Decision-Making and Job Design Concepts

Values

• Comprehensive evaluation of work activities, material flows, and paperwork.
• Determines value added for customers.
• Guides behaviors and motivates actions.

Programmed vs Non-Programmed Decisions

• Programmed decisions: structured, recurring, frequent.
• Non-programmed decisions: unstructured, infrequent.

Decision-Making Conditions

• Certainty: decision-maker knows alternatives and associated conditions.
• Risk: alternatives have associated probabilities of payoffs and costs.
• Uncertainty: alternatives, risks, and consequences are unknown.
  • Chance of a bad decision increases with uncertainty.

Cross-Training

• Training employees for multiple jobs.
• Firms can use fewer workers by transferring them as needed.

Product/Service Mix

• Determining the number and types of products/services to offer.
• Considering capacity utilization.

Job Design

• Determining a person's work-related responsibilities.
• First building block of organizational structure.

Organizational Structure

• Set of elements used to configure an organization.
• Building blocks include: designing jobs, grouping jobs, establishing reporting relationships, distributing authority, coordinating activities, and differentiating positions.

Staff Positions

• Last building block of organizational structure.
• Provide expertise, advice, and support to line positions.

Job Specialization

• Breaking down the overall task into smaller components.
• Division of labor.
• Increased worker proficiency and reduced transfer time.
• Specialized equipment and lower training costs for managers.

Job Enrichment

• Alternative to job specialization.
• Increases number of tasks and worker control.

Organizational Change

• Any meaningful modification to an organization.

Organizational Development (OD)

• Planned, organization-wide effort to enhance effectiveness.
• Uses behavioral science interventions.
• Goal is to improve organizational processes and increase organizational health.
• Addresses employees' desire to grow and develop.
• Collaborative approach essential.
• Involves methods like diagnostic activities, team building, and process consultation.

Resistance to Change

• Uncertainty, threatened self-interests, different perceptions, and feelings of loss.
• Address with participation and communication.

Labor Relations

• Employee voting on unionization.
• Management is required to bargain with unions.
• Balance between employee and union power.

Employee Evaluation

• Ranking compares employees directly.
• Rating compares each employee against a standard.

Trademark Law Revision of 1988

• One of several federal laws impacting HRM.
• This law does affect HR management.

Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act

• Forbids employment discrimination based on protected characteristics.
• Ensures employment based on qualifications.
• Protects equal treatment and reduces bias in HR.

Communication

• Various types of communication, including interpersonal, digital, oral, nonverbal, and written.

Power Types

• Legitimate: granted through organizational hierarchy.
• Reward: ability to give or withhold rewards.
• Coercive: force compliance.
• Referent: personal power (based on characteristics).
• Expert: power based on knowledge.

Communication Process

• Encoding, sending, decoding by receiver.

Psychological Contract

• Expectations of contributions and inducements (rewards).

Perception Management

• Processes where individuals become aware of and interpret environmental information.

Attribution

• Mechanism that connects observed behavior to causes.
• Based on consensus, consistency, and distinctiveness. (factors that influence attribution).

Management Functions

• Planning and decision-making, organizing, leading, and controlling.

Operations Management

• Transforming resources into goods or services.
• Improving efficiency and competitiveness.

Negotiation

• Process where parties reach agreement despite different preferences.

Management Levels

• Top managers: strategic planning and direction.
• Middle managers: coordinated activities.
• First-line managers: oversee day-to-day operations.

Chester Barnard Theory

• Acceptance of authority.
• Legitimacy of a supervisor's directives based on understanding, perceived ability to comply, and appropriateness.

Administrative Management

• Overall organizational management and efficiency.

Theory X and Theory Y

• Two contrasting views of employee motivation based on differing assumptions.
• Theory X: pessimistic about worker motivation.
• Theory Y: optimistic about worker motivation.

Quantitative Management

• Use of quantitative techniques (like models and computers) in management.

Gantt Chart

• Tool for scheduling and improving worker output.

Board of Directors

• Elected by shareholders.
• Responsible for overseeing management and aligning organizations goals with investor interests.

Ethics

• Standards of behavior that guide managers in their work.
• Focuses on the treatment of employees by the organization, treatment of the organization by employees, and treatment of the outside world.

Whistle Blowing

• Employee disclosure of unethical conduct.

Organizational Stability

• The government's ability to maintain power against factions within the country

Competition

• No organization is isolated from the effects of foreign markets and competition.

Infrastructure

• Includes schools, hospitals, power plants, railroads, highways, ports, and other systems essential for the economy and business operations.

Scope

• Range of markets an organization will serve.

Emergent Strategy

• Unplanned strategy that develops over time within an organization.

Decision-Making Process

• Recognizing, defining the situation, identifying alternatives, evaluating alternatives, selecting the best alternative, implementing the chosen alternative, and following up.

Inducements

• Benefits, status, pay, perks.

Motivation

• Energizes and directs behavior.

Two-Factor Theory

• Motivation and hygiene factors influence satisfaction and dissatisfaction separately.

Compressed Work Schedule

• Working full hours in fewer than the typical number of work days.

Merit Pay

• Compensation tied to employee performance. higher contributions lead to higher pay.

Organizational Leadership

• Guiding groups toward achievement.
• Informal and formal leadership styles.
• Roles in leadership.

Group/Team Definition

• Two or more people interacting regularly.
• Accomplishing something common.

Group Cohesiveness

• Extent to which members are loyal and committed to the group.

Explore the essential concepts of decision-making conditions, programmed versus non-programmed decisions, and the importance of job design in organizations. This quiz will guide you through the principles that govern effective organizational behavior and the value of cross-training. Test your understanding of these critical business concepts today!