Commerce 1ba3 Study Guide: Final Exam

McMaster
COMMERCE 1BA3
FINAL EXAM
STUDY GUIDE
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Chapter 8: Social Influence, Socialization, and Organizational Culture

Information Dependence: reliance on others for information about how to think, feel, and act.
Social Information Processing Theory: information from others is used to interpret events and
develop expectations about appropriate and acceptable attitudes and behaviours.
Effect Dependence: reliance on others due to their capacity to provide rewards and
punishment.
Consequences of Social Influence and Dependence:

Conformity to group norms
3 motives:
o Compliance: conformity to a social norm prompted by the desire to acquire
rewards or avoid punishment.
Do ’t a t to e pu ished so ou ear our safet glasses.
o Identification: conformity to a social norm prompted by perceptions that those
who promote the norm are attractive or similar to ones self.
Put the safety glasses on to identify with the group.
With other people doing it you aspire to do the same
o Internalization: conformity to a social norm prompted by true acceptance of the
beliefs, values, and attitudes that underlie the norm.
You wear the safety glasses because you believe safety first.
Role odels do ’t i flue es ou. You elie e i ter all i the
importance of safety.
Compliance Identification Internalization
Socialization: the process by which people learn the attitudes, knowledge, and behaviours,
that are necessary to function in a group or organization.
It is a learning process in which new members must acquire knowledge, change their
attitudes, and preform new behaviours.
Primary means by which organizations communicate their culture values to new
members.
Person-Job Fit: the at h et ee a e plo ee’s k o ledge, skills a d a ilities a d the

requirements of a job.

Person-Organization Fit: to at h et ee a e plo ee’s perso al alues of a orga izatio .

Organizational Identification: the extent to which individuals define themselves in terms of the
organization and what it is perceived to represent.
Three Stages of Socialization:

1. Anticipatory Socialization: the socialization that occurs even before a person becomes a
member in an organization.
Some anticipatory socialization includes a formal process of skill and attitude
acquisition.
2. Encounter: the new recruit is armed with some expectations about organization life,
encounters day-to-day reality of this life.
Formal aspects: orientation programs, rotation through various parts of the
organization.
Informal aspects: getting to know and understand the style and personality of
o e’s oss a d o-workers.
3. Role Management: e e er’s atte tio shifts to fi e-tuning and actively managing
his or her role in the organization. Following some group norms the new recruit might
now be in a position to modify the role to better serve the organization.
Unrealistic Expectations and Psychological Contract:

People entering organizations hold many expectations that are inaccurate and often
unrealistically high.
Once they enter the organization and realize that their expectations are not being met
the e perie e realit sho k
What do people have unrealistic expectations for?
o Pay
o Promotion – how long it will take you to advance
o Ho ou’re goi g to e a aged
Psychological Contract: refers to beliefs held by employees regarding the reciprocal obligations
and promises between them and their organization.
Psychological Contract Breach: employee perceptions that his or her organization has failed to
fulfill one or more of its promises or obligations in a psychological contract.
Five Methods of Organizational Socialization:

1. Realistic Job Preview (RJP)
The provision of a balanced, realistic picture of the positive and negative aspects of a job
to its applicants.

2. Employee Orientation Programs

Programs designed to introduce new employees to their job, the people they will be
working with, and the organization
Realistic Orientation Program for Entry Stress (ROPES)
o An orientation program that is designed to teach newcomers coping techniques
to manage workplace stressors.
3. Socialization Tactics
The manner in which organizations structure the early work experiences of newcomers
and individuals who are in transition from one role to another
4. Mentoring
Mentor: an experienced or more senior person in the organization who gives a junior
person guidance and special attention, such as giving advice and creating opportunities
to assist him or her during the early stages of his or her career.
Career Functions of Mentoring:
o Sponsorship – the mentor might nominate the apprentice for advantageous
transfers and promotions.

o Exposure and Visibility – the mentor might provide opportunities to work with
key people in the organization and see other parts of the organization.
o Coaching and Feedback – the mentor might suggest work strategies and identify
stre gths a d eak esses i the appre ti e’s perfor a e.
o Developmental Assignments – the mentor can provide challenging work
assignments that will help develop key skills and knowledge that are crucial to
career progress.
Psychological Functions of Mentoring:
o Role Modelling – provides a set of attitudes, values, and behaviours for the
junior person to imitate.
o Providing Acceptance and Confirmation -this provides encouragement and
support and helps the apprentice gain self-confidence.
o Counselling – provides an opportunity to discuss personal concerns and anxieties
concerning career prospects, work-family conflicts etc.
Diversity and Mentoring:
o Mentors tend to choose apprentices who are similar to them.
o Cross-race mentorships tend to focus on career functions of mentoring where as
same race mentorships have a higher rate of psychological functions of
mentoring.
5. Proactive Socialization
The process through which newcomers play an active role in their own socialization
through the use of a number of proactive socialization behaviours
You take initiative
o Feedback Seeking – requesting info about how one is performing ones task and
role
o Information Seeking – requesting info about ones job, role, group, and
organization
o Relationship Building – initiating social interactions and building relationships
with others in ones area or department.
o Boss-Relationship Building – initiating social interactions to get to know and
form a relationship with ones boss.
o Networking – socializing with and getting to know members of the organization
from various departments and functions.
o Job Change Negotiation – attempts to change ones job duties or the manner and
ea s hi h o e perfor s o e’s jo i order to i rease the fit between
oneself and the job.
Organizational Culture:
Shared beliefs, values, and assumptions that exist in an organization.
o Higher level group norms
o Wa of life , ho e do thi gs here
o Fairly stable over time – once culture is well established it can persist despite
turnover amongst members, providing social continuity.
o Internally, culture can support innovation, risk taking, or secrecy of information.

o E ter all , ulture a support putti g the usto er first or u ethi al

behaviour towards competitors.
o Culture can have a large impact on organizational performance and member
satisfaction.
o Culture is not homogenous across the organization
o Subculture: smaller cultures that develop within a larger organizational culture
that are based on differences in training, occupation, or departmental goals.
Strong Cultures:
An organizational culture with intense and pervasive beliefs, values, and assumptions.
Assets (Pros)
o Coordination – right hand knows what the left hand is doing. Overarching values
of strong cultures facilitates communication allowing different parts of the
organization to learn from each other.
o Conflict Resolution – Sharing core values can be a powerful mechanism to help
resolve conflict. Core values will often suggest an appropriate resolution to
disputes.
o Financial Success – as long as liabilities are avoided strong culture can lead to
financial success.
Liabilities (Cons)
o Resistance to change – Strong core values proves to be resistant to change.
Da ages a fir ’s a ilit to i o ate
o Culture clash – mix as badly as oil and water when merger or acquisition pushes
them under the same corporate banner.
o Can be pathological (diseased) - some cultures can threaten organizational
effectiveness simply because the cultures support infighting, secrecy, and
paranoia.

Socialization Steps in Strong Cultures:
Diagnosing a Culture:
Symbols, rituals, and stories are often useful for diagnosing a culture.

Chapter 9: Leadership
What is Leadership?
The influence that particular individuals exert on the goal achievement of others in an
organizational context.
Strategic Leadership: Leadership that involves the ability to anticipate, envision,
maintain flexibility, think strategically, and work with others to initiate changes that will
create a viable future for the organization.
Formal Leadership Roles: individuals with titles such as: manger, executive, supervisor,
and department head occupy formal or assigned leadership roles. There is no guarantee
that there is leadership, some fail to exert any influence over others.
Informal Leadership Roles: Do not have formal authority and rely on being well liked or
being perceived as highly skilled and exert influence.
Are Leaders Born? The Trait Theory of Leadership

Trait Theory of Leadership: leadership depends on the personal qualities or traits of the
leader.
Traits: individual characteristics such as physical attributes, intellectual ability, and
personality.
o Traits associated with leadership effectiveness:
Intelligence
Energy and drive
Self-Confidence
Dominance
Motivation to lead
Emotional stability
Honesty and integrity
Need for achievement
Sociability
o Limitations to the Trait Approach: although some traits that are associated with
leadership success, traits alone are not sufficient for successful leadership.
Difficult to determine whether traits make the leader or whether the
opportunity for leadership produces the traits.
Even if we know certain traits are associated with effective leadership we
do ’t k o hat these t aits do to i flue e people su essfull
Most crucial issue is the trait theory fails to take into consideration the
situation in which leadership occurs.
Can lead to bias and discrimination when it comes to evaluating a
leade ’s effe ti e ess a d de isio s a out p o oti g people to
leadership positions.
The Behaviour of Leaders

Consideration: The extent to which a leader is approachable and shows personal

concern and respect for employees.
o Seen as friendly, and egalitarian, expresses appreciation and support, and is
protective of group welfare.
Initiating Structure: the degree to which a leader concentrates on group goal
attainment.
o Clearly defines and organizes his or her role and the roles of followers, stresses
standard procedures, schedules the work to be done, and assigns employees to
particular tasks.
Leader Reward Behaviour: The leade ’s use of o ple e ts, ta gi le e efits, a d
deserved special treatment.
o When rewards are made contingent on performance employees should perform
at a high level and experience job satisfaction.
o Employees have a clear picture of what is expected and they understand that
positive outcomes will occur if they achieve these expectations.
Leader Punishment Behaviour: the leade ’s use of
reprimands or unfavourable task assignments and the active withholding of rewards.
o Punishment is extremely difficult to use effectively and when it is perceived as
random and not contingent on employee behaviour employees react negatively
with great dissatisfaction.
Situational Theories of Leadership

1. Fielder’s Co ti ge cy Theory a d Cog itive Resource Theory:
Contingency Theory: F ed Fielde ’s theo that states that the asso iation
between leadership orientation and group effectiveness is contingent on
how favourable the situation is for exerting influence.
o Leadership orientation is measured by having leaders describe their
Least Preferred Co-worker(LPC)
o Leaders who give a high LPC score can find positive attributes in the
LPC even though they are hard to work with is considered
relationship oriented.
o Leaders who give a low score describe the LPC unfavourably are
considered task oriented.
The LPC score reveals a personality trait that efle ts the leade ’s
motivational structure.
o High LPC leaders are motivated to maintain interpersonal relations.
o Low LPC leaders are motivated to complete the task.
“ituatio al fa ou a le ess if the o ti ge pa t of the theo – specifies
when a particular LPC orientation should contribute most to group
effectiveness.

Cognitive Resource Theory: A leadership theory that focuses on the conditions in

which a leade ’s og iti e esou es i tellige e, e pe tise, a d e pe ie e
contribute to effective leadership.
o The importance for leadership effectiveness depends on the directiveness of
the leader, group support for the leader, and the stressfulness of the
situation.
o Leader intelligence is predicted to be the most important when the leader is
directive, the group supports the leader, and the situation is low-stress,
because the leader is able to think clearly and use his or her intelligence.
o High-stress situatio s a leade ’s og iti e esou es a e i pai ed so his o
her work experience will be most important.
2. House’s Path-Goal Theory:
Path-Goal Theory: Ro e t House’s theo o e ed ith the situatio s
under which various leader behaviours (directive, supportive, participative,
achievement oriented) are most effective.
o The Theory:
Most important activities of leaders are those that clarify
paths to various goals of interest to employees.
Opportunity to achieve these goals should promote job
satisfaction, leader acceptance, and high effort.
An effective leader forms a connection between employee
goals and organizational goals.
Leader Behaviour:

o Directive Behaviour: directive leaders schedule work, maintain

performance standards, and let employees know what is expected of
them. This behaviour is essentially identical to initiating structure.
o Supportive Behaviour: Supportive leaders are friendly, approachable,
and concerned with pleasant interpersonal relationships. This
behaviour is essentially identical to consideration.
o Participative Behaviour: Participative leaders consult with employees
about work-related matters and consider their options
o Achievement-Oriented Behaviour: leaders encourage employees to
exert high effort and strive for a high level of goal accomplishment.
They express confidence that employees can reach these goals.
Situational factors: 2 primary classes of situational factors – employee
characteristics and environmental factors.
o Employees who are high need achievers should work well under
achievement-oriented leadership
o Employees who prefer being told what to do should respond best to a
directive leadership style.
Participative Leadership: Involving Employees in Decisions
What is Participation?
Involving employees in making work-related decisions.
Advantages:
o Motivation: can increase motivation in employees. Can increase intrinsic
oti atio e i hi g e plo ees’ jo s. Pa ti ipatio adds so e a iety to the
jo a d p o otes auto o i easi g the a ea of f eedo .

o Quality: E ha es ualit i a s. Fi st, heads a e ette tha – two

heads (participation) can lead to higher quality decisions than the leader could
make alone. Second, it can enhance quality because of high levels of
participation often empowers employees to take action to solve problems.
o Acceptance: involving employees in decision-making could result in solutions of
equal quality that do not provoke dissatisfaction. Public commitment and ego
involvement probably contribute to the acceptance of such decisions.
Disadvantages:
o Time and energy: involves specific behaviours on the part of the leader, which
use time and energy. When a quick decision is needed, participation is not
appropriate. (Such as in an emergency room)
o Loss of power: some leaders feel that the participative style will reduce their
power. Sometimes leaders respond by allowing employees to make trivial
decisions. A lack of trust in employees and a fear that they will make mistakes
are often hallmark of an insecure manager.
o Lack of receptivity or knowledge: employees might not be receptive to
pa ti ipatio . Whe the leade is dist usted the ight ese t ha i g to do
a age e t’s o k . E plo ees ight la k k owledge to contribute effectively.
3. Vroo a d Jago’s Situatio al Model of Participatio :

Attempts to specify in a practical manner when leaders should use
participation and to what extent they should use it.
Various degrees of participation that a leader can exhibit.
o A – Autocratic
o C – consultive
o G – group
o I – individual
o II – group is involved
AI – Solve the problem or make the decision by yourself using
info available to you at the time
AII – obtain necessary information from your employees then
decide the solution to the problem yourself.
CI – You share in the problem with relevant employees
individually getting their ideas then bringing them together as
a group. You decide on the decision, which may or may not
reflect employee influence.
CII – Share the problem with your employees as a group then
you make the decision, which may or may not be reflective of
your employees influence.
GII – Share your problem with employees as a group and
together you develop alternatives and attempt to reach an
agreement.
4. Leader-Member Exchange (LMX) Theory:

A theory of leadership that focuses on the quality of the relationship that

develops between a leader and an employee.
o The idea that over time and through the course of their interactions,
different types of relationships develop between leaders and
employees.
Social Exchange Theory: individuals who are treated favourably by others
feel obligated to reciprocate by responding positively and returning that
favourable treatment in some manner.
o High LMX – involve a high degree of mutual influence and obligation
as well as trust, loyalty, open communication, and respect between a
leader and an employee. Provide the employee with challenging tasks
and opportunities.
o Low LMX – low levels of trust, respect, and obligation. The leader
provides less attention and latitude to employees so employees do
only what their job describes.
5. Transactional and Transformational Leadership Theory:
Transactional Leadership: leadership that is based on a straightforward
exchange relationship between leader and the followers.
o Leaders set goals and provide direction and support; employees
perform well and the leader rewards them. Leader uses a
participatory style and employees come up with good ideas.
Management by Exception: leadership that involves the leader taking
corrective action on the basis of the results of leader-follower transactions.
o They monitor follower behaviour anticipate problems and take
corrective actions before the behaviour causes serious problems.
Transformational Leadership: leadership that provides followers with a new
vision that instils true commitment.
o The leader decisively changes the beliefs and attitudes of followers to
correspond to this new vision and motivates them to achieve
performance beyond expectations.
o Transformational Leaders Behaviours:
Intellectual Stimulation:
The e isio aspe t
Leader challenges assumptions & takes risks\
Individualized Consideration:
Treating employees as distinct individuals indicating
concerns for their needs
Serving as a coach or mentor
One-on-one attempt to meet concerns of individuals.
Inspirational Motivation:
Communication of visions that are appealing and
inspiring to followers.

Have a strong vision for the future based on values and

ideals
Charisma:
The ability to command strong loyalty and devotion
from followers and thus have the potential for strong
influence among them.
Often act to create an impression of personal success
and accomplishment.
Hold high expectations for follower performance.
Enhances follower self-esteem.
6. Global Leadership:
A set of leadership capabilities required to function effectively in different
cultures and the ability to cross language, social, economic, and political
borders.
Global Leaders have the following 4 Characteristics:
o Unbridled Inquisitiveness:
Function effectively in different cultures
Relish the opportunity to see and experience new things
o Personal Character:
2 components:
Emotional connection to people from different
cultures
Uncompromising integrity – high ethical standards and
lo alt to the fi ’s alues
o Duality:
Must be able to manage uncertainty and balance global and
local tensions.
o Savvy:
Understand the conditions they face in different countries and
are able to recognize new market opportunities.
Well i fo ed of thei o ga izatio ’s apa ilities a d
international ventures.
7. New and Emerging Theories of Leadership:
Empowering Leadership: Implementing conditions that enable power to be
shared with employees.
o Employees experience a state of psychological empowerment that
consists of feeling that their work is personally important, are
competent, have self-determination, and impact in the organization.
Ethical Leadership: The demonstration of normatively appropriate conduct
through personal actions and interpersonal relationships.
o Communicate a clear and consistent positive ethics message from the
top

o Create and embrace opportunities for everyone in the organization to

communicate positive ethics, values, and practices.
o Ensure consequences for ethical and unethical conduct.
Authentic Leadership: a positive form of leadership that involves being true
to oneself.
o Self awareness
o Relational transparency
o Balanced processing
o Internalized moral perpective
Servant Leadership: a form of leadership that involves going beyond ones
own self-interests and having a genuine concern to serve others and a
motivation to lead.
o Empowering and developing people
o Humility
o Authenticity
o Interpersonal acceptance
o Providing direction
o Stewardship
8. Culture and Leadership:
Implicit Leadership Theory: a theory that states that individuals hold a set of
beliefs about the kinds of attributes, personality characteristics, skills, and
behaviours that contribute to or impede outstanding leadership.

Chapter 12: Power, Politics, and Ethics

Power: the capacity to influence others who are in a state of dependence.
The capacity to influence others. Not always perceived or exercised.
The fa t the target of po er is depe de t o the po er holder does ’t imply a poor
relationship.
Power can flow in any direction in an organization
Power is a broad concept that applies to both individuals and groups.
Bases of Individual Power:

Legitimate Power: po er deri ed fro a perso ’s positio or jo i a orga ization
- Works because people have been socialized to accept its influence.
Reward Power: power derived from the ability to provide positive outcomes and
prevent negative outcomes.
Coercive Power: power derived from the use of punishment and threat.
Often a support for legitimate power
Generally ineffective and can provoke considerable employee resistance.
o Referent Power: Power derived from being well liked by others
Stems from identification with the power holder representing a deeper base
of power, which may stimulate compliance.
Anyone in the organization may be well liked – janitor to the president.
o Expert Power: power derived from having special information or expertise that is
valued by an organization.
Associated with employee effectiveness.
How People Obtain Power

Doing the Right Things:

Extraordinary Activities: excellent performance in unusual or non-routine things
Visible Activities: people who have interest in power are especially good at
identifying visible activities and publicizing them.
Relevant Activities: Important the activities are relevant to the organizations
problems in order to be influential solutions.
Cultivating the Right People:
Outsiders: establishing good relationships with key people outside the
organization can lead to increased power within the organization. More tangible
sources of power.
Subordinates: Individual can gain power if they are closely identified with certain
up and coming subordinates. Can provide power when a manager can
demonstrate a cohesive team backs them.
Peers: A ea s of e suri g that othi g gets i the a of o e’s future
acquisition of power. As one moves up favours can be asked of former associates
without worrying about backstabbing.
Superiors: best way of obtaining power through cultivating others. Can provide
spe ial i for atio a d useful i trodu tio s to other right people
Empowerment: giving people the authority, opportunity, and motivation to take initiative and
solve organizational problems.
Influence Tactics: tactics that are used to convert power into actual influence over others.
Assertiveness – ordering, nagging, setting deadlines, confronting others
Ingratiation – using flattery and acting friendly or polite.
Rationality – logic, reason, planning, and compromise
Exchange – doing favours or offering trade favours
Upward Appeal – making formal or informal appeals to organizational superiors
for intervention

Coalition formation – seeking united support form other organizational

members
Who Wants Power?

Institutional Managers – care about the organization
McClelland argues effective managers
Have high n Pow
Use their power to achieve organizational goals
Adopt a parti ipati e or oa hi g leadership st le
Are relatively unconcerned with how much others like them
Personal Power Managers – use their power for personal gain
Affiliative Managers – more concerned with being liked than executing their
power.
Controlling Strategic Contingencies – How Subunits Obtain Power:

Subunit Power: the degree of power held by various organizational subunits,
such as departments.
Strategic Contingencies: critical factors affecting organizational effectiveness
that are controlled by a key subunit.
Scarcity - If cutbacks in budget occur differences in power will become
apparent. Subunits tend to acquire power when they are able to secure
scarce resources that are important to the organization as a whole.
Uncertainty – The subunits that are most capable of coping with
uncertainty will tend to acquire power. The functions, which can provide
the organization with greater control, will acquire more power.
Certainty – subunits whose activities are most central to the mission or
work flow of the organization should acquire more power.

Substitutability – a subunit will have relatively low power if others inside

and outside the organization can perform its activities (it is substitutable).
Organizational Politics – Using and Abusing Power

Organizational politics: the pursuit of self-interest in an organization, whether or
not this self-interest corresponds to organizational goals.
Means/Ends Matrix
I. Power is used routinely to pursue agreed upon goals. Example: manager agrees to
recommend a raise for an employee if she increases net sales by 30% in the next 6
months (Nothing political).
II. Acceptable means of influence are abused to pursue goals that the organization
does not approve of. Example: Nurse agrees to assign subordinate nurse to a more
favourable job if the nurse agrees not to report the superior for stealing supplies.
(Dysfunctional political behaviour).
III. Ends that are useful to the organization are pursued through questionable means.
Example: the use of bribery and vote buying as a means to influence.
IV. Disapproved tactics are used to pursue disapproved outcomes. Example: to increase
personal power the head of an already overstaffed legal department wishes to
increase its size. He intends to hire several of his friends to do so he falsifies
workload documents and promises special service to the accounting department in
exchange for the support of its manager.
Political Skill: the ability to understand others at work and to use that
k o ledge to i flue e others to a t i a s that e ha e o e’s perso al or
organizational objectives.
Four facets of political skill:
Social Astuteness – tuned into others needs and motives. Can read
people and have high emotional intelligence. Self-monitoring and know
how to present themselves to others.
Interpersonal Influence – convincing and persuasive interpersonal style
but employ it flexibly to fit the situation. Put others at ease.
Apparent Sincerity – influence attempts will be seen as manipulative
unless they are accompanied by sincerity. Comes across as genuine and
exhibits high integrity.

Networking Ability – establishing good relations with key organizational

e ers or outsiders to a o plish o e’s goals. Net orks pro ide
ha els for fa ours to e asked for or gi e . E ha es o e’s
organizational reputation.
Maintaining Contacts
Engaging in Professional Activities
Participating in Community Activities
Increasing Internal Visibility
Machiavellianism – The Harder Side of Politics:

A set of cynical beliefs about human nature, morality, and the permissibility of using
arious ta ti s to a hie e o e’s e ds.
o High Mach :
More likely to advocate the use of lying and deceit to achieve desired
goals.
Morality can be compromised to fit the situation
E essi el gulli le a d do ’t k o hat’s est for the .
Convincing liars, unlikely to be high performers.
Defensiveness – Reactive Politics:
Defensive Behaviours:
Stalling – moving slowly when someone asks for your cooperation.
Overconforming – sticking to the strict letter of your job description to
avoid action.
Buck Passing – Having someone else take action to avoid doing so
yourself
Buffing – carefully documenting information showing that an appropriate
course of action was taken. Getting sign offs, and authorization are
examples
Scapegoating – blaming others when things go wrong.
Ethics in Organizations:
Ethics: systematic thinking about the moral consequences of decisions
Stakeholders: people inside or outside of an organization that have the potential
to be affected by organizational decisions.
Typical Examples of Ethical Behaviour:

Honest Communication
Fair Treatment
Special Consideration
Fair Competition
Responsibility to Organization
Corporate Social Responsibility
Respect for the Law
Causes for Unethical Behaviour:

Gain – temptation in unethical behaviour for personal gain

Role Conflict – being pressured to push products that are not in the best interest
of their clients.
Strong Organizational Identification – people feel their membership to an
organization is part of their identity and will engage in unethical activities to
help the organization.
Competition – stiff competition for scarce resources can lead to price fixing, and
monopoly violations.
Personality – people who are cynical or have an external locus of control are
more prone to unethical behaviour.
Organization and industry Culture – aspects of an organizations culture
influences ethics.
Whistle Blowing
Disclosure of illegitimate practices by a current or former organizational member
to some person or organization that may be able to take action to correct these
practices.
Sexual Harassment:
How Organizations can effectively deal with sexual harassment:
Examine charactertistics of deaf ear organizations.
Foster mamagement support and education
Stay vigilant
Take immediate action
Create a state of the art policy
Establish clear reporting procedures
Ethical Guidelines:
Identify the stakeholders that will be affected by any decision
Identify costs and benefits of decision
Consider moral expectations
Be familiar with the common ethical dilemmas
Discuss ethical matters with decision stakeholders
Convert your ethical judgements into appropriate action.

Chapter 13: Conflict and Stress

Interpersonal Conflict: process that occurs when one person, group, or
organizational subunit frustrates the goal attainment of another.
Often includes antagonist behaviours like name-calling, sabotage, or physical
aggression.
Can be dealt with in a collaborative way that keeps antagonism at a low
Conflict can be hidden or supressed – some gender conflict
Who is currently frustrating your goal attainment?
o Is it overt? Is it intentional?
o Has it resulted in antagonistic behaviours?
Causes of Organizational Conflict:
Group identification and intergroup bias
o Even without interaction and cohesion people have a tendency to develop
a positive view of their own “in-group” and a less positive view of the “out-
group” of which they are not a member.
o Self-esteem is a critical factor of intergroup bias.
o Varying classes, and groups of people in an organization can cause
intergroup bias
o Have to pay special attention to managing relationships between teams to
avoid.
Interdependence
o Can produce bias – what’s the difference?
o When individuals are mutually dependent on each other to accomplish
their own goals.
o Interdependence necessitates interaction between the parties so they can
coordinate their interests.
Conflict will not develop if members can “go it alone”
o Interdependence implies that each party has some power over the other.
Easy for one side to abuse that power
o Does not always lead to conflict can provide a good basis for collaboration.
Differences in:
o Power
If dependence is mutual but one-way potential for conflict increases
Example: production workers are dependent on inspectors to
approve work but the dependence is not reciprocated.
o Status
When “lower-status” people find themselves giving orders to those
who are “higher-status”.
Example: servers giving orders to head chefs.
o Culture
When 2 or more cultures in an organization clash in values and
beliefs.
Ambiguity
o Formal and informal rules under ambiguity break down.
o Frequent cause for conflict between managers and employees

o Difficult to assign praise or punishment for actions when it is hard to tell

who is responsible.
Scarce Resources
o Limited budget money, secretarial support, or lab space can cause conflict.
Types of Conflict:
1. Relationship – interpersonal tensions among individuals that have to do with
their relationship per se, not the task at hand.
2. Task – disagreements about the nature of the work to be done.
3. Process – disagreements about the nature of the work to be done.
Conflict Dynamics:
“Winning” mindset – the conflict becomes more important than developing a
good solution to the problem at hand.
Knowledge hiding – parties begin to conceal information from each other or
to pass on distorted information
Intragroup cohesiveness and conformity – each side becomes more
cohesive. Deviants who speak of conciliation are punished, and strict conformity
is expected.
Intergroup isolation – contact with the opposite party is discouraged except
under formalized, restricted conditions.
Stereotype reinforcement – while the opposite party is negatively
stereotyped; the image of one’s own position is boosted.
New leaders emerge – on each side; more aggressive people who are skilled at
engaging in conflict may emerge as leaders.
Modes and Strategies of Managing Conflict:

Avoiding: a conflict management style characterized by low assertiveness of ones own
interests and low cooperation with the other party.
“Hiding one’s head in the sand”
Can provide some short-term stress reduction but does not change the situation.
If the issue is trivial, avoidance can be a suitable response.
Accommodating: a conflict management style in which one cooperates with the other
party while not asserting ones own interests
Seen as a sign of weakness
Does not bode well for future interactions
Can be affective when you are wrong, the issue is more important to the other
party, or you want to build good will.
Competing: a conflict management style that maximizes assertiveness and minimized
cooperation.
Tend to frame the conflict to win or lose terms
Full priority is given to your own interests and goals.
Hold promise when you have a lot of power and are sure of your facts.
Compromise: a conflict management style that combines intermediate levels of
assertiveness and cooperation.
Places a premium on determining rules of exchange between the 2 parties.
Not useful for resolving conflicts that stem from power asymmetry because the
weaker party will have less to offer.

Compromise between pure competition and pure accommodation.

Collaborating: a conflict management style that maximizes both assertiveness and
cooperation.
Emphasis put on a win-win situation.
Believes the solution will leave both parties in a better situation.
Collaboration helps manage conflict inside organizations

Chapter 14: Organizational Structure

What is Organizational Structure?
The manner in which an organization divides its labour into specific tasks and achieves
coordination among these tasks.
Vertical Division of Labour: apportioning authority for planning and decision-making –
who gets to tell who what to do?
o Autonomy & Control: Authority is reduced as the number of levels in the
hierarchy increases.
o Communication: As the number of levels in the hierarchy increases, filtering is
more likely to occur. Timely communication is present with lots of levels (barrier
to communication).
Horizontal Division of Labour: groups the basic tasks that must be performed into jobs
and then into departments so that the organization can achieve its goals.
Job Design: Three basic ways to structure tasks:

o Form an ABC department in which all workers do ABC work.
o For an ABC department in which workers specialize in A work, B work, C
work.
o Form a separate A department, B department, and C department.
Differentiation: the tendency for managers in separate units, functions, or
departments to differ in terms of goals, time spans, and interpersonal styles.
o Natural and necessary consequence of horizontal division
o Points out the need for coordination
Departmentation:
Functional Departmentation: employees with closely related skills and responsibilities
are assigned to the same department.
o Efficient
o Communication within departments is enhanced
o Career ladders and training opportunities within the function are enhanced
o The performance of functional specialists should be easier to measure and
evaluate when they are all located in the same department.

Product Departmentation: departments are formed on the basis of a particular product,

product line, or service.
o Better coordination amongst the functional specialists who work on a particular
product line.
o Flexibility since product lines can be added or removed without much of an
effect to the rest of the organization.
o Evaluated as profit centres as they have independent control over costs and
revenues.
o Serves the customer better since they can see better who produced the product.
Respond to customers in a timely way.
Matrix Departmentation: Employees remain members of a functional department while
also reporting to product or project manager.
o Ideally provides a degree of balance between abstract demands or the product
and the people who actually do the work, resulting in a better outcome.
o No guarantee product managers will see eye to eye with various functional
managers.
o Employees have 2 bosses, which breaks the classical management principle,
which can result in role conflict and stress.
Geographic Departmentation: relatively self-co tai ed u its deliver a orga izatio ’s

products or services in a specific geographic territory.
Customer Departmentation: relatively self-co tai ed u its deliver orga izatio ’s
products or services to specific customer groups.
Hybrid Departmentation: a structure based on some mixture of functional, product,
geographic or customer departmentation.

Basic Methods of Coordinating Divided Labour

Coordination: a process of facilitating timing, communication, and feedback among work tasks.
Direct Supervision: designated supervisors coordinate the work for their subordinates.
Standardization of work processes: Routine jobs that technology provides coordination.
Little need for direct supervision. Assembly line worker is a good example.
Standardization of Outputs: Ensuring work meets physical or economic standards.
Budgets are a form of standardizing outputs.
Standardization of skills: surgeons can coordinate with minimal verbal communication
because of their high degree of interlocked training. All know what to expect from each
other because of their high standard of training.
Mutual Adjustment: relies on informal communication to coordinate tasks. Teams are
generally composed of people with a variety of skills.
Other Methods of Coordination:

Integration: the process of attaining coordination across differentiated departments
Liaison Role: a persona who is assigned to help achieve coordination between his or her
department and another department.
Task Forces: Temporary groups set up to solve coordination problems across several
departments.
Integrators: organizational members permanently assigned to facilitate coordination
between departments.
Traditional Structure Characteristics

Span of Control: the number of subordinates supervised by a manager
o The larger the span the less potential there is for coordination by direct
supervision.
o As span increases the attention that the supervisor can devote to each
subordinate decreases.
Flat vs. Tall

o Flat Organization: an organization with relatively few levels in its hierarchy of
authority

o Tall Organization: an organization with relatively many levels in its hierarchy or

authority
Flatter structures tend to push decision-making powers downward.
Generally enhances vertical communication and coordination.
Formalization: the extent to which work roles are highly defined by an organization.
o Highly formalized organization tolerates little variability in the way members
perform their tasks – i.e. assembly line.
Centralization: the extent to which decision-making power is localized in a particular
part of an organization.
o In a highly centralized organization the power to make decisions would fall on a
single individual such as the president.
o Decision making power would be more spread out in a decentralized
organization.
Complexity: the extent to which an organization divides labour vertically, horizontally,
and geographically.
o A complex organization would be tall, have a large number of job
titles/departments, and be spread across the world.
Organic VS. Mechanistic Structures

Organic Structure: characterized by flatness, low specialization, low formalization, and
decentralization
o Called for when environment is uncertain and technology is less routine, and
innovation is important.
Mechanistic Structure: characterized by tallness, specialization, centralization, and
formalization.
o Called for when an organizations external environment is stable and its
technology is more routine
Contemporary Organic Structures:

Ambidextrous Organization: an organization that can simultaneously exploit current
competencies and explore emerging opportunities
Network and Virtual Organizations:
o Network: liaisons between specialist organizations that rely strongly on market
mechanisms for coordination.
o Virtual: a network of continually evolving independent organizations that share
skills, costs, a d access to o e a other’s arkets.
Modular Organization: a network organization that performs a few core functions and
outsources other activities to specialists and suppliers.
o By outsourcing they are able to keep unit costs low and develop new products
more rapidly.
o Dependent on so many outsiders so it is critical they find loyal and dependable
suppliers. Must be careful not to outsource technologies, which could diminish

future competitive advantages. Decreased operational control due to

dependability on outsiders.
Boundaryless Organization: an organization that removes vertical, horizontal, and
external barriers so that employees, managers, customers, and suppliers can work
together, share ideas, and identify the best ideas for the organization.
o Able to achieve greater integration and coordination within the organization and
with external stakeholders. Able to adapt to environmental changes
o Difficult to overcome political and authority boundaries. Time consuming to
manage.
The Impact of Size
Downsizing: the intentional reduction in workforce size with the goal of improving
organizational efficiency or effectiveness.
Not always proportionate between departments so its not just a reversal of growth.
Problems with Downsizing:
o Reduced satisfaction and commitment
o Increased absenteeism
o Damaged health
o Negative effect on stock prices
o Mixed effects on profitability
Negative effects are primarily due to poor implementation. When implemented
properly downsizing can have positive effects.

Chapter 15: Environment, Strategy, and Technology

The External Environment
Events and conditions surrounding an organization that influence its activities.
Organizations As Open Systems:
Open Systems: systems that take inputs from the external environment and transform
some of them and send them back into the environment as outputs.
o Sensitizes us to the need for organizations to cope with demands of the
environment on both the input side and output side
Components of the External Environment:
1. The General Economy: survival of selling products through economic downturns. During
a downturn competition increases for the consumers remaining.
2. Customers: generally successful firms are highly sensitive to customer reactions. (Kraft
foods removing trans fats from a lot of their food products)
3. Suppliers: Organizations are dependent on the environment for supplies. Shortages can
cause severe difficulties.
4. Competitors: competition has become so aggressive that the environment has been
described as hypercompetitive. Organizations that find themselves in such an
environment must be extremely flexible to respond quickly to changes.
5. Social/Political Factors: changes in public attitudes about ethnic diversity, the proper
age for retirement, corporate social responsibility, etc. will affect them. Organizations
must cope with a series of legal regulations.
6. Technology: the ability to adopt the proper technology should enhance organizations
effectiveness.
Interest Groups: parties or organizations other than direct competitors that
have some vested interest in how an organization is managed.
Environmental Uncertainty
A condition that exists when the external government is vague, difficult to
diagnose, and unpredictable.
The complexity and rate of change cause uncertainty in an organizational
environment.
o Simple Environment: relatively few factors that are fairly similar to
each other. Ex, a small pottery manufacturer.
o Complex Environment: contains a large number of dissimilar factors
that affect the organization. Ex, the university.
o Static Environment: fairly stable components overtime. Ex, a small-
town radio station plays the same music format and same music
regulations.
o Dynamic Environment: components are in a constant state of
change, which is unpredictable and irregular, not cyclical. Ex, auto
manufacturers.

Resource Dependence: the dependency of organizations on environmental inputs, such as

capital, raw materials, and human resources as well as outputs such as customers.
Strategic Response:
Vertical Integration: the strategy of formally taking control of sources of organizational
supply and distribution.
o Can reduce risk but also increase risk by reducing flexibility in turbulent
environments.
Mergers & Acquisitions:
o Merger: the joining together of 2 organizations
o Acquisition: the purchase of one organization by another.
Reduce uncertainty prompted by competition when they occur in the
same industry.
Strategic Alliance: actively cooperative relationships between legally separate
organizations.
o Used to tackle economic and social concerns. Reduce friction and build trust and
cooperation.
o Joint Venture: two or more organizations for an alliance in the creation of a new
organizational entity.
Interlocking Directorates: a condition existing when on person serves on two or more
boards of directors.

o Influence public opinion about wealth, status, or social conscience of a particular

organization.
Establishing Legitimacy: taking actions that conform to prevailing norms and
expectations.
o Good deeds in the community achieve legitimacy
o Attempts to achieve legitimacy can backfire like using management practices
copied from other firms without careful thought.
Technologies of Organizations
Technology: the activities, equipment, and knowledge necessary to turn organizational
inputs into desired outputs.
Basic Dimensions of technology:
1. Perrow’s Routi e ess: the key factor that differentiates various technologies is the
routineness of the transformation task that confronts the department or organization.
Technological Routineness: the extent to which exceptions and problems
affect the task of converting inputs to outputs.
o Exceptions: encountering varied inputs and turning out varied
outputs. Technology becomes less routine as exceptions increase.
o Problems: programmed decision-making? Or must workers resort to
non-programmed decision-making? Technology becomes less routine
as problems become more difficult to analyze.
Technologies Matrix:
Craft Technologies: standard inputs and outputs however when exceptions

are encountered the correct action might be difficult.
Routine Technologies: standardized input and outputs however when
exceptions occur the correct response is fairly obvious.
Non-routine Technologies: Deal frequently with exceptional inputs or
outputs and the analysis of these exceptions is often difficult.
Engineering Technologies: many exceptions of input and require output but
these exceptions can be dealt with using standardized responses.
Fro ost routi e to least we ca order Perrow’s 4 technological classifications as: Routine,
Engineering, Craft, and Non-Routine.

2. Tho pso ’s I terdepe de ce

Technological Interdependence: The extent to which organizational subunits
depend on each other for resources, raw materials, or information.
Thompso ’s Three Classificatio s of Tech ology
o Mediating Technologies: operate under pooled interdependence.
Pooled Interdependence: a condition in which organizational
subunits are dependent on the pooled resources generated by other
subunits but are otherwise fairly independent. (Post Office)
o Long-linked Technologies: operates under sequential interdependence.
Sequential Interdependence: a condition in which organizational
subunits are dependent on the resources generated by units that
precede them in a sequence of work. (Claims department of an
insurance company)
o Intensive Technologies: operates under reciprocal interdependence.
Reciprocal Interdependence: a condition in which organizational
subunits must engage in considerable interplay and mutual feedback
to accomplish a task. (Technology employed by a multidisciplinary
research team)
o As technologies become increasingly interdependent, problems of
coordination, communication, and decision making increase.
3. Woodward’s Productio Processes:
Classifications of Technologies:
o Unit: production of single units or small batches
Custom tailored units
Prototype production
Fabrication of large equipment in stages
Small batches to order
o Mass: production of large batches or mass production
Large batches on assembly lines
Mass production (e.g. bakeries)
o Process: input transformed as an ongoing process
Chemicals processes in batches
Continuous-flow production (gasoline, propane)
Structure to Cope with Technology

Perrow:
o Routine technologies should function best under mechanistic structures, while
non-routine technologies call for more organic structures.
o Routine technologies under mechanistic structures have few exceptions to the
normal course of events and easily analyzable problems suggest high
formalization and centralization

o Non-routine technologies under organic structures have many exceptions and

difficult problems suggesting that decision-making power should be located
where the actio is .
o Craft and engineering technologies fall between these prescriptions.
Thompson:
o Increasing technological interdependence must be accompanied by increased
coordination or integration mechanisms.
o Mediating technologies should be able to achieve coordination through
standardization of rules. This formalization is indicative of a mechanistic
structure
o Long-Linked technologies must also be structured mechanistically but
planning, scheduling, and meetings must meet increased demands for
coordination.
o Intensive technologies require intensive coordination and this is best achieved
by mutual adjustment and an organic structure that permits the free and ready
flow of information among units.
Woodward:
o Most famous study of the relationship between technology and structure
o Unit and process technologies performed best under organic structures
o Mass production functions better under mechanistic structure.
Advanced Information Technology

Generates, aggregates, stores, modifies, and speedily transmits information.
In the factory it permits flexible manufacturing that calls for organic structures, enriched
jobs, and increased teamwork
In the office and the organization as a whole the flexibility of advanced information
technology means that its effects are highly dependent on management values and
culture.

Chapter 16: Organizational Change, Development, and

Innovation
Why Change?
External Sources: Environmental changes force organizations to match those changes to
remain effective. (Supplier shortage of raw materials)
Internal Sources: low productivity, conflict, strikes, sabotage, high absenteeism, and
turnover are all signs for change.
What Organizations Can Change

Goals and Strategies: introduction of new products, and the pursuit of new
markets.
Technology: introduction of online portal access for employees is a fairly minor
change. Moving from rigid assembly line to flexible manufacturing is a major
change.
Job Design: redesign individual groups of jobs to offer more or less variety,
autonomy, identity, significance, and feedback.
Structure: modify from a functional to a product form or vice versa.
Formalization and centralization can be manipulated, as can tallness, span of
control, and networking with other firms.
Processes: the basic processes by which work is accomplished can be changed.
Culture: one of the most difficult changes. Organizational culture is known to be
a major factor in providing an organization which a competitive advantage, and
long-term effectiveness.
People: membership can be changed in two senses. Content of membership can
be changed through a revised hiring process. Second, the existing membership
can be changed in terms of skills and attitudes by various training.
The Change Process

Unfreezing, changing, and refreezing.
o Unfreezing: the recognition that some current state of affairs is
unsatisfactory.
o Change: the implementation of a program or plan to move the
organization or its members to a more satisfactory state.
o Refreezing: the condition that exists when newly developed behaviours,
attitudes, or structures become an enduring part of the organization.
The Learning Organization
Organizational Learning: the process through which an organization acquires,
develops, and transfers knowledge throughout an organization.
o Organizations learn through knowledge acquisition and knowledge
development.
Learning Organization: an organization that has systems and processes for
creating, acquiring, and transferring knowledge to modify and change its
behaviour to reflect new knowledge and insights.

Four Key Dimensions that are critical for a learning organization:

o Vision/Support: leaders must communicate a clear vision of goals in
which learning is a critical part of organizational success.
o Culture: culture that supports learning. Knowledge, information sharing,
risk taking, and experimentation are supported.
o Learning Systems/Dynamics: employees are challenged to think, solve
p o le s, ake de isio s a d a t a o di gly. Lea i g y doi g ,
managers should be active in coaching.
o Knowledge Management/Infrastructure: systems and structures to
acquire, code, store, and distribute important information and
knowledge.
Issues in the Change Process:

Diagnosis: the systematic collection of information relevant to impending
organizational change.
o Change Agents: experts in the application of behavioural science
knowledge to organizational diagnosis and change.
Resistance: Overt or covert failure by organizational members to support a

change effort.
Reasons for Resistance:
o Politics and Self-Interest: people might feel that they personally will lose
status, power, or even their jobs with the advent of the change
o Low Individual Tolerance for Change: predispositions in personality
make some people uncomfortable with changes in established routines.
o Lack of Trust: people might clearly understand the arguments being
made for change but do not trust the motives of those proposing the
change.
o Different Assessments of the Situation: the targets of change might
sincerely feel that the situation does not warrant the proposed change
and that advocates of change have misread the situation.
o Strong Emotions: emotions often make people feel helpless and resistant
o A Resistant Organizational Culture: some cultures stress stability and
tradition.

Dealing with Resistance

Organizations can deal with resistance to change by being supportive, providing
clear and upfront communication about the details of the intended change,
involving those who are targets of the change in the change process, and by co-
opting reluctant individuals by giving them a special or desirable role in the
change process or by negotiating special incentives for change. Transformational
leaders are particularly adept at overcoming resistance to change.
Organizational Development
A planned, ongoing effort to change organizations to be more effective and more
human.
Uses the knowledge of behavioural science to foster a cuture of organizational
self-examination and readiness for change
A strong emphasis is placed on interpersonal and group processes.
Teambuilding
Attempts to increase the effectiveness of work teams by improving
interpersonal processes, goal clarification, and role clarification.
Survey Feedback
The collection of data from organizational members and the provision
of feedback about the results
Total Quality Management (TQM):
A systematic attempt to achieve continuous improvement in the
uality of a o ga izatio ’s p odu ts o se i es.
Continuous improvement
Proactive Strategies:
o Create a new product or service
o Upgrade performance
Reactive Strategies:
o Prevent errors
o Respond to errors

Specialized training tools to diagnose and solve quality problems on

an ongoing basis:
o Flowcharts of work process: illustrate graphically the
operations and steps in accomplishing a task.
o Pareto Analysis: collects frequency data on the causes of
errors and problems showing where attention should be
directed for maximum improvement.
o Fishbone Diagrams (cause-and-effect): illustrate graphically
that factors that could contribute to a particular quality
p o le . “pe ifi auses s all o es a e di ided i to logi al
g oups la ge o es .
o Statistical Process Control: gives employee hard data about
the quality of their own output that enables them to correct
any deviations from standard. Places particular emphasis on
reducing variation in performance over time.
Reengineering
The radical redesign of organizational processes to achieve major improvements
in such factors as time, cost, quality, or service.
Organizational process: activities or work that have to be accomplished to
create outputs that internal or external customers value.
Reengineering is oriented toward one or both of these goals:
o The number of mediating steps in a process is reduced, making the
process more efficient
Reduces labour requirements
Removes redundancies
Decreases chances for error
Speeds up production
o Collaboration among the people involved in the process is enhanced.
Simultaneous (rather than sequential) work on a process
Reduces the chances for misunderstanding and conflict.
Aspects of reengineering:
o Jobs are redesigned and usually enriched
o Strong emphasis is placed on teamwork
o Work is performed by the most logical people
o Unnecessary checks and balances are removed
o Advanced technology is explored.
Does Organizational Development Work?

Most OD techniques have a positive impact on productivity, job satisfaction, or
other work attitudes.
OD seems to work better for supervisors or managers than for blue-collar
workers.
Changes that use more than one technique seem to have more impact

There are great differences across sites in the success of OD interventions.
Some Specific Problems Include:

OD efforts involve a complex series of changes. There is little evidence of exactly
which of these changes produce changes in processes or outcomes.
Novelty effects or the fact that participants receive special treatment might
provide short-term gains that really do not persist over time.
Self-reports of changes after OD might involve unconscious attempts to please
the change agent
Organizations may be reluctant to publicize failures.
The Innovation Process:

Innovation: the process of developing and implementing new ideas in an
organization.
o Product innovations: direct impact on the cost, quality, style, or
availability of a product or service. Should be obvious to customers.
o Process innovations: new ways od designing products, making products,
or delivering services. Many cases they are invisible to customers.
o Managerial innovations: new forms of strategy, structure, HR systems,
and managerial practices.
Generating and Implementing Innovative Ideas:
Individual Creativity: the production of novel but potentially useful ideas
Idea Champions: people who recognize an innovative idea and guide it through
to implementation.
o Creative Deviance: defying orders by management to stop working on a
creative idea.
External Communication: effective communication with the external
environment and effective communication within the organization are vital for
successful innovation.
o Gatekeepers: people who span organizational boundaries to import new
information, translate it for local use, and disseminate it.
Internal Communication: organic structures facilitate innovation more easily
than mechanistic. Decentralization, informality, and lack of bureaucracy foster
the exchange of information that innovation requires.
Resources and Rewards: abundant resources greatly enhance the chances of
successful innovation. Funds for innovation are seen as investment, not cost.
Conclusion: innovation depends on individual (creativity), social (champion, and good
communication), and organizational factors (resources and rewards).
Diffusing Innovative Ideas

Diffusion: the process by which innovations move through an organization.
Why diffusion might be unsuccessful:
o Lack of support and commitment from top management

o Significant differences between the technology or setting of the pilot

project and those of other units in the organization, raising arguments
that it o t o k he e
o Attempts to diffuse particular techniques rather than goals that could be
tailored to other situations.
o Management reward systems that concentrate on traditional
performance measures while ignoring success at implementing
innovation.
Critical determinants of the rate of diffusion of a wide variety of innovations:
o Relative advantage: diffusion is more likely when the new idea is
perceived as truly better than the one it replaces.
o Compatibility: diffusion is easier when the innovation is compatible with
the values, beliefs, needs, and current practices of potential new
adopters.
o Complexity: complex innovations that are fairly difficult to comprehend
and use are less likely to diffuse
o Trial-ability: if an innovation can be given a limited trial run its chances of
diffusion will be improved.
o Observability: when the consequences of an innovation are more visible,
diffusion will be more likely to occur.

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McMaster

Chapter 8: Social Influence, Socialization, and Organizational Culture

Consequences of Social Influence and Dependence:

Person-Job Fit: the at h et ee a e plo ee’s k o ledge, skills a d a ilities a d the

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Person-Organization Fit: to at h et ee a e plo ee’s perso al alues of a orga izatio .

Three Stages of Socialization:

Unrealistic Expectations and Psychological Contract:

Five Methods of Organizational Socialization:

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2. Employee Orientation Programs

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o E ter all , ulture a support putti g the usto er first or u ethi al

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Socialization Steps in Strong Cultures:

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Are Leaders Born? The Trait Theory of Leadership

The Behaviour of Leaders

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Consideration: The extent to which a leader is approachable and shows personal

Situational Theories of Leadership

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Cognitive Resource Theory: A leadership theory that focuses on the conditions in

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o Directive Behaviour: directive leaders schedule work, maintain

Participative Leadership: Involving Employees in Decisions

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o Quality: E ha es ualit i a s. Fi st, heads a e ette tha – two

3. Vroo a d Jago’s Situatio al Model of Participatio :

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A theory of leadership that focuses on the quality of the relationship that

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Have a strong vision for the future based on values and

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o Create and embrace opportunities for everyone in the organization to

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Chapter 12: Power, Politics, and Ethics

Bases of Individual Power:

How People Obtain Power

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Doing the Right Things:

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Coalition formation – seeking united support form other organizational

Who Wants Power?

Controlling Strategic Contingencies – How Subunits Obtain Power:

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Substitutability – a subunit will have relatively low power if others inside

Organizational Politics – Using and Abusing Power

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Networking Ability – establishing good relations with key organizational

Machiavellianism – The Harder Side of Politics:

Typical Examples of Ethical Behaviour:

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Gain – temptation in unethical behaviour for personal gain

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Chapter 13: Conflict and Stress

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o Difficult to assign praise or punishment for actions when it is hard to tell