Flashcards Industrial Organization Psychology

Organization

Is a structured entity composed of individuals with a shared purpose and a defined set of operating procedures.

Organizational Design

Is the process of structuring an organization to achieve its goals efficiently and effectively

Organizational Design

Involves structuring an organization in a way that clarifies how work should be done and how roles are defined.

What action to take

what specific tasks or responsibilities they are expected to perform

When to take it

The timing or deadlines for completing these tasks or making decisions

How to relate to others in a group

How to interact and communicate with colleagues, supervisors, and other team members to ensure effective collabortion and support

1. Mission Statement

2. Output Goals

3. Societal Goals

4. Operational Goals

All organization have goals. These can come in the form of the following:

Mission Statement

A broad declaration of the organizations purpose and primary objectives

Output Goals

Specific targets related to the products or services the organization provides

Societal Goals

Objectives related to the organization's contributions or impact on society

Operational Goals

Goals that focus on the internal processes and efficiency of the organization

Organizational Structure

Is used as a guide to define, allocate, and coordinate work

1. Division of Labor

2. Authority Distribution

3. Communication System

The organizational structure includes:

Division of Labor

How tasks and responsibilities are divided among employees or teams

Authority Distribution

The allocation of decision-making power and control across different levels or departments

Communication System

The methods and channels used for sharing information and coordinating activities within the organization

Organizational Pyramid

Organizational structures usually take the shape of a pyramid, termed as?

Senior Leaders

At the top of the pyramid, responsible for overall strategy and major decisions

Managers

Middle level, overseeing specific departments or teams and implementing policies set by senior leaders

Supervisors

Lower level, directly managing day-to-day activities and guiding front-line employees

Front Liners

The base of the pyramid, performing the core operational tasks and interacting directly with the organization's products or services

Organizational Chart

The formal structure is described by the?

Henry Mintzberg

In his book, The Structure of Organizations, created this diagram to illustrate the components that define an organization

Stratgic Apex

Ensure the organization follows its mission and manages its relationship with its environment

Middle Line

A group pf managers who are concerned with converting the objectives and broad plans of the Strategic Apex into operational plans that can be carried out by the workers

Technostructure

A separate group of people who are concerned with the best way of doing a job, specifying output criteria (e.g., quality standard) and ensuring that personnel have appropriate skills

Support Staff

Administrative functions within an organization that offer services such as legal advice, public relations, mailroom operations, and cafeteria services

Operating Core

These are the people who do the basic work of producing the products or delivering the services

1. Job Specialization

2. Span of Control

Division of labor:

Horizontal Differentiation

Large organization are structured so that people doing related work are grouped together in departments through a process called departmentation

1. Functional

2. Product

3. Customer

Horizontal differentiation:

Line Organizations

Are characterized by a direct, hierarchal chain of command

Line Organizations

They're primarily focused on the core operations of the business - the activities that directly produce and deliver the products or services

Staff Organizations

Are designs to support and advice the line organizations

Staff Organizations

They often handle tasks like: human resources, finance, legal, and marketing

Vertical Differentiation

A second feature or organizational structure that results in employee grouping through hierarchy of levels or ranks and determines the height of the organization

1. Flat Organization

2. Tall Organization

Vertical differentiation:

Flat Organization

Characterized by fewer levels of hierarchy and less differentiation, leading to a more streamlined and less hierarchal structure

Tall Organization

Highly differentiated, features many levels of hierarchy and high differentiation, resulting in a more layered and complex organizational structure

Authority

Is delegated from the top of the organization downward

1. Division of Labor

2. Vertical Differentiation

Authority is delegated from the top of the organization

downward. This distribution is influenced by:

Job Description

A written summary of the tasks performed in a job, the conditions under which the job is performed, and the requirements needed to perform the job

Job Analysis

Also called work analysis, is the foundation for almost all human resources activities

Job Analaysis

Is the process of determining the work activities and requirements

Job Description

Is the written result of the job analysis

Worker Mobility

That is, if individuals are hired for a particular job, to what other jobs can they expect to eventually be promoted and become successful?

Peter Principle

Promoting employees until they eventually reach their highest level of incompetence

Peter Principle

The idea that organizations tend to promote good employees until they reach the level at which they are not competent

Dependability, knowledge, initiative

Employees are often evaluated with forms that use such vague categories as?

Job Classification

Hob analysis enables a human resources professional to classify jobs into groups based on similarities in requirements and duties

Job Evaluation

Job analysis information can also be used to determine the worth of the job

Job Design

Job analysis information can be used to determine the optimal way in which a job should be performed

Uniform Guidelines

Federal guidelines used to guide an employer in establishing fair selection methods

Job Analysis Interview

Obtaining information about a job by talking to a person performing it

Job Description

Is a relatively short summary of a job and should be about two to five pages in length

Job Title

This is important for several reasons. An accurate title describes the nature of the job, its power and status level, and the competencies needed to perform the job

Brief Summary

The ___ need be only a paragraph in length but should briefly describe the nature and purpose of the job. This can be used in external and internal job postings

Work Activities

This lists the tasks and activities that the worker will be involved in

Tools and Equipment Used

A section should be included that lists all the ___ to perform the work activities in the previous section

Job Context

This section describes the environment in which the employee works and mentions stress level, work schedule, physical demands, level of responsibility, temperature, number of coworkers, degree of danger, and any other relevant information

Work Performance

The job description should outline standards of performance.

Compensation Information

This section of the job description should contain information on the salary grade, whether the position is exempt, and the compensable factors used to determine salary

Grade

A cluster of jobs of similar worth

Job Competencies

These are the knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics (KSAOs) (such as interest, personality, and training) that are necessary to be successful on the job

Job Analyst

The person conducting the job analysis

Consultants

Professionals with extensive training and experience in job analysis Subjevt

Job Specification

A relatively dated term that refers to the knowledge, skills, and abilities needed to successfully perform a job

Knowledge

A body of information needed to perform a task

Job Crafting

A process in which employees unofficially change their job duties to better fit their interests and skills

Level of Specificity

That is, should the job analysis break a a job down into very minute, specific behaviors, or should the job be analyze at a more general level?

Subject Matter Experts (SMEs)

People who are knowledgeable about the job, including incumbents, supervisors, customers, and upper-level management

Job Analysis Interview

Obtaining information about a job by talking to a person performing or knowledgeable about it

Individual Interview

Job analyst interviews one employee at a time

Group Interview (SME Conference)

Several subject-matter experts are interviewed together

Ammerman Technique

A job analysis method in which a group of job experts identifies the objectives and standards to be met by the worker

Observations

A job analysis method in which the job analyst watches incumbents performs their jobs

Job Participation

A job analysis method in which the analyst actually performs the job

Task Statement

A description of specific activity performed as part of a job

1. Action

2. Object

Minimum components of a task statement:

Decomposed Strategy

Generated detailed information about each separate element of a job activity

Holistic Strategy

Generates broader and more abstract job analysis information

Bogus Tasks

Tasks that are intentionally included in a task inventory even though they are not actually part of the job, to identify careless or confused respondents

Task Analysis

The process of identifying the tasks for which employees need to be trained

Task Inventory

A questionnaire containing a list of tasks that job incumbents rate on scales such as importance and time or frequency

Test Weighting

tests measuring more important KSAOs should receive greater weight

Position Analysis Questionnaire (PAQ)

A structured job analysis method developed by McCormick, Jeanneret, and Mecham

Job Structure Profile (JSP)

Revised version of the PAQ

Job Elementary Inventory (JEI)

Job analysis instrument developed as an alternative to the PAQ

Functional Job Analysis (FJA)

Job analysis method developed by Sidney Fine to analyze and compare large number of jobs

job Components Inventory (JCI)

Structured job analysis technique that focuses on worker requirements rather than specific tasks

AET

Ergonomic job analysis procedure developed in Germany

AET

216 item standardized questionnaire that analyzes the work environment and the relationship between workers and work objects

Occupational Information Network

National job analysis system created by the federal government in 1998 to replace the Dictionary of Occupational Titles

Direction of Occupational Titles (DOT)

Former federal system that provided information about almost 30,000 jobs. It was replaced by O*NET

Critical Incident Technique (CIT)

Job analysis method developed by John Flanagan that uses written reports of good and bad employee behavior

Threshold Traits Analysis (TTA)

33-item questionnaire developed by Lopez that identifies traits necessary for successful job performance

Fleishman Job Analysis Survey (F-JAS)

Job analysis method in which jobs are rated according to the abilities needed to perform them

Job Evaluation

The process of determining the monetary worth of a job

Internal Pay Equity

The extent to which employees within an organization are paid fairly compared with other employees within the same organization.

Compensable Job Factors

Factors that differentiate the relative worth of jobs