j.Order – people and materials should be in the right place at the right time.
k.Equity – managers should be kind and fair to their subordinates.
l.Stability of tenure of personnel – management should provide orderly personal planning and ensure that replacements are available to fill vacancies.
m.Initiative – employees who are allowed to originate and carry out plans will exert high levels of effort.
n.Esprit de corps – promoting team spirit will build harmony and unity within the organization.
(difficult)
124. In a short essay, discuss Max Weber’s contribution to the general administrative approach to management.
7
Answer
Max Weber was a German sociologist who studied organizational activity. Writing in the early 1900s, he
developed a theory of authority structures and relations. Weber describes an ideal type of organization he
called a bureaucracy—a form or organization characterized by pision of labor, a clearly defined hierarchy, detailed rules and regulations, and impersonal relationships. Weber recognized that this ―ideal bureaucracy‖ didn’t exist in reality. Instead he intended it as a basis for theorizing about work and how work could be done in large groups. His th eory became the model structural design for many or today’s large organizations.
(easy)
TOWARD UNDERSTANDING ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR
125. In a short essay, describe the Hawthorne Studies. Next, discuss the role of Elton Mayo in these studies and some of the findings of his research.
Answer
Without question, the most important contribution to the developing OB field came out of the Hawthorne
Studies, a series of studies conducted at the Western Electric Company Works in Cicero, Illinois. These studies were initially designed by Western Electric industrial engineers as a scientific management experiment. They wanted to examine the effect of various illumination levels on worker productivity. Based on their research, it was concluded that illumination intensity was not directly related to group productivity. In 1927, the Western Electric engineers asked Harvard professor Elton Mayo and his associates to join the study as consultants.
Through additional research, Elton Mayo concluded that behavior affected inpidual behavior, that group
standards establish inpidual worker output, and that money is less a factor in determining output than are group standards, group sentiments, and security. These conclusions led to a new emphasis on the human
behavior factor in the functioning of organizations and the attainment of their goals.
(difficult)
CURRENT TRENDS AND ISSUES
126. In a short essay, define entrepreneurship and discuss the three import themes that stick out in this definition of entrepreneurship.
Answer
Entrepreneurship is the process whereby an inpidual or a group of inpiduals uses organized efforts and
means to pursue opportunities to create value and grow by fulfilling wants and needs through innovation and uniqueness, no matter what resources are currently controlled. It involves the discovery of opportunities and the resources to exploit them. Three important themes stick out in this definition of entrepreneurship. First, is the pursuit of opportunities. Entrepreneurship is about pursuing environmental trends and changes that no one else has seen or paid attention to. The second important theme in entrepreneurship is innovation.
Entrepreneurship involves changing, revolutionizing, transforming, and introducing new approaches—that is, new products or services of new ways of doing business. The final important theme in entrepreneurship is growth. Entrepreneurs pursue growth. They are not content to stay small or to stay the same in size.
Entrepreneurs want their businesses to grow and work very hard to pursue growth as they continually look for trends and continue to innovate new products and new approaches.
(moderate)
8
127. In a short essay, define e-business and e-commerce. Next discuss the three categories of e-business involvement.
Answer
E-business (electronic business) is a comprehensive term describing the way an organization does its work by using electronic Internet-based) linkages with its key constituencies (employees, managers, customers,
suppliers, and partners) in order to efficiently and effectively achieve its goals. It’s more than e-commerce, although e-business can include e-commerce. E-commerce (electronic commerce) is any form of business exchange or transaction in which the parties interact electronically. The first category of e-business
involvement an e-business enhanced organization, a traditional organization that sets up e-business capabilities, usually e-commerce, while maintaining its traditional structure. Many Fortune 500 type organizations are
evolving into e-businesses using this approach. They use the Internet to enhance (not to replace) their
traditional ways of doing business. Another category of e-business involvement is an e-business enabled
organization. In this type of e-business, an organization uses the Internet to perform its traditional business functions better, but not to sell anything. In other words, the Internet enables organizational members to do their work more efficiently and effectively. There are numerous organizations using electronic linkages to communicate with employees, customers, or suppliers and to support them with information. The last category of e-business involvement is when an organization becomes a total e-business. Their whole existence is made possible by and revolves around the Internet.
(moderate)
128. In a short essay, discuss the need for innovation and flexibility as it relates to the survival of today’s organizations.
Answer
Innovation has been called the most precious capability that any organ ization in today’s economy must have and nurture. Without a constant flow of new ideas, an organization is doomed to obsolescence of even worse, failure. In a survey about what makes an organization valuable, innovation showed up at the top of the list.
There is absolutely no doubt that innovation is crucial. Another demand facing today’s organizations and
managers is the need for flexibility. In a context where customers’ needs may change overnight, where new competitors come and go at breathtaking speed, and where employees and their skills are shifted as needed from project to project, one can see how flexibility might be valuable.
(easy)
129. In a short essay, discuss the concept of total quality management and the six characteristics that describe this important concept.
Answer
A quality revolution swept through both the business and public sectors during the 1980s and 1990s. The
generic term used to describe this revolution was total quality management, or TQM for short. It was inspired by a small group of quality experts, the most famous being W. Edwards Deming and Joseph M. Juran. TQM is
a philosophy of management driven by continual improvement and responding to customer needs and
expectations. The objective is to create an organization committed to continuous improvement in work
processes. TQM is a departure from earlier management theories that were based on the belief that low costs were the only road to increased productivity.
The Six Characteristics of Total Quality Management
9
a.Intense Focus on the customer –the customer includes not only outsiders who buy the organization’s
products or services but also internal customers (such as shipping or accounts payable personnel) who interact with and serve others in the organization.
b.Concern for continual improvement –TQM is a commitment to never being satisfied. ―Very good‖ is not
good enough. Quality can always be improved.
c.Process-focused –TQM focuses on work processes as the quality of goods and services is continually
improved.
d.Improvement in the quality of everything the organization does – TQM uses a very broad definition of
quality. It relates not only to the final product but also to how the organization handles deliveries, how rapidly it responds to complaints, and how politely the phones are answered.
e.Accurate measurement –TQM uses statistical techniques to measure every critical variable in the
organization’s operations. These are compared against standards or benchmarks to identify problems, trace them to their roots, and eliminate their causes.
f.Empowerment of employees – TQM involves the people on the line in the improvement process. Teams
are widely used in TQM programs as empowerment vehicles for finding and solving problems.
(difficult)
130. In a short essay, describe the learning organization and discuss the concept of knowledge management.
Answer
Today’s managers confront an environment where change takes place at an unprecedented rate. Constant
innovations in information and computer technologies combined with the globalization of markets have created
a chaotic world. As a result, many of the past management guidelines and principles no longer apply.
Successful organizations of the twenty-first century must be able to learn and respond quickly, and will be led by managers who can effectively challenge conventional wisdom, manage the organization’s knowledge base, and make needed changes. In other words, these organizations will need to be learning organizations. A
learning organization is one that has developed the capacity to continuously learn, adapt, and change. Part of a manager’s responsibility in fostering an environment conducing to learning is to create learning capabilities throughout the organization—from lowest level to highest level and in all areas. Knowledge management
involves cultivating a learning culture where organizational members systematically gather knowledge and share it with others in the organization so as to achieve better performance.
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