Organizational Behavior Study Guide

Core Self-Evaluation

Bottom-line conclusions individuals have about their capabilities, competence, and worth as a person

Displayed Emotions

Emotions that are organizationally required and considered appropriate in a given job

Psychological Empowerment

Employees' belief in the degree to which they affect their work environment, their competence, the meaningfulness of their hob, and their perceived autonomy in their work

Personality

Enduring characteristics that describe an individuals behavior

Heredity

Factors determined at conception; one's biological, physiological, and inherent psychological makeup

Hygiene Factors

Factors- such as company policy and administration, supervision, and salary- that, when adequate in a job, placate workers. When these factors are adequate, people will not be dissatisfied

Flextime

Flexible work hours

Self-Managed Work Teams

Groups of 10 to 15 people who take on responsibilities of their former supervisors

Problem-Solving Teams

Groups of 5 to 12 employees from the same department who meet for a few hours each week to discuss ways of improving quality, efficiency, and the work environment

Surface Acting

Hiding one's inner feelings and forgoing emotional expression in response to display rules

McClelland's Theory of Needs

A Theory that states achievement, power, and affiliation are three important needs that help explain motivation

Flexible Benefits

A benefits plan that allows each employee to put together a benefits package individually tailored to his or her own needs and situation

Affect

A broad range of feelings that people experience

Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP)

A company-established benefits plan in which employees acquire stock, often at below-market prices, as part of their benefits

Organization

A consciously coordinated social unit, composed of two or more people, that functions on a relatively continuous basis to achieve a common goal or set of goals

Gainsharing

A formula-based group incentive plan

Negative Affect

A mood dimension that consists of emotions such as nervousness, stress, and anxiety at the high end and relaxation, tranquility, and poise at the low end

Positive Affect

A mood dimension that consists of specific positive emotions such as excitement, self-assurance, and cheerfulness at the high end and boredom, sluggishness, and tiredness at the low end

Collectivism

A national culture attribute that describes a tight social framework in which people expect others in groups of which they are a part to look after them and protect them

Individualism

A national culture attribute that describes the degree to which people prefer to act as individuals rather than as members of groups

Masculinity

A national culture attribute that describes the extent to which the culture favors traditional masculine work roles of achievement, power, and control. Societal values are characterized by assertiveness and materialism

Long-Term Orientation

A national culture attribute that emphasizes the future, thrift, and persistence

Merit-Based Pay Plan

A pay plan based on performance appraisal ratings

Piece-Rate Pay Plan

A pay plan in which workers are payed a ficed sum for each unit of production completed

Bonus

A pay plan that rewards employees for recent performance rather than historical performance

Skill-Based Pay

A pay plan that sets pay level on the basis of how many skills employees have or how many jobs they can do

Job Satisfaction

A positive feeling about one's job resulting from an evaluation of its characteristics

Motivating Potential Score (MPS)

A predictive index that suggests the motivation potential in a job

Participative Management

A process in which subordinates share a significant degree of decision-making power with their immediate superiors

Planning

A process that includes defining goals, establishing strategy, and developing plans to coordinate activities

Management by Objectives (MBO)

A program that encompasses specific goals, participatively set, for an explicit time period, with feedback on goal progress

Punctual-Equilibrium Model

A set of phases that temporary groups go through that involves transitions between inertia and activity

Self-Determination Theory

A theory of motivation that is concerned with the beneficial effects of intrinsic motivation and the harmful effects of extrinsic motivation

Behaviorism

A theory that argues that behavior follows a stimuli in a relatively unthinking manner

Reinforcement Theory

A theory that says that behavior is a function of its consequences

Profit-Sharing Plan

An organization-wide program that distributes compensation based on some established formula designed around a company's profitability

General Mental Ability

An overall factor of intelligence, as suggested by the positive correlations among specific intellectual ability dimensions

Telecommuting

Working from home at least two days a week on a computer that is linked to the employer's office

Machiavellianism

The degree to which an individual is pragmatic, maintains emotional distance, and believes that ends can justify means

Efficiency

The degree to which an organization can achieve its ends at a low cost

Organizational Survival

The degree to which an organization is able to exist and grow over the long term

Feedback

The degree to which carrying out the work activities required by a job results in the individual obtaining direct and clear information about the effectiveness of his or her job performance

Perceived Organizational Support

The degree to which employees believe an organization values their contribution and cares about their well being

Self-Actualization

The drive to become what a person is capable of becoming

Adjourning Stage

The final stage in group development for temporary groups, characterized by concern with wrapping up activities rather than task performance

Storming Stage

The second stage in group development, characterized by intragroup conflict

Proactive Personality

People who identify opportunities, show initiative, take action, and persevere until meaningful change occurs

Anthropology

The study of societies to learn about human beings and their activities

Positivity Affect

The tendency of most individuals to experience a mildly positive mood at zero input (when nothing in particular is going on)

Illusory Correlation

The tendency of people to associate two events when in reality there is no connection

Narcissism

The tendency to be arrogant, have a grandiose sense of self-importance, require excessive admiration, and have a sense of entitlement

Norming Stage

The third stage in group development, characterized by close relationship and cohesiveness

Job Enrichment

The vertical expansion of jobs, which increases the degree to which the worker controls the planning, executing, and evaluation of the work

Social-Learning Theory

The view that we can learn through both observation and direct experience

Short-Term Orientation

A national culture attribute that emphasizes that past and present, respect for tradition, and fulfillment of societal obligations

Femininity

A national culture attribute that indicates little differentiation between male and female roles; a high rating indicates that women are treated as equals of men in all aspects of society

Employee Involvement

A participative process that uses the input of employees and is intended to increase employee commitment to an organization's success

Variable-Pay Program

A pay plan that bases a portion of an employee's pay on some individual and/or organizational measure of performance

Big Five Model

A personality assessment model that taps five basic dimensions

Extraversion

A personality dimension describing someone who is sociable, gregarious, and assertive

Emotional Stability

A personality dimension that characterizes someone as calm, self-confident, secure (positive) versus nervous, depressed, and insecure (negative)

Openness to Experience

A personality dimension that characterizes someone in terms of imagination, sensitivity, and curiosity

Agreeableness

A personality dimension that describes someone who is good natured, cooperative, and trusting

Conscientiousness

A personality dimension that describes someone who is responsible, dependable, persistent, and organized

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator

A personality test that taps four characteristics and classifies people into 1 of 16 personality types

Self-monitoring

A personality trait that measures an individual's ability to adjust his or her behavior to external, situational factors

Emotional Labor

A situation in which an employee expresses organizationally desired emotions during interpersonal transactions at work

Representative Participation

A system in which workers participate in organizational decision making through a small group of representative employees

Reflectivity

A team characteristic of reflecting on and adjusting the master plan when necessary

Power Distance

A national culture attribute that describes the extent to which a society accepts that power in institutions and organizations is distributed unevenly

Uncertainty Avoidance

A national culture attribute that describes the extent to which a society feels threatened by uncertain and ambiguous situations and tries to avoid them

Personality-Job Fit Theory

A theory that identifies six personality types and proposes that the fit between personality type and occupational environment determines satisfaction and turnover

Two-Factor Theory

A theory that relates intrinsic factors to job satisfaction and associates extrinsic factors with dissatisfaction. Also called motivation-hygiene theory

Equity Theory

A theory that says that individuals compare their job inputs and outcomes with those of others and then respond to eliminate inequities

Goal-Setting Theory

A theory that says that specific and difficult goals, with feedback, lead to higher performance

Expectancy Theory

A theory that says that the strengths of a tendency to act in a certain way depends on the strength of an expectation that the act will be followed by a given outcome and on the attractiveness of that outcome to the individual

Cognitive Evaluation Theory

A version of self-determination theory which holds that allocating extrinsic rewards for behavior that had been previously intrinsically rewarding tends to decrease the overall level of motivation if the rewards are seen as controlling

Hierarchy of Needs

Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of five needs- physiological, safety, social, esteem, and self-actualization- in which, as each need is substantially satisfied, the next need becomes dominant

Processes

Actions that individuals, groups, and organizations engage in as a result of inputs that lead to certain outcomes

Model

An abstraction of reality. A simplified representation of some real-world phenomenon

Positive Organizational Scholarship

An area of OB research that concerns how organizations develop human strength, foster vitality and resilience, and unlock potential

Social Psychology

An area of psychology that blends concepts from psychology and sociology and that focuses on the influence of people on one another

Job Sharing

An arrangement that allows two or more individuals to split a traditional 40-hour-a-week job

Manager

An individual who achieves goals through other people

Self-Efficacy

An individual's belief that he or she is capable of performing a task

Ability

An individual's capacity to perform the various tasks in a job

Employee Engagement

An individual's involvement with, satisfaction with, and enthusiasm for the work he or she does

Felt Emotions

An individuals actual emotions

Behavioral Component

An intention to behave in a certain way toward someone or something

Organizational Justice

An overall perception of what is fair in the workplace, composed of distributive, procedural, and interactional justice

Cognitive Dissonance

Any incompatibility between two or more attitudes or between behavior and attitudes

Values

Basic convictions that a specific mode of conduct or end-state of existence in personally or socially preferable to an opposite or converse mode of conduct of end-state of existence

Terminal Values

Desirable end-states of existence; the goals a person would like to achieve during his or her lifetime

Organizing

Determining what tasks are to be done, who is to do them, how the tasks are to be grouped, who reports to whom, and where decisions are to be made

Citizenship Behavior

Discretionary behavior that contributes to the psychological and social environment of the workplace

Loyalty

Dissatisfaction expressed by passively waiting for conditions to improve

Voice

Dissatisfaction expressed through active and constructive attempts to improve conditions

Neglect

Dissatisfaction expressed through allowing conditions to worsen

Exit

Dissatisfaction expressed through behavior directed toward leaving the organization

Cross-Functional Teams

Employees from about the same hierarchal level, but from different work areas, who come together to accomplish a task

Personality Traits

Enduring characteristics that describe an individuals behavior

Attitudes

Evaluative statements or judgements concerning objects, people, or events

Workforce Diversity

The concept that organizations are becoming more heterogeneous in terms of gender, age, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and inclusion of other diverse groups

Task Significance

The degree to which a job has a substantial impact on the lives or work of other people

Autonomy

The degree to which a job provided substantial freedom and discretion to the individual in scheduling the work and in determining the procedures to be used in carrying it out

Task Identity

The degree to which a job requires completion of a whole and identifiable piece of work

Job Involvement

The degree to which a person identifies with a job, actively participates in it, and considers performance important to self worth

Organizational Commitment

The degree to which an employee identifies with a particular organization and its goals and wishes to maintain membership in the organization

Effectiveness

The degree to which an organization meets the needs of its clientele or customers

Organizational Demography

The degree to which members of a work unit share a common demographic attribute, such as age, sex, race, educational level, or length of service in an organization, and the impact of this attribute on turnover

Self-Concordance

The degree to which peoples' reasons for pursuing goals are consistent with their interests and core values

Need for Affiliation (nAff)

The desire for friendly and close interpersonal relationships

Need for Achievement (nAch)

The drive to excel, to achieve in relationship to a set of standards, and to strive to succeed

Affective Component

The emotional or feeling segment or an attitude

Group Cohesion

The extent to which members of a group support and validate one another while at work

Forming Stage

The first stage in group development, characterized by much uncertainty

Five-Stage Group-Development Model

The five distinct stages groups go through: forming, storming, norming, performing, adjourning

Performing Stage

The fourth stage in group development, during which the group is fully functional

Job Engagement

The investment of an employee's physical, cognitive, and emotional energies into job performance

Conceptual Skills

The mental ability to analyze and diagnose complex situations

Need for Power (nPow)

The need to make others behave in a way in which they would not have behaved otherwise

Cognitive Component

The opinion or belief segment of an attitude

Interactional Justice

The perceived degree to which an individual is treated with dignity, concern and respect

Procedural Justice

The perceived fairness of the process used to determine the distribution of rewards

Job Rotation

The periodic shifting of an employee from one task to another

Diversity Management

The process and programs by which managers make everyone more aware of and sensitive to the needs and differences of others

Emotional Contagion

The process by which peoples emotions are caused by the emotions of others

Motivation

The processes that account for an individual's intensity, direction, and persistence of effort toward attaining a goal

Group Functioning

The quantity and quality of a work group's output

Psychology

The science that seeks to measure, explain, and sometimes change the behavior of humans and other animals

Withdrawal Behavior

The set of actions employees take to separate themselves from the organization

Sociology

The study of people in relation to their social environment or culture

Job Design

The way the elements in a job are organized

Deep Acting

Trying to modify one's true inner feelings based on display rules

Multiteam Systems

Systems in which different teams need to coordinate their efforts to produce a desired result

Skill Variety

The degree to which a job requires a variety of different activities

Mental Models

Team members' knowledge and beliefs about how the work gets done by the team

Virtual Teams

Teams that use computer technology to tie together physically dispersed members in order to achieve a common goal

Technical Skills

The ability to apply specialized knowledge or expertise

Emotional Intelligence

The ability to detect and to mange emotional cues and information

Human Skills

The ability to work with, understand, and motivate other people, both individually and in groups

Theory X

The assumption that employees dislike work, are lazy, dislike responsibility, and must be coerced to perform

Theory Y

The assumption that employees like work, are creative, seek responsibility, and can exercise self-direction

Evidence-Based Management

The basing of managerial decisions on the best available scientific evidence

Intellectual Abilities

The capacity to do mental activities- thinking, reasoning, and problem solving

Physical Abilities

The capacity to do tasks that demand stamina, dexterity, strength, and similar characteristics

Leading

A function that included motivating employees, directing others, selecting the most effective communication channels, and resolving conflicts

Task Performance

The combination of effectiveness and efficiency at doing your core job tasks

Productivity

The combination of the effectiveness and efficiency of an organization

Work Group

A group that interacts primarily to share information and to make decisions to help each group member perform within his or her area of responsibility

Work Team

A group whose individual efforts result in performance that is greater than the sum of the individual inputs

Intuition

A gut feeling not necessarily supported by research

Value System

A hierarchy based on a ranking of an individual's values in terms of their intensity

Affective Events Theory

A model that suggests that workplace events cause emotional reactions on the part of employees, which then influence workplace attitudes and behaviors

Ethical Dilemmas and Ethical Choices

Situations in which individuals are required to define right and wrong conduct

Job Characteristics Model (JCM)

A model that proposes that any job can be described in terms of five core job dimensions: skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy, and feedback

Organizational Behavior

A field of study that investigates the impact that individuals, groups, and structure have on behavior within organizations, for the purpose of applying such knowledge toward improving an organization's effectiveness

Moods

Feelings that tend to be less intense than emotions and that lack a contextual stimulus

Emotional Dissonance

Inconsistencies between the emotions people feel and the emotions they project

Affect Intensity

Individual differences in the strength with which individuals experience their emotions

Emotions

Intense feelings that are directed at someone or something

Outcomes

Key factors that are affected by some other variables

Systematic Study

Looking at relationships, attempting to attribute causes and effects, and drawing conclusions based on scientific evidence

Controlling

Monitoring activities to ensure they are being accomplished as planned and correcting any significant deviations

Lower-Order Needs

Needs that are satisfied externally, such as physiological and safety needs

Higher-Order Needs

Needs that are satisfied internally, such as social, esteem, and self-actualization needs

Distributive Justice

Perceived fairness of the amount and allocation of rewards among individuals

Instrumental Values

Preferable modes of behavior or means of achieving one's terminal values

Contingency Variables

Situational factors: variables that moderate the relationship between two or more variables