Hrm2003 seen exam questions and suggested readings

You are required to answer any TWO of the following four questions. The suggested readings are guidelines only. You may refer to them, but you can also refer to other relevant readings.

1. To what extent can management control organizational culture?

Suggested readings

Ackroyd, Stephen & Peter Crowdy (1990): ‘Can culture be managed? Working with “raw” material: The case of the English slaughtermen.’ Personell Review, Vol. 19, No. 5, pp 3-13.

Bratton (2015) Chapter 17: Culture. In Bratton, J. Work and Organizational Behaviour. 3rd edition. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Meek, L. (1988) Organizational culture: Origins and weaknesses. Organization Studies. 9(4): 453-473.

Smircich. L. (1983) Concepts of culture and organizational analysis. Administrative Science Quarterly, 28(3): 339-358.

2. Describe two psychological motivation theories. To what extent can they explain people’s behaviour in organizations?

Suggested readings:

Bratton (2015) Chapter 6: Motivation. In Bratton, J. Work and Organizational Behaviour. 3rd edition. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Dye, K., Mills, A.J. and Weatherbee, T., (2005) Maslow: man interrupted: reading management theory in context. Management Decision 43(10): 1375-1395.

Goldthorpe, J.H., Lockwood, D., Bechhofer, F. and Platt, J. (1968) The affluent worker: Industrial Attitudes and Behaviour, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Herzberg, F. (2003) one more time: How do you motivate employees? Harvard Business Review 81(1): 87-96.

3. How important are leaders in influencing organizational performance? Discuss by making reference to traditional and contemporary leadership theories.

Suggested readings:

Bratton (2015) Chapter 12: Leadership. In Bratton, J. Work and Organizational Behaviour (3rd edition) Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Carroll, B., Levy, L. and Richmond, D. (2008) Leadership as practice: challenging the competency paradigm, Leadership, 4(4), pp. 363-79.

Grint, K. (2005) Leadership: Limits and possibilities. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

King, D. and Lawley, S. (2013) Chapter 12: Leadership. Organizational Behaviour. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Sarti (2014) Leadership style do engage employees: Evidence from human services organizations in Italy, Journal of workplace learning, 26(3/4), pp.202-16.

4. Does team-work empower workers or does it lead to intensified managerial control?

Suggested readings:

Baldry, C., Bain, P. and Taylor, P. (1998) “Bright satanic offices”: intensification, control and team Taylorism. Pp. 163-83. In P. Thompson and C. Warhurst (eds), Workplaces of the future, Basingtoke: Macmillan.

Barker, J.R. (1993) Tightening the iron cage: Concertive control in self-managing teams. Administrative Science Quarterly, 38, 408-437.

Bratton (2015) Chapter 10: Groups and Teams. In Bratton, J. Work and Organizational Behaviour. 3rd edition. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Thompson, P. and Wallace, T. (1996) Redesigning production through team working. International Journal of Operation and Production Management, 16(2), pp.103-18.

Smith, V. (1997) ‘New forms of work organization’. Annual Review of Sociology, 23: 315-39.

Yeatts, D.E. and Hyten, C. (1998) High-performing self-managed work teams, Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.