<commit_before>---
layout: post
title: Reading summaries - week four, Fall 2017
published: true
---

## Strategic Planning

### Keeping and eye on the mirror: Image and identity in organizational adaptation, Dutton and Dukerich (1991)

* an organization's image and identity guide and activate individuals' interpretations of an issue and motivations for action on it, and those interpretations and motivations affect patterns of organizational action over time
* Models of how environments and organizations relate over time have typically assigned causal primacy to either environmental or organizational forces
* A focus on issues as a _starting point_ for interpretation and action in organizations charts a different course for seeing patterns of organizational action
* Some issues are routine and expected, members can easily classify them and they elicit a well-learned response. Other issues are not as easily interpreted or processed, may be problematic because they are nontraditional or because of feelings they evoke
* Analysis revealed that an organization's identity and image are critical constructs for understanding the relationship between actions on and interpretations of an issue over time.
* The article explores this concept through the case study of how the Port Authority of New York adapted in its response to a growing problem of homeless people in their facilities in the 1980s
  * The most significant change in the way the issue was defined during this period involved upper-level management's acceptance of some organizational responsibility for dealing with the issue
  * This interpretive shift expanded concern for humane solutions and a heightened awareness of the issue's severity
  * the organization's identity and image played a role in creating the pattern of how individuals in the organization interpreted and responded to the homelessness issue
  * the organization's image — how organization members thought others saw it — served as a gauge against which they evaluated and justified action on the issue
  * Over time, actions taken on issues reposition an organization in its environment by modifying tasks, allocation of resources, and assignments of personnel. The pattern of action on issues can therefore reinforce or potentially, transform the organization's identity and image through individuals' sense-making efforts, and the process of adaptation continues.
  * The Port Authority's identity shaped its members' interpretations of homelessness in at least three different ways.
    * Identity served as an important reference point for assessing the importance of the issue. Perceptions of issue importance are in turn important predictors of willingness to invest in an issue.
    * The expanding scope of the issue over time can be seen as an indication that the issue was being seen as more important and urgent as it threatened central identity components
    * Organization's identity defined what aspects of the issue were seen as a threat and helped to locate solutions that could transform the issue into an opportunity
  * The organization's identity affected the meanings members gave the issue. Two terms frequently applied were "moral issue" and "business issue."
  * The organization's identity was also significant in explaining the direction and level of emotional expression about the issue
  * The Port Authority's identity also produced positive emotions when organizational actions were identity-consistent. For example, opening the two drop-in centers in record-breaking style was a source of pride.
  * the concept of identity is helpful in understanding how actions were shaped
  * The Port Authority's identity offered implicit guidelines for evaluating the effectiveness of its actions on the issue
  * *an organization's identity is closely tied to its culture because identity provides a set of skills and a way of using and evaluating those skills that produce characteristic ways of doing thing*
  * An organization's identity is one of the vehicles through which "preconceptions determine appropriate action"
  * individuals' senses of the organization's identity did more than activate a set of familiar routines, that identity also constrained what were considered acceptable or legitimate solution
* In sum, a knowledge of individuals' beliefs about an organization's identity is crucial for discerning the importance of an issue, its meanings, and its emotionality. These interpretations, shaped by the organization's identity, move individuals' commitment, involvement, indifference, and resistance in particular directions and thereby direct and shape organizational actions.
* An organization's _identity_ describes what its members believe to be its character; an organization's _image_ describes attributes members believe people outside the organization use to distinguish it. Image is different from _reputation_ which describes the attributes outsiders ascribe to an organization.
* In the case of the Port Authority and its dealings with homelessness, image changes triggered the organization's later, more substantive response to the issue
* An organization's image is directly related to the level of collective self-esteem derivable from organizational membership
* As the story revealed, the damage to the organization's image hurt individuals personally
* As a result, individuals are strongly motivated and committed to take actions that will restore their organization's image.
* organizational actions on social issue can be especially character-enhancing or damning.
* Because image and identity are constructs that organization members hold in their minds, they actively screen and interpret issues
* *The connection between organization, employee's self-concepts, and their motivation to invest in and act on issues in particular ways uncovers a new way of thinking about the organizational adaptation process, a perspective in which organizational impression management is an important driving force in adaptation.*
* By linking individual motivation to organizational action, we begin to see new links between microprocesses and macro behaviors
* individuals in organizations keep one eye on the organizational mirror when they interpret, react, and commit to organizational actions

### Mission Mystique and a Belief System Template

* The notion called _mission mystique_ lays the basis for conscious development of strong organizational _belief systems_ that center on a compelling _public mission_.
* The institution becomes in effect endowed with a kind of magnetism or institution-level charisma
* The construct's underlying foundation permeates the institution's culture, animates its workforce and inspires a desire to improve
* Because of the underlying premise that coherence derives from a particular mission, each application of the template must be unique
* While the organization is a rational instrument to achieve other purposes, the institution and its work possess inherent worth
* the totality of the institution's rational and normative attributes forms a "distinctive competence" or character that sets it apart. *Essential ingredients of this competence are possession of a clearly defined mission and an embodiment of the mission's values.*
* Attaining good alignment involves picking leaders whose character and style match the type of organization
* Organizations acquire a collective character and identity over time, "historical efficiency"
* Three pillars of organizations:
  * regulative pillar - system of rules and rewards/punishments
  * normative pillar - set of values and norms, defines goals and prescribes means to attain them
  * cognitive pillar - frames meaning and manipulates it
* Four categories of cultural manifestation:
  * artifacts
  * behavior patterns
  * beliefs and values
  * basic assumptions
* Importance of concentrating on the success of public programs. According to Anne Khademian, the best ones:
  1. possess a robustness based on long history
  2. incorporate the value of program excellence at the team and individual levels
  3. strive for openness to change, learning, diversity, and systemic thinking
* organizational culture is not amenable to unilateral control. Instead, leaders must "work with the culture" as it evolves organically from these roots:
  1. organizational task or mission
  2. resources provided to accomplish that task
  3. the political environment's legacies, expectations, and constraints
* *"sense of mission" has little to do with a written statement, consists of a coherent set of authentically felt norms that possess genuine meaning for all employees*
* a model made up of four components:
  1. purpose
  2. strategy
  3. policies
  4. values
* direction and commitment of the organization as an entirety is best unleashed  by means of continuous, gradual change at all levels
* three devices of socialization:
  1. the formal mission statement
  2. credo or code of ethics
  3. current vision of the future
* synthesis of these devices becomes, ideally, a convincing conveyance of the institution's overall reason for being
* purpose statement can be said to look to both past and future
* James Weiss theory on the inner processes by which mission motivates and frames members of an organization:
  1. Structures of knowledge stemming from the mission process incoming information
  2. Mission motivates individuals by identifying a clear collective interests
  3. Existance of the mission assists in the making of decisions by offering reference points for weighing what actions are desirable
* Yoash Wiener theory of normative commitment in the organization based not on instrumental logic but on internalized moral beliefs
* Wiener measures organizational commitment by three variables:
  1. personal sacrifice to the organization
  2. heightened persistence and long tenure
  3. mental preoccupation with the work
* <NAME> notion of an institution's constitution - relatively stable "rules of the game" which permeate its normative order. Functions to lay out common expectations of what actions are acceptable
* What does mission mystique in action look like?
  * A belief system
  * Set of key interconnected attributes present:
  * resulting construct is called a template rather than a model or blueprint
  * In sum institutions possess the following characteristics:
    1. direction
    2. importance
    3. confidence
    4. dedication
    5. community
    6. identity
    7. dissent
    8. policy space  
    9. renewal
* *More than any other quality, a strong sense of mission is indispensable to morale, image, and success.*
* The bottom line is that to contribute to mystique the mission should have two characteristics:
  1. a compelling "bite" - a crisp phrasing that captures the imagination
  2. a concept that is sufficiently simple that it can be absorbed and remembered
* The object is not clear expression but emotional voltage
* two separate but related attributes: a distinctive reputation and a solid record of achievement
* A mission mystique agency need not be the winner of a popularity contest, only the possessor of a _distinctive_ reputation
* The best route to good agency reputation is an existing record of achievement in its distinct area
* leaders should facilitate the development of an institutional belief system by initiating norm-creation processes
* nudge-but don't impose-cultural innovations
* discarding rather than reshaping a usable organizational culture can be wasteful and destroy morale
* The ideal mission mystique culture does several things:
  1. induces enthusiasm for the mission purpose
  2. reinforces individual employee motivation
  3. conveys a sense of work importance and the agency's competence doing it
  4. supports a willingness to recognize agency shortcomings and experiment with change
* The mission mystique ideal anticipates substantial cultural coherence
* an institution is an organization wrapped in values, also wrapped in memories. Must consider and honor importance of organization's past
* Over time, the mission mystique agency must be relentless in engaging in renewal processes by which continuous improvement is sought. To do so requires thoughtful strategies and habits of the mind. It should be innovative but not make a fetish out of change for its own sake. Integrity of the institution's distinctive competence must be preserved. MAintain connection with cultural roots yet always be ready to "rework" the culture when necessary.
   

### Bryson, chapter three - initiating and agreeing on a strategic planning process

*

## Strategic Human Resources Management

### Managing Successful Organizational Change in the Public Sector, Fernandez and Rainey (2006)

*
<commit_msg>formatting<commit_after>---
layout: post
title: Reading summaries - week four, Fall 2017
published: true
---

## Strategic Planning

### Keeping and eye on the mirror: Image and identity in organizational adaptation, Dutton and Dukerich (1991)

* an organization's image and identity guide and activate individuals' interpretations of an issue and motivations for action on it, and those interpretations and motivations affect patterns of organizational action over time
* Models of how environments and organizations relate over time have typically assigned causal primacy to either environmental or organizational forces
* A focus on issues as a _starting point_ for interpretation and action in organizations charts a different course for seeing patterns of organizational action
* Some issues are routine and expected, members can easily classify them and they elicit a well-learned response. Other issues are not as easily interpreted or processed, may be problematic because they are nontraditional or because of feelings they evoke
* Analysis revealed that an organization's identity and image are critical constructs for understanding the relationship between actions on and interpretations of an issue over time.
* The article explores this concept through the case study of how the Port Authority of New York adapted in its response to a growing problem of homeless people in their facilities in the 1980s
  * The most significant change in the way the issue was defined during this period involved upper-level management's acceptance of some organizational responsibility for dealing with the issue
  * This interpretive shift expanded concern for humane solutions and a heightened awareness of the issue's severity
  * the organization's identity and image played a role in creating the pattern of how individuals in the organization interpreted and responded to the homelessness issue
  * the organization's image — how organization members thought others saw it — served as a gauge against which they evaluated and justified action on the issue
  * Over time, actions taken on issues reposition an organization in its environment by modifying tasks, allocation of resources, and assignments of personnel. The pattern of action on issues can therefore reinforce or potentially, transform the organization's identity and image through individuals' sense-making efforts, and the process of adaptation continues.
  * The Port Authority's identity shaped its members' interpretations of homelessness in at least three different ways.
    * Identity served as an important reference point for assessing the importance of the issue. Perceptions of issue importance are in turn important predictors of willingness to invest in an issue.
    * The expanding scope of the issue over time can be seen as an indication that the issue was being seen as more important and urgent as it threatened central identity components
    * Organization's identity defined what aspects of the issue were seen as a threat and helped to locate solutions that could transform the issue into an opportunity
  * The organization's identity affected the meanings members gave the issue. Two terms frequently applied were "moral issue" and "business issue."
  * The organization's identity was also significant in explaining the direction and level of emotional expression about the issue
  * The Port Authority's identity also produced positive emotions when organizational actions were identity-consistent. For example, opening the two drop-in centers in record-breaking style was a source of pride.
  * the concept of identity is helpful in understanding how actions were shaped
  * The Port Authority's identity offered implicit guidelines for evaluating the effectiveness of its actions on the issue
  * **an organization's identity is closely tied to its culture because identity provides a set of skills and a way of using and evaluating those skills that produce characteristic ways of doing thing**
  * An organization's identity is one of the vehicles through which "preconceptions determine appropriate action"
  * individuals' senses of the organization's identity did more than activate a set of familiar routines, that identity also constrained what were considered acceptable or legitimate solution
* In sum, a knowledge of individuals' beliefs about an organization's identity is crucial for discerning the importance of an issue, its meanings, and its emotionality. These interpretations, shaped by the organization's identity, move individuals' commitment, involvement, indifference, and resistance in particular directions and thereby direct and shape organizational actions.
* An organization's _identity_ describes what its members believe to be its character; an organization's _image_ describes attributes members believe people outside the organization use to distinguish it. Image is different from _reputation_ which describes the attributes outsiders ascribe to an organization.
* In the case of the Port Authority and its dealings with homelessness, image changes triggered the organization's later, more substantive response to the issue
* An organization's image is directly related to the level of collective self-esteem derivable from organizational membership
* As the story revealed, the damage to the organization's image hurt individuals personally
* As a result, individuals are strongly motivated and committed to take actions that will restore their organization's image.
* organizational actions on social issue can be especially character-enhancing or damning.
* Because image and identity are constructs that organization members hold in their minds, they actively screen and interpret issues
* **The connection between organization, employee's self-concepts, and their motivation to invest in and act on issues in particular ways uncovers a new way of thinking about the organizational adaptation process, a perspective in which organizational impression management is an important driving force in adaptation.**
* By linking individual motivation to organizational action, we begin to see new links between microprocesses and macro behaviors
* individuals in organizations keep one eye on the organizational mirror when they interpret, react, and commit to organizational actions

### Mission Mystique and a Belief System Template

* The notion called _mission mystique_ lays the basis for conscious development of strong organizational _belief systems_ that center on a compelling _public mission_.
* The institution becomes in effect endowed with a kind of magnetism or institution-level charisma
* The construct's underlying foundation permeates the institution's culture, animates its workforce and inspires a desire to improve
* Because of the underlying premise that coherence derives from a particular mission, each application of the template must be unique
* While the organization is a rational instrument to achieve other purposes, the institution and its work possess inherent worth
* the totality of the institution's rational and normative attributes forms a "distinctive competence" or character that sets it apart. **Essential ingredients of this competence are possession of a clearly defined mission and an embodiment of the mission's values.**
* Attaining good alignment involves picking leaders whose character and style match the type of organization
* Organizations acquire a collective character and identity over time, "historical efficiency"
* Three pillars of organizations:
  * regulative pillar - system of rules and rewards/punishments
  * normative pillar - set of values and norms, defines goals and prescribes means to attain them
  * cognitive pillar - frames meaning and manipulates it
* Four categories of cultural manifestation:
  * artifacts
  * behavior patterns
  * beliefs and values
  * basic assumptions
* Importance of concentrating on the success of public programs. According to <NAME>, the best ones:
  1. possess a robustness based on long history
  2. incorporate the value of program excellence at the team and individual levels
  3. strive for openness to change, learning, diversity, and systemic thinking
* organizational culture is not amenable to unilateral control. Instead, leaders must "work with the culture" as it evolves organically from these roots:
  1. organizational task or mission
  2. resources provided to accomplish that task
  3. the political environment's legacies, expectations, and constraints
* **"sense of mission" has little to do with a written statement, consists of a coherent set of authentically felt norms that possess genuine meaning for all employees**
* a model made up of four components:
  1. purpose
  2. strategy
  3. policies
  4. values
* direction and commitment of the organization as an entirety is best unleashed  by means of continuous, gradual change at all levels
* three devices of socialization:
  1. the formal mission statement
  2. credo or code of ethics
  3. current vision of the future
* synthesis of these devices becomes, ideally, a convincing conveyance of the institution's overall reason for being
* purpose statement can be said to look to both past and future
* James Weiss theory on the inner processes by which mission motivates and frames members of an organization:
  1. Structures of knowledge stemming from the mission process incoming information
  2. Mission motivates individuals by identifying a clear collective interests
  3. Existance of the mission assists in the making of decisions by offering reference points for weighing what actions are desirable
* Yoash Wiener theory of normative commitment in the organization based not on instrumental logic but on internalized moral beliefs
* Wiener measures organizational commitment by three variables:
  1. personal sacrifice to the organization
  2. heightened persistence and long tenure
  3. mental preoccupation with the work
* <NAME>ley notion of an institution's constitution - relatively stable "rules of the game" which permeate its normative order. Functions to lay out common expectations of what actions are acceptable
* What does mission mystique in action look like?
  * A belief system
  * Set of key interconnected attributes present:
  * resulting construct is called a template rather than a model or blueprint
  * In sum institutions possess the following characteristics:
    1. direction
    2. importance
    3. confidence
    4. dedication
    5. community
    6. identity
    7. dissent
    8. policy space  
    9. renewal
* **More than any other quality, a strong sense of mission is indispensable to morale, image, and success.**
* The bottom line is that to contribute to mystique the mission should have two characteristics:
  1. a compelling "bite" - a crisp phrasing that captures the imagination
  2. a concept that is sufficiently simple that it can be absorbed and remembered
* The object is not clear expression but emotional voltage
* two separate but related attributes: a distinctive reputation and a solid record of achievement
* A mission mystique agency need not be the winner of a popularity contest, only the possessor of a _distinctive_ reputation
* The best route to good agency reputation is an existing record of achievement in its distinct area
* leaders should facilitate the development of an institutional belief system by initiating norm-creation processes
* nudge-but don't impose-cultural innovations
* discarding rather than reshaping a usable organizational culture can be wasteful and destroy morale
* The ideal mission mystique culture does several things:
  1. induces enthusiasm for the mission purpose
  2. reinforces individual employee motivation
  3. conveys a sense of work importance and the agency's competence doing it
  4. supports a willingness to recognize agency shortcomings and experiment with change
* The mission mystique ideal anticipates substantial cultural coherence
* an institution is an organization wrapped in values, also wrapped in memories. Must consider and honor importance of organization's past
* Over time, the mission mystique agency must be relentless in engaging in renewal processes by which continuous improvement is sought. To do so requires thoughtful strategies and habits of the mind. It should be innovative but not make a fetish out of change for its own sake. Integrity of the institution's distinctive competence must be preserved. Maintain connection with cultural roots yet always be ready to "rework" the culture when necessary.


### Bryson, chapter three - initiating and agreeing on a strategic planning process

*

## Strategic Human Resources Management

### Managing Successful Organizational Change in the Public Sector, Fernandez and Rainey (2006)

*

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