Week 1: OB, Ethics, CSR, Globalisation and Problems

Question 1

Organisations

Answer 1

Can be companies, government, educational, sports team, schools. Organised around purpose or objectives (implicit or explicit). Effectiveness and efficiency dependent on how people work or behave

Question 2

Organisational behaviour

Answer 2

It is the systematic study or individuals, group and organisations that engender (cause) high levels of outcomes for all organisational stakeholders, including employees, shareholders and the community.

Question 3

Scientific Management or “Taylorism”

Answer 3

Introduced by Frederick Taylor in 1880’s. Rise of industrial workers and mechanisation of industry. Systematic approach to studying behaviour at work (particularly in manufacturing)

Question 4

Goal of taylorism

Answer 4

reduce or remove human variability and increase employee productivity and economic returns

Question 5

How taylorism was achieved

Answer 5

Time-and-motion studies

Question 6

Fundamental principles of Taylorism

Answer 6

One right way of doing things; match workers to jobs; train, monitor, supervise, and reward employees; clear distinction of roles between managers and workers.

Question 7

Critiques of Taylorism

Answer 7

No focus on human needs (e.g. social, autonomy, meaningfulness of work)

Question 8

Human relations movement

Answer 8

Emerging in 1930’s as a counter-point to scientific management. Extended scientific enquiry into the role of human behaviour and social relationships in organisations. Widely considered as origination of OB

Question 9

What influenced the human relations movement

Answer 9

The 1930s Hawthorne studies

Question 10

The 1930s Hawthorne studies

Answer 10

2 studies to examine various incentives changes in the workplace on productivity.

• Study one: changes in lighting levels on productivity
• Study two: other incentives such as pay and rest pauses

Counter intuitive findings led to conclusion that human factors were more important than originally believed

Question 11

Hawthorne Effect (Observer effect):

Answer 11

The changes in performance or other behaviours that result from people knowing that they are the subject of study.

Question 12

Contingency perspectives

Answer 12

Emerging around later 1950’s focused on optimal organisational design leaderships style, or decision making style depends on context. No ‘one best approach’ that works for every company in every situation.

Question 13

3 points of Fiedler’s contingency theory of leadership effectiveness

Answer 13

1. Leadership success is dependent on the interaction between the leader’s behavioural style and the situation
2. Behavioural style: task or relationship style
3. Situation: 8 situations (“octants”) identified from leader-follower relations (good vs poor), task structure (structured vs unstructured), and positional power (strong vs weak).

Question 14

Positive Organisational Behaviour

Answer 14

The study and application of positively oriented human resource strengths and psychological capacities that can be measured, developed, and effectively managed for performance improvement in today’s workplace. Emerged in the end of the 20th century. Involves psychological capital.

Question 15

Psychological capital

Answer 15

Hope, efficacy, resilience and optimism

Psychological capital has many positive outcomes on employee attitudes, behaviours and performance

Question 16

3 levels of influence on organisational behaviour

Answer 16

Individual

Group and social

Organisational

Question 17

Evidence-based management

Answer 17

Evidence-based management EBM refers to the “translating [of] principles based upon best evidence in organisational practice”. Companies using good management practices including targets, incentives, and monitoring will have higher performance. Companies using data-driven decisions would perform better

Question 18

Scientific method

Answer 18

Systematic study of observable events and their impact on other events in order to attribute cause and effect and draw conclusions based on evidence.

Question 19

How is knowledge generated in organisational behaviour

Answer 19

Scientific method

Question 20

Globalisation

Answer 20

The growing economic interdependence of countries worldwide through the increasing volume and variety or cross-border transactions in goods and services and international capital flows, and also through the more rapid and widespread diffusion of technology.

Question 21

How does globalisation improve productivity and standards of living

Answer 21

Resource allocation such as outsourcing

Exposure to industry best practice

Improved investment opportunities (foreign investment)

Question 22

Advantages of globalisation

Answer 22

Increased wages for the well educated and technologically skilled.

Improved economic conditions for successful global competitors

Question 23

Disadvantages of globalisation

Answer 23

Wage reduction for the poorly educated and technologically unskilled

Jon displacement and outsourcing of jobs

Question 24

Globalisation and organisational behaviour

Answer 24

OB needs to adapt and adopt to global organisational behaviour perspectives such as the need for global OB perspectives, the need for bridging of scholarship and practice and the need for sustainable corporate values and ethics.

Question 25

High-performance Organisation (HPO)

Answer 25

An organisation that “achieves financial results that are better than those of its peer group over a longer period of time by adapting well to changes and reacting quickly, managing for the long term, setting up an integrated and aligned management structure, continuously improving its core capabilities and treating its employees as its main asset.”

Question 26

Factors of a HPO

Answer 26

High management quality

High workforce quality

Continuous improvement

Long term commitment

Question 27

Outcomes of a HPO

Answer 27

Increased profitability

Growth

Employee performance

Improved organisational safety

Question 28

Knowledge Management

Answer 28

A system that promotes a collaborative environment for capturing and sharing existing knowledge, creates opportunities to generate new knowledge, and provides the necessary tools and approaches by which the organisation may meet its strategic goals. Knowledge seen as an asset that can be capitalised upon. Used to inform continual learning and improvement.

Question 29

The 4 dimensions of corporate social responsibility (CSR)

Answer 29

Philanthropic (be a good citizen)

Ethical

Legal responsibilities

Economic responsibilities (be profitable)

Question 30

Outcomes of CSR

Answer 30

Increased financial performance.

Increased trust

Question 31

Ethics

Answer 31

Ethics are moral principles that govern a person’s behaviour or the conducting of an activity. Business ethics applies this to decisions made when running a business

Question 32

Ethical management practices

Answer 32

• Top management commitment
• Code of ethics
• Ethics training
• Reward structures
• Ethics audit

Question 33

Organisational Challenges in the 21st Century

Answer 33

Knowledge management

Work-environment and employee well-being

CSR

Ethics