Lecture 1: Introduction & Contrasting Management Approaches

Question 1

what is the “end goal” to OB?

Answer 1

improving organisational performance

Question 2

what did fredrick winslow taylor do and thus become famous for?

Answer 2

developing 4 principles of scientific management

Question 3

what were winslow’s 4 principles of scientific management?

Answer 3

1. Job design
2. Human resource management
3. performance management
4. Development of management profession

Question 4

describe Job design (one of Winslow’s principles of scientific management)

Answer 4

theory that managers should design a job efficiently, and that each aspect of an employee’s work should be specified

Question 5

describe human resource mgmt (one of Winslow’s principles of scientific management)

Answer 5

instead of employees choosing work and training themselves, the manager should select, train, teach and develop employees

Question 6

describe performance management (one of Winslow’s principles of scientific management)

Answer 6

theory that managers should be responsible ensuring all work is done and done correctly, and should reward/punish based on the output

Question 7

describe Development of management profession (one of Winslow’s principles of scientific management)

Answer 7

the idea that there is a division between the experts (managers) and those who undertake the work

Question 8

give current day examples of scientific management strutures?

Answer 8

fast food eg Mcdonalds making a burger in the standardised way

Question 9

what is the “mechanistic view of an organisation?

Answer 9

that people (workers) are interchangeable parts and simply are cogs in the machine

Question 10

what is taylor’s idea of the trained gorilla?

Answer 10

that money is the main and only motivator for workers

Question 11

what is scientific impartiality?

Answer 11

theory that the manager, as removed (impartial) person is able to make objective decisions about processes etc without the bias of completing the work - making them experts in the matter and as such better suited to manage

Question 12

what happened in october 1917?

Answer 12

october revolution in what is now known as russia

coup over the Tsar’s

Question 13

what did the october revolution trigger?

Answer 13

fear that the scientific management processes would make workers unruly and this overthrow the norm

Question 14

what is the “worker problem” who theorised this?

Answer 14

the theory that disobedience and industrial unrest was a result of psychological disturbances that were a result of the alienating nature of the work.
- elton mayo

Question 15

T or F… both mayo and marx sought to improve employee happiness by making work more involving and recognising its social nature

Answer 15

False - only Mayo did this.

Question 16

what did the hawthorne Studies originally investigate?

Answer 16

how lighting in a factory (Western electric works, Illinois) impacted performance

Question 17

what were the primary findings of the Hawthorne Studies?

Answer 17

that it wasn’t just about changing settings in the work place but rather listening to the needs of the workers and having them involved in the discussion to determine what is most effective and productive
- social factors had an impact on productivity

Question 18

what did elton mayo suggest about teams in the workplace?

Answer 18

that work is a group activity and workers will gravitate towards informal groups anyway… additionally, these informal groups exercise social control over the habits and attitudes of its members

Question 19

why did mayo hypothesise that informal groups form regardless of organisational recognition of these groups

Answer 19

because workers have a need for recognition, security and a sense of belonging