EXAM 2
Be familiar with the three need theories we discussed in class (Maslow's hierarchy of needs; Alderfer's ERG theory, and McClelland's Acquired Need theory).
1. Maslow's Hierarchy of needs: Humans have innate needs that motivate them in a hierarchical manner where lower level needs must be satisfied before higher level needs are activated. 2. Alderfer's ERG theory: builds on Maslow's theory by combining some of the needs and replacing prepotency with frustration-regression. 3. McClelland's Acquired Needs theory: This theory differs in one significant way from the previous two. It suggests that people are not born with needs but develop them during early life experiences. People can develop needs for all of these but usually one is dominant leading to variances in behavioral tendencies.
What are the four types of reinforcers?
2 contingencies of reinforcement that increase desired behavior: Positive reinforcement: when a positive outcome follows a desired behavior (reward) Negative reinforcement: an unwanted outcome is removed following a desired behavior 2 contingencies of reinforcement that decrease undesired behaviors Punishment: when an unwanted outcome follows an unwanted behavior Extinction: the removal of a positive outcome following an unwanted behavior
Be familiar with the Big Five Personality characteristics and their relationship to job performance and organizational commitment. Also, how stable are they and how do they relate to overall life satisfaction, success and health?
5 personality dimensions OCEAN Conscientiousness: being dependable, organized, reliable, ambitious, hardworking, and persevering Agreeableness: being kind, cooperative, sympathetic, helpful, courteous, and warm Neuroticism: being nervous, moody, emotional, insecure, jealous, and unstable Openness to experience: being curious, imaginiative, creative, complex, refined, and sophisticated Extraversion: being talkative, sociable, passionate, assertive, bold and dominant
What makes a goal an effective one? Which of the main components of motivation is the focus of goal setting?
A goal must be difficult and specific (focused on direction of effort) S - specific M - measurable A - achievable R - results-based T - time-sensitive
. What are the various ways that organizations apply motivational concepts in compensation systems? Be familiar with how each relates to creating a clear goal and connecting the individual's performance to outcomes.
A. Piece-rate: specified rate is paid per unit produced or sold. Effective in manufacturing. B. Merit Pay: increase base pay permanently based on performance in the previous evaluation period. C. Lump-sum Bonus (Incentive): one-time payment based on meeting pre-determined goals. D. Recognition Awards: tangible or intangible awards given on an impromptu basis to recognize achievement. E. Gainsharing: a team-based approach to rewarding employees for achieving goals related to outcomes controlled by employees such as defects, time to complete the activity, safety, and resource use. F. Profit sharing: bonus is paid to employees based on the performance of the organization. G. Effectiveness: 1. Does the method provide a difficult and specific goal for the employee? 2. Can the employee see a connection between their performance and their outcomes taking into account equity and instrumentality?
What is accomplishment striving? Community striving? Status striving? To which of the Big Five Personality characteristics are they related?
Accomplish striving: a strong desire to accomplish task- related goals as a means of expressing personality Related to conscientiousness Communion striving: a strong desire to obtain acceptance in personal relationships as a means of expressing personality (beneficial in service jobs) related to agreeableness Status striving: a strong desire to obtain power and influence within a social structure as a means of expressing personality (prioritized by extraverted people) related to extraversion
What is attribution? What are the three keys that help us to make an attribution? What are the two common errors that people make when making attributions?
Attribution: tendency of people to want to assign a cause for an action either internally (individual factors such as ability, motivation, or attitudes are to blame or externally (environmental factors are to blame) 3 keys that help make an attribution Consensus: used by decision makers to attribute cause; whether other individuals behave the same way under similar circumstances (low internal, high external) Distinctiveness: used by decision makers to attribute cause; whether the person being judged acts in a similar fashion under difference circumstances (low internal, high external) Consistency: used by decision makers to attribute cause; whether this individual has behaved this way before under similar circumstances (high internal, low external) 2 common errors people make when making attributions Fundamental attribution error: the tendency for people to judge others behaviors as being due to internal factors such as ability, motivation or attitudes Self-serving bias: when we attribute our own failures to external factors and success to internal factors
What is behavioral modeling? Transfer of training? Climate of transfer?
Behavior modeling training: a formalized method of training in which employees observe and learn from employees with significant amounts of tacit knowledge Key to help pass tacit info between coworkers is trust Transfer of training: occurs when employees retain and demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and behaviors required for their job after training ends Climate of transfer: an organizational environment that supports the use of new skills
What are some problems with decision making including bounded rationality, satisficing, and escalation of commitment.
Bounded rationality: represents the notion that decision makers are restricted by limited cognitive abilities, time, and info. satisficing: choosing first alt. that meets minimum levels of acceptability Escalation of commitment: a common decision-making error in which the decision maker continues to follow a failing course of action
Be familiar with the two types of integrity tests and the role of faking and social desirability bias in their accuracy
Clear purpose tests: integrity tests that ask about attitudes towards dishonesty, beliefs about the frequency of dishonesty, desire to punish dishonesty, and confession of past dishonesty Veiled purpose tests: integrity tests that do not directly ask about dishonesty, instead assessing more general personality traits associated with dishonest acts Faking: exaggerating responses to a personality test in a socially desirable fashion.
What are the five types of reinforcement schedules?
Continuous reinforcement: a specific consequence follows each and every occurrence of a certain behavior Fixed interval schedule: reinforcement occurs at fixed time periods (most common) Fixed ratio schedule: reinforcement occurs following a fixed number of desired behaviors Variable interval schedule: reinforcement occurs at random time periods Variable ratio schedule: behaviors are reinforced after a varying number of them have been exhibited (sales commission)
Why do people who have a high level of neuroticism experience higher levels of stress (hint it deals with differential exposure, differential reactivity and locus of control)?
Differential exposure: being more likely to appraise day to day situations as stressful, thereby feeling that stressors are encountered more frequently Differential reactivity: being less likely to believe that they can cope with the stressors experienced on a daily basis Locus of control: whether people believe the events that occur around them are self-driven or driven by the external environment Neurotic people hold an external locus of control and less neurotic people hold an internal locus
Be able to distinguish between the four types of organizational justice and how they might interact with each other. Also, be familiar with what contributes to the perceptions of each type of justice.
Distributive justice: the perceived fairness of decision-making outcomes (ask whether decision outcomes-such as pay, rewards, evaluation, promotion, and work assignments,- are allocated using proper norms) Procedural justice: the perceived fairness of decision- making processes (voice) The consistency, bias suppression, representativeness, and accuracy rules help ensure that procedures are neutral and objective, as opposed to biased and discriminatory Interpersonal justice: the perceived fairness of the interpersonal treatment recieved by employees from authorities. occurs when authorities are rude or disrespectful to employees, or when they refer to them with inappropriate labels informational Justice: the perceived fairness of the communications provided to employees from authorities
What is a distrust tax? A trust dividend?
Distrust tax: the reduction in your performance because you devote energy monitoring the other party Trust dividend: the increase in performance because everyone can focus on task accomplishment
What is the difference between an economic exchange and a social exchange between the organization and employees and how does it relate to trust and commitment?
Economic exchange: work relationships that resemble a contractual agreement by which employees fulfill job duties in exchange for financial compensation (with a lack of trust people focus simply on fulfilling contractual obligations). Social exchange: work relationships that are characterized by mutual investment, with employees willing to engage in "extra mile" sorts of behavior because they trust that their efforts will eventually be rewarded (with trust people expand what they are willing to do)
What are the four levels of corporate social responsibility?
Economic: the business must be profitable or it won't exist Legal: the organization must follow the laws and regulations of society in the course of doing business Ethical: the organization must follow the societal norms governing what is considered right Citizenship: organization must contribute resources to improve the quality of life in the communities in which they work
. What is the primary focus of equity theory? How is it determined?
Equity Theory: a theory that suggests that employee create a mental ledger of the outcomes they receive for their job inputs, relative to some comparison other. The equity theory acknowledges that motivation doesn't just depend on your own beliefs and circumstances but also what happens to OTHER people. Equity theory argues that you compare your ratio of outcomes and inputs to the ratio of some COMPARISON OTHER, some person who seems to provide an intuitive frame of reference for judging equity.
What are the reactions to inequity and how do they differ in relation to positive and negative inequity?
Equity: no actions needed Underreward inequity: grow your outcomes by talking to your boss or by stealing from the company, or you could shrink your inputs by lowering the intensity of persistence of effort. Overreward Inequity: shrink your outcomes (this is highly unrealistic), or you could grow your inputs through some more high quality work or through some cognitive distortion.
What are ethics? What is the difference between merely ethical and especially ethical behavior? What is whistleblowing?
Ethics: The degree to which the behaviors of an authority are in accordance with generally accepted norms "Merely ethical" behavior- behavior that adheres to some minimally accepted standard of mortality "Especially ethical" behaviors- behavior that exceed some minimally accepted standard of morality Whistle blowing- when employees expose illegal actions by their employer
What is the difference between explicit and tacit knowledge?
Explicit knowledge: knowledge that is easily communicated and available to everyone Tactic knowledge: knowledge that employees can learn only through experience
What is the difference between extrinsic and intrinsic motivators? Be familiar with examples of each. Why is money so important?
Extrinsic motivation is controlled by some contingency that depends on the task performance. Someone provides these. Examples: pay, bonuses, promotions, praise, free time, benefits Intrinsic motivation is felt when task performance serves as its own reward. Both represent the employee's "total motivation" level. These come from within the individual. Examples: enjoyment, interestingness, accomplishment, knowledge gain, skill development Money is so important because it displays achievement, respect and freedom
Be familiar with the four-component model of ethical behavior.
Four-component model: a model that argues that ethical behaviors result from the multistage sequence of moral awareness, moral judgment, moral intent, and ethical behavior Moral awareness: when an authority recognizes that a moral issue exists in a situation Moral judgment: when an authority can accurately identify the "right" course of action Moral intent: an authorities degree of commitment to the moral course of action Ethical behavior
What is the role of goal difficulty, feedback, task complexity, and goal commitment in the effectiveness of goal setting? What influences goal commitment?
Goal difficulty: results in higher levels of performance than assigning no goals or easy goals. Feedback: If you can't measure yourself or others you have nothing to score yourself against. Imagine trying to beat a high score but your own score is hidden from you. Task Complexity: increasing task complexity decreases the effect of goal difficulty on motivation. Goal commitment: when goal commitment is high, assigning specific and difficult goals will have significant benefits for task performance. What influences goal commitment: rewards, publicity, resources, participation, support
How do people learn from others in their environment? What four things are necessary for proper learning to occur?
How do employees learn? Reinforcement and observation. Social learning theory argues that people in organizations have the ability to learn through the observation of others Behavioral modeling involves observing and learning from others and then repeating the action 4 things necessary for proper learning to occur Attentional processes: learner focuses attention on the critical behaviors exhibited by the model Retention processes: learners must remember the behaviors of the model once the model is no longer present Production processes: learners must have the appropriate skill set to be able to reproduce the behavior Reinforcement: learner must view the model receiving reinforcement for the behavior and then receive it themself
Be familiar with Hofstede's five cultural dimensions.
Individual collectivism: the degree to which a culture has a loosely knit social framework (individualism) or a tight social framework (collectivism) Power distance: the degree to which a culture prefers equal power distribution (low power distance) or an unequal power distribution (high power distance) Uncertainty avoidance: the degree to which a culture tolerates ambiguous situations (low uncertainty avoidance) or feels threatened by them (high uncertainty avoidance) Masculinity- femininity: the degree to which a culture value steriotypically male traits (masculinity) or stereotypically female traits (femininity) Short term vs. long term orientation: the degree to which a culture stresses values that are past- and present- oriented (short term orientation) or future oriented (long term orientation)
Be familiar with the four contrasting preferences captured in the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator.
Introversion v. Extraversion Intuition v. Sensing Feeling v. Thinking Judging v. Perceiving
What are the three types of goal orientations?
Learning orientation: a predisposition or attitude according to which building competence is deemed more important by an employee than demonstrating competence Performance-prove orientation: a predisposition or attitude by which employees focus on demonstrating their competence so that others think favorably of them Performance- avoid orientation: a predisposition or attitude by which employees focus on demonstrating their competence so that others will not think poorly of them
How does learning relate to job performance and organizational commitment?
Learning —----> job performance (moderate correlation) Learning —----> organizational commitment (weak correlation)
What is moral awareness? What increases moral intensity? What is moral attentiveness?
Moral awareness: when someone recognizes that a moral issue exists in a situation or that an ethical code or principle is relevant to the circumstance. What increases moral intensity? when someone recognizes that a moralissue exists in a situation or that an ethical code or principle is relevant to the circumstance What is moral attentiveness? degree to which people chronically perceive and consider issues of morality during their experiences
How does cognitive moral development relate to moral judgment? Be familiar with each of the stages.
Moral judgment: when an authority can accurately identify the "right" course of action Cognitive moral development: as people age and mature, they move through several states of moral development, each more mature and sophisticated than prior one Stages of cognitive moral development: Preconventional: stage focuses on consequences of actions for the individual Conventional stage: references the expectations of ones family and society Principled stage: the most advanced, uses a set of defined, established moral principles
How does motivation relate to job performance and organizational commitment?
Motivation —---> job performance (strong correlation) Motivation —--> organizational commitment (moderate correlation)
What are the three components of performance? What are the three components of motivation? What is the role of engagement?
Performance= motivation x ability x opportunity 3 components of motivation Direction of effort Intensity of effort Persistence of effort (how long) Role of engagement: investment, high intensity and persistence in work efforts
What is personality? What is the relative influence of nature and nurture in its development?
Personality: refers to the structures and propensities inside people that explain their characteristic patterns of thought, emotion, and behavior Relative influence of nature and nurture in its development: Openness to experience & extraversion > attributed to nature (remain same throughout life.)
Know the difference between negative and positive affectivity and the two personality characteristics which tend to experience them more.
Positive affectivity: a dispositional tendency to experience pleasant, engaged moods such as enthusiasm, excitement, and elation (extraversion) Negative affectivity: a dispositional tendency to experience unpleasant moods such as hostility, nervousness and annoyance (neuroticism)
What is the difference between programmed and non-programmed decisions?
Programmed decision: decisions that become somewhat automatic because people's knowledge allows them to recognize and identify a situation Non-programmed decision: occurs when a situation arises that is new, complex, and not recognized
Be familiar with the dimensions of culture in the GLOBE project.
Project GLOBE: a collection of 170 researchers from 62 cultures who examine the impact of culture on the effectiveness of leader attributes, behaviors, and practices. Group cultures into "country clusters" (power distance, uncertainty avoidance, institutional collectivism, ingroup collectivist)
What is psychological empowerment and what four beliefs make it up?
Psychological empowerment: An intrinsic form of motivation derived from one's work tasks are contributing to some large Fostered by 4 beliefs: Meaningfulness Self determination Competence impact
What are the steps in the decision-making process? What are some assumptions related to the process?
Steps in a rational decision making model Identify the criteria that are important in making the decision, taking into account all involved parties Generate a list of available alternatives that might be potential solutions to the problem Evaluation of those alternatives against the criteria laid out in step 1 Select the alternative that results in the best outcome Implement the alternative Assumptions: Assumes people are perfectly rational, can find the problem easy, have perfect information, doesn't include time and money
What is trust and how does it relate to reputation? What are the three types of trust and how do they relate to each other?
TRUST: The willingness to be vulnerable • A firm's reputation is one of its most prized possessions. Reputation reflects the prominence of a brand in the minds of the public and its perceived quality. It can be easily damaged 3 types of trust Disposition-based trust: trust that is rooted in one's own personality, as opposed to a careful assessment of the trustee's trustworthiness Cognition-based trust: trust that is rooted in a rational assessment of the authority's trustworthiness (driven by authorities "track record") Affect-based trust: trust that depends on feelings toward the authority that go beyond rational assessment (emotional rather than rational)
How does trust influence job performance and organizational commitment?
Trust —-----> job performance (moderate correlation) Trust —-------> organizational commitment (strong correlation)
What are the components of cognition-based trust?
Trustmorthiness- the characteristics or attributes of a trustee that inspire trust 3 dimensions of trustworthiness: Ability: relatively stable capabilities of people for performing a particular range of related activities Benevolence: the belief that an authority wants to do good for an employee, apart from any selfish or profit- centered motives Integrity: the perception that an authority adheres to a set of acceptable values and principles ("walk the talk")
What are the various comparisons that people could make? What are the different personality types in relation to equity theory?
Various comparisons: a. Job equity: compare yourself to someone doing the same job in the same organization. b. Company equity: Compare yourself to someone doing a different job in the same organization. c. Occupational equity: Compare yourself to someone doing the same job in a different organization. d. Educational equity: Compare yourself to someone with the same level of education. e. Age equity: compare yourself to someone of the same age. different personality types: a. Sensitives: follow the theory as stated. b. Benevolents: comfortable with lower ratio; givers c. Entitleds: must have higher ratio; takers
2. What is trust propensity?
a general expectation that the words, promises, and statements of individuals and groups can be relied upon
Be familiar with the moral principles we discussed in class.
a. Teleological: consequences are the most important -Utilitarianism: greatest good for the greatest number. -Egoism: maximizes good for the person. b. Deontological: intent is the most important. -Ethics of Duties: categorical imperative; should do no harm to society and respect human dignity. -Ethics of Rights: respect the rights of others. -Virtue ethics: is right if you adhere to virtues such ashonesty, mercy, loyalty, patience, and modesty
What is the basic theory behind reinforcement theory?
behavior with favorable consequences tends to be repeated, while behavior with unfavorable consequences tends to disappear
Be familiar with expectancy theory including the three main components, how those components can be influenced by organizations, and how you can predict performance based on the theory.
effort >>> performance >>> outcome Motivation is fostered when the employee believes three things Effort will result in performance Performance will result in outcomes Those outcomes will be valuable Expectancy can be shaped by supportive leaders, access to resources, self efficacy relationship between effort and performance is expectancy relationship between performance and outcomes is instrumentality
What is ethnocentrism and what problems might arise because of it?
propensity to ones own cultural values as "right" and those of other cultures as "wrong"; potential difference in attitudes and beliefs among U.S. employees and employees of other societies.
What are the causes of faulty perception?
the way we select and organize/retrieve info is inaccurate bc we see the environment as it affects us and is consistent with our expectations ex-stereotyping
