Organizational Behavior & Team Building Definitions

Corporate citizenship

Corporate citizenship involves the social responsibility of businesses, and the extent to which they meet legal, ethical and economic responsibilities, as established by shareholders. Businesses have basic ethical and legal responsibilities, however the most successful businesses establish a strong foundation of corporate citizenship, showing a commitment to ethical behavior by creating a balance between the needs of shareholders and the needs of the community and environment in the surrounding area. The five stages of corporate citizenship are elementary, engaged, innovative, integrated and transforming.

Corporate Social Responsibility

corporate social responsibility (CSR), is holding corporations accountable for effecting social change with their business beliefs, practices and profits. It is a way for companies to take responsibility for the social and environmental impacts of their business operations Many companies focus on and practice a few broad categories of CSR: 1. Environmental efforts: One primary focus of corporate social responsibility is the environment. Businesses regardless of size have a large carbon footprint. Any steps they can take to reduce those footprints are considered both good for the company and society. 2. Philanthropy: Businesses can also practice social responsibility by donating money, products or services to social causes. Larger companies tend to have a lot of resources that can benefit charities and local community programs. 3. Ethical labor practices: By treating employees fairly and ethically, companies can also demonstrate their corporate social responsibility. This is especially true of businesses that operate in international locations with labor laws that differ from those in the United States. 4. Volunteering: Attending volunteer events says a lot about a company's sincerity. By doing good deeds without expecting anything in return, companies can express their concern for specific issues and support for certain organizations.

Majority of work place murders are committed by outsiders or insiders.

when there is an act or threat by someone to commit physical violence, to intimidate or harass and/or to engage in other threatening behaviors in the workplace

x vs y theory

x tradtional philosphy of management that suggests most people are lazy and irresponsible. Y managmet suggest thta under the right circumstancees people are capable of working productivity and accepting responsibility

360-degree feedback

360-degree feedback is a feedback process where not just your superior but your peers and direct reports and sometimes even customers evaluate you. You receive an analysis of how you perceive yourself and how others perceive you. Benefits of 360-degree feedback: To the individual: > This helps the person understand his or her own personality from an outsider's perspective > Development needs are revealed To the team: > Increases communication between team members > Supports teamwork by involving team members in the development process To the organization: >Better career development for employees > Improves customer service by having customers contribute to evaluation > Drives training

Contingency Approach

A contingency approach to management is based on the theory that management effectiveness is contingent, or dependent, upon the interplay between the application of management behaviors and specific situations. In other words, the way you manage should change depending on the circumstances. One size does not fit all. Contingency approach, also known as situational approach, is a concept in management stating that there is no one universally applicable set of management principles (rules) to organizations. Organizations are individually different, face different situations (contingency variables), and require different ways of managing. Contingency approaches remain less common than change management

Job enrichment.

A job design technique that is a variation on the concept of job enlargement. Job enrichment adds new sources of job satisfaction by increasing the level of responsibility of the employee. While job enlargement is considered a horizontal restructuring method, job enrichment is a vertical restructuring method by virtue of giving the employee additional authority, autonomy, and control over the way the job is accomplished. Also called job enhancement or vertical job expansion. Job enrichment is a common motivational technique used by organizations to give an employee greater satisfaction in his work. It means giving an employee additional responsibilities previously reserved for his manager or other higher-ranking positions.

Stress/stressors

A stressor is a chemical or biological agent, environmental condition, external stimulus or an event that causes stress to an organism. Psychologically speaking, a stressor can be events or environments that an individual would consider demanding, challenging, and or threaten the individual's safety. An event that triggers the stress response may include: environmental stressors (hypo or hyper-thermic temperatures, elevated sound levels, over-illumination, overcrowding) daily stress events (e.g., traffic, lost keys, money, quality and quantity of physical activity) life changes (e.g., divorce, bereavement) workplace stressors (e.g., high job demand vs. low job control, repeated or sustained exertions, forceful exertions, extreme postures) chemical stressors (e.g., tobacco, alcohol, drugs[specify]) social stressor (e.g., societal and family demands) Stressors have physical, chemical and mental responses inside of the body. Physical stressors produce mechanical stresses on skin, bones, ligaments, tendons, muscles and nerves that cause tissue deformation and in extreme cases tissue failure. Chemical stresses also produce biomechanical responses associated with metabolism and tissue repair. Physical stressors may produce pain and impair work performance. Chronic pain and impairment requiring medical attention may result from extreme physical stressors or if there is not sufficient recovery time between successive exposures.

Written contract

A voluntary, deliberate, and legally binding agreement between two or more competent parties. Contracts are usually written but may be spoken or implied, and generally have to do with employment, sale or lease, or tenancy. A contractual relationship is evidenced by (1) an offer, (2) acceptance of the offer, and a (3) valid (legal and valuable) consideration. Each party to a contract acquires rights and duties relative to the rights and duties of the other parties. However, while all parties may expect a fair benefit from the contract (otherwise courts may set it aside as inequitable) it does not follow that each party will benefit to an equal extent.

Wellness program

A wellness program is a comprehensive health initiative designed to maintain or improve well-being through proper diet, exercise, stress management, and illness prevention. ... Workplace wellness programs not only fight the upward trend of unhealthy employees, but also decrease medical care costs and insurance premiums.

Affirmative Action

Affirmative action, in the United States, an active effort to improve employment or educational opportunities for members of minority groups and for women. Affirmative action began as a government remedy to the effects of long-standing discrimination against such groups and has consisted of policies, programs, and procedures that give preferences to minorities and women in job hiring, admission to institutions of higher education, the awarding of government contracts, and other social benefits. The typical criteria for affirmative action are race, disability, gender, ethnic origin, and age.

Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR). Arbitrator - Mediator

Alternative dispute resolution (ADR) refers to a variety of processes that help parties resolve disputes without a trial. Typical ADR processes include mediation, arbitration, neutral evaluation, and collaborative law. Arbitration is the most formal type of alternative dispute resolution. In arbitration, the disputing sides bring their disagreement before a neural third-party arbitrator. The arbitrator acts very much like a judge does in court, presiding over the dispute and imposing decisions in much the same way a judge would impose a ruling or a judgment. In arbitration, each side is there to try to persuade or convince the arbitrator, who is responsible for evaluating each side's position and making a ruling or decision. Mediation is an ADR process in which a neutral third party, called a mediator, meets with the disputing parties in an attempt to help them reach an agreement that ends their conflict. Mediators are typically trained professionals - often attorneys - who provide the disputing sides a neutral place in which to meet, discuss their problem, and try to resolve their differences. As with arbitrators, state rules determine who can serve as a mediator.

Employee assistance program (EAP)

An Employee Assistance Program (EAP) is a confidential workplace service that employers pay for. An EAP helps employees deal with work-life stressors, family issues, financial concerns, relationship problems, and even drug or legal concerns. It is often available to both employees and their families to help workers remain productive at work. An EAP helps employers because it makes for happier employees. Employees have a confidential place to go with their personal problems. It also helps employees deal with stressors — from drug abuse to legal problems — so they don't carry over into the workplace

Ethnic group

An ethnic group or an ethnicity, is a category of people who identify with each other based on similarities such as common ancestry, language, history, society, culture or nation. ... Ethnicity is often used synonymously with terms such as nation or people. An ethnic group is a group of people who share a common heritage, culture, and/or language; in the U.S., ethnicity often refers to race.

Turnover

Human resource management: The number of employees hired to replace those who left or were fired during a 12 month period.

Career development.

Career development is the process that forms a person's work identity. It is a significant part of human development and spans over the individual's entire lifetime, beginning when the individual first becomes aware of how people make a living. Career development is the lifelong process of managing learning, work, leisure, and transitions in order to move toward a personally determined and evolving preferred future.

Cyber loafing.

Cyberloafing is a term used to describe the actions of employees who use their Internet access at work for personal use while pretending to do legitimate work.

Whistle blowing

Definition: When a former or the existing employee of the organization raise his voice against the unethical activities being carried out within the organization is called as whistle blowing and the person who raise his voice is called as a whistle blower. The misconduct can be in the form of fraud, corruption, violation of company rules and policies, all done to impose a threat to public interest. The whistle blowing is done to safeguard the interest of the society and the general public for whom the organization is functioning. Internal Whistle Blowing: An employee informs about the misconduct to his officers or seniors holding positions in the same organization. External Whistle Blowing: Here, the employee informs about the misconduct to any third person who is not a member of an organization, such as a lawyer or any other legal body. Most often, the employees fear to raise a voice against the illegal activity being carried out in the organization because of following reasons: Threat to life Lost jobs and careers Lost friendships Resentment among workers Breach of trust and loyalty Thus, in order to provide protection to the whistle blowers, the Whistle Blower Protection Bill is passed in 2011 by Lok Sabha. Now, the question comes in the mind that which offenses are considered valid for whistle blowing and for which the protection is offered by the law. Following are the acts for which the voice can be raised and are law protected: Fraud Health and safety in danger Damage to the environment Violation of company laws Embezzlement of funds Breach of law and justice

Esteem needs

Esteem needs - which Maslow classified into two categories: (i) esteem for oneself (dignity, achievement, mastery, independence) and (ii) the desire for reputation or respect from others (e.g., status, prestige). Maslow indicated that the need for respect or reputation is most important for children and adolescents and precedes real self-esteem or dignity. Other levels of needs are: 1. Physiological needs - these are biological requirements for human survival, e.g. air, food, drink, shelter, clothing, warmth, sex, sleep. 2. Safety needs - protection from elements, security, order, law, stability, freedom from fear. 3. Love and belongingness needs - after physiological and safety needs have been fulfilled, the third level of human needs is social and involves feelings of belongingness. The need for interpersonal relationships 4. Esteem needs 5. Self-actualization needs - realizing personal potential, self-fulfillment, seeking personal growth and peak experiences.

Federal Civil Rights Laws.

Federal Civil Rights Laws Protect Equal Access. The Department is responsible for enforcing a series of laws to ensure civil rights in the following ways: To prohibit discrimination based on race, color, and national origin-Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964

halo effect

Halo effect, error in reasoning in which an impression formed from a single trait or characteristic is allowed to influence multiple judgments or ratings of unrelated factors.

Job design/redesign

Job design (also referred to as work design or task design) is a core function of human resource management and it is related to the specification of contents, methods and relationship of jobs in order to satisfy technological and organizational requirements as well as the social and personal requirements of the job holder or the employee Job Redesign: Definition and Example. Job redesign is an effort where job responsibilities and tasks are reviewed, and possibly re-allocated among staff, to improve output. Redesigning jobs can lead to improvements in both productivity and in job

Job enlargement

Job enlargement means increasing the scope of a job through extending the range of its job duties and responsibilities generally within the same level and periphery. Job enlargement involves combining various activities at the same level in the organization and adding them to the existing job. A job design technique in which the number of tasks associated with a job is increased (and appropriate training provided) to add greater variety to activities, thus reducing monotony. Job enlargement is considered a horizontal restructuring method in that the job is enlarged by adding related tasks. Job enlargement may also result in greater workforce flexibility.

Job satisfaction

Job satisfaction or employee satisfaction is a measure of workers' contentedness with their job, whether or not they like the job or individual aspects or facets of jobs, such as nature of work or supervision. Job satisfaction can be measured in cognitive, affective, and behavioral components Contentment (or lack of it) arising out of interplay of employee's positive and negative feelings toward his or her work.

Mentor/protege

Mentorship is a relationship in which a more experienced or more knowledgeable person helps to guide a less experienced or less knowledgeable person (protege). It is a learning and development partnership between someone with vast experience and someone who wants to learn. Mentoring is a process for the informal transmission of knowledge, social capital, and the psychosocial support perceived by the recipient as relevant to work, career, or professional development; mentoring entails informal communication, usually face-to-face and during a sustained period of time, between a person who is perceived to have greater relevant knowledge, wisdom, or experience (the mentor) and a person who is perceived to have less (the protégé)".[9]

Moral values

Moral values refer to a set of principles that guide an individual on how to evaluate right versus wrong. People generally apply moral values to justify decisions, intentions and actions, and it also defines the personal character of a person. An individual with high moral values typically displays characteristics of integrity, courage, respect, fairness, honesty and compassion. Common ethics at times are in conflict with moral values, especially in workplaces. A good example is a company's demand on overtime, in which an employee may feel that moral obligations to his family are sacrificed to fulfill his work obligations.

Pygmalion effect

The "Pygmalion effect," also sometimes known as the "Rosenthal effect" for the psychologist credited with discovering it, is a theory teaching that people will act or behave in the way that others expect them to. It is very similar to the concept of a self-fulfilling prophecy. The effect has both positive and negative outcomes — a person expected by his or her superiors to succeed will, but the opposite is also usually true. Most of the time, these expectations are not openly discussed. They are communicated passively through things like word choice or body language. The effect is most commonly discussed in terms of education and the workplace, but can also take hold in individuals.

Organizational culture

Organizational culture is defined as the underlying beliefs, assumptions, values and ways of interacting that contribute to the unique social and psychological environment of an organization. Organizational culture includes an organization's expectations, experiences, philosophy, as well as the values that guide member behavior, and is expressed in member self-image, inner workings, interactions with the outside world, and future expectations. Culture is based on shared attitudes, beliefs, customs, and written and unwritten rules that have been developed over time and are considered valid. Also called corporate culture, it's shown in (1) the ways the organization conducts its business, treats its employees, customers, and the wider community, (2) the extent to which freedom is allowed in decision making, developing new ideas, and personal expression, (3) how power and information flow through its hierarchy, and (4) how committed employees are towards collective objectives. It affects the organization's productivity and performance, and provides guidelines on customer care and service, product quality and safety, attendance and punctuality, and concern for the environment.

role conflict

Role conflict happens when there are contradictions between different roles that a person takes on or plays in their everyday life. In some cases, the conflict is a result of opposing obligations which results in a conflict of interest, in others, when a person has roles that have different statuses, and it also occurs when people disagree about what the responsibilities for a particular role should be, whether in the personal or professional realms.

Social perception

Social perception is the initial stage of evaluating intentions and psychological dispositions of others by analysis of gaze direction, body movement, and other types of biological motion. It refers to identifying and utilizing social cues to make judgments about social roles, rules, relationships, context, or the characteristics (e.g., trustworthiness) of others. This domain also includes social knowledge, which refers to one's knowledge of social roles, norms, and schemas surrounding social situations and interactions.

Substantive conflict

Substantive conflicts deal with aspects of performance or tasks and often relate specifically to the project or goals of a team or organization. Affective conflicts, also known as personal conflicts, revolve around personal disagreements or dislikes between individuals in a team.

Hawthorne Studies

The Hawthorne studies were conducted on workers at the Hawthorne plant of the Western Electric Company by Elton Mayo and Fritz Roethlisberger in the 1920s. The Hawthorne studies were part of a refocus on managerial strategy incorporating the socio-psychological aspects of human behavior in organizations. The studies originally looked into whether workers were more responsive and worked more efficiently under certain environmental conditions, such as improved lighting. The results were surprising: Mayo and Roethlisberger found that workers were more responsive to social factors—such as the people they worked with on a team and the amount of interest their manager had in their work—than the factors (lighting, etc.) the researchers had gone in to inspect. The Hawthorne studies discovered that workers were highly responsive to additional attention from their managers and the feeling that their managers actually cared about, and were interested in, their work. The studies also found that although financial motives are important, social issues are equally important factors in worker productivity.

Diversity management

The practice of addressing and supporting multiple lifestyles and personal characteristics within a defined group. Management activities includes educating the group and providing support for the acceptance of and respect for various racial, cultural, societal, geographic, economic and political backgrounds.

Psychological contract

The unwritten understandings and informal obligations between an employer and its employees regarding their mutual expectations of how each will perform their respective roles. Within a typical business, the psychological contract might include such things as the levels of employee commitment, job satisfaction and the quality of working conditions. the mutual beliefs, perceptions and informal obligations between an employer and an employee. It sets the dynamics for the relationship and defines the detailed practicality of the work to be done. It is distinguishable from the formal written contract of employment which, for the most part, only identifies mutual duties and responsibilities in a generalized form.

Role ambiguity

Type of role strain which occurs when shared specifications set for an expected role are incomplete to tell the involved individual what is desired and how to do it; occurring when there is a lack of definition regarding a role, either individually or within the group. Role ambiguity, or the extent to which one's work responsibilities and degree of authority are unclear, is one of the most widely studied variables in the field of occupational stress. Because it represents a subjective judgment of one's work situation, role ambiguity is typically assessed using employees' self-reports.

Workplace bullying

Workplace bullying is a persistent pattern of mistreatment from others in the workplace that causes either physical or emotional harm. It can include such tactics as verbal, nonverbal, psychological, physical abuse and humiliation. Workplace Bullying is repeated, health-harming mistreatment of one or more persons (the targets) by one or more perpetrators. It is abusive conduct that is : Threatening, humiliating, or intimidating, or Work interference — sabotage — which prevents work from getting done, or Verbal abuse

scientific management approach

a theory of management that analyzes and synthesizes workflows. Its main objective is improving economic efficiency, especially labor productivity

dynamic nature

an organization is a structured social system consisting of groups and individuals . They are open systems inthat they are self containing

Sterotypical effect

an oversimplified and fixed idea or image concerning a specific group or person. A stereotype can be negative or appear to be somewhat positive. Even if a stereotype appears positive, in psychology and sociology, they are still considered negative. When most people think about stereotypes, they consider those associated with gender or race. However, it's possible for them to happen just about anywhere. For example, the Cleveland Browns have the stereotype of losing games. In the workplace, a certain department could be deemed "lazy" or "ineffective" compared to other departments.

organizational counter norms

be secretive and deceiftul do w hatever it takes to get the job done use it o lose it pass the buck take credit for your own actions

current issues in OB

cross cultural aspects unethical behaviour conserving energy and preserving environment workforse diversity understanding and minimizing poor leadership increasing team responsiblity unrelenting change

Fight/flight

fight-or-flight response is a sequence of internal processes that prepares the a person for struggle or escape. It is triggered when we interpret a situation as threatening. The resulting response depends on how the person has learned to deal with threat, as well as on an innate fight-or-flight "program" built into the brain.

characteristis of an ideal bureaucracy

formal rules and regulations impersonal treatment divisionof labor heirarchial structure authority structure lifelong career commitment rationality

spcially responsible firms

general mills - invesed 2mil to creat 150 jobs cummins engine built a sculeserving 800 poor braz children intel - on the job safetjy to emphasize accednt rate proctor and gambel - helped unicef IBM - donated 71 million in grants to help schools hewlet-packard built a world wide network of employee volunteers avon products - raised 250 million in support of breast cancer green mountain coffee - pay poor lating american coffer gowers higer fair trade price john nuveen - developed an educational program on financial iteracy st paul - an active volunteer program gets employees involved with tuteringt

Self-efficacy

in social cognitive theory, a person's belief in their ability to execute the behaviours necessary to achieve desired outcomes. In contrast to self-confidence, self-efficacy refers to beliefs about specific behaviours in specific situations. self-efficacy level the individual's beliefs about their expected level of performance attainment, ranging from easy to difficult, such as a tennis player's beliefs about the percentage of first serves they could successfully make in a match. self-efficacy strength the degree of certainty with which an individual expects to successfully execute a behaviour.

Lawrence Kohlberg

n American psychologist best known for his theory of stages of moral development. Kohlberg's six stages can be more generally grouped into three levels of two stages each: pre-conventional, conventional and post-conventional.[7][8][9] Following Piaget's constructivist requirements for a stage model, as described in his theory of cognitive development, it is extremely rare to regress in stages—to lose the use of higher stage abilities.[14][15] Stages cannot be skipped; each provides a new and necessary perspective, more comprehensive and differentiated than its predecessors but integrated with them.[14][15] Kohlberg's Model of Moral Development Level 1 (Pre-Conventional) 1. Obedience and punishment orientation (How can I avoid punishment?) 2. Self-interest orientation (What's in it for me?) (Paying for a benefit) Level 2 (Conventional) 3. Interpersonal accord and conformity (Social norms) (The good boy/girl attitude) 4. Authority and social-order maintaining orientation (Law and order morality) Level 3 (Post-Conventional) 5. Social contract orientation 6. Universal ethical principles (Principled conscience) The understanding gained in each stage is retained in later stages, but may be regarded by those in later stages as simplistic, lacking in sufficient attention to detail.To

Motivation

nternal and external factors that stimulate desire and energy in people to be continually interested and committed to a job, role or subject, or to make an effort to attain a goal. Motivation results from the interaction of both conscious and unconscious factors such as the (1) intensity of desire or need, (2) incentive or reward value of the goal, and (3) expectations of the individual and of his or her peers. These factors are the reasons one has for behaving a certain way. An example is a student that spends extra time studying for a test because he or she wants a better grade in the class.

ethical norms

open and honest follow the rules be cost effective take responsibility be a team player

Organizational citizenship behaviors

organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) is a person's voluntary commitment within an organization or company that is not part of his or her contractual tasks OCB as "individual behavior that is discretionary, not directly or explicitly recognized by the formal reward system, and that in the aggregate promotes the effective functioning of the organization".[2] Organ's definition of OCB includes three critical aspects that are central to this construct: First, OCBs are thought of as discretionary behaviors, which are not part of the job description, and are performed by the employee as a result of personal choice. Second, OCBs go above and beyond that which is an enforceable requirement of the job description. Finally, OCBs contribute positively to overall organizational effectiveness.

fundemental assumptions

recognizes dynamic nature of organizations. assumes there is no one best approach

organizational justice

study of peoples perceptions distributive justice - focuses on peoples believes and that they have recieved fair amounts procedural justice - peoples perceptiosn of the fairness of the procedures interpersonal justice - peoples perceptions of the fairness of the manner in which they are treated by other people informationol justice - peoples perceptions of the fairness of the information used in making a decsions

Emotional intelligence.

the capacity to be aware of, control, and express one's emotions, and to handle interpersonal relationships judiciously and empathetically.

Personality

the characteristic set of behaviors, cognitions, and emotional patterns that evolve from biological and environmental factors. There are no generally agreed upon definition of personality, most theories focus on motivation and psychological interactions with one's environment. Trait-based personality theories, such as those defined by Raymond Cattell define personality as the traits that predict a person's behavior. On the other hand, more behaviorally based approaches define personality through learning and habits. Nevertheless, most theories view personality as relatively stable.