Chapter 1 Flashcards
What is Organisational behaviour (OB)?
Interdisciplinary field dedicated to better understanding and managing people at work.
What is McGregor’s Theory Y?
- Theory X employees, according to traditional
thinking, dislike work, require close supervision, and are
primarily interested in security. - According to the modern
Theory Y view, employees are capable of self-direction, of
seeking responsibility, and of being creative.
What is Total Quality Management (TQM)?
An organizational culture dedicated to
training, continuous improvement,
and customer satisfaction.
- Employee focused
What are the principles of TQM?
- Do it right the first time to eliminate costly rework and product recalls.
- Listen to and learn from customers and employees.
- Make continuous improvement an everyday matter.
- Build teamwork, trust, and mutual respect.
What is e-business? What is the Net-Generation and it’s eight norms?
- E-business involves using the Internet to more effectively and efficiently manage every aspect of a business, including virtual teams.
- Tapscott describes the Net Generation (81 million Americans born between the start of 1977 and the end of 1997 who grew up with the Internet) in terms of eight norms:
1. value freedom
2. customize everything
3. be skeptical
4. value integrity
5. abide by commitments
6. be a great collaborator
7. thrive on speed
8. love to innovate.
What is management in OB? What are the skills in Wilson’s profile of effective managers?
- Management is the process of working with
and through others to achieve organizational objectives in
an efficient and ethical manner. - According to the Wilson skills profile, an effective manager:
1. clarifies goals and objectives
2. encourages participation
3. plans and organizes
4. has technical and administrative expertise
5. facilitates work through team building and coaching
6. provides feedback
7. keeps things moving
8. controls details
9. applies reasonable pressure for goal accomplishment
10. empowers and delegates
11. recognizes and rewards good performance.
What is the contingency approach?
Using management tools and techniques in a situationally appropriate manner; avoiding the one-best-way mentality.
What is corporate and social responsibility (CSR)?
Corporations are expected to go above and beyond following the law and making a profit to serve the interests and needs of stakeholders (past and present employees, customers, suppliers, countries and communities where facilities are located)
What does CSR advice businesses?
- Make a profit consistent with expectations for international businesses.
- Obey the law of host countries as well as international law.
- Be ethical in its practices, taking host-country and global standards into consideration.
- Be a good corporate citizen, especially as defined by the host country’s expectations
What is whistle-blowing?
- Reporting unethical/illegal acts to outside third parties.
- Managers need to create an environment in which whistle-blowing isn’t necessary
- Encourage free and open expression (anonymous if needed)
What are five sources to gain OB insights/five sources of OB evidence?
- Meta-analysis (statistically pooled evidence from real-life situations)
- Field study (evidence from real-life situations)
- Laboratory study (evidence from contrived situations)
- Sample survey (questionnaire data)
- Case study (observation of a single person/group/organisation)
What is the difference between human and social capital, and why do we need both?
- Human capital involves individual characteristics;
social capital involves social relationships. - Human capital is the productive potential of an individual’s knowledge and actions. Dimensions include such things as intelligence, visions, skills, self-esteem, creativity, motivation, ethics, and emotional maturity.
- Social capital is productive potential resulting from strong relationships, goodwill, trust, and cooperative effort.
- Dimensions include such things as shared visions and goals, trust, mutual respect, friendships, empowerment, teamwork, win–win negotiations, and volunteering.
- Social capital is necessary to tap individual human capital for the good of the organization through knowledge sharing and networking.
How can we characterise 21st century managers?
- They will be team players who will get things done cooperatively by relying on joint decision making, their knowledge instead of formal authority, and their multicultural skills.
- They will engage in life-long learning and be compensated on the basis of their skills and results.
- They will facilitate rather than resist change, share rather than hoard power and key information, and be multidirectional communicators.
- Ethics will be a forethought instead of an afterthought. They will be generalists with multiple specialties.
Describe Carroll’s global corporate social responsibility
pyramid, and discuss the problem of moral erosion.
From bottom to top, the four levels of corporate responsibility in Carroll’s pyramid are:
- Philantrophic (be a good corporate citizen)
- Ethical (be ethical in its practices)
- Legal (obey the law)
- Economic (make profit)
- Progress needs to be made on all levels. Callahan’s claim that America has developed a “cheating culture” is supported by unethical conduct at all organizational levels.
- An unintended but serious consequence of excessive pressure for results, beginning in school and carrying over to the workplace, is expedient unethical behavior. Moral erosion is evident in high school and workplace surveys about misconduct.
Identify seven general ethical principles, and
explain how to improve an organization’s ethical climate.
The “magnificent seven” moral principles are
- dignity of human life
- autonomy
- honesty
- loyalty
- fairness
- humaneness (by doing good and avoiding evil)
- the common good (accomplishing the greatest good for the greatest number of people).
- An organization’s ethical climate can be improved by managers being good role models, carefully screening job applicants, creating and firmly enforcing a code of ethics mentioning specific practices, providing ethics training, rewarding ethical behavior, creating ethics-related positions and structures, and reducing the need for whistle-blowing (reporting unethical conduct to outside third parties) through open and honest debate.
