Organizational Behavior Test 1
Major job attitudes
Job Satisfaction: A positive feeling about the job resulting from an evaluation of its characteristics Job Involvement: Degree of psychological identification with the job where perceived performance is important to self-worth Psychological Empowerment: Belief in the degree of influence over the job, competence, job meaningfulness, and autonomy
3 components of attitudes
CAB Cognitive - belief Affective - emotions and feelings Behavioral - intention to behave
3 dimensions of organizational commitment
CAN Continuance - economic value of staying Affective - emotional attachment to organization Normative - moral or ethical obligations
Determination depends on these 3 factors
CDC Consensus Distinctiveness Consistency
Five temptations of a CEO
Choosing status over results Choosing popularity over accountability Choosing certainty over clarity Choosing invulnerability over trust Choosing harmony over productive conflict
Low Positive Affect
Content Serene Relaxed Calm
Other personality traits
Core Self-Evaluation (Self-perspective) Machiavellianism (Machs) Narcissism Self-Monitoring Risk Taking Proactive Personality Other-orientation
Which of the following best represents deep-level similarity? A) colleagues who both hail from the same neighborhood in Alabama B) employees who are college graduates with a degree in business management C) employees who speak Spanish and share similar religious values D) employees who seek challenges in assignments and like to work collaboratively E) employees in their mid-thirties with 10 years' work experience in the publishing industry
D) Demographics mostly reflect surface-level diversity, not thoughts and feelings, and can lead employees to perceive one another through stereotypes and assumptions. However, evidence has shown that as people get to know one another, they become less concerned about demographic differences if they see themselves as sharing more important characteristics, such as personality and values, that represent deep-level diversity.
How organizations manage diversity effectively
Diversity groups Attracting, selecting, developing and retaining diverse employees Effective diversity programs
Scott Disick recently joined his first job as a communication executive and is working on creating press releases for an upcoming campaign. The campaign is getting launched publicly in the next week and Disick will need to interact with the media and give sound bytes on the issue. This is the first time he will be interacting with the press and he is experiencing emotions of anxiousness, nervousness, and stress. Which of the following mood dimensions is he experiencing? A)low positive affect B)neutral affect C)low negative affect D)high positive affect E)high negative affect
E) Negative affect is a mood dimension consisting of nervousness, stress, and anxiety at the high end and relaxation, tranquility, and poise at the low end.
Key emotional concepts
Emotional intelligence: manage emotional cues and information Emotional labor: Employee displaying emotions that the organization wants to see at work Emotional dissonance: projecting one emotion while simultaneously feeling another
Theory Y
Employees can view work as being as natural as rest or play High maslow order needs dominate
Theory X
Employees inherently dislike work and, whenever possible, will attempt to avoid it. They must be coerced, controlled, or threatened with punishment. Low order needs dominate
Applications of Shortcuts in Organizations
Employment interview - perceptual judgements Performance expectations - validate perceptions of reality even when false Performance evaluations - dependent on perceptual process
Alternative work arrangements
Job sharing - split up a normal 40 hour week between people (hard to transfer work but more flexible) Telecommuting - do your work from home at least 2 days a week (less turnover, higher productivity, improved morale)(less supervision and employee may not be recognized)
Stereotyping
Judging someone on the basis of our perception of the group to which he or she belongs. This is a means of simplifying a complex world, and it permits us to maintain consistency.
Big 5 personality model
Extraversion: a comfort level with relationships. Agreeableness: Individual's propensity to defer to others. Conscientiousness: a measure of reliability Emotional stability: describes a person's ability to withstand stress Openness to experience: suggests the range of interests and fascination with novelty
What do each of the big 5 personality traits predict at work?
Extraversion: enhanced leadership (team oriented) Agreeableness: lower levels of deviant behavior (want supportive organization) Conscientiousness: enhanced leadership and longevity Emotional stability: higher job and life satisfaction Openness to experience: more adaptable to change (want innovation)
Types of emotions
Felt: the individual's actual emotions Displayed: required or appropriate emotions
How do you prevent biases?
Focus on Goals Look for information that disconfirms your beliefs Don't try to create meaning out of random events Increase your options
Why do extrinsic or intrinsic motivation matter?
For individuals, it means choose your job for reasons other than extrinsic rewards. For organizations, it means managers should provide intrinsic as well as extrinsic incentives.
Henry Mintzberg 3 Managerial roles
IID Interpersonal (Leader) Informational(spokesperson, disseminator) Decisional(negotiator, entrepreneur)
What are the three basic elements of OB?
IPO Inputs Processes Outcomes
Organizational commitment
Identifying with a particular organization and its goals, while wishing to maintain membership in the organization.
Consistency
In a person's actions
Self-serving Bias
Individuals attribute their own successes to internal factors.
Elements of Treadway that led to the situation
Lack of training Recruitment and selection metrics don't fit with true KSA (Knowledge, Skills and Abilities) Performance evaluation contradictions Poor communication within the plant Adversarial norms within the plant Flawed philosophy within the plant
Maslow's hierarchy of needs
1) Self actualization: achieving ones full potential, including creative activities 2) Esteem needs: prestige and feeling of accomplishment 3) Belongingness and love needs: intimate relationships, friends 4) Safety needs: Security, safety 5) Physiological needs: food, water, warmth, rest 1 is a self fulfillment need, 2 and 3 are psychological, 4 and 5 are basic needs
Organization
A consciously coordinated social unit composed of two or more people that functions on a relatively continuous basis to achieve a common goal or set of goals
Personality
A dynamic concept describing the growth and development of a person's whole psychological system The sum total of ways in which an individual reacts to and interacts with others.
Organizational Behavior
A field of study that investigates the impact that individuals, groups, and structure have on behavior within organizations for the purpose of applying such knowledge toward improving an organization's effectiveness.
Self-determination theory
A way to determine what rewards to provide A senior sales representative may be motivated by a commission. A computer programmer who values writing code because she likes to solve problems might react negatively to having to write a certain number of lines of code every day.
6 basic emotions
Anger Fear Sadness Happiness Disgust Surprise
Unfair discrimination
Assuming stereotypes about groups and refusing to recognize individual differences
Factors in perceiver
Attitudes Motives Interests Experience Expectations
Variables of interest
Attitudes and stress Task performance Citizenship behavior Withdrawal behavior Group cohesion Productivity Survival
How do line foreman at Treadway feel about their jobs?
Unequipped for the job Little discretion dealing with employees Career frustration Alienated/betrayed by everyone
Deep level diversity
Values Personality Work preferences
Contrast Effects
We do not evaluate a person in isolation. Our reaction to one person is influenced by other persons we have recently encountered.
Fundamental attribution error
We have a tendency to underestimate the influence of external factors and overestimate the influence of internal or personal factors.
Distinctiveness
Whether an individual displays different behaviors in different situations
Do variable pay programs increase motivation and productivity?
Yes, studies show that profit sharing plans result in higher levels of profitability than those without them
Goal setting theory
a cognitive approach, proposing that an individual's purposes direct his action.
Perception
a process by which individuals organize and interpret their sensory impressions in order to give meaning to their environment. It is important to the study of OB because peoples' behaviors are based on their perception of what reality is, not on reality itself.
Emotions
are intense feelings that are directed at someone or something. Caused by specific event Very brief Action based Show it with facial expressions
Moods
are the feelings that tend to be less intense than emotions and that lack a contextual stimulus. Cause is general or unclear Cognitive
Expectancy theory
argues that a tendency to act in a certain way depends on an expectation that the act will be followed by a given outcome and the attractiveness of that outcome to the individual.
Operant conditioning
argues that people learn to behave to get something they want or to avoid something they don't want.
Challenge with repetitive tasks
Limited variety, autonomy or motivation Can fix through rotational programs
Importance of interpersonal skills in workplace (for a manager)
Manager effectiveness Lower turnover of quality employees Higher quality applications for recruitment Better financial performance
Consensus
Occurs if everyone who is faced with a similar situation responds in the same way
Intrinsic Rewards in Employee Recognition Programs
Organizations are increasingly recognizing that important work rewards can be both intrinsic and extrinsic. Rewards are intrinsic in the form of employee recognition programs and extrinsic in the form of compensation systems.
Organizational Justice
Overall perception of what is fair in the workplace. Distributive justice - perceived fairness of outcome Procedural Justice - perceived fairness of process Interactional Justice - perceived fairness of way you are treated
Cognitive biases examples
Overconfidence - too confident of ideas Anchoring - fixating on starting point Stereotyping Selective perception Outcome bias
Manager skills
THC Technical Skills: The ability to apply specialized knowledge or expertise. All jobs require some specialized expertise, and many people develop their technical skills on the job. Human Skills: Ability to work with, understand, and motivate other people, both individually and in groups, describes human skills. Conceptual Skills: The mental ability to analyze and diagnose complex situations.
2 approaches to measure job satisfaction
The single global rating The summation of job facets
Four management functions
PLOC Planning: defining goals, establishing strategy, developing set of plans to integrate and coordinate activities Leading: directing employees' activities, motivating them, communicating and resolving conflicts Organizing: determining what tasks get done, how to group them, who does them, reporting structures, and where decisions are made Controlling: monitoring performance, comparing it to goals and correcting any discrepancies
Extrinsic rewards
Pay for performance
Variable pay programs
Pay-per-piece: in manufacturing Merit-based pay plan: based on performance appraisal Bonuses: becoming more widely used (more vulnerable to cuts) Profit-sharing: everyone has stake in the company's profits Employee stock ownership: give employees stock
How does personality play into job satisfaction?
People who have positive core self- evaluations are more satisfied with their jobs Those with negative core self-evaluations set less ambitious goals and are more likely to give up when confronting difficulties.
Factors that influence perception
Perceiver Target Situation
What affects moods and emotions
Personality Day and time of the week Weather Stress Social activities Sleep Exercise
How to change your emotions
Thinking about more pleasant things Suppressing negative thoughts Distracting yourself Reappraising the situation Engaging in relaxation techniques
Factors in situation
Time Work setting Social setting
External causation
Resulting from outside causes.
Treadway tires situational analysis
Rising Raw Material costs puts focus on cost reduction at plant Difficult/strenuous work environment Low morale and high turnover among line foreman High frustration/alienation among foreman segment
Low Negative Affect
Sad Depressed Bored Fatigued
Shortcuts in perception
Selective Perception Halo Effect Contrast Effects Stereotyping
Reinforcement theory
in contrast, takes a behavioristic view, arguing that reinforcement conditions behavior. ignores the inner state of the individual and concentrates solely on what happens when he or she takes some action.
Cognitive dissonance
incompatibility an individual might perceive between two or more attitudes or between behavior and attitudes. Changing either the environment or feeling to stop the conflict
Perceived organizational support
judgement of how company values you
Contingency variables
situational factors are variables that moderate the relationship between the independent and dependent variables
Attribution theory
suggests that when we observe an individual's behavior, we attempt to determine whether it was internally or externally caused.
How does attitude interact with behavior?
the attitudes people hold determine what they do Cognitive dissonance people seek consistency among their attitudes and between their attitudes and behavior The attitude/behavior relationship is stronger if it refers to something in our direct personal experience
Motivation
the processes that account for an individual's intensity, direction, and persistence of effort toward attaining a goal.
Internal causation
those that are believed to be under the personal control of the individual.
Emotion regulation
to identify and modify emotions you feel
Which of the following functions do managers undertake as part of planning functions? A) defining an organization's goals B) implementing strategies for achieving goals C) executing plans to integrate activities D) accomplishing goals of a project E) employing strategies to coordinate tasks
A) The planning function encompasses defining an organization's goals, establishing an overall strategy for achieving those goals, and developing a comprehensive set of plans to integrate and coordinate activities.
Discrimination
Actions taken by representatives of the organization that deny opportunity to perform or unequal rewards for performance Simply "is to note a difference between things"
Biographical characteristics
Age - performance declines with age Gender - issues that arise from gender Race and ethnicity - employees favor colleagues of same race Disability - reasonable accommodations must be made by employer Tenure - seniority on job performance has misconceptions Religion - an issue int he workplace Sexual orientation Gender identity
High Positive Affect
Alert Excited Elated Happy
Brody has been working as a process executive at an accounting firm for the past two years. A hard worker, his work is of good quality and he often puts in extra hours at the office to ensure his schedules are on track. Noticing his efforts, the management offers him a 20 percent hike. Two months later, Brody submits his resignation and soon joins a startup organization, at a senior position. Which of the following best explains this situation? A) Brody felt the hike was unwarranted. B) Brody, though highly skilled, lacked ambition. C) Brody was motivated by the prospect of extrinsic rewards. D) Brody found his work to be routine and monotonous. E) Brody was gunning for a position at the competing firm all along.
D) Even if Brody was a highly competent employee, he would be more likely to quit in spite of the salary hike if he found his work to be routine and monotonous. This implies a lack of job satisfaction and involvement. If Brody felt the hike was unwarranted, it would still not drive him to resign from the firm. Similarly, if Brody was motivated by the extrinsic rewards it would not explain his leaving the firm as he was given a salary hike. It cannot be argued that Brody lacked ambition as he found employment with another firm, at a senior position. It also cannot be argued that Brody was aiming for a position at the competing firm all along, because he worked as a process executive for two years and he joined a startup company.
Key elements of motivation
DIP Direction - orientation that benefits the organization Intensity - how hard you try Persistence - how long a person can maintain the effort
Rational Decision making model
Define problem Identify decision criteria Allocate weights to the criteria Develop the alternatives Evaluate the alternatives Select the best alternative
Perceived Organizational Support
Degree to which employees believe the organization values their contribution and cares about their well-being. Higher when rewards are fair, employees are involved in decision making, and supervisors are seen as supportive. High POS is related to higher OCBs and performance.
Forms of discrimination
Discriminatory policies Sexual harassment Intimidation Exclusion Mockery & insults Incivility
How can managers influence moods? Explain.
Managers can use humor and give their employees small tokens of appreciation for work well done. Also, when leaders themselves are in good moods, group members are more positive, and as a result they cooperate more. Finally, selecting positive team members can have a contagion effect because positive moods transmit from team member to team member. One study of professional cricket teams found players' happy moods affected the moods of their team members and positively influenced their performance. Thus, it proves useful for managers to select team members predisposed to experience positive moods.
Measuring personality
Managers can use personality tests because they are useful in hiring decisions and help managers forecast who is best for a job. (Myers-Briggs Type Indicator)
3 types of benefit programs
Modular plans: pre-designed with each module meeting needs of a specific group of employees Core-plus plans: a core of essential benefits and a menu like selection of other benefit options Flexible spending plans: employees set aside a specific dollar amount for benefits tax-free and draw against the account for medical and dental services as need
Factors in target
Novelty Motions Sounds Size Background Proximity Similarity
Behavioral science that contributes to OB
Psychology: science that seeks to measure and explain and sometimes change the behavior of humans and other animals Sociology: the social systems in which individuals fill their roles; interpersonal relationships Social psychology: blends the concepts of psychology and sociology Anthropology: study of societies to learn about human beings and their activities
Surface level diversity
Race Gender Age
How can Treadway improve the situation?
Recruiting, Selection and Development Training Performance Reviews & Evaluations Higher Level Philosophical Change Satisfaction Surveys and Exit Interviews Minimize Potential Resistance to Suggested Change
Selective Perception
Since we can't observe everything going on about us, we engage in selective perception. Any characteristic that makes a person, object, or event stand out will increase the probability that it will be perceived.
Manager
Someone who gets things done through other people in organizations
Attitudes
Statements or judgements concerning objects, people or events
Martha Rinaldi what happened?
Stayed at Potomac Water - "too early in her career to go down in defeat" believed Jamie and Natalie were largely the problem A month later Follet left Heard she had been job hunting the entire time Thought leaving would get Vaughn promoted Instead a new Product Manager was assigned Rinaldi was invigorated Vaughn left six months later That Product Manager left shortly after and Rinaldi was now the expert and become the trainer of her boss Promoted to Associate Product Manger a year after this case
Ways to display emotions
Surface acting: Hiding one's inner feelings and forgoing emotional expressions in response to display rules. Deep acting: Trying to modify one's true inner feelings based on display rules.
High Negative Affect
Tense Nervous Stressed Upset
Assumptions of rational model
The decision maker has complete information, And is able to identify all the relevant options in an unbiased manner Chooses the option with the highest utility.
Employee engagement
The degree of involvement with, satisfaction with, and enthusiasm for the job. Engaged employees are passionate about their work and company.
Halo Effect
The halo effect occurs when we draw a general impression on the basis of a single characteristic.
Heredity
The heredity approach argues that the ultimate explanation of an individual's personality is the molecular structure of the genes, located in the chromosomes.
Develop a benefits package
The idea is to allow each employee to choose a benefit package that is individually tailored to his/her own needs and situation
Job engagement
The investment of an employee's physical, cognitive, and emotional energies into job performance.
Importance of values
foundation for the understanding of attitudes and motivation can predict people's reactions based on their values
Affect
generic term that covers a broad range of feelings people experience. This includes both emotions and moods.