Short Essay

Question 0

Identify and briefly describe the three steps involved in the process of managing organizational change as defined by Kurt Lewin.

Answer 0

• Unfreezing: getting people affected by change to where they believe it is necessary.
• Change intervention: workers and managers change their behavior and work practices.
• Refreezing: supporting and reinforcing the new changes so that they stick.

Question 1

What are creative work environments? What does a manager need to do to develop and manage creative work environments?

Answer 1

• Creative work environments are workplace cultures in which workers perceive that new ideas are welcomed, valued, and encouraged.
• A manager must create challenging work; provide organizational encouragement, supervisory encouragement, work group encouragement, freedom and lack of organizational impediments.

Question 2

Identify the methods that can be used to manage resistance to change. Which one should be used only as a last resort?

Answer 2

• Educate employees on why change is necessary.
• Communicate change-related information.
• Have those affected participate in planning and implementing change.
• Discuss and agree on who will do what.
• Achieving significant managerial support.
• Coercion.
o Coercion should only be used when a crisis exists or when all other attempts to reduce resistance to change have failed.

Question 3

Provide one example of a common error made by managers when they lead change at each of the three steps of the change process.

Answer 3

• Unfreezing:
o Not establishing a great enough sense of urgency.
o Not creating a powerful enough coalition.
• Change intervention:
o Lacking a vision.
o Under communicating vision by a factor of ten.
o Not removing obstacles to the new vision.
o Not systematically planning for and creating short-term wins.
• Refreezing:
o Declaring victory too soon.
o Not anchoring changes in the company’s culture.

Question 4

Briefly describe a regional trade agreement and a worldwide trade agreement.

Answer 4

• Regional trade agreement: By the World Trade Organization (WTO), are trade agreements between two or more nations; its main function is to ensure that trade flows as smoothly, predictably, and freely as possible.
• Worldwide trade agreement: The general agreement on tariffs and trade (GATT) is a worldwide trade agreement that reduces and eliminated tariffs, limited government subsidies, and established protections for intellectual property.

Question 5

Compare and contrast the concepts of global consistency and local adaptation as policies for entering foreign markets.

Answer 5

Global consistency uses the same rules and guidelines in different countries whereas local adaptation modifies the rules and guidelines to accommodate the host country.

Question 6

Identify the two basic types of political risk facing organizations when conducting global business

Which one is more common.

Answer 6

Political risk and political uncertainty

Political uncertainty

Question 7

Define national culture

List five consistent cultural dimensions across countries

Answer 7

• National culture is the set of shared values and beliefs that affects the perceptions, decisions, and people from a particular country.
• Five dimensions:
o (1) power distance
o (2) individualism
o (3) masculinity
o (4) uncertainty avoidance
o (5) short-term versus long-term orientation

Question 8

Describe what is meant by organizational structure and organizational process. How are these concepts related to each other? How are they different from each other?

Answer 8

• Organizational structure is the vertical and horizontal configuration of departments, authority, and jobs within a company.
• Organizational process is the collection of activities that transform inputs into outputs that customer’ value.
• These concepts relate to each other because they both need each other to succeed.
o Without organizational structure, organizational process does not know the critical information needed to get work done.
o Without organizational process, organizational structure will not be able to get things done.
• Organizational structure is concerned with who reports to whom, who does what, and where the work is done; organizational process is concerned it how things get done
o Organizational structures are based on some form of departmentalization

Question 9

Define standardization. How is it relevant to the degree of organizational centralization

Answer 9

• Standardization: solving problems by consistently applying the same rules, procedures, and processes.
• The more centralized a company is, standardization is more important whereas decentralized companies make standardization unimportant.

Question 10

The job characteristics model (JCM) specifies three critical psychological traits that must occur for work to be internally motivating. What are they?

Answer 10

• Experiencing the work as meaningful
• Experience responsibility for work outcomes
• Knowledge of results

Question 11

How do the mechanistic and organic approaches to organizational design differ? Under what circumstances is each appropriate for use by a company?

Answer 11

• Mechanistic: characterized by specialized jobs and responsibilities; precisely defined, unchanging roles; and rigid supply chain of command based on centralized authority and vertical communication.
• Organic: characterized by broadly defined jobs and responsibilities; loosely defined, frequently changing roles; decentralized authority and horizontal communication based on task knowledge.
o Mechanistic focuses on organizational structure, whereas organic focuses on the organizational process or the collection of activities that transform inputs into outputs valued by customers.
▪ Mechanistic works best in stable, unchanging business environments.
▪ Organic works best in dynamic, changing business environments.

Question 12

Define cross training. Briefly explain how cross training can lead to increased job satisfaction.

Answer 12

• Cross training: training team members to do all or most of the jobs performed by the team members.
• Team members experience job satisfaction from unique leadership responsibilities that are not typically available in traditional organizations. Increased knowledge and information available to teams also makes it easier to generate alternative solutions.

Question 13

What are project teams? List some advantages associated with their usage.

Answer 13

• Project teams are a team created to complete specific, one time projects or tasks within a limited time.
o Drawing project members from different functional areas can reduce or eliminate communication barriers.
o Flexibility is another advantage.

Question 14

Explain what managers can do to manage conflict in teams effectively.

Answer 14

• Recognize that emphasizing cognitive conflict alone will not be enough.
• Develop multiple alternatives to enrich debate.
• Establish common goals.
• Inject humor into the workplace.
• Maintain a balance of power by involving as many people in the decision making process.
• Resolve issues without forcing a consensus.

Question 15

List and briefly describe the stages that teams pass through as they develop and grow.

Answer 15

• Forming: getting acquainted, forming impressions and meeting each other.
• Storming: characterized by conflict and disagreement over what the team should do and how to do it.
• Norming: teams settle into their roles as team members.
• Performing: performance improves because the team has matured into an effective, fully functioning team.

Question 16

List and briefly describe the three methods of compensating employees for team participation and accomplishments.

Answer 16

• Skill-based pay: compensation system that pays employees for learning additional skills or knowledge.
• Gainsharing: compensation systems in which companies share the financial value of performance, gains, such as increased productivity, cost savings, or quality with their workers.
• Nonfinancial rewards: can range from vacations to T-shirts, plaques, and coffee mugs. Especially effective when accompanied with management recognition such as awards, certificates and praises.
o Tends to be most effective when teams or team-based interventions, such as total quality management are first introduced.

Question 17

Briefly identify the EEOC’s definition of sexual harassment. Also identify and describe the two kinds of sexual harassment that can be specified from a legal perspective.

Answer 17

• According to the EEOC, sexual harassment is a form of discrimination in which unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, or other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature occurs.
o Quid pro quo sexual harassment occurs when employment outcomes, such as hiring, promotion, or simply keeping one’s job, depend on whether an individual submits to being sexually harassed.
o Hostile work environment occurs when unwelcome and demeaning sexually related behavior creates an intimidating, hostile, and offensive work environment.

Question 18

Identify two common problems that occur during the performance appraisal process. Recommend one approach for avoiding each of these problems.

Answer 18

• (1) The first common problem that occurs is rating errors and problems with the accuracy of job performance.
o One approach to improve performance appraisal measures is to use as many objective performance measures as possible, which are measures of performance that are easily and directly counted or quantified.
• (2) The second common problem is the inherent difficulties in performance appraisal feedback sessions. Employees become defensive and dislike receiving negative assessments of their work and managers become defensive and dislike giving appraisal feedback.
o One approach is to use 360-degree feedback. In this approach, feedback comes from the boss, subordinates, peers & co-workers, and employees themselves.

Question 19

Identify three things that managers can do to minimize the problems inherent in terminating employees.

Answer 19

• (1) Firing should not be the first option. (Employees should be given a sufficient time to change their behavior).
• (2) If problems continue, the employee should again be counseled about their job performance, what could be done to improve it, and the possible consequences if things don’t change.
• (3) Employees should be fired only for a good reason. (Termination decisions should be made on the basis of job-related factors).
• (4) Managers should record the job-related reasons for the termination, document specific instances of violations and poor performance, and keep notes and documents from the counseling sessions held with employees.

Question 20

What is a performance appraisal? How does it influence organizational success? Explain why it presents a particular challenge to managers.

Answer 20

• Performance appraisal is the process of assessing how well employees are doing their jobs.
• Performance appraisals can influence organizational success because they are used to make administrative decisions, providing feedback for employee development, evaluating human resource programs, and for documentation purposes.
• It is a challenge to managers because errors are often made due to not spending enough time gathering or reviewing performance data.
• It is also a particular challenge to managers because employees become defensive and managers become defensive too, and dislike giving appraisal feedback as much as employees dislike receiving it.

Question 21

Why (in three ways) does fostering diversity in companies make good business sense?

Answer 21

• Diversity helps companies with cost savings by reducing turnover, decreasing absenteeism, and avoiding expensive lawsuits.
• Diversity helps companies attract and retain talented workers. Diversity-friendly companies tend to attract better and more diverse job applicants.
• Diversity makes business sense by driving business growth. Diversity can help companies grow by improving their understanding of the marketplace.

Question 22

List the Big Five Personality Dimensions. How does an understanding of these dimensions benefit managers?

Answer 22

• Extraversion, Emotional Stability, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, & Openness to Experience.
• By understanding these dimensions, it can help managers determine employees or potential employee’s disposition and personality that can benefit them and their organizations.

Question 23

What is organizational plurality? Define the paradigm for managing diversity with which is it associated.

Answer 23

• Organizational plurality is a work environment where (1) all members are empowered to contribute in a way that maximizes the benefits to the organization, customers, and themselves and (2) the individuality of each member is respected by not segmenting or polarizing people on the basis of their membership in a particular group.
• Paradigms for managing diversity:
o The discrimination and fairness paradigm focuses on equal opportunity, fair treatment, recruitment of minorities, and strict compliance with equal employment opportunity laws.
o The access and legitimacy paradigm focuses on the acceptance and celebration of differences inside the company to match those of key customers and stakeholders.
o The learning and effectiveness paradigm focuses on integrating deep-level diversity differences such as personality, attitudes, beliefs, and values, into the actual work of the organization.

Question 24

Differentiate between diversity and affirmative action. Explain why affirmative action tends to be more controversial than diversity.

Answer 24

• To start, affirmative action refers to purposeful steps taken by an organization to create employment opportunities for minorities and women, whereas diversity has a broader focus that includes demographic, cultural, and personal differences.
o Secondly, affirmative action is a policy for actively creating diversity, but diversity can exist even if organizations don’t take purposeful steps to create it.
o Next, affirmative action is required by law for private employers with 50 or more employees, whereas diversity is not.
o Lastly, the purpose of affirmative action programs is to compensate for past discrimination, it is basically a punitive approach. The purpose of diversity programs is to create a positive work environment where no one is advantaged or disadvantaged and where differences are respected.
• Many people argue that some affirmative action programs unconstitutionally offer preferential treatment to females and minorities at the expense of other employees.