MG 630 Organizational Behavior Dr.

Andrew Raleigh Fall Semester 2009 Final Exam

Rajkumar Jani O125828

True/False

Chapter # 6 1) F 2) T 3) F 4) F 5) T 6) T 7) F 8) F 9) F 10) T

Chapter # 7

1) F 2) T 3) T 4) T 5) F 6) T 7) T

8) F 9) T 10) T

Chapter # 8 1) T 2) F 3) T 4) F 5) T 6) T 7) T 8) T 9) T 10) F

Chapter # 9 1) T 2) T 3) F 4) F 5) T 6) T

7) F 8) T 9) T 10) T

Chapter # 10

1) F 2) T 3) F 4) F 5) F 6) T 7) T 8) F 9) T 10) F

Chapter # 6

Goal setting theory and its implication In the late 1960s, Edwin Locke proposed that intentions to work toward a goal are a major source of work motivation. Goals tell an employee what needs to be done and how much effort is needed. The evidence strongly supports the value of goals. Specific hard goals produce a higher level of output than do the generalized goals. If factors like ability and acceptance of the goals are held constant, we can also state that the more difficult the goal, the higher the level of performance. A major advantage of participation may be in increasing acceptance. If people participate in goal setting, they are more likely to accept even a difficult goal than if they are arbitrarily assigned it by their boss. There are contingencies in goal-setting theory. In addition to feedback, three other factors influence the goals-performance relationship. A) Goal Commitment> Goal-setting theory presupposes that an individual is committed to the goal. B) Task Characteristic>. Individual goal setting does not work equally well on all tasks. Goals seem to have a more substantial effect on performance when tasks are simple, well-learned, and independent. C) National Culture Goal-setting theory is culture bound and it is well adapted to North American cultures. Overall conclusion goal setting: Intentions, as articulated in terms of hard and specific goals, are a potent motivating force. However, there is no evidence that such goals are associated with increased job satisfaction.

Chapter # 7

Employee involvement

Employee involvement is creating an environment in which people have an impact on decisions and actions that affect their jobs. Employees can contribute to a number of decisions that affect them: setting work goals, choosing their own benefits packages, solving productivity and quality problems, and the like. This can increase employee productivity, commitment to work goals, motivation, and job satisfaction. Examples of Employee involvement 1) Participative Management Participative Management the distinct characteristic common to all participative management programs is that subordinates actually share a significant immediate degree of decision-making power with their superiors. It has been promoted as a panacea for poor morale and low productivity. However, it is not appropriate for every organization. For it to work, there must be adequate time to participate, the issues in which employees get involved must be relevant to their interests, employees must have the ability (intelligence, technical knowledge, communication skills) to participate, and the organizations culture must support employee involvement. 2) Representative Participation Representative participation is almost every country in Western Europe has some type of legislation requiring it. It is the most widely legislated form of employee involvement around the world. The goal is to redistribute power within an organization, putting labor on a more equal footing with the interests of management and stockholders. The two most common forms: Work Councils link employees with management. They are groups of nominated or elected employees who must be consulted when management makes decisions involving personnel.

Board representatives are employees who sit on a companys board of directors and represent the interests of the firms employees. In some countries, large companies may be legally required to make sure that employee representatives have the same number of board seats as stockholder representatives. The overall influence seems to be minimal. The evidence suggests that works councils are dominated by management and have little impact on employees or the organization. If one were interested in changing employee attitudes or in improving organizational performance, representative participation would be a poor choice. 3) Quality Circles A quality circle consists of a work group of eight to ten employees and supervisors who have a shared area of responsibility. Key components are: They meet regularly on company time to discuss their quality problems, investigate causes of the problems, recommend solutions, and take corrective actions. They take over the responsibility for solving quality problems and they generate and evaluate their own feedback. Management typically retains control over the final implementation decision. A review of the evidence indicates that they are likely to positively affect productivity; however, they tend to show little or no effect on employee satisfaction. QCs seem to be a fad that has come and gone. First is the little bit of time (usually just an hour per week) that actually deals with employee involvement. Second, the ease of implementing quality circles often worked against them. The lack of planning and top-management commitment often contributed to quality circle failures.

Chapter # 8

Emotional Intelligence Emotional Intelligence (EI) describes the ability, capacity, skill or, in the case of the trait EI model, a self-perceived ability, to identify, assesses, and manage the emotions of one's self, of others, and of groups. Emotional intelligence (EI) refers to an assortment of non-cognitive skills, capabilities, and competencies that influence a persons ability to succeed in coping with environmental demands and pressures. Self-awareness. - Being aware of what you are feeling. Self-management -The ability to manage ones own emotions and impulses. Self-motivation - The ability to persist in the face of setbacks and failures. Empathy - The ability to sense how others are feeling. Social skills - The ability to handle the emotions of others. Several studies suggest EI may play an important role in job performance. EI, not academic I.Q., characterized high performers. The implications from the initial evidence on EI are that employers should consider it as a factor in selection, especially in jobs that demand a high degree of social interaction. Arguments for EI 1. Intuitive Appeal 2. EI Predicts Criteria That Matter. 3. EI Biologically Based

Argument Against 1. EI Is Too Vague a Concept. 2. EI Cant Be Measured. 3. The Validity of EI Is Suspect.

Chapter # 9

Group decision making A group is defined as two or more individuals, interacting and interdependent, who have come together to achieve particular objectives. Strengths of Group Decision Making  Groups generate more complete information and knowledge.  They offer increased diversity of views.  This opens up the opportunity for more approaches and alternatives to be considered.  The evidence indicates that a group will almost always outperform even the best individual.  Groups lead to increased acceptance of a solution. Groups provide vast amount of information and groups provide complete information and knowledge and helps in making the best decision. Thus mostly groups outperform the best individual as they have diversified views and provide the best output as they add heterogeneity to decision process .The groups provide vast amount of opportunities and alternatives which help in producing first class decisions. Group members have to encourage their colleagues and should invite their suggestions and responses while making a decision. Weaknesses of Group Decision Making     They are time consuming. There is a conformity pressure in groups. Group discussion can be dominated by one or a few members. Group decisions suffer from ambiguous responsibility.

In spite of their advantages noted, they have some drawbacks. They are time consuming as it takes much time to please all group members and arrive at a decision to a problem. Thus it takes much time in arriving at a solution. Thus an individual takes very less time compared to groups in decision making process. Problems and conflicts arise due to non acceptance of a particular decision leading

to quarrel within the group. Moreover group discussions are dominated by few people giving less importance to others in the group. Thus the final decision is not up to the mark.

Chapter # 10

Cautions to be aware of when using team Effective teams have common characteristics. They have adequate resources, effective leadership, a climate of trust, and a performance evaluation and reward system that reflects team contributions. These teams have individuals with technical expertise, as well as problem-solving, decision-making, and interpersonal skills and the right traits, especially conscientiousness and openness. There are some drawbacks of team, they are as under.  Teamwork takes more time and often more resources than individual work.  Teams increase communication demands, conflicts to be managed, and meetings to be run.  Some managers have introduced them into situations where the work is better done by individuals.  Three Tests: A) First, can the work be done better by more than one person? B) Second, does the work create a common purpose or set of goals for the people in the group that is more than the aggregate of individual goals? C) The final test to assess whether teams fit the situation is: Are the members of the group interdependent?