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60 Cards in this Set

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  • Back
Describe why and how organizations empower employees.
By empowering employees, a firm finds better ways to perform jobs, motivates people by enhancing te challenges and satisfaction in their work, and frees managers from hands-on control so that they can focus on other tasks. Employers empower workers by sharing information, distributing decision-making authority and responsibility, and linking rewards to company performance through employee stock ownership programs.
What is empowerment?
Empowerment is giving employees authority and responsibility to make decisions about their work without traditional managerial approval and control.
What kinds of information can companies provide employees to help them share in decision-making responsibility?
Sharing information about company performance, particularly financial performance, is one of the best ways to share decision-making responsibility.
What are some of the risks of sharing this information?
One risk is that proprietary competitive or financial information may reach competitors.
How do employee stock ownership plans and stock options reward employees and encourage empowerment?
ESOPs benefit employees by giving them ownership stakes in their companies. Employees are motivated to work harder and smarter than they would without ESOPs because they share in their firm's financial succcess. In contrast to an ESOP, in which the company holds stock for the benefit of employees (when employees leave the company, they cash in their stock), stock options give employees a chance to own the stock themselves if they exercise their options by completing the stock purchase.
Distinguish among the five types of teams in the workplace.
The five basic types of teams are work teams, problem-solving teams, self-managed teams, cross-functional teams, and virtual teams.
What are work teams?
Work teams are permanent groups of co-workers who perform the day-to-day tasks necessary to operate the organization.
What are problem-solving teams?
Problem-solving teams are temporary groups of employees who gather to solve specific problems and then disband.
What are Self-managed teams?
Self managed teams are teams that have the authority to make decisions about how their members complete their daily tasks.
What are cross-functional teams?
Cross-functional teams are made up of members from different functions, such as production, marketing, and finance.
What are virtual teams?
Virtual teams are groups of geograohically or organizationally dispersed co-workers who use a combination of telecommunications and information technologies to accomplish an organizational task.
What is a team?
A team is a group of employees who are committed to a common purpose, approach, and set of performance goals.
What are the five types of teams and how are they different?
Work teams are permanent, while problem solving teams are temporary. Unlike work teams, self managed teams have the authority to change how they get their work done. Cross functional teams are composed of people from different backgrounds, while virtual teams are composed of people from different locations.
Identify the characteristics of an effective team.
Three important characteristics of a team are its size, team level, and team diversity.
What is an effective team size?
Effective teams typically contain between 5 and 12 members, with about 6-7 members being the ideal size.
Describe why and how organizations empower employees.
By empowering employees, a firm finds better ways to perform jobs, motivates people by enhancing te challenges and satisfaction in their work, and frees managers from hands-on control so that they can focus on other tasks. Employers empower workers by sharing information, distributing decision-making authority and responsibility, and linking rewards to company performance through employee stock ownership programs.
What is empowerment?
Empowerment is giving employees authority and responsibility to make decisions about their work without traditional managerial approval and control.
What kinds of information can companies provide employees to help them share in decision-making responsibility?
Sharing information about company performance, particularly financial performance, is one of the best ways to share decision-making responsibility.
What are some of the risks of sharing this information?
One risk is that proprietary competitive or financial information may reach competitors.
How do employee stock ownership plans and stock options reward employees and encourage empowerment?
ESOPs benefit employees by giving them ownership stakes in their companies. Employees are motivated to work harder and smarter than they would without ESOPs because they share in their firm's financial succcess. In contrast to an ESOP, in which the company holds stock for the benefit of employees (when employees leave the company, they cash in their stock), stock options give employees a chance to own the stock themselves if they exercise their options by completing the stock purchase.
Distinguish among the five types of teams in the workplace.
The five basic types of teams are work teams, problem-solving teams, self-managed teams, cross-functional teams, and virtual teams.
What are work teams?
Work teams are permanent groups of co-workers who perform the day-to-day tasks necessary to operate the organization.
What are problem-solving teams?
Problem-solving teams are temporary groups of employees who gather to solve specific problems and then disband.
What are Self-managed teams?
Self managed teams are teams that have the authority to make decisions about how their members complete their daily tasks.
What are cross-functional teams?
Cross-functional teams are made up of members from different functions, such as production, marketing, and finance.
What are virtual teams?
Virtual teams are groups of geograohically or organizationally dispersed co-workers who use a combination of telecommunications and information technologies to accomplish an organizational task.
What is a team?
A team is a group of employees who are committed to a common purpose, approach, and set of performance goals.
What are the five types of teams and how are they different?
Work teams are permanent, while problem solving teams are temporary. Unlike work teams, self managed teams have the authority to change how they get their work done. Cross functional teams are composed of people from different backgrounds, while virtual teams are composed of people from different locations.
Identify the characteristics of an effective team.
Three important characteristics of a team are its size, team level, and team diversity.
What is an effective team size?
Effective teams typically contain between 5 and 12 members, with about 6-7 members being the ideal size.
What is team level?
Team level is the average level of ability, experience, personality, or any other factor on a team. For example, a high level of team experience means that members have, on averagem particular expertise in some area.
What is team diversity?
Team diversity represents the variances or differences in ability, experience, personality, or any other factor on a team. In other words, strong teams not only have talented members but also benefit from the differences in terms of abiity, experience, or personality of individual members. Diverse teams tend to display broader ranges of viewpoints and produce more innovative solutions to problems than do homogeneous teams.
Teams reach max effectiveness , diversity, and communication flow with how many members?
6-7
what are the five stages of team development.
Teams pass through five stages of developement, forming, storming, norming, performing, and adjourning.
The formation stage of business.
Forming is an orientation period during which members get to know each other and find out what behaviors are acceptable to the group.
The storming stage of business
Storming is the stage during which individual personalities emerge as members clarify their roles and expectations.
What happens during the norming stage of business?
Norming is the stage at which differences are resolved, members accept each other, and consensus emerges about the roles of the team leader and other participants.
What happens during the performing stage?
Performing is characterized by problem solving and a focus on task accomplishment.
What happens during adjourining?
Adjourning is the final stage, with a focus on wrapping up and summarizing the team's experiences and accomplishments.
Explain the difference between the storming and performing stages.
The primary difference is how teams handle conflict in these stages. In the storming stage, people disagree over the team's mission and jockey for position and control of the group. But in the performing stage, those issues have been settled, so team members handle conflicts in constructive ways; in other words, they encourage cognitive conflict to solve problems.
Relate team cohesiveness and norms to effective team performance.
Team cohesiveness is the extent to which team members feel attracted to the team and motivated to remain on it. Team norms are standards of conduct shared by team members that guide their behavior. Highly cohesive teams whose members share certain standards of conduct tend to be more productive and effective.
How does cohesiveness affect teams?
Members of cohesive teams interact more often, share common attitudes and goals, have higher morale, and are more likely to help each other. Cohesive teams also perform better.
Explain how team norms positively and negatively affect teams.
Norms are informal standards that identify key values and clarify team members' expectations. But those norms can be positive or negative. Positive norms contribute to constructive work and the accomplishment of team goals. Negative norms can, for example, contribute to reduced work effort, reducedx quality, and poor job attendance.
Describe factors that can cause conflict in teams and how to manage conflict.
Conflict and disagreement are inevitable in most teams. Conflict can stem from many sources: disagreements about goals and priorities, task-related issues, interpersonal incompatibilities, scarce resources, and simple fatigue. Though most people view conflict negatively, the key to dealing with conflict is not avoiding it, bt making sure that the team experiences the right kind of conflict.
What is cognitive conflict and how does it affect teams?
With cognitive conflict, team members disagree because their different experiences and expertise lead them to different views of the problem and its solutions. Cognitive conflict is characterized by a willingness to examine, compare, and reconcile differences to produce the best possible solution.
Explain affective conflict and its impact on teams.
Because affective conflict often results in hostility, anger, resentment, distrust, cynicism, and apathy, it can make people uncomfortable, cause them to withdraw, decrease their commitment to a team, lower the satisfaction of team members, and decrease team cohesiveness.
Explain the importance and process of effective communication.
Managers and employees spend much of their time exchanging information through messages. Communication helps all eployees understand the company's goals and values and the parts they play in achieving those goals. Every communication follows a step-by-step process that involves interactions among six elements: sender, message, channel, audience, feedback, and context.
What is the difference between communication in low-context and high-context cultures?
Communication in low-context cultures tends to rely on explicit written and verbal messages. By contrast, comminication in high-context cultures depends not only on the message itself but also on the conditions that surround it, including nonverbal cues, past and present experiences, and personal relationships between the parties.
In the context of the communication process, what is noise?
Noise interferes with the transmission of messages and feedback. Noise can result from physical factors such as poor reception of a cell phone message or differences in people's attitudes and perceptions.
Compare the different types of communication.
People exchange messages in many ways: oral and written, formal and informal, verbal and nonverbal communication. Effective written communication reflects its audience, its channel, and the appropriate degree of formality. Formal communication channels carry messages within the chain of command. Informal comm. channels, such as the grapevine, carry messages outside the formal chain of command. Nonverbal comm. plays a larger role than most people realize. Generally, when verbal and nonverbal cues conflict, the receiver of a message tends to believe the meaning conveyed by nonverbal elements.
What are 4 common listening behaviors? Characterize each.
Cynical lisetning occurs when the receiver of a message feels that the sender is trying to gain some advantage from the communication. Offensive listening occurs when the receiver tries to catch the speaker in a mistake or contradiction. Polite listening occurs when the receiver acts politely, but, rather than listening, is rehearsing what he or she wants to say when the speaker finishes. Active listening requires involvement with the information and empathy with the speaker's situation.
What are some advantages of e-mail as a communication medium? What are some disadvantages?
E-mail can be a very effective communication channel, especially for delivering straightforward messages and information. But too much e-mail and poor security, meaning that it's easy for people who weren't intended to read a particular e-mail to do so, are some of its disadvantages.
What are the differences between formal and informal communication?
Formal communication occurs within the formal chain of command defined by an organization, whereas informal communication occurs outside the organization's heirarchy.
Why do we pay more attention to nonverbal communication cues than to verbal communication cues?
Nonverbal cues can reveal what senders are really thinking or feeling, particularly when nonverbal cues don't match verbal communication.
Explain external communication.
External communication is a meaningful exchange of information through messages transmitted between an organization and its major audiences, such as customers, suppliers, other firms, the general public, and government officials. Every communication with customers should create goodwill to customer satisfaction. However, all of this is threatened when companies experience a public crisis that threatens their reputations or goodwill.
Explain how to manage a public crisis.
To manage a public crisis, businesses should respond quickly when a crisis occurs with a prepared statement; quickly put top management in front of the press; answer reporters' questions with facts; offer to find out answers; never say, "No comment"; identify and speak to the audience by using visual or word images instead of facts; and acknowledge problems and explain solutions.
What is external communication?
External communication occurs when organizations communicate with and receive messages from key external groups, such as customers, suppliers, other firms, the general public, and government officials.
During a company crisis, why is it dangerous for a spokesperson to say "no comment" when answering reporters' questions?
No comment is perceived as a statement of guilt. It's better to say, "I don't know."
What is an informal communication channel?
An informal communication channel carries messages outside formally authorized channels within an organization's heiarchy. Example, grapevine.
What is a formal communication channel?
A communication channel that carries messages that flow within the chain of command structure defined by an orginization.