List two norms each for two of the groups to which you belong. How are these norms enforced?
> How do you think your career path might differ in a hierarchical versus a flat organization?
> Are office politics bad? Why or why not?
> Have you ever tried to influence your boss to do something? What upward influence tactics did you try? Were you successful? Why or why not?
> How can diversity create a competitive advantage for a firm?
> How can you ethically use power, influence, and politics to get a promotion?
> Is another person’s ethics important to you in your decision to allow that person to influence you? Why or why not?
> What influence tactics does your instructor use to motivate you to learn?
> What power(s) does your instructor have?
> Do you believe that men and women differ in how they lead? Is so, what are some of the factors that might account for the differences?
> What are some of the substitutes and neutralizers to leadership that might exist in your classroom?
> Have you ever made direct leadership attributions about someone based on the context in which you observed them?
> Name the three people today whom you consider to be the most charismatic. How well do they or might they function as leaders?
> Which of the three traditional situational theories discussed in Chapter 12 is most similar to the leader-member exchange model? To the Hersey and Blanchard model?
> Are you now or have you ever been a member of an in-group? An out-group? Is so, in what ways did your experience differ?
> What are your personal opinions about international outsourcing in the garment industry? Do you think that lower prices are worth sending U.S. jobs to other countries? Explain your answer.
> Some people have held that highly successful managers and leaders all face situations in which they cannot be entirely truthful and still succeed. For instance, a politician who personally believes that a tax increase is inevitable may feel that to full
> In what ways does strategic leadership differ from “non-strategic” leadership?
> Compare and contrast the leader-member exchange and the Hersey and Blanchard models of leadership.
> Of the three major leadership theories – the LPC theory, the path-goal theory, and Vroom’s decision tree approach – which is the most comprehensive? Which is the narrowest? Which has the most practical value?
> Compare and contrast the LPC and path-goal theories of leadership. What are the strengths and weaknesses of each?
> Do you agree or disagree with Fiedler’s assertion that leadership motivation is basically a personality trait? Why?
> Critique Fiedler’s LPC theory. Are other elements of the situation important? Do you think Fiedler’s assertion about the inflexibility of leader behavior makes sense? Why or why not?
> Cite examples of managers who are not leaders and of leaders who are not managers. What makes them one and not the other? Also, cite examples of both formal and informal leaders.
> How realistic do you think it is for managers to attempt to use Vroom’s decision tree approach as prescribed? Explain.
> How would you define “leadership”? Compare and contrast your definition with the one given in this chapter.
> Do you think that concerns regarding ethics will become more or less important in business? Why?
> What could you do to minimize the potential for negative outcomes in cross-cultural negotiations?
> If two of your subordinates were experiencing task conflict, what would you do to manage it? Why?
> Think about a current conflict you are experiencing with a coworker, friend, or family member. Which of Glasl’s conflict stages are you in? What can you do to keep the conflict from escalating to the next level?
> Have you ever experienced a dysfunctional conflict? What happened? Why was the conflict not resolved earlier?
> Have you ever experienced a constructive conflict? What happened? How was the disagreement resolved?
> Which do you think is more important for organizations: formal or informal communication?
> Which do you think is more important for organizations: downward communication or upward communication?
> Think of a time when you have been persuaded by someone to do something. Why was the other person able to change your attitude or behavior?
> What are the implications of organizational diversity on the communication media the company should use?
> How comfortable or uncomfortable are you in making risky decisions?
> Think of something that you believe leads to employee productivity based on intuition that may not prove to be true if tested systematically. Now apply the scientific method and describe how you might test your theory.
> Can you think of a time when you satisficed when making a decision? Have you ever suboptimized?
> Why does it make sense to discuss several different models of decision making?
> How does the role of information in the rational model of decision making differ from the role of information in the behavioral model?
> Describe at least three points in the decision-making process at which information plays an important role.
> When your alarm goes off each morning, you have a decision to make: whether to get up and go to school or work, or to stay in bed and sleep longer. Is this a programmed or nonprogrammed decision? Why?
> Do you consider yourself to be relatively more or less creative? Recall an instance in which you made a discovery using the four phases of the creative process.
> Some have argued that people, not organizations, make decisions and that the study of “organizational” decision making is therefore pointless. Do you agree with this argument? Why or why not?
> Which do you feel is more important to team performance, informational diversity or demographic diversity? Why? Do multicultural teams increase this type of diversity? If so, how?
> Do you think a team contract would improve the effectiveness of teams? Why or why not?
> Some say that changing to a team-based arrangement “just makes sense” for organizations. What are the four primary reasons why this might be so?
> Some people believe that individuals working in an organization have basic human rights to satisfaction with their work and to the opportunity to grow and develop. How would you defend this position? How would you argue against it?
> Discuss the following statement: “Group cohesiveness is the good, warm feeling we get from working in groups and is something that all group leaders should strive to develop in the groups they lead.”
> Think about an effective team you have been on. What made it effective? Think about an underperforming team you have been on. Why was it underperforming?
> As a student in this class, what “rewards” do you receive in exchange for your time and effort?
> Can performance on some jobs simply not be measured? Why or why not?
> In what ways is your performance as a student evaluated? How is the performance of your instructor measured? What are the limitations of this method?
> Why are employees having their performance measured and evaluated all the time instead of simply being left alone to do their jobs?
> What are the motivational consequences of increased employee involvement from the frame of reference of expectancy and equity theories?
> What are the primary similarities and differences between job enrichment and the approach proposed by job characteristics theory?
> Identify the five forms of reinforcement that you receive most often (i.e., wages, grades, etc.). On what schedule do you receive each of them?
> Why will learning about OB help you to get a better job and a better career, and be a better manager?
> Think of occasions on which you experienced each of the four types of reinforcement.
> Do the relationships between performance and satisfaction suggested by Porter and Lawler seem valid? Cite examples that both support and refute the model.
> Do you think expectancy theory is too complex for direct use in organizational settings? Why or why not?
> Which is likely to be a more serious problem – perceptions of being under-rewarded or perceptions of being over-rewarded?
> Have you ever experienced inequity in a job or a class? How did it affect you?
> When has your level of performance been directly affected by your motivation? By your ability? By the environment?
> What are the major stressors for a student? What consequences are students most likely to suffer as a result of too much stress?
> Do you consider yourself a Type A or a Type B person? Why? Do you think a person who is a Type A can change to become more like a Type B? If so, how?
> How does perception affect behavior? What stereotypes do you form about people? Are they good or bad?
> What do you think are the most important things a manager does? Is how a manager does these things also important? Why or why not?
> Do terminal or instrumental values have a larger influence on your behavior at work? Explain.
> If a subordinate came to you and said that they felt the company’s new diversity hiring initiative was unfair and would compromise their well-deserved opportunities for advancement, how would you respond?
> Based on the chapter, what other suggestions would you make to change the culture to enhance responsiveness to the environment and why would you suggest them?
> In what ways does fairness influence how the subordinate responded to the situations you viewed?
> Which team performance factors have the most influence on the decision-making process?
> How and why would organization development differ if the elements of the social system were not interdependent?
> In what ways can the influence of the founder of an organization be assessed after that founder is no longer a part of the organization?
> Which of the four conflict management cultures would be the best fit for you? Why?
> If you started your own company selling iPhone applications, what organizational structure would you create? Why?
> What keeps you from delegating more? How can you overcome these obstacles?
> How do you use impression management at work?
> Describe a time in the last week that someone influenced you to do something you would not otherwise have done. What influence tactic(s) did she or he use?
> Do you think that it would be easy to influence a subordinate’s attitudes, values, or emotions? Why? Which would have the largest influence on the employee’s behavior? Why?
> In your opinion, is it possible for someone with little or no charisma to become charismatic? If so, how? If not, why?
> Identify an individual who could serve as an example of a transformational leader. How successful or unsuccessful has this person been?
> What other forms of leader behavior besides those cited in the chapter can you identify?
> Recent evidence suggests that successful managers (defined by organizational rank and salary) may indeed have some of the same traits originally ascribed to effective leaders (such as an attractive appearance and relative height). How might this finding
> What traits do you think characterize successful leaders? Do you think the trait approach has validity?
> What would have to happen for you to fully accept and cooperate with a mediator’s recommended settlement?
> If two of your subordinates were experiencing relationship conflict, what would you do to manage it? Why?
> Which of the conflict causes do you feel is most challenging to a manager? Why?
> How can managers promote constructive conflict?
> If you were about to be fired, how would you want to hear the news? Why? How would you least want to hear the news? Why?
> Do you agree that a certain degree of stress is necessary to induce high energy and motivation?
> If you had to tell your boss bad news, what communication media would you use?
> What are some of the most common sources of noise when others try to talk to you? What can you do to reduce their effects?
> What are your preferred methods of receiving information? Does your answer differ depending on the type of information being sent?
> What role, if any, do you feel the grapevine plays in organizations?
> What information did you use in deciding to enter the school you now attend?
> Are any of the groups to which you belong too large or too small to get their work done? If so, what can the leader or the members do to alleviate the problem?
> What motivational problems might result from an organization’s attempt to set up work teams?
> Which of Gardner’s multiple intelligences do you feel are most important for managers?
