Organizational Effectiveness Flashcards
What is Organizational Effectiveness?
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.
What is meant by an Organization’s climate
- 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
What is meant by an Organization’s culture
- 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
What are Organizational Norms?
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.
What is included in the processes of Organizational Effectiveness?
- Functional Operations
- Management Processes
- Decision Making
- Communication
What is included in Structure & Job Design?
- Work Flow
- Authority
- Span of Control
- Career Paths
What is included in HR Practices?
- Recruitment
- Rewards
- Training
- Performance Management
What’s included in a company culture?
- Beliefs
- Values
- Norms
- Symbols & Artifacts
- Rituals and Stories
What is Employee Engagement?
- 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
What are the theories of motivation?
- Hierarchy of needs
- 2 factor theory
- Need theory
- Expectancy theory
- Goal setting theory
- Job characteristics model
Gallop’s Q12 Model of Engagement
- 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
Aon Hewitt’s Model of Engagement
- 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)
Tower Watson’s Model of Engagement
focuses more on the connection between employees and their organizations: (sustained engagement)
What does Employee Motivation entail?
- 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
What does Employee Satisfaction Entail?
- 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.
What does Employee Commitment Entail?
- 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
What does Employee Engagement do?
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.
Is HR solely responsible for Employee Engagement?
No
Discretionary Effort includes:
Motivation, Satisfaction & Commitment to the Organization
Characteristics of traditional work groups?
- execute tasks, highly supervised, barely any autonomy
Characteristics of Employee Involvement Teams
- make suggestions, have a little more autonomy
Characteristics of semi-autonomous work groups
- authority to make decisions and solve problems concerning work processes
Characteristics of self-managing teams
- 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
Characteristics of Self-Designing teams
- They have the most autonomy. Self-managing teams that also control team design and membership
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.
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.
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.
What are the stages of Team Development?
- Forming: create a team charter that outlines their direction and boundaries. Team members come together and learn about their purpose and each other.
- 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.
- 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.
- Performing: making successful progress
What are C-Type Conflicts?
- (cognitive conflicts): clash of opinions based on different ideas, experiences or values. Further discussion is common
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
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.
What is Role Conflict?
- incompatible role expectations
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
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
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.
What are the 2 types of Communication?
- Overt - directly and with clarity
- Covert - engaging in backroom or secret convos.
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
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
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
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
What are examples of Individual Interventions?
- interviews
- 360 Degree Feedback
What are examples of Group Interventions?
- Team checklists
- Team surveys
- Facilitated goal setting, problem solving, SWOT analysis
What are examples of Interventions for integrating the group with the rest of the organization?
- Strategic planning
- Stakeholder mapping
What are Third Party Interventions?
- Conflict resolution
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