MGMT 309 - EXAM 3

The Grapevine

DEFINITION

an informal communication network among people in an organization

• Gossip Chain - one person tells many

• Cluster Chain - many people tell a few

EXAMPLES

Gossip Chain - “Alice tells Bob about a potential layoff, Bob tells Carol, who then shares it with Dave”

Cluster Chain - “Alice, Bob, and Dave all hear a rumor independently and share with others”

Communication

DEFINITION

the process of transmitting information from one person to another

Effective Communication

DEFINITON

the process of sending a message in such a way that the message received is as close in meaning as possible to the message intended

Elements of Communication

DEFINITION

• Meaning - the fact, idea, or opinion has meaning to the sender

• Sender - wants to transmit this to someone else

• Encoding - conforming information into a specific format to facilitate its interpretation by the receiver

• Channel - the method of transmission we choose to use when communicating

• Decoding - interpreting the meaning

• Noise - any phenomenon that may disrupt communication anywhere along the way

  • Internal - noise “inside” one of the individuals in the interaction

  • External - noise outside of the individuals

EXAMPLES

Meaning - “Linda Porter, a marketing representative at Canon, recently landed a new account and wanted to tell her boss about it”

Sender - one person conveying message

Encoding - “We just got some good news from Acme”

Channel - meetings, email or text messages, memos, letters, reports, telephone calls, and face-to-face interactions

Decoding - “This is great news for the company”

External Noise - the sound of someone coughing, a truck driving by, or two people talking close at hand

Internal Noise - “if you have ever had a headache or been sick at work, the discomfort that you were experiencing makes it difficult to focus, making concentration on communication difficult”

Oral Communication

DEFINITION

face-to-face conversation, group discussions, telephone calls, and other circumstances in which the spoken word is used to transmit meaning

Written Communication

DEFINITION

Memos, letters, reports, notes, and other circumstances in which the written word is used to transmit meaning

Communication Network

DEFINITION

the pattern through which the members of a group communicate

• Wheel - all communication flows through one central person

• Y - two people are close to the center

• Circle - the path is closed

• All-channel - free flow of information among group members

• Chain - more even flow, two people interact with one other person

Centralized - when a group of accounting clerks is logging incoming invoices and distributing them for payment, for example, one centralized leader can coordinate things efficiently

Decentralized - when the task is complex and nonroutine, such as making a major decision about organizational strategy, decentralized networks tend to be most effective because open channels of communication permit more interaction and a more efficient sharing of relevant information

Vertical Communication

DEFINITION

communication that flows up and down the organization, usually along formal reporting lines; takes places between managers and their superiors and subordinates and may involve several different levels of the organization

• Upward - messages from subordinates to superiors

• Downward - messages from superiors to subordinates

EXAMPLES

“this manager is explaining a new project to her team. As she discusses what the team will be doing and answers questions from her team members”

Horizontal Communication

DEFINITION

communication that flows laterally within the organization; involves colleagues and peers at the same level of the organization and may involve individuals from several different organizational units

EXAMPLE

“an operations manager might communicate to a marketing manager that inventory levels are running low and that projected delivery dates should be extended by two weeks”

Electronic Communication

EXAMPLES

• zoom

• telecommuting

• electronic typewriters

• photocopies

• mobile phones

management by wandering around

DEFINITION

an approach to communication that involves the managers literally wandering around and having spontaneous conversations with others

EXAMPLE

“Bill frequently visited the kitchens, loading docks, and custodial work areas whenever he toured a Marriott hotel”

Diagonal Communication

DEFINITION

refers to communication between groups at different levels, bypassing formal communication

Human Resource Management

DEFINITION

the set of organizational activities directed at attracting, developing, and maintaining an effective workforce

The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA)

DEFINITION

requires employers to provide up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave for family and medical emergencies

EXAMPLE

“an employee needs to take time off work to care for a seriously ill family member”

“if a parent needs to take time off to care for a child with a serious medical condition”

Employment - at - will

DEFINITION

a traditional view of the workplace that says organizations can fire their employees for whatever reason they want; recent court judgements are limiting employment-at-will

Realistic job preview (RJP)

DEFINITION

provides the applicant with a real picture of what performing the job that the organization is trying to fill would be like

Assessment Center

DEFINITION

popular method used to select managers and are particularly good for selecting current employees for promotion

Recruiting

DEFINITION

the process of attracting individuals to apply for jobs that are open

• Internal - considering current employees as applicants for higher-level jobs in the organization

• External - getting people from outside the organization to apply for jobs

Halo Error

DEFINITION

allowing the assessment of an employee on one dimension to “spread” to ratings of that employee on another dimension

EXAMPLE

“if an employee is outstanding on quality of output, a rater might tend to give her or him higher marks than deserved on other dimensions”

“a manager might feel that one of her subordinates is getting too old to perform effectively and should be thinking about retirement”

Recency Error

DEFINITION

the tendency to base judgements on the subordinates most recent performance because it is most easily recalled

Job Description

DEFINITION

lists the duties of a job, the job’s working conditions, and the tools, materials, information, and equipment used to perform it

Job Specification

DEFINITION

lists the skills, abilities, and other credentials needed to do the job

Skills Inventory (employee information system)

DEFINITION

contains information on each employee’s education, skills, experience, and career aspirations; usually computerized

EXAMPLE

“such a system can quickly locate all the employees in the organization who are qualified to fill a position requiring, for instance, a degree in chemical engineering, three years of experience in an oil refinery, and fluency in Spanish”

On-the-job training

DEFINITION

methods allowing practice and the actual use of tools and materials as needed

EXAMPLE

employees must learn a physical skill

Autonomy

DEFINITION

the degree of control the worker has over how the work is performed

• part of the Job Characteristics Approach

Growth-need strength

DEFINITION

affects how the model works for different people

EXAMPLE

“people with a strong desire to grow, develop, and expand their capabilities (indicative of high growth-need strength) are expected to respond strongly to the presence or absence of the basic job characteristics; those with low growth-need strength are expected not to respond as strongly or consistently”

Departmentalization

DEFINITION

the process of grouping jobs according to some logical arrangement

• Functional - grouping jobs involving the same activities

• Product - grouping activities around products or product groups

• Customer - grouping activities to respond to and interact with specific customers or customer groups

• Location - grouping jobs on the basis of defined geographic sites or areas

• Time and sequence, etc.

EXAMPLES

Functional - “marketing experts can be hired to run the marketing function”

Product - “a marketing manager may see her or his primary duty as helping the group rather than helping the overall organization”

Customer - “coordination is necessary to make sure that the organization does not overcommit itself in any one area and to handle collections on delinquent accounts from a diverse set of customers”

Span of Management

DEFINITION

the number of people who report to a particular manager

Influencers on span

• competence and supervisor of subordinates

• physical dispersion of subordinates

• extent of nonsupervisory work in managers job

• Degree of required interaction

• Extent of standardized procedures

• Similarity of tasks being supervised

• Frequency of new problems

• Preferences of supervisors and subordinates

Subordinate Interactions

Direct - the manager’s one-to-one relationship with each subordinate

Cross - among the subordinates themselves

Group - between groups of subordinates

Equation: I = N(2^N/2 + N - 1)

I = the total number of interactions with and among subordinates

N = the number of subordinates

Opportunity Bias

DEFINITION

if some person has a better chance to perform than others

EXAMPLE

“when a manager rates a sales employee favorably overall due to one big sale obtained by a stroke of luck, rather than through normal sales channels such as meeting, cold-calling and prospecting”

Ripple Effect

DEFINITION

a disadvantage of internal recruiting

EXAMPLE

When an employee moves to a different job, someone else must be found to take his or her old job

Cross-training

DEFINITION

increasing the flexibility of an organization’s workforce by training employees to perform a number of different jobs

Attrition

DEFINITION

the gradual reduction of a workforce by employee’s leaving and not being replaced rather than by their being laid off

EXAMPLE

“with so few retirements since March, the year's attrition was insignificant”

Entrepreneurship

DEFINITION

the process of planning, organizing, operating, and assuming the risk of a start-up or new venture

Intrapreneurship

DEFINITION

similar to entrepreneurs except that they develop new businesses in the context of a large organization

• Inventor - person who thinks of idea

• product champion - middle manager who learns about the job and becomes committed

• sponsor - top-level manager who approves of

Force-field analysis

DEFINITION

helps overcome resistance to change

• forces are acting for and against the change

• to facilitate the change, managers start by listing each set of forces and then trying to tip the balance so that the forces facilitating the change outweigh those hindering it

Survey

a method of gathering information using relevant questions from a sample of people

Techno-structural activities

DEFINITION

• part of organizational development techniques

• concerned with the design of the organization, technology, and the interrelationship of technology and design with people on the job

EXAMPLES

• structural change such as an increase in decentralization

• a job design change such as an increase in the use of automation

• a technological change involving a modification in work flow

Organizational Change

• planned - change that is designed and implemented in an orderly and timely fashion in anticipation of future events

• reactive - a piecemeal response to circumstances as they develop

• technology and operations

• organization structure and design

• people, attitudes, and behavior

• business processes

Steps to Organizational Change

The Lewin Model

• unfreezing

• change itself is implemented

• refreezing

A Comprehensive Approach to Change

• recognizing the need for change

• establishment of goals for change

• diagnosis of regular variables

• selection of appropriate change technique

• planning for implementation of change

• actual implementation

• evaluation and follow-up

Organizational Development

DEFINITION

an effort that is planned, organization-wide, and managed from the top, intended to increase organizational effectiveness and health through planned interventions in the organization’s process, using behavioral science knowledge

Organizational Innovation

DEFINITION

the managed effort of an organization to develop new products or services or new uses for existing products or services