Saturday, December 11, 2010

Answers/ Notes for essay Questions for Final

Trait approach: (recording personality characteristics)  |  This assessment approach takes into account the fact that there are basic personality traits (e. g. intelligence or achievement motivation) which have a demonstrable causal link with professional success. Integrity tests are an example of a selection process designed according to this approach.

Leadership Behavioral Styles: *Autocratic, *Benevolent, *Democratic, and * Participative.

Authentic Leadership:
  • A sense of being inter connected and connected with the greater whole. A global citizen with a soul.
  • A need and unshakeable commitment to live in alignment with personal values irrespective of group circumstances.This leads to higher levels of ethics and integrity.  
  • An individual willingness to live outside one's comfort zone pushing the parameters of personal growth. A commitment to live greatness as opposed to settling for mediocrity.
  • Living from the space of "I Care." Recognising my decisions and actions co create the world I live in and determine the future I and we will face. 
  • A greater sense of responsibility individually and for the greater common good.
  • The ability to think integrally and solve problems of great complexity.
  • The ability to live from a space of stillness versus chaos.
  • The ability to flow and surrender to the process of life versus the need to control everything / forcing things to happen.
  • Accepting and having a sincere interest in difference. Utilising what is learnt.
  • A willingness to experience great humility in the face of compassion and take responsibility for our part in conflict.
  • The recognition and ability to live with paradox and ambiguity and feel ok.
  • The ability to utilise the whole of ourselves to heal, forgive, retain and be in relationship with others.
  • And finally a commitment to truth (meaning pure consciousness). 
 Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs:
*Maslow's Need Hiearchy:
- A conception of human needs; organizing needs into a hiearchy of five major types. Each need, needs to be met before you can move upwards.

Physiological- 1st step
Safety- 2nd step
Social- 3rd Step
Ego- 4th step
Self- actualization- 5th step

*Maslow's Need Hiearchy:
1. Physiological (food, water, sex, and shelter).
2. Safety or security (protection against threat and deprivation).
3. Social (friendship, affection, belonging, and love).
4. Ego (independence, achievement, freedom, status, recognition, and self esteem).
5. Self-actualization (realizing one’s full potential, becoming everything one is capable of being).

Conflicts:
*Conflict Styles:
-Avoidance:
A reaction to conflict that involves ignoring the problem by doing nothing at all, or deemphasizing the disagreement.
-Accomodation:
A style of dealing with conflict involving cooperation on behalf of the other party but not being assertive about one’s own interests.
-Compromise:
A style of dealing with conflict involving moderate attention to both parties’ concerns.
-Competing:
A style of dealing with conflict involving strong focus on one’s own goals and little or no concern for the other person’s goals.
-Collaboration:
A style of dealing with conflict emphasizing both cooperation and assertiveness to maximize both parties’ satisfaction.



Diversity in the Workforce:


 Understanding Cultural Issues:
*Ethnocentrism
-The tendency to judge others by the standards of one’s group or culture, which are seen as superior.
*Culture shock
-The disorientation and stress associated with being in a foreign environment.
*Power distance.
-The extent to which a society accepts the fact that power in organizations is distributed unequally.
*Individualism/collectivism
-The extent to which people act on their own or as a part of a group.
*Uncertainty avoidance
-The extent to which people in a society feel threatened by uncertain and ambiguous situations.
*Masculinity/femininity
-The extent to which a society values quantity of life over quality of life.

ADA of 1990:
(1) some 43,000,000 Americans have one or more physical or mental disabilities, and this number is increasing as the population as a whole is growing older;
(2) historically, society has tended to isolate and segregate individuals with disabilities, and, despite some improvements, such forms of discrimination against individuals with disabilities continue to be a serious and pervasive social problem;
(3) discrimination against individuals with disabilities persists in such critical areas as employment, housing, public accommodations, education, transportation, communication, recreation, institutionalization, health services, voting, and access to public services;
(4) unlike individuals who have experienced discrimination on the basis of race, color, sex, national origin, religion, or age, individuals who have experienced discrimination on the basis of disability have often had no legal recourse to redress such discrimination;
(5) individuals with disabilities continually encounter various forms of discrimination, including outright intentional exclusion, the discriminatory effects of architectural, transportation, and communication barriers, overprotective rules and policies, failure to make modifications to existing facilities and practices, exclusionary qualification standards and criteria, segregation, and relegation to lesser services, programs, activities, benefits, jobs, or other opportunities;
(6) census data, national polls, and other studies have documented that people with disabilities, as a group, occupy an inferior status in our society, and are severely disadvantaged socially, vocationally, economically, and educationally;
(7) individuals with disabilities are a discrete and insular minority who have been faced with restrictions and limitations, subjected to a history of purposeful unequal treatment, and relegated to a position of political powerlessness in our society, based on characteristics that are beyond the control of such individuals and resulting from stereotypic assumptions not truly indicative of the individual ability of such individuals to participate in, and contribute to, society;
(8) the Nation's proper goals regarding individuals with disabilities are to assure equality of opportunity, full participation, independent living, and economic self-sufficiency for such individuals; and
(9) the continuing existence of unfair and unnecessary discrimination and prejudice denies people with disabilities the opportunity to compete on an equal basis and to pursue those opportunities for which our free society is justifiably famous, and costs the United States billions of dollars in unnecessary expenses resulting from dependency and nonproductivity.
(b) Purpose
It is the purpose of this chapter
(1) to provide a clear and comprehensive national mandate for the elimination of discrimination against individuals with disabilities;
(2) to provide clear, strong, consistent, enforceable standards addressing discrimination against individuals with disabilities;
(3) to ensure that the Federal Government plays a central role in enforcing the standards established in this chapter on behalf of individuals with disabilities; and
(4) to invoke the sweep of congressional authority, including the power to enforce the fourteenth amendment and to regulate commerce, in order to address the major areas of discrimination faced day-to-day by people with disabilities.
Sec. 12102. Definitions
As used in this chapter:
(1) Auxiliary aids and services
The term "auxiliary aids and services" includes
(A) qualified interpreters or other effective methods of making aurally delivered materials available to individuals with hearing impairments;
(B) qualified readers, taped texts, or other effective methods of making visually delivered materials available to individuals with visual impairments;
(C) acquisition or modification of equipment or devices; and
(D) other similar services and actions.
(2) Disability
The term "disability" means, with respect to an individual
(A) a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more of the major life activities of such individual;
(B) a record of such an impairment; or
(C) being regarded as having such impairment.
(3) State
The term "State" means each of the several States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the Virgin Islands, the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.
SUBCHAPTER I - EMPLOYMENT
Sec. 12111. Definitions
As used in this subchapter:
(1) Commission
The term "Commission" means the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission established by section 2000e-4 of this title.
(2) Covered entity
The term "covered entity" means an employer, employment agency, labor organization, or joint labor-management committee.
(3) Direct threat
The term "direct threat" means a significant risk to the health or safety of others that cannot be eliminated by reasonable accommodation.
(4) Employee
The term "employee" means an individual employed by an employer. With respect to employment in a foreign country, such term includes an individual who is a citizen of the United States.
(5) Employer
(A) In general
The term "employer" means a person engaged in an industry affecting commerce who has 15 or more employees for each working day in each of 20 or more calendar weeks in the current or preceding calendar year, and any agent of such person, except that, for two years following the effective date of this subchapter, an employer means a person engaged in an industry affecting commerce who has 25 or more employees for each working day in each of 20 or more calendar weeks in the current or preceding year, and any agent of such person.
(B) Exceptions
The term "employer" does not include
(i) the United States, a corporation wholly owned by the government of the United States, or an Indian tribe; or
(ii) a bona fide private membership club (other than a labor organization) that is exempt from taxation under section 501(c) of title 26.
(6) Illegal use of drugs
(A) In general
The term "illegal use of drugs" means the use of drugs, the possession or distribution of which is unlawful under the Controlled Substances Act [21 U.S.C. 801 et seq.]. Such term does not include the use of a drug taken under supervision by a licensed health care professional, or other uses authorized by the Controlled Substances Act or other provisions of Federal law.
(B) Drugs
The term "drug" means a controlled substance, as defined in schedules I through V of section 202 of the Controlled Substances Act [21 U.S.C. 812].
(7) Person, etc.
The terms "person", "labor organization", "employment agency", "commerce", and "industry affecting commerce", shall have the same meaning given such terms in section 2000e of this title.
(8) Qualified individual with a disability
The term "qualified individual with a disability" means an individual with a disability who, with or without reasonable accommodation, can perform the essential functions of the employment position that such individual holds or desires. For the purposes of this subchapter, consideration shall be given to the employer's judgment as to what functions of a job are essential, and if an employer has prepared a written description before advertising or interviewing applicants for the job, this description shall be considered evidence of the essential functions of the job.
(9) Reasonable accommodation
The term "reasonable accommodation" may include
(A) making existing facilities used by employees readily accessible to and usable by individuals with disabilities; and
(B) job restructuring, part-time or modified work schedules, reassignment to a vacant position, acquisition or modification of equipment or devices, appropriate adjustment or modifications of examinations, training materials or policies, the provision of qualified readers or interpreters, and other similar accommodations for individuals with disabilities.
(10) Undue hardship
(A) In general
The term "undue hardship" means an action requiring significant difficulty or expense, when considered in light of the factors set forth in subparagraph (B).
(B) Factors to be considered
In determining whether an accommodation would impose an undue hardship on a covered entity, factors to be considered include
(i) the nature and cost of the accommodation needed under this chapter;
(ii) the overall financial resources of the facility or facilities involved in the provision of the reasonable accommodation; the number of persons employed at such facility; the effect on expenses and resources, or the impact otherwise of such accommodation upon the operation of the facility;
(iii) the overall financial resources of the covered entity; the overall size of the business of a covered entity with respect to the number of its employees; the number, type, and location of its facilities; and
(iv) the type of operation or operations of the covered entity, including the composition, structure, and functions of the workforce of such entity; the geographic separateness, administrative, or fiscal relationship of the facility or facilities in question to the covered entity.
Sec. 12112. Discrimination
(a) General rule
No covered entity shall discriminate against a qualified individual with a disability because of the disability of such individual in regard to job application procedures, the hiring, advancement, or discharge of employees, employee compensation, job training, and other terms, conditions, and privileges of employment.
(b) Construction
As used in subsection (a) of this section, the term "discriminate" includes
(1) limiting, segregating, or classifying a job applicant or employee in a way that adversely affects the opportunities or status of such applicant or employee because of the disability of such applicant or employee;
(2) participating in a contractual or other arrangement or relationship that has the effect of subjecting a covered entity's qualified applicant or employee with a disability to the discrimination prohibited by this subchapter (such relationship includes a relationship with an employment or referral agency, labor union, an organization providing fringe benefits to an employee of the covered entity, or an organization providing training and apprenticeship programs);
(3) utilizing standards, criteria, or methods of administration
(A) that have the effect of discrimination on the basis of disability;
(B) that perpetuates the discrimination of others who are subject to common administrative control;
(4) excluding or otherwise denying equal jobs or benefits to a qualified individual because of the known disability of an individual with whom the qualified individual is known to have a relationship or association;
(5)
(A) not making reasonable accommodations to the known physical or mental limitations of an otherwise qualified individual with a disability who is an applicant or employee, unless such covered entity can demonstrate that the accommodation would impose an undue hardship on the operation of the business of such covered entity; or
(B) denying employment opportunities to a job applicant or employee who is an otherwise qualified individual with a disability, if such denial is based on the need of such covered entity to make reasonable accommodation to the physical or mental impairments of the employee or applicant;
(6) using qualification standards, employment tests or other selection criteria that screen out or tend to screen out an individual with a disability or a class of individuals with disabilities unless the standard, test or other selection criteria, as used by the covered entity, is shown to be job-related for the position in question and is consistent with business necessity; and
(7) failing to select and administer tests concerning employment in the most effective manner to ensure that, when such test is administered to a job applicant or employee who has a disability that impairs sensory, manual, or speaking skills, such test results accurately reflect the skills, aptitude, or whatever other factor of such applicant or employee that such test purports to measure, rather than reflecting the impaired sensory, manual, or speaking skills of such employee or applicant (except where such skills are the factors that the test purports to measure).
(c) Covered entities in foreign countries
(1) In general
It shall not be unlawful under this section for a covered entity to take any action that constitute discrimination under this section with respect to an employee in a workplace in a foreign country if compliance with this section would cause such covered entity to violate the law of the foreign country in which such workplace is located.
(2) Control of corporation
(A) Presumption
If an employer controls a corporation whose place of incorporation is a foreign country, any practice that constitutes discrimination under this section and is engaged in by such corporation shall be presumed to be engaged in by such employer.
(B) Exception
This section shall not apply with respect to the foreign operations of an employer that is a foreign person not controlled by an American employer.
(C) Determination
For purposes of this paragraph, the determination of whether an employer controls a corporation shall be based on
(i) the interrelation of operations;
(ii) the common management;
(iii) the centralized control of labor relations; and
(iv) the common ownership or financial control of the employer and the corporation.
(d) Medical examinations and inquiries
(1) In general
The prohibition against discrimination as referred to in subsection (a) of this section shall include medical examinations and inquiries.
(2) Preemployment
(A) Prohibited examination or inquiry
Except as provided in paragraph (3), a covered entity shall not conduct a medical examination or make inquiries of a job applicant as to whether such applicant is an individual with a disability or as to the nature or severity of such disability.
(B) Acceptable inquiry
A covered entity may make preemployment inquiries into the ability of an applicant to perform job-related functions.
(3) Employment entrance examination
A covered entity may require a medical examination after an offer of employment has been made to a job applicant and prior to the commencement of the employment duties of such applicant, and may condition an offer of employment on the results of such examination, if
(A) all entering employees are subjected to such an examination regardless of disability;
(B) information obtained regarding the medical condition or history of the applicant is collected and maintained on separate forms and in separate medical files and is treated as a confidential medical record, except that
(i) supervisors and managers may be informed regarding necessary restrictions on the work or duties of the employee and necessary accommodations;
(ii) first aid and safety personnel may be informed, when appropriate, if the disability might require emergency treatment; and
(iii) government officials investigating compliance with this chapter shall be provided relevant information on request; and
(C) the results of such examination are used only in accordance with this subchapter.
(4) Examination and inquiry
(A) Prohibited examinations and inquiries
A covered entity shall not require a medical examination and shall not make inquiries of an employee as to whether such employee is an individual with a disability or as to the nature or severity of the disability, unless such examination or inquiry is shown to be job-related and consistent with business necessity.
(B) Acceptable examinations and inquiries
A covered entity may conduct voluntary medical examinations, including voluntary medical histories, which are part of an employee health program available to employees at that work site. A covered entity may make inquiries into the ability of an employee to perform job-related functions.
(C) Requirement
Information obtained under subparagraph (B) regarding the medical condition or history of any employee are subject to the requirements of subparagraphs (B) and (C) of paragraph (3).

Level 5 Hierarchy:
Life-cycle analysis (LCA):
-A process of analyzing all inputs and outputs, though the entire “cradle-to-grave” life of a product, to determine total environmental impact

Thursday, December 2, 2010

Possible Essay Questions and their Answers:

What is the trait approach?
List the four types of pertinent leadership behaviors and describe each thoroughly.
List traits and skills of effective leader?
Thoroughly describe authentic leadership and give an example of how or when it is used?
Describe what the model of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs looks like. Name each level. Provide at least two examples for each level. What is the highest level and how often do individuals achieve this level?
List the types of conflicts. Describe each one thoroughly. Provide an example of each type of conflict in a business setting.
In order to obtain the best candidate for a job opening in a global business market, how would you go about recruiting the best candidates?  Where would you find them?  What do you have to offer the prospective candidate to make them what to come work for your company?
For the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, what does reasonable accommodations include but are not limited to?
According to the Level 5 Hierarchy there are five levels.  Name them, list their meanings, and give a professional example of each level.
Define life-cycle analysis. What environmental aspects are part of this cycle?

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Chapter 18: Creating and Managing Change

*Becoming World Class:
-Being world class requires applying the best and latest knowledge and ideas and having the ability to operate at the highest standards of any place anywhere.
-World-class companies create high-value products and earn superior profits over the long run.
-The result is an organization capable of competing successfully on a global basis.

*Organization development (OD):
-The system wide application of behavioral science knowledge to develop, improve, and reinforce the strategies, structures, and processes that lead to organizational
effectiveness.

*Resistance to Change:
 *Motivating people to Change:

*Force-field analysis:
An approach to implementing the unfreezing/ moving/refreezing model by identifying the forces that prevent people from changing and those that will drive people toward change.

*Specific Approaches to Enlist Cooperation:
*Methods for Managing Resistance to Change:


 *Leading Change:
*Sources of Complacency:










*Vast Opportunity:




*Adding Value, Personally: 
 *Learning Cycle: Explore, Discover, Act:
 *Level 5 Hierarchy:

Chapter 17: Managing Technology and Innovation

*Technology:
-The systematic application of scientific knowledge to a new product, process, or service.

*Innovation:
-A change in method or technology; a positive, useful departure from previous ways of doing things.

*The Technology Life Cycle:

 *Technology Dissemination Pattern and Adopter Categories:
 *Advantages and Disadvantages of Technology Leadership:
 *Dynamic Forces of Technologies competitive impact:
 *Measuring Current Technologies:
-Emerging technologies: are still under development and thus are unproved.
-Pacing technologies: have yet to prove their full value but have the potential to alter the rules of competition by providing significant advantage.
-Key technologies: have proved effective, but they also provide a strategic advantage because not everyone uses them.
-Base technologies: are those that are commonplace in the industry; everyone must have them to be able to operate.

*Assessing External Technological Trends:
-Benchmarking:
the process of comparing the organization’s practices and technologies with those of other companies.
-Scanning:
focuses on what can be done and what is being developed
places greater emphasis on identifying and monitoring the sources of new technologies for an industry.

*Framing Decisions about technological innovation:
*Sourcing and Acquiring New Technologies:
-Make-or-buy decision:
The question an organization asks itself about whether to acquire new technology from an outside source or develop it itself.

*Technology Acquisition Options:
 
*Compensation Practices in Traditional and Advanced Manufacturing Firms:

Chapter 16: Managerial Control

*Control:
-Any process that directs the activities of individuals toward the achievement of organizational goals.

 *Out of Control Company:
*The Control Process:
*Characteristics of Control:









*The Control Cycle:
1. Setting performance standards.
2. Measuring performance.
3. Comparing performance against the standards and determining deviations.
4. Taking action to correct problems and reinforce successes.

*Budgeting Controls:
-The process of investigating what is being done and comparing the results with the corresponding budget data to verify accomplishments or remedy differences
also called budgetary controlling.

*Sales Expense Budget:
 *Budget Types:














*Financial Controls:
-Balance Sheet:
A report that shows the financial picture of a company at a given time and itemizes assets, liabilities, and stockholders’ equity.

*Profit and Loss Statement:
-An itemized financial statement of the income and expenses of a company’s operations.

*Financial Controls:
-Assets: The values of the various items the corporation owns.
-Liabilities: The amounts a corporation owes to various creditors.
-Stockholders’ equity: The amount accruing to the corporation’s owners.

*Designing Effective Control Systems:
1. Establish valid performance standards.
2. Provide adequate information to employees.
3. Ensure acceptability to employees.
4. Maintain open communication.
5. Use multiple approaches.
*Market Control:
 *Management Control in an Empowered Setting:

Chapter 15: Communicating

*Interpersonal Communication:
-Communication:
The transmission of information and meaning from one party to another through the use of shared symbols.
-The sender initiates the process by conveying information to the receiver —the person for whom the message is intended.
-The sender has a meaning he or she wishes to communicate and encodes the meaning into symbols (the words chosen for the message).
-Then the sender transmits, or sends, the message through some channel, such as a verbal or written medium.
-The receiver decodes the message (e.g., reads it) and attempts to interpret the sender’s meaning.
-The receiver may provide feedback to the sender by encoding a message in response to the sender’s message.*Noise:
-interference in the system
-blocks perfect understanding.
*Examples of Noise:
-ringing telephones.
-thoughts about other things.
-simple fatigue or stress.

*A model of One- Way Communication:
*Behavior:
Oral and Written Channels of Communication:
*Oral Communication:
-Includes face-to-face discussion, telephone conversations, and formal presentations and speeches.
*Written Communication:
-Includes e-mail, memos, letters, reports, computer files, and other written documents.

*Electronic Media:
Web 2.0:
-A set of Internet-based applications that encourage user-provided content and collaboration.
-Social networking, podcasts, RSS, and wikis.

*Virtual Office:
-A mobile office in which people can work anywhere, as long as they have the tools to communicate with customers and colleagues.

*Presentation:

*Effective Listening:
-Find an area of interest
-Judge content, not delivery
-Hold your fire
-Listen for ideas
-Be flexible
-Resist distraction
-Exercise your mind
-Keep your mind open
-Capitalize on thought speed
-Work at listening

*Downward Communication:

Monday, November 15, 2010

Chapter 14: Teamwork

*The New Team Enviroment:
-A small number of people with complementary skills who are committed to a common purpose, set of performance goals, and approach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable.

*Types of Teams:
-Work Teams:
Teams that make or do things like manufacture, assemble, sell, or provide service.
-Project and Development Teams:
Teams that work on long term projects but disband once the work is completed.
-Parallel Teams:
Teams that operate separately from the regular work structure, and exist temporarily.
-Management Teams:
Teams that coordinate and provide direction to the subunits under their jurisdiction and integrate work among subunits.
-Transitional Teams:
Work groups composed of multinational members whose activities span multiple countries.
-Virtual Teams:
Teams that are physically dispersed and communicate electronically more than face-to-face.

*The Autonomy Continuum:
*Group Activities:
-Forming:
Group members attempt to lay the ground rules for what types of behavior are acceptable.
-Storming:
Hostilities and conflict arise, and people jockey for positions of power and status.
 -Norming:
Group members agree on their shared goals, and norms and closer relationships develop.
-Performing:
The group channels its energies into performing its tasks.

*Stepping up to Team Leadership:
*Cohesiveness:
-The degree to which a group is attractive to its members, members are motivated to remain in the group, and members influence one another.

*Cohesiveness, Performance Norms, and Group Performance:












*Conflict Styles:
-Avoidance:
A reaction to conflict that involves ignoring the problem by doing nothing at all, or deemphasizing the disagreement.
-Accomodation:
A style of dealing with conflict involving cooperation on behalf of the other party but not being assertive about one’s own interests.
-Compromise:
A style of dealing with conflict involving moderate attention to both parties’ concerns.
-Competing:
A style of dealing with conflict involving strong focus on one’s own goals and little or no concern for the other person’s goals.
-Collaboration:
A style of dealing with conflict emphasizing both cooperation and assertiveness to maximize both parties’ satisfaction.