YOUR
MAJOR EXAM TEST BANK
The questions below are exactly the ones from which I will pick six candidate questions (of which you may answer four) for our single major “exam.” This exam will occur towards the end of the course (Weeks 10-12) and the final scheduling will be dependent on our completion of our work with the Daft text. The venue, which will be a classroom setting, will be announced (provisions for truly distant individuals will be made.). All questions relate directly to chapter-specific material in Daft and require you to apply that material, in most cases, to real life situations.
These questions will not be Discussion Forum questions,
though the issues in the questions below may often inform your Discussion Forum
contributions and my replies. These
questions will play a similar role in chat class sessions. Accordingly, students MUST develop
draft answers for all of these questions week by week in synch with our
readings and Discussion Forum and Chat activities.
All questions in this course (Discussion forums, quizzes, chat class queries) are designed to focus students on the lessons of the text so that each student’s learning can help inform everyone else in this on-line environment. As Professor, I will be your partner in this endeavor, NOT the voice from on high that provides the right answers. So keep up with these questions week by week. If you do, your participation activity (forums and chat classes) will be enhanced (as will your participation grade). Professor O’Hara
1.
Give
an overview of the evolution of organization theory and design. After you have done so, discuss the extent
to which the major elements of each “stage” of organization theory’s evolution
play a role in how organizations are structured and managed today.
2.
Compare Mintzberg’s chart of organizational design
(Exhibit 1.3) with the organization chart of the Community Job Training Program
(Exhibit 1.4). Which of these “images
of organization” helps you better understand how organizations work both in the
abstract and specifically. Give
reasons for you choice(s). Then, take
at least two units (boxes on the chart) from the Community Job Training Program
and place them in each of the five sectors of Mintzberg’s chart.
3.
Give
an example of a resource-based approach to organizational effectiveness as
adopted by a real life public organization.
How does the availability of this resource impact upon the services delivered
by the agency you have chosen? Develop
a measure that you believe would help show whether solving all or part of
the “resource problem” really makes a
difference in the quality and/or quantity of the services delivered to the
public.
4.
Why does Daft say that an “internal process”
approach to organizational effectiveness has shortcomings? Give an example of a public agency that has
achieved a “well-oiled” process. Then
give your assessment of the degree to which this process has, or has not, contributed
to organizational effectiveness.
5. Are you employed in functional organizational structure, a divisional structure , a geographic structure or a matrix structure? Whichever you pick, explain why and then go over each “weakness” and “strength” for the structure you have chosen to assess whether your organization exhibits that factor and to what extent. Then decide whether your organization shows one or more of the symptoms of structural deficiency (49).
6.
How
does the current terrorist threat fit with the “conditions for establishing a
matrix structure? Is there pressure to
share scarce organizational resources?
Do we need in-depth knowledge as well as flexibility to apply that
knowledge? Is the problem being faced
complex and uncertain? After you answer
yes or no (along with a why) to these questions, evaluate what structures would
best serve the Office of Homeland Security in coordinating an effective
response to terrorist threat.
Chapter
4 of Daft
7.
Having
read the Enron story, explain how Enron sought to control its environment by
utilizing the following strategy.
First, define Enron’s environment by (1) identifying the businesses it
was in and (2) determining the complexity, stability and uncertainty in the
environment. Then explain how Enron
dealt with any four of the following ten factors: resource dependence,
ownership of the firm, joint ventures with other entities, cooptation,
executive recruitment and transition, public relations, change of domain,
political activity/regulation, trade associations, illegitimate
activities.
8.
Define
domain. Define sector. Name them.
Now apply the concepts of domain and sector to the NYPD answer the following questions. What industry is the NYPD in? What raw materials does the NYPD
need? What human resources does
the NYPD need? What financial
resources is the NYPD dependent upon?
Does the NYPD exist in anything that can be viewed as a market?
What technologies exist that the NYPD can exploit to better its
performance? In what ways (identify at
least two) can economic conditions impact the NYPD? How does the government sector affect
what the NYPD can and can not do? How
does the sociocultural sector determine what an NYPD can do or not
do? Does the international
sector have an impact on how the NYPD does its job?
Chapter
5
9.
The “service” sector is where you work if your
output (1) is intangible (can’t be touched), (2) can’t be inventoried, (3) is
delivered more or less on demand, (4) tries to locate near the customer, and
(5) requires a lot of labor and knowledge to produce. You are also a service sector worker if you (6) regularly deal
with clients and customers, (6) along with fellow employees and, even though
(8) what you produce is difficult to measure, (9) everyone has an opinion of
just how well or poorly you are doing.
Are you a service worker, a product/service worker, or a product worker? When you answer be sure to apply each of the
eight categories above (or the additional “manufacturing” categories from exhibit
5.6) to what you do.
10. What structural characteristics tend to be present in service organizations (Exhibit 5.7)? For each of the six elements identified, discuss the degree to which they apply in your organization. If they don’t, what do you see as the consequences of your organization’s failure to adopt a structure appropriate to service delivery. If you work in a product organization, answer the same questions with reference to the structural characteristics you see where you work.
11. How are concepts such as job rotation, job simplification, job enlargement and job enrichment related to the technology adopted by an organization? How much weight should be given to the human side of the equation when looking at organizations as socio-technical systems?
12.
What
implications does the “Life Cycle” view of organizational development have for
the proposition that there is a permanent, “best way” to run an
organization? Looking at the crises
that have befallen the organizations you are studying for your term paper, or
that have befallen other organizations, how does Daft’s matching of “crisis
type” with “life stage” (101-102) hold up?
How does his matching of “life stage” with structural, process and
leadership style (exhibit 6.3) hold up?
13.
What
are the advantages that “rational-legal” forms of authority and organization
have over traditional and charismatic forms?
Chapter
7
14. Assess the Enron scandal in terms of (1) managerial ethics, (2) social responsibility and (3) the degree to which one or more employees faced dilemmas between what was legal/moral/ethical and what preserved their employment/protected their firm. To what extent did the critical, damaging decisions involve (1) personal ethics, (2) the organizational culture, (3) organizational systems and (4) external stakeholders.
15.
What
are the four types of “rites” that help reinforce organizational culture? How does each operate specifically to help
bond organization members together? How
many of these rites have your personally experienced? What was their effect on you?
16.
In
the wake of Enron, just about every large organization can use a reinvigoration
of its commitment to ethics. What is
the necessary starting point (and continuing touchstone) for such a
reinvigoration? What structures
encourage an organization’s focus on ethics?
What policies help monitor ethical behavior and generally encourage
employees to act ethically? What should
organizations do to help insure that employees really understand, respect and
subscribe to the ethics policy and structures enforcing those policies?
Chapter
8
17.
For
successful organization change you need ideas, as well as need combined with a
sense of urgency. Where do these ideas
come from? Should the organization be
active or passive in trolling for ideas?
Who should get a vote on what the organization’s needs are? Finally, in giving a sense of urgency to a
need, proponents of change often exaggerate and over-dramatize the problems
that the proposed change is designed to address. Are they hypocrites, smart organizational politicians, or both?
18.
Change
can either come top-down or bottom-up.
Daft’s discussion of the “dual core” approach emphasizes that government
and non-profit agencies are more likely to initiate and manage change through
the administrative core, rather than the technical core. Assess the several reasons with which Daft
justifies his analysis from your own perspective as a current or future member
of a government or non-profit agency.
19.
Define
reengineering. Then, compare and
contrast reengineering with total quality management and organizational
development with respect to the following issues (1) the percentage of the
organization involved in the change; (2) the degree to which the basic
operations of the organization change, (3) the degree to which the organization
looks outside itself for better models, (4) the degree to which upper
management dominates.
Chapter
9
20.
Successful
decision-makers in high-velocity environments rely on: real time information,
parallel alternative solutions, trusted advisors, wide consultation that does
not foreclose unilateral decision, and decisions that fit strategy. They also try and fail, get up and try
again. Identify examples of such
decision-makers from the your “term paper” organizations, your personal
experience or other situations with which you are familiar? Then, using the same sources, identify any
“commitment escalators” who brought their organization to ruin?
21. How does the Carnegie Model’s concepts of “management coalitions,” “satisficing,” and “problemistic search” help clarify the idea of bounded rationality?
Chapter
10
22.
The
classic "Bases of Social Power" include legitimate power, reward
power, coercive power, expert power and referent power. Daft mentions, but does not emphasize the
"classic power bases," choosing to emphasize "structural"
sources of power, with power being 'the ability of one person or department to
influence others to bring about desired outcomes.' How do Daft's structural power sources (181-187) compare with the
"classic" power sources.
23.
What
do you think of Daft's definition of intergroup conflict? Is it necessary that a group perceives its
goals or expectations blocked? What can
cause conflict situations to endure even when the opposing groups are NOT
pursuing incompatible goals and expectations?
Give examples of such situations.