Difficult Human & Organizational Issues Interview Preparation Guide

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Simple employee or team issues can quickly expand to your total organization if you don't take immediate corrective action. You must avoid this situation at all costs, as it often results in your staff forming two groups, both at odds with each other. Should all your avoidance actions fail, be ready to take much more dramatic corrective measures. You must prevent these problems from negatively changing the corporate culture you have carefully cultivated to make your company and workplace a high performing entity.

★ Choice between combining development and maintenance activities or having a separate department.
★ Factors that affect this decision:
1) Size of the organization
2) Maintenance portfolio

Many roads can lead to organizational problems at the workplace. Successfully solving these issues, however, usually follows the same plan. First, manage and resolve the current problem right away. For example, two or three employees may have interpersonal conflicts. If you are not part of the problem, you must become the solution. Second, learn the problem's root causes. Address and correct these issues to avoid a repetition of the problem. This is simple to state, but often more difficult to accomplish. Yet, it is imperative you take these two steps to maintain a high-performing staff.

To be high performing, teams must be dedicated to working toward an agreed goal. Should they experience personal disconnect with other team members, the team can become non-functional. These issues often stem from organizational or management communication breakdowns that confuse team and personal common goals. Team leaders must offer constant feedback and foster cohesiveness. When facing team issues, managers must diagnose the problem and take immediate corrective action to avoid more serious performance breakdowns.

Individual employee problems can be personality conflicts, supervisor issues, personal trauma, or company structure oriented. Management must learn the cause of the problem and who or what keeps "fueling the fire." If there is no clear trigger, the answer could fall back to insufficient or confusing communications. For example, an employee in a decentralized organization may feel they must answer to multiple supervisors if the chain of command is not communicated clearly.

★ Constantly changing personnel:
★ Types of teams in development:
1) Ego less programming team
2) Chief programmer team
★ Types of teams in maintenance:
1) Temporary Team
2) Permanent Team

★ Choosing the right people for the right job
★ Motivating maintenance personnel
1) Rewards (financial, promotion etc.)
2) Supervision (senior members of staff)
3) Assignment patterns (rotation)
4) Recognition (importance in organization)
5) Career structure (equivalent to development)
★ Communications (Keep them involved)

Managing maintenance personnel:
★ Devising means to increase personnel productivity (choice of personnel)
★ Ensure job satisfaction (motivation)
★ Improving system quality (education and training)

Organization of maintenance tasks:
★ Increase productivity
★ Control Maintenance effort and cost
★ Deliver high quality system.

1. True
2. False

True

1. True
2. False

False

1. True
2. False

True

1. True
2. False

True

1. True
2. False

False

1. True
2. False

True

1. True
2. False

False

1. True
2. False

False

1. True
2. False

True

1. Phased conversion
2. Direct conversion
3. Indirect conversion
4. Parallel conversion
5. Divergent dissemination
6. Trail and dissemination

Parallel conversion
Trail and dissemination
Direct conversion
Phased conversion

1. A GIS developed across an entire organization
2. A stand-alone GIS on a single desktop
3. A GIS developed through collaboration between different parts/departments of an organization
4. An independent GIS that exists in a single department

A GIS developed across an entire organization

1. Use of GIS to identify a new store location
2. Use of GIS to identify assets in need of routine maintenance
3. Use of GIS to identify potential customers for a mail shot
4. Use of GIS to route vehicles

Use of GIS to route vehicles
Use of GIS to identify assets in need of routine maintenance

1. Use of GIS to evaluate a site for its suitability for a particular purpose
2. Use of GIS to decide which stores to expand and which to close
3. Use of GIS to map school catchments areas
4. Use of GIS to model population change and use this to reallocate government budgets

Use of GIS to model population change and use this to reallocate government budgets
Use of GIS to decide which stores to expand and which to close

1. Opportunistic deployment of GIS
2. Routine application of GIS
3. Pioneering development of GIS

Pioneering development of GIS

1. Payback period = total cost of investment / estimated annual revenue
2. Payback period = annual cost of investment * estimated annual revenue
3. Payback period = annual cost of investment / estimated total income
4. Payback period = total cost of investment * estimated annual revenue

Payback period = total cost of investment / estimated annual revenue

1. Government interference
2. Non-usability
3. Organizational mismatch
4. Wrong choice of software
5. User acceptability

Non-usability
Organizational mismatch
User acceptability

1. A technique employed to show which hardware system runs fastest
2. A method used to compare hardware systems against an industry standard
3. The process of identifying software/hardware combinations
4. A technique employed to help with deciding which software package to select

A technique employed to help with deciding which software package to select.