Test 1

List the five most common perceptual errors

1. Halo: past performance creates an afterglow around future performance. 2. Leniency: consistently evaluating ppl/products in a positive light 3. Central tendency: avoiding extreme judgments of people 4. Recency effects: only remember recent info about a product/person 5. contrast effects: comparing ppl/products to recently observed ppl/products

Rundown the four theories of conflict

1. psychodynamic: 2. field theory: 3. Social exchange theory 4. Human relations theory:

Six pillars of self-esteem

1.Live consciously 2. Be self-accepting 3. take personal responsibility 4. be self-assertive 5. Live purposefully 6. Have personal integrity

_____ entails identifying and choosing alternative solutions that lead to a desired state of affairs. A. Decision making B. Stereotyping C. Creativity D. Escalation of commitment E. Groupthink

A. Decision making. Decision making entails identifying and choosing alternative solutions that lead to a desired state of affairs. Identifying and sorting out alternatives like when and how to take a course of action is the process of decision making.

_____ is the view the individual has of himself or herself as a physical, social, and spiritual or moral being. A. Self-concept B. Self-efficacy C. Organization-based self-esteem D. Cognition E. Personality

A. Self-concept. Sociologist Viktor Gecas defines self-concept as "the concept the individual has of himself as a physical, social, and spiritual or moral being."

A(n) _____ is defined as a learned predisposition to respond in a consistently favorable or unfavorable manner with respect to a given object. A. attitude B. cognition C. skill D. ability E. value

A. attitude. An attitude is defined as "a learned predisposition to respond in a consistently favorable or unfavorable manner with respect to a given object."

Which of the following is an assumption of McGregor's Theory Y? The typical person ___. A. has imagination and creativity B. cares only about security C. prefers to be directed D. avoids work if possible E. requires close supervision

A. has imagination and creativity

Research suggests that as employees age, they experience ____. A. higher job satisfaction B. higher accident rates C. higher absenteeism D. less organizational commitment E. less internal work motivation

A. higher job satisfaction. As age increases so do employees' job satisfaction, job involvement, internal work motivation, and organizational commitment

What is a "valent motivator?" How do you determine if a motivator is valent?

According to our discussion, a motivator is valent when it fulfills a person's individual needs. For example, if I give you time off, it may not be valent to you if you live a boring life outside of work. You may be more motivated by being given a stimulating job. Since valence is the congruence between wants and the fulfillment of wants, to find valent motivators, you must first establish what the individual WANTS. If you then satisfy those wants, you have created a valent motivator.

What is the relationship of motivation to productivity? Are highly motivated employees more productive?

As we discussed in class, while there some evidence to support this, overall, the evidence of a direct relationship between motivation and productivity is inconclusive. Some better known theories, such as the work of Maslow, have not been fully supported by research findings. Only "goal setting" appears to be supported by research as a motivator that causes productivity, but this is also dependent on the type of employee and the specific situation. Even though we can't "prove" that motivated employees are more productive, that does not mean we don't want to try to motivate them. As managers we have an ethical responsibility to make the workplace as worker friendly as possible, even though we may not have proof that this will increase outputs. In fact, according to Herzberg, our biggest problem may be "demotivating" employees by not providing for their basic needs—although this theory is also not fully supported by research either.

The objective of organizational behavior is to develop a better ___. A. understanding of competitors B. understanding of people at work C. collective processes D. indoctrination system for employees E. fit with the external environment

B Organizational behavior deals with how people act and react in organizations of all kinds.

According to research on self-monitoring, which of the following is true? A. Low self-monitors were more likely to acquire a mentor. B. High self-monitors received more promotions than did low self-monitors. C. Low self-monitoring individuals were more likely to achieve career success. D. Self-monitoring is an either-or proposition. You either fall into one category or the other. E. Low self-monitors were often perceived as insincere, phony, and untrustworthy.

B. Among 139 MBA graduates who were tracked for five years, high self-monitors enjoyed more internal and external promotions than did their low self-monitoring classmates.

_____ is an affective or emotional response toward various facets of one's job. A. Organizational commitment B. Job satisfaction C. Job involvement D. A cognitive style E. A met expectation

B. Job satisfaction. Job satisfaction essentially reflects the extent to which an individual likes his or her job.

_____ refers to the positive or negative value people place on outcomes. A. Instrumentality B. Valence C. Inequity D. Expectancy E. Cognitive dissonance

B. Valence. As Vroom used the term, valence refers to the positive or negative value people place on outcomes. Valence mirrors our personal preferences.

Regarding the Big Five personality dimensions, a person scoring high on _____ is trusting, good natured, cooperative, and soft-hearted. A. extraversion B. agreeableness C. conscientiousness D. emotional stability E. openness to experience

B. agreeableness

People tend to reject or downplay feedback if they perceive it to be ____. A. accurate B. negative C. based on an fair system D. based on reasonable standards E. from a credible source

B. negative. Generally, people tend to perceive and recall positive feedback more accurately than they do negative feedback.

One characteristic of high achievers is that they ____. A. prefer extremely difficulty B. prefer situations in which their performance is due to their own efforts C. desire feedback on their failures but not their successes D. desire feedback on their successes but not their failures E. like to compete against people who are much more skilled than they are

B. prefer situations in which their performance is due to their own efforts. Achievement-motivated people share three common characteristics: a preference for working on tasks of moderate difficulty; a preference for situations in which performance is due to their efforts rather than other factors, such as luck; and they desire more feedback on their successes and failures than do low achievers.

_____ represents the idea that decision makers are restricted by a variety of constraints when making decisions. A. Escalation of commitment B. Satisficing C. Bounded rationality D. Optimizing E. Creativity

C. Bounded rationality. Bounded rationality represents the notion that decision makers are "bounded" or restricted by a variety of constraints when making decisions. These constraints include any personal or environmental characteristics that reduce rational decision making.

_____ involves solving problems by choosing a solution that meets some minimum standard of acceptance. A. Optimizing B. Minimizing C. Satisficing D. Maximizing E. Creativity

C. Satisficing. Satisficing consists of choosing a solution that meets some minimum qualifications, one that is "good enough." Satisficing resolves problems by producing solutions that are satisfactory, as opposed to optimal.

The _____ perceptual error represents the tendency to avoid all extreme judgments and rate people and objects as average or neutral. A. contrast effects B. recency effects C. central tendency D. leniency E. halo

C. central tendency

Equity theory predicts that a student will experience _____ if a friend of equal scholarly ability studies the same amount for a test but receives a higher grade. A. equity B. an expectancy of zero C. negative inequity D. an instrumentality of zero E. positive inequity

C. negative inequity. If the comparison person enjoys greater outcomes for similar inputs, negative inequity will be perceived.

A(n) _____ goal targets specific end result. A. procedural B. learning C. justice D. performance outcome E. equity

D. performance outcome. A performance outcome goal targets a specific end-result.

Heavier workloads for employees (resulting from years of organizational downsizing and cost-cutting) combined with an increase in dual-income families, single working parents, and elder care responsibilities serve to increase ____. A. work/family integration B. job involvement C. job satisfaction D. work/family conflict E. organizational commitment

D. work/family conflict. A complex web of demographic and economic factors makes the balancing act between job and life very challenging for most of us. This is particularly true during a recession.

_____ is a cognitive process that enables us to interpret and understand our surroundings. A. The self-fulfilling prophecy B. A salient stimulus C. The fundamental attribution error D. Stereotypes E. Perception

E. Perception. Perception is a cognitive process that enables us to interpret and understand our surroundings. Recognition of objects is one of this process's major functions.

Management by objectives is a management system that incorporates ____. A. hedonism B. equity theory C. expectancy theory D. cognitive dissonance theory E. goal setting

E. goal setting. Management by objectives is a management system that incorporates participation into decision making, goal setting, and objective feedback. The central idea of MBO is getting individual employees to "own" a piece of a collective effort.

You are a production manager for Zipco Corporation, a manufacturer of the Zippy Widget. Your boss has just called you in for a chat. She tells you that your production numbers are slipping and that she thinks it is because your section is poorly managed. You explain to your boss that morale has been dropping ever since the new equipment was installed. Your boss is furious. "I don't care what the cause of the problem is," she yells, "all I want is for production to go up and stay that way. Now, go fix it or I will find somebody who can!" If you were a "behaviorist," what would you do?

First, give your boss her pills. She clearly forgot her medicine. Behaviorism: This is a model in which you attack the specific behaviors. You don't really care if the new machines are popular. You simply want to have production increase. There are several possibilities: you could introduce quotas, with negative sanctions if they are not met. You could introduce a piecework system where the staff is paid per unit of production. You could pay bonuses for amounts of output over a minimum. If the problem is lack of training, that is not really your concern, because it is up to the employee to figure out how to increase production. If you are a behaviorist, all you want is for the numbers to go up, and you don't really care why.

Rundown the seven theories of motivation

Maslow's need hierarchy: motivation is a function of physiological safety love esteem self-actualization Alderfer's ERG theory: existence, relatedness, growth McClelland's need theory: acheivement, affiliation, power Herzberg's motivator-hygiene theory: mootivators inlcude job charateristics of job satisfaction, hygiene--job charateristics of job dissatisfaction. adam's equity theory: individual-organization exchange, negative and positive inequity vroom's expectancy theory: people are motivated to behave in ways that produce desired combinations of expected outcomes. goal setting theory: goals direct attention, regulate effort, increase persistence, foster action plans

In Unit 1, we discussed Luthans model of average, successful and effective managers. What do successful managers spend their time doing? What do effective managers spend their time doing?

SUCCESSFUL managers are spending nearly HALF of their time (48%) networking—working the organization. This includes talking to others, making friends, creating alliances, smoozing the boss, etc. In other words, the way to get ahead in modern American organizations is the same as it has always been—bun smooching! The EFFECTIVE manager is very different. She spends nearly half of her time (44%) communicating. This includes providing information, coaching, mentoring, and supporting the staff. These are the "hands on" managers.

In a conversation, I tell you I saw a study that proves that being a military general causes muscular degeneration. The study shows that generals, on average, can only do 36% fewer pushups than lower ranking officers. You should assume the study is factually correct—generals, in fact, can do fewer pushups. Given this relationship, do you agree that being a military general causes muscle loss? Why or why not? If you disagree, how do you explain the fact that the relationship between being a general and pushups is real? Please base your answer on the information given in Unit 1.

The fact that two things are related doesn't mean that one caused the other. In this case, there is an intervening variable, which makes it appear that being a general causes muscular degeneration. However, being a general does not cause him or her to be able to do fewer pushups. Generals tend to be OLDER, and older people can generally do fewer pushups. Being old also increases the likelihood of a military officer being a general. So, the CAUSE is age, and it causes both decreasing ability to do pushups and an increasing likelihood of an officer being a general. Remember, the fact that two things are related doesn't mean one caused the other.

In class, we discussed four theories of conflict, The Psychodynamic perspective, Field Theory, Social Exchange, and Human Relations. Pick one, and briefly describe it.

The psychodynamic perspective. Freudian. Ego, super ego, id. Psychological pressures drive our behaviors. A little angel and devil sitting on your shoulders driving your behavior. Conflict may be driven by unconscious fears or repressed concerns. Aggression may be driven by unconscious anxiety. Field theory. Lewin's theory. We move through life space—goals and barriers and the relationship of the two to accomplishing our goals. The key issue is how you see the world. It suggests 4 approaches 1. Promotive—participatants see conflict as a win-win situation 2. Contrient—win-lose 3. Individualistic—participants don't see themselves as interdependent. They lack common motives and indifferent attitudes toward each other 4. Overly cooperative—groupthink, unreflective group decisions. Social Exchange Perspective. Behaviorist and based on game theory. Does not attempt to determine WHY people have conflict, but how to deal with it. It uses game simulations, and views conflict in the "Homo Economous" model—rewards and costs dive the conflict. The guiding force is self-interest. Human Relations Model. This model assumes that we approach conflict as an interaction between task and affect. These two factors yield a 2x2 matrix with the outcomes: Competitive, Collaborative, Compromising, Avoidance and Accommodative.

According to the group presentation, there are six pillars of self esteem. Name and describe at least one of these pillars.

The six pillars are: 1. Live consciously. Be active and fully engaged in what you do and with whom you interact. 2. Be self-accepting. Don't be overly judgmental or critical of your thoughts or actions. 3. Take personal responsibility. Take full responsibility for your decisions and actions in life's journey. 4. Be self-assertive. Be authentic and willing to defend your beliefs when interacting with others rather than bending to their will to be accepted or liked. 5. Live purposefully. Have clear near-term and long-term goals and realistic plans for achieving them to create a sense of control over your life. 6. Have personal integrity. Be true to your word and your values.

Bandura's model of social learning

learning by our environment. Humans learn by observation. 1. attention 2. retention 3. reproduction 4. motivation