BA 352 Learning Objectives Exam 1

4.4 - Which job characteristics can create a sense of satisfaction with the work itself?

Job characteristics theory suggest that five "core characteristics" - variety, identity, significance, autonomy, and feed back - combine to result in particularly high levels of satisfaction with the work itself.

1.2 - What are the primary outcomes in studies of OB?

Job performance and organizational commitment

6.1 - What is motivation?

Motivation is define as a set of energetic forces that originates both within and outside an employee, initiates work - related effort, and determines its direction, intensity, and persistence.

1.6 - How are correlations interpreted?

A correlation is a statistic that expresses the strength of a relationship between two variables (ranging from 0 to +/- 1). In OB research, a .50 correlation is considered "strong" and a .30 correlation is considered "moderate" and a .10 correlation is considered "weak".

2.6 - What workplace trends are affecting job performance in today's organizations?

A number of trends have affected job performance in today's organizations. These trends include the rise of knowledge work and the increase in service jobs.

1.5 - What is the role of theory in the scientific method?

A theory is a collection of assertions both verbal and symbolic, that specifies how and why variables are related. Theories about OB are built from a combination of interviews, observation, research reviews, and reflection. Theories form the beginning point for the scientific method and inspire hypotheses that can be tested with data.

6.4 - What does it mean to be equitably treated according to equity theory, and how do employees respond to inequity?

According to equity theory, rewards are equitable when a person's ration of outcomes to input matches those of some relevant comparison other. A sense of inequity triggers equity destress. Underreward inequity typically results in lower levels of motivation or higher levels of counterproductive behaviors. Overreward inequity typically results in cognitive distortion, in which inputs are reevaluated in a more positive light.

6.3 - What two qualities make goals strong predictors of task performance, according to goal setting theory?

According to gaol setting theory, goals become strong drivers of motivations and performance when they are difficult and specific. Specific and difficult goals affect performance by increasing self - set goals and task strategies. Those effects occur more frequently when employees are given feedback, tasks are not too complex, and goal commitment is high.

6.2 - What three beliefs help determine work effort, according to expectancy theory?

According to the expectancy theory, effort is directed toward behaviors when effort is believe to result in performance (expectancy), performance is believed to result in outcomes (instrumentality), and those outcomes are anticipated to be valuable (valence).

4.5 - How is job satisfaction affected by day to day events?

Apart from the influence of supervision, coworkers, pay, and the work it self, job satisfaction levels fluctuate during the course of the day. Rises and falls in job satisfaction are triggered by positive and negative events that are experienced. Those events trigger changes in emotions that eventually give way to changes in mood.

5.6 - What steps can organizations take to manage employee stress?

Because of high costs associated with employee stress, organizations asses and manage stress using a number of different practices. In general, these practices focus on reducing, and eliminating stressors, providing resources that employees can use to cope with stressors, or trying to reduce the strains.

2.4 - What is citizenship behavior?

Citizen behaviors are voluntary employee activities that may or may not be rewarded but that contributes to the organization by improving the overall quality of the setting in which work takes place. Examples of citizenship behavior include helping, courtesy, sportsmanship, voice, vivic virtue, and boosterism.

5.3 - How do individuals cope with stress?

Coping with stress involves thoughts and behaviors that address one of two goals: addressing the stressful demand or decreasing the emotional discomfort associated with the demand.

2.5 - What is counterproductive behavior?

Counterproductive behaviors are employee behaviors that intentionally hinder organization goal accomplishment. Examples of counterproductive behavior include sabotage, theft, wasting resources, substance abuse, gossiping, incivility, harassment, and abuse.

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

Employees are less able to translate their learning into accurate decisions when they shuffle with limited information, faulty perceptions, faulty attributions, and escalations of commitment.

3.3 - What are the four primary responses to negative events are work?

Employees can respond to negative work events in four ways: exit, voice, loyalty and neglect. Exit is a form of physical withdrawal in which the employee either ends or restricts organizational membership. Voice is an active and constructive response by which employees attempt to improve the situation. Loyalty is passive and constructive; employee remain supportive while hoping the situation improves on its own. Neglect is a form of psychological withdrawal in which interest and effort in the job decrease.

4.3 - What specific facets do employees consider when evaluating their job satisfaction?

Employees consider a number of specific facets when evaluating their job satisfaction. These facets include pay satisfaction, promotion satisfaction, supervision satisfaction, coworker satisfaction, and satisfaction with the work itself.

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

Employees gain both explicit and tacit knowledge as they build expertise. Explicit knowledge is easily communicated and available to everyone. Tacit knowledge however, is something employees can learn only through experience.

8.3 - What are the methods by which employees learn in an organization?

Employees learn new knowledge through reinforcement and observation of others. That learning also depends on whether the employees are learning oriented or performance oriented.

3.4 - What are some examples of psychological withdrawal ? Of physical withdrawal? How do the different forms of withdrawal relate to each other?

Examples of psychological withdrawal include: day dreaming, socializing, looking busy, moonlighting, and cyberloafing. Examples of physical withdrawal include: tardiness, long breaks, missing meetings, absenteeism, and quitting. Consistent with the progression model, withdrawal behaviors tend to start with minor psychological forms before escalating to more major physical varieties.

5.4 How does Type A Behavior Pattern influence the stress process?

Individuals difference in the Type A Behavior Pattern affect how people experience stress in three ways. Type A people tend to experience more stressors, appraise more demands as stressful, and are prone to experiencing more strains.

2.1 - What is job performance?

Is the set of employee behaviors that contribute to organizational goal accomplishment Job performance has 3 dimensions: - Task performance - Citizenship behavior - Counterproductive behavior

4.7 - How does job satisfaction affect job performance and organizational commitment? How does it affect life satisfaction?

Job satisfaction has a moderate positive relationship with job performance and a strong positive relationship with organizational commitment. It also has a strong positive relationship with life satisfaction.

4.1 - What is job sanctification?

Job satisfaction is a pleasurable emotional state resulting from the appraisal of one's job or job experiences. It represents how you feel about your job and what you think about your job.

8.6 - How does learning affect job performance and organizational commitment?

Learning has a moderate positive relationship with job performance and a weak positive relationship with organizational commitment.

8.1 - What is learning, and how does it affect decision making?

Learning is a relatively permanent change in an employees's knowledge or skill that results from experience. Decision making refers to the process of generating and choosing from a set of alternatives to solve a problem. Learning allows employees to make better decisions by making those decisions more quickly and by being able to generate a better set of alternatives.

2. 7 - How can organizations use job performance information to manage employee performance?

MBO, BARS, 360 Degree Feedback, and forced ranking practices are four ways that organizations can use job performance information to manage employee performance

4.6 - What are mood and emotions, and what specific forms do they take?

Moods are states of feeling that are often mild in intensity, last for an extended period of time, and are not explicitly directed at anything. Intense positive moods include being enthusiastic, excited, and elated. Intense negative moods include being hostile, nervous, and annoyed. Emotions are states of feeling that are often intense, last only for few minutes, and are clearly directed at someone or some circumstances. Positive emotions include joy, pride, relief, hope, love, and compassion. Negative emotions include anger, anxiety, fear, guilt, shame, sadness, envy, and disgust.

6.6 - How does motivation affect job performance and organizational commitment?

Motivation has a strong positive relationship with job performance and a moderate positive relationship with organizational commitment. Of all the energetic forces subsumed by motivation, self - efficacy/ competence has the strongest relationship with performance.

1.1 - What is the definition of "organizational behavior" (OB)

OB is a field of study devoted to understanding and explaining attitudes and behaviors of individuals and groups in organizations. More simply, it focuses on why individuals and groups in organization act the way they do

3.1 - What is organizational commitment? What is withdrawal behavior? How are these two connected?

Organizational commitment is the desire on the part of an employee to remain a member of the organization. Withdrawal behavior is a set of actions that employees perform to avoid the work situation. Commitment and withdrawal are negatively related to each other - they more committed employees are the less likely they are to engage in withdrawal.

3.6 - How can organizations foster a sense of commitment among employees?

Organizations can foster a sense of commitments amount employees by fostering perceived organizational support, which reflects the degree to which the organization cares about employee's well being. Commitment can also be fostered by specific initiative directed at all three commitment types.

2.3 - How do organizations identify the behaviors that underlie task performance?

Organizations gather information about relevant task behaviors using job analysis and O*NET

6.7 - What steps can organizations take to increase employee motivation?

Organizations use compensation practices to increase motivation. These practices may include individual - focuses elements ( piece - rate, merit pay, lump - sum bonuses, recognition awards), unit - focused elements (gain sharing, or organization - focused elements (profit sharing).

8.4 - What two methods can employees use to make decisions?

Programmed decisions are decisions that become somewhat automatic because a person's knowledge allow him or her to recognize and identify a situation and the course of action that needs to be taken. Many task related decision made by experts are programmed decisions. Non programmed decisions are made when a problem is new, complex, or not recognized. Ideally, such decisions are made by following the steps in the rational decision making model.

6.5 - What is psychological empowerment, and what four beliefs determine empowerment levels?

Psychological empowerment reflects and energy rooted in the belief that tasks are contributing to some larger purpose. Psychological empowerment is fostered when work goal appeal to employee's passions (meaningfulness), employees have a sense of choice regarding work tasks (self - determination), employees feel capable of preforming successful (competence), and employees feel they are making progress toward fulfilling their purpose (impact).

5.1 - What is stress, and how is it related to stressors and stains?

Stress refers to the psychological response to demands when theres' something at stake for the individual and coping with these demands would tax or exceed the individuals capability or resources. Stressors are the demands that cause the stress response, and strains are the negative consequences of the stress response.

5.2 - What are the four main types of stressors?

Stressors come in two general forms: challenge stressors, which are perceived as opportunities for growth and achievement , and hindrance stressors, which are perceived as hurdles to goal achievement. These two stressors can be found in both work and nonwork domains.

2.2 - What is task performance?

Task performance includes employee behaviors that are directly involved in the transformation of organizational resources into the goods and services that the organization produces. Examples of task performance include routine task performance, adaptive task performance, and creative task performance.

1.4 - Why might firms that are good at OB tend to be more profitable?

The effective management of organizational behavior can help a company be more profitable because good people are valuable resources Not only are good people rare, but they are hard to imitates. They create a history that cannot be bought or copied, they make numerous small decisions that cannot be observed by competitors, and they create socially complex resources such as culture, teamwork, trust, and reputation.

5.5 How does stress affect job preformance and organizational commitment?

The effects of stress depend on the type of stressor. Hindrance stressors have a weak negative relationship with job performance and a strong negative relationship with organizational commitment. In contrast, challenge stressors have a weak positive relationship with job performance and a moderate positive relationship with organizational commitment.

3.5 - What workplace trends are affecting organization commitment in today's organizations?

The increased diversity of the workforce can reduce commitment if employees feel lower levels of affective commitment or become less embedded in their current jobs. The employee - employer relationship, which has changed due to decades of downsizing, can reduce affective and normative commitment, making it more of a challenge to retain talented employees.

3.2 - What are the three types of organizational commitment, and how do they differ?

There are 3 types of organizational commitment. - Affective commitment occurs when the employee wants to stay and is influenced by the emotional bonds between employees. - Continuance commitment occurs when employees need to stay and is influenced by salary and benefits and the degree to which they are embedded in the community. - Normative commitment occurs when the employee feels they ought to stay and is influenced by an organizations investing in its employees or engaging in charitable efforts.

8.7 - What steps can organizations take to foster learning?

Through various forms of training, companies can give employees more knowledge and a wider array of experiences that they can use to make decisions.

4.2 - What are values, and how do they affect job satisfaction?

Values are things that people consciously or subconsciously want to seek or attain. According to value - precept theory, job satisfaction depends of whether you perceive that your job supplies those things that you value.

1.3 - What factors affect the two primary OB outcomes?

individual mechanisms (job satisfaction, stress, motivation, trust, justice, and ethics; learning and decision making) individual characteristics (personality and cultural values; ability group mechanisms (team characteristics and diversity; team processes and communication; leader power and negation; leader styles and behaviors) organizational mechanisms (organizational structure; organizational culture)