Feb 2011

O.B. Mid-Term Study Guide

Topic 2: A History of Organizations and Management

Mechanistic Organizational Forms:

How did Weber define a bureaucracy and what were his concerns about the spread of bureaucratic
forms of organizations?

o Weber defined a bureaucracy as a form of organization that emphasizes precision,

speed, clarity, regularity, reliability, and efficiency achieved through the creation of a
fixed division of tasks, hierarchical supervision, and detailed rules and regulations/
o He observed the parallels between the mechanization of the industry and the
proliferation of bureaucratic forms of organization. He stated that the bureaucratic
forms of organization routinize the process of administration EXACTLY as the machine
routinizes production.
 As a sociologist, interested in social consequences: concerned that the
bureaucratic approach would routinizes and mechanize almost every aspect of
human life, eroding the human spirit and capacity for spontaneous action. He
was worried that what was happening in factories was also happening in white
collar work and services

Consider the following principles of organizing that classical management theorist promote (do not
worry about the other principles in Exhibit 2.2). Define them and think of an example:

 Scalar Chain (also known as chain of command):

o The line of authority from superior to subordinate, which runs from top to bottom
of the organization. This chain, which results from the unity-of-command principle,
should be used as a channel for communication and decision making
 Some organizations need a formalized hierarchy that reflects the flow of
authority and responsibility
 Great example: President to VP, to Director to Regional Director to
Regional Manager to Supervisor to Team Leader to Grunt Worker.
 Span of Control
o The number of personnel that a supervisor is responsible for
 Example: Span of control of CEO is seven, as seven directly below him on
chart horizontal (CEO, branch down to marketing, finance, IT, HR, etc.
o Small span: More managers, encourages tight supervision, makes vertical
communication complicated
o Large span: Empowers workers, speeds up decisions
 Centralization (and of course decentralization)
o Centralized organizational structures rely on one individual to make decisions and
provide direction for the company. Small businesses often use this structure since
the owner is responsible for the company's business operations.
 Pro: Centralized (more hierarchical) organizations can be extremely efficient
regarding business decisions. Business owners typically develop the
company's mission and vision, and set objectives for managers and
employees to follow when achieving these goals.
 Con: Centralized organizations can suffer from the negative effects of
several layers of bureaucracy. These businesses often have multiple
management layers stretching from the owner down to frontline
operations. Business owners responsible for making every decision in the
company may require more time to accomplish these tasks, which can result
in sluggish business operations.
o Decentralized organizational structures often have several individuals responsible
for making business decisions and running the business. Decentralized organizations
rely on a team environment at different levels in the business. Individuals at each
level in the business may have some autonomy to make business decisions.
 Pro: Decentralized organizations utilize individuals with a variety of
expertise and knowledge for running various business operations. A broad-
based management team helps to ensure the company has knowledgeable
directors or managers to handle various types of business situations.
 Con: Decentralized organizations can struggle with multiple individuals
having different opinions on a particular business decision. As such, these
businesses can face difficulties trying to get everyone on the same page
when making decisions.
 Division of work (also known as division of labor or work specialization)
o Division of labor is a form of specialization in which the production of a product or
service is divided into several separate tasks, each performed by one person.
o In organizations that used mass production, each worker specialized in completing
one specialized task; the combined work of several specialized workers produced
the final product. For example, in manufacturing an automobile, one worker would
assemble the dashboard, another would assemble the wheels, and yet another
would paint the exterior. Emphasis is on SPECIALIZATION
o Specialists: Extensive experience and knowledge of a small number of
tasks/activities
o Generalists: Responsible for array of tasks that demand a variety of skills and
knowledge (specialized jobs are similar, but different: specialized lawyer but each
case is different)
 Staff and Line Roles
 Formalization:
 o Highly formal has many rules, protocols, operating procedures to be followed, while
low formalization relies on discretion, you can create new routines, think for
yourself, and rules eventually emerge (norms).

Contingency Theory:

o Organizations made up of subsystems

 Technical, social strategic
 Context is important Competitors, customers, economic conditions, suppliers,
regulations
 Organizations must balance internal needs and continuously adapt to
environment
 Organizations designed in relation to task and environment
 Managers continuously trying to align organization w/these
considerations

Species of Organizations:

o Mechanist structures vs. Organic structures

 Specializes vs broad jobs
 Clear, vertical chain of command vs. cross-functional teams
 Narrow spans of control vs. wide spans of control
 High formalization vs. low formalization
o MATRIX structures are a combination of mechanist and organic organizations
 Ex: Silicon Graphics adhocracy vs. bureaucracy mix between founder and
manager
Example of Organic: Ideo
 Can’t use mechanist structure-task is ambiguous, starting on a journey
 Broad rules, no boss, horizontal, creative people, move quickly, adapt to
competition/consumer preference, no repetitions
o Mechanist vs. organic:
 High specialization vs. cross-functional teams
 Rigid departmentalization vs cross hierarchical teams
 Centralization vs. decentralization
 High vs. low formalization
o Types of species: Modern machine/ bureaucracy, professional bureaucracy, simple
structure, adhocracy, virtual
 Prof bureaucracy: Allows greater autonomy to staff and is appropriate for
dealing with relatively stable conditions where tasks are relatively complicated
 Universities, hospitals
 Simple structure: Work best in unstable environmental conditions. Simple
structure has a CEO, who may have a group of support staff along with a group
of operators who do very basic work. Very informal and flexible, and run in
 highly centralized way be CEO, and is ideal for achieving quick changes. Works
well when speedy decision making it at a premium and not too complex.
Popular with young, innovative companies.
 Adhocracy: Temporary by design. Highly suited for the performance of complex
and uncertain tasks in turbulent environments. Project teams that come
together and disappear when task is over. Sometimes called a virtual network,
especially when team members are widespread and using technology to
integrate activities.

What principles did Fredrick Taylor, the founder of Scientific Management, advocate? What approach
did he take to help organizations implement such principles?

o Taylor advocated shifting responsibility from the worker to the manager, using scientific
methods to determine the most efficient way of doing work (design worker’s task
specifying PRECISE ways for task to be done), select best person to perform the job,
train the worker to do the work efficiently, and monitor worker performance to ensure
that appropriate work procedures are followed and appropriate results are achieved
o Advocated the use of time-and-motion study as a means of analyzing and standardizing
work activities. Called for detailed observation and measurement of even most routine
work, to find optimum mode of performance.
o Fast food: All the thinking is done by managers and designers, leaving all the DOING to
the employees. Managers give workers specialized duties to people trained to perform
them in a precise way. Another example is the list of fast food requirements for servers,
that have to split such a simple job into many separate elements and can each be
OBSERVED and EVALUATED. Assembly lines- Workers become servants to the
machines that are in control of the organization and pace of work. No creativity, no
deviation, just the same task over and over. Part of one giant machine.
o Taylor’s approach led to the development of “office factories” where people performed
fragmented, highly specialized duties in accordance with an elaborate system of work
design and performance evaluation
 Increases in productivity have been achieved at a great human cost, reducing
worker to automatons

 What are the strengths and weaknesses of mechanistic forms of organizing? Another way of
thinking about this to answer the question, under what conditions is a mechanistic
organizational design appropriate? Under what conditions is it inappropriate?
o Mechanist approaches work well under conditions where: Straightforward task to
perform, environment is stable enough to ensure products produced will be
appropriate, when one wishes to produce exactly the same product, time and time
again, when precision is at a premium, and when the human machine parts are
compliant and behave as they have been designed to. McDonalds great success.
McDonald’s situation meets all the above criteria
 o Limitations: Difficulty adapting to changing circumstances, can result in mindless
bureaucracy, can have unanticipated and undesirable consequences as the interests of
those working take precedence over the goals of the organization, can have
dehumanizing effects upon employees. NOT DESIGNED FOR INNOVATION!!! DESIGNED
TO ACHIEVE PRE-DETERMINED GOALS!

Organizations as Organisms:

 What is meant by an open systems approach to design organizations? (Do not worry about the
other concepts in Exhibit 3.2)
 What are the main ideas underlying contingency theory?
 Describe what is meant by mechanistic and organic approaches to organizing and managing?
 Provide a short definition of the following five configurations of organizations: machine
bureaucracy, divisionalized form, professional bureaucracy, simple structure, and adhocracy.
 What is a matrix organization?

Topic 3: Teams
Managing a Changing Workforce in Turbulent Times:

What is the “employment relationship” ?

 A set of arrangements and work practices that describe and govern the relationship between
employee and employer. This relationship runs deeper than an economic arrangement. A social
contract exists between employees and employers- a shared cultural understanding of what is
right, good, and fair about the ongoing exchange.

Compare and contrast the old and new employment relationship.

 Career, effort, payment commitment…its important to note that it is 2-way…what’s expected,

what your to give, some stated/some not
 After wwii, needed stability, needed institutions that supported organizations that supported
infastructures around the world
 Stable employment relationship…went to the firm young, full-time, permanent job..expectation
was to stay w/ the firm for a lifetime..if you had to get trained-they would…they promote the
person w/ the most promise, regular pay increases, you can raise a family, buy a house, etc.
Retire- gold watch and company pension.
 This scenario changed in the late 80s (see picture on right, hard to stay balance)/..80s white
collared jobs were fired (not laid off, which means you will come back when demand picks up)…
job security is now gone, so you don’t expect to work for the same firm your entire life, also
firms look outside for openings, not just inside for promotions (that means you are looking
outside for new opportunities as well), pay raises are based on the market, as are pay levels,
more part-time/contract work, pensions not commonly offered, little security
  Long-term vs short term employment security, advancement (climbing ladder vs moving in
circle), jobs and compensation (fixed and individualistic versus multidimensional and team-
based), building new knowledge based or high performance work systems,

Describe four kinds of flexibility and consider the potential positive and negative implications of each.

 Flexible Space:
o People may do the same job and even work longer hours, just in a different place.
Connected to main site by computer modem and fax machine, and expected fo be
available at certain regular hours.
o Also establishing a virtual office, where it is like a hotel- employees check-in at
scheduled times in a certain cubicle and a concierge helps them put the right files into
cubicles for that day’s occupant.
o Flexible space must fit with the other elements of the new employment system:
Employees will need to work effectively as teams over electronic links and learn when
face-face contact needs to be scheduled.
 Flexible time and allocation of tasks:
o Part-time work and job sharing
o Part-time could be weekly basis or annual basis (seasonal employment)
o Job sharing involves two employees sharing responsibilities typically associated with one
job, must devise ways to communicate across their roles
o Problem is that there is an imbalance between people who are overworked and people
who are underemployed and unable to generate a sufficient salary
 Flexible career paths:
o Old career paths more linear- climbed corporate ladder within a company, designed for
the Organization Man (male breadwinner who would work full time from time he
finished school until retirement)
o This model no longer fits today’s diverse workforce
o Part-time or reduced-hours offered for parents who need time to care for children or
elders.
o Problems: Can part-time employees be given challenging assignment and be eligible for
promotions without creating a sense of inequity among those who remain full time?
 Can the workplace culture be modified to overcome the fear that using these
options will hinder one’s career or forever put one behind one’s peers? These
are the constraining factors that leave flexible career opportunites, part-time
options and other family-friendly benefits underutilized.
 Although 90% of legal firms offer flexible career pathjs, only 5% take
advantage, as 1/3 fear doing so will jeopardize their careers.
 Flexible workforce size and boundaries:
o Virtual corporation is one in which multiple activities are spun off to subcontractors
 Temporary firms—ManPower Inc screen and traisn temporary workers to
provide to big firms
  Double edged sword
 Independent contractors prefer the flexibility and freedom rom the old
bureaucratic world of the large firm and career ladders. Learn from each
assignment and have more control over when and for whom they work.
 Controversy: Firms laying off permanent employees only to rehire
almost the same number of employees through a temoporary agency.
Some so-called temporary workers remain with an employer for years.
A principal motive for employers may be the saving in wages and
benefits of hiring ‘temps’.
 Other example is hiring temps to do most dangeour maintenance and
repair work and managers are told to leave supervision to contractors
for fear of being held liable for being a co-employer should an accident
occur.
 More cons: Hidden costs of using tempotary workers include loss of
employee loyalty and commitment, important for teams obviously, and
the loss of firm-specific skills that permanent employees develop over a
long-term relationship, and increased conflict at work.

How did Japan and Germany’s response to global and technology pressures differ from the responses
observed in the United States?

 These countries developed different institutional arrangements, which embed different

historical choices and shape different approaches to similar challenges. Both countries
emphasized and maintained longer-term employment relationships. When this approach is
threatened, their alternative/approached include maintain a greater number of employees and
having them work shorter hours (an example of one kind of flexibility discussed earlier), having
top managers and executives take pay reductions, moving work back inside the firm from
outside contractors, and at a societal level, requiring substantial severance or early retirement
payments to those laid off.
 Germany has provided an elaborate apprentice system that provides highly skilled technicians
that will be in demand, with new technologies.
 Trade off between favoring shareholders and loosen some of the traditions or laws that protect
employees--? Skepticism after scandals in US to maximize shareholder value at the expense of
employee and societal interests.

Contrast assumption that guided firms in the 20th and 21st centuries.

 20th: People are a cost that must be monitored and controlled (Theory X)
 21st: People are an asset that should be valued (Theory Y)
 Segmented, individual tasks vs. Collaborative and knowledge based projects
 Design technology to control work and minimize human error vs. Integrate technology with
social systems to enable knowledge-based work
 Senior managers and technical experts as leaders vs. Distributed leadership at all levels
  Unitary focus on returns to shareholders vs. multidimensional focus on value for multiple
stakeholders

What trends to do we see in union representation? Consider the potential positive and negative
implications of this.

 Decline in union representation over the last number of years

 History teaches us that no democratic country has existed for long periods of time without some
significant independent force advocating and representing employees
 Perhaps we will see new organizational orms of representation that are better matched to the
new nature of the economy, the new organization, and the contemporary workforce. Some are
already emerging, such as Working Today, which provides health benefits and social networking
opportunities for highly mobile media workers in NYC. Question is: How will managers react?
Will they resist? Share power? Attempt to work with them and shape them in ways that fit
employers and employees?

Groups and Teams:

Distinguish a team from a group. Describe four types of teams.

 Group is two or more people with a common relationship. Could be workers, people meeting for
lunch, or standing at the bus stop. Do NOT necessarily engage in collective work that requires
interdependent effort
 Team is a small number of people with complementary skills who are committed to a common
purpose, performance goals, and approach for which they hold themselves mutually
accountable. Groups become teams when:
o Team members SHARE leadership
o Both individuals and team as a whole share ACCOUNTABILITY for the work of the team
o Develops its purpose or mission
o Team work son problem-solving continuously, rather than just at scheduled meeting
times
o Team’s measure of effectiveness is the team’s outcomes and goals, not individual
outcomes and goals
 Four types:
o Problem-Solving (process-improvement):
 Group of 5-12 employees from the same department who meet for a few hours
each week to discuss ways of improving quality, efficiency, and the work
environment. Rarely are these teams given the authority to unilaterally
implement any of their suggested actions.
o Self-Managed (self-directed): A group of 10-15 employees who take on many of the
responsibilities of their former managers. Typically this includes planning and scheduling
of work, assigning tasks to members, making operating decisions and taking action on
problems. Fully self-managed teams even select their own members and leader and
 have members evaluate each other’s performance. Self-managed teams often perform
better than teams with formally appointed leaders. External management teams take on
decreased roles and can even be eliminated. Higher absenteeism and turnover rates
though.
o Cross-Functional (project): A group of employees at about the same hierarchical level
but from different work areas, who come together to accomplish a task.
 Task forces (temporary cross-functional teams) and committees (groups
composed of members from different departments)
 But the popularity of cross-discipline work teams exploded in late 1980s
for car companies, as they used these team to coordinate complex
projects
 Allow people from diverse areas to exchange info, coordinate complex projects.
But could be complex and time-consuming early on, takes time to build trust
and teamwork with people from different backgrounds and perspectives.
 Skunkworks: Cross-Functional teams that develop spontaneously to create new
products or work on complex problems. Typically found in high tech sector. And
generally sheltered from other organizational members. Can work on new ideas
in isolation, without being watched by other organization members during
creative stages. Therefore, they can ignore structure and bureaucracy while
they work.
 Lockhead Aerospace to build fasttest fighter jet in 43 days as 23 people
o Virtual: A team that uses computer technology to tie together physically dispersed
members in order to achieve a common goal.
 Challenges: Les social rapport and less direct interaction. More task oriented
and exchange less social-emotional information. Less satisfaction wit group
members.
 Trust should be established, monitor progress closely, efforts publicized
throughout organization so team does not become invisible

Why have teams become more prevalent?

Explain roles, role conflict, and role ambiguity.

 Role: A set of expected behavior of a person in a given social unit

o A person might have all the roles of electrical engineer, member of middle
management, and primary company spokesperson in the community. Off the job:
Spouse, coach, volunteer of food bank, church member, parent, etc.
 Roles are governed by role expectations (how others believe a person should act in a given
situation). Conflict exists when an individual finds that complying with one role requirement
may make it more difficult to comply with another
 o Employee faced with requirements imposed by the corporate controller’s office and his
own plant-manager decided in favor of his immediate boss, which = conflict
 Role ambiguity: A person is unclear about his or her role. Example is two group members
thinking that the other one is responsible for preparing the first draft—neither brings it—both
blame each other. Role overload occurs when too much is expected over someone, and role
underload is when too little is expected of someone and that person feels that he or she is not
contributing to the group.

Explain what is meant by norms, how they develop, and what they do. Explain the concept of
conformity.

 Norms are acceptable standards of behavior within a group that are shared by the group’s
members. Formalized norms, but mostly informal. You don’t need someone to tell you it’s
inappropriate to throw paper airplanes at work. Some of the most common have to deal with
performance, appearance, social arrangement, allocation of resources, and OB in action.
 Most norms develop in one or more of the following ways:
o Explicit statements made by a group member: Team leader says coffee breaks can’t be
longer than 10 minutes
o Critical events in the group’s history: A bystander is injured from standing too close to a
machine-end so from now on, monitoring is done to make sure nobody steps within two
feet on machine
o Primacy: Groups of students who are friends often choose seats near each other on the
first day of class and become upset if an outsider takes their seat in a later class
o Carry-over behaviors from past situations: Group members bring expectations from
other groups wi which they have belonged. Thus, work groups prefer to add new
members who are similar to current ones in background and experience.
 What makes a norm important:
o Facilitates group’s survival
o Increases predictability of group members’ behavior: Allows for anticipation and allows
members to prepare for appropriate responses to action.
o Reduces embarrassing interpersonal problems for group members
o Allows members to express central values of group and clarify what is distinctive about
the group’s identity
 Conformity: Adjusting one’s behavior to align with the norms of the group

Explain the five stage model of group development and the punctuated equilibrium model.

 Forming: Independence. Characterized by a great deal of uncertainty about the team’s

structure, purpose and leadership. Members are testing the waters to determine what types of
behaviors are acceptable. Completed when member have begun to think of themselves as part
of a team.
  Storming: Characterized by intergroup conflict. Members accept existence of team but resist
constraints that the team imposes on individuality. Furthermore, there is conflict over who will
control the team. When this stage is complete, a relatively clear hierarchy of leadership will
emerge. Some teams never really emerge from this stage or they move back and fourth
between storming and other stages.
 Norming: Characterized by close relationships and cohesiveness amongst the team. Strong
sense of team identity and camaraderie. Completed when the team structure solidifies and the
team has a common set of expectations of what defines correct member behavior.
 Performing: The group comes together and is fully functional. Team energy has moved from
getting to know each other to performing the task at hand.
 Adjourning: Return to independence. Final stage for TEMPORARY groups, where attention is
directed toward wrapping up activities rather than task performance. Some members are
upbeat others are sad over the loss of friendships and camaraderie
PEM:
 Punctuated-equilibrium model: Temporary groups don’t follow previous model. Different
sequence:
 First meeting sets direction, first phase of group activity is one of inertia, a transition takes place
at the end of the first phase which occurs exactly when the group has used up half its allotted
time, the transition initiates major changes, a second phase of inertia follow the transition, the
last meeting is marked by accelerated activity
o Overall, long periods of intertia (team stands still or locked into a fixed course of action,
even if it gains new insights that challenge initial assumptions), interspersed with brief
revolutionary changes triggered primarily by members’ awareness of time and
deadlines. Combines forming and norming, goes through period of low performing,
followed by storming, followed by high performing, then adjourning. The models are
actually complementary (five stage considers interpersonal process while PEM considers
time challenges group faces).

Explain how context, composition, work design, and process have implications for team effectiveness.
You should be able to give two examples of each. (For example, be able to discuss skills and roles in
relation to composition).

 Context: Teams require a great deal of maintenance to function properly. The four contextual
factors that appear to be most significantly linked to performance are :
o Adequate resources, leadership (especially important in multi-team structures) and
structure, climate of trust, performance evaluation and rewards.
 Composition: Variables that relate to how teams should be staffed.
o To perform effectively, a team required three different types of skills:
 People with technical expertise
 People with problem solving and decision making skills to be able to identify
problems, generate alternatives, evaluate alternatives, and make choices
  People with good listening, feedback, conflict resolution and other
INTERPERSONAL skills
o Needs personality traits, need to define roles, (task vs maintenance), group diversity
(heterogeneous=good), size social loafing must be limited , member flexibility
 Work Design: Effective teams need to work together and take collective responsibility to
complete significant tasks. Includes variables such as freedom, autonomy, opportunity to utilize
different skills and talents, ability to complete a whole and identifiable task or product. These
characteristics enhance member motivation and increase team effectiveness.
 Process: Process variables make up the final component of team effectiveness. Includes the
commitment to a common purpose, (reflexivity: a team characteristic of reflecting on and
adjusting the master plan when necessary…good teams show this), establishment of specific
goals (goals set the bar, quantity goals raise quantity, speed goals raise speed, etc.), team
efficacy (teams that have confidence and believe in themselves..success breeds success-
cohesiveness- the degree to which members are attracted to each other and are motivated to
stay on the same team), shared mental models (common beliefs about how the work gets
done), a managed level of conflict, and a system of accountability.

Explain what is meant by task-oriented roles and maintenance roles. You should know two or three
examples of task-oriented and maintenance roles.

 Task-Oriented:
o Behaviors enacted by group members to ensure that the tasks of the group are
accomplished
  Maintenance:
o Behaviors exhibited group members to maintain good relations within the group
 Harmonizing: Mediating conflict among others, reconciling disagreements,
relieving tensions
 Compromising: Admitting error at times of group conflict
 Gatekeeping: Making sure all members share a chance to express their feelings
and ideas and preventing members from being interrupted
 Encouraging: Helping a group member make his/her point. Establishing a
climate of acceptance in the group.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of team diversity?

 Adv: Multiple perspectives, greater openness to new ideas, multiple interpretations, increased
creativity, increased problem solving skills
 Disadvantages: Ambiguity, complexity, confusion, miscommuniocation, difficulty in reaching a
single agreement
 Strong when problem-solving and decision-making tasks are faced.
 Value differences may have a greater influence than demographic or cultural ones
o Heterogeneous teams may have qualities that lead to creative or unique solutions. Lack
of a common perspective means that diverse teams usually spend more time discussing
issues, which decreases the possibility that a weak alternative will be chosen. Although
diverse teams have more difficulty working together, this goes away with time as the
members come to know each other. Recent studies show that when team members
share a common belief that diversity will be positive, sets up positive position to
succeed.

What is social loafing?

 The tendency for individuals to expend less effort when working collectively than working
individually
o Directly challenges that productivity should be sum of prod of each individual on that
team

How does the interaction between cohesiveness and performance norms relate to team efficacy?

 High high: High productivity

 High cohesive, low Perform norms= Low productivity
 High norms, low cohesiveness: Moderate productivity
 Low, low: Moderate to low productivity

How should conflict be managed in teams?

 • Get as much information as possible, and center discussion around these facts
• Create multiple alternatives to the problem
• Refer to agreed upon goals
• Inject humour, create some lightness
• Ensure power remains distributed
• Come to resolution without forcing consensus

Topic 4: Communication and Perception

Communication

Describe what is meant by the ‘Arrow’ approach to communication. What assumption is made by
managers who use this approach? How do managers who use this approach explain communication
breakdowns? Why would a manager adopt such an approach? What are the strengths and
weaknesses of this approach?

Describe what is meant by the ‘Circuit’ approach to communication. What is the “smart-talk’ trap?
How do managers who use this approach explain communication breakdowns? Why would a manager
adopt such an approach? What are the strengths and weaknesses of this approach?

Describe what is meant by the ‘Dance’ approach to communication. What is meant by coorientation?
In what ways is communication rule governed? What must you know to become skilled in the ‘dance’
approach?

The Warren Harding Error from Malcolm Gladwell’s book Blink

What are unconscious or implicit associations? What data triggers these associations?

 Unconscious/implicit associations are related to a person's automatic association between

mental representations of objects (concepts) in memory.
o We make connections much more quickly between pairs of ideas that are already
related in our minds than we do between pairs of ideas that are unfamiliar to us
 Ex: we all have a strong prior associating between a first name like John, and the
male gender, and the name like Lisa, and things female
 Another test: Most of us have much stronger mental associations between
maleness and career-oriented concepts than we do between femaleness and
ideas related to careers. Male and Capitalist go together in our minds like John
and Male did. But when it is the category of Male/Family, we have to stop and
think, even if it is only for a few hundred milliseconds.

What happens to our response time when we have strong prior associations between two things?
What are the implications of this?
  Means that our attitudes towards things like race or gender operate on two levels. Conscious
attitudes are what we CHOOSE to believe, and are STATES values, which we use to direct our
behavior deliberately. When we talk about racism or the fight for civil rates, this is what we refer
to. On the other hand, we have what the IAT measures, which is our racial attitude on an
unconscious level. The immediate, automatic associations that tumble out before we’ve even
had time to think. We don’t deliberately choose our unconscious attitudes.
 Thin slicing: The ability of our unconscious to find patterns in situations and behavior based on
very narrow slices of experience. Implicit associations as one SLICE of experience that can get us
into trouble. Instantaneous connections between pairs of ideas already related in our mind.
Associations come from our experiences and environment.

Describe the affect our implicit associations may have in our interactions?

 IAT is a powerful predictor of how we act in certain kinds of spontaneous situations. If you have
a strong pro-white pattern of associations, for example, there is evidence that will affect the way
you behave in the presence of a black person. It’s not going to affect what you’ll choose to say
or feel or do. But chances are you’ll lean forward a little less, turn away slightly, close your body
a bit, maintain a little less eye contact, be a little less expressive, smile a lot less, stumble over
your words a bit.
o This matters: Job interview if applicant is black man, he/s going to pick up on that
uncertainty and distance, and that may well make him a little less confident, and a little
less friendly. Then you will thing that he doesn’t have what it takes. So what this
unconscious first impression will do, in other words, is throw the interview hopelessly
off course.
o Another example from the reading—car salesmen making spur of the moment decisions
based on most immediate facts—race and sex. STICKING WITH THAT JUDGEMENT EVEN
IN THE FACE OF CONTRADICTORY EVIDENCE. All college-educated professionals, high
profile jobs, lived wealthy neighborhoods, bargained 40 mins, dressed well.

What can we do change our implicit associations?

 We are not helpless in the face of our first impressions

 Look over pictures of MLK, Colin Powell, reaction time would change
 We can change our first impressions by changing the experiences that comprise those
impressions
 If you are white and would like to treat blacks as equals and to have a set of associations with
blacks that are as positive as those of whites, it requires that you change your life so you are
exposed to minorities on a regular basis and become comfortable with them and familiar with
the best of their culture, so that when you want to meet, hire, date or talk with a minority
member, you aren’t betrayed by your hesitation and discomfort.

Perception
You should be able to define the following terms or theories in your own words and provide an
example for each. As you do this, think about which perceptual biases you tend to make.

 Social Perception (remember to think of this as a process) : The PROCESS of combining,

integrating and interpreting information about others to gain an accurate understanding of
them. So automatic that we are almost never aware that it is happening. We don’t SEE reality.
We INTERPRET what we see and call it reality. PERCEPTION IS REALITY.
 Social identity theory: We identify ourselves based on our uniqueness in a group: If only
business major in a class, identify as THE BUSINESS MAJOR. Personal (sports guy) vs. Social (I am
a student at BIG STATE)
 Correspondent Inferences: Judgments about people’s dispositions, their traits and
characteristics, that correspond to what we have observed of their actions. Basically, the
judgment we make about what someone is like is based on what we have observed about him
or her MAY NOT ALWAYS BE ACURATE. Someone who slips on the floor may be deemed clumsy,
but could have slipped under oily floors, which even the least clumsy of individuals would have
fallen on. Making a wrong disposition (what someone is like)
 Kelley’s Theory of Causal Attribution (also known simply as Attribution Theory) : How do
people go about judging whether someone’s actions were caused by internal or external
causes?
o The approach suggesting that people will believe others’ actions to be cause by internal
or external factors based on three types of information: consensus, consistency,
distinctiveness.
 Consensus: The extent to which people behave in the same manner as the
person we are judging. If they behave similarly, there is high consensus
 Consistency: Information regarding the extent to which the person we’re juding
acts the same way at other times. If the person does act the same at other
times, consistency is high.
 Distinctiveness: Information regarding the extent to which a person behaves in
the same manner in other contexts.
o After collecting this, we combine what we have learned to make our attributions of
causality
o Example: Imagine at business lunch with several of company’s sales representatives and
one remarkes the restaurant’s food and service sucks. Nobody else has said anything
(consensus is LOW), you have heard the person say the same thing upon other visits
(consistency is high), and and you have seen her acting critically in other settings, such
as regional sales meeting (distinctiveness is low). We conclude she is probably a picky
person, INTERNAL CAUSES.
o Example: Imagine same setting but several members complain (consensus high), the one
person has complained in the restaurant before though (consistency is high) , but you
have jenver seen her complain about anything else before (distinctiveness is high).
Probably conclude that RESTAURANT IS INFERIRO, EXTERNAL CAUSE.
 Perceptual Biases : Predispositions that people have to misperceive others in various ways.
Types include the fundamental attribution error, the halo effect, the similar-to-me-effect, first-
impression error, and selective perception.
o Fundamental Attribution Error:
 The tendency to attribute others’ actions to internal causes, while largel
ignoring external factors that may have influenced behavior. Ex: Assume late for
work because lazy, rather than got caught in traffic.
o Halo Effect:
 The tendency for our overall impressions of others to affect objective
evaluations of their specific traits; perceiving high correlations between
characteristics that may be unrelated.
 Ex: He’s not too bright, so I guess he is lazy. She’s smart, must be hard-
working. Once we form a positive impression of someone, we tend to
view things that person does in favorable terms.
 Team Halo Effect: Tendency for people to credit teams for their
successes but not to hold them accountable for their failures (blame it
on individual, ruined it for team).
o Similar-to-me Effect (also known as Projection) :
 Tendency for people to perceive in a positive light others who are believed to be
similar to themselves in any of several different ways
 Ex: The more similar subordinates are, the higher the rating superiors
gave on evaluations.
o Selective Perception:
 The tendency to focus on some aspects of the environment while
ignoring others
o Executives whose backgrounds were in sales and marketing
perceived changes in a company’s line of products and services
as being most important. Those who worked in research and
development focused more on product design. Executives tend
to be affected by selective perception! They give the greatest
attention to those aspects of the business environment that
match their background experiences.
o First Impression Error:
 The tendency to base our judgments of others on our earlier impressions of
them
 May take very subtle forms, and often has a snopwballish effect, as for
example, if look at applicant’s test scores, interview is more positive,
and candidates treated more impersonal style…interviews used to just
CONFIRM first impressions that they had already developed MERELY on
the basis of test scores alone. Provides clear example of First-Impression
Error in action.
  Self Fulfilling Prophecy (including Pygmalion and Golem Effect) :
o The tendency for someone’s expectations about another to cause that person to behave
in a manner consistent with those expectations. This can be either positive (Pygmalion)
or negative (Golem effect) in nature.
 Pygmalion: People holding high expectations of another tend to improve that
individual’s performance
 Golem: People holding low expectations of another tend to lower that
individual’s performance
o Ex: Video on blue eyes children
 Stereotyping and Stereotype Threat:
o Stereotype: A belief that all members of specific groups share similar traits and are
prone to behave the same way
o Stereotype threat: The uncomfortable feeling that people have when they run the risk
of fulfilling a negative stereotype associated with a group to which they belong

Topic 5: Conflict Management and Negotiation

Understand the five approaches to conflict and how these relate to concern for self and others.

 Competition (Concern for self high, concern for other person low)
 Avoidance (Concern for self low, concern for other low)
 Compromise
 Collaboration (Concern for both high)
 Accommodation (Concern for other high, concern for self low)

Explain the three types of conflict and how to manage conflict.

 Relationship Conflict: Involves disagreements based on personalities and issues that are not
directly related to work. “I hate the sight of his face”
o The most damaging and detrimental to groups.
 Task Conflict: Involves disagreements about the work that is being done in a group. “Why should
we abandon the marketing campaign that we have all agreed upon up until now?
o Stimulates creativity as it forces people to rethink problems and arrive at an outcome
that everyone can live with.
 Process Conflict: Centers on task strategy and delegation of duties and resources. “We should
discuss the candidates first before we vote on them”.
o Centered on HOW the group is achieving its goal
o “You always arrive 15 minutes late”, or “You never invite me to meetings”

Ways to resolve conflict (CC’s stressed this…Fisher & Ury): SEE SLIDES!!!!

How is conflict different from negotiation?

  Conflict IS NOT the same as negotiation.
o Conflict often involves negative emotions, such as anger
o Misunderstanding or miscommunication between people
o Factors that are outside the realm of pure economic concerns
 Negotiation is a mutual decision process in which two or more parties make mutual decisions
about the allocation of scarce resources.
 BIG POINT: Negotiation is transactional and conflict is RELATIONAL
 Two key skills of negotiation are: CREATING VALUE (Integrative negotiation) and CLAIMING
VALUE (distributive negotiation)

How is negotiation a mixed-motive enterprise?

 There are two motives present in any negotiation: COOPERATION and COMPETITION
 People know they are better off working together rather than at odds with each other. At the
same time, each party is interested in furthering its own interests. The competitive motive refers
to the desire of each person to protect their own interests and goals. The two motives make
negotiation a MIXED-MOTIVE enterprise. Also known as CREATING and CLAIMING value. To
create value, we often work in a cooperative fashion. However, even when people work
cooperatively to expand the pie, they always need to divide the pie, which claims a self-
interested motive.
 Negotiators shouldn’t be purely cooperative or purely competitive. Must balance both.

What is meant by a distributive negotiation?

 Distributive—claiming value
o The study of how people allocate resources. Talks about slicing the pie/claiming value
o Know your BATNA and develop your reservation price
o BATNA: Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement
 Reservation price: The quantification of a negotiator’s BATNA
o Don’t reveal BATNA unless it is very good and they would be happy if the other party
merely MATCHED whatever offer
o Anchoring effect: People focus on focal points and tend to stay close to these. The
tendency for an initial offer or set of terms to strongly influence the final outcome of a
negotiation. If you are renegotiating a salary, a natural anchor would be your current
salary
o See page 166 for BATNA chart

What is an integrative negotiation? How do you reach an integrative agreement? Which negotiation
mistakes may lead to a compromise agreement?

 The art and science of leveraging interests so as to improve the outcomes of both parties. It is
the opposite of fixed-sum or zero-sum negotiation.
o Fixed-sum: Haggle over car at 15k and 20k, both split difference at 17.5k.
  Integrative negotiation involves creating value where value doesn’t imemdiatelt or obviously
exist. In the car example., imagine it was a luxury model from the previous year that the deal
needs to sell for inventory purposes. Seller places a huge value on clearing last year’s inventory,
which is worth about $5000 to him. The buyer is much more concerned about extra amenities,
as well as the price. The buyer would be delighted to get a luxury model of the car at a slightly
higher price, and the seller would be happy to sell last year’s model at a reduced cost. This is an
integrative agreement, because both parties are better off with this deal.
 It is far easier to expand the pie than to persuage the other negotiator to give you more
resources. When you expand the pie, there is more to go around!
 It is key to separate position from inetersts. Interests motivate people; they are silent movers
behind the hubbub of positions. Your position is something you decide upon. Your interests are
what caused you to decide. Interests are the underlying reason why people even bother to
negotiate.
 Heart of any negotiation centers around resolving underlying interests. The key is to understand
your own interest sand taking the time and effort to understand the interests of another party.
The fixed-pie perception is the belief that one’s own interests are at odds with those of the
other party. Those who hold fast to their erroneous fixed-pie perceptions CREATE THE
SMALLEST PIES.
 How to reach agreement:
o Separate positions from interests
o Prioritize and weight the issues
 Ex: in a haggle, no potential for win-win because what one person wins, other
loses, in a direct, zero-sum fashion. In contrast, the minute that there are two or
more issues on the table, then it is possible for a win-win solution to occur.
 Ex: salary, vacation, bonus, etc
o Unbundle the issues
 Sisters throwing away the peel
o Ask for the right information
 Reciprocity effect: If negotiator reveals his own interests, sets the stage for a
reciprocity effect for other to open up.
o Propose value-added trade offs
 Vacation time for leave an hour early
o Make multiple offers of equivalent value simultaneously
o Propose contingency contracts
o Make post settlement settlements

What is a contingency contract? When would you propose one?

 Propose “If-tehn” deals that pay high dividends for the negotiator whose view of the world is
borne out
o Ex: Seller whoa argues that his product will dramatically increase ROI of a potential
client, client might be skeptical, especially since other oroducts have not
 o Effective when:
 When negotiators Have different expectations about uncertain events
 When negotiatios have different risk attitudes
 When negotiators have different time preferences

What is a “postesettlement settlement”?

 Technique whereby negotiators reach a mutually agreeable settlement to commit to, as a first
step, and as a second step, and attempt to improve upon it. That is, both negotiators attempt to
find another settlement that ech party would prefer more than the current settlement, or, at the
very least, that one party prefers and to which the other is indifferent. It is not a
RENEGOTIOATION, but a CONTINUATION of NEGOTIATION.

What steps should you go through to negotiate a job? What should you do after you have received the
offer?

 Figure out what you really want

 Do your homework
 Determine your BATNA and your reservation price
 Research the Employer’s BATNA
 Determine the issue mix
o Determine issues that are important to you. Do not make mistake of letting employer
define these issues for you.
 Prepare several scenarios
o Prepare your response to several different scenarios such as low ball offer

Assume that their offer is negotiable

Immediately reanchor them by reveiweing your needs

Do not reveal BATNA

Practice

Once you have the offer:

Do no immediately agree

Get it in writing

Be enthusiastic and gracious

Assess their power to negotiate with you

Tell them EXACTLY what needs to be done for you to agree

Do not create a bidding war