CMN 2148 - Midterm
Human Resources School
Placed emphasis on human relations and productivity. Importance of self direction and self control
What are the three key management activities?
Planning Design Maintenance
What are the administrative management theory's five managerial tasks?
Planning Organizing Commanding Coordinating Controlling
What is "The Gods Must be Crazy" an example of?
Sensemaking
Wholeness
the results of people working together are different than if those people had worked alone
Nonsummativity
the whole is greater than the sum of its parts
Distributed intelligence
Enhancement of thinking through the use of physical objects and technology, concepts and symbols of one's culture, and/or social collaboration and support
humility
a modest or low view of one's own importance; humbleness.
Divisionalized firm
similar to machine bureaucracy, strict categories
Machine bureaucracy
stable environment, efficient, centralized
What are some modern practices that reflect scientific management theory?
- Ergonomics - Kitchen work triangle - Training and development - Mgmt consulting - Time mgmt - Aptitude tests
Second-order or quantum change
- First order change is in the content of the topic. - This is the dynamics or context of the group interaction itself.
Tall structure
- Overall narrow span of management - A large number of hierarchical levels - Tight control
Characteristics of Complex Systems
- Second-order/quantum change - double-loop - sensitivity to initial conditions - strange attractors - phase space - bifurcation points - irreversibility
What influenced dissatisfaction with scientific management?
- The Great Depression - WWII - New views of human behaviour
Input variables
- The variables of small group communication can be categorized acc'd to input, process, and output. - These are funds, purposes, relationships to other groups, tool...
What is the Holographic System?
- The whole is stored in all of the parts. - Both all over the place functioning and highly specialized at once. - All parts of the brain contribute to all functions.
Flat structure
- Wide span of control - Fewer hierarchical levels - Loose control - Facilitates delegation and collaboration
What is important to note about Maslow's hierarchy?
- about motivation - how we want to be perceived - must be satisfied on one level to move onto the next
Dimensions of bureaucratic organization
- bureaucratic structures and organizing processes - bureaucratic accountability - hierarchical structures
Weakness of Human Relations School
- criticized as being manipulative and cosmetic - emphasize the worker's happiness too much (at the expense of productivity)
What does the brain metaphor actually mean?
- self-aware and adaptive - everything is enfolded in everything else - no central point of control
Characteristics of Open Systems
- wholeness - synergy - openness - transformation - interdependence - feedback - entropy - equifinality
What are the 5 principles of holographic organizations?
1. Build the whole into the parts 2. Redundancy 3. Requisite variety 4. Minimum critical specification 5. Learning to learn
Contingency Theory
1. Diff orgs are needed to deal with diff market/tech conditions 2. Orgs operating in uncertain/turbulent env need to achieve a higher degree of internal differentiation 3. How an org is structured should depend on the env surrounding the system/subsystems
What are the 5 factors that result in unique corporate behaviours that lead to longevity?
1. Little bets 2. Making change while building on core competencies 3. Strong relationships with business partners 4. Investments in developing employees 5. Strong relationships with the local community
What are the two main schools of thought on organizational culture?
1. Org culture as a variable. 2. Org culture are the essence of the organization (sensemaking)
What are the 5 principles of Taylor's Scientific Management?
1. Responsibility for organization of work rests with managers 2. Use of scientific methods to precisely define work activities 3. Selection of the right person for the task 4. Rigorous training on basic work activities 5. Careful monitoring of performance
How does Morgan say about creating learning organizations?
1. Scan and anticipate change in the wider environment to detect significant variations. 2. Develop the ability to questions, challenge, and change operating norms and assumptions. 3. Allow an appropriate strategic direction and patterns of organization to emerge. 4. Evolve designs that allow them to become skilled in the art of double-loop and avoid getting trapped in single-loop.
What are the three components of a well-built machine?
1. clearly defined functions 2. clearly defined components 3. pre-determined goals
What are the four key principles of cybernetics?
1. scan and monitor significant aspects of their env 2. be able to relate this info to the operating norms that guide their behaviour 3. be able to detect deviations from these norms 4. be able to initiate corrective action when discrepancies are detected
Hawthorne Studies
4 sets of studies at Western Electric (by Elton Mayo and Fritz Roethlisberger)
___ of people don't leave jobs because of the work; they leaver because of their bosses.
75%
Substantial rationality
Able to determine whether what it is doing is appropriate and adjust its actions accordingly.
Entropy
A measure of change toward decline
What is bureaucracy considered as?
A model of the effective hierarchical organization.
Open system
A system that regularly exchanges feedback with its external environment (interrelated subsystems)
Who ran the Environmental conditions study?
Alan Hedge
Interdependence
All the parts influence each other
Who said "Great teams consist of individuals who have learned to trust each other. Over time, they have discovered each other's strengths and weaknesses, enabling them to play as a coordinated whole."?
Amy Edmondson
substantial rationality
An act of thought which reveals intelligent insight into the inter-relations of event in a given situation.
What is the administrative management theory considered as?
An attempt to promote logic, order and structure in organizations.
Equifinality
An end state can be reached by many possible means
Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs
Argues that people want to achieve certain things in their work and that they move up the ladder as they satisfy these drivers.
Instrumental rationality
Behaviour oriented towards gaining or achieving some specific reward
If the organization is emergent through communication, then it is not a ___ but a ___.
Being Becoming
Who said "To see the world in a grain of sand and heaven in a wildflower."?
Blake
Fayol's work formed basis for schools of ___.
Business Administration
Who created the Triple Alliance? What is it?
Charles Redding Academics + Managers + Military
Who is the leader of organizational learning?
Chris Argyris
Theory X
Classical Approaches Assumes that workers are basically lazy, error-prone, and extrinsically motivated by money and, thus, should be directed from above.
Who created The Interpretation of Cultures in 1973?
Clifford Geertz
Organizations are created through ___ of people.
Communication
Negative feedback is also called ___.
Corrective feedback
Synergy
Created through the mixing and incorporation of each other's thoughts and messages, the results are not directly attributable to any one person
Many argue that ___ is the amalgam of all communication behaviour in an organization.
Culture
The ___ determines the climate of an organization.
Culture
Phase space
Describes a system's movements through time, particularly as they are affected by its sensitivity to initial conditions and strange attractors.
Systems Theory
Describes the development, structure and maintenance of human organizations.
Who created the theory X and Y?
Douglas McGregor
There is no organization other than that which ___.
Emerges in communication
Organizations exist by virtue or people ___ them through their communication.
Enacting
Who studied police patrol work?
Erickson
Metaphors capture the ___, but in a partial way.
Essence
Communication also has an ___ dimension.
Ethical
Work is influenced by the nature of human beings just as much as by ___.
Formal design
Who is related to the scientific management?
Frederick Taylor
Who said "You are not supposed to think. There are other people paid for thinking around here."?
Frederick Taylor
Who says that there is "one best way", not a second of lost time, not a moment unproductive (etc.)?
Frederick Taylor
Whose impact was akin to Steve Jobs introducing the iPhone?
Frederick Taylor
Who has taken a few of the most common, "taken for granted" metaphors or ways of looking at organizations?
Gareth Morgan
Who studied the cultural norms of a suicide prevention centre?
Garfinkel
What do communication techniques not do?
Get people to reflect on their work and behaviour
Content meaning
Gives info about the topic being discussed
Feedback
Giving and receiving feedback; pay attention to it; monitor what is done with it
Who studied the cultural activities of patients in a psychiatric hospital?
Goffman
Theory Y
HR Approaches Assumes that, given challenge and freedom, workers are motivated to achieve self-esteem and to demonstrate their competence and creativity.
Who is related to the administrative management?
Henri Fayol
Negative feedback reverses the direction of change to maintain ___.
Homeostasis
Human Relations Theory
Humans attribute meaning to their experiences and behave according to these meanings. Focused on fulfilling peoples' needs. Established by Hawthorne Studies
Scientific observation, analysis and intervention should be used to ___ the way tasks are carried out.
Improve
Transformation
Info and energy are taken in and expressed in new forms
Most organizations are based on a system of ___.
Instrumental rationality
An organization does not contain communication...
It is communication
Who studies interaction and conversation to understand the processes by which organizations and organizational roles emerge and are maintained?
James R. Taylor
Who said "People weren't treating each other very well. I wanted to help find a way to make relationships better."
Kenneth Burke
Strange attractors
Key influences that underlie the pattern that the group has taken on. The "stone in the stream" We can see the outcomes of attractors w/o knowing what the actual attractor is.
Bifurcation points
Key moments of decision, threshold, junction. It's when the group is ready to make a decision, hear/absorb a good idea
Who developed the Contingency Theory?
Lawrence and Lorsche
Requisite variety
Only sufficient variety of management can regulate a high variety environment
Who suggested that there are two main schools of thought on organizational culture?
Linda Smircich
What elements are essential for communication?
Listening Clear channels Various channels Empathy Non-verbal Trust
Organizations are ___ that need to be nurtured and maintained in order to thrive.
Living systems
Who is related to the bureaucracy theory?
Max Weber
Who said "Efficiency is doing things right; effectiveness is doing the right thing."?
McChrystal
According to ___, an effective organization is like a well-built machine.
Mechanistic theories
People have ___ or ___ with regard to how to act in situations.
Mental maps Mental models
___ are devices for understanding one element in terms of another.
Metaphors
What are some cultural elements?
Metaphors Rituals Stories Heroes Cultural artifacts Performances Values
People need to be cognizant of their ___ or the ways they plan, implement, and review their actions.
Mind maps
When a system has to change its behaviour in order to maintain a constant state. This is called ___.
Negative feedback
Does positive feedback mean it's good?
No
Who said "This new development has unbounded possibilities for good and for evil."?
Norbert Wiener
Ethnographers
Observe, record, and analyze culture.
___ looks at these processes in the context of organizations to try to understand, describe or explain them.
Organizational communication
What did the alliance lead to?
Organizational communication as a field of study (HRelations school, HR school, systems theory)
Organizational Ecology
Orgs do not exist in isolation and are not self-sufficient. Parts of a complex ecosystem. Pattern of co-creation. Survival of the "fitting" and collaborative relations between organizations.
Standpoint theory
Our background and experiences determine our ability to communicate.
Output
Outcomes of the group processes (procedures)
Culture
Patterns of shared values and beliefs that over time produce behavioural norms adopted in solving problems.
What are some barriers to effective intercultural communication?
Perceptual disparity Ethnocentrism Language Non-verbal disparities
Leaders must exhibit ___.
Personal transparency
When a change occurs in some variable, the response is to change that variable even more in the same direction. This is called ___.
Positive feedback
"The rules and limitations that once prevented accidents now ___."
Prevented creativity
Ethnography is a ___ used to gain in-depth understandings or multiple meanings.
Qualitative approach
Birth of Needs Theories
Recognition of people in organizations
Openness
Refers to the energy import activities of the system, which it needs maintain a steady state
Relational meaning
Refers to the nature of the relationship of those communicating.
Communication has a ___ as well as ___ dimension.
Relational Content
What motivates people in an organization?
Remuneration Stability Creativity Affirmation Empathy Power
Metaphors both ___ and ___.
Reveal and Conceal
When the organization is viewed as a machine, there is an emphasis on organizational ___, ___, and ___.
Rules Control Structure
___ are interpreted to gain their meaning to the members of the culture.
Signs
Sending and receiving occurs ___, with both verbal and non-verbal elements.
Simultaneously
What kind of learning matches what kind of rationality?
Single-loop = Instrumental Double-loop = Substantial
What kind of learning do bureaucratic organizations encourage?
Single-loop learning
What kind of environment does a bureaucratic organization live in? Adaptive? Creative/Project Oriented?
Stable environment Competitive environment High-tech environment
Who discovered the team of teams metaphor?
Stanley McChrystal
Homeostasis
State of balance
Rationality
That decisions, mission statements, and goals, are planned, carefully considered, and weighed.
The brain is a system of ___.
Substantial rationality
Systems theory
Systems are responsive and interactive within themselves and within their environments; they are a combination of smaller systems.
Culture is essentially ___ of an organization, and hints at what one can count on during times of crisis.
The feel
What started the development of all these theories?
The Military - Frederick the Great (King of Prussia)
Negative Feedback
The ability of a system to self-regulate depends on these info exchange processes.
System evolution
The ability to move towards more complex forms of differentiation and integration. More variety to facilitate the ability to deal with challenges and opportunities posed by the environment.
Shared Consciousness
The collective common beliefs, perspectives and identity held by members of community with respect to some purpose or cause, or object or brand
Population Ecology View
The env selects certain types of orgs to survive and others to perish based on the fit between their structural characteristics and the characteristics of the environment.
Sensemaking
The ongoing retrospective development of plausible images that rationalize what people are doing
Human communication
The process of making sense out of the world and sharing that sense with others.
Cybernetics
The study of communication and control. Info exchange is crucial to the ability of a system to self-regulate to maintain a steady state.
Theory-in-use
The theory that actually governs our behaviour.
What is the scientific management theory considered as?
The way specific tasks should be done to enhance organizational effectiveness.
Non-summativity
The whole is greater than the sum of its parts
Espoused Theories
The words we use to describe what we do or what we'd like others to think we do.
Individuals and groups, like biological organisms, operate most effectively only when ___.
Their needs are satisfied
Who created the self-sustainable sculptures?
Theo Janson (Dutch artist)
People must be conscious of their ___ and question their ___.
Theories-in-use Espoused theories
What are seeds of culture?
They are what helps to create culture.
The scientific management theory conducted the ___ to determine optimal rate for a job's accomplishment.
Time and motion studies
Adhocracy
Turbulent environments, temporary, "virtual" or "network"
Change is highly ___.
Unpredictable
Who created the 5 factors that result in unique corporate behaviours that lead to longevity?
Vicki TenHaken
How should we identify organizational cultures according to Morgan?
We should look at the day-to-day functioning as if we were an outsider.
Double-loop learning
When error is detected and corrected in ways that involve the modification of an organization's underlying norms, policies and objectives.
Single-loop learning
When the error detected and corrected permits the organization to carry on its present policies/achieve its present objectives.
Who studied the inner city street gangs?
Whyte
Who studied humour of working class youths in Britain?
Willis
Professional bureaucracy
greater autonomy to staff, deals with complex problems, flat structure, work at standardization
Simple structure
informal and flexible, entrepreneurial, central authority for quick decisions
The organization consists of interrelated subsystems of a strategic, human, technological, structural and managerial nature, which needs to be ___
internally consistent and adapted to environmental conditions.
Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs - Diagram (bottom to top)
physiological safety love/belonging esteem self-actualization