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65 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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Three different sector classifications of organisations |
Agricultural Sector: primary sector of the economy is the sector of an economy making direct use of natural resources e.g mining, fishing, forestry,
Manufacturing sector: the secondary of the economy or industrial sector includes economic sectors that create a finished, tangible product.
Service sector: the portion of the economy that produces intangible goods. |
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Effective and efficient organisation performance |
Effectiveness: the effectiveness of a business constitutes its ability to perform a function with optimal levels of input and output.
Efficiency: Essentially denotes how well a company uses money. resources are not wasted.
Difference: the most basic fundamental difference between organisational effectiveness and organisational efficiency lies in the fact that an organisation can essentially use the former to measure anything while the latter pertain exclusively to financial efficiency. |
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Four primary functions of management |
1)Planning: Involves deciding where to take a company and selecting steps to get there. e.g defining goals and deciding tasks and resources
2)Organising: managers organise by bringing together physical, human and financial resources to achieve objective e.g assigning tasks and grouping tasks (people).
3)Leading: requires managers to motivate employees to achieve business objectives and goals e.g influencing & motivating and achievement of goals.
4)Controlling: Function of management that involves measuring achievement against established objectives and goals. e.g monitoring and adjusting |
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Six dimensions of best practice in organisation management |
First three come under element of people focus 1) Leadership: involves influencing and motivating VS directing. e.g sports team captain motivates 2) People management practices: includes extra commitment and practice and treating people well e.g rewarding hard work and success. encouraging and developing through recognition. 3) Customer focus: creating relationships, training and informing customers and always delivering value with the aim to exceed expectations. 4) Peoples practice: involves quality management practices. focuses on customer centric views, reducing all forms of waste, process control, process improvement and high levels of staff involvement. 5) Innovation practices: using innovation through products, services, management, systems production and corporate values without innovation a company will not survive. 6) Knowledge management practice: gaining new knowledge and acquiring existing knowledge through research, analysis, writing and communicating. Combining the two provides a stronger organisation. |
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Types of Management Skills |
Techincal Skills- Task specifiers
Human- relationships, work with, work through, groups and teams.
Conceptual- Big picture, relationship between the parts. |
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Hawthorne Studies on management thinking about employees productivity |
The hawthorne effect is a psychological phenomenon that produces an improvement in human behaviour or performance as a result of increased attention from superiors, clients or colleagues. - Jobs should be designed to allow workers to use full potential - Recognition can rise productivity as it makes the workers feel valued. -"cow gives more milk, and so satisfied worker give more" |
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Mcgregors Theory X and Theory Y Assumptions about workers |
Theory X and Theory Y represent two sets of assumptions about human nature and human behaviour that are relevant to the practice of management.
Theory X: represents a negative view of human nature that assumes individuals generally dislike work, are irresponsible and require close supervision to do their jobs.
Theory Y: denotes a positive view of human nature and assumes individuals are generally industrious, creative and able to assume responsibility and exercise self-control in their jobs. |
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Different components of Attitude |
It is important to understand the components of attitudes when attempting to change attitudes.
Cognition (thoughts): Includes beliefs, opinions and information the person has about the object of the attitude, such as knowledge of what a job entails and opinions about personal abilities. Affects (feelings): is the persons emotions or feeling about the object of the attitude, such as enjoying or hating a job. Behaviour: This component of attitude is the persons intention to behave towards the object of the attitude in a certain way. |
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Potential perceptual distortions that can lead to errors in perceptual judgement |
Stereotyping: The tenancy to assign and individual to a group or broad category and then to attribute widely held generations about the group to the individual. negative stereotypes can prevent talented people from advancing in an organisation and fully contributing their talents to the organisations success.
The halo effect: Occurs when the perceiver develops an overall impression of a person or situation based on one attribute, either favourable or unfavourable. In other words, a halo blinds the perciever to other attributes that should be used in generating a more complete assessment, it can play a significant role in performance appraisal.
Projection: is the tenancy of percievers to see their own personal traits in other people- they project their own needs, feeling, values and attitudes in their judgement of others.
Perceptual Defense: is the tenancy of percievers to protect themselves by disregarding ideas, objects of people that are threatening to them. People tend to disregard things that are disturbing. In essence, people develop blind spots in the perceptual process so that negative sensory data do not hurt them. |
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Three factors that can influence the attributes an employee may make about a colleagues behaviour |
Attributions are judgements about what caused a persons behaviour either characteristics of the person or the situation.
Distinctiveness: whether the behaviour is unusual for that person. If it is distinctive the perciever will probably make an external attribution.
Consensus: whether other people tend to respond in similar ways this person will also most likely make an external attribution it will seem that the situation produces the type of behaviour seen.
Consistency: people have a history of behaving in the same way people make internal attributions about this influence.
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The role that motivation can play in a worker releasing high levels of potential productivity |
Motivation refers to the forces either within or external to a person that around enthusiasm and persistence to pursue a certain course of action.
- What prompts people to initiate action, what influences their choice of action and why they persist in that action over time. - Find the right combination of motivational techniques and rewards to satisfy and encourage employee - Needs to fulfill (maslows hierarchy of needs), behaviour to fulfill needs, rewards that satisfy needs. |
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Difference between intrinsic and extrinsic rewards |
- Intrinsic: satisfaction a person receives in the process of performing a particular action. The completion of a complex task may bestow a pleasant feeling of accomplishment, or solving a problem that benefits others may fulfill a personal mission.
- Extrinsic: a reward that is tangible and visible to others. Extrinsic rewards are given by another person, typically a manager and include promotions and pay increases. |
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Difference between Herzbergs motivating and hygiene factors |
What disatisfies (hygiene factors): - Working conditions - Pay and security - Company policies - Supervisors - Interpersonal relationships
What motivates: - Achievement - Recognition - Responsibility - Work itself - Personal growth
If you want to truly motivate your team he believes you must focus on satisfaction factors. |
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Adams Equity theory |
Equity theory proposes that people are motivated to seek social equity in the rewards they expect for performance. Inequity occurs when the input-outcome ratios are out of balance.
Common ways to reduce percieved inequity are to: - Change work effort - Change outcomes - Change perceptions - Leave the job |
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Four causes of stress in the workplace |
Task demands: arise from the tasks required of a person holding a particular jobe.g over work, time constraints. Doctors
Physical demands: Associated with the setting in which individuals works e.g some people must cope with work in a poorly designed. poultry processing can lead to injury
Role Demands: challenges associated with a role- that is, the set of behaviours expected of a person because of their position in the group. Role ambiguity (uncertain about what behaviour is expected of them), Role conflict ( when an individual percieves incompatible demands from others)
Interpersonal demands: stressors associated with relationships in the organisation. people clash and cannot see eye to eye. |
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How a is a team different to a group |
Team- A unit of two or more people who interact and coordinate their work to accomplish a specific goal. - Shares or rotates leadership roles - Individual and mutual accountability - Specific team vision or purpose - Collective work product - Meeting encourage open-ended discussion and problem solving - Discusses, decides, shares work
Group: has a designated strong leader - Individual accountability - Identical purpose for group and organisation individual work products - Runs efficient meetings - Discusses, decides, delegates work to individuals
e.g Pocketsmith Dunedin technology based entrepreneurs creating business providing software product delivered over the internet. deep understanding of each other strengths, truly committed to working together. Team bound working goals an friendship |
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Define the terms vertical team, horizontal team, task force and virtual team |
Vertical teams: Composed for a manager and his or her employees in the formal chain or command. each departments are designed to attain specific goals through members.
Horizontal teams: employees from about the same hierarchical level but from different areas of expertise.
Task Force: A temporary team or committee formed to solve specific short-term problem involving several departments - Based on personal qualifications for solving problem
Virtual team: A team that uses computer technology and groupware so that geographically distant member can collaborate on projects and reach common goals. - use email, blog , instant messaging to collaborate and perform their work. |
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Five stages of team development |
Forming: stage of team development characterized by orientation and acquaintance Storming: stage of team development in which individual personalities and roles and resulting conflicts emerge. Norming: stage in which conflicts developed during the storming stage are resolved and team harmony and unity emerge. Performing: the stage in which members focus on problem solving and accomplishing the teams assigned task. Adjourning: the stage in which members prepare for the teams disbandment. |
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Four common causes of conflict within a team |
1) Competition over resources- money, information or supplies 2) Different goals- because people are pursuing different goals 3) Communication breakdowns 4) Trust broken- if members feel they are being left out of important |
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Five stage of handling conflict team members may use |
Competing style: reflects assertiveness to get ones own way, should be used when quick, decisive action is vital on important issues Avoiding style: reflects neither assertiveness nor cooperativeness. Compromising style: reflects modern amount of both assertiveness and cooperativeness. appropriate when the goals on both side are equally important, when needed to arrive at solutions under time pressure. Accommodating style: reflect high degree of cooperativeness, which works best when people realize they are wrong, when an issue is more important to others than oneself and when maintaining harmony is especially important. Collaborating Style: reflects both high degree of assertiveness and cooperativeness. enables both parties to win, although may require substantial bargaining and negotiation. important when both sets of concern are too important to be compromised. |
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Describe two types of upward organisational communication, two types of downward organisational communication; and two types of horizontal organisation communication |
Upward communication:Includes messages that flow from the lower to the higher levels in organisational communication. 1. Problem expecations 2. Suggestions for improvement.
Downward communication: messages and information sent from top management down to employees. 1. Implementation of goals and strategies 2. Performance feedback
Horizontal communication: is the lateral or diagonal exchange of messages among peers or co-workers. 1. Intradepartmental problem solving 2. Change initiatives and improvements |
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Elements of the communication process |
Encode: select symbols which to compose a message Message: the tangible formulation of an idea to be sent to a reciever Channel: the carrier of a communication Decode: to translate the symbols used in message for the purpose of interpreting its meaning Feedback: a response by the receiver to the senders communication. Without feedback the communication is one-way. |
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2 channels of communication that have high levels of richness and 2 channels of communication that have low levels of richness |
High level richness communication channels advantage - personal two way, fast feedback disadvantage- no record, spontaneous and distribution hard 1. Face to face talk 2. telephone conversation
Low level richness communication channels advantage- provides record, permeditated, easily distributed disadvantages- impersonal, one way and slow feedback. 1. Memos and letter 2. Formal reports and bulletins |
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Five behaviours of an effective listener |
Listening: one of the most important for a managers communication to both employees and customer. 75% of effective communication is listening. Listen actively. Resist distractions: fights or avoids distractions; tolerates bad habits, knows how to concentrate. Be responsive: nods, shows interests, give and take, give positive feedback Capitalizes on that fact thought is faster than speech: challenges, anticipates, mentally summarizes, weighs evidence, and listens between the lines. Hold ones fire; does not judge until comprehension is complete. |
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Five aspects of body language we use to communicate non-verbally |
Non-verbal communication: refers to messages sent through human actions and behaviour rather than words.
- Facial expressions: expressive emotions without saying a word. e.g anger - Body movements and posture: the way you move and carry yourself that communicates a wealth of information to the world. e.g posture - Gestures: are woven into the fabric of our daily lives. can be different across cultures (misinterpretation) - Eye contact: since the visual sense is dominant for most people; eye contact can be the most important to be careful to avoid misinterpretation. e.g attraction, interest - Voice: its not what you say its HOW you say it. tone of voice e.g indicating sarcasm, anger, affection. |
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Four individual barriers to communication |
Interpersonal dynamics: problems with emotions and perceptions held by employees. channels and media: selecting the wrong channel for sending a communication can be a problem. e.g emotional better transmitted face to face. Semantics: the meaning of words and the way they are used. Inconsistent cues: if ones facial expression does not reflect ones words the communication will contain noise and uncertainty. |
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Leadership and its importance for organisations |
Is defined as the ability to influence people towards the attainment of organisational goals.
- Evolves as the needs for organisations change. -people activity. - Dynamic and involves the use of power to influence.
Three stand out aspects that give it importance for organisations 1) People: leadership occurs among people 2) Influence: involves the use of influence 3) Goals: leadership is used to attain goals
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Difference between Management and leadership |
Leadership: the ability to influence people toward the attainment of organisational goals
Management: the attainment of organisational goals in an effective and efficient manner through planning, organising,leading and controlling organisational resources.
Differences: - Management power comes from organisational structure, promotes stability, order and problem solving within the structure. - Leadership power comes from personal sources that are not invested in an organisation e.g. personal interests, goals and values. - Leadership power promotes vision, creativity and change in the organisation - A manager takes care of where you are; a leader takes you to a new place. - Source of power- a leader can influence behaviour of others. |
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Five sources of power |
Legitimate: power coming from a formal management position Reward: stems from the authority bestow rewards on other people. formal rewards such as pay rise or promotions. rewards such as praise and recognition. to influence employee behaviour. Coercive: power that stems from the authority to punish or recommend punishment. have the right to fire or denote employees. Expert: power that stems from special knowledge of or skills in the tasks performed by employees. if expert employees go along with recommendations. Referent: Power that results from characteristics that command employees identification, respect, admiration so they wish to emulate the leader. |
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Impact of using and open-systems perspective to think about the organisation |
Focuses on relationships and external environment. - External environment is the elements that make up the layers among the organisation that have a direct effect on it and organisation can not control it. - Systems have multiple flow on effects. - Contingency view takes into account how to deal with the external environment and also how to have a good relationship. - Allows the organisation to be open and prepared and react appropriately to changes. e.g economic turn down. |
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The six dimensions of the organisations general envrionment |
General environment: Outer layer of the environment, dimensions that influence the organisation over time but often a) Socio cultural: ethnicity/race, age, workforce participation b) Economic: politcal economy, economic health of counrties. c) legal/political: international, national & local, regulations d) Technological: science, technology, knowledge e) Natural: all elements that occur naturally water, air, climate Influences ll other aspects of the external environment or has the potential too. f) International: events, practices etc orginating in other countries, influences all other aspects of the external environment |
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Four dimensions of the organisations task environment |
Task environment: includes those sectors that have a direct working relationship with the organisation, among their customers, competitors, suppliers and the labour market. a) Customers: acquire goods or services from the organisation. determine organisation success based on outputs. b) Labour market- represents people in the environment who can be hired to work for the organisation. c) Competitors: other organisations in the same industry or type of business that provide goods or services to the same set of customers. d) Suppliers: provide raw material and organisation uses to produce outputs. |
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Ethics and how ethical behaviour relates to behaviour governed by law and free choice |
Ethics: the code of moral principles and values that governs the behaviour of a person or a group with respect to what is right or wrong
Codified law: Values and standards are written into the legal system and are enforced in the courts. Companies must behave a certain way/ (enron)
The domain of free choice: Law has no say in behaviour of an organisation or individual and therefore has there is complete freedom. (managers choice of where to eat)
Between these two areas^. This domain has no specific laws, yet it does have standards of conduct based on shared principles and values about moral conduct that guide an individual or company. An ethically acceptable decision is both legally and morally acceptable to the larger community. |
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Utilitarian, individualism, moral-rights, and justice approaches for ethical decision making. |
Utilitarian: Greatest good for greatest number, action based on consequences, ethical course of action is the one resulting in greatest net 'utility' for the most possible people.
Individualism: Actions are ethical when they promote individuals best long term interest, which lead to the greater good. Leads to honest and integrity. closet to free choice.
Moral rights: An ethically correct decisions is one that best maintains the rights of those people affected bu them. Fundamental rights & liberties.
Justice: Standards of equity, fairness and impartiality (distributive, procedural, compensatory) |
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The three pillars of sustainable development |
Sustainability development: innovative ways to create wealth at the same time they are preserving natural resources. Triple bottom line performance of an organisation involves measuring three types of outcomes of an organisation activities: Financial, environmental and community/social
Three pillars/example Orokonui ecosanctuary
Environmental outcomes: - Sustainable resource use- reduce waste, renewable - Energy use - Pollution Orokonui minimize the environmental impact of physical spaces and resources.
Social/community outcomes: - Impact on the communities in which they operate e.g customers - Impact on the communities they connect to in some way. Suppliers Orokonui connects different stakeholders, relationships of trust, education and hires locally.
Economic/financial outcomes : A sustainable and variable business. internal-profit and funding, external-adding value for others. Orokonui has a huge amount of eco-sanctuary sponsors such as Otago daily times. Also their shop, cafe and visitor center. |
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Relationship between innovation and entrepreneurship |
Entrepreneurship: The process of initiating a business venture, organisaing the necessary resources, and assuming the associated risks and rewards
Innovation: The process of creating something new- central to the entrepreneurial process.
- Entrepreneur thrive on innovation - Innovative to solve problems and solve issues, develop original/new ideas & implement solutions. - Active entrepreneurship and innovation are very important to the health and well-being of a countries economy. e.g the Callaghan innovation website.
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Difference between entrepreneurship and social entrepreneurship |
Entreprenuership: the process of initiating a business venture, organising the necessary resources, and assuming the associated risks and rewards. e.g Richard Branson risk taker, enter new territories, improve peoples lives.
Social entrepreneurship: A leader who is committed to both good business and positive social change. e.g Otago Youth wellness trust.
Difference: - A social entrepreneur uses entrepreneurial skills to create a social change. - Business entrepreneur typically measures profit and return, a social entrepreneur assesses success in terms of the impacts he/she has on society as well as profit and return. - Social entrepreneurs: non-profit and citizen groups, many now are working in the private and government sectors and making important impacts. - Entrepreneurs improve commercial markets - Social entrepneurs improve social conditions. |
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Describe five reasons for becoming an entrepreneur |
- You want to be pioneer not a settler - Solve important problems, develop innovative ideas and implementing the solutions to make peoples lives easier/help people. -create your own job and choose the type of job that suit you.(flexible) - Financial success: pursue financial rewards. no income restrictions. - You want to have an impact. making every decision will have direct impact on your company. take risks. |
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Contribution of SWOT analysis makes to the strategic management process |
Strategic management process describes a set of decisions and actions designed to meet organizational goals at the time as responding to forces active within internal and external environment. SWOT analysis is a structured planning method used to evaluate strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Looks at external and internal factors that are favorable and unfavorable to achieve certain objectives. IMPORTANT in strategic management process because an organization can inform later steps in planning to achieve the objective dependent on what was found in the SWOT. |
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Describe key questions associated with the three levels of strategy. |
Corporate Level Strategy: What business are we in? Describing what business the company is in/setting the overall structure systems and processes. e.g. optimizing company operations and profitability and growth. Business Level Strategy: How do we compete? (Textiles unit, chemical unit, auto parts unit) Deciding how to compete/identifying competitive advantage and selecting key success factors. E.g. becoming a low price leader, achieve differentiation in quality or other desirable features, or focus on promotion. Functional Level Strategy: How do we support the business level strategy? (Finance, R&D, Manufacturing, Marketing) Co-ordination of company departments or areas to support achievement of business strategy and objectives. |
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Concept of 'Core Competence' |
Core Competence: A business activity that an organization does particularly well in comparison to competitors. - It is the expertise the organisation has that it's competitors do not have. It may be that the organisation has better research and development tools to allow for great innovation - they have technological know how (more up to date) and processes have efficiency and customer service is good. E.g. Sistema - plastic manufacturer. Upgraded operations as they now have 650 tonne injection molding machine to boost manufacturing operations in NZ |
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Describe porters three competitive strategies. |
Differentiation: distinguish products/services from competitors. e.g. new machine allows them to create larger more diverse range of large heavy-duty plastic products. Cost Leadership: consistently cheaper than competitors. More efficient, cut costs. e.g. Sistema's new molding machine can produce one bin in every 20 seconds compare to old machine using 2 minutes per bin. Focus: concentrate on a specific market or buyer group - differentiation, cost leadership. E.g. they have a 20 million dollar deal with the warehouse for 3 years and therefore 6 million dollar investment will help supply to the warehouse but also increase exports. Sistema have growing brand awareness. People who stock sistema now can say they are stocking handmade NZ products. |
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Three key roles of management identified by Henry Mintzberg |
1. INTERPERSONAL: these roles involve providing information and ideas. - Figurehead: as a manager you have social ceremonial and legal responsibilities. Your expected to be a source of inspiration. People look up to you as a person with authority. - Leader: Where you provide leadership for your team, department or even the whole organisation. It's where you manage the performance and responsibilities of everyone in the group. - Liason: managers must communicate with internal & external contacts. Need to be able to network effectively on behalf of your organisation. 2. INFOMATIONAL: these roles involve processing information. - Monitor: you regularly seek out information related to your organization and industry looking for relevant changes in environment. Also monitor your team in terms of their well being and productivity. - Dissemintor: communicate potentially useful info to your colleagues and your team. - Spokesperson: managers represent and speak for organisation. In this role you are responsible for transmitting info about your organisation and it's goals to people outside it. 3. DECISIONAL: involve using information. - Entrepreneur: created & control change within the organisation. Means solving problems generating new ideas and implementing them. - Disturbance handler: when team or organisation hits unexpected roadblock, manager must take charge. Need to help mediate disputes. - Resource allocator: determine where organisation resources are best applied. Involves allocating funding as well as assigning staff and other organisational resources. - Negotiator: may be needed to take park in, and direct important negotiations within your team, department or organisation. |
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Major differences between programmed and non-programmed decisions. |
Decisions: a choice made from available alternatives. Programmed decisions: reoccuring decisions rules, future application. It is a decisions made in business sometimes that comes easily to a manager because it related to a situation encountered before. e.g. employees duties may become routine with repetition like process a mechanic uses to troubleshoot problems with customer car. Then company may create a standard routine for handling technical issues. Non-programmed decisions: decision made in response to a situation that is unique, is poorly defined and largely unstructured, has important consequences for the organisation. When a manager faces uncertainty and there is higher-level of risk involved regarding the decision they must make an unprogrammed decision using login. Manager cannot easily anticipate the outcome of the decision. e.g. makers of the earliest personal computers had to make unprogrammed decisions regarding the type of marketing to use to attract customers who possibly never had used a computer. |
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Six steps in the managerial decision making process |
1. Recognition of decisions requirement 2. Diagnosis and analysis of causes 3. Development of alternatives 4. Selection of desired alternative 5. Implementation of chosen alternative 6. Evaluation and feedback. E.g. work related function 1. Manager noticed there wasn't a good enough social culture within the organization and many people did not have great work relationships. 2. When he asked two employees to do a marketing project together he found it very un-productive as they were reluctant on working together & hesitant to speak their opinions. 3. Manager could hold training day where all staff come together to re-go over procedures, goals and objectives. OR he thought he could hold work related social function, could proved bonding with his employees. 4. After weighting up pros and cons, alternative chosen was work related function as it would be most useful to focus on bonding and building work relationships as there would be no need for manager to talk a lot which gives employees time to mingle. 5. Manager booked paintball with drinks and nibbles as employees can bond over a competitive game and then conversation about the game can be opener for chat at the drinks. The conversations can further develop to get to know each other. 6. Successful plan as it gave employees chance to get to know each other on personal level so they are more comfortable to do work activities. Helped build a more fun organisation culture with people being friendly. Manager will continue to monitor progress of new social work environment and take further action if it becomes informal or formal again. |
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Explain the difference between a certain and uncertain decision making context |
Certain decision-making context: outcomes of alternatives predictable. Decision making process: - Rational - Classical decision-making model (6 steps) Model assumes known: - Goals, competitive information, alternatives and consequences, evaluation criteria. Normative: - Clear goal, full information, future known The nature of context to be low risk of failure and uncertainty, which makes the nature of a decision a programmed decision. e.g. if a manager was looking at buying a new piece of equipment it can look at it's accounting statements to see whether the company can afford to do this. Whether it will make loss or benefit the company, it can be a more certain decision.
Uncertain decision making context: outcomes of alternatives unpredictable. Use the administrative decisions making model. - Uncertainty and ambiguity - Descriptive: Human and environmental limitations - assumes not clearly known - Goals - Rational procedures not cope with complexity - Alternatives - Criteria Bounded rationality Satisficing - acceptable, meets the given need rather than the optimal Use Intuition - known something without proof or reference The nature of context to be uncertainty and ambiguity, which makes the nature of the decision an unprogrammed decision. E.g. if a company wanted to know about where to build a new plant, they would have to do a lot of research as to which area will have less risks such as earthquakes. |
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Explain difference between a risky and ambiguous decision making context. |
Risky meaning the decision has clear-cut goals and good information is available, but the future outcomes associated with each alternative are subject to chance. e.g. a farmer may have clear-cut goals to plant seeds and harvest crops and has good information but no matter how much information the farmer has and how clear cut goals are, the outcome is left up to chance. It may rain too much and drown the crop or maybe a drought. Ambiguous meaning the goals to be achieved or the problem to be solved is unclear, alternatives are difficult to define, and information about outcomes is unavailable. e.g. a teacher gives a student an assignment, but gives him or her no topic, no direction, or guidelines whatsoever. This is by far the hardest decision making situation to be in. Decision making in either situation is very different. The differences is the two is that with risk, a decision has clear-cut goals and the outcomes are left to chance. With ambiguity, the problem to be solved is not even known , therefore it is that much harder to come up with information and goals needed to solve the problem in an ambiguous situation. |
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Describe the three decision making models |
1. Classical decision making model: used for making a programmed decision. - Based on the logic of optimal choice: the choice that would maximize value for the organisations - Rational - Assume known: goals, complete information, alternatives & consequences and evaluation criteria. - Normative - Centralized power 2. Administrative decision making model: used for making an unprogrammed decision. - Descriptive: human and environment limitations - Assumes not clearly known: goals, rational procedures not cope with complexity, alternatives and criteria. - Bounded rationally - Satisficing requires finding alternative with an acceptable value, that is, an alternative with a value above a minimally acceptable level on a given constraint - Intuition e.g. assume you had a car to sell. If you listed car for $2500 and had 10 offers you could choose with either method. With rational method, you would determine which offer had highest value in terms of conditions and price. With satisficing model, you would accept the first offer, that met your lowest acceptable price. Satisifcing may lead to a reduced decisions quality, but it saves time and effort. 3. The political model: focuses on a single issue but on many organizational problems that reflect their personal goals. - The political model does not assume that decision result from applying existing standard operating procedure, programs and routines. - Involves many managers - Coalition: an informal alliance among managers who support a specific goal. - Decisions result from bargaining among coalitions. Unlike in previous models, power is decentralized. Concept of decision making as political process emphasizes natural multiplicity of goals, values and interests in complex environment. - Decisions tend to be incremental: managers make small change in response to immediate pressure. - Phenomenon of climate change is area of considerable future uncertainty. |
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Explain differences between strategic goals, tactical goals and operational goals |
Strategic Goals: senior management - CEO's & top managers create strategic plans that paint a picture for the future and set goals for the organisation. - These are goals that serve as the framework for lower level planning - designed with entire organization in mind and begin with the mission. E.g. Tommy is top-level manager for Nino's Pizzeria. Must develop long-term strategies for achieving growth, improving productivity, profitability and improve customer service. Tactical Goals: middle management (major divisions) - Goals for outcomes for decisions & departments - Support strategic plans by translating them into specific plans relevant to a distinct area of the organisation. - Concerned with responsibility & functionality of lower-level departments to fulfill their parts of strategic plan. e.g. Martha, middle level manager at Nino's learns about Tommy's plan to increase productivity. She immediately starts thinking about possible tactics for this. As a tactical planner, Martha needs to create a set of calculated actions & take a shorter amount of time also narrower in scope than the strategic plan but still brings organisation closer in achieving it's long term goal. Operational Goals: lower management - Specific & measurable results e.g. work tems - Precise & measurable e.g. X sales, X units of production. Focused on the specific procedures & processes that occur within the lowest levels of the organisation. - Managers must plan routine tasks of department using high level of detail. e.g. Frank, frontline manager of Nino's, is responsible for operational planning. Including activities like scheduling employees each week, assessing, ordering and stocking inventory, creating monthly budgets or outlining an employee's performance goals for the yar. |
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Explain how a bureaucratic organization structure improves efficiency and control in an organisation |
It's a classical management perspective. Emphasis on: - Division of labour: bureaucratic organizations focus on efficiency and on policy & stringent regulations to improve effectiveness & delivery results. Bureaucratic organizations assign individuals specialized in duties & routinely monitor their performance. - Clear hierarchical authority: bureaucratic organizations are centralized structures, while flat organizations are decentralized. Centralized implies that authority & decision-making concentrates within a select few individuals - typically CEO and his core team. Organisational structure has many level of management - hierarchical, meaning there are clearly ordered levels. - Rational impersonal rules: employees of a bureaucracy give their obedience to organization because managers exercise authority through their office. Orders and directions are based on formal rules or laws of organisation. |
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Define concept of organization structure |
- The framework - How tasks are divided - How resources are deployed - How departments are coordinated - Organizational chart: visual representation The typically hierarchical arrangement of lines of authority, communications, rights & duties of an organization. Organizational structure determines how the roles, power and responsibilities area assigned, controlled and coordinated and how info flows between levels of management. Organizational chart illustrates the structure. It allows for division of labour and provides work specialization. |
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Describe the differences between a vertical functional and a divisional organizational structure |
Vertical Function structure: Similar skills, expertise and resource use. Divisional/Horizontal approach: similar organizational outputs. Differences: - A vertical organization is one that has a pyramid-look when charted on paper. The top is company president, then each division made up of series of middle management & supervisors responsible for various departments. Referred to as 'tall' organization. - Horizontal structure is one without middle management where employees are largely allowed to make their own day-to-day operational decisions. They report to one manager with guidelines & duties to follow. - Horizontal empower employees to make daily operational decisions & deal with issues. - Vertical tends to slow communication between departments from management to employees. Whereas horizontal communication tends to flow more easily from one work group to another. - In vertical organization collaboration between employes and managers on company processes or issues happen in a very structured setting that include meetings and constant monitoring to travel up the organizational chart. - Horizontal employees empowered to make their own decisions & therefore collaboration tends to happen more organically, have open eye contact with each other. |
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Describe the three characteristics of authority |
1. Authority is vested in organizational positions not people: managers have authority because of the positions they hold, and other people in the same position would have same authority. 2. Authority is accepted by employees: employees comply because they believe managers have right to issue orders. Acceptance theory argues a manager only has authority if employees choose to accept his or her demands. If employees refuse to obey because the order is outside their zone of acceptance, managers authority disappears. e.g. Richard Ferris - former chairman of United Airlines, resigned because few people accepted his strategy so his authority was lost. 3. Authority flows down the vertical hierarchy: positions at the top of the hierarchy are vested with more formal authority than positions at the bottom. |
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Describe relationship between authority, responsibility and delgation |
Responsibility is the flip side of the authority coin Responsibility: the duty to perform the task or activity an employee has been assigned. Managers are assigned authority equivalent with responsibility. Accountability is the mechanism through which authority & responsibility are brought into alignment. It means people with authority & responsibility are subject to reporting and justifying task outcomes to those above them in chain of command. Delegation is also related to authority as managers use this to transfer authority to the lowest possible level to provide maximum flexibility to meed customer needs & adapt to the environment. e.g. Caterpillar was loosing 1 million a day due to too many people trying to call the shorts. Organization didn't have clear accountability. CEO pushed authority, responsibility and accountability dramatically downward by making sure he used delegation. |
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Factors that should shape an organizations structure |
- Strategy - Environment - Technology These factors may help a manager decide whether they opt for a vertical or horizontal structure. - Structure can either follow a differentiation strategy where the organization attempts to develop innovative products unique to the market OR cost leadership strategy where they strives for internal efficiency. - If organization wants to use the differentiation strategy they would opt for horizontal structure as is allows employees to be more involved and it's more flexible. - If an organization chose cost leadership they would opt for vertical structure as it is most appropriate for achieving internal efficiency goals. *Structure reflects the environment. Firstly uncertainty occurs when environment is rapidly changing. - It creates differences among departments, these additional differences therefore require more emphasis on horizontal coordination to link departments and overcome difference in goals. - Organization MUST adapt to change. - Rapidly changing environments tend to use a more horizontal structure when the environment is unstable BUT uses vertical centralized structure when environment is stable. |
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Five visible artifacts of an organization culture |
Artifacts: visible components of culture, easy to formulate, have some physical shape, yet it's perception varies from one individual to another. Ceremonies/rituals: new hire trainings, new hire welcome lunches, annual corporate functions and awards events. Symbols: rituals, awards or incentives that symbolize preferred behaviour e.g. employee of the month. Symbols associated with corporate culture convey important company values. Office Layout: open space, socializing areas for eating and chatting. This culture emphasizes self-motivation and personal growth. Slogans: linguistic phrases that are intended for the same reason e.g. customer first
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Define four types of corporate cultures as they relate to the strategic focus of the firm, and the needs of the general environment. |
Adaptability culture: emerges in an environment that requires fast response & high-risk decision making. Managers create change by encouraging & rewarding creativity and risk taking. E.g. Lush have good adaptability culture - company kills of 1/3 of it's product line each year to offer new products. Achievement culture: suited to organization concerned with serving specific customers in the external environment but without the intense needs for flexibility & rapid change. Culture values being competitiveness, aggressiveness, personal initiative and willingness to work long & hard to achieve results. Emphasis on winning and achieving specific ambitious goals is glue that holds organization together. Involvement culture: emphasizes an internal focus on the involvement & participation of employees to rapidly adapts to changing needs from the environment. Places high value on needs of employees and has family-like atmosphere. Consistency culture: uses an internal focus & a consistency orientation for a stable environment. Following rules & being thrifty are valued. Culture supports & rewards a methodical rational, orderly way of doing things. e.g. Pacific Edge uses this culture of order, discipline & control. Emphasis on order & focus means employees can generally go home at 6pm rather than late night working. |
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Five inappropriate or illegal interview questions |
1. At no state show the interviewer bring up questions regrading race. e.g. what is your race? 2. Inquiring about age, it is okay to ask if applicant is over 18 but not their actual age. 3. Religion is a category that should never come up. Inappropriate to ask their religious beliefs or what religious holidays they observe. 4. Marital status is not okay. Inappropriate to ask about applicants marital status or their applicant's childcare arrangements. 5. Citizenship. Interviewer has legal right to ask if applicant has a legal right to work in NZ for example. Should not ask about any other citizenship for another country. |
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Four training methods used in organizations |
Orientation training: newcomers are introduced to the organizations culture, standards & goals. Training basics include showing new workers how to perform their jobs safely & efficiently. Adding this to your new employee orientation checklist can greatly improve worker satisfaction & employee retention. Classroom training: includes lectures, films, audiovisual techniques & simulations. Makes up for 70% of all formal corporate training. Used to develop higher-order thinking skills & stimulate interpersonal exchanges Self-directed learning: also programmed instruction, which involves use of books, manuals or computers to provide subject matter in highly organised & logical sequences. Requires employees to answer series of questions about the material. Good to use when large group of learners is in need. Computer based training: includes computer assisted instruction, web based training & tele-training. Self-directed learning, the employee works at their own place. Offers cost savings for organizations. |
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Discuss difference between the 'new social contract' and the 'old social contract' perspectives for both employers & employees. |
NEW SOCIAL CONTRACT Employee: - Employability, personal & responsibilty - Partner in business improvement - Learning Everyone is expected to be a self-motivated worker who is continuously acquiring new skills & demonstrating value to the organization. Employer: - Continuous learning, lateral career - Creative development opportunities so that the employee will be more employable when the company no longer needs them. - Challenging work assignments - Opportunities to participate in decision making - Access information & resources
OLD SOCIAL CONTRACT Employees: - Job security - A cog in the machine - Knowing Employer: - Traditional compensation package - Standard training programs - Routine jobs - Limited information * New contract compared to the old is based on employability rather than lifetime employment. |
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Describe three 'primary' and three 'secondary' dimensions of diversity |
Primary Dimensions: core elements through which people shape their self-image & worldview. Dimensions include age, race, ethnicity, gender, mental & physical abilities. 1. Gender: primary dimension can cause inequality 2. Age: how diverse the workforce is with age can be a factor when it comes to being hired. 3. Ethnicity: can determine self-image as people can either judge it or accept it as wanting to have diverse cultures within their workforce.
Secondary Dimensions: can be acquired or changed throughout ones lifetime. Tend to have less impact than those of the core but still affect a person self-definition & have an impact on how the person is viewed by others. 1. Geographic location: employee living in public housing may be perceived differently from one who lives in an affluent part of town. 2. Marital status: married people and with children may be perceived differently & have different attitudes from those who are single. 3. Religious beliefs: can cause different values & morals within people so others must be aware of this in order not to offend anyone. |
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Explain the difference between "ethnocentrism", "monoculture", "ethno relativism" and "pluralism" |
Ethnocentrism: judging another culture solely by the values & standards of their own culture. Especially concerned with language, behaviour, customs and religion. Monoculture: by definition these organizations have to be heavily invested in & committed to their philosophy. As they become entrenched in those patterns, it becomes even more difficult & even dangerous to push for change. Ethno relativism: belief that all groups, cultures or subcultures are inherently equal. Acquired ability to see many values & behaiours and cultural rather than universal. Pluralism: refers to the accommodation of several cultures or subcultures in a country or an organization. Movement towards pluralism should seek to integrate fully into the organization the employees who would feel isolated. |
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Describe the four most common facility layouts used for the actual production of a good or service. |
Process Layout: associated with a make-to-order level of customer involvement, flexible individual process operations, and labour intensity or a balanced intensity. e.g. Macey's department store providers use process layouts so that customers can go to particular departments to find what they need instead of going down every aisle as in a product layout. Product Layout: layout associated with make-to-stock & assembles to order levels of customer involvement, relatively inflexible repetitive process or continuous operations, and capital intensity with high volume & low variety. - Common in assembly line manufacturing like Chrysler Cars, as product must go through each step of the process in sequence. Cellular Layout: associated with make-to-stock & assemble-to-order levels of customer involvement, relatively flexible batch process operations, and a balance intensity. McDonald's use a cellular layout. Grouping technology into cells provides some of the efficiencies of both product & process layouts. Fixed Layout: associated make-to-order and assemble-to-order levels of customer involvement, flexible project process operations and balanced intensity. Boeing makes planes using fixed fixed position layout. In many fixed position layouts, the business must go to the customer. |
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Basic difference between a manufacturing organization and a service organization |
Manufacturing organization: produce physical goods that customers can see and touch (tangible). Produce goods for stock, with inventory levels aligned to forecasts of market demand - inventory can represent a cost for a manufacturing company. Can produce goods without a customer order or forecast of customer demand. Service organization: output is intangible, such as consultancy, training or maintenance. Do not hold inventory as they create a service when a client requires it. Labour intensive and cannot be easily automated. e.g. Deloitte using communication networks to access the most appropriate service skills & knowledge from offices around the world. |
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Select one guest presentation from BSNS105 lecture series: 1. State what topic was discussed in session 2. Explain the connections between this presentation and the specific concept of management & organization that this topic relates to |
1. Topic: Climate change and business planning by Alex Dawson (solutions & strategy researcher) Climate change is changes to the global climate system caused by increases in the earth's temperature. Discussed climate change is widely recognized to be caused by human activity. - Discusses how change can effect business and how they must plan for it to remain resilient.
2. Presentation has connections with the concepts of goal setting & planning in a context of change & uncertainty. Business need to be able to respond to specific situation and they can do this by planning, strategizing and identifying the uncontrollable factors that may play a role in their decision making. - Businesses need to look at climate change through scenario planning where they can identify factors that my cause a halt in productions so they can plan to the best of their ability. However climate change is one such area of considerable future uncertainty for many organizations and therefore rational decision making & planning is not always possible. |
