Organizational Design | What is the difference between centralization and decentralization?

What is the difference between centralization and decentralization?

Answer:

The term centralization refers to the degree to which decision making is concentrated at a single point in the organization. 

The concept includes only formal authority, that is, the rights inherent in one's position. The more that lower-level personnel provide input or are actually given the discretion to make decision, the more decentralization there is. 

An organization characterized by centralization is an inherently different structural animal from one that is decentralized. In a decentralized organization, action can be taken more quickly to solve problems, more people provide input into decisions, and employees are less likely to feel alienated from those who make decisions that affect their work lives.

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Essentials of Organizational Behavior / Robbins & Judge - 10th edition

Organizational Design | What is a learning organization? How can organizations transform themselves into learning organizations?

What is a learning organization? How can organizations transform themselves into learning organizations?

Answer:

A learning organization is an organization that has developed the capacity to adapt and change. The text provides a number of suggestions from transforming an organization into a learning organization. 

First, management must make an explicit commitment to change, innovation, and continuous improvement. 

Second, the organization's structure must be flattened and the use of cross-functional teams increased. Finally, the organizational culture must be reshaped to include risk taking, openness, and growth.

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Organizational Behavior / Robbins & Judge - 14th edition

Organizational Design | What is a boundaryless organization?

What is a boundaryless organization?

Answer:

The boundaryless organization attempts to flatten organizational hierarchy by using cross-hierarchical teams, participative decision-making, combined with both extranets and intranets. 

Vertical and horizontal boundaries are collapsed to create increased flexibility; external boundaries are eliminated to create more options for organizational alliances. The boundaryless organization seeks to eliminate the chain of command, have limitless spans of control, and replace departments with empowered teams.

It is comprised of dimensions: self-awareness (the ability to be aware of what you're feeling), self-management (the ability to manage one's emotions and impulses), self-motivation (the ability to persist in the face of setbacks and failures), empathy (the ability to sense how others are feeling), and social skills (the ability to handle the emotions of others.

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Organizational Behavior / Robbins & Judge - 14th edition

Organizational Design | What is work specialization? What are the advantages and disadvantages of work specialization?

What is work specialization? What are the advantages and disadvantages of work specialization?

Answer:

Work specialization or division of labor is the degree to which activities in the organization are subdivided into separate jobs. Work specialization creates efficiency and productivity, but can also result in boredom, fatigue, stress, low productivity, poor quality, increased absenteeism, and high turnover. 

The trend towards specialization has been altered by the realization that productivity may be increased by enlarging the scope of job activities.

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Organizational Behavior / Robbins & Judge - 14th edition

Behavior | What is emotional intelligence?

What is emotional intelligence and what are the five dimensions? ?

Answer:

Emotional intelligence is one's ability to detect and manage emotional cues and information. People who know their own emotions and are good at reading others' emotions may be more effective in their jobs – the ability to handle the emotions of others.

Several studies suggest that emotional intelligence plays an important role in job performance, although this belief is not universally shared among organizational behavior researchers.

It is comprised of dimensions: self-awareness (the ability to be aware of what you're feeling), self-management (the ability to manage one's emotions and impulses), self-motivation (the ability to persist in the face of setbacks and failures), empathy (the ability to sense how others are feeling), and social skills (the ability to handle the emotions of others.

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Organizational Behavior / Robbins & Judge - 14th edition

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Essentials of Organizational Behavior / Robbins & Judge - 10th edition

Motivation | Describe McClelland's theory of needs

Describe McClelland's theory of needs.

Answer:

McClelland's theory of needs states that workers are motivated by three needs: need for achievement, need for power, and need for affiliation. 

Individuals differ in the degree to which a particular need motivates them. Individuals with a high need for achievement have a drive to excel, to achieve in relation to a set of standards. 

Individuals with a high need for power need to make others behave in a way that they would not have otherwise behaved, while individuals with a high need for affiliation have the desire for friendly and close interpersonal relationships. 

The most successful managers will have an appropriate fit between their job and their dominant need.

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Organizational Behavior / Robbins & Judge - 14th edition

Motivation | Describe three alternative work arrangements

Describe three alternative work arrangements.

Answer:

Three alternative work arrangements: flextime, job sharing, and telecommuting, alter work arrangements to increase motivation. 

Flextime, or flexible work hours, allows employees some discretion over their start and stop times, while requiring a specific number of hours per week. 

Job sharing allows two or more individuals to split a traditional 40-hour-a-week job. 

Finally, telecommuting, allows employees to do work at home through a computer linked to their office.

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Organizational Behavior / Robbins & Judge - 14th edition

Motivation | What is an employee involvement program?

What is an employee involvement program?

Answer:

Employee involvement programs are a way to increase workers' control and autonomy to improve their motivation, organizational commitment, productivity, and job satisfaction. Examples of involvement programs include participative management, representative participation, and quality circles. Participative management programs use joint decision making as a strategy to improve employee performance. Representative participation programs, widely required by law in Western Europe, provide for worker representation in company decision making. 

The two most common implementations of representative participation are work councils and board representatives. Quality circles, another form of employee involvement, are work groups of eight to ten employees and supervisors who have a shared area of responsibility. They meet regularly to discuss their quality problems, investigate causes of the problems, recommend solutions, and take corrective actions.

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Organizational Behavior / Robbins & Judge - 14th edition

Motivation | Explain Herzberg's two-Factor theory

Explain Herzberg's Two-Factor theory.

Answer:

Frederick Herzberg's two-factor theory suggests that there are two types of factors in the workplace: hygiene factors and motivational factors. Hygiene factors are extrinsic factors, such as supervision, pay, company policies, and working conditions. The absence of one or more hygiene factors can lead to a state of dissatisfaction, but their presence does not lead to a greater desire to excel at one's job. 

Motivational factors are intrinsic factors, like advancement, recognition, responsibility, and achievement, that are directly related to job satisfaction. The absence of motivational factors does not cause dissatisfaction; rather, a state of neutrality. 

Herzberg suggests that managers must make sure that hygiene factors have been addressed to move employees from a state of "dissatisfaction" to a state of "no dissatisfaction" and must add one or more motivational factors to move employees from "no satisfaction" to "satisfaction".

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Organizational Behavior / Robbins & Judge - 14th edition

Behavior | What is cognitive dissonance?

What is cognitive dissonance?





















Answer: Cognitive dissonance is any incompatibility between two or more attitudes, or between behavior and attitudes. Through this theory, Leon Festinger sought to explain the link between attitudes and behavior. Festinger argued that any form of inconsistency is uncomfortable and that individuals will attempt to reduce dissonance.


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Organizational Behavior / Robbins & Judge - 14th edition

Behavior | What is the difference between job satisfaction and job involvement?

What is the difference between job satisfaction and job involvement? 























Answer: 
Job satisfaction is an individual's general attitude toward his or her job. A person with a high level of job satisfaction holds positive feelings about the job, while a person who is dissatisfied with his or her job holds negative feelings about the job. A closely related concept is job involvement. Job involvement is the degree to which a person identifies with his or her job, actively participates in it, and considers his or her performance important to self-worth. High levels of job involvement are positively related to organizational citizenship and job performance. 

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Organizational Behavior / Robbins & Judge - 14th edition