Test review Flashcards
What is an organization?
A collection of people working together in to achieve a common purpose.
Organizations form naturally from the surrounding supply and demand forces of their community environment
Someone recognizes a want or need that is not being satisfied in the community (an opportunity) and they start a business to meet that need
in order to survive organizations must adapt though creating efficient and effective systems to produce their goods or services
A common purpose
Purpose: produce good or service of value to consumer/client…. And maximize profit??
What are the three elements necessary to create an organization. What role does each play in the effective functioning of an organization?
Division of Labour
Hierarchy of Authority
common purpose
What is a mission statement? What elements does an effective mission statement have?
“The reason a company exists.”
An effective Mission statement should be:
A “call to action”
Easily understood
Measurable
Relevant +10-20 years
Example 5: Terry Fox Foundation
The Terry Fox Foundation is a national charity in Canada. Its purpose is to raise money to help fund cancer research and support people living with the disease.
List and describe all 4 managerial functions
Managers traditionally perform four primary functions within an organization
Planning
Organizing
Leading
Controlling
Planning
Set goals and plan out how to achieve them
Organizing
Arranging resources to execute plans
Turns plans into actions
Assigning personnel to tasks
Supporting that personnel with resources
Leading
Motivating employees to support organization’s goals and implement plans
communicating visions, building enthusiasm, and motivating staff in order to reach goals, and follow plans.
Controlling
Monitoring work performance
Compare results to goals, fix if needed
Managing
Managers exist in all organizations, and they work with a wide variety of job titles across different organizations. Department Manager, Production Supervisor, Team Lead, Principal, CEO, Administrator, Dean - these are all titles used to describe a manager of some sort.
Typical levels of management are:
Top Level Managers
Middle Managers
Front Line Managers
Top Management
Also called executives
Look at performance of organization as a whole
Pay attention to external environment
Concerned with the big picture
Strategic thinkers
Top Management roles and skills
Role: Provide direction for the organization
Skills:
Strategic Planning skills
Communication Skills (Written, Oral)
Analysis skills
Middle Management
First Level Management reports to them
Interpret direction from Top Management and relay to First Level Management
Raise concerns of First Level Management to Top Management
Co-ordinate multiple sectors
Work well with people
Middle Management roles and skills
Role: To Implement upper management vision and goals, to monitor First Level managers
Skills:
Communication skills
Relationship Skills
Motivational Skills
First Level Management
Workforce reports to them
Report to Middle Management
Performance goals a priority
Often people who were good at non-management job
First Level Management roles and skills
Role: Motivate and monitor workforce in order to achieve goals set out by upper management
Skills:
Work related skills,
Motivational skills,
Communication skills,
Recruit and train workforce
Management Reflection
Tolerance for Uncertainty:
ability to maintain work performance in all sorts of unique situations and environments, including self regulation
Oral Presentation:
ability to express yourself clearly out loud to a variety of group sizes
Self-objectivity:
know what you are good at, and what you are weak at, plan accordingly
Classical - Divisional
advantages and disadvantages
Pros
Clear points of responsibility
Increased flexibility to respond to changing environment
Cons
Reduced efficiencies due to duplication of resources (lack economies of scale)
Can be unhealthy rivalry between divisions
Functional
advantages and disadvantages
Pros
Task assignment consistent with skills and training
Clear career paths
Cons
Difficult to determine responsibilities at times
Communication between departments is difficult
Hybrid & Modern - Matrix
advantages and disadvantages
Pros
Improved decision making
Better customer service
Cons
Can lead to power struggles due to duplication of supervision
Priorities can be confused/ conflicted
Team and Network
advantages and disadvantages
Pros
Eliminates barriers between operating departments.
Improved quality and speed of decision making.
Simplifies workflow and communication
Lean operations help with cost-cutting
Cons
Conflicting loyalties among members.
Excessive time spent in meetings.
Lack of loyalty/ control of important business functions performed by contractors
What is a functional chimney problem?
The functional chimney’s problem is a lack of communication and coordination across functions.
Members of functional groups develop self centered and narrow viewpoints and become uncooperative with other groups losing the total system perspective.
What are the benefits and drawbacks of “flatter” organizations
Better Communication
Faster Decision-Making
potential for conflict, and increased workload.
What is the meaning of work for employees/ business? How do managers have to balance these two objectives?
Employee
Earn a living/ Stability
Achieve/ Challenge and Grow
Meaningful work/ make an impact
Company
Gaining market share
Generate revenue/ make profit
What is the psychological contract between employers and employees
employers
Pay
Training
Benefits
Respect
Security
‘
employees
Company
Effort
Time
Creativity
Loyalty
Commitment
Opportunity
What are some examples of alternative work designs?
Rotation
Simplification
Enlargement
Rotation
Increases task variety by periodically shifting workers between different jobs
Can be done on regular schedule, or as needed or opportunity comes up
used as training approach, so can learn about others jobs as well
Simplification
Involves reducing work tasks in order to create specialization and efficiency
Enlargement
Increasing task variety by combining different tasks to one job
These additional tasks are often done
immediately before or after initial function
This is sometimes called horizontal loading
Enrichment
Expanding job content to create more opportunities for satisfaction, usually means adding planning and evaluating duties
This is not effective for all employees, not everyone is looking to add depth to their job (roles usually done by supervisor)
What are some examples of alternative Schedules?
FLEXIBLE WORKING HOURS
COMPRESSED WORK WEEK
JOB SHARING
TELECOMMUTING
SELF MANAGED TEAMS
FLEXIBLE WORKING HOURS
Also known as flex time
This allows employees to start their work day when they like
Or leave part way through to attend to personal affairs etc
Has been known to reduce stress and job turnover
COMPRESSED WORK WEEK
Completing full time job in 4 days rather than 5
usually done by 10 hours per day instead of 8, and having a 3 day weekend everyday
Leads to improved employee moral, lower overtime, less absenteeism, fewer sick days, and lower cost of commuting
Some possible negatives are fatigue and scheduling issues for personal appointments
JOB SHARING
1 full time job is split between 2 (or more) people
Good for employees when it allows someone to work that could not commit to being at work for a full day everyday (a parent is an example of this)
Good for the company because it allows them access to a talented employee that would otherwise be unreachable
Negative when a person is striving for full time employment and is limited to part time, may have to work multiple part time jobs, and can lead to fatigue, dissatisfaction etc
TELECOMMUTING
Working from home
Facilitated by computers and other forms of information technology (IT)
Pros - increased productivity, fewer distractions, freedom to be your own boss, having more time for themselves
Cons - working too much, having less time to themselves, difficulty separating work from personal life
Advice“You have to have self-discipline and pride in what you do, but you also have to have a boss that trusts you enough to get out of the way.”
SELF MANAGED TEAMS
Can split up the task among themselves
Members are able to perform more than one job on the team
Members can train each other and evaluate each other’s performance
Responsible to each other and to the company for the work they produce as a unit
Pros - better performance, decreased cost, higher morale
Cons - different way of approaching work, how do you deal with a person who isn’t pulling their weight on your team etc
What were some of the different ways “Sally” was challenged with her new job?
The screws
Fiberglass
Time limit
Hot temperature
Working alone
As “Sally’s” employer, what are some things you could do to address these?
Give her clothes/uniform that could withstand fiberglass,let her rest when needed and more positive feedback and reinsurances , job rotation.job sharing
What does the HR department do? and why is it so important for a business to be successful
The main goal of the Human Resources department is to maximize the performance of people - the organization’s workforce.
All Human Resources departments play an integral role in attracting, developing, and maintaining a high quality staff.
Describe why developing and retaining a workforce is such a critical role in an organization
Its a critical role in a company because when you develop a competent and committed workforce and are able to retain it you will have lower turnover costs which will increase your profits
Other than Work related skills, what are some other factors that need to be considered when hiring a new employee?
It is important to look for things such as: digital footprint, present ability and sociability.
What are some areas of work that have laws in place to protect employees?
Employment Standards Act 2000
Limit on hours of work: 8 hours per day OR 48 hours per week
Hours free from work: a period of at least 11 consecutive hours free from performing work in each day
Eating periods: at least 30 minutes at intervals that will result in the employee working no more than five consecutive hours without an eating period
Overtime: overtime pay of at least one and one-half times the regular rate for each hour of work in excess of 44 hours in each week
Minimum Wage: An employer shall pay employees at least the prescribed minimum wage
What are some specific conditions that employers must provide employees in Ontario?
Right to vacation: An employer shall give an employee a vacation of at least two weeks after each vacation entitlement year that he or she completes
Vacation Pay: Equal to 4 per cent of the wages (excluding any vacation pay the employee receives while they are on vacation)
Pregnancy Leave & Parental Leave:
The employee must have worked for 13 weeks before being entitled for pregnancy or parental leave
Pregnancy Leave:
The leave begins between the time frame of 17 weeks before the due date and the day the mother gives birth or gains custody of the child
Pregnancy leave lasts 17 weeks
Parental Leave:
Can be taken by the mother or the father
Lasts 35 weeks after the pregnancy leave
Family Medical Leave: an employee is entitled to a leave of up to 8 weeks without pay of a medical practitioner agrees that a family member is under a severe risk of death
Outline one ethical issue that is being discussed or examined currently in the workforce
The wage gap
Equal Pay for Equal Work: No employer shall pay an employee of one sex at a rate of pay less than the rate paid to an employee of the other sex when,
they perform substantially the same kind of work in the same establishment;
their performance requires substantially the same skill, effort and responsibility; and
their work is performed under similar working conditions
What are the two goals of performance appraisals? How are these accomplished?
Evaluation—to let people know where they stand relative to performance objectives/standards. Focuses on past performance
Development—to assist in training and continued personal development, focuses on future performance
What are the 5 most common employee appraisal methods?
Graphic rating scale
Behaviourally anchored rating scale
Comparative Appraisals
360o Feedback Appraisal
Critical-incident Technique
Graphic rating scale
A graphic rating scale type of performance appraisal is one of the simplest.
It is a checklist for rating an individual employee’s traits based on workplace performance characteristics.
This might include the quality of their work, personal attitudes, punctuality, interaction with others, etc.
Behaviourally anchored rating scale
Uses specific descriptions to rate each level of performance of actual employee behaviours rather than broad categories
Benefits
More reliable than the graphic rating scale.
Behaviour anchors can also be helpful in training peoople to master job skills of demonstrated performance importance.
Comparative Appraisals
This approach is essentially comparing the work of an employee with the work of the other employees.
Generally this involves the ranking of employees
based on their rating - an employee is considered your number one employee, followed by a number two employee, right down to your lowest ranking employee, who is considered your worst, or poorest performing employee.
360o Feedback Appraisal
The 360 degree feedback approach gathers confidential and anonymous feedback from other stakeholders in the organization that employees interact with.
These stakeholders could include managers, subordinates, other employees, and even customers potentially.
Critical-incident Technique
Keep a running log of effective or ineffective job behaviours, pro/con lists
Documents successes and failure patterns that can be specifically discussed with the individual.
Customer service example “took extraordinary care of customer” or “acted rudely in dismissing the complaint of a customer”
