Theories

Question 1

Fredrick Taylor 1911—Scientific management

Answer 1

• Management that is rooted in quantitative measure
• Productivity improvements at the individual level leads to increases in efficiency, individual productivity, and profit
• Maximizing benefits to employer (efficiency and profits) and employees (wages and work environment)
• How to get more from workers
• Led to improved factory efficient and shared rewards with workers but organizational abused system leading to rise in labor unions and humanist movement

Question 2

March & Simon, 1958

Answer 2

• Argue for developing a strong and foundational organizational literature, instead of just resting on psychology and sociology
• Introduced the concept of bounded rationality, which means that an individual’s decisions are bound by the number of alternative available to them
• 3 key assumptions
o Humans are choosers and decision makers
o Humans can do 1 or few things at a time
o Humans can only access a small amount of information from their environment and their memory (bounded rationality)

Question 3

Weber 1922—bureaucracy

Answer 3

• Seminal work in OT
• 3 types
o Charismatic- built on personality of leader
o Traditional- based on established and traditional beliefs of the group
o Rational legal- based on reason, law and impartially
• Different types of authority will have different effects on the organizations structure (orgs based on charismatic and traditional authority are not as stable as those based on rational-legal author)

Question 4

defining good theory

Answer 4

• Whetton 1989—domain; limitations; explanation

Question 5

expectancy theory

Answer 5

• Vroom 1964 hypothesized that employees choose behaviors that have the highest probability of leading to valued outcomes.
• Porter and Lawler 1968 included individual differences, the relationship between performance and satisfaction, and a feedback loop in the model
• People will do what they think they can when they want something

Question 6

future of management

Answer 6

• Doctor et all 1991—International application

* VanMaanen 1989—more descriptors

Question 7

transformational leadership

Answer 7

• Burns 1978; bass 85, Allen 95 (use both styles)
• Rely on vision, symbols, values to move org
• Leaders learn org culture; develop new vision; transmit vision to followers

Question 8

path goal theory

Answer 8

• birth of theory= Evans 1970 Ohio state leadership studies
• House 71, 96
• Job of leader is to motivate followers-influence followers expectations and their motivation
• Explains 4 kinds of leadership behavior (House & Mitchell 1974)
o Directive =lets subordinates know what is expected of them and gives specific guidance
o Supportive = friendly and approachable leader who shows concern for the status, wellbeing, and needs of subordinates
o Participative = leader who consults with subordinates, solicits their suggestions and takes these suggestions seriously into consideration before making decisions
o Achievement-oriented= sets challenging goals, expects subordinates to perform at their highest level, continuously seeks improvement in performance.

Question 9

path goal theory explanation

Answer 9

• 4 leadership behavior influence 3 subordinate attitudes
o Satisfaction
o Acceptance of leader
o Expectations that effort will result in performance and that effective performance is path to rewards
• Assumes that the subordinate will want to achieve goals when they show to give personal payoff (house 1996)
• Different leadership styles can be enacted by the same leader in different situations (House & Mitchell 1974)
• Supportive leadership is most effective for subordinate who work on stressful, frustrating or dissatisfying tasks. (House & Mitchell 1974)

Question 10

contingency theory of leadership

Answer 10

• Fiedler 67
o Leadership a function of situational control and leader motivation-task style works best in high or low control situations; relationship style in moderately controlled situations
o Effectiveness of task-oriented and relations-orientated leaders is contingent on the demands imposed by the situation

Question 11

group/teams

Answer 11

• Hollenbeck et al 95
o 3+ persons, interdependence on collective task, social recognition as entity, team more developed
• IV’s
o Decision making, motivation, leadership, goals, person-team fit, justice/power, trust
• DVs
o Performance, commitment, innovation, group think, shared cognitions, failure, Org citizenship behavior
• Smith 1967
o A group’s two or more freely interacting individuals who share collective norms and goals and have a common identity
• Schein 1980
o 4 sociological criteria of groups=Two or more freely acting individuals, collective norms, collective goals, common identity
• A team is developmentally advanced, have toes to each other
• Research increased from 40s-70s (Zander 1979)\Likert 1961 include groups in or framework
• 3 aspects of team development (Ilhen et all 2005)
o Affective, behavioral, cognitive
• 3 stages of team development (Ilgen et al 2005)
o Forming
 Trusting, planning, structuring
 Issues: team potency, trust, information sharing/seeking, strategy development, team training, team memory
o Functioning
 Bonding, adapting, learning
 Issues: affect/emotions, diversity, conflict, work load sharing, learning from minority and best member
o Finishing
 Team disbandment or reorganization

Question 12

diversity

Answer 12

• Wittenbaum & Stasser 96
o Diverse groups have more access to info networks
o Leads to more creative
o Better quality decisions but the natural tendency to seek like others (shared interest) works against this

Question 13

multidimensional commitment

Answer 13

• Meyer & Allen 97
 Affective (AC) I want to stay
 Continuance (OC) It is better to stay
 Normative (NC) I should stay

Question 14

social exchange

Answer 14

• Balu 64

o Employee commits to org based on perceived or support (POS)

Question 15

job involvement

Answer 15

• Lodhal & Kejner 65
o Extent to which one is personally involved in a work role; involvement as psy-identification
• Brown 96
o Involvement moderately related to job satisfaction

Question 16

job characteristics theory

Answer 16

• Hackman & Oldham 80
o Satisfaction derives from 5 job characteristics (skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy, feedback)
o Influencing 3 critical psy states (meaningfulness, responsibility knowledge of results) leading to internal motivation, job satisfaction, growth satisfaction, effectiveness

Question 17

organizational citizenship behavior - ocb

Answer 17

• Organ 88
o Satisfaction related to performance (if performance includes behavior beyond what is typically role-prescribed)
o Found moderate evidence of more satisfied individuals do more OCBs
o Defined as individual behavior that is discretionary not directly or explicitly recognized by the formal reward system and that in the aggregate promotes the effective functioning of the organization (discretionary= not enforceable requirement of the role or job description)
o Types =
 Altruism-help specific other
 Conscientiousness-go beyond
 Civic virtue-org life
 Sportsmanship- tolerate neg of org
 Courtesy-prevent work-related problems
• Barnard 1938
o Willingness to cooperate
• Katz 1964
o Innovative and spontaneous behaviors
• Smith et al 1983
o Types of OCBs=Altruism and generalized compliance
• Podsakoff et all 2000
o Helping behaviors, sportsmanship, org loyalty, or compliance, individual initiative, civic virtue, self-development
• Future research
o Refine construct (Van Dyne et al 1995)
o OCB at group level (George 1990)
o

Question 18

organizational commitment / turnover

Answer 18

• Tett & Meyers 93
o Strong positive relationship of satisfaction commitment; moderate beg relationship of satisfaction
 turnover

Question 19

job performance

Answer 19

• Ostroff 92
o Individual satisfaction related to or performance but not necessarily to individual performance


Question 20

social learning theory

Answer 20

• Bandura 77 & Davis and Luthans 80

o OB is the intersection of person behavior and environment

Question 21

social identity theory

Answer 21

• Tajfel & Turner and Ashforth & Mael 89
o Social classification provides systemic way of categorizing others and provides referent for individuals to locate self in social environment

Question 22

need hierarchy theory

Answer 22

• Maslow 1954
o Pyramid of basic needs up thru growth needs, can lead ultimately to self-actualization.
o Prepotency: lower need must be fulfilled before moving up; other need-motive theories don’t agree
o Motivation is a function of five basic needs
 physiological needs (safety); sustenance & Bases Salary
• food, sex, air
 security needs; stability and pension plan
• housing, clothing, and freedom from worry and anxiety
 belongingness; friendship & friends in work groups
• need for love an
 esteem needs; status & job title
• need for positive self-image and self-respect and the need to be respected by others
 self-actualization; Achievement & Challenging job
• realizing full potential and becoming all you can be
 Bottom 3 are deficiency needs and the top two are growth needs because they focus on personal growth and development
o Managers are more likely to fuel employee motivation by offering benefit and rewards that satisfy individual needs
• Critique of need based perspective Salancik & Pfeiffer 1977

Question 23

goal setting theory

Answer 23

• Locke & Latham 68
o Clear and challenging goal prompt performance
o Specifying targets for behavior enhanced task performance
• Robust empirical support for model
• Works in other cultures

Question 24

job characteristics theory

Answer 24

•	The task itself is key motivation 
•	Job characteristics 
o	Skill variety 
o	Task identity 
o	Task significance
o	Autonomy 
o	Feedback

Question 25

equity theory

Answer 25

• Adams 1963 1965
o Argued that unfairness related to issues of payment could produce decline in motivation.
o How people strive for fairness and justice in social exchange (Katz & Kuhn 98)
o One of the most useful org theories (Wieck 1966)
o

Question 26

social learning theory

Answer 26

• Bandura 1977 and 1997

o Argued that self-confidence or self-efficacy is central to individual proactivity, hence motivation to act.

Question 27

extra role behaviors

Answer 27

• Behaviors not a part of job description regardless of who benefits
o Katz & Kuhn 78
 These may be considered extra by the employer
 They may implicitly include these in their assessment
 Org can’t function without OCBs

Question 28

organization citizen behavior

Answer 28

•	ERBs that directly benefit the org or individuals not for reward 
•	Organ 88 
o	Altruism-help specific other 
o	Conscientiousness-go beyond
o	Civic virtue-org life
o	Sportsmanship- tolerate neg of org 
o	Courtesy-prevent work-related problems

Question 29

contingency theory

Answer 29

• Fiedler 1967
• Lawrence & Lorsch 67
o Optimal strategy in open systems require consideration of org and environmental conditions-inputs (from env/industry); processes (org structure/systems); outputs (performance).
o Differentiation (org parts to environment) and integration (internal org coordination and communication)
• Woodaes 1965
• Blau 1970
• Dess 1987 explained that the environment is a key determinant of managerial characteristics that will predict manager’s success.
• Grant et al 2011 types of employees play a role in determining what type of manager will be successful