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AHRS

ORGANIZATIONAL
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INDEX

 Introduction …………………………………… 2
 Activity 1.1 …………………………………… 3
 Activity 1.2 …………………………………… 8
 Activity 2.1 …………………………………… 21
 References …………………………………… 23

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INTRODUCTION

AHRS Team was formulated by a group of 4 students in 1st year


of the MBA Program, the team had worked together
collaboratively on several projects in different subjects such as
Finance, Marketing, E-Business, and Accounting.

We have enjoyed working together on these different


assignments & projects so much that we decided to add creating
a Professional Research & Development Center to our dream
list!

“To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also
dream; not only plan, but also believe.”
Anatole France quotes

AHRS

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Activity 1.1
Research and write out definitions of the following key concepts...
● OB:
The study of the structure, functioning and performance of organizations, and
the behavior of groups and individuals within them.
The systematic study and carful application of knowledge about how people –
as individuals and as groups- act within organization.
● Organization:
A social arrangement for achieving controlled performance in pursuit of
collective goals.
Non-random arrangement of components or parts interconnected in a manner
as to constitute a system identifiable as a unit.
Sequential or spatial (or both) forms in a body of knowledge, data, people,
things, or other elements are purposefully arranged.
Social unit of people systematically arranged and managed to meet a need or
to pursue collective goals on a continuing basis. All organizations have a
management structure that determines relationships between functions and
positions, and subdivides and delegates roles, responsibilities, and authority to
carry out defined tasks. Organizations are open systems in that they affect and
are affected by the environment beyond their boundaries.
● Controlled Performance:
Is setting standards, measuring performance, comparing actual with standard,
and taking corrective action if necessary.
● Organizational Dilemma:
The question of how to reconcile potential inconsistency between individuals
needs and aspirations on the one hand, and the collective purpose of the
organization on the other.
● Independent Variable:
It is typically the variable representing the value being manipulated, controlled
or changed. It is usually what you think will affect the dependent variable. It is
known as the manipulated variable which lies at the heart of any quantitative
experimental design. This factor produces one or more results, known as
dependent variables. There are often not more than one or two independent
variables tested in an experiment, otherwise it is difficult to determine the
influence of each, upon the final results.

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● The Dependent Variable:


It is the observed result of the independent variable being manipulated. The
variables which entirely rely on organizational behavior of individuals and
groups are productivity, absenteeism, and turnover and job satisfaction.
Productivity is a measure of performance which includes both effectiveness
and efficiency.
● Organizational Effectiveness:
Organizational effectiveness measures how well an organization is in sync.
Even with the best management, superior strategy and flawless execution an
organization can be less successful than it could be. Organizations who
understand employees as partners stand a much better chance of achieving
high organizational effectiveness and efficiency.
"organizational effectiveness is about each individual doing everything they
know how to do and doing it well” it is the concept of how effective an
organization is in achieving the outcomes the organization intends to produce.
Organizational effectiveness is an abstract concept and is basically impossible
to measure. Instead of measuring organizational effectiveness, the
organization determines proxy measures which are used to represent
effectiveness.
● Balanced Scorecard:
The balanced scorecard is a strategic planning and management system that is
used extensively in business and industry, government, and nonprofit
organizations worldwide to align business activities to the vision and strategy
of the organization, improve internal and external communications, and
monitor organization performance against strategic goals.
● Operational Definition:
An operational definition defines something (e.g. a variable, term, or object) in
terms of the specific process or set of validation tests used to determine its
presence and quantity. That is, one defines something in terms of the
operations that count as measuring it. The term was coined by Percy Williams
Bridgman and is a part of the process of operationalization; which uses
theoretical (or conceptual) definition which gives the meaning of a word in
terms of the theories of a specific discipline. This type of definition assumes
both knowledge and acceptance of the theories that it depends on. To
theoretically define is to create a hypothetical construct; this method of
defining is more intuitive compared to other methods of operationalization like
operationally defining.

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One might use operational definitions that rely on operations in order to avoid
the troubles associated with attempting to define things in terms of some
intrinsic essence.
An example of an operational definition might be defining the weight of an
object in terms of the numbers that appear when that object is placed on a
weighing scale. The weight then, is whatever results from following the
(weight) measurement procedure, which should be repeatable by anyone.
● Behavior:
Behavior refers to the actions of a system or organism, usually in relation to its
environment, which includes the other systems or organisms around as well as
the physical environment. It is the response of the system or organism to
various stimuli or inputs, whether internal or external, conscious or
subconscious, overt or covert, and voluntary or involuntary.
More generally, behavior can be regarded as any action of an organism that
changes its relationship to its environment. Behavior provides outputs from the
organism to the environment.
Human behavior (and that of other organisms and mechanisms) can be
common, unusual, acceptable, or unacceptable. Humans evaluate the
acceptability of behavior using social norms and regulate behavior by means
of social control. In sociology, behavior is considered as having no meaning,
being not directed at other people and thus is the most basic human action,
although can play a part in diagnosis of disorders such as autism. According to
the moral values, human behaves in a manner and the behavior may also
depend upon the common, usual, unusual, acceptable or unacceptable behavior
of others.
● Behaviorism:
Behaviorism, also called the learning perspective (where any physical action is
a behavior), is a philosophy of psychology based on the proposition that all
things that organisms do—including acting, thinking and feeling—can and
should be regarded as behaviors. The behaviorist school of thought maintains
that behaviors as such can be described scientifically without recourse either to
internal physiological events or to hypothetical constructs such as the mind.
Behaviorism comprises the position that all theories should have observational
correlates but that there are no philosophical differences between publicly
observable processes (such as actions) and privately observable processes
(such as thinking and feeling).
Behaviorism, experimental analysis of behavior and applied behavior analysis
along with the professional practice of behavior analysis are domains of
behavior analysis. The professional practice of behavior analysis is the

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delivery of interventions to consumers that are guided by the principles of


behaviorism and the research of both the experimental analysis of behavior
and applied behavior analysis. Professional practice seeks maximum precision
to change behavior most effectively in specific instances. The professional
practice of behavior analysis is a hybrid discipline with specific influences
coming from counseling, psychology, education, special education,
communication disorders, physical therapy and criminal justice. As a
discipline it has its own conferences, organizations, certification process and
awards.
● Positivism:
Positivism refers to a set of epistemological1 perspectives and philosophies of
science which hold that the scientific method is the best approach to
uncovering the processes by which both physical and human events occur.
Positivism asserts that the only authentic knowledge is that which is based on
sense experience and positive verification.
Though the positivist approach has been a 'recurrent theme in the history of
western thought from the ancient Greeks to the present day' the concept was
developed in the early 19th century by the philosopher and founding
sociologist, Auguste Comte. In the original Comtean usage, the term
"positivism" roughly meant the use of scientific methods to uncover the laws
according to which both physical and human events occur, while "sociology"
was the overarching science that would synthesize all such knowledge for the
betterment of society.
Positivism is also defined as "the view that all true knowledge is scientific, and
that all things are ultimately measurable. Positivism is closely related to
reductionism, in that both involve the view that "entities of one kind... are
reducible to entities of another, such as societies to configurations of
individuals or mental events to neural phenomena. It also involves the
contention that "processes are reducible to physiological, physical or chemical
events, and even that "social processes are reducible to relationships between
and actions of individuals, or that "biological organisms are reducible to
physical systems.

1
Epistemology (from Greek ἐπιστήμη – epistēmē, "knowledge, science" + λόγος, "logos") or
theory of knowledge is the branch of philosophy concerned with the nature and scope
(limitations) of knowledge.[1] It addresses the questions:
• What is knowledge?
• How is knowledge acquired?
• What do people know?
• How do we know what we know?
Much of the debate in this field has focused on analyzing the nature of knowledge and how it
relates to connected notions such as truth, belief, and justification. It also deals with the
.means of production of knowledge, as well as skepticism about different knowledge claims

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● Action:
A response issued by the individual as a result of inadvertent contact with
other individuals or as a result of contact with the external environment
around, therefore in this sense, it includes everything that comes from the
individual work of the motor, thinking, communication, feelings, emotions, or
awareness.
A process or condition of acting or moving, as opposed to rest; the doing of
something; exertion of power or force, as when one body acts on another; the
effect of power exerted on one body by another; agency; activity; operation;
as, the action of heat; a man of action.
● Cognitive Psychology:
Cognitive psychology is the branch of psychology that studies mental
processes including how people think, perceive, remember and learn. As part
of the larger field of cognitive science, this branch of psychology is related to
other disciplines including neuroscience, philosophy, and linguistics.
The core focus of cognitive psychology is on how people acquire, process and
store information. There are numerous practical applications for cognitive
research, such as ways to improve memory, how to increase decision-making
accuracy, and how to structure educational curricula to enhance learning.
● Phenomenology:
Phenomenology is the study of structures of consciousness as experienced
from the first-person point of view. The central structure of an experience is its
intentionality, its being directed toward something, as it is an experience of
some object. An experience is directed toward an object by virtue of its
content or meaning (which represents the object) together with appropriate
enabling conditions.
● Social Construction Of Reality
The social construction of reality refers to how people construct their views of
the world.
The social construction of reality refers to what people define as real because
of their background assumptions and life experiences.

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Activity 1.2
Case study
Complete exercise 2 in Buchanan and huczynaki, (2004). Organizational
Behavior an Introductory text. Pages 29-30.

• Sunderland Football Club (FC)


Ground Capacity: 48,707 (Paying Customers)
Average cost per ticket 18 to 28 pounds per week
We are very happy to select this particular team to answer the case study questions;
what we loved about this FC is their perseverance which is one of the most important
keys to success.

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Factors Example Positive and negative contributions


Player’s skills and Positive (+):
abilities; personalities Team members have reasonably good individual
Indivi
dual

and egos; interpersonal skills


Facto

communication; Negative (-):


achievement Some team members have the consistent interest
rs

motivation; perception to seek other professional FC for better financial


of club status compensation contracts.
Positive (+):
• The team has a very strong team spirit,
synergy and devotion to the football club, FC
history & fans.
• The new assigned manager is a very
reputable expert in soccer and well respected
Group cohesion; status
in the FC & its fans.
Grou and leadership
• The FC Coach uses a very good leadership
Facto

structure in the team;


p

team behavioral norms; approach empowering the team captain


do the player like each consequently the team players to propose &
rs

other utilize new ideas & game plans then


implement it in matches which reflected
positively in the team spirit & performance
Negative (-):
There is a link missing in the hierarchy above the
FC Coach and upper management which caused
fraction
Positive (+):
Although the club ownership has been suffering
form changes however, recently the ownership of
the club has been obtained by a former
Club ownership; fixable
Struct Sunderland champion who has great loyalty to the
ural

structure or rigid
Facto

FC and will respected by the FC players & fans


bureaucratic approach;
which will result in positive outcome.
composition of the main
Negative (-):
rs

board; financial health


The financial status of the FC has not been
adequate enough for the FC to grow & prosper
and to enable the management of enhancing the
rewards policies for the FC players

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Positive (+):
The culture of the club is very strong with deep
roots
Plans for organization Negative (-):
development ; • The recent changes in management
substance of members made several times during the peak
Proce organizational changes; of the soccer season caused instability in the
Facto

how changes are FC


ss

implemented; the • The previous instability in management


culture of the club; caused hindrance & delay in making &
rs

recruitment; retention; implementing plans for organization


motivation & rewards development
policies for the players • Due to the financial instability the
recruitment, retention, motivation & rewards
policies for the players have not been adequate
which signifies a weakness point.
Positive (+):
The Leadership styles of the team captain and the
Leadership styles of coach is very empowering and has proven to be
Factogeme

Mana team captain and coach successful which is one of the strength points
and club chairman; Negative (-):
• Due to the instability and the recent
nt

power holders on the


board; decision making management changes, the decision making
style; internal politics process was neither streamlined nor adequate
rs

and conflict to fit the FC needs.


• Consequently, the internal politics and
conflict was a weakness point as well.
1. How do these factors interact with and reinforce each other in
contributing to and explaining organizational effectiveness?
The factors integrate together and their interaction will have a great impact on the
organization (in this case the football club) to achieve the required outcome in an
effective & efficient manner.
Organizational behavior is influenced by a wide range of factors which in
combination contribute to organizational effectiveness and the experience of work
therefore; high organizational effectiveness will have an impact on individual
motivation, on groups, cohesiveness and performance, on organization structure and
culture, and perhaps on management style & visa versa thus, it is imperative to be
aware of interrelationships between these sets of factors.
Here is more analysis about each factor:
Individual Factors:
The individuals i.e. Team members – in this case soccer players – have to be
competent and obtain high skills to be able to give excellent performance in soccer
matches therefore, their individual skills are very important to the success of the
organization (the FC) however, there are other aspects to be reviewed as well such the

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individuals’ training, compensation & benefits, motivation etc. Moreover, this factor
has interrelationship with all of the other factors i.e. Group Factors as the teamwork,
Management Factors ..etc, all of which have enormous impact on the individuals’
performance.
Group Factors
The Group Factors i.e. Group cohesion; status and leadership structure in the
team; team behavioral norms; team members relationships, etc.
Team members – in this case soccer players –have a very strong team spirit, synergy
and devotion to the football club, that in addition to other related aspects of this factor
will have a powerful affect on the organizational effectiveness (FC success). Never
the less, this there is a link missing in the hierarchy above the FC Coach and upper
management which caused fraction which might compromise the potential
contribution of this factor. Moreover, this factor has interrelationship with all of the
other factors i.e. Structural Factors, Management Factors..etc, all of which have
enormous impact on the overall effectiveness .
Structural Factors
When reviewing this factor, we found that although the club ownership has been
suffering form changes however, recently the ownership of the club has been obtained
by a former Sunderland champion who has great loyalty to the FC and will respected
by the FC players & fans which will result in positive outcome. However, the
financial status of the FC has not been adequate enough for the FC to grow & prosper
and to enable the management of enhancing the rewards policies for the FC players.
This factor will also have interrelationship with all of the other factors i.e. Group
Factors, Management Factors..etc, all of which have enormous impact on the overall
effectiveness .
Process Factors
The process factors are very important in the planning for the team while they are
a strong and competent they need planning to overcome their previous instability and
weak points. Again, this factor will also have interrelationship with all of the other
factors i.e. Group Factors, Management Factors..etc, all of which have enormous
impact on the overall effectiveness .
Management Factors
The Leadership styles of the team captain and the coach is very empowering and
has proven to be successful therefore, this is considered as one of the strength points.
However, Due to the instability and the recent management changes, the decision
making process was neither streamlined nor adequate to fit the FC needs,
consequently, the internal politics and conflict was a weakness point as well, therefore
all of this will have a negative impact on the other factors due to the interrelationship
with all of them i.e. Group Factors, Structural Factors..etc, all of which have
enormous impact on the overall effectiveness .

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2. Given the range of factors that can influence organizational effectiveness,


how important are the players? Given their contribution following this
analysis to what extent do they deserve the high fees that leasing the clubs
often pay?
It’s always tempting to assume that the individuals (FC players) are the most
important & essential factor in the whole organization. However, it should be clear
that this assumption will often be false. We need to look beyond such simple
explanations and consider factors at different levels of analysis: individual, groups,
organization, management, the wider context.
According to the analysis given in this exercise, the players are very important for the
success of the organization – after all this is a football club and having a professional
soccer players is imperative to maintain the FC existence & participation in soccer
matches – however, the soccer players are not the only important factor nor the most
essential factor, as there are several important factors influencing the organizational
effectiveness – by their own affect & by their interrelationship with the other factors.
Therefore, they deserve the high fees paid to them in order to retain them and defeat
the existing competition from the other Football Clubs that exert great efforts to
attract the young talent.

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Activity 1.2
Questions
1. How is Organizational Behavior defined, what does the subject cover, and
what is its practical relevance?
Organizational Behavior studies encompass the study of organizations from
multiple viewpoints, methods, and levels of analysis. For instance, a traditional
distinction, present especially in American academia, is between the study of "micro"
organizational behavior—which refers to individual and group dynamics in an
organizational setting—and "macro" strategic management and organizational theory
which studies whole organizations and industries, how they adapt, and the strategies,
structures and contingencies that guide them. To this distinction, some scholars have
added an interest in "meso" -- primarily interested in power, culture, and the networks
of individuals and units in organizations—and "field" level analysis which study how
whole populations of organizations interact..
The OB covers a lot of aspects in any organization, whenever people interact in
organizations, many factors come into play. Modern organizational studies attempt to
understand and model these factors. Like all modernist social sciences, organizational
studies seek to control, predict, and explain. During the last 20 years organizational
behavior study and practice has developed and expanded through creating integrations
with other domains:
• Anthropology became an interesting prism to understanding firms as
communities, by introducing concepts like Organizational culture,
'organizational rituals' and 'symbolic acts' enabling new ways to understand
organizations as communities.
• Leadership Understanding: the crucial role of leadership at various
level of an organization in the process of change management.
• Ethics and their importance as pillars of any vision and one of the most
important driving forces in an organization.
The practical relevance is to revitalize organizational theory and develop a better
conceptualization of organizational life. OB should carefully consider levels
assumptions being made in theory, and is concerned to help managers and
administrators. OB can play a major role in organizational development, enhancing
organizational performance, as well as individual and group
performance/satisfaction/commitment.
The OB field is highly influential in the business world with practitioners like
Peter Drucker and Peter Senge, who turned the academic research into business
practices. Organizational behavior is becoming more important in the global economy
as people with diverse backgrounds and cultural values have to work together

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effectively and efficiently. It is also under increasing criticism as a field for its
ethnocentric and pro-capitalist assumptions.
Also part of OB practical uses is Organizational Behavior Management (OBM)
which is the result of applying the psychological principles of Applied behavior
analysis and the Experimental analysis of behavior to organizations to promote
worker safety and other benefits.
The areas of application may include: systems analysis, management, training,
and performance improvement.
The field of OBM consists of the development and evaluation of performance
improvement procedures which are based on the principles of behavior discovered
through the science of behavior analysis. These procedures are considered to be
within the scope of OBM when they focus on improving individual or group
performance within an organizational setting, whether that organization be a business,
industrial setting, or human service setting, and whether that organization was
established for profit or not.
The goal of the field of OBM is to establish a technology of broad-scale
performance improvement and organizational change so that employees will be more
productive and happy, and so that organizations and institutions will be more effective
and efficient in achieving their goals. OBM interventions have been varied and
include working with therapists on increasing billable hours to fortune five hundred
companies increasing productivity to issues of effective pay systems.

2. Write down three examples of the Organizational dilemma, these may be


taken from real life or a fictitious source (book, film, etc an example could be
the film Chicken Run see page 27 of the core text).
● Example 12
The Gold Company is a subsidiary of a large mining company that owns and
operates five gold mines in the U.S., South America, and New Zealand. It is in the
process of acquiring several additional mines that could at least double revenues to
over $300 million/year. The Director of Human Resources has persuaded the
company's president to engage a consultant, in this case an OD professional, to do an
assessment of the corporate headquarters to help facilitate needed changes and
prepare the company for rapid and sudden growth.
The corporate headquarters consists of 75 people functioning in five departments
Exploration, Engineering, Finance, Legal, and Human Resources--the top
management team. Each department is headed by a vice president. The president and
vice presidents make up the top management team. The president is a young (age 38)
mining engineer who advanced quickly within the parent company. He has been
D. D. Warrick, University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, Dr. Gary N. McLean 2
website http://www.mcleanglobal.com/instructionalcasestudies

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president for two years and is a capable and well-liked leader. He has had minimal
formal management or leadership training but, for the most part, seems to have good
common sense leadership instincts.
The consultant contacted for the project had previously worked with the
company's largest mine on a program designed to develop the management team into
a high performance team, train all of the mine managers and supervisors in the latest
management skills, and involve the managers in making high impact improvements
throughout the mine. The program was considered very successful, and the mine
became the flagship mine in the company in ounces of gold produced, low cost
production per ounce, and mine management. The mine manager was highly regarded
in the company and mining industry.
Several meetings between the consultant, president, and HR Director revealed
that, although the company was very successful financially and showed great future
promise, numerous internal problems existed. The company did not have a clear
mission other than to grow and be profitable, and the values and goals were not clear
to employees. Departments were very territorial. Teamwork within and between most
departments was minimal. The HR Director was particularly concerned about the lack
of teamwork among members of the top management team. Several conflicts existed
between the vice presidents, and one of the vice presidents had a history of conflicts
throughout the organization. It was also the opinion of the HR Director that morale
was low because numerous employees had confided to her that they were either
stretched to the limit, underutilized, or felt oppressed by the very performance-driven,
but not people driven, work environment.
Please review the complete case analysis and resolution in the appendix.

● Example 23
It was October 25, and Brian McMann, English instructor for Delta Language
Systems in Japan, was sitting at his desk pondering the events that had transpired over
the past two weeks.
Brian had graduated in business administration from a university in Canada, and,
during the past year and a half that he had been employed at Delta; he had noticed that
there were some problems between the foreign, native English-speaking teachers and
the Japanese managers. However, two events that had taken place over the past two
weeks underscored the extent and seriousness of the problems. He had recently
participated in "Veterans' Training," a required development activity for all
experienced instructors within the Region. During the training, one session was
devoted to discussing the teachers' greatest barriers to job satisfaction.

CULTURE CLASH IN THE ENGLISH CLASSROOM IN JAPAN, Laird D. McLean, 3


McLean Global Consulting, Inc., Dr. Gary N. McLean website:
http://www.mcleanglobal.com/instructionalcasestudies

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Those managers! All they care about are the contracts! I thought I was coming
here to teach English, not to be in sales,” exclaimed one teacher from Canada. “The
manager at my school won’t even talk to us gai-jin (foreign) teachers,” sneered
another teacher from the UK. “They always send the Japanese teachers to do their
dirty work!”
Almost unanimously, the teacher/manager relationship came up as the greatest
barrier.
About a week later, there was a meeting at Brian's school to discuss the upcoming
student renewal campaign. One of the Japanese English teachers at the school had
previously been a manager. She had a lot of useful information about how teachers
could help managers--not only during the campaign, but also in general.
The Regional Manager would be visiting his school in a few weeks to get input
from employees at the school on how the company might improve. As Brian thought
about these events, he wondered what Delta might be able to do in order to eliminate
or overcome the challenges presented by the teacher/manager relationship.
Please review the complete case analysis and resolution in the appendix.
● Example 34
Western University, a mid-sized coordinate campus of a major public university,
has several administrative units, including Academic Affairs, under which all the
colleges operate; Financial Administration, responsible for the business and facilities
functions; and the Office of Student Life, responsible for a number of units that
provide, in a myriad of ways, student support.
The Office of Student Life (OSL) is headed by a Vice Chancellor, and each unit
within OSL has a director who reports to the Vice Chancellor directly and also works
collaboratively through a management team called Group Leaders. Group Leaders
function much more like the US Senate than the US House of Representatives. The
size of the unit alone does not influence the representation at the Group Leaders’
table. There is one director for each unit sitting in the Group Leaders’ meeting
chambers. Some of the units are units of one, with only one professional staff person
assigned, while others have sufficient staffing to support a sturdy, multi-tiered
hierarchy within the unit.
Within OSL are such student service departments as Financial Aid, Admissions,
the Registrar, Career Services, Auxiliary Services, Freshman Year Program,
Academic Support Services, Student Tutoring Center, Fitness and Recreational
Sports, and a rather loose grouping of fundamentally like-minded units that promote
cultural, ethnic, international, disability, and gay/lesbian student services. It is this

DEVELOPMENT OF A MULTICULTURAL STUDENT SERVICES CENTER AT 4


WESTERN UNIVERSITY, Nancy Diener, University of Minnesota-Duluth, Dr. Gary N.
McLean website: http://www.mcleanglobal.com/instructionalcasestudies

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latter group of units within OSL on which this case focuses. Included in this group are
International Student Services; Latino, Chicano, Hispanic Student Services; Southeast
Asian Student Services; Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender (GLBT) Student
Services; and Disability Services. With the exception of the Disability Services unit,
all units have one professional staff person assigned, with very part-time clerical
assistance provided from another unit. The Disability Services unit employs four
professional staff, one clerical and three technical employees. These units, while
housed randomly around campus as space permits, informally share many common
goals in their work. A large component of their work is devoted to student services,
and they commonly serve as campus-wide resource staff for their particular ethnic,
cultural, disability, or sexual orientation identified groups. They have done some
collaborative programming and frequently join forces for awareness and advocacy
efforts.
At Western University, the Office of Student Life has been involved in strategic
planning and has identified as a priority the need to formalize the collaborative
structure of these units for the betterment of the WU campus. To this end, there has
been a decision to create a Multicultural Student Services Center at WU. The Center
would house all the professional units listed above, as well as the student cultural
resource areas and the peer advising functions.
However, the move towards creating the new team has not been without
difficulty or conflict. While the respective missions are decidedly similar in intention,
there are different structures that support and carry out their missions.
Another constant is that each unit is highly dependent on a set of cultural
competencies and behaviors that are appropriate for their specific student population.
These norms are not the same across units, leading to significant discrepancy in
operating processes from one unit to another.
Please review the complete case analysis and resolution in the appendix.

3. How would you go about identifying the factors that influence organizational
effectiveness?
1- The impact of what you want to inform and influence which is owned by the
people who benefit from them - be clear objectives, vision, mission and values
and how you want to achieve them.
o Must have a clear idea of the vision and mission and values (for
example, in a written statement are reviewed on a regular basis) that
will give the organization focus and direction and clarity.
o should set targets and indicators to achieve against which to measure
success, based on the objectives of the organization and the quality of
services and resources available

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2- Allow it to achieve its mission and objectives and to provide services


effectively.
o Review the organizational structure as well as the Board of Directors
and assess the achievements and performance.
o Identify risks and to periodically assess the threats to it and learn how
to overcome them.
o Periodic review of the managers and the powers required to achieve
the objectives of the organization and management of resources.
o The use of professional advice when necessary (for example, legal
advice and financial);
o Create policies and procedures for all cases expected to occur in the
organization.
3- The organization is managed through the Council (known) clearly - also; has
the right balance in terms of skills and expertise to manage the organization
effectively and efficiently and Work for the benefit of the organization.
4- Management and use of resources to raise the potential of the organization to
optimize.
o Planning for the management of the organization's resources (Including
financial resources, skills, knowledge, expertise and assets) and taking into
account the appropriate methods to control costs and monitor the true
performance so you can identify any potential problems in a timely
manner then take the correct measures appropriate.
o Establishment of rigorous systems of internal financial control and to
protect the funds;
o The diversity of sources of income. For example, to reduce the danger of
relying too much on the supplier or suppliers make sure that the
organization has adequate resources before entering into any binding
contract or commitment;
o Develop a strategy for each of the investments and financial savings.
5- Organization would be flexible enough to adapt to changes in the environment
in which they operate
o Research in new technologies and use them appropriately in order to carry
out activities more effectively.
o Identify opportunities and take advantage of those opportunities to
influence the environment in order to achieve the objectives of the
organization.
6- Delighting customers
7- Advancing toward your vision
8- Fulfilling your aspirations

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9- Making money for you and your investors


10- Developing your employees and their aspirations
11- Making a positive impact on your community

4. List the factors you feel influence the effectiveness of a university.


• Teaching staff - high efficiency
• Taking into account - the updates (in the technology used in education or
courses)
• A good environment for education
• (Incentives and bonuses)
• University develop a measure of the performance
• Broad scope information
• Beneficiary satisfaction (students - academics - administrators - parents - and
the media ... etc).
• Performance Evaluation.
• Strategic planning.
• Build an information network. & Communications
• Human resource development.
• Development of scientific research and the provision of excellent research
environment.
• The development of organizational effectiveness.
• Meet the needs of the community to achieve balanced development.
• Training and continuing education.
• Self-evaluation.
• Participation in decision-making.
• Planning and direction.
• Cooperation between the leaderships.
• Rewards and incentives.
• Measuring quality - control and confirmed them.
• Manage the operations and improvements
• Encourage outstanding performance.
• Seeking for the better.
• Definition of the policy of the University

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• Education and training to standardize the language of quality in the university.


• Identify the requirements and work to achieve them

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5. Social Sciences can explain most things that happen in our lives but how
useful are they in predicting what will happen in our lives?

Social sciences can serve as an effective tool to measure the organizational


behavior of any aspect or sector within the organization to ensure the optimal
performance and productivity. For example, admission department for a given
university can measure the effectiveness of assigning the newly enrolled students
to their subject of interest using psychometric tests, IQ tests and face to face
interview. This admission study should be conducted by a professional comity
consist of individuals specialized in psychology, sociology and human resources.
However, the result of this study could not be fully predicted. Even though, there
were previous studies observed a significant positive correlation between
student’s interest and their successful career Accomplishment.

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Activity 2.1
1. What are the main differences between the behaviorist and cognitive
perspective on learning and what are the practical implementations of
these perspectives to organization and management practices?

Behaviourist, stimulus-response Cognitive, information processing


Studies only observable behaviour Studies mental processing
Behaviour is determined by learned Behaviour is determined by memory,
sequences of muscle movements mental processes and expectations
We learn habits We learn cognitive structures and
alternative ways to achieve our goals
Problem solving occurs by trial and Problem solving involves insight and
error understanding
Dull, boring, but amenable to research Rich, interesting, but complex, vague and
un-researchable?

The practical implementations for the behaviorist are shown in the organization
throw feedback, positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, punishment and
extinction. Also we can see the cognitive implies in information processing and the
cybernetic analogy, the cybernetic feedback control system, intrinsic feedback,
extrinsic feedback, concurrent feedback and delayed feedback.
In my opinion the human behavior is a mix between the behaviorist theory and
the cognitive theory. For instance, the trial and error can work in some situation and
sometimes we can't afford it. And maybe it will be acceptable in the beginnings but
not all the time.

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2. What are the differences between trait and type theories of


personality, and what are the benefits and problems associated with each?

Trait Theory Type Theory


• A relatively stable quality or • A descriptive label for a
attribute of an distinct pattern of personality
• individual’s personality, • Characteristics.
influencing behaviour in a • Examples of personality types
particular include extravert, neurotic and
Differences

• Direction. open.
• Examples of personality traits • Individuals belong to types
include sociable, active and
responsible.
• Traits belong to individuals
• Trait can also defined in terms
of predispositions to behave in a
particular way
The big five personality traits. Carl Gustav Jung theory the basic of
Benefits

The Mayers-Briggs Type Indicator


(MBTI)

• It necessary to identify the • Hippocartes' Theory:


main damnations on which 1. What we know about the
personality can vary. Trait relationship between body
approaches assume that there is chemistry and behavior fails to
common set of dimensions on confirm the theory.
which we can be compared. 2. Our personal experience
• The personalities of groups of reveals that there are more than
Problems

people are assessed, usually four types of people in the


through a self-report questioner. world.
• Your personality profile is • William Sheldon Theory:
constructed across the traits This typology is intuitive
measured. Your score is compared appeal, but it may not be a good
with the average on each model for predicting behavior.
dimension and distribution of
scores for the whole group.
• The group may be split into
sub-groups.

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References
http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/organization.html
http://www.123helpme.com/search.asp?text=Organizational+Behavior
http://hubpages.com/hub/Organizational-Behavior-Terminology-and-Concepts
http://www.answers.com/topic/organizational-behavior
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http://www.politicalglossary.net/definition/1693-Organizational_Behavior
http://nateweb.info/johnsteiner.htm
http://www.ct4me.net/multimedia_design.htm#Behaviorism
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/behaviorism/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personality_type
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Type_A_and_Type_B_personality_theory
http://wilderdom.com/personality/L6-1PersonalityTypes.html
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/type-theory/
http://www.mentalhelp.net/poc/view_doc.php?type=doc&id=9715&cn=353
http://pdfcast.org/pdf/personality-theories
http://www.myersbriggs.org/my-mbti-personality-type/mbti-basics/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trait_theory
http://psychology.about.com/od/theoriesofpersonality/a/trait-theory.htm http://en.wiki
pedia.org/wiki/Organizational_Behavior_Management
Lillian Margaret Simms, Sylvia Anderson Price, Naomi E. Ervin (1994). The
professional practice of nursing administration. p.121
http://www.behavior.org/performanceMgmt_new/index.cfm
Olson: (2003) Organizational Culture Putting the Organizational Culture Concept to
Work - The Behavior Analyst Today, 3 (4), 473 - 478 BAO
Michael C. Clayton & Linda Hayes (2004) Using Performance Feedback to Increase
the Billable Hours of Social Workers: A Multiple Baseline Evaluation, The Behavior
Analyst Today, 5 (1), Pg. 91 -105 BAO
Houmanfar, Herbst, & Chase: (2003) Organizational Change Applications in
Behavior Analysis: A Review of the Literature and Future Directions. The Behavior
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Honeywell-Johnson, Judith A., McGee, Heather M., Culig, Kathryn M., & Dickinson,
Alyce M. (2001) Different Effects of Individual and Small Group Monetary
Incentives On High Performance. The Behavior Analyst Today, 3 (1), 88- 103 [2]
Abernathy, William B. (2001) Focused vs. Consolidated Measures In Performance
Pay Systems. The Behavior Analyst Today, 3 (1), 7-12 [3]
Gilbreath & Harris (2002) Performance-Based Pay in the Workplace: Magic Potion or
Malevolent Poison? -The Behavior Analyst Today, 3 (3), 311 - 316 BAO
http://www.careerplanner.com/Career-Test-Career-Search/Career-Test-for-
Highschool-Students.cfm
http://www.brilcoach.com
www.Premierleague.com
www.SATC.com

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