Term
| 1. Is decision-making a function of management? |
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Definition
| Decision-making is a key activity at all levels of management. Decision-making techniques are applicable and valuable to all management functions. |
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Term
| 2. Why do we make decisions as managers? |
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Definition
| A: We make decisions as an attempt to achieve operational goals and overall organizational goals. |
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Term
| 3. What’s the difference between programmed and non-programmed decisions? |
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Definition
A) Programmed decisions are specific procedures that have been developed for repetitive and routine problems. Usually handled through rules, standard operating procedures, etc…
B) Non-programmed decisions are specific to management problems that are novel and unique. They are complex and unstructured. Usually handled by general problem-solving processes, judgment, intuition, and creativity. |
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Term
| 4. Do managers make more programmed or non-programmed decisions, in general? |
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Definition
| A: managers generally deal with more programmed decisions than nonprogrammed decisions. |
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Term
| 5. What is decision-making under conditions of certainty? |
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Definition
| A: this means the manager knows all available alternatives and the outcomes associated with each. There is no element of chance that intervenes between the alternative and its income. The outcomes of alternatives are known with 100% probability – absolute certainty |
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Term
| 6. What is decision-making under conditions of risk? |
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Definition
| A: This condition involves a lack of complete certainty regarding the outcomes of various alternatives, but an awareness of the probabilities associated with their occurrence. Thus, alternatives are known but outcomes are in doubt. |
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Term
| 7. What is decision-making under conditions of uncertainty? |
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Definition
| A: managers don’t know alternatives, their potential outcomes, or the probability of the outcomes occurrence. Decisions under uncertainty generally occur in cases where there is no historical data available from which to infer probabilities or in instances that are so novel and complex it’s impossible to make comparative judgments. |
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Term
| 8. Which decision-making condition is most common? Least common? Most difficult? |
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Definition
| A: Risk Decisions are the most common, Conditions of Certainty are the least common, and Conditions of Uncertainty are the most difficult. |
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Term
| 9. What is the key to making good decisions under risk? |
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Definition
| A: The key element in decision making under conditions of risk is accurately determining the probabilities associated with each alternative |
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Term
| 10. How do programmed/non-programmed decisions and the different decision-making conditions relate? |
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Definition
| A: Programmed Decisions deal with certainty and risk. Nonprogrammed decisions deal with uncertainty and risk. |
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Term
| 11. What does the traditional economic model assume about decision-makers? (2 assumptions) |
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Definition
| A: 1) managers seek to maximize benefits (or minimize costs) (“ECONOMIC MAN”) and 2) managers are completely rational. |
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Term
| 12. Under what decision-making condition do decisions get made in the traditional economic model? |
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Definition
| A: The traditional economic model assumes that decisions are made under the conditions of certainty |
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Term
| 13. What does the behavioral model assume about decision-makers? |
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Definition
1) The manager has perfect knowledge of all alternatives.
2) The manager has perfect knowledge of all outcomes of all alternatives.
3) The manager has a well-ordered and stable set of preferences.
4) The manager has the necessary ability to evaluate all the consequences of all the alternatives. |
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Term
| 14. What is bounded rationality? What three things bound one’s rationality? |
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Definition
| A: Managers are unable to grasp the full complexity of managerial decisions due to both their limited mental capacity and emotions, and the uncertainty of future events. Rationality is bounded by these three things: limited mental capacity, emotions, and unforseeability of future events. |
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Term
| 15. What is satisficing? How does it differ from maximizing? Is it irrational? |
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Definition
| A: managers select the 1st alternative that meets a minimally acceptable standard (this is called the aspiration level which is subjectively defined performance goal that the alternative must meet) rather than going through and evaluating all the alternatives and selecting the best one (Maximizing). No it is very rational. |
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Term
| 16. What is a heuristic? What are the advantages of and disadvantages of heuristics? |
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Definition
| A: A heuristic is a labor saving device, a short cut, a rule of thumb. Advantages are: 1) Time savings and 2) they may produce more good decisions than bad decisions. Some disadvantages are it can lead to to errors, sometimes severe errors that can lead us to faulty conclusions. They can slao be responsible for prejudice and discrimination based on non-job related factors such as sex, age, race, and religion. |
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Term
| 17. What is the availability heuristic? What factors cause you to overestimate the frequency of an event? Underestimate the frequency of an event? |
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Definition
| A: The availability heuristic is used when managers assess the frequency of an event by the degree to which those instances of that event are easily recalled in memory. Events that evoke emotion, are vivid, are recent, are easily imagined, and are specific will be more available in memory (more easily recalled) than events that are unemotional in nature, are bland, are in the distant past, are difficult to imagine, or are vague. |
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Term
| 18. What is the representativeness heuristic? What’s the problem with this heuristic? |
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Definition
| A: The representativeness heuristic reflects the tendency of managers to assess the likelihood of an occurrence by matching it with a preexisting category (i.e. stereotype). It can lead to prejudice and discrimination based on non-job related factors such as sex, age, race, and religion |
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Term
| 19. Under what decision-making conditions do decisions get made in the behavioral model? |
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Definition
| A: Decisions in this model are made under conditions of incomplete information such as risk and uncertainty. |
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Term
| 20. What does the irrational/implicit favorite model of decision-making say about decision-making? |
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Definition
| : the decision maker selects a favorite early on in the evaluation of alternatives. Once this “implicit” favorite is chosen the rest of the alternatives are evaluated against it. Basically, the decision maker distorts information and selects decision rules in order to favor their implicit favorite |
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Term
| 21. What types of decisions are made irrationally? |
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Definition
| A: The irrational model is most applicable to nonprogrammed decisions and the decisions made in this case are intuitive. |
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Term
| 22. What is the basic purpose of a brainstorming session? |
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Definition
| A: Brainstorming helps with the generation of alternatives. This technique is designed to generate ideas, not evaluate. You are trying to generate quantity of ideas over quality of ideas. |
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Term
| 23. What are the four rules in brainstorming? |
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Definition
1. Criticism is prohibited.
2. “Freewheeling” is welcomed-free association, the more off the wall idea, the better.
3. Quantity is wanted; don’t worry about quality.
4. Combination and improvement are sought. |
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Term
| 24. Can inhibitions be totally eliminated in brainstorming sessions? |
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Definition
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Term
| 25. What two creativity techniques does synectics use in helping the group to generate better ideas? |
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Definition
| This technique utilizes fantasy and analogy to facilitate creative idea generation and encourages new ways of looking at the problem. |
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Term
| 26. What is the superhero technique? |
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Definition
| : fantasizing that you are a superhero and think of ways to solve problems the way your superhero would. |
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Term
| 27. In synectics, what is the job of the facilitator? Technical expert? |
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Definition
| A: The facilitator’s job is to structure the problem and helps lead the discussion away from the traditional ways of thinking. They help individuals overcome internal inhibitions resulting from traditional ways of perceiving and thinking. Synectics also has a technical expert present to aid the group in the evaluation of the feasibility of ideas |
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Term
| 28. What’s the problem with synectics? |
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Definition
| A: It’s costly and time consuming. It’s less widely used than brainstorming. It also does not separate evaluation from generation. This impairs alternative generation. |
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Term
| 29. What research is NOMINAL GROUP TECHNIQUE (NGT) based on? |
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Definition
| A: This technique was inspired by research that discovered more and better ideas are discovered by several persons working alone/separately than by the same persons working in an interacting group. Thus, NGT is a group “in name only”. |
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Term
| 30. How is NGT different from brainstorming and synectics? |
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Definition
1. It does not rely on free association of ideas.
2. It purposely restricts verbal interaction. |
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Term
| 31. What in NGT does one try to eliminate to improve the decision-making process? |
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Definition
| A: Its principal benefit is that it minimizes inhibiting effects of group interaction in the initial identification of alternatives. It’s proactive rather than reactive. |
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Term
| 32. What are the steps in NGT? |
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Definition
A: Step One: 7 to 9 members of varying backgrounds and training are brought together as a group and are familiarized with a problem such as, “What alternatives are available for increasing morale at this company?”
Step Two: Working silently and alone, each group member is asked to prepare a list of ideas in response to the problem.
Step Three: After a period of ten to fifteen minutes, members share their ideas on at a time, in a round-robin manner. A facilitator records the ideas on a flip chart for all to see.
The round-robin process continues until all the ideas are presented and recorded.
Step Four: A period of structured interaction follows in which members openly discuss and evaluate each recorded idea. At this point, ideas are reworded, deleted, combined, or added.
Step Five: Each group member votes privately by ranking the recorded ideas in order of assessed importance. Following a brief discussion of the vote’s outcome, a final secret ballot is conducted. The group’s preference is the alternative that receives the highest votes. This concludes the meeting. |
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Term
| 33. What are the defining characteristics of the Delphi technique? |
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Definition
| A: The unique aspect of the Delphi technique is that experts are not brought together to discuss their ideas/views. Rather the experts are intentionally kept apart so that their initial judgments/ideas will not be influenced by social pressure or other psychological aspects of group behavior. Another characteristic of the Delphi technique is that experts remain anonymous to one another |
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Term
| 34. What is the reasoning behind the Delphi technique? |
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Definition
| A: The Delphi technique tries to eliminate the group processes in creative problem solving as much as possible. It tries to eliminate, for example, power struggles, undue persuasion, an unwillingness to abandon a publicly expressed idea/alternative, and the bandwagoning effect of majority opinion. |
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Term
| 35. What are some problems that can be encountered when using the Delphi technique? |
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Definition
| A: the design of the questionnaire can limit the results obtained, it can be extremely time-consuming even more so than the other techniques (several days or weeks may elapse between steps), and member interest and motivation may decline if too much time passes between steps |
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Term
| 36. What is the stepladder technique? |
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Definition
| A: a decision-making approach intended to facilitate group effectiveness by structuring the entry of members into a group. Step 1 of the technique involves the creation of a two-person subgroup (the core) that begins preliminary discussion of the group task. After a fixed time interval, another group member joins the core group and presents his or her ideas concerning the task. The three person group then discusses the task in a preliminary manner. The process continues in steps until all members have systematically joined the core group. When this occurs, the group arrives at a final solution. |
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Term
| 37. What is the stepladder technique designed to prevent? Promote? |
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Definition
| A: It encourages all members to contribute on an individual level BEFORE being influenced by anyone else. This results in a wider variety of ideas, it prevents people from "hiding" within the group, and it helps people avoid being "stepped on" or overpowered by stronger, louder group members. |
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Term
| 38. What are operations research techniques? What are they designed to do? What kind of data do they usually require? Are they an aid or substitute for managerial decision-making? What do managers need to think critically about when they use these techniques? Are they applicable to all decisions that managers make? |
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Definition
A: 1) Probability Analysis is used for evaluating alternatives under conditions of risk or uncertainty. It uses both subjective and objective probabilities. There are two approaches in probability analysis: payoff matrix and decision tree.
2) Queuing Theory is used to determine the optimal balance between the cost of increasing service and the amount of time individuals, machines, or materials must wait for service. It is used for analyzing the costs of waiting lines.
3) Linear Programming (LP) is used for optimally allocating limited resources among multiple users to maximize benefits or minimize losses. The most frequently and extensively used of the OR techniques; LP has the greatest practical utility to managers.
4) Simulation is used for imitating a set of real conditions so that likely outcomes of alternatives can be compared. This typically is applied to complex problems where it is too costly or impossible to work with real-life pilot studies of full-scale applications. This includes such things as scaled-down models or computer simulations.
OR techniques are useful as an aid for evaluating alternatives. However, they cannot replace the need for managers to think independently and to make judgments. They should be viewed as an aid/supplement to less systematic forms of decision making. OR techniques generally require quantitative data. Thus, for many problems where factors can seldom be quantified, OR techniques may not be applicable |
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Term
| 39. What is meant by the term “confirmatory bias” in decision-making? |
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Definition
| A: Most people demonstrate the tendency to look for only confirming evidence rather than disconfirming evidence after they have made a decision. |
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Term
| 40. What is the gambler’s fallacy? |
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Definition
| A: After ten bad hands of poker, the poker player believes that he/she is due for a good hand. It is the mistaken belief that an event that has not occurred for some time is likely to occur in the near future. |
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Term
| 41. In making decisions, do people pay more attention to descriptive, qualitative information or statistical, quantitative information? |
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Definition
| A: People make their judgments using qualitative, descriptive data (i.e., vivid case data or personal experience data). |
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Term
| 42. In making decisions, people often violate the law of large numbers. What does that mean? Why does it occur? |
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Definition
| A: Individuals tend to ignore the implications of sample size and tend to attribute greater stability to results obtained from small samples than is warranted. People often ignore the judgment advice of others when choosing between 2 objects and substitute their own initial impression (brief) as the sole basis for choice because they don’t recognize the importance of large numbers. |
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Term
| 43. How does the framing of a decision affect decision-making? Positive framing? Negative framing? |
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Definition
| A: Most people are risk-averse (avoidant) when the decision is framed positively (i.e., in terms of a gain) and most people are risk-seeking when the question is framed negatively (i.e., in terms of a loss). |
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Term
| 44. What is group decision making a function of? |
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Definition
| A: Individual Efforts/Contributions + Assembly Effects – Process Losses |
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Term
| 45. What is an assembly effect? process loss? |
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Definition
| A: Assembly effect is the positive consequences of bringing a group together such as synergy, more information, diverse viewpoints, checking errors, and substantive conflict and Process Loss is the negative consequences of bringing a group together such as destructive, interpersonal conflict, free-riding or social loafing, domination by a few, and more time and expenses. |
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Term
| 46. What is the optimal size for a decision making group? |
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Definition
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Term
| What are the advantages of group decision making? |
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Definition
1. More information is available to help solve the problem: greater pooled resources.
2. Evaluation is superior because you have a wide range of viewpoints. This wide range of viewpoints allows a clearer view of the strengths and weaknesses of each alternative.
3. Individuals who participate in decisions are more satisfied with the decision and are more likely to support it. Greater acceptance leads to more commitment to the decision which, in turn, leads to better implementation.
4. Individuals get a better understanding of the decision that is made and as a result, it is easier for them to communicate the decision to their subordinates.
5. Fulfills need for personal growth for some employees. They are allowed to participate and have greater autonomy on their jobs which fulfills their need to grow through their jobs.
6. Helps individuals learn new skills (e.g., how to make a decision, how to get along with other people who don’t always agree with you). It helps to develop conceptual and human skills.
7. It can also be perceived as being more fair than decisions made by sole individuals—sets up a fairness image. Because our society values democratic methods and since group decision making is consistent with those ideals, group decision making may be perceived as being more fair than individual decision making. An individual decision maker’s complete power can create the perception that the decision was made autocratically and arbitrarily.
8. Participation in decision making also reduces stress by lowering role ambiguity (i.e., being unclear about one is supposed to be doing on his/her job) and role underutilization (i.e., one’s skills and abilities are not being on the job to their fullest potential). Now, individuals have a clear idea of what they are to do and what is expected of them (prevents role ambiguity). They also are allowed to use their skills and abilities to their fullest (prevents role underutilization). Overall, GDM provides a greater sense of control for the employee. |
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Term
| 48. What are the disadvantages of group decision making? |
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Definition
1. Takes longer than individual decision making and as a result, it is costlier. Since GDM is so time consuming, it may inhibit management’s ability to act quickly and decisively when necessary.
2. Indecisiveness: groups can have a difficult time making a decision due to the natural disagreements that occur between people, not to mention the power plays and office politics that often go on in organizations.
3. Domination by a few powerful members or by a leader can negate the many virtues of group processes (i.e., decreases the level of individual contributions, dampens any assembly effects that might occur, and discourages open and honest discussion of solutions). In the case of domination by a leader or by one, what you really have is an individual making a decision in a so-called “group”. If the domination is by low or medium ability members, the group’s overall effectiveness will suffer greatly. However, if the domination is by high ability members (i.e., experts), the group’s effectiveness will be markedly less affected.
4. Leveling effect (or in other words, compromise) may occur: group decisions often involve considerable compromise which may lead to less than optimal decisions being made.
5. Free-riders are a problem in groups. As groups become larger, the less effort each person puts forth. This phenomenon is known as social loafing. Free-riders are more likely to engage in social loafing and are more likely to take it to an extreme. They are getters who want to give little in return. They provide very little to the group in terms of individual contributions and efforts.
6. With corporate power and personal pride at stake, disagreements over important matters that occur in groups can often lead to bad feelings, ill-will, and destructive conflict between group members.
7. Escalation of demands: people may want to participate in things that are inappropriate for them to participate in. They may want to participate in all decisions as a result of participating in some.
8. Social motives may prevail over hard-headed task orientation: much time can be wasted in socializing or playing that is irrelevant to GDM. |
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Term
| 49. What is the leveling effect? |
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Definition
| A: compromise that takes place in decision making. These decisions often involve considerable compromise which may lead to less than optimal decisions being made. |
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Term
| 50. When does a manager (under what conditions) use individual decision making rather than group decision making? |
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Definition
Condition 1: When time is limited/short.
Condition 2: When the decision maker has all the relevant knowledge and expertise to solve the problem.
Condition 3: When subordinate acceptance of the decision is not an issue. That is, you are relatively sure of the fact that your employees will accept the decision if you make the decision alone.
Condition 4: When the subordinates that would make up the group do not get along well and where there is likely to be a personal conflict (a type of conflict that is not conducive to the decision making process but rather is a destructive force) between the subordinates.
Condition 5: When the subordinates do not share the organization’s goals and there is a sense of distrust between management and labor. As a result, they may not make decisions that are in the best interest of the organization. |
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Term
Rank the following in terms of decision making accuracy: group, average individual
in the group, and best member in the group? |
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Definition
| Best member of the group, Group, Average individual |
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Term
52. Which is more efficient: group or individual decision making? (consider both short
term and long term efficiency) |
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Definition
| A: short term= individual, long term= group |
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Term
53. Where do you have greater creativity: five individuals generating ideas alone or
those same five individuals generating ideas as a group? |
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Definition
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Term
Which leads to greater acceptance of the decision and better implementation of the
decision: individual or group decision making? |
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Definition
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Term
| 55. What function of management is concerned with job design and organizational design? |
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Definition
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Term
| 56. What are the three aspects of job design? |
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Definition
| A: 1) a job’s content, 2) the work methods or procedures to be used in its performance, and 3) how it is related to other jobs in the organization |
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Term
| 57. What is skill variety? |
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Definition
| A: degree to which a job requires the employees to perform a wide range of operations in their work and/or the degree to which employees must use a variety of equipment and procedures in their work. |
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Term
| 58. What is task identity? |
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Definition
| A: the extent to which employees do an entire or whole piece of work and clearly identify with the results of their effort |
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Term
| 59. What is task significance? |
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Definition
| A: the extent to which the job and its performance exert a considerable impact on the lives of others |
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Term
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Definition
| A: The extent to which employees have a major say in scheduling their work, selecting the equipment and methods they will use, checking their own work (quality control), and deciding the procedures to be followed. Autonomy is the extent to which they are allowed to make important decisions regarding their jobs. JOB DEPTH! |
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Term
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Definition
| A: the degree to which employees, as they are working, receive information that reveals how well they are performing on the job |
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Term
| 62. What is job breadth and job depth? |
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Definition
| A: The breadth/range of a job refers to the number of tasks that a jobholder performs. The depth of a job refers to the amount of discretion that an individual has to decide job activities and job outcomes |
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Term
| 63. What task characteristic(s) is job breadth similar to? |
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Definition
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Term
| 64. What task characteristic is job depth similar to? |
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Definition
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Term
| 65. What job design is least prevalent today? Most prevalent today? |
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Definition
| Craft Jobs, Specialized Jobs |
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Term
| 66. What is a specialized job and how does it load on the five task characteristics? |
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Definition
| A: Specialization results from the diversion of an activity into smaller and smaller task elements. This division of labor, in turn, leads to specialists who have a limited area of expertise. Loads, on average, low on every job characteristic except feedback (medium to high). |
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Term
| 67. What are the advantages of specialized jobs? |
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Definition
1) Less skilled employees can be hired because of the simplicity of job assignments.
Thus, you can pay them less.
2) Jobs can be learned in less time, thus reducing training costs.
3) Constant repetition leads to an area of limited expertise, which increases productivity.
4) More opportunities for utilizing the primary talents of the employee.
5) Work is performed quicker because the employee does not lose time shifting from one activity to another.
6) Dependence on particular employee skills is minimized (remember Taylor wanted employees to be interchangeable) |
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Term
| 68. What are the disadvantages of specialized jobs? |
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Definition
A: 1) low employee motivation
2) Low job satisfaction
3) Low quality job performance
4) High absenteeism
5) High turnover (quitting jobs)
6) Sabotage and strikes
7) Alcohol and drug abuse
1 and 2 are antecedents to 3-7. 1 and 2 refer to undesirable psychological states such as feelings of depersonalization, carelessness, indifference, frustration, and dissatisfaction (cognitive and affective states). 3-7 are outcomes of these undesirable states. |
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Term
| 69. What is the purpose of job enlargement? |
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Definition
| A: Job enlargement is the allocation of a wider variety of similar tasks (requiring the same skill level) to an employee in order to make the job more of a challenge. Its intent is to keep one from getting bored so quickly. |
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Term
| 70. What two task characteristics does job enlargement increase? |
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Definition
| A: broadens job scope/breadth, an improvement over job specialization |
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Term
| 71. The motivational benefits of job enlargement are short-lived or long-lived? |
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Definition
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Term
| 72. What is job rotation? |
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Definition
| A: Shifting workers through a set of jobs in a planned sequence. |
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Term
| 73. What is job enrichment? How is it different from job enlargement? |
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Definition
| A: Jobs are enriched by allowing employees greater freedom or self-direction and the opportunity to perform interesting and challenging work. You can give a person twenty more boring things to do (job enlargement) but it will not give the person discretion over his job (job enrichment). |
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Term
| 74. What are the advantages of job enrichment? |
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Definition
1. High employee motivation.
2. High job satisfaction.
3. High quality job performance.
4. Low absenteeism.
5. Low turnover (quitting job). |
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Term
| 75. What are the different aspects of the job characteristics model? |
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Definition
| A: 1) job core dimensions, 2) critical psychological states, and 3) personal and work outcomes. |
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Term
| 76. What are the three moderators that influence the effectiveness of job enrichment? How do they influence it? |
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Definition
| A: the relation between core job dimension and critical psychological states and the relation between critical psychological states and personal and work outcomes) The model states that if you have a job that loads high on the job core dimension this, in turn, will lead to the critical psychological states of meaningfulness, responsibility, and knowledge of results. These critical psychological states, in turn, will lead to the personal and work outcomes of high internal motivation, high quality job performance, high job satisfaction, and low absenteeism and turnover. |
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Term
| 77. What are the five steps in redesigning a job so it will be enriched? What happens at each step and what task characteristics are increased? |
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Definition
A: 1. Form Natural Work Units
-Individuals are grouped together to produce meaningful work. Forming natural work units should increase task identity and task significance.
2. Combining Tasks
- Combine several tasks into a larger job requiring a broader range of skills. This is an attempt to increase skill variety and task identity.
3. Establishing Client Relationships
-employees are put into contact with people who use their product or service such as customers. This is designed to increase skill variety, task significance, autonomy, and feedback
4. Vertical Loading-Most Important Step
- The employees are given more latitude in and responsibility for their jobs. This step primarily increases autonomy.
5. OPENING FEEDBACK CHANNELS
- Employees are provided with increased feedback on their performances by opening up the communication channels. Primarily it’s an attempt to increase performance feedback. Feedback should be a continuous, on-going process. |
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Term
| 78. What step in the redesign process is job enlargement? |
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Definition
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Term
| 79. What step in the redesign process is most important? |
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Definition
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Term
| 80. What are the disadvantages of job enrichment? |
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Definition
1. Some workers may not want enriched jobs. Enrichment may place greater demands on workers and some may not relish this added responsibility.
2. Workers even when they desire enriched jobs may not have the skills necessary to perform enriched jobs. Therefore, you have training costs and it is also difficult to train certain skills required in enriched jobs such as social skills.
3. Enriched job employees may also want greater extrinsic rewards such as pay due to greater responsibility, etc… that comes with enriched jobs.
4. Unions are less than enthusiastic about design. They see it as a new version of “speed up”. Theoretically, job enrichment results in layoffs. Also, unions have specific job descriptions for each position that have been negotiated through collective bargaining agreements. They are reluctant to change these.
5. Supervisors of employees of enriched jobs may have “disenriched” jobs as a result of the enrichment process. The autonomy of employee reduces the supervisor’s job of watching over the employee. As a result, organizations may do away with supervision of enriched jobs or use the supervisor as a trainer and developer of employees in enriched jobs. As you can see, management may oppose/resist job enrichment programs due to a loss of power, disenriched jobs, and possibly even job loss.
6. Potential benefits of job enrichment may not offset technological costs. You have to look at the most efficient method of producing your product or service. Careful diagnosis.
7. Poor employee performance is just one factor in productivity. Rather than redesigning the job, you may have to change out-dated production methods, obsolete tools, shoddy materials, etc… |
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Term
| 81. How does strategy influence job design? |
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Definition
A: The strategy of the organization should drive the design of jobs. Thus, different job design strategies will be needed for different strategies.
For example, if your organization has a prospector strategy (to find and exploit new opportunities-be innovative), then the job design strategy that would best suit this strategy would be enriched jobs which allow for more self-determination and more creativity.
On the other hand, if your organization’s strategy is to be a defender (to hold onto one’s market share through overall cost leadership) you would select a specialized job design because that would allow for the greatest efficiency in producing your product/service and it would allow you to keep your prices down. |
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Term
| 82. What employee factors should be taken into consideration when designing jobs? |
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Definition
| A: Ability and Motivation |
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Term
| 83. What type of motivation is best suited to specialized jobs? Enriched jobs? |
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Definition
A: Specialized: instrumental orientation
Enriched: expressive orientation |
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Term
| 84. What is instrumental motivation? Expressive motivation? |
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Definition
A: Instrumental: looking at a job as just a means to an end
Expressive: wants personal satisfaction through work, growing through work, gaining fulfillment through work |
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Term
| 85. What is the Yerkes-Dodson law? (Arousal and performance are related in what manner?) |
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Definition
| A: Performance increases with physiological or mental arousal, but only up to a point. When levels of arousal become too high, performance decreases. The process is often illustrated graphically as a curvilinear, inverted U-shaped curve which increases and then decreases with higher levels of arousal. |
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Term
| 86. When someone is hyper-sensitive to their environment, what type of job design should they be given? Why? |
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Definition
| A: that are hyper-sensitive would be best suited to a specialized job because the environment provides very little stimulation |
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Term
| 87. When someone is hypo-sensitive to their environment, what type of job design should they be given? Why? |
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Definition
| A: people that are hypo-sensitive would be best suited to an enriched job because it provides them with a lot of stimulation and challenge. |
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Term
| 88. How does technology affect job redesign efforts? |
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Definition
| A: The more the design of the job is influenced by technological factors or technology the less job design flexibility that exists. Thus, job redesign is limited by the technological system in the organization. |
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Term
| 89. How do unions feel about any attempt from management to redesign jobs? |
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Definition
| A: Unions in the U.S. have generally resisted job design efforts. They see job design programs as schemes to get more work out of fewer employees |
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Term
| 90. How do economic factors affect redesigning of jobs? |
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Definition
| A: Required or necessary resources may not be available to improve or redesign jobs (e.g. may not have the money to buy a new piece of equipment or hire a job design specialist |
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Term
| 91. What is the relationship between specialization and coordination according to the specialization-coordination dilemma? |
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Definition
| A: The more you specialize the more difficult it is to coordinate the different work units |
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Term
| 92. Where is it more difficult to coordinate within departments or between departments? Why? |
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Definition
| A: Coordination across boundaries is where problems occur due to different values, goals, training, etc…. In contrast, coordination within boundaries is easier to achieve due to similar values, goals, training, etc…. |
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Term
| 93. What is the primitive/agency organizational design? What are its advantages/disadvantages? |
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Definition
| A: has one boss and a few employees. All the employees report directly to the boss and he provides the necessary coordination thru personal supervision or informal means. This type of structure is quite flexible but breaks down under conditions of complexity because of the limited information-processing capacity of the boss |
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Term
| 94. What is the functional organizational design? How are activities grouped? |
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Definition
| A: A functionally designed organization groups its activities into separate units or departments in which each undertakes a distinctive function, e.g. marketing, production, etc…So you have a specialization and a focused concentration of functional activities |
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Term
| 95. What are the advantages of a functional design? |
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Definition
1) Lots of specialization provides the best development of expertise because of its emphasis on functional interests within specialized departments.
2) Results in efficient use of resources because you don’t duplicate specialists and you achieve economies of scale and overhead. Also, you are more efficient because of your greater focus on specialization.
3) Provides a simple communication network.
4) Simplifies training of functional specialists.
5) Gives status to major functional areas.
6) Preserves strategic control at the top management levels.
7) Provides career path for specialists-functional departments help reinforce and enhance development of expertise. |
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Term
| 96. What are the disadvantages of a functional design? |
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Definition
1) Coordination is achieved at higher levels of the organization. This causes the coordination process to take longer. In addition, the larger the number of departments the harder it is to coordinate work units.
2) No common concern for the overall mission of the organization. People identify with specialty not with overall tasks.
3) Interdepartmental cooperation is a problem due to different values, goals, etc…
4) Cost of coordination can be high (e.g. have to have a lot of conflict resolution meetings between different departments or have to hire a professional integrator).
5) Employees identify with specialty which makes changes difficult.
6) Preparation of broadly trained managers is limited. The main type of manager developed in the functional design is a functional manager.
7) Client satisfaction can be lower than with other designs because of the coordination problems associated with this design.
8) Slow to respond to environmental change.
9) Slow to innovate. |
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Term
| 97. When does one use the functional design? |
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Definition
A: 1. When you have a stable environment.
2. When you have one or a few product lines.
3. When efficiency and quality are your goals.
4. When the organization is small to medium in size. |
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Term
| 98. What is the product design? How are activities grouped? |
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Definition
| A: each major product line is administered through a separate and semi-autonomous division |
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Term
| 99. What are the advantages of a product design? |
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Definition
1) Profit centers allow you to pinpoint problems quicker because you get measures of performance in a shorter time. They also allow you to establish responsibility for task completion-responsibility is easily defined.
2) It develops broadly trained managers (i.e. general managers).
3) It focuses on client needs and provides greater customer service and satisfaction due to its focus on product. It achieves better/more rapid coordination.
4) It facilitates coordination between functions for rapid responses because individuals now identify with their product more than with their specialty.
5) Shared concern for the task of the organization. They identify with their product more than their specialty. |
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Term
| 100. What are the disadvantages of a product design? |
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Definition
1) Coordination between product areas is difficult. Again, coordination across boundaries is where problems of coordination occur in organizations.
2) It duplicates specialists. Remember underneath each product is a functional design. Thus, in a product design specialists (R&D, Human Resources, etc.) are duplicated for each product. They in turn may not be fully utilized which is inefficient.
3) Less expertise is developed than in the functional design. For example, in a product design you may not be able to afford to duplicate the entire human resource department you had in a functional design. You may only be able to give each of your products just one of your human resource professionals. Now, each human resource professional who was a specialist in the functional design (i.e. only doing one part of the human resource management activities) must now become a generalist (i.e. do all the human resource activities for their product). Therefore, we will have less specialization and less expertise being developed because we have less division of labor.
4) Loses economies of scale. Not as efficient as the functional design.
5) A change in product line can be disastrous because the specialist shave not kept up to date in their technical areas since they were more focused on their product than their specialty. Thus, they may not have the technical skills to produce an entirely new and different product. |
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Term
| 101. When does one use the product design? |
|
Definition
A: 1) When you have a highly uncertain environment that requires rapid adaptation.
2) When the organization is large.
3) When the organization has multiple product lines.
4) When the goals of the organizations are external effectiveness and adaptation, multiple products, and client satisfaction. |
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Term
| 102. What is a profit center and what are its benefits? |
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Definition
| A: Product design allows you to set up profit centers since they have identifiable cash flows consisting of expenses and revenues. Profit centers allow you to pinpoint problems quicker because you get measures of performance in a shorter time. They also allow you to establish responsibility for task completion-responsibility is easily defined |
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Term
| 103. What is a matrix design? How are activities grouped? |
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Definition
| A: A matrix design is basically a product design overlaid onto a functional design. The matrix design is structured to reap the benefits of both these designs while avoiding the disadvantages associated with each. So, what you have in a matrix is employees belonging to two groups: a functional group and a product or project group. The functional group is permanent whereas the project group is temporary (once the project is completed the group is disbanded and the members return to their functional group for reassignment to another project group). |
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Term
| 104. What are the advantages of a matrix design? |
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Definition
1) Extremely flexible and responsive. It is ideally suited for fluctuating work loads and it allows the organization to respond quickly to various market segments that are critical to its success.
2) High rate of new product innovation due to interdisciplinary nature of the product teams (e.g. ideas of personnel guy spurs new ideas in R&D guy).
3) It allows you to achieve specialization without suffering great losses in coordination due to functional home and project teams.
4) Establishes responsibility for all matters relating to a project through the project manager.
5) Minimizes duplication of specialists.
6) Integration of project completion needs at lower levels where people have the right information and the expertise to complete the project-achieves coordination.
7) Sets up career paths for both experts (functional managers) and broadly trained managers (project managers). This achieves specialization. |
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Term
| 105. What are the disadvantages of a matrix design? |
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Definition
1) Lose command of control. Top management loses control over activities.
2) Multiple authority roles. Unity of command principle is lost.
3) Personal stress and strain due to ambiguity and reporting to two supervisors. (You need people with high tolerance for ambiguity and high stress tolerance).
4) Places a premium on teamwork. Employees need good interpersonal skills.
5) Power struggles within the organization between the functional and project managers).
6) Employee allegiance is difficult to obtain. You have conflict between technical sophistication and project completion. Employees have mixed identities. Employees experience role conflict.7) Very expensive in terms of communication and control costs. You have to have a lot of staff meetings and conflict resolution meetings to resolve problems/conflicts between managers and team members.
8) Line-staff separation is blurred. |
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Term
| 106. When does one use the matrix design? |
|
Definition
1) When you have technologically sophisticated products or services with temporary multiple products. (You need experts but you have to be responsive to the environment)
2) When you have a dynamic, uncertain environment that exerts pressure for technical quality and different and new products.
3) When creativity and innovation needs to be balanced against completion deadlines.ame as product but in a more high tech industry |
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Term
| 107. What is the job of a project manager in the matrix design? |
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Definition
| A: The project manager is responsible for the project-its completion on time, within budget, and according to specifications |
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Term
| 108. What is the job of a functional manager in the matrix design? |
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Definition
| A: The functional manager’s job is to keep the employees in his department technologically up to date with regard to the area of expertise or function. |
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Term
| 109. Which type of manager has no formal authority in the matrix design |
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Definition
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Term
| 110. In which organizational design type, is it most difficult to replace the CEO from within the organization? Why is this the case? |
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Definition
A: Functional design b/c the CEO is the only generally trained manager there; all
the VP’s are functional managers; easier to replace the CEO in a matrix or product b/c both of those designs you have more generally trained managers |
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Term
| 111. Which organizational design accommodates growth readily? |
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Definition
|
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Term
| 112. What is scalar chain or chain of command? What functions does it serve? What structural mechanism does one use to bypass the strict chain of command in organization? |
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Definition
| A: Chain of command exists whenever one individual reports to or is made subordinate to another.The chain of command refers to vertical authority. The higher the manager’s level in the organization (such as top over middle or first-line), the higher the manager’s formal authority. 1) Defines level of authority and 2) it routes directives and information up and down the organization-provides an information/decision network. Functional abides by strict rules, Matrix bypasses strict rule. A gangplank is often used to bypass the strict chain of command. |
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Term
| 113. What is unity of command? Why does one try not to violate this principle of organizing? |
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Definition
| A: subordinates should report to one and only one boss. You try not to violate this principle because it causes employees to experience role conflict and stress. |
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Term
| 114. Where is unity of command violated? In what organizational design type is unity of command violate to the greatest extent? |
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Definition
| A: the unity command is violated in all 3 organizational design types (functional, product, and matrix) but it is most violated in matrix |
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Term
| 115. What is delegation of authority? Why do managers delegate authority? |
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Definition
| A: Authority is the right to exact action from others or to command. Delegation is the process in which authority passes from one level to another. Managers delegate because they can’t do it all themselves. |
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Term
| 116. What cannot be delegated when a manager delegates authority? |
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Definition
| A: responsibility cannot be delegated. A manager can delegate authority but they are still accountable. |
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Term
| 117. Why do managers resist delegating authority? |
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Definition
1. The manager feels like he/she lacks trained subordinates.
2. The manager feels like he/she is only capable of doing the work.
3. The manager may fear that the subordinates will make costly mistakes.
4. The manager may fear that if the subordinate handles the task well then the subordinate could become a competitor. The manager might be “shown up” by the subordinate.
5. The manager may believe that delegating makes them look lazy.
6. The manager may find that it is easier to do it themselves. This is especially true when the manager has difficulty communicating directions clearly.
7. The manager resists delegating for fear of losing control. |
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Term
| 118. What do the terms “centralized” and “decentralized” mean as they pertain to delegation of authority? |
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Definition
| A: Centralized is the extent to which authority isn’t delegated, but concentrated at higher levels of management. Decentralized is the extent to which authority is delegated. |
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Term
| 119. What are the signs that one’s organization is becoming decentralized? |
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Definition
1. more decisions are made by lower levels of management.
2. More important decisions are made by lower levels of management.
3. More flexibility is allowed for lower level managers in interpreting policies.
4. More autonomy is allowed for lower level managers in decision making |
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Term
| 120. What are the benefits of decentralized organizations? |
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Definition
1. Lower level managers can deal with problems on the spot.
2. It provides opportunity for lower level managers to develop their decision making skills. EMPLOYEE DEVELOPMENT.
3. Motivation of lower level managers is boosted when they’re entrusted to make decisions rather than just always following orders. Their jobs are enriched.
4. It spreads the organization’s work load out and allows top managers more time for strategic planning. |
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Term
| 121. When does an organization need to decentralize? |
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Definition
| A: Decentralization becomes necessary as an organization grows in size because coordination problems force you to make others responsible/accountable for coordination. With decentralization, it allows one to be more responsive to the environment because it provides for quicker coordination |
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Term
| 122. What does span of control mean? |
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Definition
| A: Span of control refers to the number of subordinates/people who report directly to a supervisor |
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Term
| 123. What is the relationship between span of control and organizational height? |
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Definition
| A: The narrower the span of control, the taller the organization (e.g. more management levels) and the wider the span of control, the flatter the organization (e.g. fewer management levels). |
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Term
| 124. What is the paradox of managerial control as it relates to span of control? |
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Definition
| A: The paradox of managerial control with narrow spans of control is that narrow spans of control allow managers tighter control over their subordinates but this loosens overall control from top to bottom in the organization because there are now more managerial levels. The result of narrow spans of control and hence, more levels of management, is a greater distortion of communication traveling up and down the scalar chain in the organization. These successive management levels act as filters in the communication process. Therefore, in an organization where there are narrow spans of control, top management has less control over lower levels of management. |
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Term
| 125. What is the optimal span of control? |
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Definition
| A: There is no optimal span of control |
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Term
| 126. What are the factors that narrow span of control? Widen span of control? |
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Definition
-The manager is inexperienced & has not managed before; should be given fewer
ppl…narrower
-You supervise employees that are well-trained & experience & really know their jobs causes you to fewer more of them b/c they don’t really need you
-If subordinated inexperienced & not well-trained need a lot of help & you can only manage a few of them
-Teachers have wider spans of control in college b/c hopefully better trained & more experienced
-You operate in a stable environment…widens span of control…you don’t need to make changes quickly; narrow if environment is dynamic & changing quickly
-You have a lot of paperwork to do & a lot of committees to sit in on…will
decrease…narrow your span of control b/c more time doing that then are managing; if given administrative assistant will widen span of control |
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Term
| 1. What is devil’s advocacy? |
|
Definition
• An approach that can be used to create c-type conflict (disagreement that focuses on problem- and issue-related differences of opinion) by assigning an individual or a subgroup the role of critic. The following 5 steps establish a devil’s advocacy program:
i. Generate a potential solution
ii. Assign a devil’s advocate to criticize and question the solution
iii. Present the critique of the potential solution to key decision makers
iv. Gather additional relevant information
v. Decide whether to use, change, or not use the originally proposed solution |
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Term
| 2. What is electronic brainstorming? |
|
Definition
• A decision-making method in which group members use computers to build on each others’ ideas and generate many alternative solutions
• Overcomes the disadvantages associated with face-to-face brainstorming |
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Term
| 3. What has research revealed concerning the effectiveness of electronic brainstorming as compared to face-to-face brainstorming? |
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Definition
| • It overcomes the disadvantages associated with face-to-face brainstorming |
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Term
| 4. What problems does electronic brainstorming overcome? |
|
Definition
• Production blocking: occurs when you have an idea but have to wait to share it because someone else is already presenting an idea to the group
i. With electronic brainstorming, all group members are seated at computers, so everyone can type in ideas whenever they occur
• Evaluation apprehension: being afraid of what others will think of your ideas
i. With electronic brainstorming, all ideas are anonymous |
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Term
| 5. What are the disadvantages of electronic brainstorming? |
|
Definition
• The expense of computers, networks, software, and other equipment
• The anonymity of ideas may bother people who are used to having their ideas accepted by virtue of their position (i.e. the boss)
• Outgoing individuals who are more comfortable expressing themselves verbally may find it difficult to express themselves in writing
• Participants have to be able to type! |
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Term
| 6. What is the customer departmentalization? |
|
Definition
| • Organizes work and workers into separate units responsible for particular kinds of customers |
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Term
| 7. What’s the primary advantage of customer departmentalization? |
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Definition
| • It focuses the organization on customer needs rather than on products or business functions. Furthermore, creating separate departments to serve specific kinds of customers allows companies to specialize and adapt their products and services to customer needs and problems. |
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Term
| 8. What’s the primary disadvantage of customer departmentalization? |
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Definition
| • It leads to duplication of resources. It can be difficult to achieve coordination across different customer departments. The emphasis on meeting customers’ needs may lead workers to make decisions that please customers but hurt the business. |
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Term
| 9. What is the geographic departmentalization? |
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Definition
| • Organizes workers into separate units responsible for doing business in particular geographic areas |
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Term
| 10. What’s the primary advantage of geographic departmentalization? |
|
Definition
| • It helps companies respond to the demands of different markets |
|
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Term
| 11. What’s the primary disadvantage of geographic departmentalization? |
|
Definition
• It can lead to duplication of resources
• It can be difficult to coordinate departments that are literally thousands of miles from each other and whose managers have very limited contact with each other |
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Term
| 12. What is a mechanistic organization? When does it work best? |
|
Definition
• An organization characterized by specialized jobs and responsibilities; precisely defined, unchanging roles; and a rigid chain of command based on centralized authority and vertical communication
• It works best in stable, unchanging business environments |
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Term
| 13. What is an organic organization? When does it work best? |
|
Definition
• An organization characterized by broadly defined jobs and responsibility; loosely defined, frequently changing roles; and decentralized authority and horizontal communication based on task knowledge
• It works best in dynamic, changing business environments |
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Term
| 14. What is the key difference between mechanistic and organic organizations? |
|
Definition
| • The key difference between these approaches is that whereas mechanistic organizational designs focus on organizational structure, organic organizational designs are concerned with organizational process, the collection of activities that transform inputs into outputs valued by customers |
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