LSUS MBA 704 COMPREHENSIVE STUDY GUIDE 2026
FULL QUESTIONS AND SOLUTIONS GRADED A+
● Historical Roots of Organizational Theory. Answer: o Chester Barnard o Classical
thinking on organization structure o Formal Organization: o Critical of the existing classical
organization theory because it was too descriptive and superficial. o Maintained that authority
really should come from the bottom up, rather than the top-down bureaucratic approach o
Stressed the cooperative aspects of organizations
● Formal Organizations. Answer: > system of consciously coordinated activities of two or
more person o People, not boxes on an organization chart make up a formal organization.
● Who plays the most important role in the creation and perpetuation of formal
organizations?. Answer: Human beings
● Developments of Organization Theory. Answer: 1. View the Org as a system made up of
interacting parts. 2. Analysis of orgs in terms of their ability to process information in order to
reduce the uncertainty in managerial decision making 3. Contingency Approach - there is no
single best way to organize. 4. One of the modern theoretical approaches is a natural
selection—or ecological—view of organizations. 5. Information Processing and Organizational
Learning
● Open-Systems Concept. Answer: - stresses the input of the external environment - has
had a tremendous impact on modern organization theory.
● Learning Organization. Answer: - Represents contemporary org theory and is compatible
with and is relevant to the paradigm environment facing today's organizations.
● Early Stages of Learning Organization. Answer: - Chris Argyris - Made the distinction
between first-order, or "single-loop," and second-order, or dentero or "double-loop," learning.
● Single-Loop Learning. Answer: - involves improving the organization's capacity to achieve
known objectives. - It is associated with routine and behavioral learning. - the organization is
learning without significant change in its basic assumptions.
● Double-loop Learning. Answer: - reevaluates the nature of the organization's objectives
and the values and beliefs surrounding them. - This type of learning involves changing the
organization's culture. - Consists of the organization's learning how to learn.
, ● Peter Senge (Adaptive and Generative Learning). Answer: - Portrayed the learning
organization from a systems theory perspective and made the important distinction between
adaptive and generative learning.
● Adaptive Learning. Answer: - 1st stage of the learning organization, adapting to
environmental changes
● Banks, insurance firms, and old-line manufacturing companies made adaptive
changes:. Answer: o Total Quality Management o Benchmarking (comparing with best
practices) o Lean Six Sigma (goal of virtually no defects in any process) o Customer Service o
B2B initiatives
● Generative Learning. Answer: · Involves creativity and innovation, going beyond just
adapting to change of being ahead of and anticipating change. · The generative process leads
to a total reframing of an org's experiences and learning from that process.
● 3 Dimensions of Learning Organizations. Answer: -Presence of Tension -Systems
Thinking -Culture Facilitating Learning
● Presence of Tension. Answer: -This tension stems from the gap between the
organization's vision and reality and suggests the learning organization's continually
questioning and challenging the status quo. · Senge calls it "creative tension"—serves as a
catalyst or motivational need to learn.
● Systems Thinking. Answer: -recognizes the shared vision of employees throughout the
whole organization and the openness to new ideas and the external environment
● Culture Facilitating Learning. Answer: -places a high value on the process of learning
and goes beyond mere lip service by setting mechanisms in place for suggestions, teams,
empowerment, and, most subtly but importantly, empathy.
● Learning organizations are also characterized by human-oriented cultural values
such as these:. Answer: 1. Everyone can be a source of useful ideas, so personnel should
be given access to any information that can be of value to them 2. The people closest to the
problem usually have the best ideas regarding how to solve it, so empowerment should be
promoted throughout the structure 3. Learning flows up and down, so managers as well as
employees can benefit from it 4. New ideas are important and should be encouraged and
rewarded 5. Mistakes should be viewed as learning opportunities.
● Ways that learning organizations can be operationalized into the actual practice of
management:. Answer: 1. Managers must be receptive to new ideas and overcome the
desire to closely control operations 2. Breaking out of the highly controlled, layered hierarchy
FULL QUESTIONS AND SOLUTIONS GRADED A+
● Historical Roots of Organizational Theory. Answer: o Chester Barnard o Classical
thinking on organization structure o Formal Organization: o Critical of the existing classical
organization theory because it was too descriptive and superficial. o Maintained that authority
really should come from the bottom up, rather than the top-down bureaucratic approach o
Stressed the cooperative aspects of organizations
● Formal Organizations. Answer: > system of consciously coordinated activities of two or
more person o People, not boxes on an organization chart make up a formal organization.
● Who plays the most important role in the creation and perpetuation of formal
organizations?. Answer: Human beings
● Developments of Organization Theory. Answer: 1. View the Org as a system made up of
interacting parts. 2. Analysis of orgs in terms of their ability to process information in order to
reduce the uncertainty in managerial decision making 3. Contingency Approach - there is no
single best way to organize. 4. One of the modern theoretical approaches is a natural
selection—or ecological—view of organizations. 5. Information Processing and Organizational
Learning
● Open-Systems Concept. Answer: - stresses the input of the external environment - has
had a tremendous impact on modern organization theory.
● Learning Organization. Answer: - Represents contemporary org theory and is compatible
with and is relevant to the paradigm environment facing today's organizations.
● Early Stages of Learning Organization. Answer: - Chris Argyris - Made the distinction
between first-order, or "single-loop," and second-order, or dentero or "double-loop," learning.
● Single-Loop Learning. Answer: - involves improving the organization's capacity to achieve
known objectives. - It is associated with routine and behavioral learning. - the organization is
learning without significant change in its basic assumptions.
● Double-loop Learning. Answer: - reevaluates the nature of the organization's objectives
and the values and beliefs surrounding them. - This type of learning involves changing the
organization's culture. - Consists of the organization's learning how to learn.
, ● Peter Senge (Adaptive and Generative Learning). Answer: - Portrayed the learning
organization from a systems theory perspective and made the important distinction between
adaptive and generative learning.
● Adaptive Learning. Answer: - 1st stage of the learning organization, adapting to
environmental changes
● Banks, insurance firms, and old-line manufacturing companies made adaptive
changes:. Answer: o Total Quality Management o Benchmarking (comparing with best
practices) o Lean Six Sigma (goal of virtually no defects in any process) o Customer Service o
B2B initiatives
● Generative Learning. Answer: · Involves creativity and innovation, going beyond just
adapting to change of being ahead of and anticipating change. · The generative process leads
to a total reframing of an org's experiences and learning from that process.
● 3 Dimensions of Learning Organizations. Answer: -Presence of Tension -Systems
Thinking -Culture Facilitating Learning
● Presence of Tension. Answer: -This tension stems from the gap between the
organization's vision and reality and suggests the learning organization's continually
questioning and challenging the status quo. · Senge calls it "creative tension"—serves as a
catalyst or motivational need to learn.
● Systems Thinking. Answer: -recognizes the shared vision of employees throughout the
whole organization and the openness to new ideas and the external environment
● Culture Facilitating Learning. Answer: -places a high value on the process of learning
and goes beyond mere lip service by setting mechanisms in place for suggestions, teams,
empowerment, and, most subtly but importantly, empathy.
● Learning organizations are also characterized by human-oriented cultural values
such as these:. Answer: 1. Everyone can be a source of useful ideas, so personnel should
be given access to any information that can be of value to them 2. The people closest to the
problem usually have the best ideas regarding how to solve it, so empowerment should be
promoted throughout the structure 3. Learning flows up and down, so managers as well as
employees can benefit from it 4. New ideas are important and should be encouraged and
rewarded 5. Mistakes should be viewed as learning opportunities.
● Ways that learning organizations can be operationalized into the actual practice of
management:. Answer: 1. Managers must be receptive to new ideas and overcome the
desire to closely control operations 2. Breaking out of the highly controlled, layered hierarchy
