FEEDBACK TUTORIAL LETTER 1 ST SEMESTER 2017 ASSIGNMENT 2 ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR OSB611S 1
Page1 OSB611S - FEEDBACK TUTORIAL LETTER FOR ASSIGNMENT 2-2016 Dear student The purpose of this tutorial letter is to provide feedback on Assignment 2. Please read the tutorial letter carefully to see where you have done well and where you need to improve for examination purposes. Do not hesitate to contact me should you require additional guidance on your examinations preparations. It is my duty to assist you when needed. I am also including I few examination pointers. Please, this does not mean you should ignore the rest of the topics/ chapters. You should study everything but pay special attention to those highlighted aspects. FEEDBACK ON ASSIGNMENT 2 This assignment had two parts. A case study and structured questions Most of you performed very well with the highest score being 80%. Well done! PART A- CASE STUDY Some of you still struggle with case studies. In future please attend weekend tutorial classes and vacation school where I give a lot of attention to the issue of case studies. Case studies are based on the application of theory and not copying text directly from the case. Here are some tips on answering case studies: - Read through the case several times. - Identify the unit in your study guide that the case is addressing - Identify the mail role players and their contributions to the story line - What is the main problem? - Only after doing all of the above, attempt to answer the questions. 1
Page2 - If there is any words/phrases or sentences that you do not understand in the case study, feel free to contact me for clarification. - The case study provides a good opportunity to increase your marks because you can apply your own ideas and thoughts on issues, provided that you can motivate what you say. - Question1: Case study(14 marks) 1. What aspects of motivation might workplace bullying reduce? For example, are there likely to be effects on an employee s self-efficacy? If so, what might those effects be? (2) Answer: It appears that workplace bullying reduces the level of motivation exerted by individuals to go beyond a level of performance than what is minimally acceptable. It could be argued that individuals self-efficacy is diminished in that those who are victims of bullying tend to downgrade the organization that they work for, cease to engage in citizenship behavior, etc. These reactions may affect an individual s self worth over the long run. 2. If you were a victim of workplace bullying, what steps would you take to try to reduce its occurrence? (5) Answer: Students need to provide a strategy for dealing with this type of behavior. It is clearly an opinion based question that has significant latitude to accommodate a wide range of responses. 2
Page3 3. What factors do you believe contribute to workplace bullying? Are bullies a product of the situation, or are they flawed personalities? What situations and what personality factors might contribute to the presence of bullies? (4) Answer: Some factors could be work history (that is emulating one s former supervisor), a lack of appropriate management training and development, low self-esteem, insecurity, lack of adequate job knowledge. 4. Of the three types of organizational justice, which one does workplace bullying most closely resemble and why? (3) Answer: An argument can be made that distributive justice is at work here in that the workplace bully is attempting to influence the distribution of rewards, etc. in the workplace. Arguments may be made for retributive justice if one is dealing with the disposition of the one engaged in the bullying behavior. Question 2 Structured Questions Most of you did well here. I am however concerned about the copy and paste that is taking place. Please this is not acceptable at your level. In future, please avoid that and paraphrase, summarise, include your own ideas and own examples. 2.1 Discuss the five value dimensions of national culture described by Hofstede. Explain where you think Namibia ranks on each of the five dimensions. (10) a) Power distance is the degree to which people accept that power in institutions and organizations is distributed unequally. Namibia score high on power distance 3
Page4 b) Individualism/collectivism is the degree to which people prefer to act as individuals or as members of a group. Namibia is slowly moving towards a individualistic country c) Achievement/nurturing is the degree to which values such as assertiveness, the acquisition of money and material goods and competition prevail versus the degree to which people value relationships, and show sensitivity and concern for the welfare of others. Namibia score high on this aspect. d) Uncertainty avoidance is the degree to which people prefer structured over unstructured situations. Namibia score relatively high on this. e) Long-term/short-term orientation is the degree to which people look to the future or to the past and present. The latter emphasizes respect for tradition and fulfilling social obligations. Namibia score high on shortterm orientation. 2.2 Explain with relevant work related examples, six common decision making biases or errors. (12) Overconfidence Bias. When we re given factual questions and asked to judge the probability that our answers are correct, we tend to be far too optimistic. Anchoring Bias. The anchoring bias is a tendency to fixate on initial information as a starting point. Once set, we then fail to adequately adjust for subsequent information. The anchoring bias occurs because our mind appears to give a disproportionate amount of emphasis to the first information it receives. So initial impressions, ideas, prices, and estimates carry undue weight relative to information received later. 4
Page5 Confirmation Bias. The rational decision-making process assumes that we objectively gather information. But we don t. We selectively gather information. The confirmation bias represents a specific case of selective perception. We seek out information that reaffirms our past choices, and we discount information that contradicts past judgments. Availability Bias. This is the tendency for people to base their judgments on information that is readily available to them. Events that evoke emotions, that are particularly vivid, or that have occurred more recently tend to be more available in our memory. As a result, we tend to be prone to overestimating unlikely events like an airplane crash. The availability bias can also explain why managers, when doing annual performance appraisals, tend to give more weight to recent behaviors of an employee than those behaviors of six or nine months ago. Escalation of Commitment Error. This refers to staying with a decision even when there is clear evidence that it s wrong. Individuals escalate commitment to a failing course of action when they view themselves as responsible for the failure. Escalation of commitment is also congruent with evidence that people try to appear consistent in what they say and do. Increasing commitment to previous actions conveys consistency. Randomness Error. Human beings have a lot of difficulty dealing with chance. Most of us like to believe we have some control over our world and destiny. Although we undoubtedly can control a good part of our future by rational decision making, the truth is that the world will always contain random events. Decision making becomes impaired when we try to create meaning out of random events. 5
Page6 Winner s Curse. The winner s curse argues that the winning participants in a competitive auction typically pay too much for the item. Hindsight bias. The hindsight bias is the tendency for us to believe falsely that we d have accurately predicted the outcome of an event, after that outcome is actually known. When something happens and we have accurate feedback on the outcome, we seem to be pretty good at concluding that this outcome was relatively obvious. GENERAL COMMENTS: Once again most assignments did not meet academic standards. Academic assignments should have an introduction, body and conclusion. Sources must be cited as per APA style of referencing. I deducted marks as a penalty because I addressed this issue several times before and I even informed you that there will be a deduction of marks. Obviously, those that adhered to this scored some bonus marks. Most of you had a reference list, but not all sources were reflected on the reference list. Remember that the Polytechnic uses APA style of referencing. The library should be able to help. There is even a manual that you can buy at an affordable fee to help you on how to cite sources. Avoid bullet points, write in paragraphs and elaborate on issues. Avoid copy and paste!!! POINTS FOR EXAMINATION PREPERATION Make sure that you understand what is expected from you. Read questions several times before attempting to answer them 6
Page7 Read the case study several times and make sure you understand the general theme and what unit/chapter in the book it is addressing. Examinations Format: - The examinations will have following format : - There will be three sections: Section A Multiple choice (20 marks), - True/ False (10 marks) Section B - Case study (20 marks) Section C - Structured questions ( 60 marks) To answer multiple choice and true and false questions, you need to read through all chapters with understanding. I can thus not give you a scope for multiple choice and true and false questions. Scope for structured questions Concentrate on the following units: Attitudes and Job Satisfaction Emotions and Moods Personality and Values Decision making Motivation: From Concepts to Applications Motivational theories especially Reinforcement and Equity theories Work teams I hope the above will somehow help you in your preparations. 7
Page8 Please feel free to contact me before the examinations should you require assistance with some units/ chapters. Good luck with the examinations!!! Ms. Elaine Enkali Tel: 061 207 400 E-mail: eenkali@polytechnic.edu.na 8