The Informal Organizational Culture and Substitutes for Leadership

Organizational Culture and Its Definition

The Informal Organizational Culture The word that sums up the informal organization better than any other is its culture. Although most people probably think of culture in terms of very large social groups, the concept also applies to organizations. Organizational culture has been defined as a system of shared backgrounds, norms, values, or Is There Any Substitute for Leadership?

Are leaders always necessary?

Or are certain kinds of leader behaviors, at least, sometimes unneces - sary? Kerr and Jermier proposed that certain situational or follower characteristics may effectively neutralize or substitute for leaders’ task or relationship behaviors. Neutralizers are characteristics that reduce or limit the effectiveness of a leader’s behav- iors. Substitutes are characteristics that make a leader’s behaviors redundant or unnecessary. Kerr and Jermier developed the idea of substi- tutes for leadership after comparing the correlations between leadership behaviors and follower performance and satisfaction with correlations between various situational factors and follower performance and satisfaction. Those subordinate, task, and organizational characteristics having higher correlations with follower performance and satisfaction than the two leadership behaviors were subsequently identified as substitutes or neutralizers. The following are a few examples of the situational factors Kerr and Jermier found to substitute for or neutralize leaders’ task or relationship behaviors:

• A subordinate’s ability and experience may substitute for task-oriented leader behavior. A subordinate’s indifference toward rewards overall may neutralize a leader’s task and relationship behavior.

• Tasks that are routine or structured may substitute for task-oriented leader behavior, as can tasks that provide intrinsic feedback or are intrin- sically satisfying.

• High levels of formalization in organizations may substitute for task-oriented leader behavior, and unbending rules and procedures may even neutralize the leader’s task behavior. A cohesive work group may provide a substitute for the leader’s task and relationship behavior. Source: S. Kerr and J. M. Jermier, “Substitutes for Leadership: Their Meaning and Measurement,” Organiza- tional Behavior and Human Performance.

• What can be talked about or not talked about?

• How do people wield power?

• How does a person get ahead or stay out of trouble?

• What are the unwritten rules of the game?

• What are the organization’s morality and ethics?

• What stories are told about the organization?

Are Things Changing More Than They Used To?

One general aspect of the situation that affects leadership is the degree of change that’s occurring. Leading in a relatively stable situation presents different challenges—generally simpler ones—than does leading in a dynamic situation. Many people think things are changing more than they used to, and at an increasing pace, but that’s not so simple a question as it first might appear. For example, it may seem as though no age could possibly rival ours in terms of the transformative effect technology has had on our lives. But an interesting case can be made that technologies introduced to most Americans during the early to mid-20th century, such as indoor electric lighting, refrigerators, electric and natural gas ovens, and indoor plumbing, changed everyday life to a greater degree than new technologies of the past two decades.