Management Exam
What is a structural hole?
A lack of connectedness in one's network neighborhood More structural holes there are, the more opportunities they are for you to become a broker Steve Jobs --> Network with Buddhist monks and people at Apple had structural hole. Steve Jobs became a broker --> lead to creation of different fonts
The developers of the graphing calculator in the Graphing Calculator Story by Ron Avitzur used to work for
Apple
What is managerial and teamwork skills?
BE a better manager, subordinate, and team player
(Illustration) High/low say-high/low do
Be consistent in what you say and do --> high say, high do
What are examples of extrinsic rewards?
Economic: Salaries and wages Nonrecurring financial rewards Fringe benefits Noneconomic: Verbal feedback Recognition Time off Cash substitutes
What is managerial approach?
Effectiveness from THINKING about and CONFRONTING organizational problems as a manager
What is the difference between creativity and innovation?
Creativity is generation of new and valuable ideas Innovation is successful implementation of such ideas
Culture is a tool but...
Culture is a tool but should align with your goals
What is intrinsic motivation?
Desire to perform a behavior for its own sake; the behavior is its own reward. The motivation to work on something because it is interesting, involving, exciting, satisfying or personally challenging
What is extrinsic motivation?
Desire to perform a behavior in order to acquire material or social rewards or to avoid punishment (pay, praise, and status)
"To understand what determines success in business, examine how cases of success and failure are ..."
Different
Define discrimination
Disadvantaging people because they belong to protected classes (groups)
How is discrimination a trap?
Discrimination is a cognitive trap because discriminatory preferences in organizations use irrelevant cognitive cues to evaluate people's merit Discrimination is an inefficiency trap because it damages morale, performance, or both Discrimination is a legal trap because it is illegal
How are extrinsic and intrinsic rewards different, according to last week's lecture?
Extrinsic rewards come from someone else; intrinsic rewards come from enjoying the work.
(Organizational innovation) What is the difference between intrinsic and extrinsic rewards?
Extrinsic rewards do not motivate individuals to be creative. Intrinsic rewards (doing what you love and loving what you do) stimulate creativity and innovation.
True or false: You should over strategize in network building
False Don't over-strategize in network building
What are the "mistake glasses"?
Glasses that one puts on if they made a mistake.
Describe the 12 hours rule
Goal: Spend 12 VALUABLE hours a week to succeed Relates to the 10,000 hour rule Valuable hours are spent focusing on the work
How to make sure fights are good fights
Good fights are fights about issues Bad fights are fights of personalities
Integration, differentiation, and assimilation are strategies (or paradigms) of managing diversity in organizations. How is integration -- the new strategy that Thomas and Ely advocate in the article that you read -- different from both differentiation and assimilation?
It allows the cultural differences to change the organization.
The research that you read about in the article (the effort effect) accompanied by the above picture found that praising people for smartness is bad for motivation. Why?
It demotivates learning and self-improvement
Why be creative?
It is uncertain if creativity in business pays off in money; creative projects overwhelmingly fail Creativity does pay off in prestige and job satisfaction in some business settings, particularly in technology
What is the importance of this picture?
It shows that people with one type of mindset are more productive in short term projects and people with a different type of mindset are more productive in long term projects
What is managerial knowledge?
LEARN how to better manage your own career, teams, and organizations
(Networks and communities) What are the implications for management of innovative organizations?
Seek diverse, weak network connections when you need creative ideas Seek close contact with similar people when you need support for implementing an existing creative idea
What are protected classes in Washington?
Sex Sexual orientation, including gender identity Race Creed (religion) Color National origin Marital status Age (40+) Filing a complaint or advocating rights Presence of any sensory, mental, or physical disability Use of a trained dog guide or service animal HIV/AIDS or hepatitis C status
Define culture
Shared understanding of what actions and symbols mean
True or false: A mix of weak and strong ties is optimal
True. Strong and weak ties is a mix of surface level information (weak ties) and nuclear level information (strong ties) Business people need strong and weak ties (integrated network) Underembedded network: Mainly weak ties Overembedded network: Mainly strong ties
True or false: Individuals whose networks combine professional and social ties are more effective as managers and leaders
True
True or false: People can be both intrinsically and extrinsically motivated?
True
Define indegree
# of ties received
Define outdegree
# of ties sent
Brandon is planning to start up a technology company. He wants to locate it in a business culture that is most likely to help him succeed. He is asking you for advice. Based on our readings (Saxenian) and lecture, what would be your best advice to Brandon? (A) "Start your company in Silicon Valley" (B) "Start your company in any business culture where people don't reveal company secrets." (C) "Start your company in Route 128" (D) "Start your company in Silicon Valley or Route 128"
(A) Start your company in Silicon Valley
How to motivate creativity?
(Amabile 1997) Intrinsic rewards ("doing what you love and loving what you do") stimulate creativity Extrinsic rewards do not stimulate creativity if they are used to try to control behavior
Which of the following was NOT among the three most consequential (important) types of culture for business mentioned in the last lecture? (A) Organizational culture (B) Consumer culture (C) Regional culture (D) National culture
(B) Consumer culture
How can you learn to love networking, according to one of our readings? (A) By becoming an extrovert (B) By finding a friend among the people you network with (C) By finding common interests with the people you network with (D) No answer is correct (E) By going to many parties
(C) By finding common interests with the people you network with
As a restaurant manager, Maria practices "high say, high do" communication. Which of the following exemplifies "high say" communication? (A) Maria has a say in the restaurant's major personnel decisions (B) Maria speaks much in negotiation meetings with suppliers (C) Maria explains the reasoning behind her decisions to those whom these decisions affect (D) Maria communicates with Seattle Times food journalists
(C) Maria explains the reasoning behind her decisions to those whom these decisions affect
Which way of communication is preferable for a manager who has good nonverbal communication skills? (A) Writing (B) Telephone (C) Radio (D) Face to face
(D) Face to face
Who is a broker, according to one of our readings? (A) A person who has more network ties than anyone else in the network (B) A member of the network who has most power (C) An unsuccessful network member (D) A salesperson (E) A person who connects clusters of people in a company
(E) A person who connects clusters of people in a company
What makes a potent individual network?
1. A mix of weak and strong ties 2. Rich in brokerage opportunities 3. A combination of professional and social relations (e.g. trust) 4. Built with brokers' introductions 5.Built in joint activities
What are the 5 dysfunctions?
1. Absence of trust. 2. Fear of conflict. 3. Lack of commitment. 4. Avoidance of team accountability. 5. Inattention to team objectives.
What are the three paradigms of diversity?
1. Assimilation: "We're all the same"; hire diverse employees; encourage uniform behavior; treat everyone equally. Treating people equally because we aren't taking their sex/gender/race into account 2. Differentiation: "We celebrate differences"; match diverse employees to niche markets. Notice people are different and assigning them to niche tasks/projects (women assigned to work with female clients) 3. Integration: Enable employees' differences to mater. Using diverse perspective positively impact the companies work; learning from the people to implement how the company work/rules/how business is done. Face of the company becomes face of the people/employees. Integration is the most successful tool of managing diversity out of the 3 paradigms Successful diversity programs involve openness for the change that people who enter the organization under these programs introduce
What business cases don't do (usually) is...
1. Have "the answer" 2. Tell managers exactly what to do 3. Help you learn by just reading and memorizing
What are the types of culture most consequential for business?
1. Organizational Reese (1996) - Early days of Starbucks 2. Regional Saxenian (1996) - Route 128 and Silicon Valley 3. National
What business cases do for us is...
1. Show problems that managers and organizations face 2. Show managers what NOT to do 3. Let us practice discussion and argumentation, crucial managerial skills 4. Give real-world examples for abstract knowledge that we get in class
What are the origins of innovation?
1. Technical Innovation: Happens due to technical ideas 2. Personality Innovation: Happens due to personal traits of individuals, particularly organizational leaders 3. Organizational Innovation: Happens because of how formal and informal organizations are designed and managed
How is this image an example of miscommunication?
13 stars and 666 --> Link to satanism Company changed logo to current logo for P&G
Why do we like or dislike communication partners? --> When the partner communicates feelings or attitudes...
7% of liking -- from verbal content 38% of liking -- from the tone of voice 55% of liking -- from body language Albert Mehrabian - Silent messages It is not what you say but how you say it
We watched Dan Pink's lecture about motivation. In that lecture, Dan Pink said that...
Science shows that higher rewards may lead to poorer performance
What is selection bias?
A reasoning error (cognitive trap) that results from preferential selection of observations based on the outcome of interest
Multiplex network ties make managers more effective. What is a multiplex network tie in a workplace?
A tie that combines multiple relations, such as professional advice and friendship.
What is a network bridge?
A tie that connects otherwise disconnected groups
According to Elon Musk, ______ "seriously suck"
Acronyms Elon Musk reviewed every single acronym and accept/reject those used in emails at Space X Elon's message: The company wants to be clear --> everyone understand rather only a few Elon is not primarily concerned with acronyms but the fact of clearly communicating --> Care about being clear and care about people's understanding
What is a not directed tie?
Always symmetric Goes both ways; family
The pizza store in one of this week's readings came up with a new approach to motivating employees. What is the main element of this new approach?
Better store managers
(Network and communities) What does bridging do? What does bonding do?
Bridging: Information Opportunity Autonomy Facilitates creativity rather than innovation --> Helps in the early stage of innovation. When you are working on brainstorming, you need people to give honest feedback. Bringing new ideas together Bonding: Social support Trust Cooperation Facilitates innovation rather than creativity --> Need a collaborative team
(Network and communities) What are the 2 forms of network capital?
Bridging: Sparse egocentric network:you connect disconnected people Bonding: Dense egocentric network:your every contact is connected to almost every other contact
Define power
Capacity to change the behavior or attitude of others in a desired manner
Describe the relationship between organization culture and Starbucks
Coffee culture before Starbucks: Coffee was the same thing; blank, black coffee Didn't think of variety of roast or brand Starbuck's role in building the coffee culture: Train employees to make each drink the same way (taste is the same --> builds culture) Created another place to do work and spend time --> at coffee shops How does Starbucks make it a welcoming place? Free wifi Personalize experience "Barista" "Grande" "Venti" --> Did not exist before Starbucks How they managed employees --> Offer benefits and offer ways to pay tuition Starbucks wanted to accomplish a cultural shift in coffee culture --> Wanted to suggest coffee is sophisticated and expensive (high price, use of Italian words)
What are examples of intrinsic rewards?
Completion Achievement Autonomy Personal growth The reward is inherent in the work
Describe the illustration - bridges and brokers
Heidi (women in the middle) is a broker --> Someone who connects network regions that are disconnected A has 5 ties, the one most central person Heidi is the most influential in this situation. The broker had the least amount of ties (only has ties to A and B). But you don't need many ties as a broker The connection between E and I --> In this situation, you connect to the investor itself directly; Heidi is the least influential
According to one of our readings, what problem did the new CEO of the pizza company face?
High turnover
Define centrality
How important you are in a network Same as "degree" --> in degree centrality or out degree centrality In the illustration, A has an outdegree centrality of 3 (important person in sending out information) B has an indegree centrality of 3 (receiving information) The more ties you have, the more important you are in a network
Coordination neglect is when team members neglect to agree...
How team members' contributions should be put together
Important notes about motivation
Human motivation is complex --> Intrinsic rewards and good management are powerful motivators Managers who ignore these complex motivators and use simple motivators only (such as money) have under motivated and underperforming employees Unless you make non-extrinsic incentives matter in your organization, innovation and other kinds of knowledge-intensive performance will be unlikely in it Money works best as a motivator of simple, noncreative tasks Be aware of the effort effect and use it to make better personnel decisions
What do networks do?
If beneficially structured, networks: 1. Connect people to opportunities, including jobs and business creation 2. Help managers make decisions and complete tasks 3. Convey valuable information 4. Help generate creative ideas and develop them into innovations 5. Help companies and industries succeed in competition
Describe the importance of this image?
If we only looked at successful managers, we won't see that squares are also majority of failing managers
We watched Dan Ariely's TED talk about motivation. Dan Ariely presented his research which showed that...
In the knowledge economy, people want meaningful work. Lack of acknowledgement strongly demotivates people. When we work harder on a task, we like its result more. ✓ ALL answer options are correct.
Why does motivation matter?
Individual performance = f(motivation x ability) Potential impact: Organizational performance can improve dramatically Job satisfaction can improve dramatically Challenges: Different rewards motivate different behaviors Outstanding or creative performance cannot be motivated by simply controllable rewards such as money
Why innovate?
Innovation pays off in money Innovation pays off in prestige and job satisfaction
What are the sources of position power?
Legitimate power (Positional power): Results from other's recognition; people's recognition makes you powerful Reward power (Positional power): Results from capacity to reward Coercive power (Positional power): Results from capacity to control punishments Information power (Positional power): Results from control of knowledge (knowledge that is not available to everyone) Rational persuasion (Personal power): Results from ability to reason Expert power (Personal power): Results from expert knowledge (knowledge is open and it stays with you) Referent power (Personal power): Results from positive relations Charismatic power (Personal power): Results from exceptional personal leadership abilities
When people follow the self-similarity principle in developing their networks, the networks become...
Less diverse and less efficient
When people follow the proximity principle in developing their networks, the networks become...
Less efficient
Is this how creativity works?
Light bulb concept suggests one person can have an idea --> it takes a team to create an idea rather than an individual (Network and communities) Trouble #1 with the "light bulb" concept of innovation: Innovation and creativity require constant interpersonal communication. Isolated innovators or companies are unlikely to succeed. (Incremental improvement) Trouble #2 with the "light bulb" concept of innovation: Innovation is an incremental process. It rarely happens suddenly. Genius is one percent inspiration, ninety-nine percent perspiration
Important notes about innovation
Major organizational origins of innovation are: 1. Intrinsic rewards 2. Involvement in peer networks 3. Commitment to incremental improvement 4. Innovation-oriented organizational culture consistently fostered by management (as in Pixar, IDEO) Efforts to innovate pay off in prestige and job satisfaction but not necessarily in money
(Organizational culture) Finish the sentence: Innovation is not just a product of technology, it is also a product of...
Management Organizations that innovate successfully and routinely have a culture that fosters creativity. It is a management's job to create this culture. Without this culture, innovation is unlikely, whatever the level of technical
Important notes of managing culture
Management of culture helps organizations improve performance by aligning the culture with its goals. Organizations that ignore the management of culture miss out on a major way of improving performance Locating the company or team in the appropriate culture is one way of aligning its culture with goals
As we discussed in lecture, the managerial approach is a particular way of thinking about and confronting organizational problems. In the company where Mary works in marketing, sales have declined by 30%. In which of the following examples does Mary demonstrate the managerial approach?
Mary avoids her manager. Mary spends a sleepless night thinking about how she and her team can adapt to the decline in sales.✓ No answer is correct Mary wants to show her manager that she cares about the decline; she expresses her concern to the manager.
What is a directed tie?
May be asymmetric If person A says person B is their friend but person B does not say person A is their friend, then it is asymmetric
Define node
Network member (e.g. person or firm)
Important notes about communication
Never stop working on your communication skills Effective managers use nonverbal communication to career and organizational benefit Good decisions are not enough. Communicate their rationale to people who are affected Jargon hinders communication unless you have an expert-only audience. Use jargon sparingly
Define isolate
Node with no ties
(Illustration) Novelty, creativity, innovation
Novel: Never existed before Valuable: Recognized as useful Implemented: Because a marketable product Creativity: Novelty and value combined Innovation: An implemented creative idea
What are social networks?
Patterns of relations (among people or groups or organizations) Family, friends, coworkers, classmates
Where does power come from?
Positional power Personal power
What does the size represent in the illustration?
Proportion to respect/friendship in degree (more people saying they respect/are friends with them)
What is a tie?
Relationship (friendship)
According to the reading, autarkic ("make everything yourself") organization is a feature of which region's business culture? (A) Both Route 128 and Silicon Valley (B) Neither Route 128 nor Silicon Valley (C) Route 128 (D) Silicon Valley
Route 128
Comparison of Route 128 and Silicon Valley cultures
Route 128: Culture of secrecy Silicon Valley: Let people and ideas out freely, trade with competition --> this is why they were successful
Weak ties are more effective than strong ties in conveying what kind of information?
Simple and open
In lecture, we discussed the difference between total and valuable work hours. Total hours are the total time spent on a task. Valuable hours are the time that helps you get better at what you are doing because it is spent focusing on the work.Which of the following is true about our class, on average, according to the last lecture?
Students who do 12 TOTAL hours of work per week get better grades than students who do less than 12 TOTAL hours Students who do 12 VALUABLE hours of work per week get better grades than students who do 12 TOTAL hours Students who do 12 VALUABLE hours of work per week get better grades than students who do less than 12 VALUABLE hours ✓ All are true
According to Denrell's article, managers can make big mistakes if they only learn from ____________________ companies.
Successful
What is managerial approach?
Taking control vs reacting Taking control: Diagnose what is wrong, recommend solutions, implement solutions Reacting: Adapting, venting, avoiding, frustration, withdrawing
According to the 10,000-Hour Rule reading, what would a person need to achieve extraordinary professional success?
Talent and much more practice than others
Define communication
Transmission of information between people, groups, or organizations
What are the types of discrimination in organizations?
Taste discrimination: Disadvantaging people because of disliking the group they belong to. Simplest type of discrimination; bad in every way; all ways discrimination is a trap applies to taste discrimination Statistical discrimination: Disadvantaging individuals because of low average performance in groups they belong to; going with a group that is on average better performing in hoes of good performance. Trickier than taste discrimination. --> Choosing a female nanny over a male nanny because women are historically nurturing with children (an assumption that males can't be good caretakers) Error discrimination: Same as statistical discrimination, except that the belief about the average group performance is wrong. Preferring one group over another, even if it is not better than the other Disparate impact: Using a trait correlated with group membership to discriminate (e.g. Latinos get disadvantaged if height is used as a criterion in hiring to police) --> Latinos get disadvantaged if height is used as a criterion in hiring of police (Latinos are on average shorter than non-Latinos) Internalized prejudice, or self-discrimination: Belief that certain positions are not appropriate for members of your own group --> Belief that women can't be managers (Hinder yourself on opportunities because of that belief)
What is motivation?
The process of arousing and sustaining goal directed behavior Motivation is an internal mental state that energizes human behavior in an intended direction
Which rewards can motivate people's productivity in an organization, according to last week's lecture?
The process of work itself.
What is the relationship between Bill Gates, Cosimo de Medici, and Paul Revere?
They all have a network position (why they are well known) Bill Gates --> Mary Gates (his mother) --> John Opel Cosimo de Medici: Had network position of a broker (connected other people/other networks), knew prominent families, broker for isolated networkers Paul Revere: Had a network, had people that could tell other people, network bridged and branched out They were all in advantageous position in their networks All you need to succeed is to be aware of the opportunities that networking can bring
You read an article (the effort effect) accompanied by this picture. The article argued that people are more likely to succeed when
They believe that more effort will bring success.
What is the purpose of joint activities?
Ties built in joint activities are usually more conducive to success because joint activities: 1. Develop trust 2. Develop mutual knowledge 3. Create shared experience of achievement 4. Connect people with similar personalities and interests, hence ensuring greater interpersonal comfort
What is the purpose of brokers?
Ties built with network brokers' introductions are usually more conducive to success because: 1. Brokers have good knowledge of complementary needs 2. Brokers have access to distant and diverse network regions
In his article On the Folly of Rewarding A, while Hoping for B, Steven Kerr argues that, in military organizations, the conflict between the individual soldier's goals and the organization's goals
Was equally strong in World War II and in the Vietnam War; x exists when soldiers serve for a limited time; may be solved by raising soldiers' pay exists when soldiers serve until the war is won
Describe the strength of weak ties
Weak ties spread information better than strong ties because weak ties bridge isolated groups of people Solid line: Strong tie Dotted line: Weak tie
Why are weak network ties "strong" -- that is, helpful in getting jobs? (It may not be true in our class, but will be increasingly true as your careers develop!)
Weak ties transmit new information between otherwise isolated groups of people
Did the developers of the graphing calculator in the Graphing Calculator Story by Ron Avitzur complete their calculator by the end of the story?
Yes
According to our reading, is it a good idea to build your networks in shared activities?
Yes, this will help build a better network