Exam 2 Study Guide - Google Docs PDF

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Exam 2 study guide Myths on culture and diversity (p. 449) ● All companies in certain industries or product categories are culturally similar. Most people would be quick to recognize this as a myth but would still grossly underestimate just how great the cultural divide is between firms. Firms vary dramatically in their cultures and learning, so to recognize and assess such differences is an important skill. ● Some people are just better at fitting in. Like many myths, there is some truth in this statement. Personality differences in people are real and can certainly influence the ability and motivation to acclimate. Nonetheless, successful socialization and effective on-boarding are far more related to what you do (behavioral actions) than who you are (your personality profile). ● New employees are lost initially and then within a few months are well socialized. Many managers assume that when people are hired, they will have a brief period of getting socialized and then that process will be over. Evidence, however, suggests that this is not the case and that it takes from nine months to a year just to get back to where the person was in his or her first week. ● The best inclusiveness strategy is to be “blind” to all differences. This is often characterized as a noble and nondiscriminating strategy and yet is actually nonsense. The objective reality is that people do differ in many meaningful ways and our goal should be to recognize and effectively utilize those differences, rather than engage in a futile attempt to dismiss or ignore them. ● Organizations have one culture. While there can certainly be dominant values and patterns of behavior in firms, the exciting reality is that it is organizational subcultures that are often most influential in firms. That means that effective leaders and individual contributors can and do have a significant impact on the subculture of their particular organization unit. ● Organizational culture is a strictly positive phenomenon. Oh, do we wish this were true (and not a myth). Unfortunately, there is an all-too-common “dark” side of culture, whereby toxic, non-inclusive, and low-performance norms prevail in many organizations. Worse yet, there are companies where the cultures reward unethical, discriminatory, and immoral behavior. Culture is exceptionally powerful and can influence dysfunctional and evil action just as it can foster high performance and ethical practice. ● Our group identities define us. This is one of the most pervasive and destructive myths and is also known by a fancy name: “ the ecological fallacy. ” Put simply, it is nonsense to say that all women, or all Asians, or all senior citizens share all the same characteristics—yet such stereotypical assumptions are common and insidious. Although some general shared patterns and characteristics are known, and can be very useful as starting points in working with diverse groups, a good maxim is to always judge people as individuals and not solely on the basis of their group identities. Organizational culture (definitions and models) ● Three levels of organizational culture (Session video lecture) )(pp. 298-299 text) o Artifacts

Artifacts represent the objects that can be readily observed in organizations. Behavioral artifacts include ceremonies, rituals, traditions, and customs. Verbal artifacts include jargon, nicknames, stories, myths, villains, and metaphors. o Espoused values Espoused values describe what the members of the culture say they believe. Notice these values are only ‘espoused’—meaning the values are expressed, but because they are only espoused, they are not always practiced in reality o Basic assumptions the foundation of culture Basic assumptions are the most revealing dimension of culture. Basic assumptions are the accepted, taken for granted, unquestioned beliefs and assumptions shared by the members of the culture. ● Visible versus hidden organizational culture (session video lecture) (p9. 330-453 text) o we mostly focused on the hidden organization- psychological factors o Hidden organization is anything you can’t readily see o Can I see it? Can I hear it? Can I touch it? o Hidden organization- informal power o Are they visible and concrete or are they psychological (visible vs hidden)

o ● Competing values framework o describes how organizations must choose between different cultural values along two dimensions. The control dimension involves the degree to which a culture values flexibility versus rigidity. An organization that ranks high on the flexibility

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dimension often has unclear work roles. Work roles, shared beliefs, and work procedures are in constant flux and changing. An organization that measures high on rigidity would be represented by clear and rigid shared beliefs that leave little discretion to employees. The second dimension considers organizational focus. Organizations vary to the degree that they value internal affairs versus external affairs. Clan is when an organization has internal focus while maintaining flexibility and discretion. Typically, in a clan culture, values are shared among individuals and behavior that threatens these values is sanctioned. Adhocracy when an organization values flexibility and discretion, while at the same time has an external focus. Adhocracies often lack the controls and consistent norms of other organizations. They also lack the bureaucracy and hierarchy that stifles many organizations. Hierarchy when organizations place a strong value on stability, control, and on internal matters. Hierarchical organizations are found in government, well-established industries, such as oil and gas production, utilities, and highly regulated industries such as banks. Hierarchical organizational cultures allow organizations to apply and enforce controls on people and processes while engaging in complex and sometimes risky activities Market drive when organizations place a strong value on stability and control but focus on external matters. Market-driven cultures tend to flourish in consumer and industrial products areas where markets shift and new markets emerge. Market-driven cultures help organizations maintain internal controls, for example, to maintain product quality during manufacturing processes, but to respond to environmental changes at the same time.

● Examples of competing values framework model o be able to identify which four quadrants the organization fits into o clan- internally focused, includes a lot of different people o hierarchy- has very high systematic process use, amazon is a hierarchy o market driven- external focus, meeting customer needs o descriptions of the kind of activities that that organization does on exam and where does it fit o adhocracy- google or apple, redesigning and reshaping their own products o Have a clear understanding of each of those concepts, it will will be clear which box it fits into o Understand the dimensions, there are two- flexibility and stability, external and internal o In other words, to create stability, a company will generally have central-ized decision making and a deliberate way of doing things. These companies tend to

have more policies, and be more formalized. Once a company has opted for stability, this creates significant hurdles when it tries to be flexible and nimble in responding during times of change. o this is a different model from hidden/visible or chai (?) model (hierarchical) ● Weak versus strong culture (p.455 in blue) o Is one type of culture best? o Why is organizational culture important and what parts of organizational culture predict what? o Stronger cultures are more likely to predict an outcome than a weak culture, related to certain kinds of success that the organization is trying to achieve o What kinds of cultures might be effective for particular industry o Stronger cultures are often correlated with higher degrees of successes o Cultures can also lead to negative outcomes, including strong cultures (Cults because why not amiright) also control o Expectations about what kinds of behavior is acceptable, that’s what the culture does, the purpose o weak culture, there is a great deal of variance in the way people think and behave within the organization. o strong cultures, this variance is much less. ●

Organizational structure: the work roles and authority relationships in an org. Effect the org, team, and individual o Defining the characteristics of an org Span of control: the number of people that report directly to a single manager Height of an org: the number of hierarchical levels in an org (this is often determined by the span of control, and inversely related. Span is big normally means height is smaller) Departmentation:the grouping of resources including people and tech into work units. Can organize by function, geography, customer, product, or a hybrid of the four - Organizational Forms - Functional: departments staffed by a specialist in an organizational function (exp. Accountants in acc. dep) - Use when: stable/certain enviro, small to medium org, routine tech used, goal=efficiency - Pros: promotes skill specialization, reduces duplicated resources, promotes clear career and path - Self-contained (divisional/product) unit: groups activities on the basis of products, services, customers, or geography - Use when: the enviro is rather unstable, large org., tech independence is high, goals are product specialization and innovation

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Pros: client focus, allows for skill expansion and training, promotes delegation of authority and responsibility, heightens work involvement Matrix: groups people by function for a specific project, product, or line of business - Use when: environment requires dual focus on product demand/technical specialization, pressure for fast info processing, and pressure for shared resources - Pros: specialized functional knowledge is readily available, highly flexible and rapid responses, maximizes coordination and comm, provides legit mechanism for mult sources of power

Person Culture Fit (Person-Organization Fit) (p. 458-459 text) - Idea that culture is not shaped by ideas but by the people who work at the org. - Person-org fit (P-O Fit): used as a result need to compare a person’s values, beliefs, outlook, etc. to the existing culture to see if they would be a good fit. Born from (ASA) - Represents the extent to which a person’s values, personality, and work needs are aligned with an orgs culture. STRONG: when individuals most importan values are seen as important in the org - Attraction selection attribution (ASA): suggests that individuals and orgs are attracted to each other based on similar values and goals - People when they come to an organization want to have a certain culture - explain what the culture is that people are getting into - selection factor- who want to work in this culture - attrition factor- they leave the culture - BE AWARE OF SOME OF THE FACTORS THAT IMPROVE

● Socialization – adapting to culture o the process of helping employees quickly adjust to and reinforce the central values the organization espouses. o research on socialization has shown that when organizations engage in a systematic method to socialize employees, they are more likely to reduce the ambiguity of being new and increase perceptions of P-O fit. o Managing people of different cultures (Hofsted model) (p. 461-465) ● Power distance o describes differences in power among individuals, in other words, how much power the culture places in one group at the expense of another. A culture high in power distance means the culture accepts large differences in power between the most powerful and the least powerful.

● Individual versus collective o explain values that support and reward efforts. Cultures high on individualism tend to focus on individual contribution, where collectivism cultures value close relationships, reward group effort, and hold strong loyalties to groups such as family, organization, or other groups to which you belong. ● Masculine vs. feminine o describes how cultures differ in regards to gender roles. For example, male gender roles involve assertiveness and competitiveness and female gender roles involve caring, modesty, and nurturing. The masculinity dimension measures the degree of difference between these roles in the culture. A low masculinity dimension means that there is not a lot of difference in male and female gender roles. ● Uncertainty avoidance o is the culture’s value of novelty and structure. In a high uncertainty avoidance culture, ambiguity and lack of clear rules, roles, and appropriate behaviors are not easily tolerated. Cultures that favor low uncertainty avoidance reflect values where rules are largely unwritten and individuals can explore new ways of doing things, including the creation of new cultural norms. ● Time orientation (short vs long) o the degree to which a culture focuses on long-term time orientation versus a short-term time orientation. Long-term oriented cultures value perseverance, future orientation, and frugality while short term oriented cultures value face-saving behavior and conforming to expectations. Payoff for inclusive culture (p.469) ● Reduction in absenteeism o Research has demonstrated that, when people perceive themselves as being treated unfairly, they both tend to be absent more and are more likely to leave the company altogether. ● Marketing advantage o access to certain markets, or demographic groups that see that they are in line with their values o Multicultural decision-makers are a competitive advantage for any organization that wants to provide goods and services to a multicultural market. ● Reputation o Many people from culturally diverse groups prefer to patronize organizations that have a good track record for inclusiveness. On the other hand, a reputation for exclusiveness can hurt a company’s sales. o can have an impact on company stock price ● Recruiting ○ A company that values inclusiveness expands its pool of potential applicants; companies that do not have fewer talented work-ers to choose from. A

company’s commitment to diversity sends a message to members of traditionally disadvantaged groups that they will be welcomed into the organization and allowed to work to their full potential. Extra Credit Articles How to navigate remote work and team work -- The New York Times Google flexible workweek -- 3 days in office, rest at home Post-pandemic plans -- what is the right balance? Dealbook -- advice for restarting A review of the research on virtual teams comes up short on universal best practices for designing a hybrid office. But it does suggest certain factors that companies should focus on. We call these five factors FLOCS: function, location, organization, culture and schedule. ● What is the function of each team member? A team that spends many hours on brainstorming or collaborative tasks needs more time at the workplace. By contrast, teams that do a lot of deep, focused work benefit from the relative quiet of home. ● What is the location of each team member? Hiring in a single metropolitan area means you can join your teammates in a nearby office or meet up easily for one-on-one meetings. Conversely, there’s no point in making employees report to the nearest office if everyone they work with is in another city ● What is the structure of the organization? In a comparison of two accounting companies, researchers found that a flatter hierarchy helped facilitate virtual work, because remote workers didn’t feel too far from the center of the organization. Our own research also found a strong correlation between employee autonomy and productivity outside the office. ● What is the culture of the company? Companies with an individualistic culture seem to make a smoother transition to virtual work; by contrast, companies that stress “us” over “me” have been slower to adopt online collaboration ● What is each team’s schedule? If schedules are similar and work is interdependent, it’s good to encourage everyone to work roughly at the same time. If employees live in different time zones, it’s better to set a few common windows for real-time communications like videoconferences, and let most other work unfold through email or document sharing. People who work closest together should be in the office at the same time. There are split views over work from home -- gender and stage of life dictate desire to WFH

1. Elements of teamwork (page 4) a. content interactions b. bounce interactions c. process interactions d. social interactions e. huddle interactions f. development interactions g. what are rites (p. 452)...