MGT test 2

subjectively defined performance goal that the alternative must meet

aspiration level

What job characteristic is job depth similar to?

autonomy

the extent to which employees have a major say in scheduling their work, selecting the equipment and methods they will use, checking their own work (quality control), and deciding the procedures to be followed; the extent to which their allowed to make important decisions regarding their job

autonomy

What is an assembly effect?

the positive consequences of bringing a group together such as synergy, more information, diverse viewpoints, checking errors

What is the representative heuristic?

the tendency of managers to asses the likelihood of an occurrence by matching it with a preexisting category; basically where managers use stereotypes in making judgements

In decision making, people most often violate the law of large numbers. What does this mean and why does it occur?

this type of thinking when individuals tend to ignore the implications of sample size and tend to attribute greater stability to results obtained from small samples than is reasonable; people often ignore the judgement advice of others when choosing between 2 objects and substitute the impression as the sole basis for the choice because they don't recognize the importance of large numbers

Why do we make decisions as managers?

to accomplish goals efficiently

what is the job of the technical expert?

to aid the group in the evaluation of the feasibility of ideas

What is the purpose of job enlargement?

to keep one from getting bored so quickly; broadens job scope/breadth

In synectics, what is the job of the facilitator?

to structure the problem and help lead the discussion away from the traditional ways of thinking; help individuals overcome internal inhibitions resulting from traditional ways of perceiving and thinking

What is the availability heuristic?

used when managers assess the frequency of an event by the degree to which those instances of that event are easily recalled in memory

Rank the following in terms of decision making accuracy: group, average individual in the group, best member in the group

-group's decision is more accurate -then average individual -seldom better than performance of best individual

What are the three moderators that influence the effectiveness of job enrichment?

-knowledge and skill of the employee -growth need strength of the employee: motivations thing (does the employee have a need to grow? -context satisfaction: if the person is dissatisfied that will reduce the effectiveness of job enrichment

What are the three aspects of job design?

-a job's content -the work methods or procedures to be used in its performance -how it is related to other jobs in the organization

What are the disadvantages of group decision making?

-considered process losses of the negatives that come from GDM -takes longer than individual deacons making so more costly -indecisiveness -domination by a few powerful members or by leader can negate many virtues of group -free riders create a problem in a group -with corporate power and personal pride at stake, disagreements over important matters that occur in groups can lead to bad feelings and destructive conflict -escalation of demands- people want to participate when it's not appropriate -social motives prevail over hard-headed task orientation

OR technique used for optimally allocating limited resources among users to maximize benefits or minimize losses; the most frequently and extensively used of the OR techniques

Linear programming

The motivational benefits of job enlargement are short-lived or long-lived?

short lived because the new tasks presented to the employee are often easily learned and do not present much of a challenge- two boring tasks don't make a challenging job

used for imitating a set of real conditions so that likely outcomes of alternatives can be compared. This is typically applied to complex problems where it is too costly or impossible to work with real-life pilot studies of full-scale applications; ex: scaled down models or computer simulations

simulation

What job characteristic is job breath similar to?

skill variety

the degree to which a job requires the employees to perform a wide range of operations in their work and/or the degree to which employees must use a variety of equipment and procedures in their work

skill variety

What two task characteristics does job enlargement increase?

skill variety and task identity

What type of motivation is best suited to specialized jobs?

someone who sees the job simply as a paycheck (instrumental motivation)

Which job design is most prevalent today?

specialized jobs

job that was the result of the industrial revolution; results from the diversion of an activity into smaller and smaller task elements; specialists with a limited area of expertise

specialized jobs

What are the defining characteristics of the Delphi technique?

structured technique like NGT to creating problem solving using a group of experts, allows for no face to face interaction, experts are not brought together to discuss ideas, remain anonymous to one another, questionnaires obtain info

the connecting together of diverse elements

synectics

the extent to which employees do an entire or whole piece of work and clearly identify the results of their effort

task identity

refers to the extent to which the job and its performance exert a considerable impact on the lives of others

task significance

What is the leveling effect?

the compromise that takes place in GM that can lower the quality of the decision

What does the irrational/implicit favorite model of decision-making say about decision-making? (Irrational Man)

the decision maker selects a favorite early on in the evaluation of alternatives. the "implicit" favorite is chosen, the rest of the alternatives are evaluated against it. The decision maker distorts the information about the implicit favorite and the other alternatives so that the positive features of the implicit favorite are highlighted; basically, the decision maker distorts info and selects decision rules in order to favor their implicit favorite

What are some problems that can be encountered when using the Delphi technique?

the design of the questionnaire can limit the results obtained, it can be extremely time-consuming, even more so than other techniques, and member interest and motivation may decline if too much time passes between steps

What is a gambler's fallacy?

the mistaken belief that an event has no occurred for some time and is likely to occur in the near future (ex: 10 bad hands of poker, the player believes they are due for a good hand)

What in NGT does one try to eliminate to improve the decision-making process?

the negative aspects of the group process

What is a process loss?

the negative consequences of bringing a group together such as interpersonal conflict, domination by a few, and more time & expense

What are the reasons behind the Delphi technique?

tries to eliminate the group process in creative problem solving as much as possible; eliminates power struggles, undue persuasion, an unwillingness to abandon a publicly expressed idea/alternative, and the bandwagoning effect of majority opinion

What is the superhero technique?

used to stimulate creativity; to help individuals overcome internal inhibitions resulting from traditional ways of perceiving and thinking; if you think you're like a superhero, it makes you more creative and you fantasize

deal with job depth; gives the person more discretion over work activities and outcomes; gives the person more control and responsibility

vertical loading

What decision-making under conditions of certainty?

when a decision is made under conditions of certainty the managers know all the available alternatives and the outcomes associated with each; the manager has perfect knowledge about all alternatives and their outcomes, there is no element of change that intervenes between the alternative and its income; the outcomes of alternatives are known with 100% probability- absolute certainty. Certainty is an ideal situation for managerial decision making. Under certainty, a manager simply picks the alternative with the best outcome. Managerial decisions are seldom made under conditions of certainty. This is the exception rather than the rule.

In making decisions, do people pay more attention to descriptive, qualitative information or statistical, quantitative information?

when people make judgements they often ignore statistical/relevent data and make their judgements using qualitative, descriptive data

the degree to which employees, as they are working, receive information that reveals how well they are performing on the job; can come from coworkers, supervisors, subordinates, clients, or even the job itself.

(performance) feedback

What does the traditional economic model assume about decision makers?

- managers seek to maximize benefits (or minimize costs) - managers are completely rational

What are the five advantages of specialized jobs?

-less skilled employees can be hired because of simplicity of job assignments; you can pay them less -jobs can be learned in less time, reducing training costs -constant repetition leads to an area of limited expertise, increases productivity -more opportunities for utilizing the primary talents of employees -work is performed quicker because the employee doesn't lose time shifting from one activity to another -dependance on particular employee skills is minimized (employees are interchangeable)

Which is more efficient: group or individual decision making?

-long term: GDM better -short term: individual better

What are the disadvantages of specialized jobs?

-low employee motivation -low job satisfaction -low quality job performance -high absenteeism -high turnover (quitting jobs) -sabotage and strikes -alcohol and drug abuse

What are the advantages of group decision making?

-more info available to help solve the problem -evaluation is superior because you have wide range of viewpoints -individuals who participate in decisions are more likely to support it -individuals get a better understanding of the decision that is made and it's easier for them to communicate the decision to their subordinates -fulfills need for personal growth for some employees -helps individuals learn new skills -perceived as being more fair than decisions made by sole individuals -participation in decision making reduces stress by lowering role ambiguity

What are the disadvantages of job enrichment?

-some workers may not want enriched jobs; don't want responsibility -workers may not have necessity skills to perform enriched jobs, training costs and difficult to train certain skills required (social skills) -enriched job employees want greater extrinsic rewards- higher pay, etc -unions are less than enthusiastic about design, see it as a "speed up"- results in lay offs -supervisors of employees of enriched jobs may have "disenriched" jobs asana result of the enrichment process. Autonomy reduces the supervisors job of watching over them- management may oppose/resist -benefits of job enrichment may not offset technological costs -poor employee performance is a fact in productivity; can't redesign job, have to change out-dated production methods

When does a manager (under what conditions) use individual decision making rather than group decision making?

-when time is limited/short -when decision maker has all relevant knowledge and expertise to solve the problem -when subordinate acceptance of decision isn't an issue -when subordinates that would make up the group do not get along well -when subordinates do not share the organization's goals

What are the four rules in brainstorming?

1. criticism is prohibited, 2. "freewheeling" is welcomed-free association, the more off the wall idea, the better, 3. quantity is wanted don't worry about quality, 4. combination and improvement are sought

5 steps involved in job enrichment

1. form natural work units: individuals are grouped to form meaningful work units; given responsibilities for a body of work related to the "whole piece" of work; objective is to increase employee's feeling of ownership of their job- increases task identity and task significance 2. combining tasks: combine several tasks into a larger job, requires broader range of skills; attempts to increase skill variety and task identity 3. establishing client relationships: employees contact people who use their product/service; increase skill variety, task significant, autonomy, and feedback 4. vertical loading: gap between doing and controlling is closed; employees are given more latitude and responsibility for their jobs, primarily increases autonomy, but also increases all other characteristics 5. opening feedback channels: provided with increased feedback on their performances, open communication channels; increase performance feedback

Where do you have greater creativity? 5 individuals generating ideas alone or those same 5 individuals generating ideas as a group?

5 individuals generating ideas/working alone has the most creativity!

What is the optimal size for a decision making group?

5-7 people; odd numbered

Which step in the in the redesign process is job enlargement?

Combine tasks

How is job enrichment different from job enlargement?

Enrichment necessarily involves job enlargement. Job enlargement doesn't necessarily lead to job enrichment.

Which leads to greater acceptance of the decision and better implementation of the decision: individual or group decision making?

GDM is better if degree of acceptance by all those involved is the criteria

What is group decision making a function of?

GDM= Individual Efforts/Contributions + assembly effect-process losses

Is satisficing irrational?

Should not be viewed as traditional

How does strategy influence job design?

Strategy should drive the design of jobs; different job design strategies will be needed for different strategies

What step in the redesign process is most important?

Vertical loading

What is decision making under conditions of uncertainty?

When decisions are made under conditions of uncertainty managers don't know alternatives, their potential outcomes, or the probability of the outcomes occurrence. These decisions are the most difficult. In such situations, a manager has no knowledge on which to estimate the probability of the outcomes occurrence. In such situations, a manager has no knowledge on which to estimate the probability of various outcomes. Decisions under uncertainty generally occur in cases where there is no historical data

What employee facts should be taken into consideration when designing jobs?

ability and motivation

What is the key to making good decisions under risk?

accurately determine the probabilities associated with each alternative; no matter which alternative you select it will be a calculated gamble because there is no sure thing here as opposed to when you make decision under conditions of certainty

How does satisficing differ from maximizing?

can lead to a maximizing situation, but you have to get lucky and you wouldn't know if it occurred

Under what decision-making condition do decisions get made in the traditional economic model? (Economic Man)

conditions of certainty

under what decision-making conditions do decisions get made in the behavioral model?

conditions of incomplete information- risk and uncertainty

Which job design is least prevalent today?

craft jobs

job design in which the worker makes a whole product and the worker is very skilled; most predominant form of work until the Industrial Revolution

craft jobs

What does the behavioral model assume about decision-makers?

decisions are made under bounded rationality rather than complete; satisfying rather than maximizing

Which decision-making conditions are least common?

decisions under certainty

Which decision-making conditions is most common?

decisions under risk

What is decision-making under conditions of risk?

decisions under risk are most common; this condition involves a lack of complete certain regarding the outcomes of various alternatives, but an awareness of the probabilities associated with their occurrence. This, alternatives are known but outcomes are in doubt. For example, when you get ready to roll a die you know there are six alternatives but the outcome of the roll is in doubt. It's a gamble.

Which decision making conditions are most difficult?

decisions under uncertainty

How is NGT different from brainstorming and synectics?

does not rely on free association of ideas, it purposely restricts verbal interaction

What research is NGT based on? (Nominal Group Technique)

research that discovered more and better ideas are discovered by several persons working alone/separately than the same person working in an interacting group (group in name only)

job design that is held by a small percentage of US employees; design strategy represented a move backward towards craft ops where employees perform a larger and more complete segment of work; may be the result of increasing educational and socioeconomic levels in society

enriched jobs

What factors cause you to overestimate/underestimate the frequency of an event?

events that evoke emotion are vivid and more recent and easily imagined, whereas events that are unemotional in nature are bland, and distant, difficult to manage and vague; these irrelevant factors cause the availability heuristic to lead to errors (events are judged as more frequent than they really are)

What two creativity techniques does synectics use in helping the group to generate better ideas?

fantasy and analogy to facilitate creative idea generation and encourages new ways of looking at the problem

What are operations research techniques?

help in evaluating alternatives; generally require quantitative data; cannot replace the need for managers to think independently to make judgements, and should be viewed as an aid/supplement to less systematic forms of decision making; problems where factors can seldom be quantified or techniques may not be applicable

What is the basic purpose of a brainstorming session?

helps with the generation of alternatives

a labor saving device, a short cut, a rule of thumb (time saving and may produce more good decisions than bad decisions)

heuristic

deals with job range; this type of loading involves adding more tasks to a job

horizontal loading

Can inhibitions be totally eliminated in brainstorming sessions?

it is very difficult to totally eliminate the evaluation of ideas when they are generated

What's the problem with synectics?

it's costly and time consuming; doesn't separate evaluation from generation and impairs alternative generation

the number of tasks that a jobholder performs; varies from a few to many different tasks

job breadth/range

refers to the amount of discretion that an individual has to decide job activities and job outcomes; caries little to considerable discretion in the choice of activities and outcomes

job depth

the allocation of a wider variety of similar tasks (requiring the same skill level) to an employee in order to make the job more of a challenge

job enlargement

to increase the meaningfulness of work and the experienced responsibility of work outcomes by increasing job content; allowing employees greater freedom or self-direction and the opportunity to perform interesting and challenging work (improve quality of work life, QWL)

job enrichment

shifting workers through a set of jobs in a planned sequence

job rotation

What is the problem with the representative heuristic?

leads to irrational behavior and is morally reprehensible; can lead to prejudices and discrimination based on non-job related facts such as sex, age, race, and religion.

Specialized jobs load _______ on every job characteristic except _________

low; feedback (medium to high)

What is bounded rationality? (3 things that bound one's rationality) (Administrative Man)

managers are unable to grasp the full complexity of managerial decisions due to both their limited mental capacity and emotions, and the uncertainty of the future; managers have limited mental capacity and emotions of the manager, as well as environmental forces over which the manager has no control; bounded by: limited mental capacity, emotions, and unforseeability of future events

What is satisficing?

managers select the 1st alternative that meets a minimally acceptable standard rather than going through and evaluating all the alternatives and selecting the best one

What is meant by the term "confirmatory bias" in decision-making?

most people demonstrate the tendency to look for confirming evidence rather than disconfirming evidence after they have made a decision; stereotypes of groups persist because of this bias

Is decision-making a function of management?

no- part of all functions (most closely associated with planning) a key activity at all levels of management; managers also must make decisions related to all functions of management not only to the planning function; decision making techniques are applicable and valuable to all management functions

specific to management problems that are novel and unique; Complex and unstructured, so there is no established procedure for handling them, either because it has not arisen exactly in the same manner before or because its complex or extremely important

non-programmed decisions

What types of decisions are made irrationally?

nonprogrammed decisions (one's first real job, car, partner)

What function of management is concerned with job design and organizational design?

organizing function

OR technique used for evaluating alternatives under conditions of risk or uncertainty; uses both subjective and objective probabilities. two approaches: payoff matrix and decision tree

probability analysis

Do managers make more programmed or non-programmed decisions?

programmed decisions

specific procedures that have been developed for repetitive and routine problems; decisions are programmed to the extent that they are repetitive and routine, and a specific procedure has been developed for handling them

programmed decisions

How do programmed/non-programmed decisions and the different decision-making conditions relate?

programmed= certainty and risk; non-programmed= risk & uncertainty; every programmed decision was at one point or another a non-programmed one