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  • Aggressive Defense Mechanisms

    In the last byte, we looked at the power relation in organizations and the interventions that could be considered. In today’s byte, we look at the aggressive mechanisms that act as a defense mechanism.

    Conflicts often arise within the context of a performance appraisal session. People do not react well to negative feedback – when individuals are frustrated, as they commonly are in interpersonal conflicts – they respond through many classes of defense mechanism. 

    The first of this class of reactions is the aggressive defense mechanisms. The following table provides an overview of the same.

  • Rich Dad – Poor Dad (Robert T Kiyosaki)

    Today’s fast paced world is driven by two factors – fear and greed (desire). Keeping a balance between these two aspect is the essential key to being successful in effective financial management.
     
    This book is extremely inspiring, in that it gets us to act towards taking ownership of our finances. The simple explanation coupled with practical inputs one could take towards building a strong asset portfolio that could help one live the future as planned or dreamt.
     
    The explanation using diagrams is extremely effective and communicates well with novices and gets them to be able to understand and use what is learnt.
     
    My rating of the book – Very Useful. This is book is definitely the first step in awakening the financial intelligence of us living in today’s world of wants. Go get your copy.

  • Power Networks 2

    In the last byte, we looked at the concept of power-networks – we could summarize the discussion on the power relationships and the intervention using the following diagram.





  • Power Networks

    In the last byte, we looked at the ways to deal with intrapersonal conflicts. In today’s byte, we begin our discussion on the interpersonal conflicts and specifically focus on the power networks.
     
    To effectively manage interpersonal conflicts one would benefit by understanding power networks in organizations, defense mechanisms exhibited by individuals and ways to cope with them. The emphasis in today’s byte is on the power networks.
     
    There could be three forms of organization power networks:
    • equal vs. equal
    The focus in this form is on the win-loose kind of an approach to problems, one tries to maximize its power at the expense of others. This form of conflict could lead to low self-esteem, and other distress symptoms. Improving the coordination between parties could help manage these conflicts.
    • high vs. low
    This form of conflict entails the person with a higher power trying to control the others and the person with lower power trying for more autonomy. Typical symptoms include – job dissatisfaction, low organizational commitment, turnover etc. Coaching and Counseling are found to be effective.
    • high vs. middle vs. low
    This is typically experienced by middle managers. Improved communication amongst parties can reduce the role conflict and the ambiguity. Training is also found to be very effective.

  • Managing Interpersonal Conflicts

    In the last byte, we looked at the various forms of conflict. In today’s byte, we look at how one could manage the various intrapersonal conflicts.
     
    The source of Intrapersonal conflicts resides primarily within an individual and thus intrapersonal conflict can be managed with careful self-analysis and diagnosis of the situation. There are 3 particular actions that can help prevent or resolve these conflicts:
    1. When seeking a new job, one would benefit by finding out as much as possible about the values of the organization. The differences between the organizational and individual values are often the source of person-role conflicts. The better the fit, the more the satisfaction and commitment and less likely to leave the organization.
    2. Role analysis is a good tool. Through Role analysis the person who has such conflicts could ask the role senders what is expected – this reduces the ambiguity.
    3. Political skills can help buffer the negative effectives of stress that stems from role conflicts.  Negotiating role expectations when conflicts occur using the political skills
    All the above forms of conflict can be managed; the first step is really understanding the many forms.
     
    We shall move on next to discuss interpersonal conflict handling.

  • Business Model – creating a fabric to link the stakeholders

    In the startup context, where survival is primary, entrepreneur’s pursuit is one of finding a business model that would stand their firm in good stead ensuring growth and profitability. One doesn’t have to reiterate the importance of finding the right business model or the long term viability of the company. The term “Business model”, often used in the business community, refers simply to the way the company makes money through a set of activities. I had blogged about some prevalent business models a long time back elsewhere and here is a link to the same:
    http://somanagement.blogspot.in/2011/05/business-model-journey-this-far.html
     
    Given the large number of business models, one could easily believe that finding the right one to suit their business would be easy – however this is not to be.
     
    Creating the business model is akin to building a tower from cards. The cards are all balanced and mutually supported. The flexibility at this stage is the ability to move the cards around and ensure the balance is in place. Only if the balance is created can the attempt grow beyond a specific size. Once the card tower is built, it’s time to build stronger bonds – think of glues that would make it more permanent.
     
    [Note: this glue itself could be a limiting the growth/flexibility, but that’s the game one has to play – You cannot just build a larger tower if you focus on too much flexibility!]

    From my experience of interacting with startups, I clearly notice that – attempting to build a business model relies a lot on finding the right balance between the various stakeholder commitments and then synch their acts to make the complete business engine operate without glitches. It is only over multiple iterations of engagement and testing the various business hypotheses that such a structure could be created and controlled through routines/procedures/policy for the business execution. These sum up the entrepreneurial learning and help guide the business moving ahead. Thus, we could visualize the firm’s business model as a fabric binding the various stakeholders in a specify tension through the binding and dependency of the various activities.
     
    A natural question that arises here: is the claimed complexity of Business Model creation in a start up really hard? Why not just imitate?
     
    Stated differently the question is – there are existing models that have been used, wouldn’t it be just easy to start off by imitating a business model? Here is my argument why this many not be easy:

    Yes, imitation could give you a head way into starting (a map say), but eventually you have to design and use a business model that suits your business needs – your customers define that. The geographical limitations, the economical situation, the capability of the talent available, cultural context, all have an influence on the business model that finally emerges. Even large companies that operate businesses across the globe cannot expect the same audience and therefore need to modify their model!

    Increase the above stated complexity a hundred or thousand times – that is the environment that a start up is dealing with – the haze surrounding the start up is so high that it probably cannot even see a few meters ahead with clarity! The changes of survival for a start up enhance by actively seeking the right partners and steadily creating a business from the idea. The Business model is developed through multiple iterations of this nature.
     
    What role does the entrepreneur’s ingenuity play in the process of building a good Business Model?

    While some of the factors explained above are definitely important – my observation is that the initial mindset of the entrepreneur and the founding team would defines largely the business scale. While business are built to cater to customer demands, and one could often confuse the existing customer segment size to define the scope, I perceive it as a function also a stakeholder relationship (resources) and the innovativeness with which the relationships amongst the various stakeholders(my opinion on this listed in an earlier blog) are created to derive a greater benefit. 

    Recollect: my claim of saying there is definitely an important role the entrepreneur plays and not everything is defined by the customer! The discussion could be extended to other stakeholders like – employees, suppliers, investors etc. (pick up links to older blogs)

    In the context of an established organization, the board  has to be constantly on its toes validating to see if they are living up to the market trends or are they defining the market trends else their lethargy could risk a death changing ecosystem. The business model thus has to constantly evolve.
     
    It is hard to consider a lot of dimensions of business and it would definitely benefit if there is some guidance on the same. How do we ensure that the business model effectively covers all aspects of the business? 

    I feel a very useful tool that most businesses could use is the Business Model Canvas (check this link– http://www.businessmodelgeneration.com/  for a detailed coverage). Here is more pictorial lively representation of the canvas is as blow 🙂
    The various blocks of the canvas help keep in mind the various components of the business in a balanced manner. If the business keeps a constant vigil on these dimensions it would help them identify when business shifts would be needed. The 9 blocks of the canvas:
    1. Customers
    2. Value Proposition
    3. Customer Relationships
    4. Channels
    5. Key Partners
    6. Key Activities
    7. Key Resources
    8. Costs
    9. Revenue
    One clear benefit of the canvas is to emphasize the importance of the various blocks and gets the attention of these towards these and focus on these (lest you miss them). 

    The Business Model Canvas though extremely useful, has some limitations in the startup context. I guess this would be the subject of another blog keep watching the space for more.

  • Forms of Organizational Conflicts

    In the last byte, we looked at how globalization has begun affecting conflicts in organizations. In today’s byte, we look at the various forms of conflict in an organization.
     
    We could group conflicts into the following forms:
    • Interorganizational Conflicts – this refers to conflicts that occur between two or more organizations
    • Intergroup Conflicts – this refers to conflicts that occur between groups or teams in an organization
    • Intragroup Conflict – this refers to conflicts that occur within groups or teams
    • Interpersonal Conflict – this refers to conflict that occurs between two or more individuals
    • Intrapersonal Conflict – this refers to the conflict that occurs within an individual
    • Interrole Conflict – this refers to the conflict a person experiences amongst the multiple roles in his or her life
    • Intrarole Conflict – this refers to the conflict that occurs within a single role, such as when a person receives conflicting messages from role senders about how to perform a certain role
    • Person-role Conflict – this refers to conflicts when an individual is expected to perform behaviors in a certain role that conflict with his or her personal values

  • Conflict in the context of global organizations

    In the last byte, we looked at some of the structure issues that could give raise to conflicts. In today’s byte, we look at how conflict is influenced by the increasing globalization.

    Many Multi-National companies employ people from different ethnic and cultural groups. This gives rise to vast differences amongst individuals and increases the potential for conflict.
     
    Individualism means that people believe that their individual interests take priority over society’s interest. Collectivism on the other hand that people put the good of group first. Given the cultural contexts, individualism/collectivism could lead to have a lot of influence conflict in managerial context.
     
    Power Distance across cultures is another source of conflict in the era of globalization. The source of conflicts in case of power distance would result from the way one respect people in higher levels of power.
     
    How people perceive the uncertainty and how they attempt to avoid uncertainty is another source of conflict in the scenario of globalization. Some cultures handle uncertainty better than others.
     
    Time orientation is another dimension that could lead to conflicts when working with people across different cultures. Chinese are generally having a long term orientation, while the US and Russian countries have a short term orientation.
    We next look at the various forms of organizational conflicts.

  • Structural causes of Conflict

    In the last byte, we looked at the structural causes of conflict. In today’s byte, we look at the personal factors as a source of conflict.
    • SKILLS AND ABILITIES – Diversity in skills and abilities could be positive sometimes, but could also turn out to be potentially a source of conflict when jobs are interdependent.
    • PERSONALITIES – Individual personality differences play a crucial role when in organizations. A specific style of an individual could be useful from the organizational perspective, but may be hated by co-workers
    • PERCEPTIONS – Individual differences in perceptions are another source of conflict. Not all of team members perceive the same aspect of what they are trying to achieve too!
    • VALUES & ETHICS – Individual sets of values and ethics and the translation of these into a workplace concept could be a potential source of conflict in organizations.
    • EMOTIONS – Individuals carry in emotions from a different context (may be home) into work place and this could be hard for people to deal with and b a source of conflict.
    • COMMUNICATION BARRIERS – Language, Distance, etc could distort the message and potentially lead to conflict.
    • CULTURAL DIFFERENCES – Lack of understanding of another culture and their values could be another source of conflict.

  • Structural sources of organizational conflict

    In the last byte, we began our discussion about the sources of conflict. We listed the structural sources of organizational conflict in the last byte; we shall discuss these in a bit more detail here.
    • SPECIALIZATION – When jobs are highly specialized, employees become experts at certain tasks.  Highly specialized jobs could lead to conflict as people would be little aware of the tasks that other’s perform.
    • INTERDEPENDENCE – Sometimes work requires groups or individuals to depend on one another to accomplish a certain goal.  This dependency is not an issue as long as the process works smoothly, however it could soon turn into a blame game when there is a problem.
    • COMMON RESOURCES – Sharing common resources by multiple people could be another source of conflicts. This escalates in case the resource is scare.
    • GOAL DIFFERENCES – When multiple groups work towards maximizing a specific group objective, the lack of understanding of other’s objective is the common source of this.
    • AUTHORITY RELATIONSHIPS – A supervisor-subordinate relationship is another source of conflicts as one has authority over another. Through greater emphasis on team approach, empowerment etc the potential for such conflict reduces.
    • STATUS INCONSISTENCIES – Resentment amongst people due to strong status differences (between management and non management say) is a source of conflicts.
    • JURISDICTIONAL AMBIGUITIES – Unclear lines of responsibilities within an organization is the source of such conflicts.