Chapter 1 Flashcards
Organizational Behavior
Study of what people think, feel, and do in and around organizations
Organizations
Groups of people who work interdependently toward some purpose; modes of interaction (CEO is apptmt first, then assistant, ask assistant); objectives may not be agreed
Organizational Behavior Emerged
Early 1940s
Elton Mayo
Established “Human Relations”
Organizational Effectiveness
The “ultimate dependent variable” in OB. Broad concept represented by several perspectives, including the organization’s fit with the external environment, internal subsystems configuration for high performance, emphasis on org learning, and an ability to satisfy the needs of key stakeholders
Four perspectives of organizational effectiveness
Open systems; organizational learning; high-performance work practices; stakeholders
Open Systems Perspective
Holds that organizations depend on the external environment for resources, affect that environment through their output, and consist of internal subsystems that transform inputs to outputs; feedback: employees, competitors, customers, etc.
Organizational efficiencey
Also called productivity, the ration of outputs relative to inputs in the org’s transformation process
Organizational Learning Perspective
A perspective that holds that org effectiveness depends on the org’s capacity to acquire, share (cubicle mate), use (freedom to fail, autonomy), and store valuable knowledge; anthropomorphic of an organization: as ppl learn so does org
Intellectual capital
A company’s stock of knowledge, including human capital, structural capital, and relationship capital
Human capital
Stock of knowledge, skills, and abilities among employees that provide economic value to the organization
Structural capital
Also called org capital, knowledge embedded in an org’s systems and structures such as documentation of work procedures and the physical layout of the production line
Relationship capital
Value derived from an org’s relationship with customers, suppliers, and others (Home builder builds spec house, suppliers, lumber, price, and relationship)
Org Learning Process
Knowledge acquisition; knowledge sharing; knowledge use; knowledge storage and org memory
High-Performance Work Practices Perspective
Perspective that holds that effective orgs incorporate several workplace practices that leverage the potential of human capital, i.e. employee involvement, job autonomy, competency development, and rewards for performance.
Stakeholder Perspective
Individuals, groups, and other entities that affect, or are affected by, the org’s objectives and actions.
Values
Relatively stable, evaluative beliefs that guides a person’s preferences for outcomes or courses of action in a variety of situations
Ethics
Study of moral principles or values that determine whether actions are right or wrong and outcomes are good or bad
Corporate Social Responsibility
Org activities intended to benefit society and the environment beyond the firm’s immediate financial interests or legal obligations (triple bottom line philosophy: economic, social, and environmental spheres of stustainability)
Globalization
Economic, social, and cultural connectivity with people in other parts of the world
Surface-Level Diversity
Observable demographic or physiological differences in people, such as their race, ethnicity, gender, age, and physical disabilities
Deep-Level Diversity
Difference in the psychological characteristics of employees, including personalities, beliefs, values, and attitudes; what orgs hire based on
Work-life balance
The degree to which a person minimizes conflict between work and non-work demands
Virtual work
Work performed away from the traditional physical workplace, using information technology
Anchors of org behavior and knowledge
Systematic research anchor (study orgs using systematic research methods); Multidisciplinary anchor (import knowledge from other disciplines, not just create its own knowledge); Contingency anchor (recognize that the effectiveness of an action may depend on the situation); Multiple levels of analysis anchor (Understand OB events from three levels of analysis: micro, meso, macro)
Knowledge acquisition
Experimental, patents
Globalization
Challenge that affects economic, social, and cultural connectivity and interdependence with people in other parts of the world; new structures, more diverse, different comm; No more single nation corps (IBM, SAS, Apple) Structures (GM Aust, Forld/Lincoln)
