Assignment 1

 

Watch the video below and summarize it into at least 3 pages.

OB Skills What is the essence of management?

How do you INFLUENCE someone effectively?

The New World of Work: Complex, ambiguous, changing, diverse, and global

Success requires the SKILLS to react quickly and effectively while working w/ others domestically and internationally w/ new technologies

portfolio: valuable transferable skills carry from job to job

Company Success: What factors best explains a firm’s financial performance?

Firm size, market share, capital intensity, industry return on sales, ability of managers to effectively manage people

Which one is most important?Manager’s ability three times more powerful in explaining than all other factors combine

Modern Work Environment: Entrepreneurial success depends on managerial (social) skills

Downsizing/delayering

Job enrichment/empowerment

Self-managed work teams

Hiring for future positions now

Beyond work, OB skills serve you well in life

Expectations

Attribution Errors

Keys in Managing Perceptions and Attributions in Teams: Be self-aware

Seek a wide range of differing information

Try to see a situation as others would

Be aware of different kinds of schema

Be aware of perceptual distortions

Be aware of self and other impression management

Be aware of attribution theory implications

Managing Groups & Teams

MGT 567

Dr. Brandon Randolph-Seng

What is the essence of management?

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How do you INFLUENCE someone effectively?
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1. Most of us have quite accurate insight into the factors that influence our moods.
2. People’s behavior is best predicted in terms of their personalities or inner dispositions.
3. The greater the reward promised for an activity, the more one will come to enjoy the activity.
4. The more often we see something—even if we don’t like it at first—the more we grow to like it.
True or False?

Einstein + Big Blue + Gandhi = ???

ECOMAN & ECOWOMEN!!!

Econs vs. Humans
Economics:
Homo economicus = economic man
Think & Act unfailingly well
Social Sciences:
Homo sapiens = human man
Think & Act failingly well

Managers over Human Beings
Econs are not required to make perfect decisions, just unbiased decisions (not systematically wrong in a predictable direction)
Humans often do not act “rationally” but do so in predictable ways.
E.g., Planning fallacy; Status quo bias
Can harness these tendencies as a manager! (e.g., urinal)

Form Teams
Teams of 3-4
Mixed up (more like real life)
Assign roles that can be revolving
Leader (ensure team is meeting and effectively accomplishing team activities)
In class Scribe (record group process for each of the team exercises)
Spokesperson (in class)
Team coordinator (coordinates materials from exercises, types, etc.)
Team Assignments were e-mailed out yesterday

The New World of Work
Complex, ambiguous, changing, diverse, and global
Success requires the SKILLS to react quickly and effectively while working w/ others domestically and internationally w/ new technologies
OB Skills portfolio: valuable transferable skills carry from job to job

Company Success
What factors best explains a firm’s financial performance?
Firm size, market share, capital intensity, industry return on sales, ability of managers to effectively manage people
Which one is most important?
Manager’s ability three times more powerful in explaining than all other factors combine

OB Skills
U.S. corporations spend $56 billion+ annually for training workforce
Ernst & Young: 2007 – $18,000
GE: 2007 – $30,000

OB Skills
Firms need and want OB skills, but do you personally need them?
Companies are hiring for skills: Top 10
Oral communication, listening, interpersonal communication, written communication, problem-solving, poise, human relations, technical, appearance, attire

Modern Work Environment
Entrepreneurial success depends on managerial (social) skills
Downsizing/delayering
Job enrichment/empowerment
Self-managed work teams
Hiring for future positions now
Beyond work, OB skills serve you well in life in general

Success in School vs. Business World
Does success in school relate to success in the business world?
In the business world success depends much more on teamwork & on the job training
Success in school does little to predict subsequent career success

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How We View Differences
Discussion Questions
How does perception relate to other kinds of intergroup differences, such as race, gender, culture, ability, ethnicity, health, age, nationality, and so on?
What does this exercise suggest about the ease with which intergroup stereotypes form?
What are the implications for teams in organizations?

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The Perceptual Process

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Distortions occurring in the perceptual process stages

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Introduction to Perception
Perception: process of selecting, organizing, and interpreting sensory information

Introduction to Perception
Perception:
Go beyond the info actually present in environment
Select some, ignore others
Interesting or important (personally relevant)
Values, needs, fears, emotions

Which vertical line is longer?

Understanding Perception

Understanding Perception
Now can you see the cow?

©John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2007 Huffman: Psychology in Action (8e)

©John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2007 Huffman: Psychology in Action (8e)

What is Interpretation?
Interpretation (how the brain explains sensations) involves four major factors:
Perceptual Adaptation: Brain adapts to changed environments (e.g., see picture).

Perceptual Set: readiness to perceive in a particular manner, based on expectations
We see what we are led to expect.
Factors in Interpretation

Do you notice anything wrong with these photos of actress Julia Roberts?
Expectations

Now can you see what’s wrong? Your first reaction of not seeing the problem is just another example of perceptual set.
Expectations

Perceiving our social world
Our assumptions and prejudgments guide our perception, interpretation, and recall of our social world

Influence behavior in teams?
How do you know your judgment of a team member is not a function of other team members in the environment?
How do you know if your judgment of a team member’s work ethic is not influenced by the fact that you personally do not like them?

What do you think of this man?
The rest of the story…

Explaining our social world
Misattributions:
Mistakenly attributing a behavior to the wrong source
Example:
Males sometime misreading a woman’s warmth
as a sexual come-on

Explaining our social world
What is this man’s story?
Why is he panhandling?

Fundamental Attribution Error
Actor / Observer difference
Observer attributions:
Drug addiction
Lazy
Mentally ill
Actor attributions:
Wife’s medical bills
Factory closure / loss of job
High unemployment

Changes w/ time, self-awareness, culture

6-36
Attribution Errors
Fundamental Attribution Error
The tendency to underestimate the influence of situational factors and to overestimate the influence of personal factors in evaluating someone else’s behavior.
Self-serving Bias
The tendency to deny personal responsibility for performance problems but to accept personal responsibility for performance success.

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6-37
Why did I fail the exam?
Internal External
Stable Ability Task Difficulty
Unstable Effort Luck/Chance

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Keys in Managing Perceptions and Attributions in Teams
Be self-aware
Seek a wide range of differing information
Try to see a situation as others would
Be aware of different kinds of schema
Be aware of perceptual distortions
Be aware of self and other impression management
Be aware of attribution theory implications

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Course Notes
If don’t have a background in Organizational Behavior, textbook will provide important background info for the live sessions
Quiz questions will come from the live sessions. A review sheet is provided under Doc Sharing on eCollege
Team Dev Project Part I: Work on project together ASAP, typed up version due on eCollege by this Sunday at 11:59 PM
Start working on Workshop ASAP
Next Live Session: June 11th