Disfunctional Organizations
LITERATURE REVIEW
Gillian Faro
ORGL 500 – Organizational Leadership
February 6, 2013
Literature Review The subject of this literature review is to identify the factors that characterize a dysfunctional organization and how leaders contribute. Multiple accredited scholars and researchers have suggested a variety of reasons for organizational dysfunction. I intend to address the fact that every article calls it something different and sites their own reasons based on the author’s original study or research project, or works created by other scholars. Regardless of the varying credibility of the information, there is a common theme running through the majority of them. I chose five articles that identified leadership as a primary element, with their own brand of contributing factors. The criteria I used in making my selections and determining the credibility of each work included the presence of evidence that significant research was conducted to justify the contents of the piece as opposed to only opinions. In addition, they all contributed in different ways to my understanding of the subject. More weight was given to the article Fixing Management’s Fatal Flaws by Longenecker and Fink due to the fact that they made a very straight forward case, they appeared to have conducted solid research, the factors were all-encompassing, and they made mention of the importance of considering failed practices and processes in addition to lack of attainment of desire outcomes as a definition of dysfunction, which I thought was very astute. This article focuses specifically on the contributions managers make to dysfunctional organizations while the others are more generic in describing general characteristics of the organization itself, with managers setting the tone for the environment. Longenecker and Fink (2012) identified what they refer to as ‘fatal flaws’, “a managerial performance deficiency that if left
Gillian Faro
ORGL 500 – Organizational Leadership
February 6, 2013
Literature Review The subject of this literature review is to identify the factors that characterize a dysfunctional organization and how leaders contribute. Multiple accredited scholars and researchers have suggested a variety of reasons for organizational dysfunction. I intend to address the fact that every article calls it something different and sites their own reasons based on the author’s original study or research project, or works created by other scholars. Regardless of the varying credibility of the information, there is a common theme running through the majority of them. I chose five articles that identified leadership as a primary element, with their own brand of contributing factors. The criteria I used in making my selections and determining the credibility of each work included the presence of evidence that significant research was conducted to justify the contents of the piece as opposed to only opinions. In addition, they all contributed in different ways to my understanding of the subject. More weight was given to the article Fixing Management’s Fatal Flaws by Longenecker and Fink due to the fact that they made a very straight forward case, they appeared to have conducted solid research, the factors were all-encompassing, and they made mention of the importance of considering failed practices and processes in addition to lack of attainment of desire outcomes as a definition of dysfunction, which I thought was very astute. This article focuses specifically on the contributions managers make to dysfunctional organizations while the others are more generic in describing general characteristics of the organization itself, with managers setting the tone for the environment. Longenecker and Fink (2012) identified what they refer to as ‘fatal flaws’, “a managerial performance deficiency that if left
References: Allerton, H. E. (1999). A special NYCU: How to. Training & Development, 53(6), 10. Cameron, K. S., Whetten, D. A., & Kim, M. U. (1987). Research notes: Organizational dysfunctions of decline. Academy of Management Journal, 30(1), 126-138. doi:10.2307/255899. Lencioni, P. (2011). Five dysfunctions to avoid in teams. EISE Insight, (11), 9. Longenecker, C. O., & Fink, L. S. (2012). Fixing management’s fatal flaws. Industrial Management, 54(4), 12-17. Wagner, L., & Hager, M. (1998). Board members beware! Warning signs of a dysfunctional organization. Nonprofit World, 16(2), 18.