Discussion board

Our discussion board is going to focus on the Case Study entitled “Case Study: Giving Feedback – Empathy or Attributions?” on pages 556-557 of the eText.  Please read through the case very carefully and then think about the issues covered in the case in light of the information that you learned in Chapter 4.  Next, read through the questions at the end of the case.  Lastly, answer the following question in your initial post:

Giving Feedback—Empathy or Attributions?—Case for Chapter 4

Sheila K. McGinnis

Feedback is a critical management skill that pervades everything we do in organizations. Feedback is information about the effect we have on others. It is used to tell employees how well their actions have their intended effect and how well job performance meets expectations. Feedback helps employees see how others see them and their performance, find out about their blind spots, and learn how to improve performance. Giving feedback means a manager has the difficult task of making judgments and delivering corrections or negative feedback. Clearly, giving feedback requires sensitivity and empathy. One complicating factor in giving feedback is our tendency to make attributions about an employee’s motivations; we often make the mistake of trying to read others’ intentions and motivations.

Scenario 2

Eileen, an instructor in an interpersonal skills workshop, is troubled by the behavior of one of the workshop participants named Geoffrey. She feels that Geoffrey—a manager who is technically competent but seems unable to keep his staff team together for more than three months at a time—needs to see himself as his team members see him. Over the three meetings the course has had so far, Eileen notices that Geoffrey lounges in his chair with a bored expression on his face without contributing to any of the discussions. At times he has taken out a newspaper and read the sports pages while Eileen is speaking. To Eileen, this indicates an arrogance and hostility that will be severely dysfunctional for Geoffrey as he moves about the organization.

Eileen decides to write a memo to Geoffrey pointing out the effect his nonparticipation is having on the group. In the memo she picks out the specific behaviors of Geoffrey’s that bother her and points out their negative effect. She asks him to work on reducing these behaviors over the next two meetings and points out that, if he can eliminate these tendencies, his power and prestige in the organization will grow.

1. What are the behaviors that seem to bother Eileen?
2. What assumptions – explicit and implicit – do you think Eileen is operating under in this situation?
3. Of the assumptions that you have identified, which ones could Eileen check by simple research and inquiry? How could she do this?
4. What judgments and attributions is Eileen making?
5. What are some possible explanations for how Geoffrey sees this situation?
6. What feedback would you recommend Eileen give Geoffrey?
7. Give an alternative interpretation of this scenario that offers a version of what’s happening that is consistent with the events described, but that you think Eileen would disagree with?

Be sure to support your position with course materials from this week’s learnings.

Requirement:  One original post (200 word minimum)
Deadline:  Saturday at 11:59 pm.

CAUTION:  It’s important that you do not use answers or ideas from Chegg, Course Hero or any other study-help websites to write your original post.  I am very familiar with the answers posted on these websites and will not award credit for posts that closely resemble the content and structure of the answers provided on these sites.

Chapter 4
ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR AND MANAGEMENT THINKING

Chapter Goals
Define organizational behavior
Explain how management thinking affects organizational behavior
Discuss examples of management thinking within and between individuals, and within organizations
Apply management thinking to communication and problem solving
Apply a technique for revealing assumptions and perceptions

Evolving Science of Organizational Behavior
Industrial Science
Administrative Management
Bureaucracy
Human Relations

Organizational Behavior
The study of how (and why) people behave in the workplace
Draws on many other disciplines
Psychology
Social psychology
Industrial psychology
Sociology
Communications
Anthropology

Organizational Behavior Occurs at Three Levels

Healthcare Challenges for Organizational Behavior

Cognition
Mental processes of thinking include…
What information is noticed
How information is processed
How meaning is created
Mental processes for handling information control the perceptions, thinking and reasoning that behavior is based upon
Mental processes for handling information are inherently limited
Mental processes for handling information have predictable patterns

A Cognitive Model of Organizational Behavior: The role of thinking
The cognitive model of behavior highlights how thinking influences behavior
Situation/Task 
-Interpersonal
relations
-Workplace cues
-Problem-solving
-Industry
environment
Thinking 
-Assumptions
-Perceptions
-Beliefs
-Biases
-Cognition
principles
-Knowledge
Behavior
-Reactions
-Decisions
-Work tasks
-Learning
-Adaptation

Thinking Patterns Relevant to Organizational Behavior

Common Individual Thinking Patterns that can Alter Understanding
Assumptions: fundamental premises believed true
Perceptions: what is noticed; to what attention is paid
Cognitive biases: mental processing that simplifies handling information and that can compromise decision quality

Common Thinking Patterns Between Individuals that can Alter Understanding
Self-fulfilling prophecy: expectations about another’s behavior that can elicit the expected behavior
Expectancy theory: managers affect employee motivation when they influence employee expectations about ability to accomplish a task and expectations of reward
Attributions: imputing the likely cause of another’s behavior
Attribution theory: explaining another’s behavior by presuming it is caused either by a person’s disposition or by the situation
Mental models: beliefs about how things work
Sense making: process in which organization members interpret the meaning of ambiguous

Lessons from Organizational Sensemaking
When organizations make sense of a situation…
How they perceive the environment defines their opportunities and constraints
Understanding is retrospective because it emerges through hindsight
Taking collective action requires sufficient understanding of a situation, though actionable, understanding may not be completely accurate

Five Disciplines of Organizational Learning (Senge)
Systems thinking to recognize patterns of connection
Striving for individual proficiency and personal mastery
Surfacing and challenging mental models
A common identity and shared vision of the future
Team learning that reduces assumptions and creates shared meaning
NB: the last 3 disciplines counteract thinking limitations

Communication in Organizations
Communication:
sender and receiver exchange understanding
Communication barriers: arise from…
sender’s thinking and behavior,
receiver’s thinking and behavior, and
from the organizational setting.

Two Phases of Problem Solving in Organizations

Action Inquiry to Check Assumptions
Framing: state purpose and intentions
Advocating: state opinion or feeling
Illustrating: give supporting example
Inquiring: ask for listener’s views