Organizational Behavior - Ch 6-9

Be familiar with the four contrasting preferences captured in the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator.

Extraversion vs. Introversion Sensing vs. Intuition Thinking vs. Feeling Judging vs. Perceiving

Be familiar with expectancy theory including the three main components, how those components can be influenced by organizations, and how you can predict performance based on the theory.

How people make decisions about distributing their effort among alternatives. Expectancy, instrumentality, valence. Access to resources, degree of supportive Leadership, self efficacy.

What are the three components of performance? What are the three components of motivation? What is the role of engagement?

Motivation, ability, opportunity Intensity, persistence, direction High levels of intensity and persistence in work effort

Be familiar with the dimensions of culture in the GLOBE project.

Power Distance Uncertainty Avoidance Institutional Collectivism In-group Collectivism Gender Egalitarianism Assertiveness Future Orientation Performance Orientation Humane Orientation

How does cognitive moral development relate to moral judgment? Be familiar with each of the stages.

Preconventional Stage - focuses on consequences of actions for the individual Conventional Stage - references the expectations of ones family and society Principled Stage - the most advanced, uses a set of defined established moral principles

Be familiar with the Big Five Personality characteristics and their relationship to job performance and organizational commitment. Also, how stable are they and how do they relate to overall life satisfaction, success and health?

1. Conscientiousness - dependable, organized, reliable, ambitious, hardworking, and persevering. 2. Agreeableness - warm, kind, cooperative, sympathetic, helpful and courteous. 3.Extraversion - talkative, sociable, passionate, assertive, bold and dominant. 4. Neuroticism - nervous, moody, emotional, insecure, unstable, and jealous. 5. Openness to experience - curious, imaginative, creative, complex, refined, and sophisticated

What are the four levels of corporate social responsibility?

1. Economic (profitability) 2. Legal (legality) 3. Ethical (ethicality) 4. Citizenship (community)

Be familiar with the four-component model of ethical behavior.

1. Moral Awareness (recognition of moral obligation) 2. Moral Judgement (distinguish between right and wrong) 3. Morale Principles (guides for moral judgement) 4. Ethical Behavior (acting ethical)

What are the causes of faulty perception?

1. Projection bias 2 Stereotyping 3. Availability and representativeness heuristics 4. Leniency/Severity/Central Tendency 5. Anchoring (halo effect) 6. Framing 7. Contrast 8. Recency vs. First Impression

What is accomplishment striving? Community striving? Status striving? To which of the Big Five Personality characteristics are they related?

A strong desire to accomplish tasks, challenging tasks preferably to spend a lot of time working those tasks. Conscientiousness Reflects a strong desire to obtain acceptance in personal relationships, get along rather than get ahead. Agreeableness Reflects a strong desire to obtain power and influence within a social structure. Extraversion

What is the primary focus of equity theory? How is it determined?

An individual's perception of fairness developed by comparing their input/output ratio. Output/Input Ratio, Sensitives, benevolent, entitles

What are the five types of reinforcement schedules?

Continuous, fixed ratio, variable ratio, fixed interval, variable interval

Be familiar with the moral principles we discussed in class.

Consequentialist (teleological) - consequences are most important. Ex: utilitarianism, egoism Nonconsequentialist (deontological) - intent is most important. Ex: ethics of duties, ethics of rights, virtue ethics

What is the difference between programmed and non-programmed decisions?

Decisions that are automatic because one does them so many times. Occurs when a situation arise that is new, complex, and not recognized

Why do people who have a high level of neuroticism experience higher levels of stress (hint it deals with differential exposure, differential reactivity and locus of control)?

Differential exposure (see things as stressful), differential reactivity (less likely to believe they can cope with stressors), locus of control (internal - you have influence on outcomes, external - you have little influence on outcomes).

What is the role of goal difficulty, feedback, task complexity, and goal commitment in the effectiveness of goal setting? What influences goal commitment?

Difficult goals lead to higher performance. Feedback is the degree to which an employee receives updates on progress towards a goal. Task that involves understanding complicated information and performing complex activities to accomplish a task. Degree to which employer buys into the goal. Rewards, publicity, resources, participation, support

Know the difference between negative and positive affectivity and the two personality characteristics which tend to experience them more.

Dispositional tendency to experience unpleasant moods such as hostility, nervousness, and annoyance. Neuroticism Dispositional tendency to experience pleasant, engaging moods such as enthusiasm, excitement, and elation. Extraversion

Be able to distinguish between the four types of organizational justice and how they might interact with each other. Also, be familiar with what contributes to the perceptions of each type of justice.

Distributive Justice (fairness of outcome); equity (tangible reward), equality (opportunity), need (demands) Procedural Justice (fairness of decision making); voice, correctability, consistency, bias suppression, representativeness, accuracy Interpersonal Justice (fairness of treatment); respect, propriety, Informational Justice (fairness of communication); justification, truthfulness

What is psychological empowerment and what four beliefs make it up?

Energy rooted in belief that the work tasks contribute to a larger purpose. 1. Meaningfulness 2. Self-determination 3. Competence 4. Impact

What is trust propensity?

Expectation that ones words, promises and statements can be relied upon

Be familiar with the three need theories we discussed in class (Maslow's hierarchy of needs; Alderfer's ERG theory, and McClelland's Acquired Need theory).

Humans have a natural mindset to motivate themselves into a hierarchical manner. Builds on Maslow's theory by combining some of the needs and replacing prepotency. Existence, Relatedness, Growth People are not born with needs but develop them during early life experiences.

Be familiar with Hofstede's five cultural dimensions.

Individualism - Collectivism Power Distance Uncertainty Avoidance Masculinity - Femininity Time Orientation Indulgence - Restraint

What is the difference between explicit and tacit knowledge?

Information that is easy to obtain and relates to general information. Information that is very difficult to attain or impossible to articulate, usually specific to an individual or situation.

What are the various comparisons that people could make? What are the different personality types in relation to equity theory?

Job equity, company equity, resolution of inequity Job equity, company equity, occupational equity, educational equity, age equity.

What are the three types of goal orientations?

Learning Orientation (learn something new) Performance-Prove Orientation (for others to think positively about you) Performance-Avoid Orientation (to avoid negative consequences)

How does learning relate to job performance and organizational commitment?

Learning has a moderate effect on performance. Learning has a weak relationship with organizational commitment as emotional attachment might increase as knowledge does.

What is behavioral modeling? Transfer of training? Climate of transfer?

Less experienced employees learn by observing and working with more experienced employees. Degree to which the knowledge acquired through training actual translates into the work place. An environment that supports the use of the new skills necessary. Support from supervisors, and coworkers.

What are some problems with decision making including bounded rationality, satisficing, and escalation of commitment.

Limited cognitive abilities, time, information asymmetries Choosing alternative with minimum level of acceptability Stick to same course of action even when bad situation can be reversed due to wanting to save face, ego is involved, or sunk costs.

What is the difference between extrinsic and intrinsic motivators? Be familiar with examples of each. Why is money so important?

Motivation controlled by some contingency that depends on task performance and is controlled by someone else. Something about the task performance is rewarding in and of itself. Achievement, respect, freedom

Be familiar with the two types of integrity tests and the role of faking and social desirability bias in their accuracy.

Personality tests that focus specifically on a predisposition to engage in theft nad other counterproductive behaviors. - Clear purpose - Veiled Purpose - Faking/Social Desirability Bias: people respond in a way that they think they should respond not truthfully. More accurate than one would think.

What are the various ways that organizations apply motivational concepts in compensation systems? Be familiar with how each relates to creating a clear goal and connecting the individual's performance to outcomes.

Piece Rate - paid per unit produced or sold Merit Pay - increase base pay based on performance Lump-Sum bonus - onetime payment based on meeting pre-determined goals. Recognition Awards - tangible or intangible awards given on an impromptu basis to recognize achievement Gainsharing - team based approach to rewarding employees for achieving goals related to outcomes controlled by employees such as defects, time to complete activity, safety, and resource use Profit Sharing - bonus is paid to employees based on performance of company

What are the steps in the decision-making process? What are some assumptions related to the process?

Process: 1. Determine appropriate criteria for decision making 2. Generate list of available alternatives 3. Evaluate the alternatives against the criteria 4. Choose the solution that maximizes value 5. Implement the appropriate solution 6. Evaluate the solution Assumptions: - Perfect information - Choose decision in rational, logical manner - Acting in best interest of organization - Analyze alternatives all at once and optimize solution

What are ethics? What is the difference between merely ethical and especially ethical behavior? What is whistleblowing?

Right and wrong in reference to generally accepted norms of behavior. Mou obey laws and live up to contractual obligations You go above and beyond the minimum Expose illegal or immoral actions by the organization to the public

What is the basic theory behind reinforcement theory?

Shape behavior through the use of consequences, positive consequences are rewarded, whereas negative consequences are for unfavorable behavior.

How do people learn from others in their environment? What four things are necessary for proper learning to occur?

Social learning theory says people are able to learn from the experiences of others based on what they do and do not do and the consequences of those actions. Behavior modeling: attentional processes, retention processes, production processes, reinforcement.

What makes a goal an effective one? Which of the main components of motivation is the focus of goal setting?

Specifice, Measurable, Achievable, Results-based, time sensitive (SMART). Rewards, publicity, resources, participation, support

How does motivation relate to job performance and organizational commitment?

Strong positive effect on task performance especially Greater perceptions of equity relate to higher levels of affective and normative commitment and less so on continuance.

What is attribution? What are the three keys that help us to make an attribution? What are the two common errors that people make when making attributions?

Tendency for people to want to assign a cause for an action either internally or externally. Consensus, Distinctiveness, Consistency Fundamental Attribution Error, Self-Serving Bias

What is ethnocentrism and what problems might arise because of it?

The belief that one's native country, culture, language, and modes of behavior are superior to all others. - Reject outsiders - Cultural relativism Places home-country people into important positions and evaluate their behaviors positively. Recruiting difficulties, higher turnover, and more HR related lawsuits and other problems.

What is a distrust tax? A trust dividend?

The reduction in performance because everyone cant focus on task accomplishment. The increase in performance because everyone can focus on task accomplishment.

What is personality? What is the relative influence of nature and nurture in its development?

The structures and propensities inside a person that explains his or her characteristic patterns of thoughts, emotion, and behavior. Personality is a blend between nature and nurture.

How does trust influence job performance and organizational commitment?

Trust has a moderate positive relationship with job performance. Trust has a strong positive effect because a sense of obligation develops along with trust.

What are the components of cognition-based trust?

Trustworthiness, ability, benevolence, and integrity

What is moral awareness? What increases moral intensity? What is moral attentiveness?

When someone recognizes a moral issue exists in a situation that an ethical code or principle is relevant to the circumstance. Magnitude of consequences, probability of effect, temporal immediacy, concentration of effect Degree to which people chronically perceive and consider issues of morality during their experiences

What is trust and how does it relate to reputation? What are the three types of trust and how do they relate to each other?

Willingness to be vulnerable to authority based on positive expectations about the authority's actions and intentions. Disposition Based: no information Cognition: past experience and available info Affect based: how you feel

What is the difference between an economic exchange and a social exchange between the organization and employees and how does it relate to trust and commitment?

With a lack of trust people focus simply on fulfilling contractual obligations. With trust people expand what they are willing to do.

What are the reactions to inequity and how do they differ in relation to positive and negative inequity?

a. Alter outcomes b. Alter inputs c. Alter comparison other inputs d. Change the comparison other e. Rationalization f. Leave the situation

What are the four types of reinforcers?

positive, negative, punishment, extinction