Questions and Answers of Behavior In Organizations

Although you’ve probably never heard of the Commercial Metals Company (CMC), chances are good that you’ve driven across a bridge or spent time in a building made of its steel products. And when
Characterize the prevalence of the change process in organizations.
Explain what, exactly, happens when organizational change occurs, and the forces responsible for unplanned organizational change.
Describe what is meant by strategic planning and the types of strategic changes that organizations make.
Identify the 10 steps in the strategic planning process.
Explain why people are resistant to organizational change and how this resistance may be overcome.
Identify and describe the major organizational development techniques that are used today.
When people talk about organizational change, what precisely is being changed and what forces lead to such change?
What are the major techniques of organizational development?
Argue for or against the following statement: “Organizational development doesn’t work.” Explain your answer.
Think about the one job in a company with which you are most familiar (a job you have or one that a close friend or family member has). Based on what you know about this position, how has the nature
Have you ever participated in some type of organizational development effort? If so, what was done? How did you feel about the program? Do you believe the effort was effective?
Suppose you are having difficulty managing a small group of subordinates who work in an office 1,000 miles away from your home base. What kinds of changes in structure, technology, and people can be
Imagine that you are a manager whose unit is suffering problems due to a lack of coordination between employees.How can OD techniques be used to address this problem? Which particular technique would
Developing a strategic plan is not an easy matter. In fact, doing it right requires a great deal of information and lots of practice. This exercise will give you a feel for some of the challenges
To confront the reality of organizational change, one of the most fundamental steps involves recognizing the barriers to change. Then, once these impediments have been identified, consideration can
You are the manager of a poorly performing research and development department. In view of the performance problems, there has been talk in the company about the possibility of downsizing your unit.
In 2003, the Swiss Post decided to reduce its eighteen sites for processing mail to three major and six smaller sites across Switzerland. The main drivers were to cut costs through better planning,
Change, creativity and innovation are essential to the success of Terra Cycle, a company that makes consumer products from garbage. Tom Szaky, founder and CEO, hopes to reinvent consumer products and
The commitment to making the world a better place drives just about everything at Terra Cycle, an eco-friendly company that makes consumer products entirely out of garbage. The company is staffed
Student Advantage is a company whose focus is capitalizing on the economic influence of college students.Recognizing that they usually do not have much money, but that most of what they do have is
To learn about how workers respond to various types of injustices they may experience in the workplace, scientists have found it useful to use rating scales like the one shown. By completing this
More often than you might imagine, managers confront situations in which they have to decide the right thing to do. Such “ethical dilemmas,” as they are known, are usually quite
The district manager of a chain of 24-hour convenience stores is very concerned about her stores’ rate of employee theft, which is currently about twice the industry average and rising rapidly.
On January 23, 2006, CNET News.com quoted an anonymous source describing strategic plans made at a meeting of HP’s board of directors. Because the meeting was held behind closed doors and with a
International knowledge has become a top priority for managers at KPMG. KPMG provides audit, tax, and advisory services to clients located around the world. The company is an amalgam of firms located
Think of a time when you made judgments about a new workmate as you got to know him or her. In what ways were these judgments biased? As you got to know this person better, did you change your mind?
As a manager, it’s important not to judge employees based on your expectations. If you do, the Pygmalion effect or the Golem effect may occur. Think back at a situation on the job or at school in
Think about any work-related training programs in which you may have been involved. In what ways were these efforts successful? What might have been done to make them even more effective?
Overall, do you think that managers will be able to more effectively change their subordinates’ performance by using reward or by using punishment?However you answer, what specific steps would you
Although we usually reserve our concern over stereotypes to those about women and members of racial and ethnic minorities, the simple truth is that people can hold stereotypes toward members of just
Knowing how to discipline employees who behave inappropriately is an important managerial skill. The trick is to change the bad behavior into good behavior permanently, getting people to accept their
Employees at a corporate call center have not been spending enough time at their cubicles answering phones, as required. Instead, they’ve been walking throughout the facility, talking to each other
Any training course on the essentials of customer service will advise you always to smile at customers and to make eye contact with them. In fact, it seems so commonsensical as to not need repeating.
Define personality and describe its role in the study of organizational behavior.
Identify the Big Five dimensions of personality and elements of core self-evaluations, and describe how they are related to key aspects of organizational behavior.
Distinguish between positive and negative affectivity and describe its effects on organizational behavior.
Describe achievement motivation, and distinguish among learning, performance, and avoidance goal orientations.
Describe Machiavellianism and the difference between morning and evening persons, and their role in work-related behavior.
Differentiate among cognitive intelligence, practical intelligence, and emotional intelligence and explain the influence of social skills on behavior in organizations.
Have you ever worked for an organization that selected future employees by means of psychological tests? If so, do you think the test made sense—for instance, did it really measure what it was
Have you ever encountered someone who was very high in cognitive intelligence (the kind IQ tests measure), but low in practical intelligence? How could you tell?
Are you a morning or an evening person? When did you first decide that you were one or the other? Has the fact that you are a morning, or an evening person affected your career decisions in any way?
Various tests have been developed to measure the degree of emotional intelligence a person has, characterized as an emotional quotient (EQ score). The instrument presented here is similar to ones
People who are high in Machiavellianism (high Machs) often come out ahead in dealing with others because they are true pragmatists. That is, they tend to be willing to do or say whatever it takes to
Contrary to popular belief, Howard Schultz was not the founder of Starbucks. Instead, Starbucks Coffee, Tea and Spice, as it was known, began in 1971 as a small coffeehouse in Seattle, the vision of
A life insurance company has developed a test believed to measure success at personal face-to-face sales. It has used this test to choose new life insurance agents, believing that persons selected in
Distinguish between emotions and moods.
Explain how emotions and mood influence behavior in organizations.
Describe ways in which people manage their emotions in organizations.
Identify the major causes of organizational stress.
Describe the adverse effects of organizational stress.
Identify various ways of reducing stress in the workplace.
Think of a time when it was necessary for you to express compassion on the job in response to a traumatic situation. What were the circumstances? What did you do that was effective? What steps might
What was the most stressful situation you ever encountered on the job? What were the stressors, and how did you react, both physically and psychologically? What role did social support play in
What experiences have you had using stress management techniques—either formally or informally? For example, do you meditate? Do you find that physical exercise helps you relieve stress? Does
This questionnaire is designed to help you discover how resilient you are. People who are more resilient are less inclined to suffer problems associated with stress because they simply “bounce
A test known as the Test of Attentional and Interpersonal Style (TAIS) (see Note 42) has been used in recent years to identify the extent to which a person can stay focused and keep his or her
As the managing director of a large e-tail sales company, you are becoming alarmed about the growing levels of turnover your company has been experiencing lately.It already has passed the industry
I’ve brought shame on myself, my family and the profession”were the words of Tim Donaghy, as a federal district judge sentenced him to 15 months behind bars in July 2008. Formally, the charges
Employee training is a major responsibility for most human resource departments. These programs provide employees with the tools they need to accomplish their job duties successfully. Developing a
Define attitudes and work-related attitudes, and describe the basic components of attitudes.
Distinguish between prejudice and discrimination and identify various victims of prejudice in organizations.
Describe some of the things being done by today’s organizations to manage diversity in their workforces and the effectiveness of these practices.
Explain the concept of job satisfaction and summarize three major theories of job satisfaction.
Describe the consequences of job dissatisfaction and ways to promote job satisfaction.
Describe the concept of organizational commitment, its major forms, the consequences of low levels of organizational commitment, and how to overcome them.
What steps are today’s organizations taking to promote diversity, and are these efforts effective?
Think of a particular job you have enjoyed most. What did you like about it so much? Now, think of a particular job that you enjoyed least. What made you dislike it so much? Did the factors you liked
Think about the particular organization at which you have worked the longest. What were the main reasons you stayed there? How do these compare to the three forms of organizational commitment
If you have ever participated in a diversity management training program, what effects did it have on you? In what ways, if any, did your attitudes or behavior change? If you have never participated
One of the strategies that has been recommended for enhancing job satisfaction is to make jobs more fun. We all like having fun, of course, but do you really think these matters when it comes to job
In today’s economy, where replacing employees can be an expensive proposition, it pays to be able to maintain a highly committed workforce. Of the various things that can be done to promote
Racial prejudice has been a serious problem in American society for a long time. How do you reconcile this with the fact that diversity management training generally seems to be successful? In other
Questionnaires similar to this one are used to assess job satisfaction. Completing this questionnaire will help you appreciate the level of satisfaction you feel toward your own job. It also
You’ve probably been a victim of stereotyping by others, undoubtedly more often than you’d like.At the same time, you may have engaged in stereotyping others, even if you’re not especially
The president of a small manufacturing firm comes to you with a problem: The company is spending a lot of money training new employees, but 75 percent of them quit after working less than a year.
Nine million miles—that’s how far you’d travel if you went to the moon 37 times. Coincidentally, that’s also how far Domino’s Pizza delivery drivers travel each week in more than 60
Define motivation and explain its importance in the field of organizational behavior.
Describe the motivational-fit approach and what it suggests about how to improve motivation in organizations.
Identify and explain the conditions through which goal setting can be used to improve job performance.
Describe equity theory and explain how it may be applied to motivating people in organizations.
Describe expectancy theory and how it may be applied in organizations.
Distinguish among job enlargement, job enrichment and the job characteristics model as techniques for motivating employees.
What experiences have you had in setting personal goals (e.g., for saving money, for losing weight, for getting a certain job)? Which rules of goal setting did you follow? Which rules might you have
Think of a time in which you felt inequitably underpaid by your employer or manager. How did it make you feel, and how did you respond as a result?
Think of the job you currently do, or one that you have done recently. Describe two specific things that could be done to redesign that job so that employees will be more motivated to perform it.
Imagine that you are devising an incentive plan for your company. What particular guidelines will you follow to ensure that it is effective? What problems do you anticipate as the plan takes effect?
The desire to be paid equitably is very strong among people in the workplace. Too often, however, employees believe that they are inequitably paid—either overpaid or underpaid. The following
Specific, difficult goals tend to enhance task performance. The following exercise is designed to help you demonstrate this effect for yourself. All you need is a class of students willing to
You have been hired by the director of a large suburban hospital to help resolve problems of poor morale that have been plaguing the nursing staff. Unfortunately, the nurses don’t find their jobs
Google, the immensely popular Web search engine, has been touted as “the closest thing the Web has to an ultimate answer machine.” Although this is debatable, of course, it is far more difficult
According to Kathy Hannan, diversity is essential to the culture at KPMG. Hannan heads both the company’s Women’s Advisory Board and the Diversity Advisory Board. In fact, KPMG has established a
KPMG believes that it is important for employees to feel valued and motivated to work. Just a few years ago, however, this was not the case. Workers at the company were not engaged in their jobs,
Define what is meant by a group and identify different types of groups operating within organizations.
Describe the importance of roles, norms, status, and cohesiveness within organizations.
Explain how individual performance in groups is affected by the presence of others (social facilitation), and the number of others with whom one is working (social loafing).
Define what teams are and describe the various types of teams that exist in organizations.
Describe the effectiveness of teams in organizations.
Explain the factors responsible for the failure of some teams to operate as effectively as possible and steps that can be taken to build successful teams.

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