Organizational Behavior Key Terms

*FORMING STAGE

1st stage of group development characterized by a lot of uncertainty.

POWER

a capacity that A has to influence the behavior of B so that B acts in accordance with A's wishes.

*ATTRIBUTION THEORY

an attempt to determine whether an individual's behavior is internally or externally caused.

GROUP ORDER RANKING

an evaluation method that places employees into a particular classification, such as quartiles.

INDIVIDUAL RANKING

an evaluation method that rank-orders employees from best to worst.

MANAGER

an individual who achieves goals through other people.

*ROLE PERCEPTION

an individual's view of how he or she is supposed to act in a given situation.

*INTUITION DECISION-MAKING

an unconscious process distilled out of distilled experience.

SEXUAL HARRASSMENT

any unwanted activity of a sexual nature that affects an individual's employment and creates a hostile work environment.

*ROLE EXPECTATIONS

how others believe a person should act in a given situation.

EXPERT POWER

influence based on special skills or knowledge.

TASK STRUCTURE

the degree to which job assignments are procedurized.

*HALO EFFECT

the tendency to draw a general impression about an individual on the basis of a single characteristic.

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.

SITUATIONAL LEADERSHIP THEORY

a contingency theory that focuses on followers' readiness.

STRONG CULTURE

a culture in which the core values are intensely held and widely shared.

POSITIVE ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE

a culture that emphasizes building on employee strengths, rewards more than punishes, and emphasizes individual vitality and growth.

DOMINANT CULTURE

a culture that expresses core values that are shared by a majority of the organization's members.

*RATIONAL DECISION- MAKING MODEL

a decision-making model that describes how individuals should behave in order to maximize some outcomes.

*FORMAL GROUP

a designated work group defined by an organization's structure.

*COMPETING

a desire to satisfy one's interests, regardless of the impact on the other party to the conflict.

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.

*WORK GROUP

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

*INFORMAL GROUP

a group that is neither formally structured nor organizationally determined: such a group appears in response to the need for social contact.

*WORK TEAM

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

EMPLOYEE-ORIENTED LEADER

a leader who emphasizes interpersonal relations, takes a personal interest in the needs of employees, and accepts individual differences among members.

PRODUCTION-ORIENTED LEADER

a leader who emphasizes technical or task aspects of the job.

LEADER-PARTICIPATION MODEL

a leadership theory that provides a set of rules to determine the form and amount of participative decision making in different situations.

CHARISMATIC LEADERSHIP THEORY

a leadership theory that states that followers make attributions of heroic or extraordinary leadership abilities when they observe certain behaviors.

POWER DISTANCE

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

SELF-MONITORING

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

COERCIVE POWER

a power base that is dependent on fear of the negative results from failing to comply.

*PERCEPTION

a process by which individuals organize and interpret their sensory impressions in order to give meaning to their environment.

*NEGOTIATION

a process in which 2 or more parties exchange goods or services and attempt to agree on the exchange rate for them.

*BOUNDED RATIONALITY

a process of making decisions by constructing simplified models that the essential features from problems without capturing all their complexity.

SOCIALIZATION

a process that adapts employees to the organization's culture.

*CONFLICT

a process that begins when one party perceives that another party has negatively affected, or is about to negatively affect, something that the first party cares about.

*MANAGEMENT BY OBJECTIVES [MBO]

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

*PUNCTUATED EQUILIBRIUM MODEL

a set of phases that temporary groups go through that involve transitions between inertia and activity.

*SELF-FULFILLING PROPHECY

a situation in which a person inaccurately perceives a second person, and the resulting expectations cause the second person to behave in ways consistent with the original perception.

*COLLABORATING

a situation in which the parties to a conflict each desire to satisfy fully the concerns of all parties.

*COMPROMISING

a solution in which each party to a conflict is willing to give up something.

ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE

a system of shared meaning held by members that distinguishes the organization from other organizations.

*ANCHORING BIAS

a tendency to fixate on initial information from which one then fails to adequately adjust for subsequent information.

*MCCLELLAND'S THEORY OF NEEDS

a theory that states achievement, power and affiliation are three important needs that help explain motivation.

PATH-GOAL THEORY

a theory that states that it is the leader's job to assist followers in attaining their goals and to provide the necessary direction and/or support to ensure that their goals are compatible with the overall objectives of the group or organization.

LEADER-MEMBER EXCHANGE THEORY

a theory that supports leaders' creation of in-groups and out-groups; subordinates with in-group status will have higher performance ratings, less turnover and greater job satisfaction.

*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.

CRITICAL INCIDENTS

a way of evaluating the behaviors that are key in making the difference between executing a job effectively and executing it ineffectively.

*NORMS

acceptable standards of behavior within a group that are shared by the group's members.

VALUES

basic convictions that a specific mode of conduct or end-state of existence is personally or socially preferable to an opposite or converse mode of conduct or end-state of existence.

REWARD POWER

compliance achieved based on the ability to distribute rewards that others view as valuable.

*PROCESS CONFLICT

conflict over how the work gets done.

*DYSFUNCTIONAL CONFLICT

conflict that hinders group performance.

*FUNCTIONAL CONFLICT

conflict that supports the goals of the group and improves the performance.

*GROUP

2 or more individuals interacting and interdependent, who have come together to achieve particular objectives.

*STORMING STAGE

2nd stage of group development characterized by intragroup conflict.

*NORMING STAGE

3rd stage of group development characterized by close relationships and cohesiveness.

*PERFORMING STAGE

4th stage of group development during which the group is fully functional.

*HIERARCHY OF NEEDS

Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of 5 needs -physiological, safety, social, esteem and self-actualization- in which, as each need is substantially satisfied, the next need becomes dominant.

PERSONALITY

Gordon Allport said personality is "the dynamic organization within the individual of those psychophysical systems that determine his unique adjustments to his environment"

*STEREOTYPING

Judging someone on the basis on one's perception of the group to which that person belongs.

CORE VALUES

The primary or dominant values that are accepted throughout the organization.

*CONFIRMATION BIAS

The tendency to seek out information that reaffirms past choices and to discount information that contradicts past judgments.

TERMINAL VALUES

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

*CROSS-FUNCITONAL TEAMS

employees from about the same hierarchical level , but from different work areas, who come together to accomplish a task.

*CONTRAST EFFECT

evaluation of a person's characteristics that is affected by comparisons with other people recently encountered who rank higher or lower on the same characteristics.

*HYGIENE FACTORS

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

HEREDITY

factors determined at conception.

*SELF-MANAGED WORK TEAMS

groups of 10-15 people who take on responsibilities of their former supervisors.

REFERENT POWER

influence based on identification with a person who has desirable resources or personal traits.

PERSONAL POWER

influence derived from an individual's characteristics.

POSITION POWER

influence derived from one's formal structural position in the organization; includes power to hire, fire, discipline, promote, and give salary increases.

FORCED COMPARISON

method of performance evaluation where an employee's performance is made in explicit comparison to others (e.g. an employee may rank third out of 10 employees in her work unit).

SUBCULTURES

minicultures within an organization, typically defined by department designations and geographical separation.

*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.

*INTEGRATIVE BARGAINING

negotiation that seeks one or more settlements that can create a win-win solution.

*DISTRIBUTIVE BARGAINING

negotiation that seeks to divide up a fixed amount of resources; a win-lose scenario.

PROACTIVE PERSONALITY

people identify opportunities, show initiative, take action, and persevere until meaningful change occurs.

*DISTRIBUTIVE JUSTICE

perceived fairness of the amount and allocation of rewards among individuals.

THE BIG FIVE PERSONALITY MODEL

personality typing instrument which includes extraversion, agreeableness, Conscientiousness, emotional stability, openness to experience.

*SOCIAL IDENTITY THEORY

perspective that considers when and why individuals consider themselves members of groups.

INSTRUMENTAL VALUES

preferable modes of behavior or means of achieving one's terminal values.

RITUALS

repetitive sequences of activities that express and reinforce the key values of the organization, which goals are most important, which people are important, and which are expendable.

*MULTITEAM SYSTEMS

systems in which different teams need to coordinate their efforts to produce a desired outcome.

*MENTAL MODELS

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

*FIVE STAGE GROUP DEVELOPMENT MODEL

the 5 distinct stages groups go through are: forming, storming norming, performing and adjourning.

LEADERSHIP

the ability to influence a group toward the achievement of a vision or set of goals.

POLITICAL SKILL

the ability to influence others in such a way as to enhance one's objectives.

*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.

*INTERACTIONIST VIEW OF CONFLICT

the belief that conflict is not only a positive force in a group but also an absolute necessity for a group to perform effectively.

*FIXED PIE

the belief that there is only a set amount of goods or services to be divided up between the parties.

*BATNA

the best alternative to a negotiated agreement; the least the person should accept in the negotiation.

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.

*ORGANIZATIONAL DEMOGRAPHY

the degree to which members of a work unit share a common demographic attribute such as age, sex, age 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.

*AVOIDING

the desire to withdraw from or suppress a conflict.

*SELF-ACTUALIZATION

the drive to become what a person is capable of becoming.

INITIATING STRUCTURE

the extent to which a leader is likely to define and structure his or her own role and those of subordinates in the search for goal attainment.

CONSIDERATION

the extent to which a leader is likely to have job relationships characterized by mutual trust, respect for subordinates' ideas, and regard for their feelings.

GROUP COHESION

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

*ADJOURNING STAGE

the final stage of group development for temporary groups , characterized by concern with wrapping up activities rather than task performance.

MYERS-BRIGGS TYPE INDICATOR

the most widely used personality assessment in the world. Includes scales on introversion/extroversion, sensing/intuition, thinking/feeling and judging/perceiving.

*INTERACTIONAL JUSTICE

the perceived degree to which an individual is treated with dignity,

PREARRIVAL STAGE

the period of learning in the socialization process that occurs before a new employee joins the organization.

LEGITIMATE POWER

the power a person receives as a result of his or her position in the formal hierarchy of an organization.

*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.

WORKPLACE SPIRITUALITY

the recognition that people have an inner life that nourishes and is nourished by meaningful work that takes place in the context of community.

PSYCHOLOGY

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

ORGANIZATIONAL CLIMATE

the shared perceptions organizational members have about their organization and work environment.

METAMORPHOSIS STAGE

the stage in the socialization process in which a new employee changes and adjusts to the job, work group and organization.

ENCOUNTER STAGE

the stage in the socialization process in which a new employee sees what the organization is really like and confronts the possibility that expectations and reality may diverge.

*SELF-SERVING BIAS

the tendency for individuals to attribute their own successes to internal factors and put the blame for failures on external factors.

*SOCIAL LOAFING

the tendency for individuals to expend less effort when working collectively than when working individually.

NARCISSISM

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

*RISK AVERSION

the tendency to prefer a sure gain of a moderate amount over a riskier outcome even if the riskier outcome might have a higher expected payoff.

*SELECTIVE PERCEPTION

the tendency to selectively interpret what one sees on the basis of one's interests, background, experience and attitude.

*FUNDAMENTAL ATTRIBUTION ERROR

the tendency to underestimate the influence of external factors and overestimate the influence of internal factors when making judgments about the behavior of others.

FIEDLER CONTINGENCY MODEL

the theory that effective groups depend on a proper match between a leader's style of interacting with subordinates and the degree to which the situation gives control and influence to the leader.

*ACCOMMODATING

the willingness of one party in a conflict to place the opponent's interests above his or her own.

BEHAVIORAL THEORIES OF LEADERSHIP

theories proposing that specific behaviors differentiate leaders from non-leaders.

TRAIT THEORIES OF LEADERSHIP

theories that consider personal qualities and characteristics that differentiate leaders from non- leaders.

*DEVIANT WORKPLACE BEHAVIOR

voluntary behavior that violates significant organizational norms and, in so doing, threatens the well-being of the organization or its members. Also called antisocial behavior or workplace incivility.

MACHIAVELLIANISM

(Mach) the degree to which an individual is pragmatic, maintains emotional distance, and believes the end justifies the means.