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Table of contents follows :-
Title: Reflections: Termites+ group behaviour+ and the loss of
innovation:
conformity rules!
Introduction
Why would a rational, profit-oriented organisation avoid and even
prohibit creative and innovative behaviour that could potentially result
in increased profits? This article attempts to explain the lack of
creativity and innovation in larger organisations in terms of two
interrelated organisational performance anomalies:
(1) An overbearing need for staff to conform to the behaviours and
expectations of the organisational norm, a condition known as normative
influence.
(2) An overbearing need for some organisations to select for conformity
amongst employee behaviours, thereby perpetuating the status quo and
followership, rather than encouraging individualism and leadership.
A dominant culture of conformity and followership generates "more of the
same", while a culture encouraging individualism and leadership produces
new products or methods of production by harnessing employee creativity
and innovation. For the purposes of this discussion, the terms
creativity and innovation will be used together as well as
interchangeably, although they are not in reality synonymous. Creative
thinking leads to change and if that change provides social or economic
benefits, the result becomes an innovation. Drucker (1999) argues that
the search for innovation must be systematic and purposeful, as opposed
to waiting for the accidental light bulb experience. This discussion
attempts to explain why the rhetoric supporting the systematic and
purposeful pursuit of innovation is not always acted upon in reality.
Automated processes
Behaviour in organisations has often been described in metaphorical
terms. When discussing productivity and automation, it is useful to make
reference to the highly organised nature of ants and termites. One vivid
illustration can be seen in the manner in which some insects appear to
be organised for the purpose of the greater good of the colony, hive, or
nest. In contrast with human enterprises, insect activities do not
produce or require managers to oversee their work and their construction
projects. How can they achieve such seemingly amazing results without an
architectural, planning, managing, leading, organising, or supervising
function?
Clark (1997), using the example of nest-building behaviour of termites
explains that nest building is under the control of what are known as
stigmergic algorithms. Clark (1997, p. 75) describes the process like
this: termites make mud balls that at first are deposited at random.
Each ball carries a chemical trace added by the termite. Termites prefer
to drop the mud balls where the chemical trace is strongest. Probability
suggests that most of the mud balls will be deposited on top of old
ones, serving to generate an even stronger attractive force. Columns
begin to be formed. When two columns are fairly close together, the
drift of chemical attractants from the neighbouring column influences
the dropping behaviour by inclining the insects to preferentially add to
the side of each column that faces the other. This process continues
until arches are formed, and through more stigmergic effects, a
complexity of tunnels and chambers result. Clark (1997) emphasises that
at no point during this process is a plan of the nest represented or
followed. No termite acts as construction leader. No termite "knows"
anything beyond how to respond when confronted with a specific
patterning of its local environment. The termites do not talk to one
another in any way, except through the environmental products of their
own activity......We know that people do not work under the influence of
stigmergic algorithms, and yet there are many parallels that can be
drawn, which seem to have a disproportionately large influence on the
way our organisations function or on the way some would wish them to
function. Frederick Taylor, the founder of the scientific management
movement, perhaps misinterpreted by some for his "alleged inhumanity"
towards workers (Pugh and Hickson, 1996), could be accused of attempting
to initiate something akin to stigmergic algorithms through the
application of rigid work patterns and clearly defined laws, principles,
and rules. In a sense it could be argued that he attempted to produce
unthinking clones that would work as efficiently as machines or
termites. Organisations no longer adhere to such beliefs ... or do they?
Author: Richard J Pech, Department of Management, Massey University,
Palmerston North, New Zealand
Pages: 559-574
Keywords: Individual Behaviour; Competitive Strategy; Innovation;
Leadership Article Type: Theoretical with Application in Practice
Quality Indicators: Research - * Practice - ** Originality - **
Readability - ***
Title: Cultural prototypes? Or leaders' behaviors? A study on workers'
perceptions of leadership in an electronics industry
Author: Micha Popper; Natan Druyan
Pages: 549-558
Keywords: National Cultures; Prototype; Leadership
Article Type: Survey; Theoretical with Application in Practice
Quality Indicators: Research - ** Practice - ** Originality - **
Readability - **
Title: Normativity and self-presentation: Theoretical bases of
self-presentation training for evaluation situations
Author: Jean-Léon Beauvois; Nicole Dubois
Pages: 490-508
Keywords: Presentations; Individual Behaviour; Training Article Type:
Theoretical with Application in Practice
Quality Indicators: Research - * Practice - ** Originality - **
Readability - **
Title: Resistance to organisational change: the role of defence
mechanisms
Author: Wayne H Bovey; Andrew Hede
Pages: 534-548
Keywords: Organizational Change; Resistance; Defence; Humour Article
Type: Survey; Theoretical with Application in Practice
Quality Indicators: Research - ** Practice - ** Originality - **
Readability - **
Title: Is there a relationship between the Myers-Briggs type indicator
and
emotional intelligence?
Author: Malcolm Higgs
Pages: 509-533
Keywords: Myers-Briggs Type Indicator; Behavioural Studies; Management
Studies; Psychometric Tests Article Type: Wholly Theoretical
Quality Indicators: Research - ** Practice - * Originality - **
Readability - **
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