Lecture 4: Organisation Behaviour Flashcards
What are 3 skills managers need?
- Human Skills: the ability to work well with other people
- Conceptual Skills: the ability to analyse and solve complex problems
- Technical Skills: the ability to perform specialised tasks
What makes an effective manager?
- Task orientation: quality and quantity
- People orientation: attraction and maintenance
The effective manager can make a team perform at high levels sustainably.
What are the 4 key elements in the learning about behaviour cycle?
- Theory Building
- Experimentation
- Experience
- Reflection
Individual performance =
Individual performance =
individual attributes * work effort * organisational support
What are individual attributes that impact performance?
- Biographic characteristics (gender, age, etc.)
- Competency characteristics (ability, aptitude)
- Personality characteristics (initiave, creative, etc.)
What is organisational support that affects individual performance?
- Situational opportunity
i. e. enough time, clear instructions, help from others, adequate tools, budgets, control
What is work effort?
The motivation to work.
Willingness to expand effort toward an organisational goal, while satisfying personal needs.
What are the 5 levels of the pyramid of Mazlow’s Hierarchy of Needs?
- Self Actualisation (morality, creativity, etc.)
- Esteem (self esteem, confidence, respect)
- Social (friendship, family, sexual intimacy)
- Safety (security of: body, employmen, resources)
- Physiological (breathing, food, water)
What are 3 motivational theories?
- Mazlow’s Hierarchy of needs
- Alderfelds ERG theory
- Equity theory
In the ERG Theory, name the 3 types of needs that impacts an individual’s drive.
- Existence needs
- Relatedness needs
- Growth needs
What are the 2 main components of the Equity Theory?
- Individual rewards and inputs
- Others’ rewards and inputs
Explain self serving bias.
Our sucess comes from our traits and disposition, our failure from factors external to us.
Explain attribution error.
Others’ failure comes from their traits and dispositions, their success comes from external factors.
List managers’ skills that impact motivation.
- seek information from various sources
- be able to see a situation as perceived by others
- avoid common perceptual distortions
- be aware of the attribution theory
- influence the perception of others
- recognise attitudes and understand the antecedents and implications
What is the impact of job satisfaction?
- It influences whether an individual stays a member of the group
- It influences the decision to perform, work to realise goals.
- low job satisfaction costs money in the form of labour turnover, absenteeism, tardiness and ultimately mental and physical health
What 4 types of theories make up the situational theory?
- Contingency theories
- Path-goals theories
- Life cycle theory
- blanchard’s situational leadership
Explain key idea behind contingency theories
Based on traits, these theories assume that a leader’s effectiveness is dependant on the situation
Explain the key idea behind path-goals theories
Leaders clear the path in order for employees to achieve their goal
In situational leadership list the 4 supportive behaviour/ directive behaviour combinations.
- Beginner… led by… Directing style
- Learner…led by… Coaching style
- Contributor… led by… Supporting style
- Achiever… led by… Delegating style
Identify characteristics of the beginner/ directing situational leadership style.
Beginner: little, if any, prior experience. Low competence level but enthusiastic
Directing: decisions made by the leader and communication is largely one way
Identify characteristics of the learner/ coaching situational leadership style.
Learner: competence and commitment fluctuate when people learn the task is more difficult or less interesting than they thought it would be.
Coaching: Define tasks, but seeks ideas and suggestions from follower. Decisions sill made by leader, but communication is more two way.
Identify characteristics of the contributor/ supporting situational leadership style.
Contributor: Competence is improved, boss may think they are competent but they have self doubt whether they can perform the task on their own.
Supporting: The leader decides task allocation and processes, also facilitates and takes part in decisions, but control is with the follower.
Identify characteristics of the achiever/ delegating situational leadership style.
Achiever: high levels of competence and commitment. Decides when and how the leader will be involved.
Delegating: Leaders are still involved in decisions and problem solving, but control is with the follower.
What are the values and work ethics of veterans? (73-94 y/o)
- Dedication and sacrifice
- Hard work
- Respect for authority
- Adherence to rules
- Duty before pleasure
- Work as a privilege
- Work ethic influenced by manufacturing economy
- Obedience and conformity over individualism
- Seniority and age directly correlated
- Tend to respond well to directive leadership
What are the values and work ethics of baby boomers? (53-72 y/o)
- Optimism
- Position, perks, prestige
- Personal gratification
- Involvement
- Hardworking
- Uncomfortable with conflict
- Can be overly sensitive to feedback
- Can be judgemental of those who see things differently
Management style for the baby boomers?
- Start of orginizational behavioural modifications, but largely respond well to a directive style of leadership
- Start of a more referent leadership models (follower believes the leader has desirable qualities which they identify with and admire)
- As a workaholic generation they believe that gen-x and gen-y should pay their dues and also conform to a culture of overwork
What are the values and work ethics of generation x? (36-52 y/o)
- reactive
- think globally
- balance
- techno- literacy
- fun
- informality
- self-reliance
- job hopping
- just a job
- flexible hours, informal work environment, just the right amount of supervision
- multi tasking
- want lots to do and freedom to do it their way
Management style for generation x?
- Understanding the need for conformity, and respect of legitimate authority, but expect referent power in action
- Free agents, ‘distrusting’ corporate motives
What are the values and work ethics of generation y? (35 y/o and younger)
- optimism
- civic duty
- confidence
- achievement
- sociability
- morality
- street smarts
- diversity
- collective action
- tenancity
- heroic spirit
- multi tasking
- technological savvy
What makes Y-gen’s tick?
- they love a challenge
- they function well as team members
- they want to be heroes
- they want to be surrounded by bright, creative people
- they want it - right now
How to reach y-gen’s?
- create a clear, realistic picture of the work environment - good and bad
- spell out expectations and goals
- take the time to find out their goals and help them define a strategy for meeting them
How do we keep y-gen’s?
- retention scholorships - in exchange for employment, reimbursement for tuition, books and a couple of coins towards living expenses
- involve them in the department and give feedback to their contribution towards meeting organisational goals
- rotating opportunities, like being part of a peer interviewing group
