Essay Questions (Ch 9) 1. Identify and briefly discuss the four distinguishing characteristics of a mature (well-functioning) group.

The distinguishing characteristics includes
(1) a clear purpose and mission,
(2) well-understood norms and standards of conduct
(3) a high level of group cohesion
(4) a flexible status structure.
Stating the purpose in terms specific goals enhances productivity over and above any performance benefits achieved through individual goal setting. Behavioral norms for high performance and productivity set above organizational norms characterizes high performing work groups. Smaller groups tend to be more cohesive than large groups, and cohesion based on attraction results in effective control over members with respect to important performance norms. Successful resolution of authority issues within a group result in a well understood status structure. This contributes to group functioning.

2. Describe the five stages of Tuckman's Group Development Process. What individual and group issues are addressed in each stage?

Forming Storming Norming Performing Adjourning
Individual How do I What's my What do the How can I Whta's issues fit in? role here? Others expect best perform next? me to do? my role?
Group Why are we Why are we Can we agree Can we do the Can we help
Issues here? fighting over on roles and job properly? members who is in charge work as a transition and who does team? out? what?

Stage 1: Forming
During this "ice-breaking" stage, group menbers tend to be uncertain and anxious about such thing as their roles, the people in charge, and the group's goals. Mutual trust is low, and there is a good deal of holding back to see who takes charge and how.
Stage 2: Storming
This is a time of testing, Individuals test the leader's policies and assumptions as they try to determine how they fit into the power structure. Sbugroups take shape, and subtle forms of rebellion, such as procrastination, occur.
Stage 3 Norming
Groups that make it through stage 2 gengerally do so because a respected member, other than the leader, challenges the group to resolve its power struggles so something can be accomplished. Questions about authority and power are best resolved through unemotional, matter-of-fact group discussion. A feeling of team spirit is experienced because members believe they have found their proper roles. Group cohesiveness, defined as the "we feeling" that binds members of a group together, is the principal by-product of stage 3.
Stage 4: Performing
Activity during this vital stage is focused on solving task problems. As members of a mature group, contributors get their work done without hampering others. There is a cilmate of open communication, strong cooperation, and lots of helping behavior. Conflicts and job boundary disputes are handled constructively and efficiently. Cohesiveness and personal commitment to group goals help the group achieve more than could any one individual acting alone.
Stage 5: Adjourning
The work is done, it is time to move on to other things. Having worked so hard to get along and get something done, many members feel a compelling sense of loss. The return to independence can be eased by rituals celebrating "the end" and "new beginnings." Parties, award ceremonies, graduations, or mock funerals can provide the needed punctuation at the end of a significant group project. Leaders need to emphasize valuable lessons learned in group dynamics to prepare everyone for futurn group and team efforts.
3 .Differentiate between task and maintenance roles. Identify and describe any four task roles and any four maintenance roles.
Task roles enable the work group to define, clarify, and pursur a common purpose. Meanwhile, maintenance roles foster supportive and constructive interpersonal relationships. In short, task roles keep the group on track while maintenance roles keep the group together.
Task Roles Description
Initiator Suggests new goals or ideas
Information seeker/giver Clarifies key issues
Opinion seeker/giver Clarifies pertinnet values
Elaborator Promotes greater understanding through examples or exploration of implications.
Maintenance Roles Description
Encourager Fosters group solidarity by accepting and praising various points of view.
Harmonizer Mediates conflict through reconciliation or humor.
Compromiser Helps resolve conflict by meeting other "halfway"
Gatekeeper Encourages all group members to participate

4. What factors of a group work situation affect cohesiveness?
Numerous factors can positively and negatively influence cohesiveness; some of these are size or number of employees, length of time for task accomplishment and length of time the group is together, external pressures, organization, location and prestige of the group, group norms, internal competitive behavior, and closeness of supervision. Large groups (more than 25 to 30 employees) may inhibit the development of cohesiveness. The longer the time period for group development, the greater the cohesiveness. External pressures (in the form of close supervision) could accelerate development of cohesion. The higher the prestige, the more likely cohesiveness will develop. Strong group norms also increase cohesiveness. However, internal competitive behavior may hinder cohesiveness.

Essay Questions (Ch 10)

5. Briefly describe the four steps of the rational model of decision making. How does this model differentiate from the normative model?

Stage 1: Identify the problem or opportunity - Determining the actual versus the desirable.
A problem exists when a actual situation and a desired situation differ. An opportunity represents a situation in which there are possibilities to do things that lead to result that exceed goals and expectations. When you face a problem or an opportunity, the goal is always the same: to make improvements that change conditions from their current state to more desirable ones.
Stage 2: Generate alternative solutions - Both the obvious and the creative
After identifying a problem and its causes, the next logical step is generating alternative solutions. There are three key decision-making blunders: rushing to judgment, selecting readily available ideas or solutions, and making poor allocation of resources to study alternative solutions.
Stage 3: Evaluate alternatives and select a solution - Ethics, feasibility, and effectiveness.
In this stage, you need to evaluate alternatives in terms of several criteria. Not only are costs and quality important, but you should consider the following questions: Is the potential solution ethical? Is it feasible? Will it remove the causes and solve the problem?
Stage 4: Implement and evaluate the solution chosen
Once a solution is chosen, it needs to be implemented. After a solution is implemented, the evaluation phase is used to assess its effectiveness. If the solution is implemented, it should reduce the difference between the actual and desired states that created the problem. If the gap is not closed, the implementation was not successful, and one of the following is true: Either the problem was incorrectly identified, or the solution was inappropriate. In the first case, the decision maker should return to the beginning of the process and redefine the problem. In the second case, the decision maker should try to generate more solutions and select a different solution to implement.

Different from the normative model:
There are three benefits of trying to follow a rational process as much as realistically possible which help this model differentiate from the normative model. 1) . the quality of decisions may be enhanced, in the sense that they follow more logically from all available knowledge and expertise. 2) . It makes the reasoning behind a decision transparent and available to scrutiny.
3). If made public, it discourages the decider form acting on suspect considerations.

6. What are advantages and disadvantages of group decision making?

Advantages 1. Greater pool of knowledge. A group can bring much more information and experience to bear on a decision or problem than can an individual acting alone. 2. Different perspectives. Individuals with varied experience and interests help the group see decision situations and problems from different angles. 3. Greater comprehension. Those who personally experience the give-and-take of group discussion about alternative courses of action tend to understand the rationale behind the final decision. 4. Increased acceptance. Those who play an active role in group decision making and problem sloving tend to view the outcomes as "ours" rather than "theirs". 5. Traning ground. Less exoerienced participants in group action learn how to cope with group dynamics by actually being involved.

Disadvantages 1. Social pressure. Unwillingness to "rock the boat" and pressure to conform may combine to stifle the creativity of individual contributors. 2. Domination by a vocal few. Sometimes the quality of group action is reduced when the group gives in to those who talk the loudest and longest. 3. Logrolling. Political wheeling and dealing can displace sound thinking when an individual's pet project or vested interest is at stake. 4. Goal displacement. Sometimes secondary considerations such as winning an argument, making a point, or getting back at a rival displace the primary task of making a sound decision or sloving the problem. 5. "Groupthink." Somtimes cohesive "in-groups" let the desire for unanimity override sound judgment when generating and evaluating alternative courses of action.

7 . Why is identification of the real problem the first and most important step in the decision-making process? How does attribution theory explain mistakes that can be made as managers and employees work together to explain why the problem occurred?

Identification of the real problem is critical because it ensures that the group will be "treating the problem instead of the symptom." Also if there is a problem, the manager should understand where that problem was occurring and why.

Attribution theory indicates that it is the subjective perception of causality, not necessarily reality, which influences outcome behavior. Attribution theory suggests that individuals will tend to look to external causes to explain their own failure. This could bias the problem-solving process. The most reasonable thing they would do is to blame to those with a higher passion at work then to those with a lower position. 8. Define knowledge management and the types of knowledge management. Explain the importance of knowledge management to successful organizations, and discuss how they accomplish knowledge management.
Knowledge management is a discipline that promotes an integrated approach to identifying, capturing, evaluating, retrieving, and sharing all of an enterprise's information assets. These assets may include databases, documents, policies, procedures, and previously un-captured expertise and experience in individual workers.
Four Types:
Internal knowledge management – giving their staff access to knowledge in order to support them to do their jobs better or to improve organizational performance. This can include various types of tools and approaches – intranets, toolkits, databases of research or lessons learned, communities of practice, knowledge sharing events.
Knowledge dissemination – generating knowledge and making their organizational knowledge as widely accessible, or known to the external world especially development partners. For organizations with a strong base either in research, or in practical on the ground experience a next natural step is to want to make the knowledge you have as widely available, accessible and used as possible.
Knowledge brokering – connecting development partners to relevant knowledge and expertise wherever it comes from. Here the role is to help connect development partners with the knowledge they need, whether or not it comes from within your own organization.
Building knowledge capacity – building the capacity of development partners to generate, acquire, share and use knowledge effectively. This is perhaps the most challenging but also most fundamental way to put knowledge at the service of development.

The goal of knowledge management is not to capture all knowledge, but rather manage the knowledge that is most important to the organization. It involves applying the collective knowledge and abilities of the entire workforce to achieve specific organizational objectives.

To accomplish knowledge management, firstly should determine the objectives. Without clear expectations and objectives for your knowledge management process, you won’t see a return on investment. Then you should plan an implementation strategy to gain a clear understanding of how you will get from solution selection to user launch is an important step in knowledge management success. Third, you should design a robust knowledgebase and develop useful content. Also you should optimize the agent experience. The most important thing is that you should constantly improve your knowledge.

Essay Questions Ch 11

9 .Differentiate between functional and dysfunctional conflicts. Identify any five antecedents of conflict.

The distinction between functional conflict and dysfunctional conflict pivots on whether the organization's interests are served. Functional conflict enhances organization interests while dysfunctional conflict is counterproductive.

Five antecedents of conflict:
1. Incompatible personalities or value systems.
2. Overlapping or unclear job boundaries.
3. Competition for limited resources.
4. Interdepartmental competition.
5. Inadequate communication. 10. Describe the three desired outcomes of conflict.
1. Agreement. Equitable and fair agreements are best. An agreement that leaves one party feeling exploited or defeated will tend to breed resentment and subsequent conflict.
2. Stronger relationships. Good agreements enable conflicting parties to build bridges of goodwill and trust for future use. Moreover, conflicting parties who trust each other are more likely to keep their end of the bargain.
3. Learning. Functional conflict can promote greater self-awareness and creative problem solving. Like the practice of management itself, successful conflict handling is learned primarily by doing. Knowledge of the concepts and techniques in this chapter is a necessary first step, but there is no substitute for hands-on practice. In a contentious world, there are plenty of opportunities to practice conflict management.

11 . Discuss the four major forms of conflict in organizations.
Personality conflict: interpersonal opposition based on personal dislike and /or disagreement. Workplace incibility is the seeds of personality conflict.

Intergroup conflict: These conflict among work groups, teams, and department is a common threat to organizational competitiveness. Each group wants to protect its own interests, and the groups see their interests as being in conflict. In-group thinking is the seeds of intergroup conflict.

Cross-cultural conflict: Doing business with people from different cultures is commonplace in our global economy where cross-border mergers, joint ventures, outsourcing, and alliances are the order of the day. Because of differing assumptions about how to think and act, the potential for cross-cultural conflict is both immediate and huge.

Work-family conflict: it occurs when demands of one's work role conflict with those of the family role. Work-family conflict can take two distinct forms: work interference with family and family interference with work.
12. Based on research, how can managers build cross-cultural relationships? Explain.
Nine specific ways to facilitate interaction with host-country nationals, as ranked form most useful to least useful by the respondents, are listed in skill and best practices: 1. Be a good listener. 2. Be sensitive to needs of others. 3. Be cooperative, rather than overly competitive. 4. Advocate inclusive leadership. 5. Compromise rather than dominate. 6. Build rapport through conversations. 7. Be compassionate and understanding. 8. Avoid conflict by emphasizing harmony.
9. Nurture others.

Essay Questions Ch 12

13. Briefly describe the perceptual model of communication using the figure from the text.

There are six parts of this process. 1. Sender, message, and receiver. The sender is the person wanting to communicate information-the message. The receiver is the person, group, or organization for whom the message is intended.
2. Encoding: communication begins when a sender encodes an idea or thought. Encoding entails translating thoughts into a code or language that can be understood by others. 3. Selecting a medium: managers can communicate though a variety of media. 4. Decoding and creating meaning: decoding occurs when receivers receive a message. It is the process of interpreting and making sense of a message. 5. Feedback: feedback from managers can significantly shape the nature of communication at work.
6. Noise: noise represents anything that interferes with the transmission and understanding of a message. It affects all linkages of the communication process.

14. Discuss how a manager should choose an appropriate medium when formulating a message. What factors should enter into the choice? Why?

The manager should avoid different understanding of this message. Since different people have different linguistic styles. The manager should consider whether the message has bad affect on some people, cause communication is different between gender and generations. 15. What different components of a person's perceptual screens may distort communication?
Perceptual screens are composed of the personal factors each person brings to interpersonal communication, such as age, gender, values, beliefs, past experiences, cultural influences, and individual needs.

16. What is communication competence? What determines it? How can managers improve their communication competence?
Communicative competence is a term in linguistics which refers to a language user's grammatical knowledge of syntax, morphology, phonology and the like, as well as social knowledge about how and when to use utterances appropriately.
Communicative competence is determined by individual -based judgments and not by socially-based judgments
First, managers should listen carefully and ask questions when they don't understand. And they should be thoughtful in response and make sure that your message is understood.

Essay Questions (Ch 13)

17 .Describe the nine Generic Influence Tactics. Which tactic is most widely used in organizations? Explain.

1. Rational persuasion. Trying to convince someone with reason, logic, or facts. 2. Inspirational appeals. Trying to build enthusiasm by appealing to other's emotions, ideals, or values. 3. Consultation. Getting others to participate in planning, making decisions, and changes. 4. Ingratiation. Getting someone in a good mood prior to making a request; being friendly, helpful, and using praise, flattery, or humor. 5. Personal appeals. Referring to friendship and loyalty when making a request. 6. Exchange. Making explicit or implied promises and trading favors. 7. Coalition tactics. Getting others to support your efforts to persuade someone. 8. Pressure. Demanding compliance or using intimidation or threats. 9. Legitimating tactics. Basing a request on one's authority or right, organizational rules or policies, or explicit or implied support from superiors.

I think consultation is most widely used in organizations, since all the people in the organization should take part in it. And through this way, people can change their ideas and get a better result in the joint efforts of everyone.

18. Briefly describe the five bases of social power.
Reward power is obtaining compliance with promised or actual rewards. Managers have reward power if the can obtain compliance by promising or granting reward.
Coercive power is obtaining compliance through threatened or actual punishment. Threats of punishment and actual punishment give an individual coercive power.
Legitimate power is obtaining compliance through formal authority. This base of power is anchored to one’s formal position or authority.
Expert power is obtaining compliance through one’s knowledge or information. Valued knowledge or information gives an individual expert power over those who need such knowledge or information.
Referent power is obtaining compliance through charisma or personal attraction. Referent power comes into play when one’s personality becomes the reason for compliance. Role models have referent power over those who identify closely with them.

19. According to our text what are three "Influence Outcomes" ? Explain? 1. Commitment: Substantial agreement followed by initiative and persistence in pursuit of common goals. 2. Compliance: Reluctant or insincere agreement requiring subsequent prodding to satisfy minimum requirements. 3. Resistance: Stalling, unproductive arguing, or outright rejection.

20. How must traditional thinking be adjusted when implementing empowerment?
Empowerment involves sharing varying degrees of power and decision-making authority with lower-level employees to better serve the customer. According to Randolph’s model, empowerment requires active sharing of key information, structure that encourages autonomy, transfer of control from managers to teams, and persistence. Trust and training also are very important.

Essay Questions Ch 14

21. Define the concepts of emotional intelligence and political intelligence. How do leaders use each of these to be effective? Describe what it is like (both good and bad) to work for a politically intelligent boss.
Emotional intelligence is the ability to manage oneself and one’s relationships in mature and constructive ways. Given that leadership is an influence process, it should come as no surprise that emotional intelligence is associated with leadership effectiveness.
Political intelligence is a recently proposed leadership trait and represents an offshoot of political intelligence. Political intelligence leaders use power and intimidation to push followers in the pursuit of an inspiring vision and challenging goals.
Political intelligence leaders seem to walk a fine line between using intimidation to achieve organizational goals and humiliation and bullying to make they feel good. Future research is needed to examine the long-term effectiveness of leaders with political intelligence.

22. Briefly explain the two behavioral style theories.

One is The Ohio State Studies which identified two critical dimensions of leader behavior.
It concluded there were only two independent dimensions of leader behavior: Consideration involves leader behavior associated with creating mutual respect or trust and focuses on a concern for group members' needs and desires and Initiating structure which organizing and defining what group members should be doing to maximize output.
And anther is University of Michigan Studies which identified two leadership styles that were similar to the Ohio State studies--one style was employee centered and the other was job centered.

23. Briefly explain Fiedler's Contingency Model. What conclusions can be drawn?

Fiedler's Contingency Model is based on the following assumption: the performance of a leader depends on two interrelated factors: 1) the degree to which the situation gives the leader control and influence-that is, the likelihood that the leader can successfully accomplish the job; and 2) the leader’s basic motivation- that is, whether the leader’s self-esteem depends primarily on accomplishing the task or on having close supportive relations with others.
We can conclude that leaders are either task, motivated or relationship motivated.

24. Briefly describe the original Path-Goal Theory of Robert House. What managerial implications do the authors offer?
Path-goal theory including a model that describes how leadership effectiveness is influenced by the interaction between four leadership styles and a variety of contingency factors. Path-goal theory has two groups of contingency variables. They are employee characteristics and environmental factors. Five important employee characteristics are locus of control, task ability, need for achievement, experience, and need for clarity. Two relevant environmental factors are task structure and work-group dynamics.
There are six managerial implications. First, the establishment of a positive vision of the future-inspirational motivation-should be considered a first step at applying transformational leadership. Second, the best leaders are not just transformational; they are both transaction and transformational, and they avoid a laissez-faire or "wait-and-see" style. Third, transformational leadership not only affects individual-level outcomes like job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and performance, but it also influences group dynamics and group-level outcomes. Fourth, transformational leadership works virtually. Fifth, employees at any level in an organization can be trained to be more transactional and transformational. Finally, transformational leaders can be ethical or unethical.

Essay Questions Ch 15

25. Define organization. Briefly explain the four common denominators of all organizations.

Organization is system of consciously coordinated activities of two or more people.
Four common denominators: Coordination of effort, Common goal, Division of labor and Hierarchy of authority. Coordination of effort is achieved through formulation and enforcement of policies, rules, and regulations. Division of labor occurs when the Common goal is pursued by individuals performing different but related tasks. The Hierarchy of authority is a control mechanism dedicated to making sure the right people do the right things at right time.

26. Describe the biological model of organization as an open system. Include a discussion of each of the subsystems.

An open system depends on constant interaction with the environment for survival. Open systems are capable of self-correction, adaptation, and growth, thanks to characteristics such as homeostasis and feedback control. The outer boundary of the organization is permeable. People, information, capital, and goods and services move back and forth across this boundary. Moreover, each of the five organizational subsystems-goals and values, technical, psychosocial, structural, and managerial- is dependent on the others. Feedback about such things as sales and customer satisfaction or dissatisfaction enables the organization to self-adjust and survive despite uncertainty and change.

27. Identify and define the seven types of organizational structure described in the text.

They are 1) functional structures, in which work is divided according to function; 2) divisional structures, in which work is divided according to product or customer type or location; 3) matrix structures, with dual reporting structures based on product and function.4) horizontally, with cross-functional teams responsible for entire processes. Organization design also may reduce barriers between organizations, becoming5) hollow organizations, which outsource functions.6) modular organizations, which outsource the production of a product’s components; or7) virtual organizations, which temporarily combine the efforts of members of different companies in order to complete a project.

28. What is a virtual organization? How does it function? What can managers do to manage effectively in a virtual organization?

A virtual organization does more than what its founding organization identifies partners with the needed talents and negotiates an agreements in which the participants typically work in separate facilities. Instead of relying heavily on face-to-face meerings, however, members of virtual organizations send e-mail and voice-mail messages, exchange project information over the Internet, and convene videoconferences among dispersed participants.
In general, a virtual organization demands flexibility, and managers must be able to lead and motivate people in separate locations.

Essay Questions Ch 16

29. Briefly describe the four external forces for change.

The four external forces for change are demographic characteristics, technological advancements, customer and market changes, and social and political pressures.
Demographic characteristics: in the U.S. workforce, we concluded that organizations need to effectively manage diversity if they are to receive maximum contribution and commitment from employees.
Technological advancements: both manufacturing and service organizations are increasingly using technology as a means to improve productivity, competitiveness, and customer services while also cutting costs.
Customer and market changes: increasing customer sophistication is requiring organizations to deliver higher value in their products and services. Customers are simply demanding more now than they did in the past. Moreover, customers are more likely to shop elsewhere if they do not get what they want because of lower customer switching costs.
Social and political pressures are exerted through legislative bodies that represent the American populace. Political events also can create substantial change. Although it is difficult for organizations to predict changes in political forces, many organizations hire lobbyists and consultants to help them detect and respond to social and social and political changes.

30. Compare and contrast Lewin's change model to Kotter's eight steps for leading organizational change.

Lewin developed a three-stage model of planned change that explained how to initiate, manage, and stabilize the change process. The three stages were unfreezing, which entails creating the motivation to change, changing, and stabilizing change through refreezing. A systems model of change takes a big picture perspective of change. It focuses on the interaction among the key components of change. The three main components of change are inputs, target elements of change, and outputs. The target elements of change represent the components of an organization that may be changed. They include organizing arrangements, social factors, methods, goals, and people.
Kotter believes that organizational change fails for one or more of eight common errors. He proposed eight steps that organizations should follow to overcome these errors. The eight steps are as follows: 1). Establish a sense of urgency. 2) create the guiding coalition 3). Develop a vision and strategy 4). Communicate the change vision5). Empower broad-based action6). Generate short-term wins 7) consolidate gains and produce more change 8) anchor new approaches in the culture.

31. Identify and briefly explain any five reasons why employees resist change. Give an example of a change you have faced in your own life, and describe the reason(s) you resisted it.

1.Surprise and fear of the unknown. When innovative or radically different changes are introduced without warning, affected employees become fearful of the implications.
2.Fear of failure. Intimidating changes on the job can cause employees to doubt their capabilities.
3.Loss of status and/or job security. Administrative and technological changes that threaten to alter power bases or eliminate jobs generally trigger strong resistance.
4.Peer pressure. Someone who is not directly affected by a change may actively resist it to protect the interest of his or her friends and coworkers.
5.Past success. Success can breed complacency. It also can foster a stubbornness to change because people come to believe that what worked in the past will work in the future.

When I came to U.S. to study is a big change to me, and at the first I resisted it because I'm fear of the unknown. I don't know what will happened when I come here so I become afraid.

32. Explain the strategies for overcoming resistance to change. Identify the advantages and drawbacks of each.

Approach | Commonly used in situations | advantages | drawbacks | Education + communication | Where there is a lack of information or inaccurate information and analysis. | Once persuaded, people will often help with the implementation of the change. | Can be very time consuming if lots of people are involved. | Participation + involvement | Where the initiators do not have all the information they need to design the change and where others have considerable power to resist | People who participate will be committed to implementing change, and any relevant information they have will be integrated into the change plan. | Can be very time consuming if participators design an inappropriate change. | Facilitation + support | Where people are resisting because of adjustment problems. | No other approach works as well with adjustment problems. | Can be time consuming, expensive, and still fail. | Negotiation + agreement | Where someone or some group will clearly lose out in a change and where that group ha considerable power to resist. | Sometimes it is a relatively easy way to avoid major resistance. | Can be too expensive in many cases if it alerts others to negotiate for compliance. | Manipulation + co-optation | Where other tactics will not work or are too expensive. | It can be a relatively quick and inexpensive solution to resistance problems. | Can lead to future problems if people feel manipulated. | Explicit + implicit coercion | Where speed is essential and where the change initiators possess considerable power. | It is speedy and can overcome any kind of resistance. | Can be risky if it leaves people angry at the initiators. |

33.Discuss the process that organizations use to build their learning capabilities. Learning capabilities represent the set of core competencies and processes that enable an organization to adapt to its environment. Learning capabilities are directly affected by organizational facilitating factors and learning modes. Facilitating factors constitute the internal structure and processes that either encourage or impede learning within an organization. Learning modes represent the various ways by which organizations attempt to create and maximize their learning. Researchers believe that there is some type of optimal matching between the facilitating factors and learning modes that affects learning capability.