Industrial/Organizational Psychology Final Exam

What is queuing?

A method of coping with communication overload that involves organizing work into an order in which it will be handled

What is group cohesiveness?

Extent to which members like & trust one another, are committed to accomplishing a team goal and share a feeling of group pride

What are the issues that need to be considered regarding the reason behind the change?

Legitimate - financial reasons, external mandates, productivity; not so legitimate - a whim, everybody else is doing it

What is the technical listening style?

Listening only about facts and details

What is the leisure listening style?

Listening to only interesting information

What is the inclusive listening style?

Listening to only the main points of a communication

What is an interacting group?

A collection of individuals who work together to perform a task

What is a nominal group?

A collection of individuals whose results are pooled but who never interact with one another

What are the intranets?

A computer-based employee communication network used exclusively by one organization

What is groupthink?

A deterioration in mental efficiency, reality testing, and moral judgement in the interest of group solidarity

What is an attitude survey?

A form of upward communication in which a survey is conducted to determine employee attitudes about an organization

What are suggestion boxes?

A form of upward communication in which employees are asked to place their suggestions in a box - allows employees to immediately communicate their feelings in an anonymous fashion

What is a gatekeeper?

A person who screens potential communication for someone else and allows only the most important information to pass through

What is escape?

A response to communication overload in which the employee leaves the organization to reduce stress

What are multiple channels?

A strategy for coping with communication overload in which an organization reduces the amount of communication going to one person by directing some of it to another person

What is compromising?

A style of resolving conflicts in which an individual allows each side to get some of what it wants

What is brainstorming?

A technique in which ideas are generated by people in a group setting

Message Sent vs. Message Received

Actual words used - words can mean one thing in one situation & something else in another, words can be vague, words can mean different things to different people; communication channel - memo, letter, email, etc; gender differences - men: talk about major events, tell mail points, are more direct, use "uh-huh" to agree, are comfortable with silence, concentrate on the words spoken, sidetrack unpleasant topics; women: talk about daily life, provide details, are more indirect, use "uh-huh" to listen, are less comfortable with silence, concentrate on nonverbal cues & paralanguage, focus on unpleasant topics; nonverbal cues - body language, difficult to lie nonverbally, use of space, use of time, paralanguage, artifacts

What are the reasons of why people join groups?

Affiliation, identification, emotional support, assistance or help, common interests, common goals, physical proximity, and assignment

What are policy manuals?

An organization's rules and procedures are placed in a manual; legally binding by court's law

What is a focus group?

An outside consultant meets with groups of current employees to get their opinions and suggestions - information is then passed to management

Not a team

Aren't successful because they are teams in name only

What are telephone calls?

Both parties can hear the other's voice inflection, easier to understand the tone of the message, but nonverbal cues are not available and the major portion of the message is often not communicated

What is defense?

Becoming defensive and creating reasons why change won't work

How does group homogeneity affect group cohesiveness?

Best working groups are heterogeneous (consist of mostly similar people with one dissimilar adding different vantage point)

Meeting cow

Pulling people into a meeting for two hours when you could have just simply emailed everyone

What is the nonconforming listening style?

Caring only about information that is consistent with his or her way of thinking

What is the empathetic listening style?

Caring primarily about the feelings of the speaker

What is upward communication?

Communication within an organization in which the direction of communication is from employees up to management

What is downward communication?

Communication within an organization in which the direction of communication is from management to employees

What are parallel teams?

Consist of representatives from various departments (functions) within an organization

What is evolutionary change?

Continual process of upgrading or improving

What is denial?

Denying change is going to take place

What is error?

Deviation from a standard of quality; also a type of response to communication overload that involves processing all the information but processing some of it incorrectly

What is revolutionary change?

Drastically changes the way things are done

How can a person go about obtaining leadership skills?

During college: learn what skills successful leaders need, identify and acknowledge the skills you lack, go to guest speakers, part-time job; after college: identify someone in your job you think is a successful leader, leadership development seminars, volunteer as head of committees

What is internalization?

Employees become immersed in new culture & comfortable with new system

What is adaptation?

Employees must test the new system

What is discarding?

Employees realize that not only is the organization changing, but they have to as well

Lack of skill

Even though they are assigned to the team, doesn't mean they have the skills

What is interpersonal communication?

Exchange of a message across a communication channel from one person to another

What is forming?

First stage of team process, in which team members "feel out" the team concept and attempt to make a positive impression

Lack of empowerment

Formed to solve problems but not given sufficient authority to conduct their business

How can groupthink be reduced?

Group leader should not state his own position or beliefs until late in the decision-making process, leader should promote open discussion and encourage group members to speak, group or committee can be separated into subgroups to increase the chance of disagreement, one group member can be assigned the job of devil's advocate - one who questions and disagrees with the group

What are project teams?

Groups formed to produce onetime outputs such as creating a new product, installing a new software system, or hiring a new employee

What are work teams?

Groups of employees who manage themselves, assign jobs, plan and schedule work, make work-related decisions, and solve work-related problems

What are the characteristics of leader performance?

Having skills that enable them to perform well, high need for power and low need for affiliation

How does group status affect group cohesiveness?

Higher group status or higher thinking status

Paper cow

If you can get rid of some paper and make life more efficient by means of something like email

What is the potential influence of group leader and group member individual dominance?

Individual dominance - one member of a group that dominates the group; other members' performance is based on accuracy of solution

What are bulletin boards?

Informal or relatively unimportant information is posted in a public space

What are the characteristics of leader emergence?

Intelligence, openness to experience, extraversion, conscientiousness, emotionally stable, and high self-esteem

How does membership stability affect group cohesiveness?

It doesn't change very much

What are Hogan's characteristics of unsuccessful leaders?

Lack of leadership training, cognitive definiteness, personality problems, paranoid/passive aggressive (appears caring on the surface but resents the success of others and while appearing to be supportive will "stab" the person in the back), high likability floater (goes along with the group, is friendly to everyone, and never challenges anyone's ideas), narcissist (overcome their insecurity by becoming the center of attention, promoting their own accomplishments and take credit for most of the successes of the group, while avoiding blame for failure)

What is office design?

Large, open office space without walls - cubicles

What is leadership through contact: Management by walking around?

Leaders and managers are most effective when they are out of their offices, walking around, and meeting with and talking to employees and customers about their needs and progress; increase communication, build relationships with employees, and encourage employees' participation

Distrust of team process

Management doesn't trust the concept of teams

Message Received vs. Message Interpreted

Meaning of message can change depending on how receiver interprets message - listening skills, listening styles

Excessive meeting requirements

Meet too infrequently or meet so often that they waste time when they do meet

What are memos?

Most common method of business communication because it provides detailed information to a large number of people in a short period of time

What is the definition of a group?

Multiple members that share a common goal and give rewards to members

What is evaluation apprehension?

Others can reward or punish one's performance (for well-learned task, person may expect to perform well & get reward, but expect punishment for less well-learned task)

What is the stylistic listening style?

Paying attention mainly to the way in which words are spoken

Intended Message vs. Message Sent

Person can send unintended message - to prevent: think about what you want to communicate, practice what you want to communicate, learn better communication skills

What causes social loafing?

Person thinks their effort won't be noticed, person "free rides" because they don't feel their effort is necessary, person doesn't want to look like the "sucker" who is doing all the work

What are the issues that need to be considered regarding the person making the change?

Popularity, degree of respect, history of successful change

What is coercive leader power?

Power that comes from the leader's capacity to punish others

What is reward leader power?

Power that exists to the extent that the leader has the ability and authority to provide awards

What is referent leader power?

Power that exists when followers can identify with a leader and the leader's goals

What is legitimate leader power?

Power that individuals have because of their elected or appointed position

What is expert leader power?

Power that individuals have because they have knowledge

What is a sacred-cow hunt?

Practices that have been around for a long time and invisibly reduce productivity

What is distraction?

Presence of others is distracting (for well-learned task, person still performs because it is automatic, but concentration impairment hinders performance on less well-learned task)

What is omission?

Response to communication overload that involves the conscious decision to not process certain types of information

What is the pattern of communication from the sender to the receiver?

Sender: encodes message & transmits message; receiver: receives message & decodes message

What is social loafing?

Shirking individual responsibility in a group setting (larger the group, the greater the tendency)

How do you resolve conflict prior to it occurring and when it first occurs?

Should have a formal policy on how conflict is to be handled & when conflict happens - encouraged to use conflict resolutions skills they learned in training

How does group size affect group cohesiveness?

Smaller groups lead to greater productivity & satisfaction (5 members is most ideal)

How can social loafing be reduced?

Task is challenging, appealing or involving; they think their group is unreliable or unable to contribute; incentives are present; when group members are friends; each members' contribution is identifiable; personal responsibility is increased

What are management teams?

Teams that coordinate, manage, advise, and direct employees and teams

What is email?

The ability to easily document the sending & receiving of communication with many people at one time - potential for quick responses (never put anything in the message that you wouldn't want to see published)

What is avoiding?

The conflict style of a person who reacts to conflict by pretending that it does not exist

What is accommodating?

The conflict style of a person who responds to conflict by always trying to win

What is collaborating?

The conflict style of a person who wants a conflict resolved in such a way that both sides get what they want

What is performing?

The fourth and final stage of team process, in which teams work toward accomplishing their goals

What is storming?

The second stage in group formation in which group members disagree and resist their team roles

What is norming?

The third stage of team process, in which teams establish roles and determine policy and procedure

What is business communication?

The transmission of business-related information among employees, management, and customers (memos, telephone calls, email, voicemail)

What are third-party facilitators?

They are responsible for taking employees' complaints or suggestions and personally working with management to find solutions

What are the limitations of business meetings?

Time demands can result in negative employee attitudes

Speed cow

Unnecessary things in the workplace that slow us down

Cash cow

Unnecessary things that waste money

What are newsletters?

Used to communicate organizational feedback and celebrate employee success

What is transformational leadership?

Visionary leadership in which the leader changes the nature and goals of an organization

When does groupthink occur?

When a group is cohesive, isolated from outsiders, believes it is infallible, feels it is morally superior, in under pressure to conform, has a leader who promotes a favorite solution, has gatekeepers who keep information from members

What is social facilitation?

When presence of others enhances performance (occurs when task is easy & well-learned)

What is social inhibition?

When presence of others hinders performance (occurs when task is difficult or not well-learned)

What are exit surveys?

With employees who are voluntarily leaving organizations; gain information by listening to real reasons why employee is leaving the organization

Unclear objectives

Work best when they know why they were formed, what they are expected to accomplish, and when they are supposed to be finished

What is the limitation of voicemail?

You're basically playing phone-tag