1 Flashcards
What is organizational behavior?
Study of how people behave and interact in business organizations.
Who is Frederick W. Taylor?
Wrote “The Principles of Scientific Management” in 1911 about how humans contribute to the bottom line in mannufacturing.
Who is Douglas McGregor?
Formulated the idea in 1957 that managers make descisions based upon their assumptions of human nature
What is the Theory X management approach?
Takes an autocratic or micromanagement/close supervision approach; assumes that people dislike work & responsibility and are motivated only by personal gain (e.g. financial incentives).
What is the Theory Y management approach?
Takes a humanistic or hands off approach; assumes that people enjoy work and will control their own performance if allowed to.
What are the steps to the scientific method used in studying organizational behavior?
- Observe phenomena.
- Gather information.
- Generate a hypothes.
- Test the hypothesis.
- Revise hypothesis and/or draw conclusions from results of testing.
What is naturalistic observation?
Involves watching real-life events in an unobstrusive manner
What is a field study?
Researcher studies relationship between 2 variables but doesn’t alter either.
What is a field experiment?
Similar to a field study but researcher alters one of the variables in the field to see what the effect is.
What is a laboratory experiment?
Researcher alters a variable in a controlled environment to see what the effect is.
What is survey research?
Taking a survey or poll by questionnaires or interviews.
What is correlational research?
Used to find the amount that one variable changes in relation to another; can be positive or negative.
Define perception in OB.
The process of selecting, organizing and interpreting stimuli.
Define selective attention in OB.
The process by which we choose what stimuli to focus on.
Define perceptual organization in OB.
The process by which we organize or categorize the stimulus.
Define social perception in OB.
The process by which we perceive other people.
What characteristics are our perceptions of others influenced by?
- The person perceived.
- The situation.
- The perceiver.
What is stereotyping?
Attributing characteristics to others because they belong to a particular group.
What is the halo effect?
Allowing knowledge of 1 trait to influence knowledge of other traits.
What is the implicit personality theory?
Having a fixed set of of biases.
What is selective perception?
Limiting our perceptions of others.
What is projection?
Imposing or “projecting” our own self-concepts onto others.
What is a dependent variable?
A variable that an experiment is trying to test.
What is an independent variable?
A variable the researcher controls or changes for the experiment.
What is social perception?
The process by which we perceive others.
What is qualitative data?
Data that is difficult to measure or count in statistical terms.
What is quantitative data?
Information that can be expressed in numerical format.
Define personality.
A person’s characteristic way of thinking, feeling & acting.
Define the psychoanalytic theory of personality.
Personality is the result of conflicts between pleasure-seeking impulses & social restraints.
Define the biological/trait theory of personality.
Personality expresses biologically influenced dispositions (e.g. extroversion).
What is the humanistic theory of personality?
Personality is the processing of conscious feelings about oneself in light of experiences.
What is the social-cognitive theory of personality?
Personality is influenced by the interrationships of people and situations and is colored by perceptions of control.
What is the external locus of control?
A feeling that outcomes are imposed by others.
What is the internal locus of control?
A feeling that we can personally influence the outcome of events.
What are the 5 traits of personality?
- Emotional stability
- Extroversion.
- Openness.
- Agreeableness/Good nature.
- Conscientiousness/Preciseness.
Define attitude.
A tendency to respond in a positive or negative way to stimuli in the environment in a given situation.
What are the 3 components of attitudes?
- The thoughts & ideas about a person or thing.
- Feelings about a person or thing.
- The behavior & actions toward a person or thing.
What are 4 major influences on attitude?
- Culture.
- Family.
- Peers.
- Prior life experience.
Define beliefs.
Something that people believe that may or may not have a fact as their basis.
Define values.
Generally held by a large group in society; closely held norms or standards of idealized behavior.
What is job satisfaction?
Positive emotional state from finding enjoyment or satisfactionn in one’s job. Affects absenteeism, turnover & organizational effectiveness.
What are Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs (in order)?
- Self-actualization.
- Esteem needs.
- Belonging & love.
- Safety.
- Physical needs.
Name 2 humanistic theorists.
Maslow and Carl Rogers (agreed with Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and advocated group therapy)
What is ERG Theory?
By Clayton Alderfer based on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs; stands for Existence needs, Relatedness needs, Growth needs. Assumes people do not go through the Hierachy of Needs in order but go in and out of each and can be in more than one need area at a time.
What is the need for achievement?
Developed by David McClelland. Employees have 4 needs: affliation, autonomy, power & achievement. Based on a person’s needs or wants to solve problems, meet goals, etc.
In learning, what is classical conditioning?
Learning to associate 2 stimuli (think Pavlov’s dog)
In learning, what is operant conditioning?
Associating a response and its consequence (e.g. high out results in a bonus).
In learning, what is observational learning?
Learning by watching and imitating the behavior of others (e.g. standards of dress in workplace).
What is positive reinforcement?
Consists of giving someone a reward following a desired behavior.
What is negative reinforcement?
Consists of removing something unpleasant following a desired behavior.
What is punishment?
An unpleasant response that reduces or stops a behavior.
What is extinction?
The process where when the reinforcement is stopped and the desired behavior is stopped.
Under conditions of no stress, what happens to job performance?
Remains the same.
Under conditions of low stress, what happens to job performance?
Improves acting as a stimulus that increases motivation.
Under conditions of high stress, what happens to job performance?
Deteriorates because the worker’s attention is consumed too much.
Define group.
2 or more people who share a set of norms, play different roles and interact to pursue common goals.
What are formal groups?
Work units, such as the accounts payable department of a business.
What are informal groups?
Arise naturally as people band together with others that have shared interests, mutual friendship, or similar social needs.
What are the 4 stages in group development?
- Forming; figuring out acceptable behaviors and those that are not.
- Storming/Conflict; getting personality and other conflicts out of the way as each person finds their role in the group.
- Norming/Group Cohesion; acceptance of group members and develops group cohesion.
- Conforming/Performance; issues between members are resolved and specific roles are taken on by members.
What is functional conflict in groups?
Leads to new ideas, procedures, innovation and change for the group as well as personal growth and development for members.
What is dysfunctional conflict in groups?
Divert’s attention from job performance and goal achievement. Can destroy group cohesiveness and negatively cause stress on members.
Define laissez-faire leadership.
Leader gives group total freedom to make decisions.
What is the linking pin theory of leadership?
Views effective leadership behavior as working upward as well as downward (manager as leader of 1 group and subordinate in another).
Define contingency theory of leadership.
Emphasizes that there is no single best way to lead, rather the most effective style is contingent or dependent upon the situation.
Define power.
A person’s ability to influence others or events. Is earned rather than given by higher management like authority.
Define politics.
The manner in which a person earns, gains or uses power to control events.
What is referent power?
Power a person acquires through the force of his personality. Also known as power of personality or charisma.
Define communication.
Transfer of meaning from one person to another.
What is the econological model of decision-making?
Based on assumption that people are economically rational and try to maximize outcomes in an orderly way.
What is the bounded rationality model of decision-making?
Assumes that people will try to find the best solution but will settle for less because the decisions they make require more information and though than they are capable of.
What is the implicit favorite model of decision-making?
Assumes that people arrive at a choice intuitively and then distort their assessments of other alternatives in order to justify their initial choice.
What is span of control?
The number of employees per supervisor.
Define the functional organization type of organization structure.
Each group performing related activities reports to a manager responsible for that function.
Define the line & staff organization type of organization structure.
Staff departments adivse and support the departments directly involved in producing goods or services.
Define the product or divisional organization type of organization structure.
Variation of line and staff in which each major product line has its own suborganization.
Define the matrix organization type of organization structure.
Structured around projects, task-force work or other one-of-a-kind programs.
Define classical organization theory.
Work is divided by function, level of authority and level of responsibility. Work is delegated and has a high degree of specialization.
What is tall organization?
Span of control is small; managers work with few people.
What is flat organization?
Span of control is much greater and there are few levels of management.
Define mechanistic organzation.
Control and organization are centralized, tasks are specialized and communication is vertical along lines of the hierarchy.
Define organic organization.
Decentralization of control and authority, task interdependence, and horizontal lines of communication.
What are the 3 steps of the change process and define each.
- Unfreezing: old ideas, procedures and structures must be gotten rid of.
- Changing: new ideas and practices are implemented so that employees can do their jobs in new ways.
- Refreezing: changes that have been made are integrated into the organization’s structure and practices.
What is organization development?
The manner in which organizations bring about change.
What is the mechanistic theory?
States that organizational change is inevitable and people within the organization have no choice but follow natural law.
What is the systems theory?
deals with interdependence instead of indenpendence of variables and their interactions.
Which of the following is an example of an attitude?
Anger at being unfairly accused of a wrongdoing
Which of the following statements concerning tenure is not true?
Tenure does not appear to be a good predictor of employee productivity
Over the past two decades, business schools have added required courses on people skills to many curricula. Why have they done this?
managers need to understand human behaviour if they are to be effective
In order to predict human behaviour with any degree of accuracy, what sort of variables must be taken into account?
contingency
Which of the following is not generally true?
Satisfied workers are productive workers
Psychology’ major contributions to the field of organizational behaviour have been primarily at what level of analysis.
The level of the individual
Group behaviour, power, and conflict are central areas of study for _________.
Social Psychologists
Which of the following answer choices is the best definition of attitude?
Attitudes are evaluative statements of what one believes about something or someone
The ______ component of an attitude is the emotional feeling component of that attitude.
Affective
In Pavlov’s experiment, the bell was a _________.
Conditioned Stimulus
Organizational behaviour is constructed from all of the following disciplines except __________.
physics
Social Learning Theory is an extension of
Operant Conditioning
Which of the following is not a biographical character?
Political Affiliation
According to operant conditioning, when a behaviour is not reinforced, what happens to the probability of that behavior occurring again?
It declines
Which of the following is an example of being an efficient company?
Operating at the lowest possible cost while yielding a higher output.
In general, ______ reinforcement schedules tend to lead to higher performance than ______ reinforcement schedules
Variable; Fixed
Which of the following statements is true about the term “ability”, as it is used in the field of organizational behaviour?
It is a current assessment of what an individual can do
Which of the following is explained by self-perception theory?
“I wouldn’t want an office job, all my life i’ve worked outdoors, even as a child growing up on a farm.”
Which of the following is not true concerning diversity programs?
They avoid making participants openly confront the stereotypes that they hold
An OB study would be least likely to be used to focus on which of the following problems?
a decrease in sales due to growing foreign competition
Research has found tests that measure specific dimensions of intelligence are strong predictors of which of the following?
Job Performance
_______ is a field of study that investigates the impact that individuals, groups, and structure have on behaviour within organizations for the purposes of applying such knowledge towards improving an organization’s effectiveness.
Organizational Behaviour
Classical conditioning would view which of the following as most likely to be a conditioned response?
Looking for shelter when the sky turns grey
What do we call the view that we can learn both through observation and direct experience?
Social Learning Theory
Which of the following is most likely to be a belief held by a successful manager?
Technical skills are necessary, but insufficient alone for success
Which of the following is best defined as a consciously coordinated social unit, composed of two or more people, which functions on a relatively continuous basis to achieve a common goal or set of goals?
organization
A company is looking for a manager to liaise between its home office in the United States, its manufacturing plants in Poland and Germany, and its suppliers in the Middle East and South Asia. A good candidate would likely score highly in what subpart of intelligence?
Cultural
The study of group processes in the organizational behaviour has largely been derived from what field of study?
Sociology
Which of the following is the most likely explanation for the higher absentee rate of women in the workplace?
Traditionally, women have had the responsibility of caring for home and family
Determining how tasks are to be grouped is part of which management function?
organizing
