MNGT360 Chapter 8

What is Internal Attribution?

Individual factors such as ability, motivation, or attitudes are to blame.

What is knowledge transfer?

The exchange of knowledge between employees.

What is behavior modeling training?

A formalized method of training in which employees observe and learn from employees with significant amounts of tacit knowledge.

Within the method of goal orientation, what is the learning orientation?

A predisposition or attitude according to which building competence is deemed more important by an employee than demonstrating competence.

What is performance-prove orientation?

A predisposition or attitude by which employees focus on demonstrating their competence so that others think favorably of them.

What is 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 is behavior observed?

By high or low: Consensus Distinctiveness Consistency

What is External Attribution?

Environmental factors are to blame.

What is positive reinforcement?

(Consequence is added, Wanted outcome) When a positive outcome follows a desired behavior.

What is negative reinforcement?

(Consequence is removed, unwanted outcome) When an unwanted outcome is removed following a desired behavior.

What is extinction?

(Consequence is removed, wanted outcome) When there is the removal of a consequence following unwanted behavior.

What is punishment?

(Consequences is added, unwanted outcome) When unwanted outcome follows an unwanted behavior.

What decision-making problems can prevent employees from translating their learning into accurate decisions?

(Limited information) Bounded rationality Satisficing

What are the five steps for communicating intent to others when using intuition. What are they?

1) Here's what I think we face. (How does the manager perceive the situation?) 2) Heres what I think we should do. (A task-focused statement of what the manager wants to happen) 3) Here's why. (The reasoning behind the decision) 4) Here's what we should keep our eye on. (What things should the staff look for to ensure the intuition is correct or that the situation hasn't changed?) 5) Now, talk to me. (Confirm that everyone understands their roles and that there is no other information to consider.)

What are the steps of the rational decision-making model?

1) Identify the criteria that are important in making the decision. 2) Generate a list of all available alternatives that might be potential solutions to the problem. 3) Evaluate of those alternatives against the criteria laid out in step one. 4) Select the alternative that results in the best outcome. 5) Implement the alternative.

Intuitive decision making is perhaps never more important than during a crisis. What is a crisis situation?

A change -whether sudden or evolving- that results in an urgent problem that must be addressed immediately.

What is learning?

A relatively permanent change in an employee's knowledge or skill that result from experience.

What is continuous reinforcement?

A specific consequence follows each and every occurrence of a specific behavior.

Within a nonprogrammed decision, what is the rational decision-making model?

A step-by-step approach to making decisions that is designed to maximize outcomes by examining all available alternatives.

What is training?

A systematic effort by organizations to facilitate the learning of job-related knowledge and behavior.

What is a stereotype?

Assumptions made about others based on their social group membership.

What is the process of behavioral modeling?

Attentional Retention Production Reinforcment

What is the behavior component?

Action performed by employee Ex: Employee meets assigned goal

What is a climate for transfer?

An environment that can support the use of new skills.

What are the different decision-making biases?

Anchoring Framing Representativeness Contrast Recency Ratio Bias Effect

What are the operant conditioning components?

Antecedent Behavior Consequence

What are the characteristics of explicit knowledge?

Easily transferred through written or verbal communication Readily available to most Can be learned through books Always conscious and accessible information General information

What is the antecedent component?

Condition that precedes behavior Ex: Manager sets specific & difficult goal

How is Consensus related with internal and external attribution?

Consensus is low within internal attribution, while it is high with external attribution.

How is Consistency related with internal and external attribution?

Consistency is high within internal attribution, while it is low with external attribution.

What are the five schedules of reinforcement?

Continuous Fixed interval Variable interval Fixed ratio Variable ratio

To experts, programmed decisions sometimes comes across as intuition or a "gut feeling". What is intuition?

Emotionally charged judgements that arise through quick, nonconscious, and holistic associations.

What steps can organizations take to foster learning?

Knowledge transfer Behavior modeling training Communities of practice Transfer of training Climate for transfer

What is a nonprogrammed decision?

Decisions made by employees when a problem is new, complex, or not recognized.

What are programmed decisions?

Decisions that become somewhat automatic because people's knowledge allows them to recognize and identify a situation and the course of action that needs to be taken.

What questions doe the method of Consensus ask?

Did others act the same way under similar situations? In other words, did others arrive late on the same day?

How is Distinctiveness related with internal and external attribution?

Distinctiveness is low within internal attribution, while it is high with external attribution.

What questions doe the method of Consistency ask?

Does this person always do this when performing this task? In other words, has Joe arrived late for work before?

What questions doe the method of Distinctiveness ask?

Does this person tend to act differently in other circumstances? In other words, is Joe responsible when it comes to personal appointments, not just work appointments?

Why do some employees learn to make decisions better than others?

Employees learn from a combination of reinforcement and observation, and that learning depends in part on whether they are learning-oriented or performance-oriented. This can increase in explicit knowledge or it can increase in tacit knowledge. Those two combine to form an employee's expertise which then leads to the decision making. It also depends on whether the decision is made in a programmed fashion or a nonprogrammed fashion, and that follows that rational decision-making model. Although, a number of decision-making problems can hinder the effectiveness of such decisions-limited information, faulty perceptions, faulty attributions, and escalation of commitment.

What types of knowledge can employees gain as they learn and build expertise?

Explicit knowledge Tacit knowledge

What are the contingencies of reinforcement?

Four specific consequences used by organizations to modify employee behavior.

What are communities of practice?

Groups of employees who work together and learn from one another by collaborating over an extended period of time.

What are problems within decision-making?

Limited information Faulty perceptions Faulty attributions Escalation of commitment

What are the two different processes within the learning orientation?

Performance-prove orientation Performance-avoid orientation

What are the four specific consequences, and what affect does it have within the contingencies of reinforcement?

Positive Reinforcement (Increases Desired Behaviors) Negative Reinforcement (Increases Desired Behaviors) Punishment (Decreases Unwanted Behaviors) Extinction (Decreases Unwanted Behaviors)

What two methods can employees use to make decisions?

Programmed decisions Nonprogrammed decisions

What are the methods by which employees learn in organizations?

Reinforcement Observation Goal Orientation

What is a fixed interval schedule?

Reinforcement occurs at fixed time periods.

What is a variable interval schedule?

Reinforcement that occurs at random periods of time.

What are fixed ratio schedules?

Reinforcement that occurs following a fixed number desired behaviors.

How can organizations improve learning in an effort to boost employee expertise and, ultimately, improve decision making?

Rely on training

What is the consequence component?

Result that occurs after behavior Ex: Employee receives a bonus

What is the reward given for CONTINUOUS reinforcement schedule, what is the level of performance, and what is an example?

Reward: Every desired behavior Level of performance: High, but difficult to maintain Ex: Praise

What is the reward given for FIXED RATIO reinforcement schedule, what is the level of performance, and what is an example?

Reward: Fixed number of desired behaviors Level of performance: High Ex: Piece-rate pay

What is the reward given for FIXED INTERVAL reinforcement schedule, what is the level of performance, and what is an example?

Reward: Fixed time periods Level of performance: Average Ex: Paycheck

What is the reward given for VARIABLE RATIO reinforcement schedule, what is the level of performance, and what is an example?

Reward: Variable number of desired behaviors Level of performance: Very high Ex: Commission pay

What is the reward given for VARIABLE INTERVAL reinforcement schedule, what is the level of performance, and what is an example?

Reward: Variable time periods Level of performance: Moderately high Ex: Supervisor walk-by

What are the different types of faulty perceptions?

Selective perception Projection bias Social identity theory Stereotypes Heuristics Availability bias

What are heuristics?

Simply, efficient, rules of thumb that allow us to make decisions more easily.

The last of decision-making problems is escalation of commitment. What is escalation of commitment?

The decision to continue to follow a failing course of action.

What is projection bias?

The faulty perception by decision-makers that others think, feel, and act the same way as they do.

What are some examples of faulty attributions?

The fundamental attribution error Self-serving bias

What is explicit knowledge?

The kind of information you're likely to think about when you picture someone sitting down at a desk to learn.

What is expertise?

The knowledge and skills that distinguish experts from novices and less experienced people.

What happens in the attentional process?

The learner focuses attention on the critical behaviors exhibited by the model.

What happens in the production process?

The learner must have the appropriate skill set and be able to reproduce the behavior.

What happens in the retention process?

The learner must remember the behavior of the model once the model is no longer present.

What happens in the reinforcement process?

The learner must view the model receiving reinforcement for the behavior and then receive it themselves.

How does learning affect decision making?

The more employees learn, the more they bring to the table when they come to work. The more knowledge and skills employees possess, the more likely they are to make accurate and sound decisions.

What is bounded rationality?

The notion that decision makers simply do not have the ability or resources to process all available information and alternatives to make an optimal decision.

What is decision making?

The process of generating and choosing from a set of alternatives to solve a problem.

What is the availability bias?

The tendency for people to base their judgments on information that is easier to recall.

What is the fundamental attribution error?

The tendency for people to judge others' behaviors as being due to internal factors such as ability, motivation, or attitudes.

What is selective perception?

The tendency for people to see their environment only as it affects them and as it is consistent with their expectations.

What is the Representativeness bias?

The tendency to assess the likelihood of an even by comparing it to a similar even and assuming it will be similar.

What is the Ratio Bias Effect?

The tendency to judge the same probability of an unlikely event as lower when the probability is presented in the form of a ratio of smaller rather than of larger numbers.

What is the Contrast bias?

The tendency to judge things erroneously based on a reference that is near to them.

What is the Framing bias?

The tendency to make different decisions based on how a question or situation is phrased.

What is the Anchoring bias?

The tendency to rely too heavily, or "anchor", on one trait or piece of information when making decisions even when the anchor might be unreliable or irrelevant.

What is the Recency bias?

The tendency to weigh recent events more than earlier events.

What are schedules of reinforcement?

The timing of when the contingencies are applied or removed.

Within the method of learning by observation, what is the social learning theory?

Theory that argues that people in organizations have the ability to learn through the observation of others.

What is the social identity theory?

Theory that holds that people identify themselves by the groups to which they belong and perceive and judge others by their group memberships.

What are the characteristics of tacit knowledge?

Very difficult, if not impossible, to articulate to others Highly personal in nature Based on experience Sometimes holders don't even recognize that they possess it Typically job- or situation-specific

What is tacit knowledge?

What employees can typically learn only through experience.

What is satisficing?

When a decision maker selects the first acceptable alternative considered.

What are variable ratio schedules?

When behaviors are reinforced after a varying number of them have been exhibited.

What is behavioral modeling?

When employees observe the actions of others, learn from what they observe, and then repeat the observed behavior.

What is the transfer of training?

When the knowledge, skills, and behaviors used on the job are maintained by the learner once training ends and generalized to the workplace once the learner returns to the job.

What is the self-serving bias?

When we attribute our own failures to external factors and our own successes to internal factors.

How does learning effect job performance and organizational commitment?

While learning has a moderate positive effect on job performance, it has a weak positive effect on organizational commitment.