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Objectives of Assignment 4
1) to participate fully in completing a PowerPoint on an enlightened organization,
as described on p. 87- 91 in Manning and Curtis, by assessing its organizational
climate and highlighting characteristics of loyalty, consideration for others,
motivation, communication, and leadership in that organization.
Tasks and Deliverables
Find an organization that has an enlightened organizational culture, as
described on p. 87- 91 in our Manning-Curtis book. Research their culture
and climate via the Web or other resources, and create a PowerPoint
presentation, based on the Organizational Climate assessment and
highlighting the characteristics of loyalty, consideration for others,
motivation, communication, and leadership in that organization. Some
examples for you to consider include: SAS, Google, Nugget Markets, and
World Famous Pike Place Fish Market. There are many others, so have fun
exploring the world of exceptional organizations and their enlightened
culture.
USE GOOGLE
(PowerPoint advice: Every slide should have clear, readable text no smaller
than 28 point font; remember to limit your use of full sentences. Each slide
should also have some kind of visual to enhance the communication of that
content. Using APA guidelines cite your sources, including in-text citations. The
professional team product includes an introduction, multiple content slides, and a
conclusion, as well as a reference slide. Better products usually have about 15 to
20 slides (four or five from each student). You may need more for more complex
products. )
Pages 87-91
Leaders and followers may have different views about the climate of a group or organization. People in
upper levels of responsibility often evaluate conditions more favorably than do people in lower levels.
See the example in Figure 5–1.
Figure 5–1 Extent to Which Leaders and Followers Agree on Organizational Conditions48
Patterns of Leadership
How do organizations become what they are? Who decides whether an organization will be
enlightened, supportive, impoverished, or exploitive? Although members may have considerable
influence, organizational climate is determined primarily by leaders. Those in charge establish the
character and define norms of behaviors.49
Management author Rensis Likert identifies four patterns of leadership that correspond to the four
types of organizational climate. His conclusions are based on studies of thousands of leaders in widely
different kinds of organizations, both inside and outside the United States. A description of each of the
four patterns of leadership follows.50
Pattern I Leadership (Exploitive)
Exploitive leadership is autocratic and hierarchical, with virtually no participation by members. Leaders
make decisions, and members are expected to comply without question. Leaders show little confidence
or trust in others, and members do not feel free to discuss job-related problems with leaders. In a free
social and economic order, Pattern I organizations rarely survive because people avoid them as much as
possible. Where they do exist, they are characterized by a lack of loyalty and recurrent financial crises.
Pattern II Leadership (Impoverished)
Impoverished leadership makes some attempt to avoid being completely autocratic. Power remains at
the top, but members are given occasional opportunities for participation in the decision-making
process. Pattern II organizations fall into
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two categories that determine their relative success. Successful Pattern II organizations are benevolent
autocracies in which leaders have genuine concern for the welfare of members. Failing Pattern II
organizations are autocracies that do not consider the interests or ideas of members. Some
organizations are founded by autocratic but benevolent leaders, who achieve good results. Then, as
time passes and new leaders assume power, the autocratic style of leadership is maintained, but
benevolence is not, and the organization fails.
Pattern III Leadership (Supportive)
Supportive leadership shows a great deal of interest and confidence in members. Power resides in
leaders, but there is good communication and participation throughout the organization. People
understand the goals of the organization, and commitment to achieve them is widespread. Members
feel free to discuss job-related problems with leaders. This leadership pattern involves broad member
participation and involvement in decision-making activities.
Pattern IV Leadership (Enlightened)
Enlightened leadership delegates power to the logical focus of interest and concern for a problem.
People at all levels of the organization have a high degree of freedom to initiate, coordinate, and
execute plans to accomplish goals. Communication is open, honest, and uncensored. People are treated
with trust rather than suspicion. Leaders ask for ideas and try to use others’ suggestions. Pattern IV
leadership results in high satisfaction and productivity. Absenteeism and turnover are low, strikes are
nonexistent, and efficiency is high.
Likert describes the Pattern IV organization as follows:
A Pattern IV organization is made up of interlocking work groups with a high degree of group loyalty
among the members and favorable attitudes among peers, supervisors, and subordinates.
Consideration for others and skill in problem solving and other group functions are present. These skills
permit effective participation in decisions on common problems. Participation is used, for example, to
establish objectives that are a satisfactory integration of the needs of all the members of the
organization.
Members of the Pattern IV organization are highly motivated to achieve the organization’s goals. High
levels of reciprocal influence occur, and a high level of coordination is achieved in the organization.
Communication is efficient and effective. There is a flow from one part of the organization to another of
all the relevant information important for each decision and action.
The leadership in the Pattern IV organization has developed an effective system for interaction, problem
solving, and organizational achievement. This leadership is technically competent and maintains high
performance goals.
Four principles should be followed to develop an enlightened, Pattern IV organization:
1. View human resources as the organization’s greatest asset.
2. Treat every individual with understanding, dignity, warmth, and support.
3. Tap the constructive power of groups through visioning and team building.
4. Set high performance goals at every level of the organization.52
Likert recommends that all organizations adopt the enlightened principles of Pattern IV leadership. He
estimates that U.S. organizations, as a whole, are between Pattern II and Pattern III, and that a shift to
Pattern IV would improve employee morale and productivity by 20 to 40 percent, or more.53
Research supports Likert’s ideas. Study after study shows that when an organization moves to Pattern IV
leadership, performance effectiveness improves, costs decrease, and gains occur in the overall
satisfaction and health of the members of the organization. In addition, research findings show that
Pattern IV leadership is applicable to every size and type of organization, including private businesses,
not-for-profit organizations, and government agencies.54
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How important are organizational climate and enlightened leadership practices? Management author
John Hoerr states: “We are in a global economy. To have world-class quality and costs and the ability to
assimilate new technology, an organization must have world-class ability to develop human capabilities.
This can’t be a drag on the system; it has to be a leading variable.”55
The Power of Stories:
Storytelling has an almost innate appeal. When a teacher interrupts a class with the statement, “Let me
tell you a story,” attention in the room doubles. Stories can be used in a similar way to develop and
reinforce a positive work climate. They serve as prescriptions of the way things should (or should not) be
done. They have the greatest impact on an organization when they describe real people and are known
by employees throughout the organization.56
More than a decade ago, Southwest Airlines introduced an ad campaign with the phrase “Just Plane
Smart.” Unknowingly, the Dallas-based airline had infringed on the “Plane Smart” slogan at Stevens
Aviation, an aviation sales and maintenance company in Greenville, South Carolina. Rather than paying
buckets of money to lawyers, Stevens’s chairman Kurt Herwald and Southwest CEO Herb Kelleher
decided to settle the dispute with an old-fashioned arm wrestling match at a rundown wrestling stadium
in Dallas. A boisterous crowd watched the “Malice in Dallas” event as “Smokin” Herb Kelleher and
“Kurtsey” Herwald battled their designates, and then each other. When Kelleher lost the final round to
Herwald, he jested (while being carried off on a stretcher) that his defeat was due to a cold and the
strain of walking up a flight of stairs. Stevens Aviation later decided to let Southwest Airlines continue to
use its ad campaign, and both companies donated funds from the event to charities.
“Malice in Dallas” is a legendary story that almost every Southwest employee knows by heart. It is a tale
that communicates one of the airline’s core values—that having fun is part of doing business.57
Building Community in the Workplace:
The word corporation conjures up images of authority, bureaucracy, competition, control, and power.
The word community evokes images of democracy, diversity, cooperation, inclusion, and common
purpose. The model under which an organization chooses to operate can determine its survival in a
competitive and changing world. The idea of community at work is particularly satisfying to the makeup
and challenges of today’s diverse workforce.58
Community is experienced in two ways: as “a group of people” and as “a way of being.” The first type of
community is formed by bringing people together in place and time. The second is created when
barriers between people are let down. Under such conditions, people become bonded, sensing that they
can rely on and trust each other. When people experience a feeling of community, their potential for
achievement becomes enormous.59
Thomas Carlyle, the Scottish philosopher, thought that each person wanted to be treated as a unique
and valuable individual. He also believed we each have a simultaneous need to belong to something
greater than self, something more than one alone can do or be.60 For many people, feelings of selfworth and transcendence to something greater than self occur in the experience of community.
The benefits of interrelationship can be found everywhere in nature. If a gardener places two plants
close together, the roots commingle and improve the quality of the soil, thus helping both plants grow
better than if they were separated. If a carpenter joins two boards together, they will hold much more
weight than the total held by each alone.
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In the human sphere, our challenge is to apply the creative cooperation we learn from nature in dealing
with those around us. The essence of this is to value differences, build on each other’s strengths,
transcend individual limitations, and achieve the full potential of community.
Writer and educator John Gardner states, “We are a community-building species.” He goes on to
describe the conditions necessary to experience true community:61
■ Shared vision. A healthy community has a sense of where it should go, and what it might become. A
positive and future-focused role image provides direction and motivation for its members.
■ Wholeness incorporating diversity. A group is less of a community if fragmentation or divisiveness
exists—and if the rifts are deep, it is no community at all. We expect and value diversity, and there is
dissent in the best of groups. But true community requires facing and resolving differences.
■ Shared culture. Success is enhanced when people have a shared culture—that is, shared norms of
behavior and core values to live by. If a community is lucky, it has shared history and traditions as well.
This is why developing communities must form symbols of group identity and generate stories to pass
on core values, customs, and central purpose.
■ Internal communications. Members of a well-functioning community communicate freely with one
another. There are regular occasions when people gather and share information. There are
opportunities and means for people to get to know and understand what others need and want.
Communication is uncensored and flows in all directions within the community.
■ Consideration and trust. A healthy community cares about its members and fosters an atmosphere of
trust. People deal with one another humanely; they respect each other and value the integrity of each
person.
■ Maintenance and government. A fully functioning community has provision for maintenance and
governance. Roles, responsibilities, and decision-making processes are conducive to achieving tasks
while maintaining a supportive group climate.
■ Participation and shared leadership. The healthy community encourages the involvement of all
individuals in the pursuit of shared goals. All members have the opportunity to influence events and
outcomes. The good community finds a productive balance between individual interests and group
responsibilities as community tasks are accomplished.
■ Development of younger members. Opportunities for growth are numerous and varied for all
members. Mature members ensure that younger members develop knowledge, skills, and attitudes that
support continuation of the community’s purpose and values.
■ Affirmation. A healthy community reaffirms itself continuously. It celebrates its beginnings, rewards
its achievements, and takes pride in its challenges. In this way, community morale and confidence are
developed.
■ Links with outside groups. There is a certain tension between the community’s need to draw
boundaries to accomplish its tasks and its need to have fruitful alliances with external groups and the
larger community of which it is a part. A successful community masters both ends of this spectrum.
In Productive Workplaces, Marvin Weisbord writes that we hunger for community and are a great deal
more productive when we find it. If we feed this hunger in ways that preserve individual dignity,
opportunity for all, and mutual support, we will harness energy and productivity beyond imagining.62
Community Building and the Role of the Leader
The plaque outside the two-family house at 367 Addison Street in Palo Alto, California, identifies the
dusty one-car garage out back as the “birthplace of Silicon Valley.” But the site, where Dave Packard and
Bill Hewlett first set up shop, in 1938, is more