MGT Organizational Behavior Take Home Exam
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lu_y__30102sp15_final.docxInstructions for Take-Home Part of Final Exam
MGT 301-02 Organizational Behavior Spring 2015
MY NAME: _______________Yanchen Lu__________________________
What
This document describes the tasks you need to accomplish for the take-home part of the final exam in your MGT 301 Organizational Behavior course (Spring 2015 semester, Dr. Christian Kiewitz).
When & How
· The due date for the take-home part is the day of the officially scheduled final exam for your section (i.e., in-class part).
· Please submit your work as a Word document (i.e., .doc or .docx) by 09:00 AM on the day of the officially scheduled final exam for your section using the “Final Exam: Take-home Part” drop box in Isidore (see under Assignments).
· Feel free to write your answers directly into this document.
· Submit your documents using the following naming rule (important for Turnitin.com check):
[your last name]_[your first initial]_ 30102SP15_final.docx
Example: Kiewitz_C_30102SP15_final.docx
Overview
The tasks in this assignment focus on the concept of organizational culture. Your task is to conduct research on several organizations using Internet resources and answer the questions below.
Points
The take-home part of the final exam is worth a total of 100 points: 5 points for question I, 10 points for question II, 10 points for question III, 40 points for question IV, 20 points for question V, and 10 points for question VI, and 5 points for question VII.
Materials needed
· Our OB textbook;
· Internet access;
· PDF file “MGT 301 - Final Exam - Take-Home - Supporting Materials.pdf”, which is posted on Isidore and features the following materials:
· PPT presentation slides from “Organizational Culture” lecture;
· Vault.com article “Find Your Employer ‘Culture Fit’ With Social Media”;
· Financial Times article Reckitt’s strongly flavoured Essence;
· Website of Bridgewater Associates;
· Website of Reckitt Benckiser Group plc.
Tasks & Questions
I. Reflect on what “Organizational Culture” means to You
According to management scholar Edgar Schein, organizational culture can be defined as “the set of shared, taken-for-granted implicit assumptions that a group holds and that determines how it perceives, thinks about and reacts to its various environments.”
1. Compare Schein’s definition to the one in our textbook by finding the definition of “Organizational Culture” in our OB textbook. Accordingly, organizational culture is defined as: The shared social knowledge within an organization regarding the rules, norms, and values that shape the attitudes and behaviors of its employees.
2. Reflect on these two definitions: what do they mean to you? Then, develop and write down your own, personal definition of organizational culture (please note that it is completely acceptable if your definition overlaps with the definitions above or any other definition from the OB literature because the purpose of this exercise is to make the definition personal and thus relevant to you, not to create a totally new and unique definition) here: These two definitions show the importance of Organizational Culture, the company should have it because it represents a firm’s personality or style, a good company need Organizational Culture. My definition: Organization Culture is the values and behaviors that contribute to the unique social and psychological environment of an organization.
II. Research the Culture of an Organization
On the Internet, find an organization that is of interest to you and work through the steps listed below (helpful materials for this step can be found in Chapter 16 Organizational Culture in our OB textbook and the presentation slides such as “How to read an Organization’s Culture”).
Name of Organization: Google URL of Homepage: http://www.google.com/about/company/
b) What are some of the artifacts* of the organization’s culture that you found through your research? (*symbols, stories/language, rituals, policies, or behaviors/interaction styles): If so, list them here briefly (keywords are fine): _________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________.
Please note the URL(s) you used to answer this question: ___________________________________________________.
c) Were you able to detect something that “speaks to” the organization’s rules, norms, or values? In your answer, please clarify whether 1) you found explicitly declarations that the organization considers those rules, norms, and/or values as elements of its culture, or 2) you had to infer those rules, norms, and/or values from your research (i.e., they were implicitly embedded in the materials you reviewed). My findings were: _______________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________.
d) Read the article “Find Your Employer ‘Culture Fit’ With Social Media”. Then briefly evaluate the feasibility and usefulness of using social media tools to evaluate the “culture fit” between you and the organization you have researched. If possible, please specify in your answer which tool (Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc.) would be most useful. Feasibility: ____________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Usefulness: _________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
III. On the Internet, find Bridgewater Associates’ website.
3. When we discussed the question of the origins of an organization’s culture in class, one answer pointed to the influences of founders and their values. Briefly describe the role that Bridgewater’s founder had in shaping the organization’s values, principles and eventually culture. In your answer, make sure to mention what—according to the founder—the two most important values are and why the founder emphasizes those two values (i.e., to what ends are those values important?). _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________.
IV. Read the Financial Times article “Reckitt’s strongly flavoured Essence”.
4. In your own words, briefly describe Reckitt Benckiser’s organizational culture (keywords are fine): _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________.
5. Name a rule, norm, or value that is part of Reckitt Benckiser’s shared social knowledge and describe how this rule, norm, or value impacts the attitudes and behaviors of Reckitt Benckiser’s employees. One rule, norm, or value is: __________________________________________________________, and it shapes the attitudes and behaviors of RB’s employees in the following ways: _________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________.
V. On the Internet, find Reckitt Benckiser’s website.
6. How does RB describe life at the company and its people? The company describes life at RB and its people as: _______________________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________.
7. Compare your answer above (i.e., #6) to your answer to question #4 (i.e., describing RB’s organizational culture in your own words). To what extent does your answer to question #4 capture how RB sees itself? If there is no discrepancy between your perception and RB’s own perception, kudos to you! However, if a discrepancy exists, it is probably due to the fact that “a complete understanding of organizational culture is a process that happens over time” (Colquitt, LePine, & Wesson, 2015, p. 5__). Please name the primary process by which such an understanding is obtained. The process is called: _______________________________________________.
a. Are there explicit links between RB’s self-description and one of the two primary outcomes of our integrated OB model? If so, give an example of words or a phrase from RB’s website that demonstrate such a link: ____________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________.
b. According to its website, which four core values does RB list as essential to their organizational culture and which drive RB’s success? 1) ________________________________________________ 2) ____________________________________________________ 3) ________________________________________________ 4) ____________________________________________________.
c. Reflect on those values for a moment. Would you and RB be a good match? According to our textbook, which concept is used to describe such matches? Plus, provide one reason why the concept is important. 1) The concept is called: ________________-______________________________ ___________, 2) and it is important because ______________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________.
VI. ASA Framework (for information see our OB Textbook)
8. What does “ASA” in ASA framework stand for? ASA stands for: ___________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________.
9. What does the ASA framework postulate? The ASA framework ____________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________.
10. How does the ASA concept apply to Reckitt Benckiser, as described in the Financial Times article? ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________.
VII. When looking for a job, should you pay attention to an organization’s culture? Why or why not?
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________.
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