Questions and Answers of Organizational Behavior Science

Group structure and processes
Interpersonal communication
Leader behavior and power
Identify the three levels of analysis in OB.• Motivation
Think of a change you would like to make in your life. Using Figure 18.1 as a guide, prepare your own force field analysis for that change. How will you overcome the forces for the status quo? How
Write a memo classifying and describing the structural configuration of your university based on the five choices in Table 15.2. Do you need more information than you have to be comfortable with your
Monty (Idris Elba), a hardworking automobile mechanic, loses custody of his three daughters to his evil ex-wife, Jennifer (Tasha Smith). He begins working as a chauffeur for Julia (Gabriele Union),
Write a memo classifying and describing the structural configuration of your university based on the five choices in Table 15.2. Do you need more information than you have to be comfortable with your
Meet Daphne Wilder (Diane Keaton)—your typical meddling, overprotective, and divorced mother of three daughters. Two of her three beautiful daughters have married. That leaves Millie (Mandy Moore)
How do organizations create value? What is the role of entrepreneurship in this process?
Trader Joe’s, an upscale specialty supermarket chain, was founded in 1967 by Joe Coulombe, who then owned a few convenience stores that were fighting an uphill battle against the growing 7-11
What is the relationship among organizational theory, design, change, and organizational structure and culture?
What is organizational effectiveness? Discuss three approaches to evaluating effectiveness and the problems associated with each approach.
Draw up a list of effectiveness goals you would use to measure the performance of (a) a fast-food restaurant and (b) a school of business.
Give some examples of how the interests of different stakeholder groups may conflict.
What is the role of the top-management team?
What is the agency problem? What steps can be taken to solve it?
Why is it important for managers and organizations to behave ethically?
Ask a manager to describe both an instance of ethical behavior and an instance of unethical behavior that she or he observed. What caused these behaviors, and what were the outcomes?
Pick an organization, such as a local travel agency or supermarket. Describe its organizational domain, then draw a map of the forces in its general and specific environments that affect the way it
IKEA is the largest furniture chain in the world, and in 2011 the Swedish company operated over 270 stores in 25 countries. In 2011 IKEA sales soared to over $35 billion, or over 20% of the global
What are the major sources of uncertainty in an environment? Discuss how these sources of uncertainty affect a small biotechnology company and a large carmaker.
According to resource dependence theory, what motivates organizations to form interorganizational linkages? What is the advantage of strategic alliances as a way of exchanging resources?
According to transaction cost theory, what motivates organizations to form interorganizational linkages? Under what conditions would a company prefer a more formal linkage mechanism to a less formal
What interorganizational strategies might work most successfully as a company expands globally? Why?
Sony, the famous Japanese electronics maker, was renowned in the 1990s for using its engineering prowess to develop blockbuster new products such as the Walkman, Trinitron TV, and PlayStation. Its
Why does differentiation occur in an organization? Distinguish between vertical and horizontal differentiation.
Draw an organizational chart of the business school or college that you attend.Outline its major roles and functions. How differentiated is it? Do you think the distribution of authority and division
When does an organization need to use complex integrating mechanisms? Why?
What factors determine the balance between centralization and decentralization, and between standardization and mutual adjustment?
Under what conditions is an organization likely to prefer(a) a mechanistic structure,(b) an organic structure, or(c) elements of both?
Choose a small organization in your city, such as a restaurant or school, and draw a chart showing its structure. Do you think the number of levels in its hierarchy and the span of control at each
It may be surprising to some observers to find out that the Royal Mail Group is still one of the largest organizations in the UK. It now consists of Royal Mail itself, which concentrates on the
In what ways can the informal organization and the norms and values of its culture affect the shape of an organization?
What factors determine the appropriate authority and control structure in(a) a research and development laboratory,(b) a large department store, and(c) a small manufacturing company?
How can the principles of bureaucracy help managers design the organizational hierarchy?
When does bureaucracy become a problem in an organization? What can managers do to prevent bureaucratic problems from arising?
As organizations grow and differentiate, what problems can arise with a functional structure?
Liz Claiborne, like other well-known apparel makers, embarked on a major product expansion strategy in the 1990s when it acquired many smaller branded clothing and accessory companies and started
How do the product division structure and the multidivisional structure differ?
Why might an organization prefer to use a product team structure rather than a matrix structure?
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?
What are the advantages and disadvantages associated with network structures?
In an attempt to give Southwest Airlines a competitive advantage based on low-cost, high-quality service, CEO Herb Kelleher developed terminal and instrumental values that made Southwest’s culture
What is the origin of organizational culture? Why do different organizations have different cultures?
How do newcomers learn the culture of an organization? How can an organization encourage newcomers to develop(a) an institutionalized role orientation and(b) an individualized role orientation?
In what ways can organizational culture increase organizational effectiveness?Why is it important to obtain the right fit between organizational structure and culture?
“An organization should always adopt a broad stance on social responsibility.”Explain why you agree or disagree with this statement.
How should an organization design its structure and culture to obtain a core competence in manufacturing and in research and development?
One global company that found itself in trouble in the 2000s because of the way its structure and control systems were working was pharmaceutical maker ScheringPlough. In 2003, Schering was under
Pick an organization like a restaurant or a department store, and analyze how it might pursue a low-cost or a differentiation strategy.
What is the difference between a low-cost strategy and a differentiation strategy?How should a differentiated biotechnology organization and a low-cost fast-food organization design their structures
Compare the competitive advantages enjoyed by a large restaurant chain, such as Steak and Ale or Red Lobster, and the sources of competitive advantages enjoyed by a small local restaurant.
Why would an organization choose a corporate-level strategy to expand its value creation activities beyond its core domain? Discuss how an organization’s structure and culture might change as the
How and why do bureaucratic costs increase as a company goes from a multidomestic to an international to a global to a transnational strategy?
How can technology increase organizational effectiveness?
How does small-batch technology differ from mass production technology?
Why is technical complexity greatest with continuous-process technology? How does technical complexity affect organizational structure?
What makes some tasks more complex than others? Give an example of an organization that uses each of the four types of technology identified by Perrow.
What level of task interdependence is associated with the activities of(a) a large accounting firm,(b) a fast-food restaurant, and(c) a biotechnology company?What different kinds of structure are you
Find an organization in your city, and analyze how its technology works. Use the concepts discussed in this chapter: technical complexity, nonroutine tasks, and task interdependence.
Discuss how AMT and innovations in materials technology and in knowledge technology have increased task interdependence and the technical complexity of the work process. How have these innovations
Nike, headquartered in Beaverton, Oregon, is the biggest sports shoemaker in the world. Throughout the 1990s it seemed that its founder and CEO, Phil Knight, and his teams of shoe designers could do
What factors influence the number of organizations that are founded in a population?How can pursuing a specialist strategy increase a company’s chances of survival?
Cisco Systems is famous for developing the routers and switches on which the Internet is built. In 2010 Cisco still made most of its $10 billion yearly revenue by selling its Internet routers and
How does r-strategy differ from K-strategy? How does a specialist strategy differ from a generalist strategy? Use companies in the fast-food industry to provide an example of each strategy.
Why do organizations grow? What major crisis is an organization likely to encounter as it grows?
Why do organizations decline? What steps can top management take to halt decline and restore organizational growth?
What is organizational inertia? List some sources of inertia in a company like IBM or GM.
Choose an organization or business in your city that has recently closed, and analyze why it failed. Could the organization have been turned around? Why or why not?
What are the critical differences between the rational and the Carnegie approaches to decision making? What are the critical differences between the incrementalist and the garbage-can models? Which
What is organizational learning? In what ways can managers promote the development of organizational learning by acting at various levels in the organization?By using knowledge management?
How can knowledge management promote organizational learning? What determines which kind of knowledge management system a company should adopt?
How do cognitive biases affect organizational learning and the quality of decision making? What can be done to reduce their negative impact?
What is the relationship between quantum and incremental technological change?
Dell the PC maker, started by Michael Dell in his University of Texas dorm room, was one of the great success stories of the 1990s and early 2000s. Between the mid 1990s and 2007 Dell grew at an
What is the relationship among creativity, intrapreneurship, and innovation?
What is project management? How should managers decide which projects to pursue?
What steps would you take to create(a) a structure and(b) a culture congenial to innovation in a high-tech organization?
What are information synergies and in what ways can they enhance innovation?
Why and under what conditions can conflict be good or bad for an organization?Would you expect a higher level of conflict in a mechanistic or an organic structure? Why?
In the early 2000s, Walt Disney CEO Michael Eisner came under increasing criticism for the company’s falling performance and for the way that he had centralized decision making so that all
You have been appointed to manage a large R&D laboratory. You find a high level of conflict between scientists in the unit. Why might this conflict be arising?How will you try to resolve it?
Why is it important to maintain a balance of power between different groups of organizational stakeholders?
What is unobtrusive power? Why is it so important?
How can the design of the organization’s structure and culture give some subunits more power than others?
Discuss how you, as manager of the R&D function in a cosmetic products company, might try to increase your power and the power of your subunit to control more resources in a battle with marketing and
Neil’s options are to continue to falsify information once a month on the firm’s standing and financial reports as required by his boss, or to refuse to falsify the information and risk losing
Terry Ann Wolfmeyer (Joan Allen) turns to ferocious anger and alcohol after her husband leaves for his secretary. Neighbor Denny Davies (Kevin Costner), a retired Detroit Tigers pitcher and host of a
1. Identify sources of stress that Mitchell Gold and Bob Williams aim to alleviate in their organization.2. In what way does MG + BW use benefits to promote a healthy workforce?3. Why
This case focuses on Genentech, a company engaged in the manufacturing and marketing of biotherapeutic products in the areas of oncology, immunology, and disorders of tissue growth and repair.
1. How would you describe the personality of Tony Hsieh?2. What personality characteristics are deemed to be desirable in a Zapponian? Why are these characteristics desirable?3. Zappos is viewed as a
Dan’s options are to keep Kyle on his team and continue to devote the necessary time to making sure Kyle understands things correctly or to move Kyle into a job on Ken’s team knowing that Ken is
The Odessa, Texas passion for Friday night high school football (Permian High Panthers) comes through clearly in this cinematic treatment of H. G. (Buzz) Bissinger’s well-regarded book of the same
1. Describe the advantages of text messaging as the preferred communication channel in Greensburg after the tornado.2. Describe the disadvantages of text messaging as the preferred
This case focuses on the implications of two e-mail service outages for users of Research In Motion’s BlackBerry smart phone. In April 2007 and then again in February 2008, BlackBerry users in
Describe the necessary skills for teamwork.
Hank’s options are to recommend Jason for the newly opened account manager position or keep him in his current position to manage the Maxim Factory project.1. Using consequential, rule-based,
This film focuses on four female friends at various stages of life development. Three are married; some with children. Some couples are extremely wealthy, others are not. Olivia (Jennifer Anniston),
1. What organizational dilemma was hurting Evo's creative output, and how did management resolve the conflict?2. How can Decker effectively lead when the team starts “norming”?3. How might the

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