All Flashcards
What is Organizational Behavior?
OB is the study of individuals, groups, and their connection with the organization, and the organizations connection with society at large, with the goal of improving the attitudes, behaviors, and performance of those.
According to Bauer & Erdogan (2009) Organizational Behavior is the systematic study & application of knowledge about how individuals & groups act w/ organizations where they work. It allows us to understand, influence, predict work place events
4 types of Performance Management
1) Management by Objectives (MBO) - employees achieve specific goals
2) BARS (Behaviorally Anchored Rating Scale - measuring performance by directly assessing job performance.
- Think LeAD lab and HireVue’s process
3) 360 degree Feedback - collecting performance ratings from a variety of sources with direct knowledge of employees performance (e.g., supervisor, coworkers, and even self)
4) Forced Rankings - forcing raters to rank ratees, allows for categorization such as A B & C players, see also Jack Welch
Relational Coordination
groups of people who communicate and relate with one another in order to achieve group goals. Shared goals, shared knowledge, and mutual respect demonstraete effective coordination, enhancing team performance (Gittell, 2002 2006)
Knowledge Sharing (information sharing)
using and sharing ones knowledge to help and collaborate with others. Increases team performance. Can be influenced by culture (Mesmer-Magnus & DeChurch, 2009)
Psychological Safety
is a shared belief that the team is safe for interpersonal risk taking. Indiviudals feel safe to work together, seek and provide feedback, and VOICE their ideas.
Antecedents include supportive org practices & social support
Outcomes include better communication, attitudes, and performance
Edmundson 1999
WYLTKM - More psych safety likely increase in employee voice
Team Potency
the shared belief by a group that they will be effective
Research extensively links with higher team effectivenss and performance (Gibson etal. 2000)
Conflict (and it’s three types)
the perception, real or otherwise, that there are incongruous views between team members.
Often characterized by:
Task - disagreements about the content of the tasks being done. Can potentially have negative effects toward the group but has also been found to improve team outcomes
Relational - interpersonal issues between members in a team. Can hurt overall cohesion of a group. Can occur from composition issues (personality, cultural differences, and team size), team atmosphere, and prior performance
Process - issues surrounding the roles, delegation of tasks, and responsibilities. Linked to team composition such as culture and values.
Jehn 1995, 2005
Three criteria for team effectiveness
Team Satisfaction - extent team members are satisfied with their team. Strong relationship between team satisfaction and group processes like open communication and supportiveness.
Team Viability - extent team members are willing to continue working together or in the future
Performance - “productive output of the work group should meet or exceed the performance standards of the people who receive and/or review the output”
Hackman 1987
Employee Voice (definitions)
The relatively discretionary expressions of organizationally relevant content intended to affect the work context (i.e., policies, practices, procedures, work methods, & goals) and targeted explicitly at someone within the organization
Promotive voice - employee suggestions regarding opportunities and initiatives to improve future organizational functioning
Prohibitive voice - employee communication intended to address past or current problems and concerns that could otherwise lead to harmful outcomes for the organization
Meta-Analysis by Chamberlin etal 2017
Voice (antecedents and outcomes)
According to meta-analysis by Chamberlin et al 2017 - undifferentiated constructive voice is associated with a wide range of antecedents that fit in Morrison’s (2014) five categories: (a) dispositions (personal initiative), (b) job and organizational attitudes and perceptions (felt responsibility), (c) emotions, beliefs, and schemas (engagement), (d) supervisor and leader behavior,(LMX) and (e) contextual factors (positive workplace climate).
Those who engage in higher levels of Promotive Voice tend to receive higher performance evaluations, whereas higher levels of Prohibitive Voice tend to receive lower performance evaluations
Morrison (2014) framework of Employee Voice, motivators and inhibitors
1) Individual dispositions
Motivators – Extraversion, Proactive personality, Assertiveness, Conscientiousness, Duty orientation, Customer orientation
Inhibitors - Achievement orientation
2) Job and organizational attitudes and perceptions
Motivators - Organizational identification, Work-group identification, Felt obligation for change, Job satisfaction, Role breadth, Control or influence, Organizational support
Inhibitors – Detachment, Powerlessness
3) Emotions, beliefs, and schemas
Motivators – Anger, Psychological safety
Inhibitors – Fear, Futility, Image or career risks
4) Supervisor and leader behavior
Motivators – Openness, Consultation, Leader–member exchange, Transformational leadership, Ethical leadership, Leader influence
Inhibitors - Abusive leadership
5) Other contextual factors
Motivators - Group voice climate, Caring climate, Formal voice mechanisms
Inhibitors - Job and social stressors, Climate of fear or silence, Instrumental climate, Hierarchical structure, Change-resistant culture
Employee Voice and Organizational Justice
Voice procedures are those that allow people an opportunity to provide inputs to the decision-maker, and Mute procedures are those that do not.
Previous work such as from Greenberg and Folger has consistent findings that ppl perceive voice procedures as fairer than mute procedures even with an unfavorable decision
Research on procedural justice has shown that employees feel more valued and have a greater sense of control when they are given the opportunity to express their views prior to a decision (e.g., Folger 1977, Folger & Cropanzano 1998)
Voice can also be considered in terms of extra-role behaviors a la OCBs
A core premise is voice is motivated by desire (or sense of obligation) to bring about a constructive change (Morrison 2014), injustice would hurt this
Alternatively, seeing injustice directed toward another may spark voice (I don’t have evidence to back this claim)
Morrison (2014) framework of Employee Voice, outcomes
Organizational or group effectiveness - Performance & Turnover
Outcomes for employees - Performance evaluations, Career outcomes, Impressions
Why might Procedural Justice issues not be brought up by new employees?
Something called Voice Bystander Effects, wherein information that would appear to be / presumably be redundant or known by a large group of people, the likelihood of anyone speaking up decreases through diffusion of responsibility. Hussain et al. 2019 through three studies (field study, lab study, and vignette study) found that employees with redundant information about work issues were less likely to share that information with higher-ups.
Organizational Commitment (definition and components)
- desire of an employee to remain with an org
Affective Commitment - desire to remain due to emotional attachment and involvement with the org (stay because you want to)
Continuance Commitment - desire to remain due to knowing the costs of leaving (stay because you need to)
Normative Commitment - desire to stay due to a sense of obligation (stay because you ought to)
Violations to justice should impact org commitment, largely in the normative commitment component, distributive justice at the continuance commitment, and interpersonal justice at the affective commitment.
Research on reactions to negative work events - 4 general responses
Exit - active, destructive response where individuals end or restrict invovment with org
Voice - active, constructive response to improve the situation
Loyalty - passive, constructive reponse where one maintains public support but privately hope for improvement
Neglect - passive, destructive response where interest and effort declines
-from separate research by Hirschman and Farrell
Research suggests that organizational commitment increases the likelihood of voice and loyalty while decreasing the likelihood of exit and neglect.
Connection between Organizational Jusitce and Org Commitment
Violations to justice should impact org commitment,
Largely in the normative commitment component
Distributive justice at the continuance commitment, and
Interpersonal justice at the affective commitment.
Adult Learning Theory - the 4 types
behaviorism, cognitivism, social learning, & constructivism
Adult Learning Theory - constructivism
developmentalism closely examines the learner’s meaning-making system (similar to cognitivism). Linked closely to the concepts of Kegan’s constructivist/developmental theory, perhaps the best known theory of developmentalism is Mezirow’s transformative learning (also known as transformational learning).
Transformative learning occurs when individuals critically reflect upon their environment and learning. Through intense reflection, individuals transform their thinking and view of the world.
Adult Learning Theory - social learning
suggests that individuals learn behavior (e.g., leadership, aggression) based on modeling in their environments.
Learning is a relationship between the learner and the environment.
social learning underscores the importance of congruence between leadership
development and the corresponding culture. For example, Moxley & O’Conner-Wilson (1998) suggest that, “one organization’s leadership development program focused on helping people develop the skills needed to effectively operate in a flatter, more team-based environment. Yet, the performance appraisal and compensation system put more emphasis on individual performance. The reward system undermined the goal of developing a team-based work environment” (p. 229). Leadership development initiatives that do not align with the “real” organizational culture encounter challenges from the outset. Mixed messages likely occur and, in the end, the individual is forced (or
encouraged) to act in a manner congruent with the organization’s theory-in-use rather than the espoused theory. (Percieved injustice)
Adult Learning Theory - cognitivism
- focuses on the internal aspects of learning.
- experienced-centered instruction is based on Gestalt theory.
- Program architects who promote this orientation to learning suggest that instruction needs to focus on participants having an “understanding” rather than a behavioral change (Rothwell and Sredl, 1992).
- In other words, one goal is for participants to be more in tune with their own processes and ways of knowing are the primary goals.
- Kohler was the founder of cognitivism and hypothesized that learning occurs when an individual has insight that shows a relationship between two distinct components of a larger system or problem. Gestalt theorists view learning as a uniquely individual event that is about discovering relationships between things.
Adult Learning Theory - behaviorism
behaviorists believe learning is driven by stimulus and response.
Behaviorism takes a very mechanistic approach to learning and, at times, seems very cold – excluding feelings or anything that cannot be observed. As a result, “learning occurs through observable and measurable behavior. A change in external behavior produces changes in internal attitudes, beliefs and values. Human beings are shaped by their surroundings” (Rothwell & Sredl, 1992, p. 329). Thus, learners simply respond to stimuli developed by things external to themselves (teachers, classmates, etc.).
Thinking and feeling have little to do with learning because each cannot be measured.
1 - behaviorists study current behavior and are not concerned with the past.
2 - proponents suggest that only that what which can be measured and observed is important.
3 - behaviorists believe in “specifying the desired results of instruction in measurable terms before it takes place” (Rothwell and Sredl, 1992, p. 326).
As a result, behaviorism is frequently used in skills and job training.
Early behaviorists included Edward Thorndike, Ivan Pavlov, Clark Hull and B.F. Skinner
(Motivation to) Transfer Learning
“trainees’ desire to use the knowledge and skills mastered in training or associated learning activities on the job (Noe & Schmitt, 1986 as cited by
- According to Noe ‘86, trainees’ attitudes, interests, values, and expectations can influence training effectiveness
- motivation to transfer is influenced by perceptions of work group support and task constraints
-Caffarella (2002) defines transfer of learning as “the effective application by program participants of what they learned as a result of attending an education or training program” (p. 204).
sampling of predictors – trainee characteristics, work environment, training interventions, cognitive ability, conscientiousness, motivation, and a supportive work environment
Leadership Development Programs (or aspects of programs) fall into four categories:
1- Personal growth programs - to increase self-awareness and emphasize self-exploration.
2- Conceptual understanding which primarily focuses on theories of leadership
3- Feedback
4- Skill Building
Organizational Citizenship Behavior (OCBs)
extra role behaviors that help contribute to the organization and quality of life of other workers
Makes a better environment for others within the organization
One component that received a lot of recent attention is Voice
researched by many including Organ (early researcher and recent Annual Review paper)
OCB Outcomes
OCBs can boost organizational effectiveness, supervisors even consider this when conducting performance reviews, and this holds cross-culturally (Hofstede for one; Rotundo & Sackett 2002 as cited in the 2020 OB Book)
OCB and Justice Perceptions
meta-analysis (Colquitt et al. 2013), based on 493 independent samples, found evidence that beliefs about distributive justice and procedural justice were significantly related to OCB, but some of that effect was mediated by positive and negative affect states. Procedural justice had a direct effect on OCB as well as a mediated effect. The same pattern was observed with respect to informational justice.The combined effects were greater for OCB than for task performance. To the extent that beliefs about fairness lead to satisfaction, which in turn leads to OCB, beliefs obviously matter.”
if one continuously gives OCB but recieves none in return, [will] their likelyhood of continuing drops[?].
some research indicates that daily OCB can have negative impact on the helper in terms of their work goals,
Fariness, OCB, LMX, and Cultural differences
Meta-analysis by Rockstuhl et al., 2012 “results of this study indicate that perceptions of fairness, job satisfaction, turnover intention, and leader–member exchange are more closely linked in horizontal-individualistic cultures than in vertical-collectivist cultures. In societies characterized by steep power differences and an emphasis on the group as a whole rather than the individual, much of what we have regarded as OCB has a peer-group and hierarchical flavor.”
Signaling Theory (definition and connection to Org Justice)
-seeks to reduce information asymmetry between two parties
-what a company wants to signal may not be what an applicant, or just someone, recieves
-in the absence of organizational transparency, applicants may extrapolate signals from available information
-e.g., use of automation in selection process may inadvertently signal company does not care
Theory by Spence 1973
Uncertainty Management Theory
- Employees want to “feel certain about their world and their place within it” (Lind & van den Bos, 2002; Van den Bos & Lind, 2002)
– (core tenant = uncertainty is stressful) introduced to explain why employees care about overall levels of fairness - procedural and interactional justice help reduce general uncertainty in organizations, and not just uncertainty associated with trust in authority - When faced with general workplace uncertainty, individuals look to the fairness of their treatment as a means of managing and coping with that uncertainty. In the words of the theory’s authors, “people use fairness to manage their reactions to uncertainty” (Lind & van den Bos, 2002: 216).
Leader-Member Exchange (LMX)
“All about the relationship between the leader and subordinate
in dyadic relationships, managers tend to use different approaches for each of their employees,
each relationship or management style provokes different attitudes in subordinates, which drives the latter to behave differently from each other
subordinates in good/bad relations with their supervisor or manager (that is, high/low LMX) feel obligated/reluctant to reciprocate
theory by Graen & Uhl-Bien, 1995”
Expectancy Theory (Motivation)
employee behavior is directed toward pleasure and away from pain, more generally toward certain outcomes and away from others.
Choices depend on the 3 specific beliefs:
1) Expectancy (subjective probability that higher effort leads to more successful performance on X.
2) Instrumentality (belief that successful performance will result in some outcomes).
3) Valence (the anticipated value of the outcomes associated with performance, [employees are more motivated when successful performance helps them attain attractive outcomes, such as bonuses, while helping them avoid unattractive outcomes, such as disciplinary actions ]).
Goal Setting Theory (Motivation)
views goals as the primary drivers of the intensity and persistence of effort – assigning employees specific and difficult goals will result in higher levels of performance than assigning no goals, easy, goals, or “do-your-best” goals
