Reflection Summary Week 4

Week Four Student Guide

In Week Four, you focus on the concepts of organizational structure, culture, power. and politics, and you explore the effects that each of these concepts has on employee behavior. You learn more about some of the more common organizational designs as well as more innovation and newer structures. Power and politics are part of all organizations and it is in Week Four that you learn about the bases of power and the potential consequences of political behavior.

In Week Four, you should also begin to prepare for the Final Examination which will be taken in Week Five. Use this opportunity to review the Final Exam Study Guide to familiarize yourself with the types of questions that may be on the exam.

Organizational Structure, Culture, Power, and Politics

OBJECTIVE: Analyze the influence of organizational structure on behavior.

Resources: Ch. 15 of Organizational Behavior

Content

· Ch. 15: Foundations of Organization Structure

· What is Organizational Structure?

· Work Specialization

· Departmentalization

· Chain of Command

· Span of Control

· Centralization and Decentralization

· Formalization

· Common Organizational Designs

· The Simple Structure

· The Bureaucracy

· The Matrix Structure

· New Design Options

· The Virtual Organization

· The Boundaryless Organization

· The Leaner Organization: Organization Downsizing

· Why Do Structures Differ?

· Strategy

· Organization Size

· Technology

· Environment

· Organizational Designs and Employee Behavior

· Global Implications

· Summary and Implications for Managers

OBJECTIVE: Analyze the influence of organizational culture on behavior.

Resources: Ch. 16 of Organizational Behavior

Content

· Ch. 16: Organizational Culture

· What Is Organizational Culture?

· A Definition of Organizational Culture

· Culture is a Descriptive Term

· Do Organizations Have Uniform Cultures?

· Strong versus Weak Cultures

· Culture versus Formalization

· What Do Cultures Do?

· Culture’s Funcations

· Culture Creates Climate

· Culture as a Liability

· Creating and Sustaining Culture

· How a Culture Begins

· Keeping a Culture Alive

· Summary: How Cultures Form

· How Employees Learn Culture

· Stories

· Rituals

· Material Symbols

· Language

· Creating an Ethical Organizational Culture

· Creating a Positive Organizational Culture

· Spirituality and Organizational Culture

· What Is Spirituality?

· Why Spirituality Now?

· Characteristics of a Spiritual Organization

· Criticisms of Spirituality

· Global Implications

· Summary and Implications for Managers

OBJECTIVE : Analyze the influence of power and politics on behavior.

Resources: Ch. 13

Content

· Ch. 13: Power and Politics

· A Definition of Power

· Contrasting Leadership and Power

· Bases of Power

· Formal Power

· Personal Power

· Which Bases of Power Are Most Effective?

· Dependency:The Key to Power

· The General Dependency Postulate

· What Creates Dependency?

· Power Tactics

· Sexual Harassment: Unequal Power in the Workplace

· Politics: Power in Action

· Definition of Organizational Politics

· The Reality of Politics

· Causes and Consequences of Political Behavior

· Factors Contributing to Political Behavior

· How Do People Respond to Organizational Politics?

· Impression Management

· The Ethics of Behaving Politically

· Global Implications

· Perceptions of Politics

· Preference for Power Tactics

· Effectiveness of Power Tactics

· Summary and Implications for Managers