FIRST EXAM STUDY GUIDE

 

The mid‑term exam will consist of questions taken from the list below.  There will be one LARGE QUESTION and one or two SMALL QUESTIONS.  The exam will be open book – open notes.  Bold indicates material that goes beyond what is contained in course notes and the text.

 

LARGE QUESTIONS

 

1. Describe the Premises of the Classical (or mechanistic) model of organizations and explain its weaknesses and why its premises lead to its weaknesses.

 

2. Describe the structural barriers to vertical information flow. [ Include the 5 types of distortion of information AND the other structural barriers. ]   Discuss in what ways the Human Resources and/or Cultural approaches to management can overcome these barriers.

 

3.  Define "organizational culture."  Discuss McGaan’s 5 conclusions about organizations that grow out of the cultural view explaining why each must be true given the nature of organizational culture. 

 

4.  Discuss how the cultural approach to management might resolve the “central dilemma" of the organizations.

 

5.  Describe the Assumptions of Managers using the Human Relations model in organizations and contrast them with the mechanistic model.  Why was the human relations view thought to be an improvement?

 

6.  List and briefly define each of the eight characteristics of "Excellent@ organizations.  For each characteristic, give one real life example of these characteristics being met by an organization.  For each characteristic, explain why it fits the cultural view of organizations.

 

SMALL QUESTIONS

 

6. Describe any or all of the 5 Bases of Organizational Culture (giving examples) and explain the role they play in creating/reproducing organizational culture.

 

7.  How does training differ from the kind of education typically found in a college class?

 

8.  Define, describe or identify (some of) the following in a few sentences each:

 

Chris Argyris, Chester Barnard, Eldon Mayo, Hawthorn Studies, Frederick Taylor, Max Weber, scientific job design, division of labor, the Mental Revolution,@  MBWA, Herzberg, Theory X and Theory Y, Ouichi’s Theory Z, Blake and Mouton's Managerial Grid, norms, values, procedures. stories and legends, tool-talk, frame-talk, mythopoetic talk.

 

10.  List the 3 Communication Requirements of traditional organizations and why they are essential in a traditionally designed organization.

 

11.  Explain (some of) the personal and relational barriers to vertical information flow. 

 

12.  Explain the outcomes of organizational culture and give an example of each type.