Psychology Of The Workplace - Organizational Psychology

Front 1

List the structural elements of classical theory:

Back 1

Functional principle/division of labor – organizations should be segmented into units that perform similar functions. According to classical theory, if an organization has a problem they might look at dividing labor better.
Scalar principle: states that authority trickles down through an organization.
Line/staff principle – distinction between those in the ‘line’ whose primary responsibility is to meet the major goals of the organization.
Span of control – how many subordinates managers are responsible for.

Front 2

Neoclassical theory challenged classical theory, stating there are more things than just structure. In what ways did this theory challenge each of the principles of classical theory?

Back 2

Division of labor: this might produce depersonalization & alienation

Scalar principle (authority trickles down) – neoclassical theory argues that other systems operate in organizations besides those imposed by formal superior-subordinate relationships. People are influenced by their coworkers & others who aren’t necessarily our direct supervisors.

Line/staff – neoclassicists state that it’s often difficult to classify jobs as either line OR staff, sales could be one or the other.

Span of control – neo theory states it’s difficult to determine how many staff are appropriate. It depends on issues like the supervisor’s managerial ability or intensity of the needed supervision

Front 3

What is modern organizational theory?

Back 3

Takes a dynamic view
Follows a systems approach which states that there are many inter-relationships within an organization (if you affect one part of an organization it will affect another part and what happens in one work group will impact what happens in another.

Strong interaction with the external environment.

Front 4

Modern Organizational Theory is composed of 5 parts. What are they?

Back 4

The individuals – all of whom have their own abilities, attitudes, etc.
Formal organization – what you would see on paper (an organization chart, job chart) or written rules, procedures – what’s written down.Small groups – people in these groups have different status and roles
Status and roles
Physical setting – physical environment also including technology

Front 5

Define roles and norms

Back 5

Role – a set of expectations about appropriate behavior in a position. A role is not the same thing as a job. Jobs often have different roles, for example a supervisor might sometimes act as a mentor, devil’s advocate.

Norm – a set of shared group expectations about appropriate behavior / unwritten standards of behavior, e.g. don’t take office supplies, don’t’ come to work with a dirty uniform. Norms reduce variability in behavior. They make behavior more uniform.

Front 6

What happens if somebody doesn't follow the norms?

Back 6

He/she will be sanctioned. This can be subtle or unsubtle (teased, scapegoated). For example ‘work restriction’ where norms are restricting the work output (people get pissed when a new employee is working too hard (raising the standard).

Front 7

As well as roles and norms, there is organizational culture. What is it and why study it?

Back 7

The language, values, attitudes, beliefs, and customs of an organization.
Helps understand origins of corporate policies & decisions
select new employees who will be most likely to perform
explain why some mergers are successful & others are not

Front 8

What is organizational climate?

Back 8

Insiders’ perceptions, a sub-set of culture

Front 9

Person-environment congruence. If there is bad person-environment congruence, there will be.....?

Back 9

Work overload and burnout.

Front 10

What type of personalities are prone to poor person-environment fit?

Back 10

Type As

Front 11

Describe a Type A personality

Back 11

Struggles to achieve
Chronic time urgency
Competitive, almost hostile
Aversion to idleness
Speaks quickly
Polyphasic behavior

Front 12

Describe a Type B personallity

Back 12

Easygoing
Unconcerned about time
No free-floating hostility
Plays for fun
Relaxes without guilt
Works without agitation

Front 13

What are some sources of poor person-environment congruence?

Back 13

Work overload (mixmatch with personality & job)
Role ambiguity
Role conflict

Front 14

What is role ambiguity?

Back 14

Where you don't know what's expected in a job

Front 15

What is role conflict?

Back 15

When different expectations are placed on an employee, if your supervisor expects you to do good quality work but clients need something done ASAP you have role conflict.
Also work/family clash.

Front 16

Symptoms of burnout (EDF)

Back 16

Emotional exhaustion
Depersonalization of others
Feelings of low personal accomplishment

Front 17

What type of people are prone to burnout?

Back 17

Those who experience much stress
Tend to be idealistic & self-motivated
Set unrealistic (unattainable) goals

Front 18

What 3 things seem to be necessary for good person-environment congruence? (J.O.S.)

Back 18

Job involvement
Organizational commitment
Self-esteem

Front 19

What changes occurred in the 1980s which motivated many organizations to change? (C.C.C.G.)

Back 19

Computers
Cultural diversity
Communication technology (cellphones, pagers)
Globalization

Front 20

Organizational change today consists of......

Back 20

Stronger pressure to change
Speed of change faster / orgs changing rapidly
Responsiveness to the env as a continuous process (can't say 'we changed last year so that's it')
Almost all orgs affected by changing env conditions (chain stores taking over mum & pop)

Front 21

Define empowerment.

Back 21

a sense that people are in charge of their destiny, giving them more power in the workplace. Organizations used to be paternalistic, with employees viewed as children. This definitely is not the case any more.

Front 22

Spreitzer (1997) identified 4 general dimensions of empowerment. What are they?
(M.C.S.I.)

Back 22

Meaning – when people are given the chance to make decisions, they tend to get more meaning out of it, they have a greater sense of personal significance. They get “energized” about a given activity and thus become connected through a sense of meaning
Competence – if you are able to use your skills, knowledge and ability at work it tends to make people feel more competent
Self-determination – feel that you can regulate your own behavior, express your own ideas, work in the way you feel most appropriate
Impact – impact is the individual’s belief that he or she can affect or influence organizational outcomes. Empowered individuals see themselves as “making a difference”.

Front 23

I/O psychologists developed the Model of Planned Organizational Change which states that 4 components of the work setting should be considered to bring about organizational change. What are they?

Back 23

Work setting:
Organizing arrangements - structure, admin
Social factors - norms, roles, culture, management style
Physical setting - layout, int. design
Technology

Front 24

The four components of the Model of Planned Organizational Change will influence what?

Back 24

The individual - encourages some type of behavior change
Organizational performance

Front 25

What are the 2 different types of organizational change interventions?

Back 25

Organizational Culture change
Total Quality Management (TQM)

Front 26

Schein stated that changing org culture depends on stage of organizational growth. What are the 3 stages?

Back 26

Founding/early growth
Midlife
Mature

Front 27

How do you change young organizations?

Back 27

Gradually, incrementally
Systematically promote "hybrid" insiders (people who accept much of core culture but possess assumptions more adaptive to changing env)

Front 28

What are "hybrid insiders"?

Back 28

They are insiders but whose personalities, life experiences, careers, etc give them assumptions that are in varying degrees different from those at the core and can therefore move the organization gradually into new ways of thinking and acting.
“We don’t like what he/she is doing to bring about change but at least he/she is one of us.”

Front 29

What is involved in changing midlife companies?

Back 29

Unlearning of beliefs, attitudes, values & assumptions
Difficult process
Need to create sense of psychological safety

Front 30

What is involved in changing mature companies?

Back 30

Very difficult
Appoint a hybrid CEO (understands present culture but has assumptions more adaptive to external env)
Human cost is enormous

Front 31

What are four critical features of the org change process (Kotter & Heskett / Applebaum & Batt)?

Back 31

SL - strong leader
CV - clear vision
NWP - new work procedures
OTL - open to learning

Front 32

What is TQM?

Back 32

Comprehensive approach to change
Developed for manufacturing, now adapted to service orgs
Emphasis on behavior, business strategy, statistical info

Front 33

What elements are involved in TQM?

Back 33

1. Ensuring employees’ empowerment
2. Good quality = low variability (e.g. fast food restaurant) or reduced variation = mean increase in quality
3. In marketing, customer satisfaction is the goal but isn’t always obvious. You need to ask customers what they want.
4. From a business point of view, all parts of the organization must be aligned: the technology, mission, culture, training all has to be consistent.

Front 34

W.Edwards Deming is credited with developing TQM. He was a physicist but he talked about TQM in terms of statistics. What did he believe?

Back 34

He said we can look at quality in terms of statistical measures, e.g. if you go to a restaurant you want the quality to be consistent. You want low variability in your experience. So in terms of quality you want the same good experience every time. If sometimes you go through you get your food in 30 secs and next time it’s 10 mins that would be a lot of variability. Deming says good quality means low variability.

Front 35

Porras and Robertson (1992) reviewed 32 studies of org change and found successful interventions fell into 4 types. What are they?

Back 35

Organizing arrangements (forming new committees, taskforces, work teams – organizing into groups)
Social factors (team building, helping teams to be more productive, examining the different roles people take).
Technology (redesigning jobs, bringing in new equipment)
Physical setting (some interventions actually involved changing the layout of the office, e.g. changing from office to open plan)

Front 36

Porras and Robertson found that interventions resulted in no change over 50% of the time and what else?

Back 36

Rarely did companies report negative effects

Front 37

Because most of the organizational changes aren't really working, Muchinsky suggests we need to do 5 things. What are they?

Back 37

Improve measurement
Singular change interventions don't work (resistance) so need multi-faceted change (changing one little thing in a big org won't be noticed)
Must include system-wide changes (can't just change on part)
Must include system-wide transformation (the strategies to effect change have to be as rich and diverse as those designed to resist change)