Organizational Effectiveness Flashcards
1
Q
What is Organizational Effectiveness?
A
A cluster of competencies related to using the levers available to HR professionals to maximize the performance of organizations, teams, and individuals within the context of executing the organization’s strategy.
2
Q
What is meant by an Organization’s climate
A
- Depending on certain events we can be happy, sad, excited, fearful. Our mood can change but our personality doesn’t usually change. Same for an organization’s climate as it may change depending on certain situations. These may shift but it’s cultural characteristics will stay in tact.
- Mood, dynamic, can change
3
Q
What is meant by an Organization’s culture
A
- An organization’s culture dictates how things are done, what behaviour is acceptable and how employees relate to each other, leaders and customers/competitors/suppliers
- Ex: BMO, more formal and serious organization, WestJet is viewed as a more fun culture but both are known to have great cultures
- Usually Stable
4
Q
What are Organizational Norms?
A
Norms are expressed through policies and practices as well as symbols or artifacts that communicate what the organization holds in values and rituals to celebrate those values and through the stories told by employees that illustrate those values.
5
Q
What is included in the processes of Organizational Effectiveness?
A
- Functional Operations
- Management Processes
- Decision Making
- Communication
6
Q
What is included in Structure & Job Design?
A
- Work Flow
- Authority
- Span of Control
- Career Paths
7
Q
What is included in HR Practices?
A
- Recruitment
- Rewards
- Training
- Performance Management
8
Q
What’s included in a company culture?
A
- Beliefs
- Values
- Norms
- Symbols & Artifacts
- Rituals and Stories
9
Q
What is Employee Engagement?
A
- Employee engagement came into HR literature in the early 1990s
- Includes an emotional connection to the organization that leads to commitment
- Connection between their efforts and success of the organization
- Main aim is to tap into workers discretionary effort, they will willingly and eagerly do more than what is inquired because they take pride in their work, employer & their contribution
10
Q
What are the theories of motivation?
A
- Hierarchy of needs
- 2 factor theory
- Need theory
- Expectancy theory
- Goal setting theory
- Job characteristics model
11
Q
Gallop’s Q12 Model of Engagement
A
- Credited with employing the term of Employee Engagement
- Created 12 questions and designed to measure employees basic needs (tools to complete work, level of management support, growth opportunities, etc)
- Basic needs
- Management support
- Teamwork
- Growth
- Employees are rated as being either Engaged, Not Engaged or Actively Disengaged
12
Q
Aon Hewitt’s Model of Engagement
A
- What they SAY about the organization (both within and outside the company)
- Their desire to STAY with the organization
- The degree to which they STRIVE to do their best (directing efforts to achieving organizational success)
(Employee Engagement Survey)
13
Q
Tower Watson’s Model of Engagement
A
focuses more on the connection between employees and their organizations: (sustained engagement)
14
Q
What does Employee Motivation entail?
A
- Clarity of Expectations: employees would be more motivated to complete their work. Can be done through effective performance management programs, clear job descriptions.
- Meaningfulness (Task Significance): the shorter the line of sight, the more meaningful the work becomes.
- Self Efficacy: or the confidence one has to achieve expected outcomes, has direct impact on achieving motivation, career mobility programs help employees achieve this
15
Q
What does Employee Satisfaction Entail?
A
- Autonomy: a variety of tasks and autonomy on how to complete those tasks.
-Effective Feedback: one has with their superiors, this helps clarify job expectations and provides guidance and self-confidence, also helps employees grow, voice concerns and foundation for creating effective relationships with supervisor and colleagues.
16
Q
What does Employee Commitment Entail?
A
- Opportunity to Grow:enhances employee retention and engagement. Workers who can see a successful future for themselves are likely to stay on. Career management programs ensure that they are open to employees
- Values of the Organization & Leadership: personal values guide our beliefs and actions, org values are the foundation of an org culture and guides the way it conducts business. Also a reflection of it’s leadership and employees will likely strive to do their best when they believe in their leaders. This starts with recruitment and value screening process is key in order to make sure there will be employee engagement
- Rewarding Relationships: Quality of their relationships inside the organization. Employees who have trusting and supportive relationships with their leaders and workers have much better engagement. Team work and opportunities for social interaction
17
Q
What does Employee Engagement do?
A
Increases:
- Employee Retention
- Health & Wellness of Employees
- Customer Satisfaction & Loyalty
-Revenues
- Quality of Work
- Profits
- Increased Shareholder Value
Decreases:
- Employee Absenteeism
Cannot force Employee Engagement, it comes from within. HR is not solely responsible for it either.
18
Q
Is HR solely responsible for Employee Engagement?
A
No
19
Q
Discretionary Effort includes:
A
Motivation, Satisfaction & Commitment to the Organization
20
Q
Characteristics of traditional work groups?
A
- execute tasks, highly supervised, barely any autonomy
21
Q
Characteristics of Employee Involvement Teams
A
- make suggestions, have a little more autonomy
22
Q
Characteristics of semi-autonomous work groups
A
- authority to make decisions and solve problems concerning work processes
23
Q
Characteristics of self-managing teams
A
- make decisions and solve problems concerning their work production. Much greater control to tasks related to project or task assigned to them. Ex: manage their own schedules
24
Q
Characteristics of Self-Designing teams
A
- They have the most autonomy. Self-managing teams that also control team design and membership
25
Characteristics of Cross-Functional Teams
- involve employees from different functional areas within the organization. Created when it’s advantageous to bring employees together from different parts of the organization. Ex: software company designing a new product, they may need to bring in finance and marketing.
26
Characteristics of Project Teams
- involve employees in completing a specific project. Projects typically have a beginning and an end. Can be a cross-functional team if different perspectives are needed or a group of employees from the same department.
27
Characteristics of Virtual Teams
- involve employees from different geographies or who rarely meet face to face. Don’t work in the same physical space. Very common in the large consulting firms with employees across the country. Access to technology is critical.
28
What are the stages of Team Development?
1. Forming: create a team charter that outlines their direction and boundaries. Team members come together and learn about their purpose and each other.
2. Storming: engage in an exchange of ideas on how to move forward. Resolutions of issues with differences of opinions. Establish processes to communicate and resolve differences.
3. Norming: accept differences, take responsibility, develop processes or protocols for decisions and actions. Work performed efficiently and effectively. Can have storming but now have tools to successfully perform work at hand.
4. Performing: making successful progress
29
What are C-Type Conflicts?
- (cognitive conflicts): clash of opinions based on different ideas, experiences or values. Further discussion is common
30
What are A-Type Conflicts?
- (affective conflicts): long-lasting impact on effective team dynamics. Personal rather than professional conflicts. Leads to feelings of disrespect, distrust and dislike. Focus on individuals instead of an idea or issue
31
What is Role Ambiguity? (type of conflict)
- can lead to wasted efforts and frustration. When goals and assigned responsibility is unclear and a team member may miss fulfilling the unspoken expectation that others have for them.
32
What is Role Conflict?
- incompatible role expectations
33
What are the 3 types of Role Conflict?
-Inter-role conflict: individual may play multiple roles on a team and may not have time to successfully complete the expectations of both.
-Inter-sender conflict: competing expectations coming from 2 different stakeholders. Ex: VP expects them to implement a 2 stage interview process and regional operations VP they are serving wants something different.
- Intra-sender conflict: 2 conflicting directions to a team member
34
What is Status? (type of conflict)
- if there are great differences in formal or informal status on the team, those with less status may be intimidated to speak up. May go along with higher status individuals, GroupThink
35
What is Social Loafing (type of conflict)
-can occur in one of 2 ways. Team members in good faith rely on one another and unintentionally work less hard than if they were solely responsible. Or intentional behaviour if someone on the team isn’t motivated to pull their own weight.
36
What are the 2 types of Communication?
- Overt - directly and with clarity
- Covert - engaging in backroom or secret convos.
37
What are the 2 Functional Roles? (in relation to team dynamics)
- Task-related activities - giving and seeking information, coordinating activities
- Group-maintenance activities - encouraging the group, ensure everyone has opportunity to participate
38
What are the different types of Group Problem Solving & Decision Making
- Suggestions may be ignored
- Minority rule (leader looks for a few to make decisions)
- Majority rule
- Consensus (preference as power is shared equally with all members but can be a slow method of decision making)
- Voting can create cliques and often lead to team dissatisfaction
- Decisions can usually be made when the person with the job to make decisions can make it. Only use consensus when it affects others
39
What is included with Leadership and Authority (in relation to team dynamics)
- Focused on achieving shared responsibility and accountability
- Results in team **synergy**
- Leader style needs to be taken into account
- Through everyones contribution, they can have synergy
- Performance outcome is greater than sum of their individual efforts
- Assess team practices against what is known to support synergy, can use team surveys
40
What are some Synergistic Team Characteristics?
- support
- listening & clarifying
- comfort with disagreement
- consensus decision making (is it a common practice?)
- acceptance of each other (do they consider the different skills everyone brings to the team to be an asset and not a liability?)
- quality performance
- None of this is possible without —>
clarity of team goals and processes
41
What are examples of Individual Interventions?
- interviews
- 360 Degree Feedback
42
What are examples of Group Interventions?
- Team checklists
- Team surveys
- Facilitated goal setting, problem solving, SWOT analysis
43
What are examples of Interventions for integrating the group with the rest of the organization?
- Strategic planning
- Stakeholder mapping
44
What are Third Party Interventions?
- Conflict resolution
45
What is needed to determine Team Member Competencies and Capabilities?
- Examine what is required: type and level of skill, competencies and experience
- Assess what is available: performance evaluation and development plans, skills inventories
- Determine gaps and take action: acceptable, unacceptable
46
What are the types of Organizational Structures?
- Functional Departmentalization
- Product Departmentalization
- Customer Departmentalization
- Geographic Departmentalization
- Matrix Departmentalization
- Boundaryless Organizations
47
Explain Functional Departmentalization:
- Organizes work along specific function in the org
- most common and fairly traditional
- grouping experts together based on their expertise
- Advantage: Functional experts work with others who have the same focus, mentoring is more supported
- Cons: can be more challenging, decision making can be slower as more functional heads need to be involved.
- Increased control and cost effective is popular with org who adopt a low cost strategy
48
Explain Product Departmentalization
- managers are responsible for the entire product line
- Structure allows to specialize in one area and this area is a product as opposed to a function
- Ex: electronics company who manufactures TV and stereos, manager is responsible for everything including finance and HR
- Pros: Able to control entire business process and easier to access support and expertise when they need it without having to share resources, fast decisions
- Cons: May be duplication, makes the operation more expensive and not cooperation across department.
- Due to the focus on end product, popular on org focused on products quality or looking to dominant a particular product niche
49
Explain Customer Departmentalization
- All about strengthening customer intimacy, knowing them inside and out, anticipating what they need before they know they need it. Supporting customer business success as if it was your own
- Advantage: focuses on achieving customer satisfaction, allows to customize to better meet customer needs. Manager owns the process and easier to access resources
- Cons: Results in duplication and means it is more costly. Cross-departmental collaboration is less likely. Customer needs met at the expense of the whole organization
50
Explain Geographic Departmentalization
- When org span large geo areas, it is often more effective to structure this way
- provincial or regional boundaries (ex)
- Global company that includes for instance North America, Europe, Asia
- Pros: Allows to respond to unique demands and make decisions quicker, located quicker to their customers
- Cons: duplication, most costly. Coordination across regions is less likely
51
Explain Matrix Departmentalization
- combo of a functional structure and one of the other structures
- Reporting to 2 bosses, functional head and the other being geographic, product or functional head
- Offers best and worst of both words
- Pros: Decreases duplication, increases collaboration and tailoring of duties
- Cons: Greater conflict or confusion as 2 heads may disagree
- Ex: HR may want groups to follow one template but others may disagree, differences between functional head and the other leader (ex: VP of HR)
- more efficient management of complex org but needs a higher level of skill
52
Explain Boundaryless Organizations
- with increased global competition and increased technology, org find that they need to be more fluid in their approach, meaning decreasing boundaries
- Leveraged networks and collaboration to speed to market
- Flatten structure, may partner with customers for new products and suppliers to design or deliver them
- More comfortable working in a virtual environment and working in different countries
- Far more dynamic and requires very capable leadership to ensure a collective focus to stop duplication and confusion
53
Explain the types of Organization Boundaries
- Vertical Boundaries between levels
- Horizontal Boundaries between departments
- External Boundaries between organization and customers, suppliers and others
- Geographic Boundaries between locations, cultures and markets
54
What are some symptoms of Organization Design Problems?
- Bad job design
- Bad structural design
- ineffective spans of control - can occur if a manager has too many direct reports
- insufficient sharing of information - info must flow up, down and across org (anyone who will benefit from it)
- duplication of effort - can lead to power struggles, conflicts and increased costs
- conflict between departments
- too many committees - sign org design is ineffective
- slow response times
55
What are the 4 reactions to change?
1. Resistance ("No way!")
2. Exploration ("Let me learn more")
3. Denial ("won't happen")
4. Acceptance ("OK!")
56
What are some reasons for resistance?
- self-interest
- low tolerance for change
- fear of ability to adapt - fear that they may not be able to adapt = not succeed
- lack of trust in the change or don’t trust the motives of the change
- disagreement with the change
- comfort with status quo/habit. Not the nature of the change that is of concern, just that something is changing. Prefer static and routine environments
57
What are the models of Change Management?
- Lewin’s Change Process and Force Field Analysis
- Kotter’s Eight-Step Change Process
- The Action Research Model
- The Positive Model
58
Explain Lewin's Change Process
- most well-known approach
1. Unfreeze: Recognition change is necessary, instil the belief in the change, give reasons
2. Transition: Plan is introduced, empower champions, Involve, Train
3. Refreeze: Change becomes the new way of doing things. Gain Senior Management commitment. Celebrate and Reinforce.
- Important to empathize, and important to stay the course.
59
Explain Lewin's Force Field Analysis
- The goal isn't to identify and communicate the driving forces but to spend more time addressing the resisting forces. (Ex of resisting forces can be a knowledge gap, fear of uncertainty, comfort with current situation or disagreeing with the future forecast.
60
What is Kotter's 8-Step model?
- *Outlines logical change management steps in a linear fashion*
1) Create a sense of urgency
2) Create a guiding coalition & task force to help make the change, get everyone on the same page
3) Develop a vision and strategy
4) Communicate the vision and strategy
5) Empower broad-based action
6) Generate short-term wins
7) Consolidate gains and product more change
8) Anchor the change in the culture of the organization
61
What is the Action Change Model?
- The most common org development approach to managing change
- Research intensive approach
- Also an approach that can enable double-loop learning, opportunity to review and revise the course of the change.
Involves:
1. Identifying the problem
2. Consult Experts
3. Gather Data
4. Feedback to Client
5. Joint Diagnosis
6. Joint Action Planning
7. Action Plan
8. Can gather more data again
62
What is the Positive Change Model?
- other models are deficit problems, focus on solving a problem. This model focuses on what the organization is doing well
- Identify the best practices that exist in the org. Once identified, they are examined and what could be ideas are generated
- Plan, implementation and evaluation starts. After every evaluation, more changes are made, and so on until the org becomes an ideal org.
- Productive change plan.
- Enables the double-loop learning process.
Involves:
1. Identify the focus involvement
2. Engage Appreciative Inquiry
3. Discover Themes
4. Identify Preferred Future
5. Take Action
63
What is Single-Loop Learning?
a project team will take action, review results and try a diff approach if the goal is not accomplished. They continue to do this until the goal is achieved.
64
What is Double-Loop Learning?
the project team will take action, review results and if goal is not achieved, they may also ask if the goal is the right goal, are their assumptions correct? In these cases, instead of using different strategies, it may be better to change the goal. Ability to question original assumptions
65
What is a Critical Path or PERT Chart?
- identify a network of activities required to complete a project
- The critical path has no delay in sequencing or no “slack” (delays of the project) Positive slack if ahead of schedule and negative slack is project is behind in schedule.
- Earliest start and end dates and latest start and end dates
- Elapsed time and labour time . Ex: Elapsed time may be greater than labour time if it is necessary to wait for someones approval
66
What is a Gantt Chart?
- Gantt Charts are a form of activity diagram
- Combining tasks with their start and completion dates
- Detailed charts can be colour coded to indicate the team or person responsible
- Plots tasks onto a calendar, indicating dates on when things will be done
67
What is the Path of Communication?
Sender: Thinking, Encoding, Transmitting
Receiver: Understanding, Decoding and Perceiving
- The skill of the sender and the perception of the receiver will determine if the communication is successful
- Communication is especially critical during times of change and for employee effectiveness
- Decode = Interpret it’s meaning
- Downward, Upward, Horizontal
- Formal, Informal, Grapevine
- Intentional, Unintentional (Non-verbal)
68
What are some of the interferences of Communication?
- Jargon: disqualifies anyone who doesn't know it
- Cultural differences
- Language differences
- Filters: passed from one person to another or intended to trickle down into the org but somewhere along the way it gets edited, misinterpreted or stalled all together
- The “mum” effect: reluctance to communicate unpopular info
69
How can you enhance Communication?
- 360-Degree Feedback
- Employee Surveys
- Suggestion Systems
- Speak-up Programs
- Open Door Policies
- Hotlines
- Intranets
- Webcasts
- Presentations
- Roundtables
Management Training is Key
70
What is Job Rotation?
moving employees from job to job to learn new skills.
71
What is Job Enlargement?
adding more tasks to a job to increase the job cycle and draw on a wider range of employee skills.
72
What is Job Enrichment?
adding more responsibility and autonomy to a job, giving the worker greater powers to plan, do and evaluate job performance.
73
What is HR Planning?
the process used to determine future HR requirements by anticipating future business demands, analyzing the impacts of these demands on the organization and determining the current availability of HR and making decisions on how to effectively acquire and utilize firms, HR
74
What is Extrapolation?
extending past rates of change into the future
75
What is Indexation?
matching employment growth with an index. Ex: ratio of production employees to sales
76
What is a Staffing Table?
a list of anticipated employment openings for each type of job
77
What is Recruitment?
the process of finding and attracting capable applicants to apply for employment and accept job offers that are extended to them
78
What is Selection?
the identification of candidates from a pool of recruits who best meet job requirements using tools such as application blanks, tests and interviews
79
How do you calculate Selection ratio?
Number of applicants hired divided by total number of applicants
80
What is the halo effect?
interviewers use limited info about an applicant to bias their evaluation of the that persons other characteristics. Ex: pleasant smile, firm handshake is considered a leading candidate before the interview starts.
81
What are leading questions?
telegraph desired answers by question phrasing. Ex: do you think you'll like this work?
82
What are Stereotypes?
interviewers who harbour prejudice against specific groups.
83
What is interviewer domination?
use interview to oversell the applicant, brag about successes, etc. Ex: use whole interview to speak about the benefits.
84
What are contrast errors?
when candidates are compared to those who came before instead of to an objective standard.
85
What is the difference between training and development?
- Training is for current, present job-related behaviour
- Development is for the future. For Future Job responsibilities
86
What is a Needs Analysis?
diagnoses present problems and future challenges that can be met through training and development
87
What are on-the-job training techniques?
Apprenticeship
Coaching
Job Rotation
88
What are off-the-job training techniques?
Lectures & Video
Case Study
Labs & Simulation
Self-study/programed learning
89
What is a balanced scorecard?
combines the performance measures of the total organization, integrates customer satisfaction, internal processes, learning and innovation
90
What is a High commitment HR strategy?
involves the adoption of better technology and require investment in training and development of human resources.
91
What are Self-Directed Teams or Self-Managing Work Teams?
are groups of employees that take on functions previously performed by management.
92
What is a Low commitment HR strategy?
involves traditional production methods and low emphasis on development of workforce skills.
93
What is Re-engineering?
is a fundamental re-thinking and redesign of business processes to achieve improvements in efficiencies, costs and quality.
94
What is an organization?
Groups of people who work interdependently toward some purpose.
95
What is ability?
includes both the natural aptitudes and the learned capabilities required to successfully complete a task.
96
What are aptitudes?
the natural talents that help employees learn specific tasks more quickly and perform them better.
97
What is Role Perceptions?
refer to how clearly people understand the job duties assigned to or expected of them.
98
What is Task Performance?
Individuals voluntary goal-directed behaviours that contribute to organization objectives. There are 3 types:
1. Proficient: performing the work efficiently and accurately
2. Adaptive: how well employees modify their thoughts and behaviours to align with and support new or changing environment.
3. Proactive: how well employees take the initiative to anticipate and introduce new work patterns that benefit the organization
99
What is the 5 Factor Model of Personality?
1) Conscientousness: Organized, dependable, goal-focused, disciplined.
2) Aggreableness: trusting, helpful, good natured.
3) Neutroticism: anxious, insecure, self-conscious
4) Oppenness to Experience: imaginative, creative, autonomous
5) Extraversion: outgoing, talkative, energetic, sociable
100
What is Self-Esteem?
The extent to which people like, respect and are satisfied with themselves. Less influenced by others, tend to persist in spite of failure.
101
What is Self-Efficacy?
a person's belief that he or she can successfully complete a task. They believe they possess the energy (motivation) ability and clear expectations to perform a task.
102
What is Locus of Control?
defined as a persons general beliefs about the amount of control they have over personal life events.
103
What is meant by having an internal Locus of Control?
Believe that life events are caused mainly by their personal characteristics (motivation and abilities)
104
What is meant by having an external Locus of Control?
Believe events are mainly due to fate, luck or conditions in the external environment.
105
What is the Social Identity Theory?
Says we define ourselves by the groups to which we belong or have an emotional attachment.
106
What is Confirmation Bias:
conscious tendency for people to screen out info that is contrary to their decisions, beliefs, values and assumptions, while more readily accepting info that confirms those elements
107
What is Stereotyping?
is the perception process in which we assign characteristics to an identifiable group and then automatically transfer those features to anyone we believe is a member of that group.
108
What is the halo effect?
occurs when our general impression of a person usually based on one prominent characteristics, distorts our perception of other characteristics of that person.
109
What is the False-consensus effect?
occurs when people overstimulate the extent to which others have similar beliefs or behaviours of their own.
110
What is the Primacy Effect?
is our tendency to quickly form an opinion of people on the basis of the first info we receive about them.
111
What is the Recency Effect?
when the most recent info dominates our perceptions.
112
What is Cognitive Dissonance?
occurs when people perceive that their beliefs, feeling and behaviours are incongruent with each other.
113
What is General Adaptation Syndrome?
Consists of 3 Stages:
1) Alarm Reaction: when a threat or challenge activates the physiological stress responses.
2) Resistance: activates various biochemical, psychological and behavioural mechanisms that give the individual more energy and engage coping mechanisms to overcome or remove the source of stress.
3) Exhaustion
114
What is Social Loafing?
The problem that occurs when people exert less effort (usually perform at a lower level) when working in teams than when working alone.
