Chris Argyris

Books:
Organization and Innovation
Personality and Organization

The Formal Organization

Basic incongruence between the needs of
mature personality and requirements of
formal organization.
The application of principles of formal
organization create situations in which1.The employees are provided minimal
control over their work.

2. They are expected to be passive,

dependent and subordinate
3. They are expected to have a short time
perspective.
4. They are induced to perfect and value
use of few shallow abilities.
All these are incongruent to the needs of
adult human beings.

 Argyris suggests that this incongruence

increases as1. The employees are of increasing
maturity.
2. As the formal structure is made more
clear.
3. As one goes down the line of command.

 The emphasis on managerial control

make employees feel dependent on their
superiors and fearful of the staff
personnel.

Individual and Group Adaptation

If the organization is defined by the use of such
organization principles as- Task Specialization
- Unity of Direction
- Chain of Command
the workers tend to become passive
subordinates.
The higher order needs of the employees are
not satisfied.

 To Argyris, the basis of these defences is

continuous frustration, conflict, etc.
The individual adapts to impact of organization
by any one or some combination of the
behaviors.
1. Leaving the organization
2. Climbing the organizational ladder

3. Using defence mechanisms.

4. Become apathetic and disinterested.
In order to guarantee his existence the
individual employee also seeks group
sanctions.

Management Dominant
Assumptions
According to Argyris, the top administrators
tend to diagnose the problem in other way.
They observe their employees and conclude
1. The employees are lazy.
2. The employees are uninterested and
apathetic.

3. The employees are money crazy.

4. They create errors and waste.
The basic action policy that management
tends to define to solve the above problems
actually stems from the logic of formal
organization and the assumptions about the
role of formal leadership.

 Argyris concludes that the impact of

directive leadership upon subordinate is
similar to that which the formal
organization has upon the subordinate.

Strategies for Organizational

Change
He suggests an intervention strategy for
organization development in four core areas Organization should provide an environment
for development of the individual towards
personal or psychological maturity.
A program for organizational change must
aim at improving inter personal competence.

 Changes must be introduced to transform

the pyramidal form of organization.
The techniques of programmed learning.

Progression from Infancy to

Maturity and Response to Needs of
Mature Individuals

The process of maturity from infant stages

has been characterized by Argyris to
consist of seven stages1. From infant passivity towards adult
activity.
2. From dependence towards relative
independence
3. From limited behaviors to many
behaviors.

4. From erratic shallow interests to more

stable deeper interests.
5. From short term perspective to longer time
perspective.
6. From a subordinate social position to
equal or super ordinate social position.
7. From lack of self awareness to self
awareness & control.

 Since the employees are adults they

should be treated as mature individuals
who are capable of accepting
responsibility.
Argyris suggests an analytical framework
of individual behavior linking the concepts
of psychological energy, personality needs
and abilities.

Improving Interpersonal
Competence
Organizations are presumed to be able to
function better the more interpersonally
competent their members are.
Interpersonal Competence refers to the
ability to deal effectively with an
environment populated by other human
beings.

 He postulates that there are three

conditions for development of
interpersonal competence1. Self Acceptance
2. Confirmation
3. Essentiality

 Argyris has specified several specific kinds of

behavior that he regards as concrete evidence
of interpersonally competent behavior
The four types are arranged roughly in order of
decreasing frequency of occurrence1. Owing upto or accepting responsibility.
2. Being open to new ideas & feelings of others.

3. Experimenting with new ideas.

4. Helping others to own upto or open to
their ideas.

The Organizational Structure of

New System
According to Argyris the organizations of
the future will be a combination of both the
old and new forms of organizations.
The old pyramidal forms will be effective
for routine activities.

 However as the decisions become less

routine, more innovative and as they
require more commitment newer forms of
organization such as matrix organization
will be more effective.
Structure I- The pyramidal structure
should be used in performance of routine
operations in cases where decisions are
preceded by widespread agreements.

 Structure II- The Modified Formal Organizational

Structure.
Close to likerts linking Pin which enables the
subordinate to be a member of superiors
decisional unit.
Structure III- Power according to functional
Contribution.
Each employee has equal opportunity to be
provided information, power & control.

 Structure IV- The Matrix Organization

Under this each individual has equal
power & responsibility & he may not
relinquish it. A matrix organization is
expected to eliminate superior-subordinate
relationships and substitute for them
individual self discipline.

 A matrix organization would be rid of internal

monopolies. It is less designed around power and
more around who has relevant information.
Project teams are created to solve specific problems.
The matrix organization enables jobs to be enlarged.

The Techniques of Programmed

Learning
The T group technique or sensitivity training is a
technique suggested by Argyris for improving
personal effectiveness of employees.
It consists of a laboratory program designed to
provide opportunities for individual employees to
expose their behavior give and receive
feedback, experiment with new behavior and
develop awareness and acceptance of self and
sensitivity to personality of others.

 T group sessions enable participants to

forget hierarchical identities and develop
distributive leadership and consensus
decision making.