Download W430 EXAM 1 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 100% PASS. and more Exams Advanced Education in PDF only on Docsity!
W430 EXAM 1 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
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The organizational environment - ANSWER - competitors
- employees and unions
- customers
- governments
- society
- suppliers
- stockholders What is OD? - ANSWER - long range efforts and programs aimed at improving organization's ability to survive
- OD changes problem-solving and renewal processes OD is... --->planned --->organization wide ---> managed from top ---> increases organization effectiveness ---> planned interventions ---> uses behavioral science knowledge characteristics of OD - ANSWER - planned change ---> change is planned by managers to achieve goals
- collaborative approach ---> involves collaborative approach and involvement
- improve performance ---> emphasis on ways to improve and enhance performance
- humanistic values ---> emphasis upon increased opportunity and use of human potential
- systems approach ---> relationship among elements and excellence
- scientific approaches ---> scientific approaches supplement practical experience Most cited reasons for beginning change program - ANSWER - the level of competition
- survival
- improved performance primary goal of change programs - ANSWER - change the corporate culture
- become more adaptive
- increase competitiveness factors leading to emergence of OD - ANSWER - need for new organizational forms
- focus on cultural change
- increase in social awareness Successful firms share these traits - ANSWER - faster
- quality conscious
- employee involvement
- customer oriented
- smaller evolution of OD - ANSWER - evolved since the late 1940s
- NTL Laboratory- training methods
- survey research and feedback Who does OD? - ANSWER OD practitioners consist of: ---> specialists
- those applying OD in daily work OD specialists are:
- individuals understand power, status, rewards, sanctions
expectations---> encounters culture---> adjusts to culture and norms---> receives feedback
adjustment to cultural norms (responses to socialization) - ANSWER Rebellion ---> rejection of all values and norms
Conformity ---> acceptance of all values and norms
Creative individualism ---> acceptance of pivotal values, rejection of others
5 stages of OD - ANSWER Stage 1: Anticipate need for change
- someone recognizes need for change
- must be felt need for change
Stage 2: Develop the practitioner- client relationship
- practitioner enters system
- practitioner establishes trust and open communication
Stage 3: The diagnostic phase
- practitioner and client gather data ---> objective to understand client's problems, identify causes, and select change strategies
Stage 4: Action plans, strategies, and techniques
- series of interventions, activities, or programs aimed at increasing effectiveness
- programs apply OD techniques
Stage 5: self renewal, monitor, and stabilize
- as program stabilizes, need for practitioner decreases
- monitor results
- stabilize change
- gradual disengagement of practitioner
action research model - ANSWER - collecting and feeding back information
- implementing action programs
change agent - ANSWER person attempting to bring change
client system - ANSWER person or organization that is being assisted
creative individualism - ANSWER - questioning of peripheral norms
- accepting of pivotal norms
psychological contract - ANSWER expectations between individual and organization
significant shifts - ANSWER - from growth to consolidation
- from moderate speed to warp speed
- from moderate complexity to high complexity
- from strategic planning to strategic implementation from consultant jargon to popular accepted concepts
- from management to leadership
- renewing/transformation management ---> high adaptive orientation; hyper turbulent (environmental stability)
- satisficing management ---> high adaptive orientation; stable (environmental stability)
sluggish thermostat management - ANSWER - stable environment, low adaptation
- management style based on low risk
- organizations using this style have very stable goals and a highly centralized structure
satisficing management - ANSWER - stable environment, high adaptation
- adequate and average
- planning and decision-making concentrated at the top
reactive management - ANSWER - hyper turbulent environment, low adaptation
- reaching after conditions change
- short-term, crisis type of adaptation
- usually involves replacing key people
- hasty reorganization
renewing/transformation management - ANSWER - hyper turbulent environment, high adaptation
- deal with future conditions before they occur
- faster at developing new ideas
- more participative
systems approach - ANSWER - breaks company into key processes
- creates teams from different departments to run them
basic qualities of systems - ANSWER - designed to accomplish objectives
- elements have established arrangement
- interrelationships exist among elements
- ingredients of process more vital than elements
- organization more important than elements
open systems - ANSWER - in continual interaction with environment
- continually receives feedback from environment
socio-technical system - ANSWER - coordinated human and technical activities
- consists of: ---> goals and values ---> technical subsystem ---> structural subsystem ---> psychosocial subsystem (culture) ---> managerial subsystem
high performance systems - ANSWER - occur by design, not by change
- Key variables are: ---> business situation ---> strategy ---> design elements ---> culture ---> results
- Team effectiveness ---> emphasis on improving problem-solving, working through conflicts, team effectiveness ---> Team activities are: ------> task activities--what the team does ------> team process--how the team works ---> process observations examine the way the group functions, leadership, decision making, communication
- Organization effectiveness ---> focus on total organization system ---> improve effectiveness by changes in structure, technology, and management
What is Corporate Culture? - ANSWER - culture is system of shared values, beliefs, and behavioral norms
- observed behavioral norms
- dominant values
- learning ropes for newcomers
Culture comes from 2 subsystems - ANSWER - Managerial Subsystem ---> how employees are treated ---> through actions and words ---> vision articulated by top management
- Organizational Subsystem ---> outside factors (market, etc.) define culture ---> technology ---> job descriptions
---> types of structure (tall vs. flat)
Corporate culture and success - ANSWER - high performing companies have strong cultures
- many cultures fail to adapt to change
- following corporate mergers, cultures often clash
key factors to improve culture - ANSWER - create vision for the future
Tools for change - ANSWER - Information ---> provide information to people ---> provide ability to gather information ---> one method is open-book management
- Support ---> support and collaboration from other departments ---> management support to provide climate of risk taking
- Resources ---> funds, staff, equipment, materials ---> innovative programs for providing resources include: venture capital and innovation banks
Organizational Dimensions Affecting Performance - ANSWER MANAGERIAL EFFECTIVENESS ---> accomplishing goals and objectives
---> imposed change ------> OD ideally implemented voluntarily ------> top management may impose program ------> OD practitioners cognizant of power and politics
---> priority of goals ------> determine goals given precedence ------> challenge to develop balanced intervention; one that improves productivity and quality of work for members
OD Values About Nature of Organization Members - ANSWER - respect for people
- trust and support
- power and equalization
- confrontation and open communication
- participation
Two Types of Change in Organizations - ANSWER - random or haphazard change (forced on organization by external environment, not prepared for)
- deliberate attempts to modify organization
External Practitioner - ANSWER - not previously associated with the client
ADVANTAGES:
- different viewpoint and objectivity
- not dependent upon the organization
DISADVANTAGES:
- unfamiliar with organization
- unfamiliar with culture, communication, networks, and power systems
Internal Practitioner - ANSWER - a member or an organization who can be: a top executive, employee who initiates change in work group, from HR or OD department
ADVANTAGES:
- familiar with culture and norms
- personal interest in organization
DISADVANTAGES:
- may lack specialized skills
- lack of objectivity
- likely to accept organizational system
- may lack necessary power and authority
External-Internal Practitioner Team - ANSWER - team combines external practitioner working with internal practitioner
- probably most effective approach
- partners bring complementary resources
- provides support to one another
- achieves greater continuity over OD program a
- team combines advantages of both while minimizing disadvantages
- External practitioner brings expertise, objectivity, and new insights
- internal practitioner brings knowledge of issues and norms, and awareness of strengths and weaknesses
- Member roles in groups
- Group Problem-solving
- Group norms and growth
- Leadership and authority
- Intergroup cooperation
The intervention - ANSWER - intervention is coming between members of organization for purpose of change
- interventions are planned activities
- external practitioner usually intervenes through top manager
Who is the client? - ANSWER client may be the organization, certain divisions, or an individual
practitioner role in intervention - ANSWER - operates on belief that team is basic building block
- concerned with how processes occur
- does not take control
- believes that assisting client leads to lasting solution
6 Key Skill Areas Critical to Success of Practitioner - ANSWER 1. Leadership
- Project Management
- Communication
- Problem-solving
- Interpersonal
- Personal
Forming Practitioner-Client Relationship - ANSWER -A system of interacting elements
- consists of practitioner, client contact, and client target system
Initial Perceptions - ANSWER - Initial intervention is an evaluation by client and practitioner of each other
- first impressions important
- relationship based on mutual trust and openness
What is Perception? - ANSWER - The process that individuals use to give meaning to environment and interpret and organize sensory impressions
- what one perceives can be different from reality
- people behave on the basis of what is perceived versus what really is
Selective Perception - ANSWER - selectivity of information that is perceived
- people tend to ignore information that conflicts what their values
- accepts other information that agrees with their values (confirmation bias)
Closure - ANSWER - individual fills in missing information in order to complete perception
- individual perceives more in situation that is really there
Dilemma Interactions - ANSWER - questions about client's definition of problem
- client's awareness of need for change
- client's unrealistic expectations
- client's misuse of power
- value differences with client and practitioner
Practitioner Style Model - ANSWER - practitioner brings knowledge, skills, values, and experience
- client system has own subculture and readiness for change
- open to others; accepts responsibility
- both client and practitioner share perceptions
- differences are worked through - OD practitioner attempts to operate from this mode
Define Organizational Development - ANSWER - improving overall effectiveness by problem-solving; has to be planned and total system wide
- The text emphasizes that organizational development is not necessarily a linear process, but rather a process of promoting growth and utilizing organizational resources in order to achieve heightened development or progress. Taken at face value, organizational development is change in an organization. According to the text, these changes are only considered OD if the organization recognizes the need for change and seeks it out, the "client" must be involved in the development and application of the changes, and the OD efforts must lead to actual change in organizational culture. Generally, the text defines OD as a process of deliberate fundamental change in an organization's culture by utilizing research and behavioral sciences.
What are the primary advantages and disadvantages of a functional organization? - ANSWER ADVANTAGES
- having clear and defined organizational responsibilities
-the ability to continually develop expertise within a specific functional area.
DISADVANTAGES
- divisions can cause inefficient communication between functional managers that need to work together in order to achieve goals
*in order to truly benefit from a functional structure, managers must be able to communicate effectively across their respective departments.
What are the steps to resolve conflict in an organization? - ANSWER Step 1: Identify perceptions Step 2: Exchange of perceptions Step 3: Problem identification Step 4: Problem exchange Step 5: Problem consolidation Step 6: Priority setting Step 7: Group problem solving Step 8: Summary presentations Step 9: Follow-up planning (derived from the text, pg. 7)
What were the specific techniques used in the methodological model for OD in action research? - ANSWER DIAGNOSIS
- individuals and groups are interviewed, observations are made regarding specific situations, and data is organized
FEEDBACK
- Once a diagnosis is made, this information on overall organizational problems is conveyed back to those individuals or groups in the form of feedback
DISCUSSION
- where organizational members analyze the information collected and decide upon steps to take to alleviate this problem
ACTION
- occurs when these planned steps are executed
