Questions and Answers of Fundamentals Of Organizational Behaviour

Disciplinary action will be issued to any employee who abuses sick leave policy. LO.1
Disciplinary action will be issued to any employee whose assigned area is not up to cus- todial standards. LO.1
If a door is locked when you go in to clean an office, it's your responsibility to lock it back up- LO.1
Name tags and uniforms must be worn daily. LO.1
Each employee is responsible for buffing hallways and offices. Hallways must be buffed weekly, offices periodically. LO.1
All equipment must be put in closets during 9:00 A.M. and II A.M. breaks. LO.1
Do not use the elevator to move trash or equipment from 8:50 to 9:05, 9:50 to 10:05, 11:50 to 12:05, or 1:50 to 2:05, to avoid breaks between classes. LO.1
Try to mop hallways when students are in classrooms, or mop floors as you go down to each office. LO.1
Closets must be kept clean, and all equipment must be clean and operative. LO.1
Each employee is expected to greet building occupants with "Good morning." LO.1
Always knock before entering offices and conference rooms. LO.1
Loud talking, profanity, and horseplay will not be tolerated inside buildings. LO.1
All custodial carts must be kept uniform and cleaned daily. LO.1
You must have excellent "public relations" with occupants at all times. the employee is in the right and Using LO.1
If organizational hierarchies are to function effec tively and the problems of overly bureaucratized organizations are to be avoided, both managers and employees must follow bureaucratic
Both employees and managers should realize that they do not own their positions in an organization and that it is their responsibility to use their authority and control over resources to benefit
Managers should strive to make human resource. decisions such as hiring, promoting, or rewarding employees as fair and equitable as possible. Managers should not let personal ties or relation- ships
Periodically, the members of a work group or fune- tion should meet to ensure that reporting relation- ships are clear and unambiguous and that the rules. members are using to make decisions meet
Both managers and employees should adops a questioning attitude toward the way the organiza- tion works in order to uncover the taken-for- granted assumptions and beliefs on which it oper- ates. For
The height of an organization's structure is a function of the number of levels in the hierar- chy, the span of control at each level, and the balance between centralization and decentral- ization of
As an organization grows, the increase in the size of the managerial component is less than proportional to the increase in the size of the organization. LO.1
Problems with tall hierarchies include commu- nication, motivation, and bureaucratic costs. LO.1
According to the principle of minimum chain of command, an organization should choose+- n the minimum number of hierarchical levels consistent with the contingencies it faces. LO.1
The span of control is the number of subordi- nates a manager directly manages. The two main factors that affect the span of control are task complexity and task interrelatedness. LO.1
The shape of the hierarchy and the way it works are also affected by choices concerning horizontal differentiation, centralization versus decentralization, differentiation versus integra- tion,
The six principles of bureaucratic theory spec- ify the most effective way to design the hierar- chy of authority in an organization. LO.1
Bureaucracy has several advantages. It is fair and equitable, and it can promote organiza- tional effectiveness by improving organiza- tional design. However, problems can arise if bureaucratic
Managers need to recognize how the informal organization affects the way the formal hierar- chy of authority works and make sure the two fit to enhance organizational performance. LO.1
To keep their organizations as flat as possible managers are increasingly making use of IT and creating self-managed work teams of empowered workers and/or turning to contin- gent workers. LO.1
In what ways can the informal organization and the norms and values of its culture affect the shape of an organization? LO.1
How can the principles of bureaucracy help managers to design the organizational hier archy? LO.1
When does bureaucracy become a problem in an organization? What can managers do to pre vent bureaucratic problems from arising? LO.1
What ethical rules should managers use when decid- ing who to terminate and when redesigning their hierarchy? LO.1
Some people argue that employees who have worked for an organization for many years have a claim on the organization at least as strong as its shareholders. What do you think of the ethics of this
How many people does the organization employ? LO.1
How many levels are there in the organization's hier- archy? LO.1
Is the organization tall or flat? Does the organization experience any of the problems associated with tall hierarchies? Which ones? LO.1
What is the span of control of the CEO? Is this span appropriate, or is it too wide or too narrow? LO.1
What kind of changes did Fiorino make to its structure to help H-P increase the speed of innovation? LO.1
How should Fiorino should make use of new kinds of information technologies to help H-p's hierarchy of authority work better? LO.1
Explain why most organizations initially have a functional structure and why, over time, problems arise with this structure that require a change to a more complex structure. LO.1
Distinguish between three kinds of divisional structures (product, geographic, and market), describe how a divisional structure works, and explain why many organizations use this structure to
Discuss how the matrix and product-team structures differ, and why and when they are chosen to coordi- nate organizational activities. LO.1
Identify the unique properties of network structures and the conditions under which they are most likely to be selected as the design of choice. LO.1
For an entrepreneur starting a small business, or for a manager of a work group or department, cre- ating the correct division of labor within a function and between functions is a vital design
To ensure that the division of labor is correct, list the various functions that currently exist in your organization, and itemize the tasks they perform. LO.1
Draw a diagram of task relationships both within and between functions, and evaluate to what degree your organization is obtaining the advan- tages of the functional structure (such as the devel-
Experiment with different ways of altering the design of the functional structure to increase effec- tiveness-for example, by transferring task respon- sibilities from one function to another or by
As an organization grows, be sensitive to the need to change a functional structure to improve the control of organizational activities. LO.1
When the control problem is to manage the pro- duction of a wide range of products, consider using a form of divisional structure. LO.1
Use a product division structure if the organiza- tion's products are generally similar. LO.1
Move to a multidivisional structure if the organiza- tion produces a wide range of different or complex goods and services or operates in more than one business or industry. LO.1
When the control problem is to reduce product development time by increasing the integration between support functions, consider using a prod- uct team structure. LO.1
When the control problem is to customize prod- ucts to the needs of customers in different geographic areas, consider using a geographic structure. LO.1
When the control problem is to coordinate the marketing of all of a company's products to several distinct groups of customers, use a market struc- ture. LO.1
Always weigh the benefits that will arise from mov- ing to a new structure (that is, the control prob- lems that will be solved) against the costs that will arise from moving to the new structure
As organizations grow and differentiate, what problems can arise with a functional structure? LO.1
How do the product division structure and the multidivisional structure differ? LO.1
Why might an organization prefer to use a product team structure rather than a matrix structure? LO.1
What are the principal differences between a functional structure and a multidivisional structure? Why does a company change from a functional to a multidivisional structure? LO.1
What are the advantages and disadvantages associated with network structures? LO.1
Does it make good business sense to outsource? What are the potential advantages and disadvan- tages? LO.1
Given these advantages and disadvantages when, and under what conditions, is it ethical to outsource organizational activities, lay off workers, and send those jobs abroad? LO.1
Debate the pros and cons of the different possible organizational structures. LO.1
Which structure will allow you to best achieve your goal at (a) lowest cost; (b) give you most responsive- ness to customers; or (c) both? LO.1
What were the problems with Caterpillar's old organizational structure? LO.1
How did Fites change Caterpillar's structure to improve its effectiveness? LO.1
Differentiate between values and norms and understand the way culture is shared by an organization's members. LO.1
Describe how individuals learn culture both formally (that is, the way an organization intends them to learn it) and informally (that is, by seeing what goes on in the organization). LO.1
Identify the four building blocks or foundations of an organization's culture that account for cultural dif- ferences among organizations. LO.1
Understand how an organization's culture, like its structure, can be designed or managed. LO.1
Discuss an important outcome of an organization's culture: its stance on corporate social responsibility. LO.1
Study the culture of your organization, and iden- tify the terminal and instrumental values on which it is based in order to assess how they affect organi- zational behavior. LO.1
Assess whether the goals, norms, and rules of your organization are effectively transmitting the values of the organizational culture to members. Identify areas for improvement. LO.1
Examine the methods your organization uses to socialize new members. Assess whether these socialization practices are effective in helping newcomers learn the organization's culture. Recommend ways
Try to develop organizational ceremonies to help employees learn cultural values, to enhance employee commitment, and to bond employees to the organization. LO.1
Try to identify the source of the values and norms of your organization's culture and analyze the rela- tive effects of people, ethics, property rights, and structure on influencing organizational
Use this analysis to produce an action plan for redesigning the culture of the organization to improve effectiveness. LO.1
Be sure that the action plan takes all four factors into consideration, for each one affects the others. Changing one factor alone may not be sufficient to change organizational culture. LO.1
Make the development of ethical organizational values one of your major priorities. LO.1
Organizational culture is a set of shared values that provide organizational members with a common understanding of how they should act in a situation. LO.1
There are two kinds of organizational values: terminal (a desired end state or outcome) and instrumental (a desired mode of behavior). Ideally, instrumental values help the organiza- tion to achieve
Organizational culture affects organizational effectiveness because it can (a) provide an organization with a competitive advantage, (b) improve the way an organizational structure works, and (c)
Culture is transmitted to an organization's members by means of (a) socialization and training programs and (b) stories, ceremonies, and language used by members of the organi- zation. LO.1
Organizational culture develops from the interaction of (a) the characteristics of organi zation members, (b) organizational ethics, (c) the property rights distributed among the peo- ple in the
Different organizational structures give rise to different patterns of interaction among peo- ple. These different patterns lead to the forma- tion of different organizational cultures. LO.1
Social responsibility is an organization's moral responsibility to stakeholder groups affected by the organization's actions. There are four stances on social responsibility and they have very
Why is it that an organization's values and norms can become too strong and lead to unethical behavior? LO.1
What steps can a company take to prevent this prob- lem, to stop its values and norms from becoming so. inwardly focused that managers and employees lose sight of their obligations to their
Do managers and employees use certain words and phrases to describe the behavior of people in the organization? Are any stories about events or people typically used to describe the way the
How does the organization socialize employees? Does it put them through formal training programs? What kind of programs are used, and what is their goal? LO.1
What beliefs and values seem to characterize the way people behave in the organization? How do they affect people's behavior? LO.1
Given the answers to the first three questions, how would you characterize the organization's culture and the way it benefits or harms the organization? How could the culture be improved? LO.1
Can you find a written statement of the organiza- tion's stance on social responsibility? Are there sto- ries in the press about the company? If there are, what do they say? LO.1
What is the origin of organizational culture? Why do different organizations have different cultures? LO.1
How do newcomers learn the culture of an organization? How can an organization encourage newcomers to develop (a) an insti- tutionalized role orientation and (b) a individ- ualized role
In what ways can organizational culture increase organizational effectiveness? Why is it important to obtain the right fit between orga- nizational structure and culture? LO.1
"An organization should always adopt a broad stance on social responsibility." Explain why you agree or disagree with this statement. LO.1
What kinds of organizational values and norms encourage employees to behave in ways that lead to high-quality customer service? LO.1
Using the concepts discussed in this chapter (for example, people, property rights, socialization), dis- cuss how you will create a culture that promotes the learning of these customer service values

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