I.

Define/Explore/Explain

1. Halo Effect

The halo effect is a cognitive bias that affects our judgements. We tend to evaluate
people positively across the board or negatively across the board, rather than judging
them accurately in different areas. It is a type of cognitive bias in which our overall
impression of a person influences how we feel and think about their character.
Essentially, overall impression of a person impacts evaluations of that person's specific
traits. Perceptions of a single trait can carry over to how people perceive other aspects
of that person. Moreover, the halo effect is one of the most common biases affecting
performance appraisals and reviews. Supervisors may rate subordinates based on the
perception of a single characteristic rather than the whole of their performance and
contribution. The halo effect also has an impact on how employees see themselves.
They develop their own insights about their performance and the company's overall
performance from management feedback. Employees can get an inflated sense of the
value of their contributions to the company and internalize an exaggerated version of
how the company is doing if the messages they receive are inaccurate. Getting
managers to look closely at employee behaviors and outputs and to give more accurate
feedback can create more honesty about employee performance.

2. Managerial Hazard

Managerial hazard is a critical aspect of strategic management. Not all hazards in

the workplace manifest in the same way. Some are obvious because their impacts are
direct and easily felt, such as physical workplace hazards; others are indirect because
the effects are long term or further downstream from the original work process; and
some are hazards because their absence, for example the lack of safe systems of work,
makes the workplace less safe. To improve competitive advantage and performance,
managers need to take risks, often in an uncertain environment. Formal economic
assumptions of risk taking suggest that if the expected values for two strategies are
similar but one is a greater gamble, managers will choose the strategy with a more
certain outcome.

3. Cultural Homogenization
 Cultural homogenization is the loss of diversity of culture between two or more
cultural groups. Cultural homogenization is an aspect of cultural globalization, listed as
one of its main characteristics, and refers to the reduction in cultural diversity through
the popularization and diffusion of a wide array of cultural symbols, not only physical
objects but customs, ideas and values. It is the process by which local cultures are
transformed or absorbed by a dominant outside culture. Cultural homogenization can
impact national identity and culture, which would be eroded by the impact of global
cultural industries and multinational media. There are several advantages of cultural
homogenization. One of them is that it broadens the range of cultural experiences that
the people can have and enjoy aspects of many other cultures. Homogenization also
shows that people trust one another easily due to their basic understanding of one’s
belief and they tend to be more charitable to one another. Through homogenization,
people can also obtain easier and better quality of communication. There are also
disadvantages of homogenization and one is that it destroys unique cultural practices in
various countries and thereby reducing the amount of cultural diversity that exists in the
world. It can also result in the loss of individual culture and religion and less diversity of
ideas.

4. Organizational Climate

Organizational climate is the process of quantifying the culture of an organization; it

precedes the notion of organizational culture. It is a set of properties of the work
environment, perceived directly or indirectly by the employees, that is assumed to be a
major force in influencing employee behavior. More so, organizational culture tends to
be shared by all or most members of some social group, is something that older
members usually try to pass on to younger members; shapes behavior and structures
perceptions of the world. It is also defined as the recurring patterns of behavior,
attitudes and feelings that characterize life in the organization, while an organization
culture tends to be deep and stable. Although culture and climate are related, climate
often proves easier to assess and change. At an individual level of analysis the concept
is called individual psychological climate. These individual perceptions are often
aggregated or collected for analysis and understanding at the team or group level, or
the divisional, functional, or overall organizational level. There are two difficulties in
defining organization climate: how to define climate, and how to measure it effectively
on different levels of analysis. Moreover, a great organizational climate in the workplace
motivates employees, boosts morale, improves the company's profile and attracts new
talent. The properties of the climate can have a powerful effect on every aspect of the
workplace, from productivity to interpersonal relationships.

5. Authority Compliance Management

The Authority-Compliance Management style implies that managers score high on
concern for production and low on concern for people. Instead of paying sole attention
to the employees, this lead is only serving the needs of the project and the results they
are looking for. These types of managers usually believe that subordinates’ needs are
relatively unimportant. Efficiency in operations should be the dominant orientation. In
order to boost performance, managers try to make subordinates comply by using
tangible rewards such as monetary bonuses. Managers may even use their coercive
powers to punish subordinates if targets are not being met. While they might reach the
end goal, bridges could be burned in the meantime through the methods that are used.
Unhappy employees tend to leave sooner, or decrease in production as their attitude
drops. This style is largely based on McGregor’s Theory X that states that employees
generally have little ambition, avoid responsibilities, and are mostly extrinsically
motivated. Short term projects may benefit from this kind of strict management style, but
it is unlikely to succeed over time.

II. Discuss the major Features of the social system in an organization where you
have worked. In what ways did the social system affect you and your job
performance, either positively and negatively?

Schools are important organizations that prepare our children for adult roles. Their
working mechanism has a strong effect on the quality of education.There exist in
schools the basic features of the social system to attain the school goals. This
subsequently characterizes school as a systematically arranged organization. As a
result, it can be established that school is certainly a social system. The social system
refers to the complex set of human relationships interacting in many ways. This social
system plays the important role in the performance of the employees. For instance, the
social system of the organization I work is quite motivating. The culture is established so
effectively that it increases my performance, improves innovation, creativity and
innovation which on the other hand leads to the betterment of the organization where I
belong. The major features of the social system where I have worked are as follows:

1. Relationship – In the organization where I belong, the flow of communication

is two - way, whereby, we, teachers can freely express our ideas and
 suggestions on particular issues. Management always welcomes good ideas
and implements the feasible idea as well, which increases creativity and
innovation in ideas. Two-way communication is also important in daily
organizational life. We overcome problems by finding more opportunity for
face to face conversations. A clear distinction of the division of labor and
work specialization is also present in our organization.

2. Culture and climate– the social system is said to be in social equilibrium if the
employees are able to effectively maintain dynamic working balance. It
includes establishment of change culture and adaption to continuous change
in external and internal environment. The organization which I work for, has
successfully established the change culture. There is a good internal and
external interaction. Individuals in school have to interact with other
individuals from both inside and outside of the school.

3. Structure - The policies and procedures of the organization where I belong,

are laid down so effectively that it boosts the performance and accountability
of each employee. This accountability motivates the employees towards the
achievement of their individual goal. We are locally involved in social needs of
people around them are more likely to be open and social systems. To please
parents, our organization continuously interacts with them to learn their needs
and to get feedback on educational processes.

4. Leadership and Decision Making- In social systems of schools an important

aspect of leadership is the quality and systematic effects of functions and
behaviors of principals as leaders. In our school, principals’ social behavior
surrounds all other individuals and processes from decision making to the
evaluation of organizational efficiency.

III. Differentiate
 A. Leader vs. Manager
The terms “manager” and “leader” are terms that are frequently used
interchangeably, however, they are not the same thing. It is widely accepted that
the two have important similarities, but they also have differences. Leaders and
managers are not the same people. They apply different conceptualizations and
approaches to work, exercise different ways of problem solving, undertake
different functions in the organizations, and exhibit different behaviors owing to
their different intrinsic and extrinsic motivations. Managers do things by the book
and follow policy, moving up in the organization based on their actions and
successes. On the other hand, leaders follow their own intuition and may not
have an authorized position in the hierarchy. More so, a manager may have
obtained his position of authority through time and loyalty to the organization or
upper management, not as a result of his leadership qualities. A leader is
someone whom people follow through choice, but a manager must be obeyed.
The leader works in the open, and the manager in covert. The leader leads, and
the manager drives. Still, a good leader/manager uses vision and creativity to
establish an environment of continuous improvement, making things better for his
people, the project, and the organization .

B. Power vs. Authority

Power and authority are two words which sense more or less the same
meaning. Still these words cannot be replaced as the meaning is concerned.
Authority is legal in nature and it can exist without power. It is also institutional,
delegated and fixed on nature. Power needs not be official in nature. So it need
not be legitimate. More so, authority flows downwards in the organisation. This is
because it is delegated by the superiors to the subordinates. It is given to a
position. Authority relationships can be shown in the organisation charts.
Authority depends on the level of management, the higher the level of
management, higher will be the authority and vice-versa. On the other hand,
power can flow in any direction. Even subordinates have power over their
superiors, if they can influence their behaviour. So power can flow upwards,
downwards or horizontally. Unlike the authority, power relationships cannot be
shown in organisation charts. Power does not depend on the level of
management. It can exist at any level of management. Even a lower-level
manager or a worker can have power to influence the behaviour of a top-level
manager.
C. Rationalism vs. Idealism
Idealism is an ontological doctrine whereas rationalism is an
epistemological doctrine. Idealism asserts that reality is fundamentally made
of ideas. It can be opposed to materialism, according to which reality is
fundamentally made up of matter. Rationalism asserts that the fundamental
source of knowledge is reason, and can be opposed to empiricism which
asserts that the fundamental source of knowledge is the senses. Rationalism
is basically the doctrine that all important knowledge comes not from
experience but before experience.

D. Governance vs. Management

Governance is the strategic planning and leadership of an organisation
that is carried out by the appointed Board. This is about planning and the overall
strategy and direction of the organisation and ensuring that this is reviewed on a
regular basis. The management is supported by the Board to deliver on those
strategic plans. Governance decisions should provide guidelines for
management. In most cooperatives, all members are empowered to run for and
elect the governing body or vote on certain governance decisions, such as
changes to the by-laws. More so, governance is about determining the mission;
policy and strategy, appointing and overseeing management, managing
governance processes; providing insight, wisdom and judgement; monitoring
performance of the organisation; and strategically identifying and managing risk.
On the other hand, management is about developing and delivering policy and
strategy; setting and overseeing annual operational business plans; appointing
managers and staff; supporting governance processes; implementing Board
decisions; measuring performance; delivering services and activities; and
managing strategic and operational risk

E. Legal vs. Political

Political focuses on designing the mechanism that determines who can

rule, how and what purpose. The emphasis over here is on structure of the
democratic decision making process; choice of electoral system; and mechanism
for ensuring accountability of executive branch of government to legislature and
then to electorate. On the other hand, legal involves imposing legal limits on the
 governmental powers. These legal limits are often expressed as individual rights.
Judiciary is then charged with the responsibility to enforce these rights.

IV. Some Japanese Firms have a policy of rotating their Managers among diff
managerial Jobs in contrast, American Managers are more likely to specialize
in a certain area (e g Finance operation). Discuss the Advantages and
Disadvantages of each of these approaches

There are some advantages and disadvantages to both approaches. In Japanese

firm, it would be useful to have rotating managers because you would constantly be
getting new ideas and insights instead of the same person saying the same thing all the
time. The manager easily specializes in a specific area and constantly learns multiple
aspects of each department of the company. It would also be a benefit to know all the
different managerial jobs for compensation reasons, a manager in a rotating job may
get paid more because they know more about the company over all. A manager of an
organization should be able to and know how to do every single job. Moreover, a A
close working association with many workers in a variety of areas. This, it is said,
enhances communication and mutual understanding of the company's problems. Some
disadvantages to Japanese companies is, it can be costly and time consuming. When
you move a manager into a new position, there is a learning curve. Managers might
need training in order to do their new job. The cost of training could cost too much and
could take hours. In addition, not every manager may be on the same page. One
manager may come in and change everything the previous manager did before them
which could a lot of frustration among the employees. People may spend such a short
time in a job that they hardly have time to truly learn it, once they have gotten up to
speed, they are shuttled off to the next position. Rotations are planned without
consideration for the timetable of ongoing projects, so that interruptions and breaks in
continuity occur. Furthermore, because no consideration is given to individual
employees’ interests when they are assigned to positions, someone may be assigned to
a job for which they have little enthusiasm or aptitude.

In American approaches, having one manager reduces a lot of confusion among

the employees. Work can be completed faster, more efficiently and qualities of cost are
lowered due to specialization. Another advantage is usually these managers went to
school and studied the one thing that they are doing so they should be experts in that
matter. It gives them a sense of pride and job security due to their specialized skills.
Disadvantages of this approach are the manager may get bored or just get burnt out
doing the same thing every single day and managers may lack an understanding and
appreciation for other aspects of the work system due to lack of involvement
I prefer the American approach, wherein the managers are more likely to specialize in a
certain area. In my own point of view, specialization is advantageous in the sense that it
allows one to focus concentration on a narrow aspect of work, and presumably develop
an in-depth knowledge of that area. This will bring higher levels of productivity in the
workplace which I believe, making the organization more successful.