Midterm Flashcards
(32 cards)
What is the focus of studies for students in the department of Human and Organizational Development?
- Solving human problems in organizations and communities - different from solving engineering/finance
- What kinds of problems do we focus on? (Frames)
What are the four characteristics of organizations?
i. Two or more people
ii. Goal-directed
iii. Deliberately structured and coordinated activities
iv. Linked to external environment
What are four characteristics of how leaders often think?
i. Limited view of organizations with a focus on individuals’ flaws or errors
ii. Choose rational and structural solutions focusing on facts and logic
iii. Value certainty, rationality, and control
iv. Fear ambiguity
What are four characteristics of how leaders should think?
i. See a situation from multiple perspectives
ii. Focus on finding the right questions versus the right answers
iii. Search for meaning amid confusion
iv. Work towards commitment to principle and flexibility in understand when responding to events
What are three key Structural Frame assumptions that you believe uniquely characterize this frame?
- Organizations exist to achieve goals and objectives
- Organizations work best when rationality prevails over personal preference and external pressures
- Structures must be defined to fit the organization’s circumstances
- Organizations increase efficiency and enhance performance through specialization and division of labor
- Coordination and control are essential to ensuring that units work together
- Problems and performance gaps arise from structural deficiencies and can be remedied through restructuring
What are the seven key success factors of superb self-managing teams?
- Clear, Engaging Direction: team members knowing why the group exists and what it’s trying to achieve
- A Real Team Task: team members work together to complete significant tasks
- Rewards for Team Excellence: teams that have a reward system tend to have stronger self-management
- Basic Material Resources: Well-performing teams need access to meeting space, computing services, and other services that allow them to become more effective, timely and proactive
- Authority to Manage the Work: the team together decides how they will manage work strategies
- Team Goals: teams define goals (with deadlines) that align with the group’s objectives
- Team Norms that Promote Strategic Thinking: groups that establish norms that promote strategic thinking are more effective
What are the three roles a leader of superb self-managing team transitions through? How do they align with the seven critical success factors?
- Designer (Critical Success Factors 1-5)
- Midwife (Critical Success Factors 6-7)
- Coach
What is a project? How does it differ from typical business operations? Provide three examples of projects.
A project is “a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service, or result.” This differs from typical business operations in that projects end when they meet their objective or are terminated. Some examples of projects are:
- A firm being hired to design and build a new house
- A pharmaceutical company launching a new drug
- A government group developing a program to track child immunizations
What are the four classic project constraints? Name them and provide a one-sentence description for each. How would you translate these into four specific questions you would ask a customer at the beginning of a project?
i. Scope: what is going to be done in the project
ii. Time: how long it will take to complete the project
iii. Cost: the budget and resources
iv. Quality: how good does the quality have to be to satisfy the customer
What are the essential elements included in a Gantt chart
- About managing complex projects
- Main elements:
- Tasks - whose responsible for something, billing rate, how much time spend doing thing
- Timeline and dependencies
- Help identify needed resources (people, equipment money)
- Ensure resources are available at the right time
What is the difference between Project, Program, and Portfolio Management?
The main distinction between project or program management and portfolio management is a focus on meeting tactical versus strategic goals. Projects and programs tend to have short term tactical goals whereas project portfolio management has long term strategic goals
What are three key Human Resource Frame assumptions that you believe uniquely characterize this frame?
- Organizations exist to serve human needs rather than the reverse
- People and organizations need each other
- When the fit between individual and system is poor, one or both suffer: individuals will be exploited or will exploit the organization - both will be victims
- A good fit benefits both: individuals find meaningful and satisfying work and organizations get the talent and energy they need to succeed
What are the six basic human resource strategies? How are these different from how most people conceptualize the role of Human Resources within an organization?
i. Build and implement an HR strategy
ii. Hire the right people
iii. Keep them
iv. Invest in them
v. Empower them
vi. Promote diversity
What are Theory X and Theory Y? How does the human resource perspective shift when a person believes in one or the other?
Theory X assumes that subordinates are passive and lazy, have little ambition, prefer to be led, and resist change.
- HR perspective either uses coercion, tight controls, and punishments or avoids conflict and tries to keep everyone happy
Theory Y assumes that essential task of management is to arrange conditions so that people can achieve their own goals best by directing efforts toward organizational rewards.
- HR perspective tries to align organizational requirements with employee self-interest
Chris Argyris stated that when companies treat workers like children, the workers try to stay sane by looking for ways to escape. Argyris described six actions people typically take.
- They withdraw - through chronic absenteeism or simply by quitting
- They stay on the job but withdraw psychologically, becoming indifferent, passive and apathetic
- They resist by restricting output, deception, featherbedding, or sabotage
- They try to climb the hierarchy to better jobs
- They form alliances (such as labor unions) to redress the power imbalance
- They teach their children to believe that work is unrewarding and hopes for advancement are slim
What are the five features of counterproductive feedback described in the Cannon and Witherspoon’s Actionable Feedback article? Briefly describe what the problem is with each counterproductive feature.
- Attacks the person rather than the person’s behavior
a. Criticizes character rather than address the problematic behavior - Vague or Abstract Assertions
a. Leaves open to many incorrect interpretations and cause defensiveness - Without Illustrations
a. Illustrations or examples help make connection to behavior - Ill-Defined Range of Application
a. Leaves unclear when problematic behavior is exhibited - Unclear Impact and Implications for Action
a. Don’t know why behavior is a problem or how it should be fixed
What is the difference between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation? How do these relate to the quote by Dwight D. Eisenhower presented in class?
Intrinsic motivation is driven by an interest or enjoyment in the task itself whereas extrinsic motivation is doing an activity to attain an outcome, whether or not that activity is intrinsically motivated. This relates to Eisenhower’s quote because people need to have both intrinsic and extrinsic motivators in order to do a task because they really want to.
Describe Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory in the context of intrinsic/extrinsic motivation and Mazlow’s Hierarchy of Needs.
Herzberg’s Two-Factor theory divides Maslow’s Hierarchy into two categories: hygiene and motivator. Hygiene is equivalent to extrinsic motivating factors and includes physiological and safety. Motivator is equivalent to intrinsic motivating factors and includes belonging, esteem, and self-actualization.
What does the term “hygiene” mean in the context of workplace motivation? Provide three examples of hygiene factors in the workplace. How are hygiene factors different than motivational factors?
- Hygiene can create job dissatisfaction
- Hygiene prevents dissatisfaction
- Intrinsic and extrinsic necessary in the workplace
- If an individual’s needs are not met at lower level (aka extrinsic) then they won’t be motivated to do anymore (intrinsic)
- If you work at a company where people are paid a lot and it’s a very safe place and they want more from employees, throwing more low-level stuff won’t do it - need intrinsic factors
What are the three elements in Vroom’s Expectancy Model? Define each and provide a real-world example from your life showing how of these elements determine your ultimate motivation to achieve an objective.
The 3 elements of Vroom’s Model are:
i. Valence: why are you doing what you are doing? What’s in it for you?
ii. Instrumentality: How are you going to make it happen? What’s the plan?
iii. Expectancy: can you do it? Do you have it in you internally? (self-efficacy)
What are the three elements in Dan Pink’s motivation theory? Define each and provide a real-world example from your life showing how the three could be applied.
The 3 elements in Dan Pink’s motivation theory are:
i. Autonomy: the desire to direct our own lives (and work)
ii. Mastery: the urge to get better and better at something that matters
iii. Purpose: the yearning to do what we do in the services of something larger than ourselves
Can changing a simple phrase change an individual’s motivation? Provide a brief description of the “‘I don’t’…versus ‘I can’t’” study.
In a study studying whether saying “I don’t” or “I cant” made a difference, researchers took 3 groups, randomly selected, to either just say no, say I don’t, or say I can’t to improve an aspect of their health. They found that the control group had some go all 10 days, of the I Don’t group only one made it to day 10 with most dropping after 1 or 2 days, and of the I can’t group almost all of them made it to day 10. This shows that my taking on an “I can’t” mindset over an I Don’t mindset can help change an individual’s motivation
Can changing a simple phrase change an individual’s motivation? Provide a brief description of the study where some children were praised for their intelligence while others were praised for their effort
- More important that you put in effort
- Took 5th grade children in class one at a time and gave short IQ test verbally
- Told children score and told one group “You must be smart” and one “You must’ve worked really hard”
- Second round given problems
- 90% praised for effort chose hard problem
- People who are praised for being smart try to avoid situations where might not be smart so choose easier route
- Round 3 = difficult test and everyone failed
- Effort praise = assumed hadn’t focused hard enough
- Smart praise = think not smart at all
- When praised for effort, think you can do it and keep trying harder
What is a simple and effective four-step model for giving praise? Be able to provide a real-world example and be able to “fix” a flawed example of praise I provide to you.
- Tell the person exactly what was done correctly
- Tell the person why the behavior was important
- Pause for a moment
- Encourage repeated Performance
“Jane, I just overheard you deal with that customer’s complaint. You did a great job of keeping your cool; you were polite.”
“Without customers, we don’t have a business. One customer bad-mouthing us can cause hundreds of dollars in lost sales.”
[Pause]
“Thanks, Jane, keep up the good work” (while touching her shoulder or shaking her hand)
