Good Morning Everyone!

Management Theory
BY; GAY LUISA S. TAN
MAM - AS
TOPICS TO DISCUSS
 Balance Theory
 Control Theory
 Diffusion Innovation
Theory
 Balance Theory
Definition
The main idea in balance theory (also known as consistency theory) is that maintaining a
harmonious balance of sentiments is the implicit goal in interactions with other people (Heider,
1946, 1958; Newcomb, 1953, 1968). A major assumption of the theory is that people tend to
organize their thoughts, beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors in meaningful, sensible, and consistent
ways (Heider, 1946; Osgood & Tannenbaum, 1955; Festinger, 1957; Zajonc, 1960)
According to the theory
people are aware of their surroundings and of the events that take place in their environment
(their life space) through a process of perception. People are affected by their environment and
cause changes in their environment. People have wants and sentiments with regard to others,
have a sense of belonging with others, and hold others accountable to certain standards. All of
this determines the roles that other people play in a person’s life space and how that individual
reacts to other people( Heider, 1958 )
Criticisms and Critiques of the Theory
Balance theory was originally criticized for examining no more than three entities
(p, person one; o, person two; and x, the object of interest) (Cartwright & Harary, 1956).
This view was criticized for being too simplistic and for not examining the wide number of
people and objects experienced by individuals in real life. Later formulations extended the
theory to an infinite number of people and objects (for example, Cartwright & Harary).
However, those views became so cognitively complicated that later uses of the theory
returned to the original three-part formulation (Homburg & Stock, 2005).
Suggestions for Further Research
1.Examine customer attitudes toward celebrities and sports figures, products and services, and their manufacturers.
2. Explore balanced and unbalanced perceptions of fans regarding off-the-job behaviors of politicians, sports figures, and
celebrities.
3. Look at how people treat separate individuals as a single entity in balance-process perceptions, especially in negative balance
states.
4. Compare balance processes for individual others versus for group others.
5. Explore the ability of customers to substitute desired and undesired products and services to rebalance their situation5. Explore
the ability of customers to substitute desired and undesired products and services to rebalance their situation.
6. Examine the differences among Fournier’s fifteen brand relationships (1998) with customers in balance processes.
7. Look at hierarchical or multilevel balance perceptions of others and of objects, such as valuing family over work, versus the
traditional single level of perceptions.
8. Explore how focusing messages (for example, advertising and marketing) on those in unbalanced states may move them to new
balanced states and behaviors (for example, purchasing decisions).
9. Look at the extent to which people must receive supportive communication in order to maintain a balanced state.
10. Examine the range of balance and imbalance levels on the ease or difficulty with which people’s behaviors can be changed.
11. Explore individual difference variables in preferences for maintaining unbalanced versus balanced states.
 Implications of the Theory for Managers

1. A major assumption in balance theory is that people tend to

organize their thoughts, beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors in meaningful, sensible,
and consistent ways.
2. When attempting to make changes, find out where your employees already have
positively or negatively balanced thoughts.
3. In addition, think about what positively or negatively balanced thoughts you
might have that could be preventing you from growing and making positive changes
in your life.
Control Theory
Control theory, or cybernetic theory, examines self-regulating
systems, both mechanistic and humanistic. The theory’s central
ideas have been around for many decades (for example, Cannon,
1929), but Wiener (1948) is generally attributed with
establishing control theory as a distinct body of thought. Control
theory has had a major impact on a diverse number of fields,
such as management, engineering, applied mathematics,
economics, and health care.
 The feedback loop contains four elements:
(1)a referent standard
(2) a sensor
(3) a comparator
(4) an effector
Control theory has two primary elements that help describe
human behavior:
(Carver & Scheier, 1981)

1.a cognitive element

2. an affective element
Criticisms and Critiques of the Theory

Control theory has been effective at explaining purposeful Control theory had its origins in cybernetic systems and was
human behavior. expanded to human systems. Due to this mechanistic setting,
control theory ignored the meaning of the information that was
Control theory researchers have predominantly focused on sent to the system about performance discrepancies.
negative feedback loops and ignored positive feedback loops. In
mechanical systems, both negative and positive feedback loops
are prevalent and useful.

A major criticism of control theory is that action is taken only to

change or improve behavior when a discrepancy is detected.

Control theory does not offer much explanation about the

origins and difficulty levels of performance standards.
Suggestions for Further Research

1.Examine how, when, and why individuals override or change current behavioral standards in favor of new
standards.
2. Explore how people change and create hierarchies of performance standards.
3. Investigate the most effective ways to give performance discrepancy feedback to individuals.
4. Examine how people coordinate individual and group performance standard hierarchies. 5. Study the most
effective ways to take action to reduce performance discrepancies.
6. Explore the effects of symmetry or asymmetry of positive versus negative performance discrepancies on
performance for the same and for different tasks.
7. Examine the effectiveness of input control, behavior control, and output control in different types of
organizational settings and contexts.
8. Investigate the point at which people give up on changing their performance when a discrepancy is perceived
to be too large to correct.
9. Examine the parallel use of both positive and negative feedback loops to shape human behavior toward desired
performance standards.
10. Investigate the strategic use of purposefully setting easy or difficult-to-reach performance standards in terms of the
effectiveness of positive or negative feedback loops and their impact on task performance
Implications of the Theory for Managers

The main idea in control theory is that people are motivated to behave when they see that there is a discrepancy
between their standard for performance and their actual performance level, according to a feedback loop process. Your
task as a manager is to facilitate and enhance this discrepancy perception for your employees.

1. Performance standards with the with your employees

2. Second, establish a system for monitoring employee performance levels.
3. Create a system for comparing the performance standard with your employees’ actual performance level.
Diffusion of Innovations Theory
Definition
Diffusion of innovations theory examines the process through which information is
communicated to people or organizations over time that can lead to the use of an innovation
(Bass, 1969; Rogers, 1983). An innovation can be a good, service, practice, or idea that people
perceived to be new (Rogers, 1983, 2004). The newness does not depend so much on the
creation date of the item, but refers more to the newness of the application for helping address a
need or for solving some sort of problem. Newness also refers to people having a positive
reaction to using the item themselves; they may have known about an item before, but may have
never thought about using it themselves
 The characteristics of an innovation
(1) have a relative advantage over existing methods
(2) are compatible with existing values, past experiences, and current needs.
(3) are simple to understand
(4) can be tried out or played with by potential adopters
(5) are observable, such that adopters can see the results for themselves

The theory includes the innovation-decision process, which

comprises five stages:
(1) knowledge, (2) persuasion, (3) decision,
(4) implementation, and (5) confirmation
Criticisms and Critiques of the Theory

A basic assumption of the diffusion of innovations theory is that all new methods are helpful and productive and
should therefore be adopted. Little space in the theory is devoted to the methods that organizations use to screen
out or filter bad ideas from implementation. Some innovations may not fit an organization’s culture, mission, or
values, and so should not be adopted. Critics have argued that more attention should be devoted to examining
how organizations decide not to use innovations.

The theory has also been criticized for assuming that all adoptions of innovations produce positive results (Goss,
1979).

The theory has been criticized for assuming that all good innovations are adopted. It has tended to ignore the fact
that some excellent innovations have not been adopted
Suggestions for Further Research
1. Examine negative influences of current adopters on future adopters, and of future adopters on past adopters
2. Explore the differences between adopting functions as compared to adopting devices that perform versions of that function.
3. Look at the differences in adoption rates for innovations with current versus deferred benefits, such as for safety or medical
prevention.
4. Create better heuristic devices for estimating the adoption rates of new technologies and innovations compared to current
methods.
5. Refine the concepts of “adopters,” “innovators,” and “imitators.”
6. Examine how aspects of the social system’s structure and social norms influence adoption or rejection of innovations.
7. Look at the attributes of competing innovations and their influence on adoption or rejection of those innovations.
8. Examine the point at which a critical mass occurs that results in sustainable innovation adoption.
9. Explore the influence of the age of the innovation, the percentage of adopters, and the number of adopters in the system on
adoption.
10. Examine the diffusion patterns of innovations across industries and across nations for global businesses
Implications of the Theory for Managers
Diffusion of innovations theory examines the process through which information is
communicated to people or organizations over time that can lead to the use of an innovation.
The better performing managers don’t sit by and let innovations come to them. Instead, they
actively seek out innovations and other new solutions that might help them solve their
problems or perform more effectively. Stay on top of the innovations in your field by reading
trade journals, accessing networking sites, talking with experts, and attending trade shows
References
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psychology of interpersonal relations. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley. Insko, C. A. (1984). Balance theory, the Jordan paradigm, and
the Wiest tetrahedron. In L. Berkowitz (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 18, pp. 89–140). New York:
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393–404. Newcomb, T. M. (1968). Interpersonal balance. In R. P. Abelson, W. J. Aronson, T. M. McGuire, T. M. Newcomb,
M. J. Rosenberg, & P. H. Tannenbaum (Eds.), Theories of cognitive consistency: A source book (pp. 28–51). Chicago: Rand
McNally
References
Carver, C. S., & Scheier, M. F. (1981). Attention and self-regulation: A control theory approach to human behavior. New
York: Springer. Carver, C. S., & Scheier, M. F. (1982). Control theory: A useful conceptual framework for personality—
social, clinical, and health psychology. Psychological Bulletin, 92, 111–135. Carver, C. S., & Scheier, M. F. (1990).
Principles of self-regulation: Action and emotion. In E. T. Higgins & R. M. Sorrentino (Eds.), Handbook of motivation and
cognition (Vol. 2, pp. 3–52). New York: Guilford Press. Carver, C. S., & Scheier, M. F. (1999). Themes and issues in the
self-regulation of behavior. In R. S. Wyer Jr. (Ed.), Advances in social cognition: Vol. 7. Perspectives on behavioral self-
regulation (pp. 1–105). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum. Klein, H. J. (1989). An integrated control theory model of work motivation.
Academy of Management Review, 14, 150–172.
References
Bass, F. M. (1969). A new product growth model for consumer durables. Management Science, 15, 215–227. Diffusion of
Innovations Theory 87 9 Rogers, E. M. (1983). Diffusion of innovations (3rd ed.). New York: Free Press. Rogers, E. M.
(2002). Diffusion of preventive innovations. Addictive Behaviors, 27, 989–993. Rogers, E. M. (2002). The nature of
technology transfer. Science Communication, 23, 323–341. Rogers, E. M. (2004). A prospective and retrospective look at
the diffusion model. Journal of Health Communication, 9, 13–1
Thank you !