Final Exam Flashcards
What is ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE?
Formally dictates how jobs and tasks are divided and coordinated between individuals and groups within the company.
Simplicity/Complexity depends on the size of the company and the number of employees.
How can an organizational structure be represented?
Using an ORGANIZATIONAL CHART: Drawing that represents every job in the organization, and the formal reporting relationships between those jobs.
What is the role of the organizational chart?
It helps organizational members and outsiders understand and comprehend how work is structured within the company.
What are the five key elements of organizational structure?
-Work Specialization
-Chain of Command
-Span of Control
-Centralization
-Formalization
What is WORK SPECIALIZATION?
The way in which tasks in an organization are divided into separate jobs (‘division of labour’).
What trade-off does work specialization present?
Between productivity, flexibility, and worker motivation.
What are the disadvantages of highly-specialized jobs?
-Lacking flexibility: Failure to update or practice other skills.
-Lower employee job satisfaction: Lack of variety, use of different skills and talents.
When are specialized jobs most unacceptable?
In smaller firms, in which employees must be more flexible in their job duties.
What is the CHAIN OF COMMAND?
Answers the question of “who reports to whom”
and signifies formal authority relationships.
What is SPAN OF CONTROL?
For a manager, represents how many employees he or she is responsible for in the organization.
What determines the span of control?
How many employees one manager can supervise effectively.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of a narrow span of control?
-Pros: Managers can be much more hands-on with employees: Directive leadership style, close mentoring relationship with employees.
-Cons: Increased labour costs.
-Cons: Employees can become resentful of their close supervision.
When is a narrow span of control best suited?
When the manager has substantially more skill/expertise than the subordinates.
What is the relationship between span of control and organizational performance?
-As span of control increases, organizational performance increases, so long that managers have the ability to coordinate and supervise the large number of employees.
How does span of control affect the organizational chart?
It determines how “tall” or “flat” the organizational chart becomes.
What is a tall organizational structure?
Many hierarchical levels, narrow span of control.
What are the disadvantages of a tall organizational structure?
-More layers of management = More management salaries;
-Complex communication: ‘Layers’ of information travelling;
-Hierarchical, slower decision-making.
What is CENTRALIZATION?
Reflects where decisions are formally made in organizations.
What is a centralized structure?
In which decision-making is made by the top managers.
When does decentralization become necessary?
As a company grows larger.
What is FORMALIZATION?
The degree to which there are many specific rules and procedures to standardize behaviours and decisions.
What are MECHANISTIC ORGANIZATIONS?
-Efficient, rigid, predictable, and standardized organizations that thrive in a stable environment.
-High formalization, rigid and hierarchical chain of command, high degrees of work specialization, centralization of decision-making, vertical communication, narrow span of control.
What are ORGANIC ORGANIZATIONS?
Flexible, adaptive, outward-focused organizations that thrive in dynamic environments.
-Low levels of formalization, weak/multiple chains of command, low work specialization, lateral communication, wide span of control.
What is the effect of employing either a mechanistic or organic organization?
The types of employee practices adopted: Selection, training, recruitment, compensation, performance systems.
What are the advantages to organic structures?
More likely to allow for transformational leadership.
What is ORGANIZATIONAL DESIGN?
The process of creating, selecting, or changing the structure of an organization.
What factors does the organizational design process depend on?
-Business environment;
-Company strategy;
-Technology; and
-Company size.
What is BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT?
An organization’s customers, competitors, suppliers, distributors, and other factors external to the firm, all of which have an impact on organizational design.
How does outside environment affect organizational design?
If the environment is stable, changes happen slowly. The focus is on efficiency.
If the environment is dynamic, changes are frequent. Structures must be adaptive.
What is COMPANY STRATEGY?
Describes an organization’s objectives and goals, and how it tries to capitalize on its assets to make money.
What are the two primary company strategies?
-Low-cost producer strategy: Focuses on efficiency, and mechanistic design;
-Differentiation strategy: Focuses on quality, special features, and organic structure.
What is TECHNOLOGY?
-In an organization, the method by which it transforms inputs into outputs.
-The more routine, the more mechanistic the structure.
-The more personalized to customers, decisions tend to be decentralized, rules and procedures flexible.
What is COMPANY SIZE?
-The total number of employees, and structure.
-Larger organizations rely on more mechanistic designs (specialization, formalization, centralization).
What are the most common organizational forms?
-Simple structure;
-Bureaucratic structure (Functional, Multi-divisional by product, geography, client, Matrix)
What are SIMPLE STRUCTURES?
-Organizations with fewer than 19 employees.
-The manager, president, and owner are all the same person.
-Flat organization with one central decision-making figure.
-Low degree of formalization, few differences in specialization.
What is a BUREAUCRATIC STRUCTURE?
An organizational form exhibiting many facets of the mechanistic organization/
How are bureaucracies designed?
For efficiency. They rely on work specialization, formalization, centralization of authority, rigid and well-defined chains of command, narrow spans of control.
What is a FUNCTIONAL STRUCTURE?
Groups employees by the functions they perform for the organization.
Efficiency: High degree of work specialization, central coordination.
When are functional structures most efficient?
When the organization as a whole has a relatively narrow focus, fewer product lines/services, a stable environment.
What is the drawback of functional structures?
Individuals within each function are so wrapped up in their own goals and viewpoints, losing sight of the larger organization picture.
What is a MULTI-DIVISIONAL STRUCTURE?
-In which employees are grouped into divisions around products, geographic regions, or clients.
-Each division operates automously, has its own functional groups.
How do multi-divisional structures develop?
From companies with functional structures, whose interests and goals become too diverse for that structure to hande.
What are PRODUCT STRUCTURES?
They group business units around different products that the company produces.
Makes sense when firms diversity their offerings.
What are the downsides to product structures?
The divisions don’t communicate, and do not have the ability to learn from another.
What are GEOGRAPHIC STRUCTURES?
Based around the different locations where the company does business.
Why do geographic structures develop?
-Different tastes of customers in different regions;
-Size of the locations covered;
-Breaking down manufacturing and product distribution.
What is the CLIENT STRUCTURE?
Organizing businesses around serving similar customers.
What are MATRIX STRUCTURES?
More complex designs that try to take advantage of both structure types, such as product and functional structure.
What are the two key takeaways from matrix structures?
- Allow organizational flexibility, putting together teams based on experience and skill;
- Gives two chains of commands, two groups to interact with, and two sources of information.
When an organization makes changes to its structure, how does that restructuring affect job performance and organizational commitment?
Restructuring can have negative effects in the short-term.
-Small negative effect on task performance: Changes in specialization, centralization, formalization = Confusion = Hindered learning and decision-making.
-Moderate negative effect on organizational commitment = Increased stress, jeopardized trust.
What is ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE?
The shared social knowledge within an organization regarding the rules, norms, and values that shape the attitudes and behaviours of its employees.
How do employees learn about organizational culture?
Through other employees. The transfer of knowledge is through explicit communication simple observation or other methods.
Why is organizational culture important?
-There is consensus about what the culture is.
-Culture tells employees the norms, values, and rules that are appropriate.
-Organizational culture shapes and reinforces certain employee attitudes and behaviours by creating a system of control.
What are the three components of organizational culture?
-Observable artifacts;
-Espoused values;
-Basic underlying assumptions.
What are observable artifacts?
-Manifestations of an organization’s culture that employees can easily see or talk about.
-They signal how to act.
-Primary means of transmitting culture to a workforce.
What are the six major types of artifacts?
- Symbols: Found throughout an organization from its corporate logo to images on websites and uniforms.
- Physical structures: How the office environment is designed.
- Language: Jargon, slang, and slogans used within the walls of an organization.
- Stories: Anecdotes, accounts, legends, and myths passed on from cohort to cohort within an organization.
- Rituals: The daily or weekly plan routines that occur in an organization.
- Ceremonies: Formal events generally performed in front of an audience of organizational members.
What are espoused values?
The beliefs, philosophies, and norms that a company explicitly states.
What is the distinction between espoused values and enacted values?
It is one thing for a company to outwardly say something is important, but another for employees to consistently act in ways supporting those espoused values.
What are basic underlying assumptions?
Taken for granted beliefs and philosophies so engrained that employees simply act on them rather than questioning the validity of their behaviour in a given situation.
Which is the deepest and least observable part of culture?
Basic underlying assumptions which may not be consciously apparent, even to organizational veterans.
In a typical typology of organizational culture which two dimensions are organizations considered?
Solidarity: The degree to which group members think and act alike;
Sociability: how friendly employees are to one another.
What is a fragmented culture?
A culture low on solidarity and low on sociability. Employees are distant and disconnected from one another.
What is a mercenary culture?
A culture in which employees think alike but I’m not friendly toward one another. The culture is high in solidarity but low in sociability. These organizations are political.
What is a networked culture?
Cultures in which all employees are friendly to another, but does their own thing. These are high in sociability but low in solidarity.
What is a communal culture?
Cultures in which employees are friendly and think alike.
How does organizational size play a role in the culture type?
Small organizations start out as communal, oriented around the founder and the owner. Larger organizations that have grown tend to be networked because solidarity is hard to foster with a large group.
What is a customer service culture?
An organization focusing on service quality. The changes in attitudes and behaviors render in higher customer satisfaction and sales.
What can customer service culture lead to?
It leads to even more customer-oriented behaviours from employees and a larger bottom-line profit.
What is a safety culture?
A culture that values cease behaviours at work and expects the reduction of accidents and increased safety-based citizenship behaviours.
What is a diversity culture?
An organization that is sensitive to diversity through symbolic actions that bring together different types of people.
What is a creativity culture?
A culture that values the importance of new ideas and innovation.
What are the advantages to a creativity culture?
These affect both the quality and quantity of creative ideas within an organization.
What defines a strong culture?
-A high level of culture strength exists when employees definitely agree about the way things are supposed to happen (high consensus) and when their subsequent behaviours are consistent with those expectations (high intensity).
-An organization that has created a sense of definite norms and appropriate behaviours for employees.
What is so bad about a weak culture?
Employees disagree about the way things are supposed to be or what is expected of them. There is nothing to unite or direct their attitudes and actions.
Why are strong cultures difficult to attain and maintain?
They take a long time to develop and are very difficult to change.
Are strong cultures always good cultures?
No, it does not always mean that they guide them towards the most successful organizational outcomes.
What is a subculture?
A culture that unites a smaller subset of the organization’s employees.
Why are subcultures created?
Because there is a strong leader in one area that engenders different norms and values, or because different divisions are independent and create their own cultures.
Where are subcultures more prone to exist?
In large organizations.
What are counter cultures?
Sub cultures for which the values do not match those of a larger organization.
What are counter-cultures useful for?
They challenge the values of the overall organization or signify the need for change.
What are the advantages of a strong culture?
-It differentiates the organization from others.
-It allows employees to identify themselves.
-It facilitates desired behaviours among employees.
-It creates stability within the organization.
What are the disadvantages of a strong culture?
-It makes merging with another organization more difficult.
-It attracts and retains similar employees limiting diversity of thought.
-It can be too much of a good thing if it creates extreme employee behaviors.
-It makes adapting to the environment more difficult.
What are the two processes that can conspire to help keep culture strong?
Attraction-Selection-Attrition;
Socialization.
What is the Attraction Selection Attrition (ASA) framework?
It holds that potential employees will be attracted to organizations whose cultures match their own personality.
Additionally, organizations select candidates based on whether their personalities fit the culture.
Those who do not fit well either be unhappy or ineffective when working in the organization.
What is attrition?
Voluntary or involuntary turnover.
What is socialization?
The primary process by which employees learn the social knowledge that enables them to understand and adapt to the organizations culture.
When does socialization begin?
Before an employee starts work.
When does socialization end?
When an employee leaves an organization.
What are the three stages of socialization?
-Anticipatory stage: Happens prior to an employee spending time on the job it begins as a potential employee develops an image of the corporate culture. The information is drawn from recruitment and selection processes.
-Encounter stage: begins the date an employee starts work and becomes an organizational insider. New employees compare the information during the anticipatory stage with the one they are given now.
-Understanding and adaptation stage: newcomers come to learn the content areas of socialization and internalized norms and expected organizational behaviors. Change is on the part of the employee at this stage.
What problems can arise during the encounter stage of socialization?
Reality shock. This is a mismatch of information.
What dimensions are addressed in most socialization efforts?
-Goals and values: Adoption of the spoken and unspoken goals and values of the organization.
-Performance proficiency: Knowledge of the rules required and the tasks involved in the job.
-Language: Knowledge of the acronyms, slang, and jargon unique to the organization.
-History: Information regarding the organization’s traditions, customs, myths, and rituals.
-Politics: Information regarding formal and informal work relationships and power structures within the organization.
-People: Successful and satisfying relationships with organizational members.
What does the length of the socialization process depend upon?
The characteristics of the employee and the company.
What are the two common methods to change a culture?
Changes in leadership, and mergers or acquisitions.
What is person–organization fit?
The degree to which a person’s personality and values match the culture of an organization. Employees judge fit by thinking about the values they prioritize the most, and judge whether the organization shares those values.
What is the importance of person-organization fit?
There are higher levels of job satisfaction, less stressed about daily tasks, and hire trust towards managers. This is highly correlated with organizational commitment.
What effect does person-organization fit have on job performance?
It has a weak positive effect on performance.
What steps can organizations take to reduce early turnover among new employees?
Through the use of realistic job previews. These occur during the anticipatory stage of socialization during the recruitment process. The highlight both the positive and negative aspects of the job. These also lessen reality shock and shortens the encounter stage.
How can the socialization process be started?
Through a newcomer orientation session.
What is mentoring?
A process by which a junior level employee, or a protégé, develops a deep and long-lasting relationship with a more senior level employee or a mentor, within an organization. The mentor provides social knowledge resources and psychological support.
What is a team?
A team consists of two or more people who work interdependently over some time. To accomplish common goals related to some task-oriented purpose.
In which two ways are teams different from groups?
The interactions among members within teams revolve around a deeper dependence. The interactions occur with a specific task-related purpose in mind.
Why have teams become so widespread?
Work today has become more complex. As such, interactions among multiple team members have become vital. This allows for a complementary pull of knowledge and skills.
What are work teams?
Purpose: Produce good or provide services
Length of existence: Relatively permanent
Time involvement: Full-time commitment
What are management teams?
Purpose: Coordinating the activities of organizational subunits (departments, functional areas), and helping the organization achieve its long-term goals.
Length of existence: Relatively permanent
Time involvement: Moderate, as they have responsibilities in leading their individual units.
What are parallel teams?
Purpose: Provide recommendations and resolve issues.
Length of existence: Varies
Time involvement: Low
What are examples of parallel teams?
Quality circles: Individuals who perform core production tasks, meeting together to identify production-related problems, and opportunities for improvement.
What are project teams?
Purpose: Producing a one-time output (product, service, plan, design, etc.)
Length of existence: Varies
Time involvement: Varies
What are examples of project teams?
-Product design teams;
-Research groups;
-Planning teams.
What are action teams?
Purpose: Perform complex tasks that vary in duration, and take place in highly visible or challenging circumstances.
Length of existence: Varies
Time involvement: Varies
What are examples of action teams?
-Surgical teams;
-Musical group;
-Expedition team;
-Sports team.
What types of variations can occur within team types?
-The degree to which teams have autonomy and are self-managed.
-The way by which teams communicate with each other.
-The amount of experience they have working together
What are virtual teams?
Teams in which the members are geographically dispersed, and interdependent activity occurs through electronic communications.
What is the five-stage model of team development? What are its five stages?
According to which teams go through a progression of five stages.
- Forming: Members Orient themselves by trying to understand their boundaries in the team. They try to get a feel for what is expected, who is in charge, and what is acceptable.
- Storming: Members remain committed to the ideas they bring themselves. They are unwilling to accommodate others’ ideas and this triggers negative conflicts affecting interpersonal relationships and harming team progress.
- Norming: Members realize they need to work together to accomplish team goals. They begin to cooperate with one another. Feelings of solidarity, and norms and expectations, develop.
- Performing: Members are comfortable working within the rules and the team makes progress toward goals.
- Adjourning: Members experience anxiety and other emotions as the disengage and ultimately separate from the team.
Does the sequential model of team development apply to all team types?
No. This is less applicable when teams are formed with clear expectations, for instance with action teams.
As well, it does not apply when there is punctuated equilibrium patterns.
What is punctuated equilibrium?
A pattern of team development that is not linear. At the initial team meeting, members make assumptions and establish behavioural patterns for the first half of its life. At the midway point of the project, members realize they have to change their task paradigm fundamentally for completion on time. They transition into a new approach.
What are the steps in the less linear team development team model?
- Forming and Pattern Creation
- Inertia
- MIDPOINT - Punctuated Equilibrium
- Process Revision
- Inertia
in a team, what is task interdependence?
It refers to the degree to which team members interact with and rely on others for the information, materials, and resources needed to accomplish work for the team.
What are the four primary types of task interdependence, and what dimensions do they vary across?
Pooled, sequential, reciprocal, and comprehensive interdependence.
They vary upon the degree of interaction and coordination.
What is pooled interdependence?
Group members complete their work assignments independently and then this work is simply piled up to represent the group’s output. There is little coordination required.
What is sequential interdependence?
Different tasks are done in a prescribed order. The group is structured such that members specialize in these tasks.
Interactions only occur between members next to each other in the sequence.
Members performing the task in the later part of the sequence depend on earlier parts of the sequence but not the other way around.
What is reciprocal interdependence?
Members are specialized to perform a specific task.
However, there is not a strict sequence of activities. Members interact with a subset of other members to complete teamwork.
What is comprehensive interdependence?
The highest degree of interaction and coordination among members.
What happens as the level of task interdependence increases?
Members must spend increasing time communicating and coordinating to complete task.
This can result in productivity decline, the ratio of work completed per hour of time worked.
It can also decrease productivity which is the ratio of work completed per time worked.
It can increase the ability of a team to adapt to new situations.
What is goal interdependence?
Exist one team members have a shared vision of a team’s goal and align their individual goals with that vision as a result.
What is goal interdependence?
Exist one team members have a shared vision of a team’s goal and align their individual goals with that vision as a result.
How does one create high levels of goal interdependence?
Ensuring that the team has a formalized mission statement that members buy into.
What is outcome interdependence?
Relates to how members are linked to one another in terms of the feedback and outcomes you receive as a consequence of working in the team.
A high degree of outcome interdependence exists one team members share the rewards earned by the team.
This also implies that team members depend on the performance of other team members to receive rewards.
What is team composition? What are its aspects?
The mix of people who make up the team. Its aspects include roles, ability, personality, diversity, and team size.
What is a role?
A pattern of behaviour that a person is expected to display in a given context.
How do roles develop in a team setting?
Through interaction and situation.
How can roles be distinguished?
By considering the specific sets of task focussed activities defining individual members’ expected team contribution.
Consider what leaders and members do.
What are leader-staff teams?
In which the leader makes decisions for the team and provides direction and control over members who perform assigned tasks. The responsibility of the leader and the rest of the team are distinct.
What are team task roles?
Behaviours that directly facilitate the accomplishment of teen tops.
Examples include the Orienter or who sets thedirection for the team, the devil’s advocate who offers constructive challenges to the status quo, and the Energizer who motivates team members to work harder towards team goes.
When is the Orienter role important?
In teams that have autonomy over how to accomplish her work.
What is the Devil’s Advocate role important?
When decisions are high stick in nature.
What is the Energizer role most important?
In which the work is important but not intrinsically motivating.
What are teambuilding roles?
The behaviours that influence the quality of the team’s social climate. Examples include the harmonizer who steps in to resolve differences among teammates, the encourager who praises others’ works, and you can promise her who helps the team send alternative solutions.
What are individualistic roles?
Behaviours that benefit the individual at the expense of a team.
For example, the aggressor puts down or deflates fellow team members. The recognition seeker takes credit for team successes. The dominator manipulates team members to acquire control and power.
Why should ability be considered in team design?
There are varying degrees of physical and cognitive abilities required for job performance.
What are disjunctive tasks?
Tasks with an objectively verifiable best solution, with the member who possesses the highest level of ability relevant to the task having the most influence on team effectiveness.
What are conjunctive tasks?
Tasks for which the performance depends on the abilities of the weakest link.
What are additive tasks?
For which the contributions resulting from the abilities of every member on up to determine team performance.
How do team members’ personality traits affect the roles they take on?
They determine how a team functions and performs. For example, the agreeableness of team members influences team effectiveness, because agreeable people are more cooperative and trusting. This results in a positive attitude toward the team and smooth interpersonal interactions.
Is agreeableness always a desirable trait and team members?
No, if a team is composed of too many agreeable members, there is a chance members will behave in a way that enhances harmony at the expense of task accomplishment.
Why is conscientiousness important in team members?
There are benefits from having members who are dependable and work hard to achieve team goals.
Why is extroversion relevant to team composition?
Extroverted people tend to perform more effectively in interpersonal contexts and are more positive and optimistic in general.
Is extroversion always desired in team members?
No, because they tend to be assertive and dominant. If there are too many of these people, there will be power struggles and unproductive conflict.
What is team diversity?
The degree to which members are different from one another in terms of any attribute that might be used by someone on the basis of categorizing people.
What is the value in diversity problem-solving approach?
The theory that explains the positive effects of diversity. In teams, it is beneficial because it provides a larger pool of knowledge and perspectives. This stimulates the exchange of information, fosters learning, and enhances team performance.
When is diversity most desirable?
Teams that engage in relatively complex work that requires creativity.
What is the similarity attraction approach?
Theory used to explain why diversity may have detrimental effects on teams. People tend to be more attractive to others who are perceived as more similar. They also avoid interacting with similar people, to reduce uncomfortable disagreements.
What is surface-level diversity?
Diversity regarding observable attributes such as race, ethnicity, sex, and age.
What are the fault lines that often occur in diverse groups?
Deformation of informal subgroups based on similarity in surface-level attributes such as gender or other characteristics. The problem is that knowledge and information possessed by one subgroup may not be communicated to others so that the entire team can perform more effectively.
How can the detrimental effects of having subgroups be offset?
Through training that reinforces the idea that teams benefit from diversity.
True leadership or reward practises are reinforce the value of sharing information to promote team identity.
What is deep-level diversity?
Diversity with respect to attributes that are less easy to observe initially but can be inferred after more direct experience.
what are common examples of deep-level diversity?
Differences in attitudes, values, and personality.
How can the negative affects of deep-level diversity be managed?
By instructing teams to take the time to reflect on progress towards goals and their strategies.
How can deep-level diversity generate positive effects?
It can bring team creativity when members are instructed to take the perspective of other teammates.
When is a larger team size desirable?
For management and project teams, but not for teams engaged in production tasks. This is because management and project teams engage in complex and knowledge-intensive work. As such, there are additional resources and expertise contributed by additional members.
What is team performance?
An aspect of team effectiveness that includes metrics such as quantity or quality of goods or services produced, customer satisfaction, the effectiveness or accuracy of decisions, victories, completed reports, and successful investigations.
What is team viability?
An aspect of team effectiveness that refers to the likelihood that the team can work together effectively into the future.
What is the relationship between task interdependence and team performance?
It is moderately positive. This is especially important in teams that complete complex knowledge work.
What is the relationship between task interdependence and team commitment?
A weak relationship. Task interdependence has a stronger effect on viability for teams doing complex knowledge work.
Why is outcome interdependence particularly relevant?
First, it connects to compensation practices. Secondly, it is important to consider because it prevents managers with a tough dilemma.
What are the effects of high outcome interdependence?
Potentially, higher cooperation, but also, reduced motivation, especially among higher-performing members.
What is the hybrid outcome interdependence?
A solution to the team compensation dilemma. It designs team reward structures as being both dependent on team performance and individual performance.
What types of interdependences must be aligned?
Outcome interdependence in the form of team base pay that matches the level of task interdependence.
What is a team process?
The different types of communications, activities, and interactions that occur within teams that contribute to their ultimate and goals.
What affects team processes and communication?
Team characteristics like member diversity, task interdependence, team size, and so forth.
What is processed gain?
Getting more from the team then you would expect according to the capabilities of its individual members. It is Anonymous with synergy, and is most critical in situation in which there is high work complex city or enter dependence of members knowledge, skills, and efforts.
What is process loss?
Getting less from the team then you would expect based on the capabilities of its individual members.
What is coordination loss?
The extra effort focussed on integrating work which is a necessary aspect of the team experience. This results in time and energy that could otherwise have been devoted to task activity.
What are coordination losses driven by?
Production blocking, which occurs when members have to wait on one another before they can do their part of a team task.
What is motivational loss?
The loss in team productivity that occurs when team members don’t work as hard as they could. This occurs because it is difficult to gouge exactly how much each team member contributes to the team. As well, the contributions of some members may be less obvious than others. Finally, teams don’t always work together at the same time as a unit.
What is social loafing?
The feelings of reduced accountability that caused members to exert less effort when working on team tasks.
What are task work processes?
The activities of team members that relate directly to the accomplishment of team task.
What are the three main types of task work processes?
Creative behavior, decision-making, and boundary spanning.
What is the focus of creative behaviour activities?
Generating novel and useful ideas and solutions.
What activity can teams use to foster creative behavior?
Brainstorming, which involves a face-to-face meeting of team members in which each offers as many ideas as possible about some focal problem or issue.
What are the main rules of brainstorming sessions?
Express all ideas that come to mind.
Go for a quantity of ideas over quality.
Don’t criticize or evaluate others’ ideas.
Build on others’ ideas.
Why is brainstorming ineffective?
People may social loaf during brainstorming sessions.
If rules forbid criticizing others ideas, members may be reluctant to express silly or not well thought out ideas.
Brainstorming results in production blocking because members have to wait their turn to express ideas.
What are the advantages of brainstorming?
Builds morale;
Results in the sharing of knowledge that might otherwise be locked inside the minds of individual team members.
What is the nominal group technique?
An offshoot of brainstorming that addresses some of its limitations.
The process starts by bringing the team together, and outlining the purpose of the meeting.
Then, members have a set period of time to write down their own ideas (decreases social loafing, and production blocking).
After, members share ideas in a round-robin fashion. They discuss, to clarify and build upon ideas of others.
Following this, they rank order ideas and submit the results to a facilitator (allows for expressing true voice).
The facilitator tabulates the scores to determine the winning idea.
How do decisions result in team contexts?
From the interaction among team members, to..
-Reach a consensus/ general agreement among members in regards to the final solution; or
-Involve multiple members that are specialized, to then make a recommendation to a team leader who makes the final cut.
What factors account for a team’s ability to make effective decisions?
-Decision informity: Whether members possess adequate information about their own task responsibilities;
-Staff validity: Degree to which members make good recommendations to the leader;
-Hierarchical sensitivity: Degree to which the leader effectively weighs the recommendations of the members.
What is boundary spanning?
Involves activities with individuals and groups others than those considered to be part of the team, including ambassador activities, task coordinator activities, and scout activities.
What are ambassador activities?
Communications intended to protect the team, persuade others to support the team, or obtain important resources for the team.
What are task coordinator activities?
Communications intended to coordinate task-related issues with people or groups in other functional areas.
What are scout activities?
Things team members do to obtain information about technology, competitors, or the broader marketplace.
What are teamwork proceses?
The interpersonal activities that facilitate the accomplishment of the team’s work, but do not directly involve task accomplishment itself.
What can teamwork processes be alluded to?
The behaviours that create the setting or context in which taskwork can be carried out.
What are the types of teamwork processes?
Transition processes, action processes, and interpersonal processes.
What are transition processes? Cite some examples.
Teamwork activities that focus on preparation for future work.
Activity: Mission analysis – Analysis of the team’s task, the challenges that face the team, and the resources available for completing the team’s work.
Activity: Strategy formulation – Development of courses of action and contingency plans, and adapting those plans in light of changes that occur in the team’s environment.
Activity: Goal specification – Development and prioritization of goals related to the team’s mission and strategy.
When do transition processes occur?
As soon as teams first begin their work, before the team conducts the core aspects of its work.
When else are transition processes important?
Between periods of work activity.
When are action processes important?
As the taskwork is being accomplished.
What are the types of action processes?
-Monitoring progress toward goals: Realizing when performance is ‘off-track’ and changes need to be made;
-Systems monitoring: Keeping track of things a team needs to accomplish its work (inventory, time, resources);
-Helping behaviour: Members going out of their way to help/back up other team members;
-Coordination: Synchronizing team members’ activities to make them mesh effectively and seamlessly.
In teamwork, when is helping behaviour most beneficial?
When workload is distributed unequally among team members.
What are interpersonal processes?
Processes important before, during, and between periods of taskwork. Each relates to the manner in which members manage their relationships.
What are the different types of interpersonal processes?
-Motivating and confidence building: Creating urgency, and optimism;
-Affect management: Activities that foster a sense of emotional balance and equity;
-Conflict management: Activities the team uses to manage conflicts arising in the course of its work.
What is relationship conflict?
Disagreements among team members in terms of interpersonal relationships, or incompatibilities with respect to personal values or preferences.
What is relationship conflict centered around?
Issues that are not directly connected to the team’s task.
What are the effects of relationship conflict?
-Dissatisfying;
-Leads to reduced team performance.
What is task conflict?
Disagreements among members about the team’s task.
When can task conflict be beneficial?
If it stimulates conversations that result in the development and expression of new ideas.
What are the conditions for task conflict to be beneficial?
-Members trust one another and are confident that they can express their opinions openly;
-Members engage in effective conflict management practices (not relationship conflicts);
-Team composition includes emotionally stable members, or members open to new experiences.
What does effective conflict management involve?
-Staying focused on the team’s mission, to rationally evaluate the relative merits of each position;
-Acting in the best interest of the team, without relationship conflict;
-Discussing positions openly, with a willingness to exchange in a way that fosters collaborative problem solving.
What is communication?
The process by which information and meaning gets transferred from a sender to a receiver.
What is the communication process?
-Source/sender of information: Uses verbal/written language, and nonverbal language and cues, to ENCODE the information into a MESSAGE.
-The encoded message is transmitted to a RECEIVER, who interprets/DECODES the message to form an understanding of the information contained.
What are the various communication issues?
-Communicators themselves, who need to encode and interpret messages, and may lack in COMMUNICATION COMPETENCE: The skills involved in encoding, transmitting, and receiving messages.
-EMOTIONS and EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE of team members.
What is noise?
Interferences with the message being transmitted, due to external impairments/factors.
What is information richness?
A factor influencing the communication process, such as the amount and depth of information being transmitted in a message.
Which channels have the highest level of information richness?
Messages transmitted face-to-face, because senders can convey meaning through words and body language, facial expressions, and tone. As well, there is opportunity for feedback and verification for correct interpretation.
Which channels have the lowest level of information richness?
Computer-generated reports.
Which channels have a moderate level of information richness?
A personal written note.
When are higher levels of information richness preferable?
When the situation/task at hand is complex and difficult to understand.
When are higher levels of information richness undesirable?
When the task is simple and straightforward, these may overcomplicate the communication process.
What does the appropriate level of information richness depend on?
The nature of the team’s situation.
What is network structure?
The pattern of communication that occurs regularly among each member of the team, in terms of CENTRALIZATION (degree to which the communication flows through some members rather than others).
What is the all channel network structure?
Highly decentralized pattern in which every member can communicate with every other member.
What is the wheel network structure?
High centralized, with communication flowing through a single member, an “official” leader.
What are the other types of network structures?
The circle and Y structures, which are moderately centralized.
When is a centralized structure desirable?
For simple, straightforward work. Centralized structure can lead to faster solutions, fewer mistakes.
When is decentralized structure desirable?
In complex, difficult work. Additional communication channels help to resolve problems and get assistance.
Does the use of technology improve the communication process?
No, as individuals may lack the competence or confidence to use these newer means of communication, resulting in inability/reluctance to participate fully in collaborative efforts.
What are team states?
Specific types of feelings and thoughts that coalesce in the minds of team members as a consequence of their experience working together.
What is psychological safety?
The sense that it is okay to do things that are interpersonal risky, or to express opinions and make suggestions challenging the status quo.
How can psychological safety be developed?
As a consequence of supportive leadership and member interactions.
What are the four primary types of team states?
-Cohesion;
-Potency;
-Mental models;
-Transactive memory.
What is cohesion?
Strong emotional bonds to other members of a team, and to the team itself.
What are the consequences of cohesion?
-Fosters high motivation and commitment to the team;
-Promotes higher levels of team performance.
Are cohesive teams good teams?
Not always, as in highly cohesive teams, members may try to maintain harmony and seeking consensus.
What is groupthink?
The drive toward conformity at the expense of other team priorities. It is associated with feelings of overconfidence about team capabilities.
What is potency?
A team state referring to the degree to which members believe that the team can be effective across a variety of situations and tasks.
What happens in teams with high potency?
Members are confident their team can perform well. As such, they focus more energy on team tasks and teamwork, in hopes of achieving team goals.
What is the link between potency and team performance?
Potency has a strong positive impact on team performance.
How does potency develop in teams?
-Members’ confidence in their own capabilities;
-Members’ trust in others’ capabilities;
-Feedback about past performance (previous success).
What are mental models?
The level of common understanding among team members with regard to important aspects of the team and its task.
How can mental models foster team effectiveness?
When team members share understanding of one another’s capabilities, they know where to look for help, and anticipate when others need help.
What is transactive memory?
How specialized knowledge is distributed among members, in a manner that results in an effective system of memory for the team.
Is transactive memory fragile?
Yes, given that the memory system depends on each and every member.
What is the relationship between teamwork processes and team performance?
A moderate positive effect, especially important in complex knowledge work.
What is the relationship between teamwork processes and team commitment?
Strong positive effect, especially in complex knowledge work.
What are transportable teamwork competencies?
The knowledge, skills, and abilities that are related to teamwork activities. These include conflict resolution, collaborative problem-solving, communications, goal setting and performance management, planning and task coordination.
What is cross-training?
Training members in the duties and responsibilities of their teammates, to help develop shared mental models of what’s involved in each team role, and how roles fit together to form a system.
What are the three levels of depth for cross-training?
- Personal clarification: Members receive information regarding other team members’ roles.
- Positional modeling: members observe how other members perform their roles.
- Positional rotation: Members actually experience carrying out the responsibilities of teammates.
What is team process training?
Occurring in the context of a team experience, facilitates the team being able to function and perform more effectively as an intact unit.
What are the types of team process training?
-Action training: A team is given a relevant, real problem and held accountable for analyzing the problem, developing an action plan, and carrying out the action plan.
-Experience in a team context when there are task demands that highlight the importance of effective teamwork processes.
What is team building?
Training conducted by a consultant, intended to facilitate the development of team processes related to goal setting, interpersonal relations, problem-solving, and role clarification.
What is leadership?
The use of power and influence to direct the activities of followers toward goal achievement.
What is power?
The ability to influence the behaviour of others and resist unwanted influence in return.
What are the five major types of power, and which two dimensions are they grouped along?
They are grouped along the dimensions of organizational and personal power.
Organizational power: Legitimate, Reward, Coercive Power.
Personal power: Expert and Referent Power.
What is legitimate power?
Power that derives from a position of authority inside the organization (“formal authority”). It is based on the level the individual is on the organizational chart hierarchy.
What are the limits of legitimate power?
It does not generally give a person the right to ask employees to do something outside the scope of their jobs/roles within the organization.
What is reward power?
Power that exists when someone has control over the resources or rewards another person wants.
Those with reward power can influence others, if those being influenced believe they will get rewards by behaving a certain way.
What is coercive power?
Power that exists when a person has control over punishments in an organization.
What does coercive power operate on?
The principle of fear.
Is coercive power a strong form of power?
No, it is a poor form of power, given that it tends to result in negative feelings toward those that wield it.
What is expert power?
A form of personal power that derives from a person’s expertise, skill, or knowledge, on which others depend.
What is referent power?
A form of personal power that exists when others have a desire to identify and be associated with a person. This desire is generally derived from affection, admiration, or loyalty toward a specific individual.
Can a single individual possess multiple forms of power?
Yes, a person could possess all forms of power simultaneously.
What are the contingency factors of power?
-Substitutability;
-Centrality;
-Discretion;
-Visibility.
What is substitutability?
A contingency factor of power, referring to the degree to which people have alternatives in accessing resources or rewards the leader controls.
What is discretion?
A contingency factor of power, referring to the degree to which managers have the right to make decisions on their own, without being restrained by organizational rules.
What is centrality?
A contingency factor of power, referring to how important one’s job is, and how many people depend on that person to accomplish their tasks.
What is visibility?
A contingency factor of power, referring to how aware others are of a leader’s power and position.
What is influence?
The use of an actual behaviour that causes behavioural or attitudinal changes in others.
What are the two aspects of influence?
-Influence is directional, often occurring downwards. It can also happen laterally, or upward.
-Influence is relative. The absolute power of the “influencer” and “influencee” isn’t as important as the disparity between them.
What are the ten primary types of influence tactics, and their degree of effectiveness?
Most effective: Rational persuasion, consultation, inspirational appeals, collaboration.
Moderately effective: Ingratiation, personal appeals, exchange, apprising.
Least effective: Pressure, coalitions.
What is rational persuasion?
The use of logical arguments and hard facts to show the target that the request is a worthwhile one.
When is rational persuasion most effective?
When it helps show that the proposal is important and feasible.
Why is rational persuasion particularly important?
It is the only tactic that is consistently successful in the case of upward influence.
What is inspirational appeal?
An influence tactic designed to appeal to the target’s values and ideals, thereby creating an emotional or attitudinal change.
What does inspirational appeal require?
Leaders must have insights into what type of things are important to the target.
What is consultation?
Influence tactic that occurs when the target is allowed to participate in deciding how to carry out or implement a request.
Why is consultation effective?
It increases commitment from the target, who now has a stake in seeing that his/her opinions are valued.
What is collaboration?
An influence tactic that attempts to make it easier for the target to complete the request, by involving the leader, helping complete the task, providing resources, or removing obstacles.
What is ingratiation?
The use of favours, compliments, or friendly behaviour to make the target feel better about the influencer.
When is ingratiation effective?
When used as a long-term strategy, and not immediately prior to making an influence attempt.
What are personal appeals?
Influence tactic that occurs when the requestor asks for something based on personal friendship or loyalty.
When are personal appeals effective?
When friendships are strong.
What is an exchange tactic?
An influence tactic used when the requestor offers a reward/resource to the target, in return for performing a request.
What does an exchange tactic require?
That the requestor have something of value to offer.
What is apprising?
An influence tactic that occurs when the requestor clearly explains why performing the request will benefit the target personally.
What is pressure?
The use of coercive power, through threats and demands.
When is pressure effective?
It only brings benefits over the short-term.
What are coalitions?
Influence tacts that occur when the influencer enlists other people to help influence the target.
How should influence tactics be used?
In combinations.
What characterizes more successful influence tactics?
Those softer in nature, such as rational persuasion, consultation, inspirational appeals, and collaboration.
What are the three possible responses to influence tactics?
-Internalization;
-Compliance;
-Resistance.
What is internalization?
Response to an influence tactic that occurs when the target of an influence agrees with and becomes committed to the influence request. This reflects a shift in both behaviour and attitudes.
What is compliance?
Response to influence that occurs when targets of influence are willing to do what the leader asks, but they do it with a degree of ambivalence. This reflects a shift in behaviours, but not attitudes.
What is resistance?
Response to influence that occurs when the target refuses to perform the influence request, and puts forth an effort to avoid having to do it. There is no change in behaviour, nor in attitude.
How do employees express resistance?
-Making excuses;
-Trying to influence the requestor in return;
-Simply refusing to carry out the request.
When is resistance most likely?
When the influencer’s power is low relative to the target, or when the request itself is inappropriate/unreasonable.
What are organizational politics?
Actions by individuals that are directed toward the goal of furthering their own self-interests (but not necessarily in opposition to the company’s interests).
What is political skill?
The ability to effectively understand others at work, and use that knowledge to influence others in ways that enhance personal and/or organizational objectives.
What are the two aspects of political skill?
-Networking ability: Adeptness at identifying and developing diverse contacts;
-Social astuteness: Tendency to observe others and accurately interpret their behaviour.
What capabilities does political skill involve?
-Interpersonal influence: Having an unassuming and convincing personal style that is flexible enough to adapt to different situations.
-Apparent sincerity: Appearing to others to have high levels of honesty and genuineness.
What are the downsides of a political environment?
-Acting in a self-serving manner could be to the detriment of others (= uncertainty, stress);
-Lowered job satisfaction, increased strain, lower job (task and extra-role) performance, higher turnover, lower organizational commitment/
What are organizational politics driven by?
Both personal characteristics and organizational characteristics.
What are the ‘causes’ of organizational politics?
Personal characteristics: Need for power, “Machiavellianism” (willingness to manipulate and deceive others to acquire power)
Organizational characteristics: Lack of participation in decision-making, limited/changing resources, role ambiguity, high performance pressure, unclear performance evaluations = Those that raise the level of uncertainty in the environment.
How are conflict and politics intertwined?
Pursuit of one’s own self-interests often breeds conflict in others.
What is the role of leaders when conflict arises?
Leaders have the ability to use their power and influence to resolve it.
What are the five different styles a leader can use when handling conflict? On which dimensions?
Dimensions of assertiveness (concern for own outcomes) and cooperativeness (concern for other’s outcomes)
These include competing, collaborating, compromise, avoiding, and accommodating.
What is competing?
A style of conflict resolution high in assertiveness, low in cooperation.
One party attempts to get his/her goals met, without concern for the other party’s result (‘win-lose’).
It occurs when one party has high organizational power and can use legitimate/coercive power to settle a conflict.
Often involves pressure, coalitions.
When is the competing style of resolution best suited?
Situations in which the leader knows he/she is right, and a quick decision needs to be made.
What is the avoiding style of conflict resolution?
A style of conflict resolution low in assertiveness and low in cooperation, which occurs when one party wants to remain neutral, stay away from conflict, or postpone the conflict, to gather information/let things cool down.
Usually results in unfavourable results fro everyone, and negative feelings toward the leader. The conflict is never resolved!
What is the accommodating style of conflict resolution?
A style of conflict resolution that is low in assertiveness, high in cooperation. One party gives in to another, and acts in a completely unselfish way.
Used when the issue is not important for the influencer, but important for the influence, It is also used when the leader has less power.
What is collaboration?
A style of conflict resolution that is high in assertiveness, high in cooperation. Both parties work together to maximize outcome (‘win-win’).
Which style of conflict resolution is regarded as being most effective?
Collaboration, especially in reference to task-oriented rather than personal conflicts.
Why is collaboration challenging?
It requires full sharing of information, full discussion of concerns, relatively equal power, and time investment.
What is the compromise style of conflict resolution?
A style of conflict resolution that is moderate in assertiveness, moderate in cooperation. Occurs when conflict is resolved through give-and-take concessions.
Easy, and favourable form of resolution.
What are the two negotiation strategies?
-Distributive bargaining;
-Integrative bargaining.
What is distributive bargaining?
Win-lose negotiating over a ‘fixed-pie’ of resources, and a ‘zero-sum’ condition (winner/loser).
What is integrative bargaining?
A strategy aimed at accomplishing a win-win scenario, by using problem-solving and mutual respect to achieve an outcome satisfy for both parties.
What are the stages of the negotiation process?
-Preparation;
-Exchanging information;
Bargaining;
-Closing and commitment.
What happens during the preparation stage of the negotiation process?
-Each party determines its goals for the negotiation, and whether/not the other party has anything to offer.
-Each party determines its ‘Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement’ (BATNA), describing their bottom line.
What happens during the exchanging information stage of the negotiation process?
-Each party makes a case for its position, and attempts to put all favourable information on the table;
-Each party informs the other as to how it arrived at its conclusions, and which issues ar important;
-Involves active listening, questions.
What happens during the bargaining stage of the negotiation process?
Both parties likely mak concessions. Success depends on the first two stages.
What happens during the closing and commitment stage of the negotiation process?
-Process of formalizing an agreement reached during the previous stage, or ending at an impasse with no agreement.
What is the role of biases when approaching a negotiation?
There needs to be awareness of biases such as the perceived power relationship between the parties, and the negotiator’s emotions.
Why are influence tactics applied?
-Achieve organizational goals;
-Navigate the political environment;
-Engage in conflict resolution;
-Negotiate outcomes.
What is the effect of power and influence on job performance?
Moderate positive correlation. When used correctly and focused on task-related outcome, can create worker internalization, hence increase motivation (vs. stress).
What is the effect of power and influence on organizational commitment?
Moderate positive correlation.
Expert and referent power draw stronger emotional bonds, boosting affective commitment. This should enhance job satisfaction and trust in the leader.
What is alternative dispute resolution?
A process by which two parties resolve conflicts through the use of a specially-trained, neutral third party.
What is mediation?
Alternative dispute resolution in which a third party facilitates the dispute resolution process, though this third party does not formally dictate a solution.
What is arbitration?
A third party determines a binding settlement to a dispute.
What is leadership?
The use of power and influence to direct the activities of followers toward goal achievement?
How can leader effectiveness be gauged?
-Objective evaluations of unit performance;
-Subjective evaluation from followers (absenteeism, retention, grievances, etc.).
What is the leader-member exchange theory?
A theory that describes how leader-member relationships develop over time on a dyadic basis. This explains why members of a given unit often disagree about how effective their leader is.
What is role taking, according to the leader-member exchange theory?
A phase during which managers describe role expectations to an employee, and the employee attempts to fulfill those expectations with his/her job behaviours (sampling, experimentation).
Leaders assess talent and motivation.
What is role-making, according to the leader-member exchange theory?
The employee’s own expectations for the dyad get mixed in with those of the leader.
Free-flowing exchange, wherein the leader offers more opportunities and resources, and the employee contributes more activities and effort.
What is role-making, according to the leader-member exchange theory?
The employee’s own expectations for the dyad get mixed in with those of the leader.
Free-flowing exchange, wherein the leader offers more opportunities and resources, and the employee contributes more activities and effort.
What do the role taking and role making processes result in?
Two types of leader-member dyads:
- “High-quality exchange” dyad - Frequent exchange of information, influence, latitude, support, and attention, forming the leader’s “ingroup” and characterized by greater trust, respect, and obligation.
Often, this includes employees who are competent, likable, and similar to the leader in personality.
- “Low-quality exchange” dyad - Limited exchange of information, influence, latitude, support, and attention, forming the “outgroup”.
What is the relationship between leader-member exchange theory and turnover?
Research suggests that employees are less likely to leave an organization when they have a high LMX relationship with a specific leader, but they are more likely to leave following a leadership succession.
Why is a higher-quality exchange relationship important?
Higher level of leader effectiveness.
What is leader effectiveness?
The degree to which the leader’s actions result in the achievement of the unit’s goals, the continued commitment of the unit’s employees, and the development of mutual trust, respect, and obligation in leader-member dyads.
What are the “great person” theories of leadership?
Theories that suggest that leaders are born, not made.
What are personality traits predictive of, in leadership?
Leader emergence - Who becomes a leader in the first place.
What are the three primary types of leader actions, that determine effectiveness?
-Decision-making styles;
-Day-to-day behaviours;
-Behaviours falling outside of the leader’s typical duties.
What do decision-making styles capture?
-How a leader decides (not what a leader decides) - Does the leader decide most things for him/herself, or does the leader involve others in the process?
-High-follower control, or high-leader control?
What is an autocratic decision-making style?
A style in which the leader makes the decisions alone, without asking for the opinions/suggestions of the employees in the work unit.
=HIGH LEADER CONTROL
What is a consultative decision-making style?
The leader presents the problem to individual/group of employees, asking for their opinions/suggestions, before ultimately making the decision him/herself.
What is a facilitative decision-making style?
In which the leader presents the problem to a group of employees and seeks consensus on a solution, making sure his/her own opinion receives no more weight than anyone else’s.
What is a delegative decision-making style?
The leader gives an individual employee or a group of employees the responsibility for making the decision within some set of specified boundary conditions.
The leader only provides encouragement and necessary resources.
= HIGH FOLLOWER CONTROL
Why is employee participation in decision-making undesirable?
-Takes up time.
Why is employee participation in decision-making important?
Increased job satisfaction, and develops employees’ own decision-making skills.
What is the time-driven model of leadership?
Model that suggests that the focus should shift away from autocratic, consultative, facilitative, and delegative leaders, to autocratic, consultative, facilitative, and delegative situations.
What seven factors does the time-driven model of leadership suggest make some decision-making styles more effective in some situations?
- Decision significance: Is the decision significant to the success of the project or the organization?
- Importance of commitment: Is it important that employees “buy in” to the decision?
- Leader expertise: Does the leader have significant knowledge or expertise regarding the problem?
- Likelihood of commitment: How likely is it that employees will trust the leader’s decision and
commit to it? - Shared objectives: Do employees share and support the same objectives, or do they have an
agenda of their own? - Employee expertise: Do the employees have significant knowledge or expertise regarding the
problem? - Teamwork skills: Do the employees have the ability to work together to solve the problem, or
will they struggle with conflicts or inefficiencies?
When should autocratic styles be used?
For decisions that are insignificant, or for which employee commitment is unimportant (unless when the leader’s expertise is high, and the leader is trusted).
When should delegative styles be used?
For circumstances in which employees have strong teamwork skills, and not likely to commit blindly to whatever decision the leader provides.
What are the initiating structure, day-to-day behaviours performed by leaders?
-Initiation: Originating, facilitating, and sometimes resisting new ideas and practices.
-Organization: Defining and structuring work, clarifying leader vs member roles, coordinating employee tasks.
-Production: Setting goals and providing incentives for the effort and productivity of employees.
What are the consideration, day-to-day behaviours performed by leaders?
-Membership: Mixing with employees, stressing informal interactions, exchanging personal services;
-Integration: Encouraging a pleasant atmosphere, reducing conflict, promoting individual adjustment to the group;
-Communication: Providing information to employees, seeking information from employees, showing awareness of matters that affect them.
What is initiating structure?
The extent to which the leader defines and structures the roles of employees in pursuit of goal attainment.
What is consideration?
The extent to which leaders create job relationships characterized by mutual trust, respect for employee ideas, and consideration of employee feelings.
What is the life cycle theory of leadership (situational model of leadership)?
Argues that the optimal combination of initiating structure and consideration depends on the readiness of the employees in the work unit.
What is readiness?
The degree to which employees have the ability and the willingness to accomplish their specific tasks (R1-R4).
In the life cycle theory of leadership, what characterizes R1? What type of leader behaviours should be used?
A group of employees working for the first time, eager to begin. They lack experience and confidence needed to perform their roles.
Leadership should be TELLING: High initiating structure, low consideration = Specific instructions, close performance supervision.
In the life cycle theory of leadership, what characterizes R2? What type of leader behaviours should be used?
Members have begun working together, and are finding work more difficult than anticipated. Eagerness turns to dissatisfaction.
Leadership should be SELLING: High initiating structure, high consideration = Protecting confidence levels.
In the life cycle theory of leadership, what characterizes R3? What type of leader behaviours should be used?
Members work well together, but still need support and collaboration from the leader to help adjust their more self-managed state of affairs.
Leadership should be PARTICIPATING: Low initiating structure, high consideration.
In the life cycle theory of leadership, what characterizes R4? What type of leader behaviours should be used?
Leadership should be DELEGATING: Low initiating structure, low consideration. Responsibility for key behaviours is turned to employees.
What is transformational leadership?
Involves inspiring members to commit to a shared vision that provides meaning to their work while also serving as a role model who helps followers develop their own potential and view problems from new perspectives.
**Active and effective
Why is transformational leadership effective?
Heightens followers’ awareness of the importance of certain outcomes while increasing their confidence that those outcomes can be achieved.
How are the approaches to leadership dimensioned?
According to their active/passive approach, and their effectiveness.
What is laissez-faire leadership?
The avoidance of leadership altogether. Important actions are delayed, responsibility is ignored, and power and influence go unutilized.
= Passive, ineffective
What is transactional leadership?
Occurs when the leader rewards or disciplines the follower depending on the adequacy of the follower’s performance.
What is passive management-by-exception?
The leader waits around for mistakes and errors, then takes corrective action as necessary.
What is active management-by-exception?
The leader arranges to monitor mistakes and errors actively and again takes corrective action when required.
What is contingent reward leadership?
More active and effective brand of transactional leadership, in which the leader attains follower agreement on what needs to be done using promised or actual rewards in exchange for adequate performance.
What can transactional leadership be alluded to?
Transactional leadership represents the “carrot-and-stick” approach to leadership, with management-by-exception providing the “sticks” and contingent reward supplying the
“carrots.”
What is idealized influence?
Involves behaving in ways that earn the admiration, trust, and respect of
followers, causing followers to want to identify with and emulate the leader.
Synonymous with ‘charisma’.
What behaviours set apart transformational leadership?
Inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation, and individualized consideration.
What is inspirational motivation?
Involves behaving in ways that foster an enthusiasm for and commitment to a shared vision of the future.
The vision is transmitted through a ‘meaning-making’ process, in which the negative features of the status quo are emphasized while highlighting the positive features of the potential future.
What is intellectual stimulation?
Involves behaving in ways that challenge followers to be innovative and creative by questioning assumptions and reframing old situations in new ways.
What is individualized consideration?
Involves behaving in ways that help followers achieve their potential through coaching, development, and mentoring.
What are the advantages of transfomational leadership?
-More financially successful and bring higher-quality products and services to market at a faster rate.
-More strongly related to dyad-focused measures of leader effectiveness.
-Foster leader–member exchange
relationships that are of higher quality, marked by especially strong levels of mutual respect and obligation.
-Initiates motivation, psychological empowerment, self-cnfidence, and willingness to exert extra effort.
-Greater job satisfaction.
What is the relationship between transformational relationship and job performance?
Transformational leadership has a moderate positive effect on Performance.
Employees with transformational leaders tend to have higher levels of Task Performance. They are also more likely to engage in Citizenship Behavior.
What is the relationship between transformational relationship and organizational commitment?
Transformational leadership has a strong positive effect on Commitment.
Employees with transformational leaders tend to have higher levels of Affective Commitment and higher levels of Normative Commitment.
Transformational leadership has no effect on
Continuance Commitment.
What is the substitutes for leadership model?
Suggests that certain characteristics of the situation can constrain the influence of the leader, making it more difficult for the leader to influence employee performance.
What situational characteristics reduce a leader’s importance?
-Substitutes, which reduce the importance of the leader while simultaneously providing a direct benefit to employee performance.
-Neturalizers, which only reduce the importance of the leader; they themselves have no beneficial impact on performance.
How can organizations do to maximize leader effectiveness?
Training them!
What is learning?
Reflects relatively permanent changes in an employee’s knowledge or skill that result from experience.
What is decision-making?
The process of generating and choosing from a set of alternatives to solve a problem.
What is the relationship between learning and decision-making?
The more knowledge and skills employees possess, the more likely they are to make accurate and sound decisions.
What is expertise?
Knowledge and skills that distinguish experts from novices and less experienced people.
What are the two types of knowledge?
-Explicit knowledge: Information that’s relatively easily communicated and a large part of what companies teach during training sessions.
-Tacit knowledge: What employees
can typically learn only through experience. Not easily communicated but could very well be the most important aspect of what we learn in organizations.
What characterizes explicit knowledge?
-Easily transferred through written/verbal communication;
-Readily available;
-Can be learned through books;
-Always conscious, accessible information;
-General information.
What characterizes tacit knowledge?
-Very difficult, or impossible, to articulate to others;
-Personal in nature;
-Based on experience;
-Sometimes holders don’t even recognize that they possess it;
-Typically job- or situation-specific.
What is the link between explicit and tacit knowledge?
It’s hard to build a high level of tacit knowledge without some level of explicit knowledge
to build from.
What are the components of operant conditioning?
ANTECEDENTS (conditions) or events that precede or signal certain BEHAVIOURS (actions performed by employees), which are then followed by CONSEQUENCES (results occurring after behaviour).
What is reinforcement used for?
Managers use various methods of reinforcement to induce desirable or reduce undesirable behaviors by their employees.
What are the CONTINGENCIES OF REINFORCEMENT?
Four specific consequences typically used by organizations to modify employee behavior.
What is positive reinforcement?
Used to increase desired behaviours, occurs when a positive outcome follows a desired behavior = “Rewards”, such as increased pay, promotions, praise from a manager or coworkers, and public recognition.
What does positive reinforcement need to be successful?
Employees need to see a direct link between their behaviors and desired outcomes.
What is negative reinforcement?
Used to increase desired behaviours, occurs when an unwanted outcome is removed following a desired behavior.
What is punishment?
Used to decrease undesired behaviours, occurs when an unwanted outcome follows an unwanted behavior.
What is extinction?
Used to decrease undesired behaviours, occurs when there is the removal of a consequence following an unwanted behavior.
Which forms of reinforcement should be most commonly used?
Positive reinforcement and extinction.
What are the various timings (schedules) of reinforcement that can be used to modify behaviour?
Continuous reinforcement: Happens when a specific consequence follows each and every occurrence of a desired behavior.
What is the advantage of continuous reinforcement?
New learning is acquired most rapidly.
What is the disadvantage of continuous reinforcement?
Continuous reinforcement might be considered the least long-lasting because as soon as the consequence stops, the desired behavior stops along with it.
What is a fixed interval schedule?
Workers are rewarded after a certain amount of time, and the length of time between reinforcement periods stays the same.
What is a variable interval schedule?
Designed to reinforce behavior at more random points in time.
What is a fixed ratio schedule?
Designed to reinforce behavior at more random points in time.
What is a variable ratio schedule?
Reward people after a varying number of exhibited behaviors.
What is social learning theory?
Theory that argues that people in organizations have the ability to learn through the observation of others.
What is behavioural modeling?
When employees observe the actions of others, learn from what they observe, and then repeat the observed behavior.
What are the processes that are required for successful behavioural modeling?
-Attentional processes: Learner focuses attention on the critical behaviours exhibited by the model;
-Retention processes: Learner must remember the behaviours of the model, once the model is no longer present;
-Production processes: Learner has the appropriate skillset and is able to reproduce the behaviour;
-Reinforcement: Learner observes the consequences of the exhibited behaviour, which itself helps to ingrain the desirability of performing the behaviour.
What is a learning orientation?
Where building competence is deemed more important than demonstrating competence.
Individuals who enjoy working on new kind of tasks, even if they fail during their early experiences.
What is a performance-prove orientation?
Individuals for which the demonstration of competence is more important than building competence, especially so that others think favourably of them.
What is a performance-avoid orientation?
Individuals for which the demonstration of competence is more important than building competence, especially so that others do not think poorly think of them.
What are the advantages of a learning goal orientation?
Improves self-confidence, feedback-seeking behaviour, learning strategy development, and learning performance.
Why is a performance-avoid orientation undesirable?
Employees entering a learning situation with a fear of looking bad in front of others tend t learn less, and have higher levels of anxiety.
What are programmed decisions?
Decisions that become somewhat automatic, because people’s knowledge allows them to recognize and identify a situation and the course of action that needs to be taken. These come across, for experts, as intuition or a “gut feeling”.
What is intuition?
Emotionally charged judgments that arise through quick, non-conscious, and holistic associations.
A function of learning - tacit knowledge gained through reinforcement, observation, and experience, that allow a decision-maker to decide more quickly and confidently.
When is intuitive decision-making most important?
During a crisis situation, a change (sudden/evolving) that results in an urgent problem that must be addressed immediately.
What two questions are important for a manager making an intuitive decision?
-How can I ensure others will follow my lead when the path is unclear?
-How can I confirm that my intuition is not faulty?
What is a non-programmed decision?
A situation arising that is new, complex, unrecognized.
What decision-making model should be used in the context of non-programmed decisions?
The rational decision-making model, which offers a step-by-step approach to making decisions that maximizes outcomes, by examining all available alternatives.
What are the steps in the rational decision-making model?
- Identify the most important criteria in making the decision, and the involved parties;
- Generate a list of all available alternatives/potential solutions to the problem;
- Evaluate the alternatives against the criteria set out;
- Select the alternative that results in the best outcome;
- Implement the alternative.
Why is rational decision-making unattainable?
Employees are subject to bounded rationalty, the notion that decision-makers simply do not have the ability or resources to process all available information and alternatives to make an optimal decision.
What are the two major problems in decision-making?
-People have to filter and simplify information to make sense of the complex environment and the myriad of potential choices they face;
-People cannot consider ever single alternative when making a decision, they must satisfice.
What is satisficing?
Results when decision makers select the first acceptable alternative considered.
What is selective perception?
Bringing faulty perceptions in decision-making, it is the tendency for people to see their environment only as it affects them and as it is consistent with their expectations.
This is a “shortcut” taken when processing information.
What is the projection bias?
A false assumption people tend to make when it comes to other people is the belief that others think, feel, and act the same way they do.
What is the social identity theory?
People identify themselves by the groups to which they belong and perceive and judge others by their group memberships.
What is a sterotype?
Occurs when assumptions are made about others on the basis of their membership
in a social group.
What are heuristics?
Simple, efficient, rules of thumb that allow us to make decisions more easily.
What is the availability bias?
The tendency for people to base their judgments on information that is easier to recall.
What is anchoring, a decision-making bias?
The tendency to rely too heavily, or “anchor,” on one trait or piece of information when making decisions even when the anchor might be unreliable or irrelevant.
What is framing, a decision-making bias?
The tendency to make different decisions based on how a question or situation is phrased.
What is representativeness, a decision-making bias?
The tendency to assess the likelihood of an event by comparing it to a similar event and assuming it will be similar.
What is contrast, a decision-making bias?
The tendency to judge things erroneously based on a reference that is near to them.
What is recency, a decision-making bias?
The tendency to weigh recent events more than earlier events.
What is the ratio bias effect?
The tendency to judge the same probability of an unlikely event as lower when the probability is presented in the form of a ratio of smaller rather than of larger numbers.
What is the fundamental attribution error?
Argues that people have a tendency to judge others’ behaviours as due to internal factor, such as ability, motivation, or attitude.
What are the factors in the framework that goes hand-in-hand with the fundamental attribution error?
-Consensus: DId others act the same way under similar situations?
-Distinctiveness: Does this person tend to act differently in other circumstances?
-Consistency: Does this person always do this when performing this task?
What is escalation of commitment?
Decision to continue to follow a failing course of action.
What is the relationship between learning and job performance?
Learning has a moderate positive effect on Performance.
Employees who gain more knowledge and skill tend to have higher levels of Task Performance.
What is the relationship between learning and organizational commitment?
Learning has a weak positive effect on Commitment. Employees who gain more knowledge and skill tend to have slightly higher levels of Affective Commitment.
What is training?
Systematic effort by organizations to facilitate the learning of job-related knowledge and behaviour.
What is knowledge transfer?
Transfer of skills, learning, from older, experienced workers to newer workers.
What is behaviour modelling training?
Experience in which a company ensures that employees have the ability to observe and learn from those in the company with significant amounts of tacit knowledge.
What are communities of practice?
Groups of employees who work together and learn from one another by collaborating over an extended period of time.
What is transfer of training?
Occurs when the knowledge, skills, and behaviors used on the job are maintained by the learner once training ends and generalized to the workplace once the learner returns to the job.
What is climate for transfer?
A environment supportive of the use of new skills.
