Organizational Behaviour - Chap10: The Nature of work Groups and Teams

Chapter 10: The Nature of work Groups and Teams
Q1. At what stage in the five-stage model of group development might groups exert the most control over their member’s behaviours?
- One well-known model of group development is Bruce W.Tuckman’s five stage model
- The 5 stages are;
1. Forming- members try to get to know each other and establish a common
understanding.
2. Storming – group is in conflict, members resist being controlled by the group and disagreements arise concerning the leadership in the group
3. Norming – members develop close ties, feelings of friendship and camaraderie abound, and group members share a common propose
4. Performing-members work toward achieving their goal
5. Adjourning – the group disbands once the goal is achieved
- By end of the norming stage, group members agrees on standards to guide behaviour in the group

Q2. Do most members of an organization want to work in teams? Why or why not?

Q3. In what situations might the advantages of large group size outweigh the disadvantages?
- There are 5 characteristics of work groups; group size, composition, function, status & efficacy
- Group size is an important determinant of the way the group members behave
- In large groups, members are less likely to know each other, and may have little personal contact. This makes the sharing of information difficult
- The advantage of large groups are; great number of resources at their disposal to accomplish their goals
- A second advantage of larger groups are the benefits that come from the division of labour-dividing up work assignments to individual group members
- When the need for large resources and the for a big assignments, larger groups are preferred. An organization or company is an example of large group

Q4. In what kinds of situations might it be especially important to have heterogeneous groups?
- Group composition is one of the groups characteristics
- Group composition refers to the characteristics of members of a group
- A homogeneous group have many characteristics in common
- A heterogeneous group do not have many characteristics in common
- Heterogeneous group able to make a good decision due to the background differences which carries the own different views
- The variety of resources available also enable them to perform at higher levels
- Their differences will encourage challenges of ideas and ways of doing things which will result in better outcome
- Heterogeneous teams are well suited to work on new projects which need new and creative inputs

Q5. Why are roles an important means of controlling group members’ behaviours in self managed work teams?
- Roles, rules and group norms are 3 ways of how groups control their members
- Role is a set of behaviours or tasks a person is expected to perform by virtue of holding a position in a group or organization
- A self-managed work team is a team with no manager or a team assigned member to lead the team
- Members of self-managed work team are responsible for ensuring the team accomplishes its goals and for performing leadership tasks
- Well defined role will ensure all members know how to contribute to ensure the group goals are achieved

Q6. Why do groups need rules?
- Rules specify behaviours that are required and those that are forbidden
-

Q7. How are rules that specify how to perform a particular tasks are developed?
- Rules can be developed in written form such as standard operating procedures
- This will help to ensure the group members perform the tasks correctly & efficiently

Q8. Why might a group keep following a dysfunctional norm or a norm that prevents the group from achieving its goals?
- Group norms are informal rules of conduct
- Dysfunctional norms happens when group goals are inconsistent with organizational goals
- Group follow a dysfunctional norms when their groups goals is being achieved
- When groups are not rewarded accordingly when the organization achieved its goals with groups following functional norm then the group might opt for dysfunctional norm to ensure its goals is being achieved

Q9. Do all groups socialize their members? Do all groups need to socialize their members? Why or why not
- The process by which newcomers learn the roles, rules and norms of a group is socialization
- The ability of a group to control its members’ behaviours depends in the extent to which newcomers learn the groups roles, rules and norms
- All groups socialize their members and all groups need to socialize its members

Q10. Is socialization ever completely finished, or is it an ongoing process?
- Socialization is an ongoing process, changes in the organization will lead to changes in roles, rules and also norms
- Continuous socialization ensure groups responds to this changes effectively

Organizational Behaviour - Managing Stress and Work-Life Balance (Questions for Review)

Chapter 9: Managing Stress and Work-Life Balance

Q1. Why are opportunities such as job promotion stressful for some people?
- Stress is the experience of opportunities or threats that people perceive as important and also perceive they might not be able to handle or deal with effectively
- A person will be stressed if he perceive that the job promotion, an opportunity which is important to him and he wont be able to handle or deal with it effectively

Q2. Why might excessively high levels of stress lead to turnover?
- Relationship between stress and performance can be summarized in terms of an inverted ‘U’
- Up to a certain point, increase in stress enhance performance (positive stress) and beyond that point further increase in stress impair performance (negative stress).
- Beside enhanced or diminished performance other potential behaviour consequences of stress include strained interpersonal relations, absenteeism and turnover

Q3. Should managers try to eliminate all or most role conflict and ambiguity? Why or why not?
- Job related stressor (source of stress) are role conflict, role ambiguity, overload, underload, challenging assignments, promotions and conditions that affect employees’ economic well being
- Role conflict occurs when expected behaviours or tasks are at odds with each other
- Role ambiguity is the uncertainty that occurs when employees are not sure about what is expected of them and how they should perform their jobs
- Eliminating these will help to remove the stressor for an employee, thus reducing his stress levels.
- As been described in Q2, negative stress or over stress could diminish employee performance

Q4. Is underload as stressful as overload? Why or why not?
- Underload and overload are among the sic work related stressors as underlined in Q3.
- Underload is not having enough work to do.
- Underload can also result in stress as overload
- Underload which will lead to borednees. Most employees like to use different skills on the job and feel like they are doing something worthwhile
- A certain level of positive stress will increase performance and level of motivation

Q5. Do organization have an ethical obligation to guarantee their members job security? Why or why not?
- Stressors that affect employees’ economic well-being and job security are also powerful sources of stress
- Studies have shown that when organizations lay off employees, unemployement stress can be very damaging to employees and their families which may result in physiological and mental illness
- Despite the fact that CEOs and top managers are being paid record high salaries, the lower-level employees are not guaranteed any job security
- Lower level employees which are laid off make ends meet on fraction of the pay they used to earn
- This is a troubling ethical concern

Q6. How can managers help their subordinates learn how to cope with stressors in a problem-focused way?
- Extent which stress is experienced and whether it is positive or negative depends on how people cope, manage or deal with stressors
- There are 2 basic types of coping: problem focused coping and emotion focused coping
- Problem focused coping relates to the steps take to deal directly with and act on the source of stress
- Some problem focused coping for organizations are job redesign and job rotation, reduction of uncertainty, job security, company day care, flexible work schedules, job sharing and telecommuting
- Jobs redesign or job rotation can be used to reduce role conflict, role ambuigty, overload, underload and to improve working condition

Q7. What should manager do if he or she thinks a subordinate is using a dysfunctional form of emotion-focused coping (such as abusing drugs)
- Emotion focused coping relates to the steps people take to deal with and control their stressful feelings and emotions
- Some functional form of emotion-focused coping strategies are: excercise, meditation, social support and clinical counselling.
- Employee assistance programs can be used to help the subordinate
- Identifying the stressors will be the important part of resolving this dysfunctional form of emotion-focused coping

Q8. Is a certain level of stress necessary to motivate employees to perform high level? Why or why not?
- One way to summarize relationship between performance and stress is in terms of an inverted U
- Up to a certain point, increases in stress enhance the performance
- Beyond that point, further increase in stress impair performance
- Stress is important to increase performance and motivation

Q9. Why might some employees be reluctant to use an employee assistance program?
- Employee assistance program is a company sponsored programs that provide employees with counselling and other kinds of professional help to deal with stressor such as alcohol and drug abuse and family problems
- Employees might be reluctant due to their concern on the confidentiality as it might jeopardize their job or carrier

Q10. Why should an organization care whether its members eat well or exercise daily?
- Illness is one of the personal source of stress
- Personal stress would definitely affect the workers performance. Encouraging healthy lifestyles thru eating well & daily exercise will reduce the chances of falling sick thus reducing the stress level

Business Know How

Saya terpanggil utk berkongsi pengalaman saya buat bisnes. Walaupun bisnes saya tu kecik je namun pengalaman atau pengajaran yg saya dapat boleh apply utk bisnes besar. Kebanyakan pengajaran ni dpt melalui kesalahan2 yang telah saya lakukan dan juga sedikit sebanyak drpd teori universiti. (MBA-USM)

Saya harap, pengajaran ini akan berguna utk rakan2 lain yang nak mulakan biz.

1. Business owner & business operator. Sebaik mungkin, kalau nak buka bisnes target kita sepatutnya utk jadi business owner dan bukan business operator. Kalau kita buka biz & kita jadi biz owner, biz itu patut bole operate profitably tanpa kita.

Kalau kita terpaksa operate biz tersebut, ada 2 syarat yg perlu kita ikut. Pertama, kita kena dibayar gaji utk time yg kita spent utk operate biz tersebut. Ini sebagai tambahan kepada keuntungan dihujung bulan/ tahun yg kita patut kita dpt drpd biz tersebut. Kedua, kita mesti ada perancangan jangka sederhana untuk kurangkan kebergantungan biz tersebut terhadap kita. Meaning to say, kita kena ubah dr biz operator kpd biz owner.

2. Pulangan. Return on investment (ROI). Berapa banyak pulangan/ return yang kita dpt utk satu tempoh utk duit yg kita laburkan dlm biz tersebut. Contoh mudah, kalau kita laburkan RM10k dlm ASB, dlm tempoh satu tahun kita anggarkan pulangan kita sebanyak 6% atau RM600.

Dalam biz, ROI adlh sangat mustahak kerana, projected ROI akan menentukan samada kita perlu buka/ teruskan biz tersebut. Kenapa? Kalau kita laburkan dalam satu biz RM10k. Pulangan drpd biz tersebut hanyak RM600 utk tempoh setahun. (Pulangan disini adalah untung bersih selepas tolak semua perbelanjaan dan ini termasuk gaji kita jika kita adlh biz operator) RM600 adlh 6% drpd pelaburan kita. Adakah berbaloi utk kita laburkan duit tersebut dlm biz & tanggung risiko untung rugi, spent banyak masa & tenaga, kerana daripada biz yg berikan hanya 6% untung baik kita laburkan duit tu dalam ASB atau unit trust yang boleh berikan pulangan yang hampir sama tanpa bebanan mental, tenaga dan masa.

Saya letakkan target minima utk ROI biz adalah 10%. Tidak kurang daripada 10%. Dan kalau kita buat biz dgn modal yang kita hutang dr bank atau mana2 institusi maka kita perlu juga pertimbangkan kadar faedah yang dikenakan. Jika kadar faedah setahun adalah 8% maka ROI kita sekurang-kurangnya kenalah 18%.

3. Yang ketiganya ialah tempoh pulangan. Ya, memang susah kita nk capai ROI yang tinggi dalam tahun pertama / kedua dalam biz kita namun kita hendaklah ada anggaran tempoh yang mana kita akan dpt ROI yang baik dan tempoh utk dpt semula semua modal yang kita dah laburkan. Utk biz kecil-kecilan (modal RM500k dan kebawah) 3-5 years adlh tempoh wajar utk dptkan semula modal pelaburan kita. Kalau lebih drpd tempoh tersebut maka risiko biz kita akan jadi tinggi. Apabila kita mulakan biz dgn strategi kita tidak bolehlari daripad membuat beberapa andaian atau anggapan terhadap pasaran. Perubahan suasana pasaran adalah amat pantas dan dalam tempoh 3-5 tahun berkemungkinan suasana pasaran boleh berubah sepenuhnya dan produk/ servis kita mungkin lagi tidak releven. Dan utk kita kekal releven, kita mungkin perlu tambah modal utk buat perubahan yg sewajarnya. Maka sudah tentu ROI kita akan menjadi rendah dan tempoh pulangan kita akan bertambah lagi.

Buat masa ni sy share dulu 3 point shj, mungkin kwn2 semua boleh beri input tambahan utk kita berbincang bersama utk 3 point ni dulu sebelum kita bawa topik2 lain.

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Organizational Behaviour - My Term Paper

Occupational Safety Contributes to Work Motivation

Abstract

Safety has gained its popularity in recent years in this country due to the awareness of its importance. However the cost of implementing safety has always been a major hindrance for its implementation. The objectives of this write–up is to explore the connection between occupational safety & work motivation. Some of the famous motivation theories such as need theory; safety theory such as Heinrich’s Dominos Theory and Behavioural Based Safety approach will be discussed and argued. Established relationship between safety and motivation and implementation of safety using behavioural based safety will be analysed further. This is hoped to open up the eyes of the employers to take up safety as their investments and not charging them as cost. Higher work motivation will definitely boost the production output which is the main concern of the management.

Organizational Behavior - Learning and Creativity (Questions for review)

Q1. Why might an organization prefer to use positive reinforcement rather than the negative reinforcement?

- Positive reinforcement uses positive consequences to reinforce desired behaviour, e.g. bonus

- Negative reinforcement is done by removing negative consequences for performing desired behaviour, e.g. stop scolding when workers turn up to work on time

- Positive reinforcement is easier to implement

- Negative reinforcement could lead to side effect and makes unpleasant environment and the organization using negative reinforcement will be perceived negatively

Q2. How can a manager use the principles of operant conditioning to stop employees from bickering and fighting?

- Operant conditioning by B.F. Skinner uses consequences as the factor to reinforce learning.

- Can be used for reinforcing desired behaviour thru positive & negative reinforcement and can be used to stop undesired behaviour thru extinction & punishment

- The most preferred reinforcement method is positive reinforcement

- Bickering & fighting is an undesired behaviours, 2 methods either extinction or punishment can be used.

- In Extinction, reinforcement for the bickering & fighting must be identified, then later the reinforcement must be stopped and thus the frequency of the desired behaviour will decrease and no longer exists

- If the bickering and fighting is affecting the performance of the organizational adversely, it must be stopped immediately. Punishment can be used to stop the behaviour.

- In punishment, negative consequences are administered when the undesired behaviour, bickering & fighting occur

Q3. Why do some organizations use punishment more often than others?

- The need to stop the behaviour immediately, for e.g. sexual harassment

Q4. Is OB MOD is ethical? Why or why not?

- OB MOD is a systematically application of operant conditioning for leaning desired behaviour

- In OB MOD, behaviour for change is identified, behaviour frequency measured, antecedent and consequences are analysed, operant conditioning methods are used to intervene and finally the performance improvement are evaluated.

- Not ethical because:

- OB MOD is overly controlling

- Manipulation of consequences to control behaviour, strip employees of their dignity, freedom of choice and individuality

- Employees may refrain from performing other organizational related task such us helping co-workers or coming up with new ideas

- Limits creativity of the employees

Q6. On what kinds of jobs might vicarious learning be especially prevalent?

- Albert Bandura in his social cognitive theory has underlined that feelings and thought influence learnings

- Learner cognitively process information in 3 ways; vicarious learning, self-control and self-efficacy

- Vicarious learning occurs when the learner observes and imitates a model

- Repetitive & high risk jobs

Q7. When might employees be especially likely to engage in self-control?

- Self control is when employee learn on their own to perform a behaviour even though no external pressure to do so

- Self-reinforcers, a consequences or rewards that the individual give to oneself must be available

- When employees care about their work doing a good job they often engage in self-control

Q8. Why do some capable members of an organization have low levels of self-efficacy?

- Self efficacy – a person’s belief about his or her ability to perform a particular behaviour successfully

- When employee belief that he is not capable to do certain things, their will have low self efficacy

- This can contributed by their bad past performance, unpleasant vicarious experience-seeing a co-workers failing, internal physiological states which such as pounding heart beat due to a person expectation of his failure

Q9. Why do organizations desiring creativity need to be willing to accept a certain level of failure?

- Creativity is the generation of novel and useful ideas

- Innovation is the successful implementation of creative ideas

- The creative process involve; recognition of problem, information gathering, production of creative ideas, selection of idea(s) and implementation of creative idea(s)

- Some time creativity can lead to some undesired outcome. If the employee is punished for this, the behaviour will be stopped thus stopping generation of creative ideas.

- Promotion of creativity in an organization can be done thru; level of autonomy, form of evaluation, reward system and importance of task.

Q10. What steps can organizations take to promote organizational learning and knowledge management?

- Organizational learning involves instilling all members of the organization with a desire ti find new ways to improve its effectiveness

- Peter Senge has identified 5 key activities central to a learning organization;

o Encourage personal mastery or high sel-efficacy

o Develop complex schemas to understand work activities

o Encourage learning in groups and teams

o Communicate a shared vision for the organization

o Encourage system thinking

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How Dollar Cost Averaging works

How Dollar Cost Averaging Works
===============

"Say you have $100 and you buy a stock that costs $10 per share. That means you buy 10 shares. Next month, you save another $100, which you place into the same fund, only now the shares are just $5. Thus, you buy 20 shares. What’s the average price of all your shares?

If you said $7.50, you’re wrong."

You invested $200 ($100 per month over two months) and you own 30 shares (you bought 10 shares, then 20). Divide $200 by 30 shares and you’ll find that the answer is $6.67.

Why did you think the answer was $7.50?

Because you used the arithmetic mean ($10 + $5 divided by 2 = $7.50). But I used the harmonic mean ($200 divided by 30). Thus, we’re both right — the average price is $7.50, but the average cost is $6.67. Since the harmonic mean always produces a lower number than the arithmetic mean, you have a built-in profit!

Dollar cost averaging succeeds because you buy fewer shares at higher prices and relatively more shares at lower prices. To make it work for you, simply invest a specific amount of money at a specific interval. Perhaps $100 per month, $25 per quarter or a $3,000 IRA each year. It does not matter as long as you are consistent. Be sure to invest at each interval, regardless of what the stock market is doing at the moment.

In fact, dollar cost averaging helps you overcome your fear that you’ll invest at the top of the market. If you had invested $1,000 in the S&P 500 on January 1 of every year from 1965 through 2002, you’d have earned an average annual return of 10.2%. But if you got really lucky and were able to make your investments on the one day each year when prices were at their lowest, you’d have averaged 10.9% instead. But, knowing your luck, it’s more likely that you’d have picked the worst day to invest each year. If so, your average annual return would have been 9.8%.

As you can see, it doesn’t much matter when you invest when you dollar cost average. It only matters that you do invest and that you stay invested. "Timing" doesn’t matter — "time in" does.*

~excerpt from the Truth About Money by Ric Edelman