the homan’s model
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TRANSCRIPT
The Homan’s Model: Making Sense of Group Behaviour
Background factors
Personal systemsExternal status
Organisational cultureTechnology/ Layout
Reward system
Required system
ActivitiesInteractionAttitudes
Emergent systems
ActivitiesInteractions
Attitudes
Consequences
ProductivitySatisfaction
Individual growth/ Development
Often causes modification in
Often causes modification in
Lead to
Lead to
Two central ideas: What’s ‘required’ by the organisation and what ‘emerges’
Required activities e.g. tasks to be done
Required interactions e.g. who needs to be talked with e.g. purchasing manager
Required attitudes e.g. ‘ Quality first’
But people are social animals . . . what you get is rarely what you planned for
Get behaviour not necessarily congruent with what we want . . it. . .emerges . . .
And this emergent system has great influence on group and organisational performance
May be positive – or – negative
But what connects, and influence what the ‘required’ and the ‘emergent’?
The ‘Personal system’
External status
Organisation culture
Technology and layout
Reward system
The Personal system
What individuals bring to the situation
Age
Personality
Attitudes
Education
Experience
External Status
The individual’s position or status in other settings e.g. the profession
Social, sporting, community
Higher external social status, higher status accorded by the group in the organisation
e.g. representative rugby player
Technology and layout
Technology is a major determinant of behaviour
Equipment
Work flows
Hours worked e.g. shifts
Interactions
Timing/pace/flow of work
Reward system
The organisation’s formal reward system infuences what is required and what emerges
May be positive or negative
Pay
Recogntion
The consequences of all this for the emergent system
Productivity
Satisfaction
Development and growth
And so? Consequences? For whom?
Organisations are social as well as economic entities
Inhabited by ‘actors’ who have social as well as economic agendas
Managers need to understand the social dimensions of the organisations they manage
Relationship building and maintenance are crucial to achieving performance
All behaviour is purposeful; but it might be directed at purposes not shared or aligned with the organisation