committees and thus the nature of committees also varies. The following discussion will make it clear.

1.      Wide use of committees: Committees are a fact of modern organisational life. They are used in almost all types of organisations - government, non-government, autonomous, and so forth. They are operating in education institutions, industrial organisations and in purely commercial enterprises. In a university or in a bank, for example, there may be dozens of standing and /or special committees either to share in administration or advise the administration on policy. A board of directors of a company is also a committee, as are its various constituent groups such as the executive committee, the finance committee, the bonus committee, the pension committee, the audit committee, the salary and wages review committee, the grievance committee, the planning committee, and numerous other standing and special committees.

2.      Variety of functions and formalities of committees: A committee may be with or without managerial functions. Some committees may make decisions while others may receive information only. Some of them may have line authority (as the board of directors or the syndicate) while others only staff authority (as the bonus committee or the pension committee).

3.      Different roles of committee members: Members play certain roles in committees. Some try to encourage others to contribute, others follow. Some give information, others seek information. Some take an aggressive role, while others try to co-ordinate the group's efforts or negotiate a compromise in the event of disagreements.

 

Reasons for Using Committee

There are widespread uses of committees, the more important ones are discussed below:

1.      Superior judgement: The most important reason for the use of committees is to arrive at a superior judgement through group deliberations. It is increasingly being recognised that most problems of modern business require more experience, knowledge, and judgement than any individual possesses. Committees may help the clarification of problems and development of new ideas. Group interactions through committees have been found to be especially enlightening in policy matters. In complex business situations, however, group interactions may be superior to individual judgement.

2.      Motivation through participation: Membership of committees permit wider participation in decision-making. There are people who seem to be against every move unless they have been previously consulted. Committee membership may help improve the situation. Persons who take part

Misuse of Committees

When committees  are set-up and operated, the five abuses  that appear below should be carefully avoided:

1.      For unimportant decisions: The use of committee involves cost both in terms of money and time. Thus its use should be limited to important matters. It needs mention that no busy executive can help feeling uncomfortable when time is wasted by the committee members deliberating at length on trivial subjects.

2.      For replacing a manager: A committee cannot replace a line manager. It had better perform advisory functions. In fact most committees function in this manner, leaving the real decision- making and managing to the line executives to whom they report.

3.      For decisions beyond participants' authority: Sometimes the important committee members, instead of attending committee meetings themselves, send subordinates who have not had the superior's authority delegated to them. As a result the committee fails to function as intended.

4.      For consolidating divided authority: In large organisations having several departments, authority is so delegated that in some cases no one except the chief executive has adequate authority to do what must be done. If such a problem of divided authority can be eliminated either by delegating authority properly or by changing the organisation structure, the use of committee is inappropriate.

5.      For research or study: Research and study are essentially not group activities. A group of people meeting together can hardly engage in research or study that requires individual devotion and a proper bent of mind, more than anything else. Gathering information is also an individual function, even though individuals may be co-ordinated into a team with individual research assignments. Most monumental research works and studies are the results of individual efforts, although committees may be there to evaluate them.

Definition of Management

Management has been defined by various authors/authorities in various ways. So, the definitions of management are numerous. A few often-quoted definitions are:

“The process of planning, organizing, leading and controlling the work to reach stated organizational goals (James A. F. Stoner, et. al., 1997).”

“Management is the process of planning, organizing, leading and controlling the work to an organization’s human, financial, physical, and information resources to achieve organizational goals in an efficient and effective manner” (Griffin, 1984).

"Management is a distinct process consisting of activities of planning, actuating, and controlling, performed to determine and accomplish stated objectives with the use of human beings and other resources."

All these definitions put emphasis on the attainment of organizational goals for the best use of the organization’s resources. Many of us act to define management as “getting things done through other people in an efficient manner.” The most acceptable definition of management could be the act of “designing and maintaining an environment in which individuals, working together in groups, efficiently accomplish selected aims.”

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Nature and Scope of Management

Nature

Encyclopaedia of the social sciences states that there are three dimensions of the nature of management:

(i) Methods, through which some pre-determined objectives can be reached.

(ii) Combined effect of human effort.

(iii) Some total of all those managers and employees who are associated with these efforts.

Joseph A. Lister has identified the nature of management as the co-ordination of:

(i) Transformation, i.e., turning some factors and elements into products.

(ii) Social system, which satisfies employees’ needs through motivation, communication, and leadership.

(iii) Administrative system, through which activities of the employees are controlled.

In a nutshell, the nature of management can be stated as follows:

• Management is a system comprising planning, organizing, staffing, leading, and controlling.

• Elements of production of an organization such as labor, capital, land, equipment, etc., are used efficiently and effectively through management for achieving organizational goals.

• Management applies to any organization.

• Management identifies a special group of people whose job is to direct the effort and activities of the people towards common objectives.

• It applies to managers engaged at all levels of the organization.

• Management is gradually turning towards professionalization.

• Management has to pay attention to fulfilling the objectives of the interested parties.

• It has to render social responsibilities.

• Management is both science and art.

• The aim of all managers is to create a surplus.

• Managing is concerned with productivity, thereby implying efficiency and effectiveness.

Scope

Harbison and Myers offered a classic threefold concept of management for emphasizing a broader scope for the viewpoint of management. They observed management as:

(i) An economic resource: As viewed by the economist, management is one of the factors of production together with land, labor, and capital.

(ii) A system of authority: As viewed by specialists in administration and organization, management is a system of authority.

(iii) A class and status system: As viewed by sociologists, management is a class-and-status system.

Purpose and Importance of Management

No enterprise can run without management. Some people may say that the main purpose of management is to make a profit. For most business firms, an important purpose of management is the creation of a surplus. Management is to establish an environment in which people can accomplish organizational goals with the least amount of time, money, materials, and personal dissatisfaction or in which they can achieve as much as possible of a desired goal with available resources.

(i) Management can greatly affect not only an organization but also the socioeconomic and political goals of a country.

(ii) Management makes human effort more productive.

(iii) Nature has given us enormous resources. Most of these resources require managerial attention so that they can be used for the benefit of society.

(iv) Moreover, it is often heard that there are huge natural resources in countries like Bangladesh but it is due to the absence of proper management that they are being wasted.

Features/Characteristics of Management

For a clear understanding of management, its features/characteristics may be discussed as below:

(1) Management is usually associated with group efforts: It is usual to associate management with a group. Although people as individuals manage many personal affairs, the group emphasis of management is universal. Each and every enterprise entails the existence of a group to achieve goals. It is now established that goals are achieved more readily by a group than by any one person alone.

(2) Management is accomplished through the efforts of others: Management is sometimes defined as “getting things done through others’ efforts.” Besides the manager of a firm, there may be accountants, engineers, system analysts, salesmen, and a host of other employees working, but it is the manager’s job to integrate all their activities. Thus it can well be said that participation in management necessitates relinquishing the normal tendency to perform all things oneself and getting tasks accomplished through group efforts.

(3) Management is purposeful: Wherever there is management, there is a purpose. Management, in fact, deals with the achievement of something definite, expressed as a goal or objective. Management success is commonly measured by the extent to which objectives are achieved. Management exists because it is an effective means of getting the necessary work accomplished.

(4) Management is action-oriented: Managers focus their attention and efforts on bringing about successful action. Successful managers have an urge for accomplishment. They know when and where to start, what to do for keeping things moving, and how to follow through.

(5) Management is intangible: Management is often called the unseen force, its presence being evidenced by the results of its efforts - motivation among employees, discipline in the group, high productivity, adequate surplus, etc. Conversely, the identity of management may also be felt by its absence or by the presence of its direct opposite – mismanagement. The consequence of mismanagement is anybody’s guess.

(6) Management is indispensable: Management can neither be replaced nor substituted by anything else. Even the computer, which is the wonderful invention of the twentieth century, can only aid but not replace management.

(7) Management can ensure a better life: A manager can do much to improve the work environment, stimulate people to perform better, achieve progress, bring hope, and accomplish better things in life.

Organisation, Administration, and Management

The terms organisation, administration, and management are often used interchangeably. Sometimes, they are considered synonymous. However, for the student of management, it is essential to draw a distinction between these terms and understand their specific meanings.

Organisation

Organisation refers to the "collection, preservation, and co-ordination of the elements of an enterprise in an integrated manner." It involves bringing together various resources of an enterprise into a harmonious whole. This is primarily the role of an entrepreneur, as no enterprise can exist without proper organisation. Scholars highlight that proper organisation is a pre-condition for the success of any venture. It ensures the employment of resources to achieve enterprise goals. The task of organisation is typically performed by the promoters or entrepreneurs themselves.

Administration

Administration acts as the driving force of an enterprise. It sets objectives and formulates plans to achieve them. Additionally, administration determines principles to ensure the effective performance of various divisions and branches of the enterprise. In essence, administration is responsible for planning and providing leadership to achieve organisational goals. It is often equated with top-level management. For example, the board of directors of a company or the syndicate of a university can be considered the administrative body, performing planning and leadership functions.

Management

Management is responsible for executing the plans and policies set by the administration to achieve pre-determined goals. The success of an enterprise depends significantly on how efficiently management executes these plans and policies. Management requires the co-operation of employees, ensuring they work towards the goals established by the administration. Thus, administration and management are interdependent, and the effectiveness of one relies on the other.

Managing: Art or Science?

Managing, like many other practices (e.g., engineering, law, medicine), is both an art and a science. While artistic application is evident in managerial practices, scientific knowledge, methods, and theories also play a crucial role.

Managing as an Art

Managing involves the personal creativity and skill of a manager. It requires envisioning order from chaos and effectively communicating and achieving this vision. Managers use human talent to organise resources and drive performance, making managing the "art of arts."

Managing as a Science

Management as a science is a body of systematised knowledge, involving concepts, principles, and theories. It uses observation and analysis to develop principles that predict outcomes in similar situations. However, management is not an exact science due to the unpredictability of human behaviour. Despite this, the scientific elements in management significantly enhance its practice.

Managing as Both Science and Art

Science teaches us to know, while art teaches us to do. Successful managers blend scientific knowledge with artistic application, relying on creativity where scientific methods may fall short. This combination is essential for effective management.

Elements of Science in Managing

Management science is built on organised knowledge and employs a scientific approach:

• Concepts: Generalisations derived from observations.

• Principles: Fundamental truths predicting relationships between variables (e.g., the principle of unity of command).

• Theories: Systematic groupings of interdependent concepts and principles that provide a framework for understanding management (e.g., theories of motivation and leadership).

Though management principles and theories may evolve with socio-political and economic changes, they remain valuable tools for managers.

Types of Managerial Skills

Henri Fayol, the father of modern management, identified three essential managerial skills:

1. Technical Skill: The ability to use specialised knowledge and techniques for specific tasks. It is crucial for lower and middle-level managers.

2. Human Skill: The ability to work with, understand, and motivate individuals and groups.

3. Conceptual Skill: The ability to visualise the organisation as a whole and understand how changes in one part affect the entire system.

Additional skills, such as diagnostic and analytical skills, are also important for managerial success.

Functions of Management

Management involves a systematic process comprising the following functions:

1. Planning: Deciding in advance what needs to be done. It involves setting objectives and determining the best course of action to achieve them.

2. Organising: Arranging resources and allocating work to achieve organisational goals.

3. Staffing: Filling positions in the organisational structure, including recruitment, training, promotion, and dismissal.

4. Leading: Directing, influencing, and motivating employees to perform essential tasks.

5. Motivating: Encouraging employees to achieve organisational goals by satisfying their individual needs and aspirations.

6. Co-ordinating: Ensuring harmony among individual efforts to achieve group targets.

7. Controlling: Monitoring performance to ensure conformity to plans and correcting deviations as necessary.

Principles of Management

Taylor’s Principles

Frederick Taylor’s concept of "mental revolution" introduced the following principles:

1. Replacing rules of thumb with science.

2. Achieving harmony in group actions.

3. Encouraging co-operation over individualism.

4. Striving for maximum output.

5. Developing workers to their fullest potential.

Fayol’s Principles

Henri Fayol outlined 14 universal principles of management:

1. Division of Labour: Enhances efficiency through specialisation.

2. Authority: Grants the right to give orders, with corresponding responsibility.

3. Discipline: Enforces respect for rules and agreements.

4. Unity of Command: Ensures employees receive orders from one supervisor.

5. Unity of Direction: Aligns efforts towards a common goal.

6. Subordination of Individual Interest: Prioritises organisational goals over personal interests.

7. Remuneration: Provides fair and satisfactory wages.

8. Centralisation: Balances decision-making authority based on situational needs.

9. Scalar Chain: Establishes clear lines of authority.

10. Order: Ensures resources and personnel are properly arranged.

11. Equity: Treats employees fairly to elicit loyalty.

12. Stability of Tenure: Minimises unnecessary turnover.

13. Initiative: Encourages employees to generate and implement ideas.

14. Esprit de Corps: Fosters teamwork and a sense of unity.

 MEANING OF ORGANIZATION CULTURE

A system of shared meaning held by members that distinguishes the organization from other organization.
There seems to be agreement organization culture refers to a system of shared meaning held by members that distinguishes the organization from other organization. This system of shared meaning is, on closer examination, a set of key characteristics that the organization values. The search suggests that there are seven characteristics that, aggregate, capture the essence of an organization’s culture.

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CHARACTERISTICS OF ORGANIZATION CULTURE:

The characteristics of organizatioanal culture are as follow:

1. Innovation and risk taking: The degree to which employees are encourage to be innovative and take risk.
2. Attention to detail: The degree to which the employees are expected exhibit precision, analysis, and attention detail.
3. Out come orientation: The degree to which management focuses on results or outcomes rather than on the techniques and processes used to achieve those outcomes
4. People orientation: the degree to which management decisions take into consideration the effect of out- comes on people within the organization.
5. Team orientation: The degree to which work activities are organized around team rather than individuals.
6. Aggressiveness: The degree to which people are aggressive and competitive rather than easygoing.
7. Stability: The degree to which organizational activities emphasize maintaining the status quo in contrast to growth.

Each of these characteristics exists on a continuum from low to high appraising the organization on these seven characteristics that gives a composite picture the organization’s culture.

TYPES OF ORGANIZATION CULTURE

Organization culture represents a common perception held by the organization’s members. We should expect, therefore, that individuals with different backgrounds or at different levels in the organization will tend to describe the organization’s culture in similar terms.

1. Dominant culture: Expresses the core values that are shared by a majority of the organization members. A dominant culture expresses the core values that are shared by a majority of the organization members. When we talk about an organization’s culture, we are referring to its dominant culture.
2. Subcultures: Mini cultures within an organization, typically defined by department designations and geographical separation. Subculture tends to develop in large organization to reflect common problems, situations, or experience that member’s face. These subcultures are likely to be defined by department designations and geographical separation.
3. Strong versus weak culture: It has become increasingly become popular to differentiate between strong and weak cultures. The argument here is that strong cultures have a greater impact on employee behavior and are more directly related to reduce turnover. The organization’s core values are both intensely held and widely shared. The more members who accept the core values and the greater their commitment to those values is, the stronger the culture is.
4. Organizational culture versus national culture: National differences that is, national cultures must be taken into account if accurate predictions are to be made about organizational behavior in different countries. The research indicates that national culture has a greater impact on employees than does their organization’s culture.

FUNCTIONS OF ORGANIZATION CULTURES

We have explicitly argued that a strong culture should be associated with reduced turnover. The functions that cultures perform and assess whether culture can be a liability for an organization. Culture performs a number of functions within an organization.
First, it has a boundary defining role, that is, it creates distinctions between one organization to another organization.
Second, it conveys a sense of identity for organization members.
Third, culture facilitates the generation of commitment to something larger that one’s individual self interest.
Fourth, it enhance the stability of the social system. Culture is the social glue that helps hold the organization together by providing appropriate standards for what employees should say and do.
Finally, culture serves as a sense making and control mechanism that is of particular interest to us.

HOW EMPLOYEES LEARN CULTURE

Culture is transmitted to employees in a number of forms, the most potent being stories, rituals, material symbols, and language.

1. Stories: During the days when Henry ford II was chairman of the Ford Motor Co. one would have been hard pressed to find a manager who had not heard the story about Mr. ford reminding his executives, when they got too arrogant, that “it’s my name that’s on the building.” The message was clear: Henry Ford II ran the company.
2. Rituals: Rituals are repetitive sequences of activities that express and reinforce the key values of the organization – what goals are most important, which people are important, and which people are expendable. repetitive sequences of activities that express and reinforce the key values of the organization, which goals are most important, which people are important, and which are expendable.
3. Material symbols: The headquarters of Alcoa doesn’t look like your typical head office operation. There are few individual offices, even for senior executives. It is essentially made up of cubicles, common areas, and meeting rooms. This informal corporate headquarters conveys to employees that Alcoa values openness, equality, creativity, and flexibility. Some corporations provide their top executives with chauffeur driven limousines and, when they travel by air, unlimited use of the corporate jet. Others may not get to ride in limousines or private jets but they might still get a car and air transportation paid for by the company.
4. Language: Many organizations and units within organizations use language as a way to identify members of a culture or subculture. By learning this language, members attest to their acceptance of the culture and, in so doing, help to preserve it. Organizations, over time, often develop unique terms to describe equipment, offices, key personnel, suppliers, customers, or products that relate to its business.

CREATING AN ETHICAL ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE

The content and strength of a culture influences an organization’s ethical climate and the ethical behavior of its members. A strong organizational culture will exert more influence on employees than a weak one. If the culture is strong and supports high ethical standards, it should have a very powerful and positive influence on employee behavior. What can management do to create a more ethical culture? We suggest a combination of the following practices:

1. Be a visible model: Employees will look to top management behavior as a benchmark for defining appropriate behavior. When senior management is seen as taking the ethical high road, it provides a positive message for all employees.
2. Communicate ethical expectations: Ethical ambiguities can be minimized by creating and disseminating an organizational code of ethics. It should state the organization’s primary values and the ethical rules that employees are expected to follow.
3. Provide ethical training: Set up seminars, workshops, and similar ethical training programs. Use these training sessions to reinforce the organization’s standards of conduct; to clarify what practices are not permissible; and to address possible ethical dilemmas.
4. Visibly reward ethical acts and punish unethical ones: Performance appraisals of managers should include a point by point evaluation of how his or her decisions measure up against the organization’s code of ethics.
5. Provide protective mechanisms: The organization needs to provide formal mechanisms so that employees can discuss ethical dilemmas and report unethical behavior without fear of reprimand. This might include creation of ethical counselors, ombudsmen, or ethical officers.

CREATING A CUSTOMER RESPONSIVE CULTURE

We can suggest a number of actions that management can take if it wants to make its culture more customer responsive. These actions are designed to create employees with the competence, ability, and willingness to solve customer problems as they arise.

1. Selection: The place to start in building a customer responsive culture is hiring service orientation. Studies show that friendliness, enthusiasm, and attentiveness in service employees positively affect customers’ perceptions of services quality.
2. Training and socialization: Organizations that are trying to become more customer responsive don’t always have the option of hiring all new employees more customer focused. In such cases, the emphasis will be on training rather than hiring. This describes the dilemma that senior executives at companies such as General Motors, Shell and J.P.
3. Empowerment: Consistent with low formalization is empowering employees with the discretion to make day to day decisions about job related activities.
4. Leadership: Leaders convey the organization’s culture through both what they say and what they do. Effective leaders in customer responsive cultures deliver by conveying a customer focused vision and demonstrating by their continual behavior that they are committed to customers.
5. Performance evaluation: There is an impressive amount of evidence demonstrating that behavior based performance evaluations are consistent with improved customer service. Behavior based evaluations appraise employees on the basis of how they behave or act on criteria such as effort, commitment, team work, friendliness, and the ability to solve customer problems rather than on the measurable outcomes they achieve.
6. Reward systems: Finally, if management wants employees to give good service, it has to reward good service. It needs to provide ongoing recognition to employees who have demonstrated extraordinary effort to please customers and who have been singled out by customers for going the extra mile. And it needs to make pay and promotions contingent on outstanding customer service.

MEANING OF POWER & POLITICS

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BASES OR SOURCES OF POWER

 The bases or sources of power focus on the interpersonal relationship between manager and the subordinates. The bases or sources of power can be divided into two general groups – formal and personal.

1. Coercive power: This source of power depends on fear. The person with coercive power has the ability to inflict (impose) punishment or aversive consequences on the other person or to make threats that the other person believes will result in punishment or undesirable outcomes.

2. Reward power: This source of power depends on the person's having the ability and resources to reward others. The opposite of coercive power is reward power.

3. Legitimate power: The power a person receives as a result of his or her position in the formal hierarchy of an organization is known as legitimate power.

4. Information power: Power that comes from access to and control over information is information power. People in an organization who have data or knowledge that others need can make those others dependent on them.

1. Expert power: It is more of a personal power rather than organizational power and is the ability to control another person's behavior through the possession of knowledge and expertise that the other person needs and does not possess himself.

2. Referent power: The last category of influence that French and Raven identified was referent power. Its base is identification with a person who has desirable resources or personal traits. Referent power explains why celebrities are paid millions of dollars to endorse products in commercials.

3. Charismatic power: Charismatic power is really an extension of referent power stemming from an individual’s personality and interpersonal style. People with charismatic qualities, although not in formal leadership positions, are able to exert influence over others because of the strength of their heroic qualities.

POWER TACTICS

   Power tactics is to learn how employees translate their power bases into specific actions. Recent research indicates that there are standardized ways by which power holders attempt to get what they want. The findings identified seven tactical dimensions or strategies:

1. Reason: Use of facts and data to make a logical or rational presentation of ideas.

2. Friendliness: Use of flattery, creation of goodwill, acting humble, and being friendly prior to making a request.

3. Coalition: Getting the support of other people in the organization to back up the request.

4. Bargaining: Use of negotiation through the exchange of benefits or favors.

5. Assertiveness: Use of a direct and forceful approach such as demanding compliance with requests, repeating reminders, ordering individuals to do what is asked, and pointing out that rules require compliance.

6. Higher authority: Getting the support of higher levels in the organization to back up requests.

7. Sanction: Use of organizationally derived rewards and punishments.

MEANING OF POLITICAL BEHAVIOR

  Political behavior in organizations is defined as those activities that are not required as part of one's formal role in the organization but that influence, or attempt to influence, the distribution of advantages and disadvantages within the organization.

THE REALITY OF POLITICS

Resources in organizations are also limited, which often turns potential conflict to real conflict. If resources were abundant, then all the various constituencies within the organization could satisfy their goals. But because they are limited, not everyone’s interests can be provided for. Furthermore, whether true or not, gains by one individual or group are often perceived as being at the expense of others within the organization. These forces create a competition among members for the organization’s limited resources.

Maybe the most important factor leading to politics within organizations is the realization that most of the ‘facts’ that are used to allocate the limited resources are open to interpretation.

Therefore, to answer the earlier question of whether it is possible for an organization to be politics-free, we can say ‘yes,’ if all members of the organization hold the same goals and interests, if organizational resources are not scarce, and if performance outcomes are completely clear and objective. But that doesn’t describe the organizational world that most of us live in.

FACTORS CONTRIBUTING TO POLITICAL BEHAVIOR

Recent research and observation have identified a number of factors that appear to encourage political behavior. Some are individual factors and some are organizational factors.

• High self-monitors

• Internal locus of control

• High match personality

• Organizational investment

• Perceived job alternatives

• Expectation of success, etc.

• Reallocation of resources

• Promotion opportunities

• Low trust

• Role ambiguity

• Unclear performance evaluation system

• Zero-sum reward practices

• Democratic decision-making

• High performance pressures

• Self-serving senior managers, etc.

DEFENSIVE BEHAVIORS / HOW DO PEOPLE RESPOND TO ORGANIZATIONAL POLITICS

###When politics is seen as a threat and consistently responded to with defensiveness, negative outcomes are almost sure to surface eventually. When people perceive politics as a threat rather than as an opportunity, they often respond with defensive behavior. The defensive behavior may be of three types:

A) Avoiding Action:

1. Overconforming: Strictly interpreting own responsibility by saying things like, “The rules clearly state…” or “This is the way we have always done it.”

2. Buck passing: Transferring responsibility for the execution of a task or decision to someone else.

3. Playing dumb: Avoiding an unwanted task by falsely pleading ignorance or inability.

4. Stretching: Prolonging a task so that one appears to be occupied—for example, turning a two-week task into a four-month job.

5. Stalling: Appearing to be more or less supportive publicly while doing little or nothing privately.

B) Avoiding Blame:

1. Buffing: This is a nice way to refer to “covering your rear.” It describes the practice of rigorously documenting activity to project an image of competence and thoroughness.

2. Playing safe: Evading situations that may reflect unfavorably. It includes taking on only projects with a high probability of success, having risky decisions approved by superiors, qualifying expressions of judgment, and taking neutral positions in conflicts.

3. Justifying: Developing explanations that lessen one’s responsibility for a negative outcome and/or apologizing to demonstrate remorse.

4. Scapegoating: Placing the blame for a negative outcome on external factors that are not entirely blameworthy.

5. Misrepresenting: Manipulation of information by distortion, embellishment, deception, selective presentation, or obfuscation.

C) Avoiding Change:

1. Prevention: Trying to prevent a threatening change from occurring.

2. Self-protection: Acting in ways to protect one’s self-interest during change by guarding information or other resources.

IMPRESSION MANAGEMENT (IM)

Impression management (IM) is a subject that only quite recently has gained the attention of OB researchers. All intended to make them more attractive to others as being perceived positively by others should have benefits for people in organizations. So the process by which individuals attempt to control the impression others form of them is called impression management.

IMPRESSION MANAGEMENT (IM) TECHNIQUES

Techniques used in impression management are:

1. Conformity: Agreeing with someone else's opinion in order to gain his or her approval.

2. Excuses: Explanations of a predicament-creating event aimed at minimizing the apparent severity of the predicament (unfortunate position).

3. Apologies: Admitting responsibility for an undesirable event and simultaneously seeking to get a pardon for the action.

4. Acclaiming: Explanation of favorable events to maximize the desirable implications for oneself.

5. Flattery: Complimenting others about their virtues in an effort to make one appear perceptive and likable.

6. Favors: Doing something nice for someone to gain that person's approval.

7. Association: Enhancing or protecting one's image by managing information about people and things with which one is associated.