Organizational Behavior - Proctored Final Examination

PART A: Answer each of the following questions in a complete, well-thought-out paragraph or two. Each answer is worth 20 points.

1. Allison is the manager of the sales department of a medium-sized household products company. She's begun to notice that Dave, a member of her team, has been turning In his reports late and that the quality of the reports has declined. She decides to call him into her office to discuss the issue. How might she use the descriptive, specific, and problem-oriented elements of supportive communication to guide this discussion?

2. Describe the relationship between power and leadership proposed by James MacGregor Burns, and explain how this relationship is expressed in terms of transactional and transformational leadership styles.

3. Briefly define and distinguish between the classical management approach to organizational behavior and the humanistic approach advanced by Chester Barnard. How are these different from the positive organizational behavior approach?

PART B: Answer each of the following questions in two or three sentences. Each answer is worth 4 points.

1. Erika has come to realize that time pressure, coupled with too much to do, has become a major source of stress in her work life. What steps can she take to more effectively manage her time and reduce her level of stress?

2. Give an example (real or contrived) of Groupthink. Do not use examples given in your textbook. Explain your example.

3. Suppose you're a manager of a high-tech company contracting firm, which is facing a highly uncertain environment, and pressure to be efficient and respond quickly to customers. In order to respond to these pressures, you put in place a structure that allows you to create and disband protect teams on an as-needed basis. What type of organizational structure are you creating? Explain your answer.

4. Describe the positive view of conflict, and explain how it differs from the traditional view.

5. Describe the technique of mindmapping in the creative process.

6. What implications for motivation can be derived from expectancy theory?

7. Explain the appreciative inquiry approach to organization development and the ways in which it differs from more traditional approaches.

8. Identify which of the Big Five dimensions of personality traits is most strongly correlated to job performance, and explain why.

9. Explain how channeling can interfere with overcoming perceptual biases.

10. Suppose you're a North American manager working with a business partner from Japan. How might the difference in the cultural context of communication style create challenges in communicating?