IOP2602 EXAM NOTES 2022 (SUMMARY) IOP2602 - Organisational Psychology
Define the term “Management” and discuss the 4 management functions (10)
Four management functions:
1. Planning
Defining organisation’s goals, establishing an overall strategy for achieving those goals and developing a ...
Define the term “Management” and discuss the 4 management functions (10)
Four management functions:
1. Planning
Defining organisation’s goals, establishing an overall strategy for achieving those goals and developing a comprehensive set of plans to
integrate and coordinate activities.
2. Organising
Managers are also responsible for designing an organisation’s structure. Includes determining what tasks need to be done, who does them,
how it gets done an who reports to whom
3. Leading
Every organisation contains people and it is management’s task to direct and coordinate those people
4. Controlling
To ensure that things are going as they should, management must monitor the organisations performance.
What do managers do in terms of roles?
Management Roles - Mintzberg’s managerial roles
1. Interpersonal roles – all management request to perform duties that are ceremonial and symbolic in nature
Figurehead role: Leaders perform the figurehead role when they represent the organisation/department in legal, social, ceremonial &
symbolic activities
Leader role: The leader role is that of performing the management functions to effectively operate the managers' organisation unit.
Responsible for motivation and direction of employees.
Liaison role: Leaders perform the liaison role when they interact with people outside their organisational unit, e.g. networking.
2. Informational roles - all management to some degree collect information from outside and institutions
Monitor role: Leaders perform the monitor role when they gather info.
Disseminator role: Leaders perform the disseminator role when they send info to others in the organisational unit.
Spokesperson role: Leaders perform the spokesperson role when they provide info to people outside the organisational unit plans,
policies, actions, results and serve as expert on or industry.
3. Decision roles - 4 roles to resolve around making choices
Entrepreneur role: Leaders perform the entrepreneur role when they innovate & initiate improvements
Disturbance-handler role: Leaders perform the disturbance-handler role when they take corrective action during a crisis or conflict
situation.
Resource-allocator role: Leaders perform the resource allocator role when they schedule, request authorisation & perform budgeting
activities
Negotiator role: Leaders perform the negotiator role when they represent their organisational unit during routine & non-routine
transactions that do not include set boundaries such as the pay of an employee
A manager’s job is varied and complex which creates the need to be specifically skilled in three areas:
Conceptual skills, which relate to the mental ability to think and to conceptualize, analyse about abstract and complex situations.
Decision making that request management to identify problems, evaluate those alternative solutions select best one.
Human skills, which relate to the ability to work well with other people individually and a group, understand and motivate other
people.
Technical skills, which relate to knowledge of and proficiency in a specialized field, the ability to apply specialized knowledge or
expertise on job.
Differentiate between successful and effective managers what are the similarities between them.
Effective vs. successful managerial activities
1. Traditional Management
Decision making, planning and controlling
2. Communication
Exchanging routine information and processing paperwork
3. Human Resource Management
Motivating, disciplining, managing conflict, staffing and training
4. Networking
Socialising, politicking and interacting with outsiders
Average Manager Successful Manager Effective Manager
Average time spent on activities
Traditional Management 32% 13% 19%
Communication 29% 28% 44%
HRM 20% 11% 26%
Networking 19% 48% 11%
Discuss the disciplines that contribute to the field of organisational behaviour (10)
Organisational Behaviour
1. OB is a field of study that investigates the impact that individuals, groups and structure have on behaviour within organisations for the
purpose of applying such knowledge towards improving an organisation’s effectiveness.
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,2. Organisational behaviour is a field of study.
It studies three determinants of behaviour in organisations: individuals, groups and structure.
In addition, OB applies the knowledge gained about individuals, groups, and the effect of structure on behaviour, in order to make
organisations work more effectively.
3. OB is concerned with the study of what people do in an organisation and how that behaviour affects the performance of the organisation.
4. There is increasing agreement as to the components of OB, but there is still considerable debate as to the relative importance of each of
the following: motivation; leader behaviour and power; interpersonal communication; group structure and processes; learning; attitude
development and perception; change processes; conflict; work design; and work stress.
In what way does OB present management with opportunities to be effective?
Challenges and opportunities for OB
1. Globalisation:
Globalisation is the creation of a borderless world which sees the free movement of products, services, finances and skills between
countries.
2. Workforce diversity:
A diverse workforce is one that is heterogeneous in terms of gender, race, ethnicity, age, and other characteristics.
3. Innovation and change:
Innovation is the process of taking a creative idea and turning it into a useful product, service or method of operation.
4. Quality management:
Quality management is a philosophy that is driven by continual improvement and responding to customer needs and expectations.
Quality is the ability of a product or service to reliably do what it’s supposed to do and to satisfy customer expectations.
5. People skills
6. Employee empowerment:
Employee empowerment means to increase the decision making discretion of employees.
7. Ethical behaviour
Ethical behaviour encompasses actions which adhere to moral principles.
8. Temporariness:
Temporariness refers temporary nature of events in a society driven by technology. The consequence of this is that organisations are
in a constant state of change.
Developing an OB model
1. The first stage of the model shows the impact of the environment at a/n:
Individual level
Group level
Organisation systems level
2. The following concepts deserve attention:
If job satisfaction is not a form part of behaviour why is it considered an important dependent variable? (5)
a) Dependent variables:
These are the key factors that we want to explain or predict and that are affected by some other factor. In the OB model these are:
o Satisfaction:
Job satisfaction is an employee’s general attitude towards his / her job.
o Deviant workplace behaviour:
Voluntary behaviour that violates significant org norms and threatens well-being of the organisation.
o Turnover:
Turnover is the voluntary and involuntary permanent withdrawal from an organisation.
o Absenteeism:
Absenteeism is the failure to report to work.
o Productivity:
Employee productivity is a performance measure of both efficiency and effectiveness
b) Independent variables:
What are the 4 levels of our OB model? Are they related and, if so, how are they related? (5)
These are the presumed cause of some change in the dependent variable: In the OB model these are:
o Individual-level variables
o Group-level variables
o Organisational-level variables (environmental level)
Name and briefly discuss 5 forces towards change in the global arena (15)
Forces for change in the global arena
Globalisation is driven mainly by technological innovation. Some of the consequences include:
Increased international competition
Rising customer expectations
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, The development of regional trade agreements
Increased international diversity
The changing nature of work (with work becoming technology and information driven)
Political change
Dealing with the global challenge
South Africa has in terms of international ratings of competitiveness not responded well to the global challenge.
A key requirement is to adapt one’s management style to different cultural contexts.
The following variations in management styles can be used:
a) Parochialism, which sees managers view the world solely from their own cultural perspective.
b) Perlmutter’s framework distinguishes between 3 managerial attitudes with respect to diverse contexts:
1. Ethnocentric views are based on the notion that all countries are basically the same, and that one’s own country’s culture is
superior to others.
Management positions are reserved for people from the home country.
2. Polycentric views acknowledge the advantage of host country managers for all but the most senior positions.
3. Geocentric views are global in focus in that it recognises cultural differences and that it views no singular culture or managerial
approach as superior.
Study unit 2 – attitudes and values
Paragraph and multi-choice
1. Attitudes
Favourable or unfavourable disposition towards objects, individuals on events. How an individual tends to act towards people,
groups, ideas or objects.
2. Compare the cognitive and affective components of attitudes. (5)
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