Chapter 7

Question 1

What organizational theories are intended to accomplish: (6)

Answer 1

1. What variables from theory are emphasized by org.
2. Resemblance or difference of org. to proposed theory
3. If organization deliberately structures itself in way promoted by theory
4. Describes org. structure
5. Describe org. actions/desires
6. Aids in understanding of org. differences from other orgs.

Question 2

Why do we use ‘framing’ techniques?

Answer 2

To categorize organizational theories

Question 3

Name this frame:
Describes the role of structural architecture in determining the roles and relationships and assigns tasks within the organization

Answer 3

Structural

Question 4

Name this frame:

examines the relationships among people and how people relate to the organization

Answer 4

Human Resource

Question 5

Name this frame:

Sees organizations as arenas in which power and politics play out among individuals and groups

Answer 5

Political

Question 6

Name this frame:

views the organization as an interplay of artifacts, values, and underlying beliefs

Answer 6

Symbolic

Question 7

What is a descriptive approach?

Answer 7

A means of analyzing orgs. in terms of certain characteristics and procedures

(reflects a sociological approach to orgs. and seeks to understand them as a social phenomenon)

Question 8

What is a prescriptive approach?

Answer 8

A how-to guide whose goal is to help build better organizations.

(Appeals to managers and leaders of orgs.)

Question 9

What is an open system vs. a closed system?

Answer 9

Open: concerned with how organizations are influenced by interactions with their environments
Closed: concerned with internal structures and processes

Question 10

What does organizational structure refer to?

Answer 10

The way relationships are constituted among persons within an org.

(Functions of task specialization, matching the person with the position, and leadership are the most common features emphasized, analyzed and understood)

Question 11

What is a bureaucratic theory?

Answer 11

An ideal type

(That is, it is unlike any organization that fits perfectly with all the characteristics described by Max Weber. However, the concept of bureaucracy is used as a model to compare other organizations after which they can be described in terms of the extent to which they fit the model.)

Question 12

What was Weber’s bureaucratic model used for?

Answer 12

Weber’s bureaucratic model was not a goal to strive for, rather, it was used to understand the structures within organizations and how structure varies with different organizations.

Question 13

Core tenants of Weber’s bureaucratic model: (long list)

Answer 13

o Positions in the organizations are grouped into a hierarchy.
o Job candidates are selected for their technical qualifications.
o Each position has a defined sphere of competence.
o Positions reflect a high degree of education and specialization
o Positions typically demand full time employment
o Positions are career oriented, there is a system of promotion, and it is dependent on the judgement of superiors
o Rules of procedure are outline for rational coordination of activities
o A central system of records is maintained to summarize the activities of the organization.
o Impersonality governs relationships between organizational members.
o Distinctions are drawn between the private and public lives and positions of members

Question 14

How does Weber define authority?

Answer 14

Authority is defined as the power wielded with the consent of those being led.

Question 15

What are Weber’s 3 types of authority?

Answer 15

1. Traditional authority: the right to govern is bestowed on kings, emperors, popes, and other patrimonial leaders. The rulers have a claim to historic or ancestral rights of control and can be passed onto successive generations.
2. Charismatic authority: dominance is exercised by an individual through extraordinary personal heroism, piety, fanaticism, martial skill, or other traits. This system is highly unstable and transitional because it is tied to an individual rather than a position.
3. Rational/Legal authority: power is assigned on the basis of the ability to achieve instrumental goals. This authority derives from the legitimacy given to rational rules and processes and from expertise rather than hereditary claims.

Question 16

What is one of the primary goals of the bureaucratic model?

Answer 16

Efficiency is one of the primary goals of a bureaucratic model.

Question 17

What are some of the limitations to the bureaucratic model?

Answer 17

Bureaucracy can become focused on meeting procedural and paperwork requirements at the expense of meeting the needs of those they serve. Workers come to understand their role is to complete their tasks “by the book” and not necessarily doing their jobs well (meeting the public need).

Question 18

What does the glass ceiling refer to?

Answer 18

A phenomenon where women and minorities are limited to mid-level administrative positions and others occupy the highest levels of advancement (usually white males). Those making decisions at the top value sameness and fear diversity.

Question 19

When are bureaucracies limited?

Answer 19

• When the number of tasks increases
• In unpredictable environments
• When staff exercise professional judgement

Question 20

What are scientific management’s goals?

Answer 20

• one best way to develop the best tools for completing tasks
• fitting workers’ abilities and interests to particular assignments
• finding the level of production the average worker could sustain
• find incentives to increase productivity

Question 21

What ideas did Taylor develop towards the ideal of a mutual and complementary relationship b/w owners/managers and workers?

Answer 21

1. Good management seeks to pay high wages and keep production costs low
2. To do this, management has to apply scientific methods of research
3. Workers are scientifically assigned to jobs, and standards are scientifically set
4. A standard of output means that employees are precisely trained to improve their skill in performing a job
5. Close, friendly cooperation between management and workers is critical in creating a psychological environment that would possible the application of other principles.

Question 22

What are the origins of universalistic management?

Answer 22

A group of theorists wanted to explore broader principles of organizations beyond productivity and management theory.

Question 23

What is universalistic management?

Answer 23

1. Pyramidal shape – an individual decision maker at the top then gradually widening the chain of command.
2. Single supervisor – each person reports to only one immediate supervisor
3. Restricted span of supervision – supervision ratio is limited to 6-8 individuals
4. Autonomy in routine performance – workers are responsible for routine matters covered by standard rules; supervisors are responsible for unusual circumstances not covered by those rules
5. Specialization by task – similar functions are grouped together (similar in purpose, process, clientele, location)
6. Differentiation on line and support functions – line functions are those that are central to the completion of core organizational tasks; staff functions are supportive or advisory.

Question 24

What did evidence-based management (EBM) respond to the tendency of?

Answer 24

The tendency of people to make decisions on:
	Personal experience
	Overall impressions
	Instincts or ‘gut-feeling’
	Practice wisdom

Question 25

What 3 elements does EBM combine in an effort to improve results?

Answer 25

1. Findings from empirical research (when individuals rely on their own experiences and fail to systematically collect and use new information)
2. The expertise of administrators
3. Information regarding the preferences of service users

Question 26

The studying of political parties resulted in identifiable life cycles for the organization. Describe that cycle: (long list)

Answer 26

I. It develops a formal structure
II. The original leaders move into positions at the upper levels of the hierarchy
III. These individuals discover the personal advantages of having such positions
IV. The individuals begin to make more conservative decisions that might not advance their original cause as forcefully as before but they are less likely to jeopardize their own security or that of the organization.
V. The organizations’ original goals is pushed aside, and it becomes a means for achieving the personal goals of upper-level administrators.

(The above phenomenon is seen as an unavoidable fate for large organizations.)

Question 27

What is Etzioni’s “goal displacement”?

Answer 27

Where the formal goals (stated goals) and those of decision makers (real goals) may be very different.
Mechanisms such as:
a) cooptation
b) the growth of elites
c) the development of bureaucratic personality that create the conditions for decision makers to displace the organization’s goals with their own

Question 28

What is Management by Objectives (MBO)?

Answer 28

A key function of management is to establish what it is that an organization seeks to accomplish. Thus, organizational goals and objectives should be made a central construct (branding) around which organizational life revolves and other features, such as, structure, precision, efficiency, and hoping for productivity and profit be backgrounded.

MBO involves short and long-range planning, and it through the planning process that organizational structure and procedures necessary to achieve an outcome are established.

Question 29

What are the elements of MBO? (6)

Answer 29

Objectives - are means of achieving expectations (steps needed to ..)

Assumptions – what is presumed about how meeting objectives will achieve expectations

Alternative courses of action - i.e., cost/benefit of making no changes

Decision structure – the constraints that exist on how much the plan can do

Impact stage – costs associated with implementing the plan and the limitations it may place on other initiatives or operations.

Results - is the extent to which actual outcomes match the original expectations

Question 30

What are the advantages of MBO?

Answer 30

Producing clear statements
	Employees are involved
	Employees have a time horizon
	Goals and objectives are broken into tasks
	Progress can be easily monitored

Question 31

What are some critiques of MBO?

Answer 31

It is acceptable for goals of the organization and its members to change gradually

MBO focuses on the ‘’trees rather than the forest,” this compels leaders/managers to think in small-scale tactical thinking rather than large-scale strategic thinking

Objectives can reinforce existing power structures

It is unclear whether consumers participate in the process

Question 32

How can systems theory be applied to organizations?

Answer 32

Using systems theory terminology to understand organizations beyond their internal structures.
The open systems view redirected attention to external environments and the way organizations must be viewed as dynamic entities constantly involved in exchanges with those environments.

Question 33

How do the systems theory terms input, throughout and output relate to organizations?

Answer 33

Input - includes resources such as funding, staff, facilities, clients, the types and severity of problems that are being addressed. Inputs include values, expectations, and opinions of the agency held by community members, funding sources, regulatory agencies, and other segments of the environment.

Throughput - involves the services provided by the agency and the way it is structured to apply services to the inputs it received.

Output - refers to the organization’s products.

Question 34

Describe Contingency Theory:

Answer 34

Basic premise was that different organizations face different circumstances, so they may need to structure themselves in different ways.

1. There was no single ‘best way’
2. There some better ways to organize than others, effort must be expended to find that way
3. An Open Systems Principle – the organization’s environment determines which way of organizing works best under present conditions.

(The unifying theme across all three principles is that the nature of the organization and its management scheme depend on many factors unique to that organization. Human service organizations cannot be managed the same way as an auto assembly plant. )

Question 35

What are the two forms of management in contingency theory?

Answer 35

Mechanistic – reflect characteristics of bureaucracies commonly found in organizations with relatively stable environments

Organic - forms occur in unstable environments in which the inputs are unpredictable and the organization’s viability depends on responding in ways that are less bound by formal rules and structures.

Question 36

What 3 levels of functioning did Thompson describe in contingency theory?

Answer 36

Technical core – includes the structures and processes within an organization’s boundaries that allow it to carry out the principal functions for which it was created. Theoretically, the technical core works best when environmental inputs never vary and the same work can be done repeatedly. This is an unrealistic expectation therefore organizations have to manage their technical core during constant change.

Managerial system – includes those structures and processes that manage the work of the technical core

Institutional system - deals with the interactions between the organization and the environment.

Question 37

How do organizations respond to environmental change? (3)

Answer 37

Actions to protect the technical core which involves responses that allow the organization to contain necessary changes within itself, e.g., increasing or decreasing output, hiring or laying off staff, shifting resources among internal units.

Actions to acquire power over the task environment. If internal responses are unsuccessful in adjusting to change, the organization will attempt to alter its relationship with members of the task environment to gain more control over the change. For example, negotiating long-term funding agreements. The task environment describes those external organizations the organization depends on for its survival, e.g., government, referral agencies, consumers, special equipment, etc.

Actions to absorb key elements of the environment by altering organizational boundaries. A large organization absorbing smaller organizations.

Question 38

What is the foundation of Human Relations Theory (HRT)?

Answer 38

Organizations came to be viewed as social organizations, a place where friendships, belonging, and group solidarity play a significant role in organizational behaviour.

Question 39

What is the Hawthorne study and how does it relate to HRT?

Answer 39

Hawthorne Studies began with the hypothesis that increased lighting will increase productivity. However, the control group, where lighting was not increased, performed as well as those with increased lighting. Both groups did well when lighting was decreased to a bare minimum. The study was repeated using rest intervals during the day, with some workers getting rest periods while others did not. The productivity level remained the same for both groups. Mayo and his colleagues concluded that workers realizing they were being watched and their work was being compared with their colleagues was more influential than changes in the physical environment.

Basic tenets:
1. It is not the physical limits of workers that determine output levels but expectations among workers themselves regarding what levels are reasonable and sustainable.

2. The approval or disapproval of coworkers is more important than monetary rewards or penalties in determining how workers act, and co-worker approval or disapproval can negate or enhance monetary rewards.
3. Individual employees’ behaviours or motivations tend to be less important than those of employees as a group. Attempts by management to influence workers’ behaviour are more successful if aimed at the whole group rather than at individuals because the latter may be unwilling to change unless accompanied by everyone.
4. The role of leadership is important in understanding social forces in organizations, and this leadership may be either formal or informal.

Question 40

What are some of the important implications of HRT? (8)

Answer 40

1. That individuals were equally or more likely to draw satisfaction from social relationships in the organization than from its instrumental activities.
2. Workers’ willingness to follow management came from their willingness to follow members of the work group.
3. The key to making effective changes in organizational operations was not in rules and formal structure but in the quality of personal affiliations and the coherence of informal structures.
4. Managers who succeeded in increasing productivity were most likely to have been responsive to workers’ social needs.
5. How an order was given mattered how workers responded to the order and their level of job satisfaction.
6. Human relations theory counterbalanced formalized/rigid approaches
7. Human relations theory influenced descriptive approaches by attending to the needs and interests of workers as critical determinants of organizational behaviour.
8. HRT called attention to teamwork, cooperation, leadership, and positive attention from management.

Question 41

Why did HRT fade away?

Answer 41

Eventually, HRT faded away as it became apparent that happy employees were not necessarily productive ones

Question 42

What are some of the critiques of HRT? (4)

Answer 42

1. The original Hawthorne study had serious design flaws that questioned the findings about group solidarity
2. The social aspect of work may have been overstated and that monetary reward continues to be a powerful motivator.
3. The focus on worker satisfaction can increase administrative manipulation and paternalism because HRT presumes power from the top and little to no change in worker participation in running the organization. No intention in creating a democratic workplace.
4. Social relations in workplaces still favoured some social circles over others, namely women and minorities. Job security, promotions, and other opportunities were unevenly distributed. The notion of culture and subcultures within organizations.

Question 43

Describe Theory X: (4)

Answer 43

1. Human beings try to avoid work
   at all costs
2. People must be pressured into
   working toward organizational
   goals
3. Because people have little
   initiative, there must be
   close supervision
4. Naturally self-centred

Question 44

Describe Theory Y: (5)

Answer 44

1. People naturally like to work
2. People take initiative and enjoy working towards goals they are committed to
3. People tend to seek responsibility and can be trusted to get the job done
4. People have the capacity to be creative in solving organizational problems
5. People do not normally require close supervision

Question 45

What are the intrinsic and extrinsic motivating factors that Herzberg identified as supporting Theory Y? (4 each)

Answer 45

EXTRINSIC INTRINSIC
Wages Ability to use one’s creativity

Hours Problem solving abilities

Working conditions Matching a person’s goals, values
with the work they do
Benefits
(Autonomy, Mastery, Purpose)

Question 46

What are two of the most influential management schools of thought that focus on quality?

Answer 46

Theory Z & Total Quality Management (TQM)

Question 47

Describe Theory Z:

Answer 47

Theory Z as a way of life rather than focus on structural or goal-oriented factors.
Provides career-long employment
Intermeshed with the political, social, & economic systems of the country
Influenced other organizations
Involved workers as cooperative teams, loyalty to the organization

Question 48

What was the comparison drawn in 1981 between Japanese and American companies in relation to Theory Z?

Answer 48

JAPANESE AMERICAN
Lifetime employment Short-term employment
Slow evaluation and promotion Rapid evaluation and promotion
Nonspecialized career paths Specialized career paths
Implicit control mechanisms Explicit control mechanism
Collective decision-making Individual decision-making
Collective responsibility Individual responsibility
Wholistic concern Segmented concern

Question 49

What are the key elements of TQM? (6)

Answer 49

1. Quality is a primary organizational goal
2. Customers determine what quality is
3. Customer drives the organization
   Satisfaction
4. Variation in processes must be understood and reduced
5. Change is continuous and is accomplished by teams and teamwork
6. Top management commitment to promote a culture of quality,
   employee empowerment, and
   a long-term perspective.

Question 50

Describe TQM:

Answer 50

The focus on quality is not solely on the product, but on the customer’s satisfaction. This requires the organization to stay in touch with the customer and use their feedback to assess performance and make necessary changes where required.

TQM rejects the top-down approach of bureaucracy because it misses the input of the customer

TQM operates differently from MBO because customer satisfaction is a moving target and cannot be developed exclusively internal to the organization.

TQM for human service organizations opened the door for consumer and community involvement in internal processes of the agency.

Question 51

Describe decision-making theory / bounded rationality:

Answer 51

Because every decision carries some risk, decision-making in organizations was thought of as a risk management process within the context of organizational politics. The key to understanding organizational decisions is to recognize that there are constraints that limit decision making. The term that describes this phenomenon is bounded rationality.

Question 52

What 3 core aspects limit (bound) rationality?

Answer 52

1. Habits, abilities, and other personal characteristics that individuals bring with them into the decision-making process and that influence their actions in certain ways, irrespective of the circumstances surrounding a specific decision;
2. Loyalties toward a certain group (insider or outside the organization) that has values that conflict with the values of the organization as a whole; and
3. The inability of the decision maker to know all the variables that might influence the decision or all possible consequences of the decision.

Question 53

Describe “satisficing”:

Answer 53

Understanding how satisfactory outcomes are pursued via decisions made in the context of bounded rationality is the key to understanding organizations.
There is an understanding that decisions may/will never achieve a perfect outcome. But decision makers can reduce uncertainty and have a reasonable likelihood of producing an acceptable outcome. In this way, key decisions are computed to handle uncertainty and are inherently political in how to obtain cooperation.

Question 54

What is the garbage-can analogy?

Answer 54

Individuals and groups enter into negotiations with different views & goals. The chaotic process in which decisions emerge from a mixture of people, problems, ideas, and ‘choice opportunities’ that are unique to every organization and situation.

Question 55

What are some critiques of the decision-making approach? (3)

Answer 55

1. Focus too narrowly on formal decision making, ignoring the interpersonal aspects of organizations and the influence that informal structures can have on decisions that are made.
2. Little attention is paid to situations in which an individual may not seek overall rationality but personal or local-unit gain.
3. Focus on internal factors that lead to particular decisions. This ignores the influences external to the organization that are most important to eliciting and determining a decision.

Question 56

How do resource-dependency and political economy relate to organizations?

Answer 56

Understanding organizations in terms of power as the ability to influence actions, and politics as the process through which this influence is used.

Power arises from an individual’s position within the organization thus, power and structure are closely tied.

Question 57

What are the 3 models of organizational analysis used to illustrate the relationship between power and structure?

Answer 57

1. Bureaucracy – assumes an organization both acts and is structured in a manner that maximizes its production efficiency
2. Rational-choice model – there are constraints on decision making when an organization has multiple goals and motivations. Rational choice model assumes a clear, unambiguous organizational goal.
3. Political – organizational actions may be instrumental (serving the presumed goals of the organization as a whole) or parochial (serving the perceived self-interest of a particular individual or organizational unit). These (instrumental or parochial) goals may differ, as does the power of the decision maker to effect their choice of action.

Question 58

What is resource dependence in relation to organizations?

Answer 58

All organizations rely on elements in their environment from which they can obtain resources needed for survival. As a result, organizations to form relationships with other organizations that can provide needed resources reliably and predictably.

Question 59

What is the political economy perspective?

Answer 59

The political-economy perspective tried to incorporate several features of previous schools of thought such as:

• individual interests and goals;
• the power wielded by the holders of these interests; and
• environmental resources and the relative influence of those who control them.

All are seen to interact in a way that creates the unique character of an organization.

Question 60

How do critical theorists view organizations?

Answer 60

Critical theorists see organizations as instruments of exploitation and call into question their social construction as vehicles in which discrimination and inequity marginalize certain interests. The goal of critical theorists is to have workplaces free from oppression and in which all members have equal opportunities.

Each layer of responsibility in an organization represents a structure, process, and services designed with dominant assumptions, therefore, each party may be carrying out assumptions that can do harm. For example, bureaucratic disentitlement occurs when workers know neglect to take action or inform clients about what they are entitled to receive from the organization, thus dis empowering the very persons they are there to serve.

Question 61

What are some feminist critiques of organizations? (6)

Answer 61

1. Ignore the relevance of gender in the working world
2. Approaches to organizations emanate from male conceptualizations and therefore view reality from a male standpoint, assumes gender neutrality
3. Assumes an ideal worker and divides the world of work into productive and reproductive activities.
4. Paid and unpaid work is reinforced as masculine and feminine, where the masculine is carried out in formal organizations as legitimate settings and the unpaid (domestic) sector in which many women work is often informal, unpaid, and thus subjugated.
5. Organizations are gendered structures built on dominant logics, and they inherently oppress any group that does not conform to male privilege.
6. Inherently oppress women and other non-dominant population group

Question 62

What did Fenby encourage managers to do?

Answer 62

To be more self-reflective, pay attention to the use of self, and to form networks in which alternative ways of looking at managerial actions can take place.

Question 63

What does exposing dominant systems in relation to organizations mean? (4)

Answer 63

Exposing dominant systems means critiquing the ways in which ideologies are integrated into human services:

1. The ways in which human service clients are morally constructed (how they are viewed within the organization).
2. How desired ends (outcomes) are defined (who defines them).
3. What technologies are used to deliver services (how sensitive/insensitive they are)
4. How and by whom organizational staff are socialized and controlled

Question 64

What do symbolic theories and perspectives address? (4)
AVUO
ARTIFACTS
VALUES
UNDERLYING ASSUMPTINGS
ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE/IDENTITY

Answer 64

1. Artifacts: reflect the climate of the organization and are the most visible structures, processes, and behaviours. Artifacts are created by humans (socially constructed) for a particular purpose.
2. Espoused Beliefs and Values: are what members of the organization say are important and are typically reflected in mission/vision statements.
3. Underlying assumptions: are the taken-for-granted values/conclusions that an organization develops over a period of time (similar to covert culture).
4. Organizational culture/identity

Question 65

What is organizational culture theory?

Answer 65

Develops through shared experiences. A pattern of shared basic assumptions learned by a group as it solves its problems of external adaptation and internal integration, that has worked well enough to be considered valid and, therefore, to be taught to new members as the correct way to perceive, think, and feel in relation to those problems.

Question 66

How do organizations deal with issues in relation to symbolic theory?

Answer 66

Solving problems of external adaptation and internal integration refers to the ways organizations deal with issues relating to symbolic theories.

ADAPTATION INTEGRATION
Mission & Strategy Developing a common language and
means of communication

Goals Establish group/unit boundaries

Means to attaining goals Recognizing power and status
dimensions

Measurement criteria on
how the work is going Establishing norms of appropriate
interactions among members

Corrections in the form of strategies Determining how to reward
to keep focusing on goals success and discipline
inappropriate behaviour

                                      Finding ways to explain uncontrollable events

Question 67

List and describe the 3 dimensions of organizational culture that Organizational Social Context refers to:

Answer 67

1. Proficiency cultures within organizations develop a concern for client well-being. Employees are evaluated on their ability to improve client well-being. The first is competency, that is, the quality of professional skills and their commitment to keeping their skills at a high level. The second is responsiveness, the attention to client needs and ability to adapt service to address them.
2. Rigid cultures tend to be averse to change and oriented toward maintenance of the familiar and predictable. Adhere strictly to policies and procedures, to the detriment of adapting to unpredictable events. Rigid organizations reduce the number of people who have decision making authority.
3. Resistant organizational cultures are those in which employees are expected to be apathetic toward change or actively antagonistic to it.

Question 68

Explain diversity as an element of culture: (7)

Answer 68

Managers must develop strategies and take responsibility in creating a diverse workplace by:

1. Promoting tolerance
2. Being a role model of respect and tolerance
3. Value empathy
4. Promote trust and goodwill
5. Encourage collaboration
6. Work towards synthesis
7. Create synergy

Question 69

Describe the “pursuing excellence” concept and list its themes (4):

Answer 69

Using the concept of “excellence” to uncover which beliefs and practices informed organizational cultures.

The dominant themes were:

1. A family feeling among employees
2. A preference for smallness
3. A preference for simplicity rather than complexity
4. Attention to individuals

Question 70

Describe the 8 basic principles of the “pursuing excellence “ themes:

Answer 70

1. A bias for action – a preference to doing something rather than passing off the task/responsibility to further analysis or committee consideration
2. Staying close to the customer – learning the customer’s preferences and catering to them
3. Autonomy and entrepreneurship – breaking the company into smaller companies and encouraging them to think independently and competitively.
4. Productivity through people – creating in employees that their efforts are essential and they will share in the rewards of the company
5. Hands-on, value driven – insisting the executives keep in touch with the firm’s essential mission
6. Stick to the knitting – remaining with the business the company knows best
7. Simple form, lean staff – few administrative layers and few people at upper levels
8. Simultaneous loose/tight properties – dedication to the central values of the company and a tolerance for all employees who accept those values.

Question 71

Describe Sensemaking Theory:

Answer 71

Sensemaking Theory
Is partly based on communications theory (CT), which is concerned with how people process information and make sense of what they see around them. CT’s relevance to organizations and its connection to organizational culture come from the assumption that individuals draw clues from their environments, engage in internal conversations designed to make sense of these clues, then form conclusions about what they have seen and heard.

Sensemaking and its various aspects:
• It is a natural effort for individuals to process what is going on around them, which at first may seem random and disordered.

• Events are “bracketed” (differentiated from others and categorized) and labeled.
• It is retrospective (meaning that it requires interpreting events after they occur)
• The necessity to act typically precedes sensemaking done to gauge the results of the action

The shared understandings and modes of operation compromising organizational culture develop from ongoing thought processes on the part of each individual. At the larger level, leaders of an organization engage in sensemaking processes to evaluate the position of the organization as a whole within its environment.

Question 72

What is organizational learning theory?

Answer 72

An open-systems approach that views organizations as cybernetic systems, meaning they gather information from their environments and use it to decide on their next actions.
Acting on input in this way involves single-loop learning, whereas taking action, then monitoring its effect to alter later actions is termed double-loop learning

Question 73

List the ways that organizations encounter more variation in the action-feedback-learning process than an organism: (4)

Answer 73

1. Feedback is often less immediate and more ambiguous.
2. Organizations have various units therefore one department may take action while another department receives feedback.
3. There is horizontal distance between decision and effect
4. There is vertical distance between decision and effect

Question 74

What are the dilemmas in organizational learning theory?

Answer 74

• Decisions gone wrong deteriorates morale, which initiates a “blame game.”
• Decision makers are far removed from the consequences of their choices (feedback) and continue to make poor choices

Question 75

Senge (1990) developed the idea of learning organization by trying to replicate how an organism responds to its environment. What are the 4 main conditions of learning organization theory?

Answer 75

1. It is oriented to gathering, processing, and sharing information both vertically and horizontally.
2. It places the responsibility to create a learning organization on leaders
3. Leaders must provide guidelines, incentives, and examples to staff to develop the pathways and procedures needed for rapid movement and absorption of information.
4. System blindness must be replaced with system understanding

Question 76

If implemented well, what can learning organizations do?

Answer 76

If implemented well, learning organizations can undo mistrust that occurs at the vertical and horizontal levels.