Chapter 1: Intro to Organizational Behavior

What is one major study area in social psychology?

Change

When anthropologists study cultures and environments, what has their research helped us to understand?

It has helped us to understand the fundamental values, attitudes, and behavior between people in different countries and within different organizations.

Define: Social psychology

Branch of psychology that blends concepts from both psychology and sociology to focus on people's influence on one another

Define: Evidence based management

Complements systematic study by basing managerial decisions on the best available scientific evidence

T/F: Social psychologists have not made important contributions to our study of group behavior, power, and conflict.

False, social psychologists have made many important contributions to our study of group behavior, power, and conflict.

Name the 8 core concepts OB covers

1. Motivation 2. Leader behavior and power 3. Interpersonal communication 4. Group structure and processes 5. Attitude development and perception 6. Change processes 7. Conflict and Negotiation 8. Work Design

How many critical issues were mentioned in the book that managers are currently confronted with?

13

What does OB study?

3 determinants of behavior: 1. Individuals 2. Group 3. Structure

How many core concepts does OB cover?

8

Using the systematic approach, what is the underlying assumption?

Behavior is not random

T/F: Social psychologists contribute to measuring, understanding, and changing attitudes, identifying communication patterns, and building trust.

True

Define: systematic study

Looking at relationships, attempting to attribute causes and effects, and basing conclusions on scientific evidence (data gathered under controlled conditions and measured and interpreted in a reasonably rigorous manner).

Define Organizational Behavior

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

What type of problems do managers describe most often?

People

Define: Psychology

Seeks to measure, explain, sometimes change the behavior or humans and other animals

Define: Intuition

"Gut feelings" about what makes others (and ourselves) "tick"

Are most management decisions made "on the fly" or based on evidence based management?

"On the fly"

Which behavioral sciences contribute to the individual unit of analysis?

Psychology

T/F: If we make all decisions with intuition/gut instinct, we're likely working with incomplete information

True

T/F: Most of our current understanding of organizational culture, organizational environments, and differences among national cultures is the result of the work of anthropologists or those using their methodology.

True

T/F: OB is an applied behavioral science built on contributions from a number of behavioral disciplines, mainly psychology and social psychology, sociology, and anthropology.

True

T/F: The science of OB was developed by applying general concepts to a particular situation, person or group.

True

List the 13 critical issues

1. Responding to economic pressures 2. Responding to globalization 3. Increased foreign assignments 4. Working with people from different cultures 5. Overseeing movement of jobs to countries with low cost labor 6. Managing work force diversity 7. Improving customer service 8. Improving People Skills 9. Stimulating Innovation and change 10. Coping with temporariness 11. Working in networked organizations 12. Helping employees balance work-life conflicts 13. Improving ethical behavior

Define: Workforce diversity

Acknowledges a workforce of women and men; many racial and ethnic groups; individuals with a variety of physical or psychological abilities, and people who differ in age and sexual orientation Workforce diversity addresses differences among people within the same country

T/F: Several social science disciplines contribute to OB, but none are more important than sociology

False. None are more important than PSYCHOLOGY

Why are fundamental consistencies important?

Fundamental consistencies allow predictability

Fill in the blank: _____________'s contributions have been mainly at the individual or micro level of analysis, whereas the other disciplines have contributed to our understanding of macro concepts such as group processes and organization

Psychology's

What are the two factors that are strongly related to overall work satisfaction?

Relationships among co-workers and supervisors

How have sociologists contributed to OB through their study of group behavior in organizations?

Research on formal and complex organizations. Sociologists have studied organizational culture, formal organization theory and structure, organizational technology, communications, power, and conflict.

Summary:

Managers need to develop their interpersonal, or people, skills to be effective in their jobs. Organizational behavior investigates the impact that individuals, groups, and structure have on behavior within an organization, and it applies that knowledge to make organizations work more effectively. Specifically, OB focuses on how to improve productivity, reduce absenteeism, turnover, and deviant workplace behavior, and increase organizational citizenship behavior and job satisfaction. Here are a few specific implications for managers: 1. Some generalizations provide valid insights into human behavior, but many are erroneous. Organizational behavior uses systematic study to improve predictions of behavior over intuition alone. 2. Because people are different, we need to look at OB in a contingency framework, using situational variables to explain cause and effect relationships. 3. Organizational behavior offers specific insights to improve a manager's people skills 4. It helps managers to see the value of workforce diversity and practices that may need to be changed in different countries. 5. It can improve quality and employee productivity by showing managers how to empower their people, design and implement change programs, improve customer service, and help employees balance work-life conflicts. 6. It can help managers cope in a world of temporariness and learn how to stimulate innovation 7. OB can guide managers in creating an ethically healthy work climate.

Create a flow chart describing how managers with good interpersonal skills lead to superior financial performance.

Managers with good interpersonal skills-->Work place is more pleasant-->Easier to higher and keep quality people-->Good reputation built at company-->generation of superior financial performance

How does OB link the 3 determinants of behavior together?

OB applies the knowledge gained about individuals, groups, and the effect of the structure on behavior in order to make organizations work more effectively

Define: Ethical dilemma/choice

Situation in which someone is required to identify right and wrong

Due to the fact that people behave differently, OB concepts must reflect _______ conditions

Situational/contingency conditions

Which behavioral sciences contribute to the group unit of analysis?

Social psychology, Sociology, Anthropology

Which behavioral sciences contribute to the organization system unit of analysis?

Sociology and Anthropology

How is change studied in social psychology?

Studied to see how to implement change and how to reduce barriers to its acceptance

Define: Sociology

Studies people in relation to their social environment or culture

Define: Anthropology

Study of societies to learn about human beings and their activities

What is a generalized definition of OB?

The study of what people do in an organization and how their behavior affects the organizations performance, with an emphasis on behavior as related to concerns such as jobs, work, absenteeism, employment turnover, productivity, human performance, and management.