BA302 Mid

1. What are the downsides of goal setting?

- Setting goals for specific outcomes may hamper employee performance if employees are lacking skills and abilities needed to reach the goals. - Goal setting may prevent employees from adapting and changing their behaviors in response to unforeseen threats. - Goals focus employee attention on the activities that are measured. This focus may lead to sacrificing other important elements of performance. - Aggressive pursuit of goals may lead to unethical behaviors.

Surveys

A basic survey involves asking individuals to respond to a number of questions. The questions can be open-ended or close-ended.

a. Self-efficacy

A belief that one can perform a specific task successfully.

1. What is the role of ethics and national culture as it relates to job attitudes and performance?

A highly committed workforce may not necessarily demonstrate higher levels of ethics, because highly committed people may be less likely to notice companywide wrongdoing and, in turn, not report it. Some tactics of reducing unethical behaviors, such as close monitoring of employees, may erode trust between management and employees and lead to negative work attitudes. There are cross-cultural differences in how employee work attitudes are shaped and the work behaviors that are expected from employees. Being aware of these differences facilitates effective management of a global workforce.

Enrichment

A job redesign technique allowing workers more control over how they perform their own tasks.

a. Proactive personality

A person's inclination to fix what is perceived to be wrong, change the status quo, and use initiative to solve problems.

1. What does a shamrock organization include?

A shamrock organization includes an equal number of regular employees, temporary employees, and consultants and contractors. Professional Core, Contingintent work force, and outsourcing vendors.

a. Justice

A strong influence over our satisfaction level is how fairly we are treated. People pay attention to the fairness of company policies and procedures, treatment from supervisors, and pay and other rewards they receive from the company.

What is the major predictor of absenteeism

Absenteeism is often caused by work-line conflicts, health reasons, or poor work attitudes. There is no consistent link between personality and absenteeism.

1. What are the advantages and disadvantages of hiring people based on personality tests?

Advantages: Can predict performance and job satisfaction. Can improve effectiveness of their selection and reduce turnover. Disadvantages: Knowing it's a personality test can influence a candidate's answers and lead to faking.

Job Performance (Key Work Behavior)

Also known as in-role performance, the degree to which an employee successfully fulfills the factors included in the job description.

a. Faultlines (definition and dealing with faultlines)

An attribute along which a group is split into subgroups. is an attribute along which a group is split into subgroups. For example, in a group with three women and three men, gender may act as a faultline because the women may see themselves as separate from the men.

a. Psychological contract

An unwritten understanding about what the employee will bring to the work environment and what the company will provide in exchange. Someone is satisfied with their job when they meet their personal expectations of the job on the contract and becoming dissatisfied when there is a contract breach.

Specific issues relating to disabilities

Applicants with disabilities experience more barriers in hiring.

a. Case studies

Are in-depth descriptions of a single industry or company. Case writers typically employ a systematic approach to gathering data and explaining an event or situation in great detail.

1. How do we systematically assess work attitudes?

Attitude Surveys: Surveys that measure employee attitudes at work. Exit Interviews: A meeting with the departing employee.

a. Maslow's hierarchy

Based on a simple premise: Human beings have needs that are hierarchically ranked. Physciological - breathing, food, sleep, homeostasis Safety and Security - Security of body, employment, morality, family, health Love and Belonging - Friendship, family, sense of connection Self-Esteem - confidence, achievement, respect by and for others Self-actualization - morality, creativity, problem solving, acceeptance of facts

Understand the role of motivation in ethics and national culture.

Based on reinforcement theory, people will demonstrate higher unethical behaviors if their unethical behaviors are followed by rewards or go unpunished. Similarly, according to expectancy theory, if people believe that their unethical actions will be rewarded with desirable outcomes, they are more likely to demonstrate unethical behaviors. In terms of culture, some of the motivation theories are likely to be culture bound, whereas others may more readily apply to other cultures. Existing research shows that what is viewed as fair or unfair tends to be culturally defined.

What is the major predictor of turnover

Can be attributed to performance level and/or negative work attitudes.

1. What are the three factors that determine the type of attribution we make?

Consensus: Do other people behave the same way? Distinctiveness: Does this person behave the same way across different situations? Consistency: Does this person behave this way in different occasions in the same situation?

1. Much of management research addresses correlations rather than the causation. What does that mean?

Correlation means that two things co-vary. Causation is the act of making something happen. Management addresses correlations rather than causation because correlation is a relationship between two variables, but one event doesn't have to cause the other event to happen.

Specific issues relating to age

Despite their positive workplace behaviors, employees who are older often have to deal with age-related stereotypes at work. For example, a review of a large number of studies showed that those between 17 and 29 years of age tend to rate older employees more negatively, while younger employees were viewed as more qualified and having higher potential.

a. ERG theory

ERG theory, developed by Clayton Alderfer, is a modification of Maslow's hierarchy of needs. Instead of the five needs that are hierarchically organized, Alderfer proposed that basic human needs may be grouped under three categories, namely, existence, relatedness, and growth. Existence - A need corresponding to Maslow's physiological and safety needs. Relatedness - A need corresponding to Maslow's social needs. Growth - A need referring to Maslow's esteem and self-actualization.

Turnover (Key Work Behavior)

Employee departure from an organization.

1. What is the role of ethics and national culture? (Diversity)

Ethical behavior is affected by the demographic and cultural composition of the workforce. Studies indicate that men and women, as well as younger and older employees, differ in the types of behaviors they view as ethical. Different cultures also hold different ethical standards, which become important when managing a diverse workforce or doing business within different cultures. Around the globe, diversity has a different meaning and different overtones. In addition to different legal frameworks protecting employee classes, the types of stereotypes that exist in different cultures and whether and how the society tackles prejudice against different demographic categories vary from region to region.

Enlargement

Expanding the tasks performed by employees to add more variety.

1. When are goals effective?

Feedback - Employees should receive feedback on the progress they are making toward goal accomplishment. Providing employees with quantitative figures about their sales, defects, or other metrics is useful for feedback purposes. Ability - When employees are lacking the necessary abilities, setting specific outcome goals has been shown to lead to lower levels of performance. Goal Commitment - SMART goals are more likely to be effective if employees are committed to the goal.

Specific issues relating to gender

Gender: Earnings gap and glass ceiling

a. Stereotypes

Generalizations about a particular group of people.

1. What is goal setting theory & SMART goals?

Goal Setting Theory - Goal setting involves the development of an action plan designed in order to motivate and guide a person or group toward a goal. SMART Goal - A goal that is specific, measurable, aggressive, realistic, and time-bound.

a. Two factor theory

Herzberg came to the conclusion that aspects of the work environment that satisfy employees are very different from aspects that dissatisfy them. Hygiene Factors - Factors that are extrinsic to the job such as company policies and working conditions. Motivators - Factors that are intrinsic to the job, such as achievement and interesting work.

1. Know the factors (outcomes) that are affected by job design.

How a job is designed has a major impact on employee motivation, job satisfaction, commitment to an organization, absenteeism, and turnover.

1. What are the benefits of managing diversity effectively?

In fact, groups that are diverse experience lower levels of cohesiveness, higher levels of conflict, lower levels of team performance, and higher levels of turnover. In other words, human beings find it easier to communicate with each other when they interact with similar others. Companies that manage diversity more effectively tend to outperform others. Potential to increase company performance, increase creativity, and create a more satisfied workforce.

a. Expectancy theory

Individual motivation to put forth more or less effort is determined by a rational calculation in which individuals evaluate their situation. According to this theory, individuals ask themselves three questions. Expectancy - Whether the person believes that high levels of effort will lead to outcomes of interest such as performance or success. (Will my effort lead to high performance?) Instrumentality - The degree to which the person believes that performance is related to secondary outcomes such as rewards. (Will performance lead to outcomes?) Valence - The value of the rewards awaiting the person as a result of performance. (Do I find the outcomes desirable?)

Individualism-collectivism

Individualism - Cultures in which people define themselves as individuals and form looser ties with their groups. Collectivism - Cultures where people have stronger bonds to their groups and group membership forms a person's self- identity.

a. Equity theory (Process Based)

Individuals are motivated by a sense of fairness in their interactions. Moreover, our sense of fairness is a result of the social comparisons we make. Referent - A person we compare ourselves to in equity theory. Distributive Justice - The degree to which the outcomes received from the organization are fair. Procedural Justice - The degree to which fair decision-making procedures are used to arrive at a decision.

a. Locus of control

Internal Locus of Control: A person's belief they control their own destiny and what happens to them is their own doing. External Locus of Control: A person's belief that things happen because of other people, luck, or a powerful being.

1. From the Susan Cain video, be prepared to discuss the potential disadvantages that may come about when schools and workplaces are tailored to extroverts.

Introverted leaders often deliver better outcomes than extroverts do because they are more likely to let their employees run with their ideas where extroverts can sometimes chime in too much and put their own stamp on things. Its important to give employees and students time to work on their own because one's best ideas and creativity comes when they are alone most times. The kids than prefer to go off and work alone aren't always able to. Culture seems to be an influence over our values, personality traits, perceptions, attitudes, and work behaviors. Therefore, understanding individual differences requires paying careful attention to the cultural context.

2. Why does organizational behavior matter?

It matters because you care, employees care, and organizations care. It involves getting along with others, getting a great job, lowering your stress level, making more effective decisions, and working effectively within a team.

Personality

It seems that people who have a positive affective disposition (those who have a tendency to experience positive moods more often than negative moods) tend to be more satisfied with their jobs and more committed to their companies, while those who have a negative disposition tend to be less satisfied and less committed.

1. Define job satisfaction and organizational commitment.

Job Satisfaction - The feelings people have toward their jobs. Organizational Commitment - The emotional attachment people have toward the company they work for.

1. What is the difference between job satisfaction and organizational commitment? Which do you think would be more strongly related to turnover?

Job satisfaction is the feelings people have for their jobs and organizational commitment relates to how attached people are to the company they work for. I would think Job satisfaction is more related to turnover because a number of studies have indicated that job satisfaction is the most important job attitude. If someone is satisfied with their job then they will likely stay regardless of the company but if someone isn't satisfied with their job and they like the company, they may still leave the job depending on how unsatisfied they are.

a. Power distance

Low Power Distance - A society that views an unequal distribution of power as relatively unacceptable. High Power Distance - A society that views an unequal distribution of power as relatively acceptable.

a. Uncertainty avoidance

Low Uncertainty Avoidance - Cultures in which people are comfortable in unpredictable situations and have high tolerance for ambiguity. High Uncertainty Avoidance - Cultures in which people prefer predictable situations and have low tolerance for ambiguity.

1. Describe and know how to calculate the motivating potential score.

MPS = [(Skill Variety + Task Identity + Task Significance) ÷ 3] × Autonomy × Feedback

a. Masculinity/femininity

Masculinity - Cultures in which people value achievement and competitiveness, as well as acquisition of money and other material objects. Femininity - Cultures in which people value maintaining good relationships, caring for the weak, and quality of life.

1. What are the three psychological states that employees experience in the presence of the five core job dimensions?

Meaningfulness, Responsibility, and Knowledge of results

Performance Equation

Motivation x Ability x Environment Motivation - The desire to achieve a goal or a certain performance level, leading to goal-directed behavior. Ability - Having the skills and knowledge required to perform the job. Environment - External factors that affect performance.

Job Rotation

Moving employees from job to job at regular intervals.

a. Many managers assume that if an employee is not performing well, the reason must be a lack of motivation. Do you think this reasoning is accurate? What is the problem with the assumption?

No, this reasoning is not accurate because ability and environment are also predictors of job performance. The employees lack of understanding and unfamiliarity of the job can also be causes of poor performance. An employee's personal issues such as work-life balance and health concerns can also play a part in someone not performing well at work.

a. Stress

Not surprisingly, the amount of stress present in our job is related to our satisfaction and commitment. For example, experiencing role ambiguity (vagueness in relation to what our responsibilities are), role conflict (facing contradictory demands at work), and organizational politics, and worrying about the security of our job are all stressors that make people dissatisfied.

a. Similarity-attraction phenomenon (definition)

One of the commonly observed phenomena in human interactions is the tendency for individuals to be attracted to similar individuals.

1. What is an attitude?

Our opinions, beliefs, and feelings about aspects of our environment.

1. What does the term outsourcing refer to?

Outsourcing refers to having someone outside the formal ongoing organization doing work previously handled in-house. Outsourcing has become a way of life for many organizations—especially those based in the United States that are outsourcing to other countries where labor is relatively inexpensive.

1. Know what a performance appraisal is and how to conduct an appraisal meeting.

Performance Appraisal - A process in which employee performance is measured. Characteristics of appraisals that increase the perception that they are fair: Adequate Notice - Letting employees know what criteria will be used during the appraisal. Fair Hearing - Ensuring that there is two-way communication during the appraisal process and the employee's side of the story is heard. Judgement Based on Evidence - Documenting performance problems and using factual evidence.

a. Positive and negative affectivity

Positive Affective People: People who experience positive moods more frequently, who tend to be happier at work. Negative Affective People: People who experience negative moods with greater frequency, focus on the "glass half empty," and experience more anxiety and nervousness.

a. Person-environment fit

Positively related to job satisfaction and commitment. When the abilities of individuals match those of the job demands and company values, they tend to be more satisfied with the job and more committed to the company.

1. Know differing performance incentives.

Price Rate Systems - Payment to employees made on the basis of their individual output. Bonuses - One-time rewards that follow specific accomplishments of employees. Merit Pay - Giving employees a permanent pay raise based on past performance. Sales Commissions - Rewarding sales employees with a percentage of sales volume or profits generated. Employee Recognition Awards - Awards, plaques, or other symbolic methods of recognition that convey appreciation for employee contributions. Gainsharing - A companywide program in which employees are rewarded for performance gains compared to past performance. Profit Sharing - Programs involving sharing a percentage of company profits with all employees. Stock Option - Giving an employee the right, but not the obligation, to purchase company stocks at a predetermined price.

1. What is the difference between reliability and validity?

Reliability refers to the consistency of measurement. Validity refers to whether the measure captures what it is expected to capture.

Specific issues relating to religious diversity

Religious discrimination often occurs because the religion necessitates modifying the employee's schedule.

1. What is scientific management and job specialization? How would these job design strategies impact motivation?

Scientific Management - Management theory that analyzes work flows to improve economic efficiency, especially labor productivity. "He also believed that scientific methods could be used to increase productivity. As an example, Taylor found that instead of allowing workers to use their own shovels, as was the custom at the time, providing specially designed shovels increased productivity". Job Specialization - Breaking down tasks to their simplest components and assigning them to employees so that each person would perform few tasks in a repetitive manner. These job design strategies impact motivation because they are very repetitive, and some employees don't like doing repetitive work which leads to less job satisfaction.

1. What is the difference between self-enhancement and self-effacement bias?

Self-enhancement bias - The tendency to overestimate our performance and capabilities, and to see ourselves in a more positive light than others see us. Self-effacement bias - The tendency to underestimate our performance and capabilities, and to see events in a way that puts ourselves in a more negative light.

Unconscious (or implicit) biases

Stereotypes about specific groups that are held outside of conscious awareness. are stereotypes that are held that are outside of conscious awareness.

Specific issues relating to race

Studies indicate that ethnic minorities are less likely to experience a satisfying work environment. Ethnic minorities experience both an earnings gap and a glass ceiling.

a. Laboratory studies

Study conducted in artificial situations outside of actual organizations. Lab studies usually follow an experimental design. Give the researcher a great deal of control over the environment they are studying but do so in a less "realistic" way, since they are not studying real employees in real work settings.

What is organizational behavior?

Systematic study and application of knowledge about how individuals and groups act within the organizations where they work.

a. Meta-analysis

Technique used by researchers to summarize what other researchers have found on a given topic. This analysis is based on taking observed correlations from multiple studies, weighting them by the number of observations in each study, and finding out if, overall, the effect holds or not.

ADA

The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) prohibits discrimination in employment against individuals with physical as well as mental disabilities if these individuals are otherwise qualified to do their jobs with or without reasonable accommodation.

a. Self esteem

The degree to which a person has overall positive feelings about oneself.

Neuroticism (Big 5)

The degree to which a person is anxious, irritable, temperamental, and moody. Neurotic employees experience lower levels of satisfaction with their lives, indicating their habitual levels of unhappiness.

Openness (Big 5)

The degree to which a person is curious, original, intellectual, creative, and open to new ideas. Thrive in situations that require being flexible and learning new things.

Task Identity(Five for job characteristic)

The degree to which a person is in charge of completing an identifiable piece of work from start to finish. - Google, many employees are given ownership over projects, and they work on the project from beginning to end, leading to a sense of task identity.

Agreeableness (Big 5)

The degree to which a person is nice, tolerant, sensitive, trusting, kind, and warm. Agreeable people help others at work consistently; this helping behavior does not depend on their good mood.

Conscientiousness (Big 5)

The degree to which a person is organized, systematic, punctual, achievement oriented, and dependable. The one personality trait that uniformly predicts how high a person's performance will be across a variety of occupations and jobs.

Extraversion (Big 5)

The degree to which a person is outgoing, talkative, sociable, and enjoys being in social situations. One of the established findings is that extraverts tend to be effective in jobs involving sales.

What is overqualification and how does it impact person-job fit?

The degree to which a person's skill, knowledge, abilities, and other characteristics exceed the job requirements. Research shows that overqualification is related to negative job attitudes, greater tendency to look for a job, and higher likelihood of counterproductive behaviors.

1. What is person-job fit?

The degree to which a person's skill, knowledge, abilities, and other characteristics match the job demands.

1. What is person-organization fit?

The degree to which a person's values, personality, goals, and other characteristics match those of the organization.

Autonomy(Five for job characteristic)

The degree to which people have the freedom to decide how to perform their tasks. - Restaurant chef working in a small restaurant who has control over the menu, concept, and pricing will have greater autonomy compared to a chef who is working in a chain restaurant who oversees the cooking process without having control over the taste of food, how it is cooked, or from where ingredients are acquired.

Feedback(Five for job characteristic)

The degree to which people learn how effective they are being at work. - A salesperson who gives presentations to potential clients, but is not informed of the clients' decisions, has low feedback at work. If this person receives notification that a sale was made based on the presentation, feedback will be high.

a. Self monitoring

The extent to which people are capable of monitoring their actions and appearance in social situations.

Skill Variety (Five for job characteristic)

The extent to which the job requires a person to utilize multiple high-level skills. - A car-wash employee whose job consists of directing customers into the automated car wash demonstrates low levels of skill variety, whereas a car-wash employee who acts as a cashier, maintains car-wash equipment, and manages the inventory of chemicals demonstrates higher skill variety.

1. What are the three key levels of analysis?

The individual - For example, if we want to understand our boss' personality, we would be using the individual level of analysis. The Group - If we want to know about how our manager's personality affects our team, we are examining things at the team level. The Organization - If we want to understand how our organization's culture affects organizational performance, we would be interested in the organizational level of analysis.

a. Earnings gap (What is it? Why does it exist?)

The median earnings of women who worked full time in 2017 was 82% of men working full time. women work shorter hours, are underrepresented in high-paying occupations such as engineering and overrepresented in low-paying occupations such as kindergarten teacher and have more gaps in their résumés due to parenthood, which explains part of the gender differences in pay.

What is the major predictor of job performance

The most powerful influence over our job performance is our general mental ability or cognitive abilities. General Mental ability refers to our reasoning abilities, verbal and numerical skills, analytical skills, and overall intelligence level.

1. What is personality?

The relatively stable feelings, thoughts, and behavioral patterns a person has.

1. What is diversity?

The ways in which people are similar or different from each other. It may be defined by any characteristic that varies within a particular work unit such as gender, race, age, education, tenure, or functional background (such as being an engineer versus being an accountant).

1. Know the potential bias that may occur in a performance appraisal.

These biases trickle down into the appraisal system and can affect other decisions that are based on appraisals, such as pay and promotion. Therefore, being aware of these tendencies is the first step to managing their influence over the appraisal system.

Title VII

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act (1964) prohibits discrimination in all employment-related decisions based on gender.

1. Can you identify key trends and changes in OB?

Trends include ethical challenges, rapid technological change, a flattening world, sustainable business practices, demographic trends, and the global marketplace. A number of trends will influence the way work gets done today and in the future.

a. Relationships

Two strong predictors of our happiness at work and commitment to the company are our relationships with coworkers and managers. The people we interact with, their degree of compassion, our level of social acceptance in our work group, and whether we are treated with respect are all important factors surrounding our happiness at work.

What is the major predictor of citizenship behaviors

Unlike job performance, citizenship behaviors do not depend on one's general mental abilities. When you add the education, skills, knowledge, and abilities that are needed to perform well, the role of motivation on performance becomes more limited.

Absenteeism (Key Work Behavior)

Unscheduled absences from work.

a. Job characteristics

Using a variety of skills, having empowerment at work, receiving feedback on the job, and performing a significant task are some job characteristics that are related to satisfaction and commitment.

Organizational Citizenship Behaviors (Key Work Behavior)

Voluntary behaviors employees perform to help others and benefit the organization.

a. Work life balance

When work life interferes with family life, we are more stressed and unhappy with our jobs. Research shows that family-supportive workplace policies and supervisory family support are related to more positive job attitudes.

Task Significance(Five for job characteristic)

Whether a person's job substantially affects other people's work, health, or well-being. - A janitor who cleans the floors at an office building may find the job low in significance, thinking it is not a very important job. However, janitors cleaning the floors at a hospital may see their role as essential in helping patients get better.

a. Glass ceiling (Why does it exist?)

While women may be represented in lower level positions, they are less likely to be seen in higher management and executive suites of companies.

Specific issues relating to sexual orientation

disclosure of sexual identity in the workplace due to fear of the reactions of their managers and coworkers.

a. Acquired needs theory

individuals acquire three types of needs as a result of their life experiences. These needs are the need for achievement, the need for affiliation, and the need for power. All individuals possess a combination of these needs, and the dominant needs are thought to drive employee behavior. Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) - A test that assesses a person's dominant needs. Need for achievement - Having a strong need to be successful. Need for Affiliation - Wanting to be liked and accepted by others. Need for Power - Wanting to influence others and control their environment.