Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
interpersonal factors, may even experience “malicious obedience” among employees, that
is, a situation where an employee spitefully carries out a superior's command to the nth
degree, even when the employee knows that such literalism is not called for in the situation
and may produce a negative result.
Informal organization begins with the primary group, or the people with whom an
employee works most closely. Within this group, as in the larger organization, relationships
develop as the result of status, power, and politics.
Status
is the social rank or position of a
person in a group. Status and symbols of status exist in every group.
Symbols
include title,
age, experience, physical characteristics, knowledge, physical possessions, authority, loca-
tion, privileges, acquaintances, and a host of other factors, depending on the situation.
At GreenThumb, Inc., who gets to drive the newest pickup truck and who has the fi rst
locker in the clean-up room have become status symbols among workers. Insensitivity in
assigning trucks to work crews could create problems in the organization. However, status
is not necessarily bad, because it helps people fulfi ll ego needs and can serve as a method by
which managers can motivate subordinates.
Power
is the ability to control another person's behavior. Power may come from the
formal authority issued through the chain of command, or its source may be less formal,
arising out of respect, knowledge, status, proximity to a source of power, or control of a
resource. Effective agribusiness managers recognize the importance of power—both their
own power and that of others in the organization. They can use power productively to accom-
plish corporate objectives, or they can abuse their power to emphasize their own importance.
Managers must recognize that by withholding full cooperation, employees can exert a great
deal of unoffi cial power themselves.
Marie and Bob Jordan must recognize the power plays currently operating between the
nursery manager and their staff horticulturalist. Both are struggling for power they believe is
rightfully theirs. The nursery manager may feel threatened by the horticulturalist's higher
position and knowledge, or he may undervalue her because of her gender. The Jordans must
deal with the informal aspects of the power struggle as well as the structure of the formal
organization. And, they may well fi nd, as many agribusiness managers do, that managing the
informal organization is much harder than structuring the formal organization.
Politics
is the manner in which power and status are used. Politics involves the manipula-
tion of people and situations to accomplish a particular goal. Everyone is at least superfi -
cially familiar with the formal political process of give-and-take, individual and group
coalitions, and negotiating. The formal political process in the state or national sense is a
complex but systematic application of power and persuasion. Within the agribusiness, how-
ever, politics is an intricate part of the informal organization. Although it is likely to be more
obvious in larger organizations, politics is necessary for getting things done when one lacks
total authority to dictate an action, and can be useful even when authority is present.
The greenhouse manager at GreenThumb understands the role of politics, so he will plan
his request for an automatic overhead sprinkler system very carefully. He knows that invest-
ment funds are limited and that he will be in direct competition for these funds with the retail
store manager and the nursery manager. If the offi ce political situation is such that the
accountant can and does infl uence the Jordan's investment decisions, the greenhouse man-
ager may well cultivate a relationship with the accountant and subtly look for ways of gain-
ing this individual's support.
Politics has positive value: it encourages compromise and offers a way of solving
problems without direct explosive confrontation. In larger organizations, politics offers
a method for accomplishing things that would be cumbersome to handle through purely
