ELONA GWELE 3952003

ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR

FINAL EXAMINATION

SECTION B

QUESTION 1.

A strong culture is one that is deeply entrenched and in which there is a deep belief
in and commitment to common values, shared behavioral norms and a sense of
identification with the organization. Strong culture helps an organization to have a
high commitment to organizational values, low employee turnover, unity of purpose
and goal-directed behaviour, closeness and meaningful relationship among
members of the organization and competitive advantage for the organization
because a strong organizational culture is difficult to replicate.

The potential problem with a strong organizational culture is that it is deeply

embedded and therefore difficult to change. This resistance to change could be a
problem when an organization decides to merge with another one, improve its way of
doing business, acquire and expand, or even promote diversity. Although strong
cultures produce superior individual and team performance, this may go in different
directions.

QUESTION 2.

Perception is a mental process by which individuals organize, interpret and

understand sensory impressions from their environment. The complexity of the
process is increased because perception is influenced by a person’s culture and the
meanings, she/he gives to verbal and non-verbal communication. Furthermore, we
tend to be very selective about the information that we use to create impressions and
to develop attributes of others.

The attributions we make are only as correct as the information upon which we base
them. It is a process that is open to many biases.
  Fundamental attribution error is the tendency we must overestimate the
presence of internal factors and underestimate the presence of external ones.
When a financial adviser is unsuccessful, we blame it on his or her inability to
make good judgement rather than on unexpected changes in the economy.
 Defensive attribution error is the tendency to blame other people for their own
misfortune so that we will feel protected from a similar fate. If some’s money is
stolen, we want to believe that he or she is careless in order to block out the
possibility that something similar could happen to us.
 Self-serving bias is the tendency to attribute our successes to internal or
personal factors and our failures to external or situational factors. Consider
how often a bad test grade is blamed on the lecturer’s inability, while a good
grade is mostly attributed to our own efforts and intelligence.
 Self-handicapping occurs when students or employees create obstacles that
make good performance less likely and thereby protect their sense of self.
Students who think they will fail a difficult test may be inclined to refrain from
studying for that test.

QUESTION 3

Performance management system may fail if the process lacks structure, it is not a
one time process and needs to be repeated more often. It is not possible if the
performance management system is not well designed structure. The main reason
having a performance management process in an organization is to improve the
overall performance of the employees in the organization. There are systems and for
whatever function there are restrictive. They simply cannot cover all situations and
contingencies; many such systems involve way too much paperwork.

SECTION C

QUESTION 1.1.

Changes within the group

 Rise in autocratic leadership: Most people find it hard to deal with conflict and
when their group conflicts with another group, they search for a person within
the group to take control of the situation, direct behaviour and speak on behalf
of the group. A climate is created where an autocratic leadership style is
 preferred and encouraged. The group willingly accepts more structural and
autocratic leadership.
 Increased activity: During conflict situations, there is an increased level of
activity as group members get together to discuss issues and devise
strategies to deal with another group.
 Emphasis on loyalty: There is a strong division between among the groups,
and group members are not allowed to cross boundaries and associate with
members of the opposite group. Conformity is encouraged and group
members are not allowed to deviate from group norms. Competition and
conflict result in group members putting their differences aside and focusing
on the external threat.

Changes between the two groups

 Cognitive distortion: Groups in conflict immediately think in terms of among

the groups. Owing to two cognitive processes, assimilation and contrast, they
believe that those in their groups are more like each other than they really are
and that those in other groups are more different from them than they really
are. These cognitive processes prevent people from objectively challenging
their feelings and behaviours.
 Decreased interaction: The groups are unwilling to interact or engage in joint
activities and focus on themselves.
 Breakdown in communication: When groups are not in conflict, they routinely
communicate with each other. During a conflict situation, communication
becomes regulated, directed by hidden agendas and emotion laden or breaks
down completely.
 Changed, distorted and different perceptions: During conflict, a group takes a
specific stance based on the group’s unique perception of the situation. New
information is often distorted to fit the group’s perspective.
 Stereotyping: Stereotyping is the is the tendency to attribute characteristic to a
group and then to assume that each individual member of the group shares
this characteristic. Stereotyping results from the need to draw a clear
distinction between the groups and to strengthen one’s own position. Conflict
between groups results in negative stereotyping.
QUESTION 1.2.

I would recommend these intergroup conflict resolutions

 Social intervention process

 Authoritative command
 Problem solving
 Having a superordinate goal
 Changing the organizational structure

QUESTION 2.1.

• Breakdown in communication happens when the sender of the messages fails to

influence the receiver in the way he/she intended to and vice versa.

• Basic interpersonal communication models offer a simple process diagram of the

way in which communication takes place.

• Things are never as straightforward as they seem and despite the best intentions of
the sender and receiver to communicate, several barriers inhibit the effective
exchange of information.

• Noise various types of barrier process, physical, personal, defensive/non-defensive

to communication.

QUESTION 2.2.

• Decoding barrier: a manager’s choice of words may be vague, and the employee is
therefore unable to respond.

• Receiver barrier: a student talks to a friend during a lecture, misses an important

point made and must ask a question that has been answered.

• Feedback barrier: non-verbal actions and verbal cues may lead the sender to think
that the receiver understands the message. Misinterpreting body language may lead
to miscommunication.