Organizational Behaviour
Exam Preparation
Chapter 1: Paradigms
1. What is OB?
 OB is the study of relationships between the behaviour of people in organizations. That is,
how OB determines:
o Effectiveness in the Firm
o Self-Esteem within employees
o Gender/Race Discrimination
2. What is the difference between Micro OB and Macro OB?
 Micro OB:
o Focuses on;
 Individuals
 What happens within individuals
 Macro OB:
o Focuses on;
 Teams
 What happens between individuals
3. Why Study OB?
 Because we live in an organizational world, shaping our expectations of how people should
behave
 Because many key decisions that affect our lives occur in firms
 Because the success of an organization depends on individuals involved
4. What are the different Approaches to OB?
 Managerialist Approach (dominant approach)
 Actionalist Approach
 Radical Approach
 Feminist Approach
 Racioethnicity Approach
 Postmodern Approach
5. What are the Roots of Organizational Behaviour?
 Improving efficiency
 Improving profitability
6. What did Frederick Taylor believe inefficiency was due to?
 Attitude of workers
 Methods of work
 System of management control
7. What did Frederick Taylor do to correct inefficiency?
 Work design and Standardization (choose routine tasks and find best way to do them)
 Employee selection (getting the right people for the right job)
 Employee motivation (improving attitudes)
 Hierarchal Control (managers use rules and regulations related to their job to exercise
control)
8. What is the focus of Hawthorn Studies?
 Human relations
 Communication, participation, leadership
 People are motivated by social/economic rewards
9. What is the Managerialist Approach?
 From manager’s point of view
 Concerns with:
o how behaviour leads to improved efficiency, productivity, profitability, growth
 AKA Functionalist or Clinical Approach
10. What is the Actionalist Approach?
 From the organizational member’s point of view
 Concern with:
o understanding organizational processes
o how certain work processes become norm (taken for granted)
 AKA Interpretive Approach
11. What is the Radical Approach?
 From worker’s point of view
 Concern with:
o Exploitative nature of work
o Depersonalizing/repressing workers’ identities
 AKA Critical Approach
12. What is the Feminist Approach?
 From woman’s point of view
 Concern with:
o Sexual discrimination
o How relationships are sustained between men AND women
13. What is Racioethnicity Approach?
 From coloured person’s point of view
 Concern with:
o Racial discrimination
Chapter 14: Culture
1. What is Organizational Culture?
 The dominant way of doing things in an organization that are reflected in the activities of
individuals
 Factors include; leadership styles, values, beliefs, symbols, language, dress, structure,
stories, ceremonies, etc.
2. How do these factors influence the way individuals feel/behave/think?
 Through Tangible and Intangible factors:
o Tangible;
 Leadership, symbols, dress
o Intangible;
 Values, beliefs, stories
3. How do these factors relate to culture of a firm?
 Leadership
o People playing key role; managing others
 Values
o Standards/expectations that people desire
 Beliefs
o What we trust in
 Symbols
o Objects that are as representative of a firm
 Artifacts
o Physical objects that form the life of the firm but don’t symbolize it (chairs, capital)
 Language
o The made-up words a company develops (“Big Mac”, “Double double”)
 Dress
o Clothing that characterizes a firm (suits, uniforms)
 Ceremonies
o Celebrations that accompany an act that give it meaning
 Stories
o Tales told to give clues to firm’s values, beliefs, and way of doing things
 Slogans
o Phrases developed to give employees/customers a view of the firm (“Eat Fresh”,
“Have It Your Way”)
 Structure
o The firm’s arrangement of employees that enable them to work together
4. What is the value of looking at Organizational Culture?
 Helping company grow and develop (defining mission, goals, values for firm)
5. What are the 3 ways of viewing Organizational Culture?
 Integration Perspective
 Differentiated Perspective
 Fragmentary Perspective
6. What is the Integration Perspective?
 Assumes:
o Culture is imposed by managers
o Individuals’ values and beliefs CAN/DO change to match the firm’s
 Focuses on:
o Everyone being trained to value the same aspects
 Ignores:
o Individuals coming to the firm with a deeply embedded assumption
 A Managerialist Approach to Culture
7. What is the Differentiated Perspective?
 Assumes:
o Culture is imposed by managers
 but not all individuals “buy into” the firm’s values/beliefs/goals
 some members resist and form “mini cultures”
 Focuses on:
o Understanding the organization as made of “mini cultures”
o How different viewpoints/values/beliefs are ignored by management
 A Radical, Feminist, Racioethnicity Approach to Culture
8. What is the Fragmentary Perspective?
 Assumes:
o Culture is something that “happens” as a result of people interacting
o Culture is the “way things are done around here”
 Focuses on:
o Understanding the firm as it is made of various/contradicting viewpoints
 A Postmodern Approach to Culture
9. What are the 2 Approaches of Organizational Culture?
 Clinical
 Ethnographic
10. What is the Clinical Approach to Organizational Culture?
 The researcher takes the role of “consultant” (hired to FIX problems)
 Prescriptive – knowledge about the organization’s culture for the purpose of helping
managers improve the bottom line.
11. What is the Ethnographic Approach to Organizational Culture?
 The researcher takes the role of the “observer” (negotiates their way into the firm)
 Descriptive – knowledge about the organization’s culture for the sake of knowledge
12. What are the Characteristics that Affect Organizational Culture? (5)
 Personalities
o Culture affected by people within the firm and their interactions
(CEOs/Founders/Employees)

Structures
o Different types of organizational structure leads to different cultures:
 Role Culture (activities of employees coordinated/controlled according to
their positions in the firm)
 Task Culture (activities of employees are organized around a project)
 Power Culture (activities of employees are organized around an owner or
professional; e.i. Doctor, Dentist)
 Person Culture (activities are organized around the needs of its members)
o From a radical approach to structure and culture,
 Organizations are structured around:
 Production for sale rather than need
 Hierarchies
 Alternative structure are:
 Co-ops

Practices & Processes
o Influenced by rules, regulations, and structure of firm

Symbolism
o Visible signs and artifacts that have meaning associated with the organization (e.g.
Apple logo)
Chapter 13 – Power
1. What is power?
 Ability to influence behaviours to lead to desired outcomes.
2. What is the ONE DIMENSIONAL MODEL of power?
 Power practiced through an action (overt)
o E.g. CEO tells secretary to make copies of documents for them.
3. What is the TWO DIMENSIONAL MODEL of power?
 Power practiced through an action (overt) or inaction (covert)
o E.g. A student thinks of skipping class but then runs into their prof in the hallway,
who is on their way to the class being skipped, now they feel they have to go.
4. What is the THREE DIMENSIONAL MODEL of power?
 Power practiced through an action (overt), inaction (covert), or changing the way people
think
o E.g. Being formal and professional about your classes and standing out as mature
and intelligent gives off the impression to others that you carry leadership and will
someday have a highly viewed job.
5. What is the managerialist perspective of power?
 Bounded Rationality
o Actors trying to make rational decisions but always bounded by constraints
 Strategic Contingencies
o Focus on key decision making and conflicts
 Resource Dependency
o Focuses on how organizations allocate resources to sub-units

In short, focuses mainly at power towards decision making (choosing what will boost
productivity & output the greatest) – this is overt
6. What is the radical perspective of power?
 Focuses on:
o Power as domination and control (through social and work structures)
 Traditional hierarchal organizations
 Ability of one group to influence over another
o Resistance (a response to power)
 Refusal to change  maintains status quo = INACTION
 Changing the status quo  ACTION
7. What are Sources of Power?
 The resources available to individuals which control/influence can be exercised
8. What are the sources of power that reside in the individual? (5)
 Coercive (threatening)
 Reward (they can give valued things to people so people do what they want)
 Expert (having the knowledge/skill set that others don’t; e.g. doctor)
 Legitimate (power from a position; e.g. CEO)
 Referent (obtains power through nature of personality and how they handle situations)
Chapter 15 – Structure & Design
1. What is Organizational Structure?
 Formal division of labour and authority
2. What is Vertical Division?
 Authority; who tells who to do what
3. What is Horizontal Division?
 Labour; task allocation and job specialization
4. What is Organizational Design?
 Process of creating/choosing a structure
5. Why is organizational structure important?
 Helps managers define lines of authority
 Good structure leads to good performance
6. What are the Dimensions of Organizational Structure?
 Complexity
 Formalization
 Centralization
7. What is Complexity?
 Degree of complication
o Measured by:
 Division of labour & authority (horizontal & vertical)
 Levels of hierarchy (tall or flat)
 Geographic Locations (spatial complexity)
8. What is Formalization?
 Rules
o Degree of standardization of work (the extent a worker is controlled by rules)
o Degree of formalization depends on type of work.
 Low standardization = worker have more freedom to determine nature of
their task
9. What is Centralization?
 Power
o Degree of decision-making that is concentrated to ONE point of the firm (does the
final say reside in one person?)
10. What is a mechanistic typology of organizational structures?
 High complexity
 High formalization
 High centralization
11. What is an organic typology of organizational structures?
 Low complexity
 Low formalization
 Low centralization
12. What are the traditional organizational designs?

Organizing by Function
o Manager/workers are grouped around continuous functions (CEO 
Manufacturing, Human Resources, Marketing  first level managers  etc)
o
o

Efficient use of resources
Narrow perspectives
Organizing by Division
o Based on Geographic Location / Product / Service
 Grouped by geographical location (regions)
 Sets of customers they serve (Seniors, students, etc)
 By product/serve (Audio, Home Theatre, Office)
o
o

Pros:

Cons:

Pros:

Cons:

Each division specialized to the area they serve
Duplication of resources used
Organizing by Matrix
o Functional managers & Product managers
o
o
Pros:

Cons:


Increase efficiency & coordination/cooperation
Slower decision making
Reporting to 2 managers
13. What are the 5 Basic Elements of Organizational Structure?
 Top Managementline role
 Middle Managementline role
 Production Core (workers who do the work of the firm)line role
 Technical Support staff role
 Administrative Support staff role
14. What are the 4 variables that structure depends on?
 Strategy (Activity that top leaders do to achieve goals; SWOT)
 Size (How many people are employed?)
 Technology (What type of technology is available to the organization?)
 Environment (Broader Environment of firm)
Chapter 16 – Leadership
1. Why Study Leadership?
 Leaders can
o Influence action;
o Make a difference in a firm (improve performance)
2. How does a managerialist lens view leadership?
 Something someone possesses
 Exercised through a type of behaviour
3. Describe leadership
 Influence relationship;
 2 parties
 Sustain long term change
 Certain people become followers
 Mutual purpose
4. Compare Leadership to Management.
 Leadership
o Influence relationship
o Long term sustained change
o provide vision; strategy; inspiration
 Management
o Authority relationship
o Doing things according to time & requirements
o Implement vision; strategy; inspiration
5. What are the different perspectives on leadership? Explain each (7).
 Trait Perspective; possessing certain traits makes us a leader
 Behaviour Perspective (Blake & Mouton); 2 dimensions, 2 extremes, team leaders
fall in between
o Relationship oriented behaviour (good people person)
o Task oriented behaviour (giving details of tasks)
 Contingency Perspective (Hersey & Blanchard); leadership depends on
o Leader
o Follower characteristics
o The situation
 Power-Influence Perspective (radical lens); “leadership is the ability to influence the
‘meaning making’ of individuals”
 Gender-Influence Perspective (feminist lens); “if you’re a man, you lead this way. If
you’re a woman, you lead this way.”
 Charismatic Perspective; “you are following this person because their personality;
you are just drawn to them because they’re likable.”
o E.g.; a person does not aim to get their beliefs out but through social action,
they give off the impressions of their beliefs.
 Transformational Perspective; “you buy into someone because they ‘walk the walk’
or ‘talk the talk’.
o “their message really sits in peoples’ minds and makes them believe in the
leaders opinion (Hitler)
6. What is the focus of organizational behaviour and leadership?
 Performance within people & firms