MGMT 309 Exam 4

attitudes

complexes of beliefs and feelings that people have about ideas, situations, or other people 3 components: 1) affective 2) cognitive 3) intentional

affective component of attitude

component of an attitude that reflects the individual's feelings and emotions; tends to be stable over time in any given individual

motivating oneself

concerns an employee's ability to remain optimistic and to continue striving in the face of setbacks & failure

Conscientiousness

concerns how organized, systematic, careful, thorough, responsible, and self-disciplined someone is at work to complete tasks

Locus of Control

concerns the extent to which people think that what happens to them is due to their own behavior two types: - internal - external

self-efficacy

could be describes as self-confidence; relates to an individual's belief in their ability to perform a task; can be self-fulfilling with higher confidence, leading to better results

"Big Five" traits & lower performance

high neuroticism and low agreeableness, conscientiousness, extraversion, and openness

factors that increase commitment and engagement

include the employee's age, length of service, sense of job security, and ability to participate in decision making

psychological consequences of stress

includes disturbed sleep, depression, and difficulties relating to family members

medical consequences of stress

includes heart disease, stroke, headaches, and kin conditions

negative consequences for organizations

includes poor-quality work, lower productivity, higher absenteeism, and greater irritability and thus disrupted workplace relationships

behavioral consequences of stress

includes substance abuse, disordered eating, and violence

performance behaviors

indicate what the organization expects an employee to display at work; these behaviors represent the contributions of employees in the psychological contract

withdrawal behaviors

involve disengagement from the workplace, specifically in the form of increased absenteeism and turnover

role conflict

when two or more roles make competing demands that cannot be easily reconciled

ideal state of perfect person-job fit

would be achieved if the organization could take complete advantage of the employee's behaviors and abilities and exactly fulfill the employee's needs

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)

- a questionnaire used to measure individuals on each Myers-Briggs dimension - useful for understanding employees' communication styles and interaction preferences - its use as a selection instrument is open to question die to unreliability or invalid measure of stable personality attributes

the psychological contract

- an individual's expectations about what will contribute to the organization and what the organization will provide in return - constructed by, and exists in each employee's mind --> may or may not correspond to viewpoints of others

programs implemented by organizations to reduce stress

- an ongoing wellness stress program with many components - sending employees to workshops or seminars on stress management - installing a gym on site or negotiating reduced health club membership fees

attributes found in creative people

- childhoods in which creativity was encourages - the personality traits of openness, an attraction to complexity, high levels of energy, independence and autonomy, and strong confidence, as well as a strong belief that one is, in fact, creative - high cognitive abilities, including the ability to analyze a situation and data effectively, to think divergently, and to think convergently

Myers-Briggs Framework

- developed by Katherine Cook Briggs and Isabel Briggs Myers based on the work of Carl Jung - an approach to understanding personality that classifies people as one of 16 types, based on four different personality attributes 4 different personality attributes: 1) Extraversion vs. Intoversion 2) Sensing vs. Intuition 3) Thinking vs. Feeling 4) Judging vs. Perceiving

contributions from the individual

- effort - ability - loyalty - skills - time - competencies

two main elements of the psychological contract

- employee expects to make contributions to the organization that meet its needs - in return, the employee expects the organization to provide inducements, which may be tangible or intangible

inducements from the organization

- pay - job security - benefits - career opportunities - status - promotion opportunities

individual differences

- play a large role in how well an employee performs in a particular job at a particular organization - these are personal attributes: physical, psychological, or emotional (these vary from one person to another)

reasons the ideal perfect person-job fit is never achieves

- since the employee selection process is imprecise, employees are usually not an exact fit for their jobs - the factors that influence person-job fit include not only skills and performance but also needs, attitudes, and personality - all of which interact with each other and with the organizational context in complicated ways that are difficult to predict - both people and organizations change, so an employee who was a great fir for a given job last year may not be a good fit today

managing the psychological contract

- the organization must manage the psychological contacts with each employee to keep contributions and inducements in balance - receivement of contributions from employee should be equivalent to what the organization provides to workers - if organization cannot meet employee's expectations of inducements, they will become demotivated and may leave

additional personality traits important to employee behavior

1) Authoritarianism 2) Machiavellianism 3) Risk Propensity

other important personality traits that influence behavior in organizations

1) locus of control 2) self-efficacy 3) self-esteem

Organizational Stressors

1. task demands 2. physical demands 3. role demands 4. interpersonal demands

Judging (J) vs. Perceiving (P)

People who are the judging type enjoy making decisions and completing work, whereas perceiving types enjoy the process of reaching decisions and open-ended situations

absenteeism

a cost to the organization, since either the organization must pay for someone else to do the absent employee's work or suffer a drop in production; is inevitable from time-to-time

Openness

a measure of how broad someone's interests are, their creativity, and their willingness to listen to new ideas and to change their mind as a result of new information

atrribution

a mechanism through which people observe behavior -- their own or others' -- and then assign causes to it 3 factors influence attribution: 1) consensus 2) consistency 3) distinctiveness

workplace behavior

a pattern of activity by the members of an organization that directly or indirectly influences that organization's effectiveness includes: - performances & productivity - absenteeism & turnover - organizational citizenship

stress

a person's response to a strong stimulus

organizational commitment

an attitude that reflects a person's identification with and attachment to the organization

low self-efficacy

an employee who is distracted by self-doubt and cannot focus on performance

lower authoritarianism

an employee who is likely to ask more questions and assume that employees at all levels should contribute to decision making

high self-esteem

an employee who is likely to seek high-status jobs, be confident int heir ability to achieve high performance, and derive intrinsic satisfaction from accomplishments

Low Machiavellianism

an employee who is more emotional, values loyalty and friendship, would feel uncomfortable telling a lie, and has little interest in manipulating others

high risk propensity

an employee who is more likely to be innovative and enjoy large successes or suffer big failures

high self-efficacy

an employee who is not distracted by self-doubt and can focus on performance

High Machiavellianism

an employee who is relatively unemotional, may be willing to lie to attain their goals, may not value loyalty and friendship, and enjoys manipulating others

low self-esteem

an employee who may be content in remaining in a lower-level job and focusing more on extrinsic rewards

low risk propensity

an employee who may fail to take advantage of opportunities but can be a stabilizing force in an organization

high authoritarianism

an employee who tends to assume that direction from higher-ups should be followed because they are higher up

social skill

an employee's ability to establish positive relationships with others

self-awareness

an employee's ability to recognize and understand how they are feeling

empathy

an employee's ability to understand how others are feeling

cognitive dissonance

an unpleasant state that arises when the components of attitude do not align with one another

physical demands

arise from the job setting, anything from poor lighting to risk of physical violence - temperature extremes - poorly designed office - threats to health

interpersonal demands

arise from workplace relationships includes: - group pressures - leadership styles - conflicting personalities - ex: many employees report on forums that they feel stress due to the relationships with their bosses

task demands

associated with the work duties includes: - quick decisions - incomplete information for decisions - critical decisions

dysfunctional behaviors

behaviors that subtract from the effectiveness of an organization

stereotyping

categorizing or labeling on the basis of a single attribute

Role Demands

cause stress when there is role conflict and role ambiguity

the creative process

creative ideas often come about through a four-stage process: 1) preparation: involves formal training and education, as well as learning on the job throughout career 2) Incubation: period of less intense conscious concentration during which the knowledge and ideas develop 3) insight: a sudden new understanding of a problem or situation, when the scattered thoughts from incubation come together 4) Verification: insight is tested to confirm validity; scientific experiments, prototypes, introduction oof product/service to market

managing emotions

describes an employee's ability to balance anxiety, fear, and anger so that these emotions don't interfere with getting things done

Machiavellianism

describes behavior directed at gaining power and controlling others

Neuroticism

describes whether someone is poised, calm, resilient, and secure (low) or excitable, insecure, reactive, and moody (high)

Job Satisfaction/Dissatisfaction

determined by individual factors, such as a person's needs and aspirations, as well as group and organizational factors, such as relationships with coworkers, working conditions, organization policies, and compensation

organizational citizanship

employee behavior that makes a positive contribution to the organization, above and beyond performing one's job at a satisfactory level ex: - coming in early or staying late - orienting new employees - learning a new task

positive affectivity

employees who tend to be optimistic and are in a good mood

negative affectivity

employees who tend to be pessimistic and be in a bad mood

some ways to manage stress

exercise, relaxation, time management, support groups

Extraversion (E) vs. Introversion (I)

extraverts get energy from being around other people, whereas introverts recharge their energy by being alone

burnout

feeling of exhaustion caused by experiencing too much stress for too long results in: - fatigue - frustration - helplessness employees who suffer show: - less flexibility - less self-confidence - psychological withdrawal

Work-related attitudes

job satisfaction/dissatisfaction, organizational commitment, organizational engagement

"Big Five" traits & higher performance

low neuroticism and high agreeableness, conscientiousness, extraversion, and openness

employees with high levels of commitment and engagement

may speak of the organization in the first person, overlook minor irritants, and plan to continue their employment

Extraversion

measure how sociable, talkative, assertive, and open to establishing new relationships a person is

selective perception

screening out information that causes discomfort or that contradicts our beliefs; ignoring info that does not match one's preexisting ideas

Agreeableness

refers to how well a person gets along with other (but not necessarily by agreeing with others -- an individual can express disagreement in a pleasant manner)

organizational engagement

refers to the extent to which an employee feels like a part of the organization and actively looks for ways to contribute

intentional component of attitude

reflects how a person expects to behave toward (or in) a situation

cognitive component of attitude

reflects the individual's knowledge of a situation as conditioned by their perceptions

role ambiguity

results from a lack of clarity about job expectations, as happens when training is inadequate or the job is rapidly changing

turnover

results in costs, since the organization loses the production of the employees who leaves and must apply resources to recruiting, selecting, and training a replacement; can be beneficial when low performers leave causes: - poor person-fit job - economy with low unemployment

external locus of control

someone who believes that chance or the behavior of other people determines what happens to them - ex: an employee who believes that the quality of their interactions with customers depends on what mood the customers are in

internal locus of control

someone who believes that they are in control of their life - ex: an employee who believes that if they work hard, they can earn a promotion

risk propensity

someone's willingness to take chances

Consequences of Stress

stress can bring about positive or negative consequences negative consequences can be: - behavioral - psychological - medical

creativity

the ability to generate new ideas or to take new perspective on existing ideas

general adaptation syndrome (GAS)

the cycle that stress generally follows - Stage 1: Alarm --> when an individual first experiences a stressor, they often feel negative emotions - Stage 2: Resistance --> people become energized as they seek to confront and control the stressful situation, if successful then this is the last stage - Stage 3: Exhaustion --> if someone feel they cannot handle the stressful circumstances, they eventually go up

person-job fit

the degree to which an employee's contributions match up with the organization's inducements

self-esteem

the degree to which someone believes they are a worthwhile and deserving human being

Authoritarianism

the degree to which someone thinks that power and status differences are appropriate within organizations

emotional intelligence (EQ)

the extent to which an individual is self-aware, manages their emotions, motivates themselves, expresses empathy for others, and possesses social skills; an essential aspect to many jobs 5 components: 1) self-awareness 2) managing emotions 3) motivating oneself 4) empathy 5) social skill

consensus

the extent to which other people in the same situation behave in the same way; if an individual's behavior stand out as unusual, the observer is likely to think about the reason for it

Distinctiveness

the extent to which the same person behaves in the same way in other situations; if the individual's behavior is distinctive, then the observer is likely to conclude that it is situational rather than generalized - when someone's behavior if similar across different situations = low

Consistency

the extent to which the same person behaves in the same way in similar situations at different times; if the individual's behavior is consistent, then the observer is likely to conclude that the behavior is significant

"Big Five" personality traits

the five fundamental personality types: 1) Agreeableness 2) Conscientiousness 3) Extraversion 4) Neuroticism 5) Openness - important to individual behavior in an organization - each trait is independent of the others - measured on a spectrum from low to high - measurement is imprecise and this framework may not be valid for different cultures

personality

the relatively stable set of psychological attributes that distinguish one person from another

Sensing (S) vs. Intuition (N)

the sensing type prefers concrete things, whereas intuitive people prefer abstract concepts

motivation

the set of forces that cause an individual to behave in certain ways

perception

the set of processes by which an individual becomes aware of and interprets information about the environment includes: - selective perception - stereotyping

stressor

the stimulus that causes one's stress

Thinking (T) vs. Feeling (F)

thinking individuals tend to rely on logic and reason to make decisions, whereas feeling individuals usually ground their decisions in their emotions

other dysfunctional behaviors

violence, theft & sabotage, sexual & racial harassment, politicized behavior, and simple incivility & rudeness