Module 3: Organizational Concepts Flashcards
Social System
structuring events or happenings, it has no formal structure, apart from its functioning
What is the social system model sometimes referred to?
Sometimes referred to as informal component of an organization
Roles
+ expectations of others about appropriate behavior in a specific position
+ Impersonal
+ related to task behaviors
+ difficult to pin down, some people might define your role differently as how you define it or the other way around
+ learned quickly and can produce major behavior changes
Are roles and jobs the same?
roles and jobs are not the same, some people have several roles in one job (e.g., Head Manager, also specifically watches the production department, a mother)
What are the concepts under roles?
- Role Conflict
- Role Ambiguity
- Role Overload
- Role Differentiation
Role Conflict
when an individual is faced with incompatible or competing demands
Role Ambiguity
uncertainty about the behaviors to be exhibited in a role, or boundaries that define a role
Role Overload
when an individual feels overwhelmed from having too many responsibilities
Role Differentiation
the extent to which different roles are performed
Norms
+ shared group expectations about appropriate behavior
+ Establish the behavior expected of everyone in the group
+ There is “oughtness” or “shouldness”
+ Usually more obvious for behavior judged to be important for the group
What are the main types of norms?
- Descriptive norms
- Injunctive norms
Descriptive norms
developed through a process of observation
Injunctive norms
developed through a process of conforming to gain social approval
What must be first done with norms?
Norm must be first defined and communicated, either explicitly or implicitly
What must a group/organization do with norms?
+ The group must be able to monitor behavior and judge whether the norm is being followed
+ Group must be able to reward conformity and punish nonconformity
Organizational Climate
+ shared meaning organizational members attach to the events, policies, practices, and procedures they experience and the behaviors they see being rewarded, supported, and expected
+ how things are done within an organization
Organizational Culture
+ languages, values, attitudes, beliefs, and customs of an organization
+ complex pattern of variables that, when taken collectively, gives each organization its unique “flavor”
What are the 3 layers of organizational culture?
- Observable Artifacts
- Espoused Values
- Basic Assumptions
Observable Artifacts
symbols, language, narratives, and practices
Espoused Values
values endorsed by the management
Basic Assumptions
unobservable and are the core of the org
Organizational Culture Profile
organizational reps sort 54 “value statements” describing such things as organizational attitudes toward quality, risk taking, and the respect the organization gives to workers into meaningful categories to provide a descriptive profile of the organization
Organizational Practices Scale
designed specifically to measure organizational structure assesses the company’s culture in terms of dimensions such as whether the organization is “process versus result oriented,” etc.
Person-Organization Fit (Person Organization Congruence)
+ process of gauging the degree of fit between the two parties is mutual
+ people populating the organization who most define its culture
Downsizing
+ decision to cut jobs, one of the most radical and tumultuous ways an organization can change in response to pressures
+ reducing cost
+ reduction-in-force
+ greatest losses come from middle line, technostructure, and support staff
What are the two types of downsizing?
- Horizontal Cut
- Vertical Cut
Horizontal Cut
involves the loss of jobs within a department, but the department remains within the organization
Vertical Cut
involves elimination of all jobs in the department
Outsourcing
company use external employees to perform internal functions which known to be less costly than hiring its own employees to perform these services
Offshoring
work performed domestically is exported to cheaper labor markets in overseas countries
Organizational Merger
marriage of two organizations of equal status and power
Acquisition
procurement of property by another organization
Hostile Takeover
dominant organization thus acquires an unwilling partner to enhance its financial status
Parent
acquiring organization
Talent
organization being acquired
What are the 3 phases of acquisition?
- Precombination
- Combination
- Postcombination
Precombination
emphasis on financial issues
Combination
clash between people as they focus on differences between partners
Postcombination
integrating two cultures
Organizational Structure
+ arrangement of positions in an organization and the authority and responsibility relationships among them
+ the division of labor as well as patterns of coordination, communication, workflow, and formal power that direct organizational activities
Division of Labor
subdivision of work into separate jobs assigned to different people
What does division of labor lead to?
Leads to job specialization to increase work efficiency
What does an organization’s ability to divide work depend on?
An organization’s ability to divide work among people depends on how well those people can coordinate with each other
What are the coordinating mechanisms in an organization?
- Informal Communication
- Formal Hierarchy
- Standardization
Informal Communication
sharing information on mutual tasks; forming common mental models to synchronize work activities
Formal Hierarchy
assigning legitimate power to individual, who then use this power to direct work processes and allocate resources
Standardization
creating routine patterns of behavior or output
Elements of Organizational Structure
- Chain of Command
- Span of Control
- Centralization and Decentralization
- Formalization
- Mechanistic vs. Organic Structure
Traditional Organizational Structure
have formally defined roles for their
members, very rule driven, and are stable and resistant to change
Traditional Organizational Concepts
a. Bureaucracy
b. Line-Staff Organizational Structure
(Principle)
Nontraditional Organizational Structure
+ less formalized work roles and
procedures (organic)
+ generally, have fewer employees and may also occur as a small organization that is a subunit of a larger, more traditionally structured organization
Team Organization
workers have defined jobs, not narrowly specialized positions common to traditionally structured organizations, collaborate among workers, and share skills and resources (e.g., group of psychologists working on a single case)
Project Task Force
temporary, nontraditional organization of members from different departments or positions within a traditional structure who are assembled to complete a specific job or project (e.g., Avengers)
Matrix Organization
structured of both product
and function simultaneously
Tall
managers have smaller span of control, longer chain of command, provide a clear, distinct layers with obvious lines of responsibility and control and a clear promotion structure
Flat
span of control is larger, fewer management levels, focused on empowering employing rather than adhering to the chain of command by encouraging autonomy and self-direction; common when the task is repetitive and requires minimal supervision
Functional
+ divides the organization into departments based on the functions or tasks performed
+ creates job specialists but overly focused on their own department and area of specialization
+ E.g., HR Dept., Executive, Judiciary, Production Dept., Sales
Divisional
+ based on type of products or clients
+ can easily expand products or services merely by adding new division but there is a duplication of areas of expertise
+ E.g., LVMH, houses Tiffany & Co., Dior, Fendi, Celine, Givency, Bulgari, Loewe, Louis Vuitton
Centralization
the degree to which decision-making authority is concentrated at the top of the organizational hierarchy
Decentralization
process of taking the decision-making power out of the hands of the top level and distributing it to lower levels
Formalization
the degree to which organizations standardize behavior through rules, procedures, formal training, and related mechanisms
Mechanistic
+ Characterized by narrow span of control and high degree of formalization and centralization
+ Have many rules and procedures, limited decision making at lower levels, tall hierarchies of people in specialized roles, and vertical rather than horizontal communication
+ Operate better in rapidly changing environments
Organic
+ Operate with a wide span of control, decentralized decision-making, and little formalization
+ Tasks are fluid, adjusting to new situations and organizational needs
Departmentalization
+ Specifies how employees
and their activities are grouped together
+ Establishes chain of command
+ Focus people around common mental models or ways of thinking
+ Encourages specific people and work units to coordinate through informal communication
What are the different ways of departmentalization?
- Simple
- Functional
- Divisional
- Team Based
- Matrix
- Network
Simple Departmentalization
few people minimal hierarchy
Functional Departmentalization
organizes employees around specific knowledge or other resources
Divisional Departmentalization
group employees around geographic areas, outputs, or clients
Team Based Departmentalization
built around self-directed teams that complete an entire piece of work
Matrix Departmentalization
overlays two structures to leverage the benefits of both
Network Departmentalization
design and build a product or serve a client though an alliance of several organizations
Organizational Development
planned, organization-wide effort to increase organizational effectiveness through behavioral science knowledge and technology
What are some characteristics of organizational development?
✓ Involve the total organization
✓ Be supported (and initiated) by top management
✓ Entail diagnosis of the organization, as well as implementation plan
✓ Be long-term processes
✓ Focus on changing attitudes, behaviors, and performance of groups/team
✓ Emphasize the importance of goals, objectives, and planning
What are some other important things to remember about organizational development?
+ Change process through which employees formulate the change that’s required and implement it, often with the assistance of trained consultants
+ Systematic approach for improvement of an organization by analyzing past experience, current business situation, and future objectives
What are the instances when organizational development fails?
When OD fails, it is often because the characteristics mentioned above has been ignored in favor of superficial changes that have very little impact on the organization’s effectiveness and result in greater stress and lower morale at the company
What does Beckhard say about organizational development?
“is an effort (1) planned, (2) organization wide, and (3) managed from the top, to (4) increase organization effectiveness and health through (5) planned interventions in the organization’s processes, using behavioral science knowledge,”
What are the two types of organizational development?
Planned ahead of time (Revolutionary (abrupt) and Evolutionary (gradual))
What does organizational development often involve?
Often involves altering the organization’s works structure or influencing workers’ attitudes or behaviors to help the organization to adapt to fluctuating external and internal conditions
What are the steps in organizational development?
- identify significant problems
- appropriate interventions are chosen to deal with the problems
- implementation
- evaluation
Who is the change agent in organizational development?
OD practitioner
Action Research Model
+ social problems that needed to be addressed from both methodological and social perspective
+ Cyclical nature
+ Initial research about the organization
+ Results from the research could be the guide for further activities
Sensemaking
what employees do to gain a better understanding of their workplace
What are the characteristics of effective interventions in organizational development?
✓ Fit the needs of the organization
✓ Based on the causal knowledge of intended outcomes; and,
✓ Transfer change-management competence to organization members
What are examples of effective interventions in organizational development?
- Survey Feedback
- Team Building
- Total Quality Management
- Gainsharing
- Technostructural Interventions
Survey Feedback
involves systematic collection data, widely used intervention strategy
Team Building
+ Develop teams or to enhance the effectiveness of the existing teams
+ Combined with other interventions
+ Strongly supported by the members
What must be done for team building to be successful?
In order to be successful, the members must collaborate and be interdependent
Why must team building be initiated?
Must be initiated to correct existing problems
In what kind of climate is team building implemented in?
Implemented in a participative management climate
How is performance measured in team building?
Performance was measured at the group level
Outdoor Experiential Training
type of team building; makes use of
outdoors and entails various physical and mental exercises
Total Quality Management
+ Also known as continuous improvement or quality management
+ Focuses on employee involvement in the control of quality in organizations
What must be done in total quality management?
1) Senior management must receive training on what TQM is, how it operates, and what their responsibilities are
2) Employees are trained in quality methods such as statistical process control (identifying problems reflective of a low quality product or service)
3) Employees identify not only the areas in which their department or division excels but also deviations (output variation) from quality standards
4) Self-Comparison analysis, whereby the org compares its effectiveness to that competitors that set the benchmark for the industry
5) Rewards are linked to achievement of
intervention goals
Gainsharing
+ involves paying employees a bonus based on improvements in productivity
+ Link between pay and performance lead to increased employee involvement and job satisfaction
Technostructural Interventions
focus on the technology and structure of organizations
Functional Organizational Design (Technostructural Interventions)
most basic, structured according to the various functions of the employees, groups employees to various departments based on their expertise; create job specialist and overly focused on their own department and are of specialization
Product-Based Organizational Design
(Divisional Structure)
organized based on their product output, allows the managers of a particular division to focus exclusively on that division, creating greater commitment and cohesion within the division; operates as a separate entity
Matrix Structure
combined function and products structures
Reengineering (business process redesign)
involves fundamental rethinking and redesign of business processes to improve critical performance as measures by cost, quality, service, and speed
Fundamental
Examination of what the company does and why
Radical
Willingness to make crucial and far reaching organizational changes rather than superficial ones
Dramatic
Making striking performance improvements rather that slight ones
Information Technology
science of collecting, storing, processing, and transmitting information
Positive Psychology
Positive Organizational Development
scientific study of the strengths and virtues of individuals and institutions rather than their weaknesses and impairments
Appreciative Inquiry
Positive Organizational Development
engages employees by focusing on positive messages, the best of what employees have to offer, and the affirmation of past and present strengths and successes
Discovery
Positive Organizational Development
determine the strengths (research)
Dream
Positive Organizational Development
information gathered from discovery is analyzed and elaborated upon to arrive at a vision statement or focused intent (brainstorming)
Design
Positive Organizational Development
designing innovative ways to identify where the organization should be going (planning)
Destiny
Positive Organizational Development
the design is maintained or sustained in this stage (execution)
Organizational Transformation
+ any intervention primarily directed toward creating a new vision for an organization and changing its beliefs, purpose, and mission
+ Rigid and fast approach to stabilize or improve the organization by analyzing the current business condition
+ Usually involves the top management only
+ Depends on organizational development
+ Rapid and fast
Culture Change
alteration of a pattern of beliefs, values, norms, and expectations shared by organizational members
Knowledge Management
organizations enhance their operations through attempts to generate, transform, disseminate, and use their knowledge
Organizational Change
process of altering organizations to be more adaptive and congruent with their business environment
T-groups
sensitivity training, use of unstructured group interaction to help workers gain insight into their motivations and their behavior patterns in dealing with others
Power
refers to the ability to get an individual or group to do something or change in some way
Politics
process to achieve power
Organizational Politics
involves any action taken to influence the behavior of others to reach personal goals
Ingratiation
increasing one’s personal appeal through such tactics as doing favors, praising, or flattering another
Assertiveness
making orders or demands
Rationality
using logic to convince someone
Sanction
withholding salary, threaten firing someone
Exchanges
offering something in exchange for another
Upward Appeals
obtaining the support of superiors
Blocking
threatening to stop working with the other person
Coalition
obtaining co-workers’ support of a request
Organization Power
comes from an individual’s position in the organization and from the control over important organizational resources conveyed by that position
Individual Power
derived from personal characteristics that are of value to the organization and its members
What are the different Power Bases?
- Coercive Power
- Reward Power
- Legitimate Power
- Expert Power
- Referent Power
Coercive Power
ability to punish or threaten to punish others
Reward Power
ability to give something positive
Legitimate Power
formal rights or authority that an individual possesses by virtue of a position in an organization
Expert Power
possession of some special, work-related knowledge, skill, or expertise
Referent Power
an individual is respected, admired, and liked by others
What are the different types of communication in an organization?
- Horizontal Communication
- Downward Communication
- Upward Communication
Horizontal Communication
aims at linking related tasks, work units and divisions in the organization; among co-workers with the same level or similar hierarchical positions
Downward Communication
provides information from the higher levels to lower levels
Upward Communication
serve as a control system for the organization wherein subordinates communicate to the higher levels
Organizational Decision Making
- Setting Organization Goals
- Establish Performance Criteria
- Classifying and defining the problem
- Developing criteria for a successful solution
- Generating Alternatives
- Comparing Alternatives to criteria
- Choosing an alternative
- Implementation
- Evaluation
Types of Individual Behavior
- Task Performance
- Organizational Citizenship Behaviors
- Counterproductive Behavior
- Joining/Staying with the Organization
- Maintaining Attendance
Task Performance
individual’s voluntary goal- directed behaviors that contribute to organizational objectives
What are the different kinds of task performance?
- Proficient Task Performance
- Adaptive Task Performance
- Proactive Task Performance
Proficient Task Performance
refers to performing the work efficiently and accurately
Adaptive Task Performance
refers to how well employee modify their thoughts and behaviors to align with and support a new or changing environment
Proactive Task Performance
refers to how well employees take the initiative to anticipate and introduce new work patterns that benefit the organization
Organizational Citizenship Behaviors
various forms of cooperation and helpfulness to others that support the organization’s social and psychological context
Counterproductive Behavior
voluntary behaviors that have the potential to directly or indirectly harm the organization or its stakeholders
What are the different Perceptual Effects?
- Halo Effect
- False-Consensus Effect (Similar-to-Me Effect)
- Primacy Effect
- Recency Effect
Halo Effect
occurs when our general impression
of a person, usually based on prominent
characteristic, distorts our perception of other characteristic of that person
When is halo effect most likely to occur?
Most likely to occur when important information about the perceived target it missing or we are not sufficiently motivated to search for it
False-Consensus Effect (Similar-to-Me Effect)
occurs when people overestimate the extent to which others have similar beliefs or behaviors to our own
What is true about the false-consensus effect?
+ We are comforted by the thought of other people are similar to us
+ We interact more with people who have similar views and behaviors
+ We are more likely to remember information consistent to our own views and selectively screen out information that is contrary to our beliefs
Primacy Effect
tendency to rely on the first information we receive about people to quick form an opinion of people of them
Recency Effect
occurs when the most recent information dominates our perception
Organizational Commitment
the extent to which an employee identifies with and is involved with an organization
What are the different types of Organizational Commitment?
- Affective Commitment
- Continuance Commitment
- Normative Commitment
Affective Commitment
the extent to which an employee wants to remain with the organization, cares
about the organization, and is willing to exert effort on its behalf
Continuance Commitment
the extent to which an employee believes she must remain with the organization due to the time, expense, and effort that
she has already put into it or the difficulty she would have in finding another job
Normative Commitment
the extent to which an employee feels obligated to the organization and, as a result of this obligation, must remain with the organization
Leadership
influencing, motivating, and enabling
others to contribute toward the effectiveness and success of the organizations of which they are members
How can leaders usually motivate employees?
Motivate others through persuasion and other influences tactics
What qualities make great leaders?
High Openness, Conscientiousness, and Extraversion
What kind of people usually become leaders?
High Self-Monitors
What are the different Motivations to Lead
- Affective Identity Motivation
- Noncalculative Motivation
- Social-Normative Conditions
Affective Identity Motivation
become leaders because they enjoy being in charge and leading others
Noncalculative Motivation
seeking leadership position that will result to personal gain
Social-Normative Conditions
becomes leaders out of a sense of duty
Leadership Motive Pattern
high need for power and a low need for affiliation
Person-Oriented leaders
acts in warm and supportive manner and show concern for their subordinates
What are the characteristics of person-oriented leaders?
+ Believe that employees are intrinsically motivated, seek responsibility, are self-
controlled, and do not necessarily dislike work
+ Consult their subordinates before making decisions, praise their work, ask about their families, and etc.
+ Socially withdrawn
+ Appreciate humor
+ Have satisfied employees
Task-Oriented Leaders
define and structure their own roles and those of their subordinates to attain the group’s formal goals
What are the characteristics of a task-oriented leader?
- See their employees as lazy, extrinsically
motivated, wanting security, undisciplined - Manage or lead by giving directives, setting goals, and making decisions without consulting their subordinates
- Under pressure, they become anxious, defensive, and dominant
- Produce humor
- Productive employees
Team
both task- and person-oriented
Middle-Of-The-Road
moderate amounts of both orientations (person- or task-oriented)
Impoverished
neither task- nor person-oriented
Transactional Leadership
consists of many task-oriented behaviors
Transformational Leadership
focus on changing or transforming the goals, values, ethics, standards, and performance of others
What are characteristics of transformational leadership?
+ Visionary, charismatic, and inspirational
+ Confident, have need to influence others, and hold a strong attitude that their beliefs and ideas are correct
+ Charisma, intellectual stimulation, individual consideration
Shared Leadership
exists when employee champion the introduction of new technologies and produces
What are characteristics of shared leadership?
+ when employee engage in organizational
citizenship behaviors to assist the performance and well-being of co-workers and the overall team
+ flourishes in organizations where formal leaders are willing to delegate power and encourage employees to take initiative and risks without fear of failure
Managerial Leadership
daily activities that support and guide the performance and well-being of individual employees and the work unit toward current objectives and practices
What are the characteristics of managerial leadership?
+ Assumes the organization’s objectives are stable and aligned with the external environment
+ Micro-focused
Servant Leadership
an extension or variation of people-oriented leadership because it defines leadership as serving others
