The University of Texas at Austin
School of Social Work
SW 384 C7 - Dynamics of Organizations and Communities
Mid Term Examination Study Points
The Exam will be multiple choice and true-false. There will be no essay or fill in the
blanks. Aspects of the Blackboard software continue to malfunction. It, in some cases,
does not provide the correct answer on multiple-choice questions and in other cases,
ignores the programming and provides a random answer. Fill in the blank does not appear
to be a problem. I have addressed each of the multiple-choice questions with my notes
below providing the correct answer. I have also in many cases provided some elaboration
of the concept. I may use the exact question in the exam as it appears on the website or I
may phrase it differently. Learn the concept rather than memorizing question and answer.
Observations about Organizations
The classical image of the organization is that of a goaloriented purposefully designed
machine best describes the organizational theoretical approach of theory X. Theory X and Y
are literary conventions of Douglas McGregor, author of the Human Side of Enterprise, a
popular examination of the development of organizational theory from early thinking about
how to lead and motivate workers in assembly line settings. McGregor referred to the writings
of Taylor’s Scientific Management as representing a Theory X. X assumed that persons
functioned best when closely supervised, when discrete steps were laid out for each worker,
when attention was paid by a supervisor to the entire process, when workers were chosen by
skill sets and then assigned to jobs and when workers were paid for each piece of work done.
Theory X did not feel that much thinking was needed by the average worker and indeed felt
that the average worker could not think well and would only complicate the process if
attempted. Management responsibility was to do the thinking, the planning.
Theory Y that grew from serendipitous findings at Western Electric’s Hawthorne Plant argued
that workers had complex internal psychological states and that effective leadership or
management required knowledge of psychological processes. Roethlisberger and Dickson's
work, you will recall, established the basis for the human relations school of organizational
theory. Theory X assumes psychological simplicity of avoidance of pain and pursuit of
pleasure (a simple Freudian, Pavlovian or Skinnerian model). Theory Y assumes complex
human motivation where recognition, participation and intrinsic accomplishment are critical
factors.
Organizations built along Theory X lines will emphasize order, predictability, hierarchy and
control. They will use a variety of sorting techniques such as physical characteristics,
psychological tests, behavioral and mental state taxonomies to choose employees and
assign them tasks.
Organizations built along Theory Y lines will emphasize participation, teamwork, and lesser
levels (or perhaps less overt) of management control. They are more likely to have workers
involved in determining how best to perform a given task.
Contrast how Patton led his army in the Italian campaign to Kelleher’s explanation of how
Southwest solved the problem of reducing airplane turnaround time as illustrations of
employee involvement in decision making.
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One cannot simply conclude that one of these theories is superior to the other. Indeed any
organization would not be fully and completely X or Y, but could be seen as tending in one or
the other direction. What is important is to understand the distinctive characteristics and what
may be the likely negative and positive outcomes that would be associated with each.
For example flexibility is NOT an advantage of using a Theory X organizational design.
Predictability and uniformity of outcomes are not necessarily advantages of Theory Y
organizations.
Observations about Communities
How would social life and social problems differ in a traditional community such as a village in
rural Mexico as compared to a modern community such as an Austin neighborhood? I
discussed my experiences traveling through central Mexico with Mexican colleagues in an
early lecture to urge you to think about how neighborhoods and communities are created in
traditional and contemporary cultures. That rural village like American small towns of a
century ago was largely self-sufficient. Products and services necessary for life are mostly
produced locally. Family and extended family kin units are central for social support, jobs,
education, social control and socialization. People know each other and tend to settle
disputes and arrange assistance in an informal manner.
Modern society was, in many ways, created by the growth of factory employment. These
were often the Theory X organizations popularly represented by assembly lines such as
Ford’s Model T production plants. The security, greater material wealth, and predictability of
factory employment led to urban settings where housing and neighborhoods were created to
serve the needs of factory life. Life became more specialized. First males and then females
left homes each morning to travel to factory and factory-like work sites. Factories require
predictability. If work is to start at 8:00 a.m., everyone needs to be there on time. To free (it
would be well to think about the meaning of free!) men and women to work such routines, a
way to take care of the children must be created. Day care and mandatory schooling were
evolved. Schools began to stress order, predictability and control as they grew as vehicles of
not just education but employment preparation and socialization. Schools along with families
and neighborhoods were expected not just to educate but to socialize, prepare citizens and
workers.
Factory employment changed neighborhoods and local culture. With adults spending less
time at home, neighbors became more distant. Anonymity increased, as did the transitory
nature of one’s neighbors. Mobility increased and far fewer people lived in neighborhoods
where everyone knew each other. Increasingly one lived near to not family and friends but
strangers. In these social conditions people become more wary and guarded, less likely to
engage in social interaction. Front porches disappeared with air conditioning and health clubs
replaced work in the yard, garden and walks in the neighborhood.
If you will look at the Austin neighborhoods and the data you each have brought to the class
discussion group, you will see illustrations of this process in the Austin community. Often
those neighborhoods that have the greatest anonymity and mobility have greater levels of
crime. We might think of indexed crimes as a measure of neighborhood health and perhaps
as a marker of many other social and psychological characteristics. You may go to the
External Links and explore this concept farther with the Chicago study of neighborhoods and
crime.
Psychological states, neighborhood characteristics and the design of formal organizations are
closely intertwined. Indeed much of the 20th Century is a study of how the growth and
compellingness of formal organizations have molded community life and individual
psychological characteristics.
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Scientific Leadership/management argued that piecework was the fairest means of
compensation; thereby tying performance to immediate reward.
The text observes correctly that separate sets of skills are needed at the three levels: micro,
mezzo and macro. Competent practice will often require efforts at all three levels.
The text illustrates networking for latchkey kids as mezzo skills in the macro environment. It is
important to be able to analyze action at one of the three levels and be able to cite a skill
relevant to a given level.
The PREPARE process outlines in Chapter 5 four substeps when identifying the problems
that require addressing in an organization. You should know these steps and the steps in the
IMAGINE process and what the text authors feel they provide.
Observations about Technology
Electronic technology is a growing set of tools for professional social work and general
employment and cultural demands for all. Specific tools and tool use are required in this
class. While using some of the tools are akin to the discrete control world of working on an
assembly line, other tools such as the Internet support flexibility and immediacy more like
traditional community life.
Microsoft provides a number of separate software tools that we are using in the class. Other
tools that you should be aware of, but not being used in this class include software to create
databases and build web sites. Here is a general listing of some Microsoft tools and well as
some other brands and their typical uses:
Writing
Calculating and graphing
Databases
Presentations
E Mail
Statistical Computation
File Transfers
Microsoft Word, Word Perfect
Excel, Lotus 1,2,3
Access, Dbase, Paradox, FileMaker, Oracle, SQL Server
Powerpoint
Outlook and Express, Eudora, Netscape Communicator
SPSS, SAS
E mail with attachments, FTP clients
A class-required tool of using personal computers apart from the Internet is use of a word
processor.
Two fundamental tools where you should acquire proficiency in this class using the Internet
are e-mail and web browsers. You need to know the respective applications that permit you
to communicate with e-mail and to view web (Internet, www html) pages. You should be
aware of an extension of e-mail and that is to be able to attach a file to an e-mail message
and thus move a file (text document, graphic, spreadsheet file) to another person.
Remember that a computer consists of several components. The CPU is a large integrated
chip that performs much of the calculations, RAM memory is where working documents are
filed are held when the computer is powered on. Whatever is in RAM disappears when the
computer is turned off. ROM is a small memory set that is not volatile, not affected by power
being off or on. Files are stored in many areas including the computer’s hard disk, a floppy
disk, other removable media and on servers on the Internet. There are two popular desktop
or personal computers: The Windows, Intel PC and the Apple Mac. Windows has several
popular operating systems including Windows 95, 98, 2000 and ME. The operating system is
software that comes on when you power on the computer. On the PC or Mac it takes about
60 seconds when you first turn the machine on before the operating system is fully loaded.
Applications are programs that can then be run such as a word processing program, a
spreadsheet or a program that will connect the computer to the Internet.
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UT-Direct and the Blackboard software are applications run on large computers at the
University. Both represent efforts to apply computer technology to large organizations and
provide a more personalized (perhaps Theory Y) experience for users! UT-Direct is a secure
server that identifies legitimate users and then queries several University databases to
present tailored information for the user. Blackboard is new commercial software to assist
faculty in designing courses to be run on the Internet. Its intent is to provide a common
environment for students and take the load off faculty from faculty having to run their own
servers and Web applications. As we are finding out, some of these advantages are a bit
ephemeral!
Nevertheless we will see more applications like these in education, business and
government. As connection technology improves (e.g. cable or DSL rather than dialup
modems, Internet II with far greater speeds, etc.), real time video, for example, may replace
many meetings, classroom settings, business travel, etc.
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Professor Lauderdale
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