Organizational Behaviour questions and answers

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Organizational Behaviour

Which of the following is not an example of bureaucratic functioning in organizations?
Advertising and marketing brochures
Paperwork and record-keeping, hierarchical organizational structure, policies, rules, and procedures, are all
bureaucratic techniques by which the behaviour of the workforce is controlled by indirect, impersonal means
rather than face-to-face. Advertising and marketing brochures give information about the organization and
its products to external parties, they are not used to control the workforce in the same way that bureaucratic
techniques would. Page reference: 32 Which of the following best describes the control and management of workers performed on a personal,
face-to-face basis?
Direct control
Where the number of people to be managed is small enough for it to be done personally and face-to-face, this
is known as direct control. The span of control is the number of people that any one manager controls
directly. Impersonal and indirect control are the types of bureaucratic control that are carried out through
delegation, through rules and procedures, or through paperwork – they are not carried out on a face-to-face
basis. Page reference: 32 Which of the following best describes the reason for bureaucratic rules and procedures in organizations?
- They are designed to ensure that everyone across the organizational hierarchy is acting in the same
way.
Rules and procedures are aimed at standardizing behaviour across an organization, ensuring that all
managers will treat employees in the same way. This may well create jobs to implement the rules, but is not a
reason for them. The span of control is an issue of hierarchy and delegation rather than rules and procedures.
Rules and procedures are about controlling the organization efficiently, and do not necessarily come from a
moral perspective (although some managers may well believe that there is a moral duty to abide by rules!.
Page reference: 42 Which of the following does not apply to bureaucratic records and paperwork?
Records and paperwork allow control over an organization to take place by storing information in a
standardized form that can be retrieved quickly. Such information can be used to exert surveillance over
individuals, with records and information about them being stored in means that are easily accessible. Indeed,
some organizations exist purely to process information and records about people, even whole populations –
such as government agencies, which process information about driving registrations or tax and income.
Whilst paperwork was originally stored on paper in a filing cabinet, it is now often stored in computer
databases, where the standardized information can be accessed even more quickly and in a greater volume.
Page reference: 45 Which of the following is not an aspect of Taylor's scientific management?
Scientific management is based around a division of labour, where individual tasks are analysed in detail using
a time and motion study, and where tasks are redesigned, the planning all done by management with workers
simply doing as they are directed. Scientific management eliminates rather than uses craft skills. Page
reference: 74 Which of the following best describes Ford’s assembly line?
- It is more controlling than Taylorism because the moving assembly line controls the pace of work.
The assembly gives an additional element of control to Taylorism in that the speed of work is dictated by the
machinery – by the speed of the line itself. Page reference: 82
Which of the following is a critique of rational work design put forward by Karl Marx?
- Alienation
Marx suggested that workers suffer a number of negative effects in the dehumanising conditions of industrial
labour. He termed this alienation – workers were alienated from the product they made, the production
process itself, from their humanity and from other people. Page reference: 87 In which of the following situations would rational work design function best?
- A stable environment where a standard, simple product is produced.
Morgan (2006) suggests that rational work design functions best with simple, standard products in a stable
context. Where products need a lot of customized modifications, where things need to be changed often, or
where craft skills are required, it is not suitable for the task. Page reference: 93 Which of the following is a means of categorizing different elements of the organization's environment?
- PEST analysis
PEST analysis suggests four sectors to the environment facing an organization: Political, Economic, Social,
and Technological. Page reference: 100 Which of the following best describes Ritzer's (2015) 'McDonaldization of society'?
- More and more organizations in society are managed using similar techniques to McDonalds
restaurants.
The McDonaldization of society is the trend, noted by Ritzer (2015) for more and more organizations
worldwide to adopt techniques of efficiency, predictability, calculability, and control, as exemplified by fast-
food restaurants. Page reference: 107 What were the original assumptions that the Hawthorne researchers started with?
The original research aimed to provide a link between lighting levels and employee output. Funded by a light-
bulb manufacturer, they believed that they could find the ideal lighting levels (and therefore sell more light-
bulbs) to increase productivity. The key assumption therefore was that there is a link between the physical
conditions and productivity. Page reference: 137 What was the key finding of the Hawthorne studies?
The central finding held that informal social groups had a greater influence on the worker behaviour than
management. This led to increased interest in the power of groups, in particular in 'group norms' and how
they influenced individual behaviour. Page reference: 147 What is the human relations movement?
- An academic movement who study the social relations between people and the human factors of
management.
The human relations movement is one of the most influential movements in management theory and
practice. At its heart it focuses on the study of people at work. Page reference: 142 What is the 'social side' of the organization?
The 'social side' of the organization stresses the informal side of the organization which is largely hidden from
the 'rational' perspective. Page reference: 164-5 Which of these is not a key feature of a team?
Whilst people who do the same role or work in the same department which has the title of being a team
might share commonality, this does not necessarily mean they work together for the same purpose. A team is
seen as having a more specific purpose and function. Page reference: 172-3
Which of the following is a particular benefit of teamwork to the organization as a whole, rather than the
individual?
- Transfer of skills and technical expertise
Whilst sharing problems and not feeling personally responsible might be seen as beneficial to an individual, it
is not one that is good for personal growth or the effectiveness of the organization. There are many personal
benefits that come with being part of a team which are listed on p.179. Page reference: 179 In the Belbin Team Role a Shaper is:
- Challenging, dynamic, thrives on pressure. Has the drive and courage to overcome obstacles
The Shaper is challenging, dynamic, thrives on pressure and is also prone to provocation; they may offend
people's feelings. Page reference: 187 In the Belbin Team Role someone who is creative, imaginative, free-thinking. Generates ideas and solves
difficult problems is a:
- Plant
The Plant's allowable weaknesses is that they ignore incidentals and are too preoccupied to communicate
effectively. Page reference: 187 Tuckman's stages of team formation go in what order?
- Forming, storming, norming, performing, adjourning
Tuckman argued that a team goes through 5 stages: forming, storming, norming, performing, adjourning.
Page reference: 191-2 What is groupthink?
- Social pressure put on individuals to think in a particular way
Identified by Janis, groupthink occurs when powerful social pressures are put on group members to think in a
particular way. Page reference: 200 Fill in the missing word in this definition of culture: 'the basic assumptions and _______which are shared
by members of an organization'
- Beliefs
One of the central features, many management theorists argue, is that organizational members share a set of
beliefs. This quote is from Edger Schein, a key management theorist. He argued that organizational culture is
a set of 'taken-for-granted' unconscious assumptions that are shared amongst organizational members.
Culture is about beliefs as well as practices. Page reference: 216 Fill in the missing word: Culture is a form of _____management.
- Soft
Organizational culture is a form of soft management. This means it focuses on the less measureable, more
intangible features of organizational life. In particular it focuses on issues such as vision and values, mission
and purpose. This 'soft' approach is seen in contrast to the so-called hard side of management which focuses
on hard, measurable aspects, such as firm control mechanisms. However whilst it is labelled as 'soft' as we
argue in the chapter, this should not indicate that it is any less controlling. Indeed it might be seen as more
controlling as it focuses on individuals' hearts and minds, controlling their belief systems. Page reference: 221 What is the surface level of Edger Schein's cultural iceberg?
- Physical artefacts
The surface level of the iceberg, and therefore the most visible aspect are the physical artefacts. Whilst the
physical artefacts (uniforms, buildings etc.) are the easiest to change, they are also the most superficial.
However, for management seeking to gain a quick hit they can be useful, but if the deeper aspect of the
culture is not also transformed then a back-lash against the changes might occur. Page reference: 227-8 Within Schein's cultural model what are basic underlying assumptions?