AD1 - Management in Procurement & Supply Flashcards
What are the three systems which contribute most to an understanding of organisational behaviour?
- Personality systems
- Social systems
- Cultural systems
What are personality systems?
psychologists focus on the individual and their personality traits including perceptions, attitudes and motivates and the impact these have on an individual’s behaviour.
What are social systems?
Sociologists focus on social behaviour and the impacts relationships have on behaviour, for example between leaders and followers.
What are cultural systems?
Anthropologists focus on the study of human behaviour as a whole and in an organisational behaviour terms will include the impact on behaviour of culture, values and beliefs and so on.
What are Morgans 8 metaphors for categorising social systems in an organisation?
- Machine
- Organism
- Brain
- Culture
- Political systems
- Psychic prison
- Flux and transformation
- Instrument of domination
What is a psychological contract?
It is the expectations of the company on an individual and vice versa
Explicit Expectations Upon Employee: Deliver work
Implied Expectations Upon Employee: The work will be delivered in the right way
Explicit Expectations Upon Organisation: Pay and Conditions
Implied Expectations Upon Organisation: Other rewards
What implied expectations might an organisation have about how an individual delivers work?
Commitment Diligence Responsiveness Confidentiality Flexibility Adherence to rules and regulations Team working Loyalty Respect for authority
What implied expectations might an individual have about how they are treated by an organisation?
Job satisfaction Respect Fairness Understanding Security of employment Work /life balance Safety Promotion Flexible working Personal development Recognition
Professor Gary Johnsons Culture Web shows the elements that make up an organisations culture. What are the 7 elements which make it up?
- The paradigm
- Symbols
- Power structures
- Organisational structures
- Control Systems
- Rituals and routines
- Stories and myths
What is meant by the paradigm of an organisation?
the core of its cultures, values, beliefs and assumptions.
What is meant by the symbols of an organisation?
for instance dress codes, signs of status and position, use of jargon
What is meant by the power structures of an organisation?
how power is gained, for instance, through expertise, position, profession or individual forcefulness
What is meant by the organisational structure of an organisation?
A cautious organisation will have a tall, role-based culture. An innovative culture will be flatter and define roles more loosely
What is meant by the control structures of an organisation?
How the organisation manages performance through rewards and punishments. Also refers to the balance between quality and financial performance.
What is meant by ritual routines of an organisation?
The way things are done in the organisation, e.g. who buys the round of milk
What is meant by stories and myths of an organisation?
Stories about heroes, villains, mavericks, successes and disasters.
What influences from the external environment affect an organisation?
S - Social T - Technological E - Environment E - Economic P - Political L - Legal E - Ethical
What characteristics are there of an organisation?
Organisational structure Purpose and organisation of work Division of labour Working patterns Control mechanisms Organisational values Knowledge management Motivation and power Response to change and uncertainty Conflict Management
What are the 5 main approaches of management and organisational behaviour?
- Classical (Emerging 1920s/30s)
- Human Relations (1940s)
- Systems (1950s)
- Contingency (1960s)
- Postmodern (1990s)
What characteristics are there of a classical organisational behaviour?
Organisational structure Work Organisation Technical efficiency Productivity Rational and logical behaviour
What 3 approaches are there of applying a classical organisational structure?
- Frederick Taylors scientific management or “Taylorism”
- Max Webers work on bureaucracy
- Henri Fayols 14 principles
What elements make up a Taylorism approach to adopting a classical organisational structure?
- Developing procedures to undertake tasks
- Selecting, training and developing workers to undertake tasks
- Co-operation with the workers to ensure work is done using agreed procedures
- Division of responsibility between management and workers
What characteristics make up a bureaucratic approach to adopting a classical organisational structure?
- Hierarchy of authority
- Division of labour and specialisation
- Rules and regulations - standard operating procedures provide certainty through uniformity of decisions and actions
- Record keeping - An organisation would need to keep records of all its activities to be able to enforce and manage rules, processes and procedures.
- Impersonality - Impersonal and objective decisions made by managers ensures favouritism and personal prejudice don’t influence decisions
- Competence - Technical skill is the basis for decisions made when selecting, assigning or promoting individuals.
What are the 14 principles which make up Henri Fayols approach to adopting a classical organisational structure?
- Division of work
- Authority and responsibility
- Discipline
- Unity of command (Workers should only have one manager)
- Unity of direction
- Sub-ordination of individual interest to general interest
- Remuneration of personnel (salaries should be fair and provide satisfaction)
- Centralisation (finding optimal level)
- Scalar chain (authority starting at the top)
- Order (the right materials and the right workers in the right place at the right time)
- Equity (workers should be treated equitably)
- Stability of tenure in personnel
- Initiative (balance procedures with workers initiative)
- Espirit de Corps (Team spirit / harmony)
What can an organisation do to ensure an individual acts in a way that is beneficial to the company.
- Treat as humans rather than machines
- Recognising humans are not only interested in financial gain
- Understanding Job security / satisfaction being important
- Recognition and appreciation for work
- Good communication
- Freedom to decide what to do
- Participating in decision making approaches which affect workers
What were the experiments which developed the human relations approach to management and organisational behaviour?
West Electric Company experiments
- Relay assembly room
- Interviewing program
- Bank Wiring observation room
What is the relay assembly room experiment and what were the findings?
Six females doing tedious work output was measured under. The experiment used a series of controlled changes including working hours, rest periods, lunch breaks, heating and lighting. In all but one change output increased.
The finding is that extra attention given to workers had increased productivity.
What is the interviewing program experiment and what were the findings?
21,000 employees were interviewed to establish the workers feelings about supervision and conditions of work.
The finding is that relationships are important and workers benefit from talking freely about what it is important to them.
What is the bank wiring experiment and what were the findings?
14 male workers were placed under observation. Their pay depended on the performance of the group as a whole. Instead of trying to get everyone up to the maximum capacity, the group established its own standards of output well below the optimum.
Developing group norms and social relationships are more important than financial incentives.
What defines a systems approach to management and organisational behaviour?
It integrates a Classical approach and a Human Relations approach. It considers the organisation as:
- Open system connected to the environment. Inputs from the environment allow decisions to be made.
- Socio-technological systems
- Psychological and cultural systems aiming to meet the needs of workers in the organisation
What defines a contingency approach to management and organisational behaviour?
Contingent approach recognises there is no one best way to manage and that it is a contingent of many factors. Themes introduced by this include:
- Considering alternatives rather than one best way
- Bespoke approaches rather than off the shelf
- Organisational flexibility rather than rigidity
- Adaptive behaviour
What defines a postmodern approach to management and organisational behaviour?
Rejects everything we know about management and organisational structure and emphasises a need to adapt to a changing environment. Management needs to be developed and constantly worked on.
What personality traits will have an impact on peoples reactions to new systems?
Openness or closed minded Conscientiousness or carless Extravert or introvert Agreeableness Stability
Which approaches can personality studies be split into and what are the differences?
- Nomothetic approach - assumes people are born with personality traits which are unlikely to change
- Idiographic approach - considers everybody to be unique with personality traits shaped over time depending on environment and cultural influences.
- Other approaches - considers people to have a preference to certain personality traits (MBTI)
What models are there for a Nomothetic approach to personality typing?
- Hans Eyesenck model
2. Raymond Cattells 16 PF
What dimensions of personality typing does Hans Eyesencks model identify?
Emotional Stability against Intr/extroversion
- Emotionally Instability / Introversion = Unstable Introvert (Melancholic) Individuals may be quiet, moody, anxious, unsociable, reserved and pessimistic.
- Emotionally Instability / Extroversion = Unstable Extrovert (Choleric) Individuals may be impulsive, aggressive, optimistic, excitable, restless and changeable.
- Emotionally Stable / Introversion = Stable Introvert (Phlegmatic) Individuals are likely to be calm, even tempered, thoughtful, reliable, passive and careful.
- Emotionally Stable / Extroversion = Stable Extrovert (Sanguine) Individuals tend to be sociable, talkative, outgoing, easy going, care free and responsive.
What are Raymond Cattells 16 personality factors?
He identified 171 traits but narrowed it to:
- Tension
- Warmth
- Dominance
- Vigilance
- Self-Reliance
- Social Boldness
- Openness to change
- Rule-Consciousness
- Emotional Stability
- Abstractedness
- Liveliness
- Perfectionism
- Privateness
- Reasoning
- Sensitivity
- Apprehension
What dimensions of personality typing does the myres briggs type indicator identify?
- Introvert / Extrovert
- Sensing / Intuition
- Thinking / Feeling
- Perceiving / Judging
What personality traits might an extrovert have?
Interested in taking action and what is happening in their surroundings. They are open, talkative, make friends easily and are interested in new people. They energise by spending time with new people.
What personality traits might an introvert have?
Interested in their own thoughts and feelings. Appear reserved, quiet and thoughtful and require peace and quiet. They need their own territory and usually have a limited circle of friends, recharged by alone time.
What personality traits might a sensing person have?
Trust concrete data and information received via their senses, they live in the hear and now and can adapt to any situation
