Chapter 1

Theory

A collection of verbal and symbolic assertions that specify how and why variables are related, and the conditions under which they should and should not relate

Meta-analysis

A statistical technique used to combine the results of many different research studies done in a variety of organizations and for a variety of jobs

Productivity conversation

ANDY: I just hit my sales target and earned the monthly bonus! LAURA: Way to go! I'm almost there myself.

The Sensor Dynamics Corporation did a scientific study on the impact of absenteeism on increased costs. It determined that there's a statistical correlation of 0.7. What does that indicate for the organization?

Absenteeism significantly increases costs.

Performance

Amy volunteers to help a new coworker learn how to use the company's intranet.

System

An interrelated set of elements that function as a whole.

Old Navy relies on a cost leadership strategy and needs to keep all of its expenses as low as possible.

Automate as many jobs as possible

Which of the following factors did W. Edwards Deming believe should be removed from the workplace?

Fear

A firm decides to specialize in designing new and innovative apps for the iPhone and to outsource their production.

Focus on problem solving and teamwork.

Why do groups and teams do what they do?

Getting a new research and development team at Pfizer to leverage the diversity of their knowledge and expertise to come up with a new blockbuster drug

Chipotle Mexican Grill opened about 200 new restaurants in a year to maintain its strong financial performance.

Growth

By its very nature, BLANK requires an understanding of human behavior to help managers better comprehend behaviors at different organizational levels, at the same organizational level, in other organizations, and in themselves.

Management

Why does leadership matter?

Managing politics and power struggles at Goldman Sachs to ensure that customer needs are being ethically met.

Productivity

Mary sells 20 cars in a month.

Why do individuals do what they do?

Motivating a new customer service employee at Aflac Insurance with a work-from-home day if performance targets are met

Most experts say that BLANK is the most critical element in building a customer-oriented company.

Talent

When Sonia, a new graduate, begins her career as an engineer, she will most rely on her BLANK skills to perform her job responsibilities at Boeing.

Technical

Candace says that they are focused on doing what they need to do to keep the dogs safe and happy. She understands how to feed and care for the dogs under her care.

Technical Skills

Transformation

Technology; including manufacturing, operations, and service processes

Correlation

The size and strength of the statistical relationship between two variables

Organizational Behavior

The study of human behavior in organizational settings, the interface between human behavior and the organization, and the organization itself

Dependent variable

The variable predicted to be affected by something else

BLANK results in direct financial costs for an organization

Theft

Organizational Behavior (example)

Tyler plans to quit in a few months.

Ashanti is the founder of a small app development firm. She devised a method for meeting deadlines that has proven very effective for her organization. She believes that her method will also work for any other organization. What type of perspective does this belief reflect?

Universal

Which of the following employee behaviors are associated with effective management?

identification with the company

This course focuses on how organizations and the behaviors of the people who comprise them all function within the context of an environment. What is the primary focus of parts 2, 3, and 4 of the text, respectively?

individuals, groups and teams, leadership

Organizational behavior is defined as the study of three interrelated areas, one of which is the __________.

interface between individuals and the organization

Persuading an employee to take on additional work during a busy shift at McDonald's is...

interpersonal skills

Shell Oil is part of a system that uses materials, human resources, financial resources, and information to affect its environment. Which of the following is NOT one of Shell Oil's outputs?

money received from oil and gas sales

Coming up with a new product idea for Apple is...

conceptual skills

Your region has many supermarket bakeries, but there aren't any niche cafés offering superior coffee and home-baked goods using local, organic ingredients. You decide to open such a business. Based on these factors, which types of strategic behaviors would help assure that your small enterprise specializes and thrives?

deliver unique products and service

Identifying which employee survey questions predict subsequent turnover at Macy's is...

diagnostic skills

Assume for a moment that Sue, the owner of Camp Bow Wow in Colorado, said that she was looking to provide constantly evolving and improving pet care services that no other organization offered. This would be an example of a BLANK strategy.

differentiation through product innovation

Under the systems perspective, which of the following is NOT an output that managers generate from the four inputs of materials, human resources, financial resources, and information?

environmental stewardship

The success of a growth strategy depends on the firm's ability to BLANK necessary to sustain its intended growth.

find and retain the right number and types of employees

How does OB impact individuals' success?

Can help people be better employees, improve team effectiveness, help employees advance fast in their career, and help people be better managers.

When Mark Zuckerberg came up with the idea for Facebook and decided to make a company to pursue the idea, he relied most heavily on his BLANK skills.

Conceptual

Netflix uses complicated mathematical techniques to allow it to make accurate movie recommendations to its customers.

Customer intimacy

When Marissa Mayer became CEO of Yahoo and tried to identify how to turn around the ailing company she relied heavily on her BLANK skills.

Diagnostic

Which of the following is the primary competitive advantage Costco has over Sam's Club, its closest competitor?

Excellent customer experience

How do organizational characteristics influence effectiveness?

How to create a culture at your new technology startup that promotes innovation, trust, and high performance

Written predictions specifying expected relationships between certain variables are known as __________.

Hypotheses

Situational perspective

In most organizations, situations and outcomes are influenced by other variables.

Starbucks is primarily following a specialization strategy and focuses on a narrow set of beverage and food products.

Increase operational flexibility and employees' customer knowledge

Interactionalism

Individuals and situations interact continuously to determine individuals' behavior.

Pete invests $1 million in new robots to improve the efficiency of Mattel's toy manufacturing process.

Inputs

When Pedro tries to persuade his teammates to increase their production rate he is most heavily relying on his BLANK skills.

Interpersonal

Within Odyssey Adventures, Ramon is known as an expert in the hotels, restaurants, and amenities at various luxury destinations. Because he is so enthusiastic and knowledgeable, he is highly effective at encouraging clients to extend their vacation plans with add-on packages and upgraded experiences. Which management skill does this ability best demonstrate?

Interpersonal skills

Developing new ways to hire and train employees and paying them higher wages can result in which of the following benefits?

It can result in better retention of employees.

Which of the following is true about global mindset?

It combines cultural intelligence and a multinational business orientation.

Why is it important for managers to understand the Hawthorne effect?

It showed that people improve their performance when they know they're being observed.

As you sit at your desk on your first day back after a rejuvenating vacation to the Caribbean, you bring your mind back to your work as the head of a beverage bottling plant. You have a lot of work to catch up on, and need to prioritize what is most important to address today. Because the recent loss of a long-term client account has dampened the morale of your employees you decide to spend an hour walking around your unit motivating and thanking your team for their continued contributions to the plant. Which of the following basic management functions did you just engage in?

Leading

Bill Owen's team at Lamar Advertising recently lost a big account and team morale has fallen. Bill decides to treat his employees to lunch and give them a pep talk to show his appreciation and to let them know that he believes in the team.

Leading

Human Relations Movement

Organizations are cooperative systems and workers' orientations, values, and feelings are important parts of organizational dynamics and performance.

As Facebook grew, Mark Zuckerberg had to redefine employees' areas of responsibility and increase the number of hierarchical layers in the organization to maximize efficiency and performance during the company's rapid growth.

Organizing

Consumer tastes in snack foods have been changing. Yun Zhang, a marketing manager at Frito-Lay, recognizes a new business opportunity in low-salt and low-fat snack foods and decides that the company needs to establish a leadership position in this new market.

Organizing

After offshoring many employees' jobs and reducing pay for those who remain, the surviving employees of Acme go on strike.

Outputs

Hershey has large manufacturing facilities that turn cocoa beans, sugar, and milk into a wide variety of delicious chocolate products.

Process

Scientific Management

Productivity is maximized when organizations are rationalized with precise sets of instructions based on time-and-motion studies.

Scientific Method

Relies on systematic studies that identify and replicate a result using a variety of methods, samples, and settings

Intuition

Relying on an understanding of many of the norms, expectations, and behaviors of others learned from living and working with them

Dysfunctional Behavior

Ryan steals $1,000 from the company.

Which of the following scenarios most clearly exemplifies the successful use of a manager's diagnostic skills in dealing with people?

Sally suspects that Gary is underperforming because he is not getting enough sleep, not because he is incapable. She lets him work from 10 to 6 instead of 9 to 5, and his performance improves.

Which of the following factors is NOT a typical positive result when managers make a practice of listening to employees, recognizing their work, building trust, and behaving ethically?

Savings through staff layoff

Candace states that part of managing involves making sure everyone is organized and where they are supposed to be at the right time. Which school of thought is most consistent with a concern about making sure everyone is organized and where they are supposed to be at the right time?

Scientific Management

In the 1890s, Frank and Lillian Gilbreth and Frederick Winslow Taylor identified the positive effects of precise instructions, goal setting, and rewards on motivation. Their ideas became known as?

Scientific management

Dunkin' Donuts decided to focus on selling donuts rather than a wide variety of baked goods.

Specialization

Jeweler Tiffany & Co. is following a differentiation strategy and wants to charge a high price for high quality jewelry.

Support a customer service culture

Kyongji is slightly more productive than Bernadette but she refuses to work overtime, often expresses negative opinions about the organization, and is often late. Bernadette is often willing to work overtimeand seldom misses work.Kyongji is probably BLANK than Bernadette.

a lower performer

Outputs

products/services, profits/losses, employee behaviors, new information

Michael Porter says that companies gain a competitive advantage by giving customers __________.

superior value for their money