Answer to Question 1
Management by Objectives (MBO) involves managers and their subordinates working together to set goals, and then striving to attain the goals of the organization. MBO involves four steps: setting goals, developing action plans, implementing the plans, and evaluating results. Survey feedback uses questionnaires and interviews to collect information about issues of concern to an organization, and then uses that information to plan organizational change. This technique has three phases: collecting data, giving feedback, and developing action plans. Appreciative inquiry focuses attention away from an organization's shortcomings and toward its capabilities and potential. Based on the assumption that members of organizations already know the problems they face and will benefit more by focusing on what is possible, this OD technique involves four straightforward steps: discovery, dreaming, designing, and delivering. Action labs involve teams of participants who work off-site to develop and implement new ways of solving organizational problems by focusing on the ineffectiveness of current methods. Quality of work life programs are intended to improve organizational functioning by humanizing the workplace, making it more democratic, and involving employees in the decision-making process. Typical programs include work restructuring and quality circles.
Answer to Question 2
When decentralization is low, the additional responsibility not desired by people performing routine jobs is eliminated. Additionally, those crucial decisions made by individuals who have the big picture are permitted. When decentralization is high, the organization can be made leaner by eliminating levels of management. Additionally, high decentralization promotes more opportunities for decisions to be made by those closest to the problems in question.
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