Chapter 1-7 Flashcards
Type A Behaviour Pattern
A type of behaviour exhibited by people who tend to experience more stressors, to appraise more demands as stressful, and to be prone to experiencing more strains than most others.
Identity
The degree to which the job requires completing a whole, identifiable piece of work from beginning to end with a visible outcome.
Satisfaction with the work itself
Employees’ feelings about their actual work tasks, including whether those tasks are challenging, interesting, respected, and make use of key skills rather than being dull, repetitive, and uncomfortable.
- strong correlation to job satisfaction
- most important
Behavioural strains
Patterns of negative behaviours associated with other strains.
- teeth grinding, alcohol abuse, compulsive eating
Significance
The degree to which the job has a substantial impact on the lives of other people, particularly people in the world at large.
Behavioural coping
Physical activities used to deal with a stressful situation.
Relationship between motivation and job performance.
Strong positive correlation between motivation and job performance.
Instrumentality
Represents the belief that successful performance will result in some outcome(s).
Pay satisfaction
Employees’ feelings about the compensation for their jobs.
- moderate correlation to job satisfaction
- least important
Prosocial counterproductive behaviour
Workplace behaviours that are intended to benefit others or the organization but are also counterproductive because they violate norms, rules, policies, or laws. Ex. a police officer who engages in perjury to help convict a suspect.
Compensatory forms model
Argues that the various withdrawal behaviours negatively correlate with one another, that doing one means you’re less likely to do another. The idea is that any form of withdrawal can compensate for a sense of dissatisfaction, which makes other forms unnecessary.
Progression model
Argues that the various withdrawal behaviours are positively correlated; the tendency to daydream leads to the tendency to come in late or take long breaks, which leads to the tendency to be absent or quit. Studies support this model.
What is interpersonal citizenship behaviour?
Going beyond normal job expectations to assist, support, and develop co-workers and colleagues.
• helping - assisting coworkers
•courtesy - keeping coworkers informed
• sportsmanship - maintaining a good attitude with co-workers, even when they’re annoying
Expectancy
Represents the belief that exerting a high level of effort will result in the successful performance of some task.
Embeddedness
Summarizes employees’ links to their organization and community, their sense of fit with their organization and community, and what they would have to sacrifice for a job change.
Job characteristics theory
A theory that argues that five core characteristics (variety, identity, significance, autonomy, and feedback) combine to result in high levels of satisfaction with the work itself.
Task performance
Employee behaviours that are directly involved in the transformation of organizational resources into goods or services that the organization produces.
• core tasks, duties, responsibilities
• explicit obligations to receive compensation and continued employment
Psychological empowerment
An energy rooted in the belief that tasks are contributing to some larger purposes.
Equity theory
A theory that suggests that employees create a mental ledger of the outcomes they receive for their job inputs, relative to some comparison other.
Primary appraisal
Evaluation of whether a demand is stressful and, if it is, the implications of the stressor in terms of personal goals and well-being.
Psychological strains
Negative psychological reactions from stressors such as depression, anxiety, and anger.
Expectancy theory
A theory that describes the cognitive process employees go through to make choices among different voluntary responses. It argues that employee behaviour is directed toward pleasure and away from pain or, more generally, toward certain outcomes and away from others. It suggests that our choices depend on three specific beliefs based on our past learning experiences.
Social influence model
Employees who have direct linkages with “leavers” will themselves be more likely to leave.
Relationship between hindrance stressors and job performance
Hindrance stressors have a weak negative relationship with job performance. (Hindrance stressors result in strains and negative emotions that reduce the overall level of physical, cognitive, and emotional energy that people could otherwise bring to their job duties.)
What is a strong, moderate, and weak correlation?
The range is 0 to - or + 1
Strong - 0.50
Moderate - 0.30
Weak - 0.10
Occupational equity
Comparing to others doing the same job in other companies, with similar levels of education, seniority, and performance.
The two primary outcomes in organizational behaviours
Job performance and organizational commitment.
Extraversion
Talkative, sociable, passionate, assertive, bold, dominant.
- Easiest to judge in zero acquaintance situations.
- Not necessarily related to job performance across all jobs.
- Status striving.
High in positive affectivity - a tendency to experience pleasant, engaging moods.
What is organizational citizenship behaviour?
Going above and beyond normal expectations to improve operations of the organization, defend it, and be loyal to it.
* Voice - offering suggestions regarding opportunities to improve organizational functioning or to address problems. Promotive voice - suggestions focused on enhancing the organization.
Prohibitive voice - problems that need to be addressed to prevent harm.
* Civic virtue - participating in the company’s operations at a deeper than normal level (ex. attending voluntary meetings.)
* Boosterism - representing the organization in a positive way when out in public.
Counterproductive behaviour
Employee behaviours that intentionally hinder organizational goal accomplishment.
* Property deviance - behaviours that harm the org’s assets and possessions. Ex. sabotage & theft. (Organizational, serious.)
* Production deviance - intentionally reducing organizational efficiency of work output. Ex. wasting resources. (Organizational, minor).
* Political deviance - behaviours that intentionally disadvantage other individuals. Ex. gossip, incivility. (Interpersonal, minor).
* Personal aggression - hostile verbal and physical actions directed towards other employees. Ex. harassment, abuse. (Interpersonal, serious.)
Emotion-focused coping
Behaviours and cognitions of an individual intended to help manage emotional reactions to the stressful demands.
Relational contracts
Based on a broader set of open-ended and subjective obligations. Ex. employee owes loyalty and willingness to go above and beyond; organization owes job security, development and support.
Coworker satisfaction
Employees’ feelings about their co-worker, including their abilities and personalities.
- Strong correlation to job satisfaction.
- 3rd most important.
External comparisons
Comparing oneself to someone in a different company.
Secondary appraisal
When people determine how to cope with the various stressors they face.
Erosion model
Employees with fewer bonds will be most likely to quit the organization.
Transactional contracts
Based on a narrow set of specific monetary obligations. Ex. Employees owe attendance and protection of info; the org. owes pay and opportunities.
How do organizations identify the behaviours that underlie task performance?
Job analysis - a process by which an organization determines requirements of specific jobs.
3 Steps:
1. List all job activities.
2. Each activity is rated by “subject- matter experts” according to things like importance of the frequency.
3. Highly rated activities for frequency and importance describe task performance.
Relationship between hindrance stressors and organizational commitment.
Hindrance stressors have a strong negative relationship with organizational commitment. (Hindrance stressors evoke strains, which are generally dissatisfying to people and satisfaction has a strong impact on the degree to which people feel committed to their organization.
Conscientiousness
Dependable, organized, reliable, ambitious, hardworking, persevering.
- Biggest influence on job performance.
- Prioritize accomplishment striving.
Continuance commitment
An employee’s desire to remain a part of an organization due to an awareness of the costs of leaving.
- Staying because you NEED to.
- Anxiety when leaving.
- Lack of job alternatives & investment made mastering work roles increases continuance commitment.
Problem-focused coping
Behaviours and cognitions of an individual intended to manage the stressful situation itself.
Age equity
Comparing yourself to others of the same age.
Challenge stressor
Stressors that tend to be appraised as opportunities for growth and achievement.
- Often triggers positive emotions such as pride and enthusiasm.
- Work challenge stressors include time pressure, work complexity, and work responsibility.
Job performance
The value of the set of employee behaviours that contribute, either positively or negatively, to the organizational goal accomplishment.
3 Behaviour categories:
1. Task performance
2. Citizenship behaviours
3. Counterproductive behaviour
Cognitive coping
Thoughts used to deal with a stressful situation.
Normative commitment
An employee’s desire to remain apart of an organization due to feelings of obligation.
- Staying because you OUGHT to.
- Guilt when leaving
Contemporary approach
Recognizes that there are dependencies between the classical and human approach.
Job equity
Comparing to others doing the same job in the same company, with similar levels of education, seniority, and performance.
Agreeableness
Kind, cooperative, sympathetic, helpful, courteous, and warm.
- Prioritize communion striving - a strong desire to obtain acceptance in personal relationships as a means of expressing ones personality.
- Getting along, not ahead.
- Not necessarily related to job performance.
Affective Commitment
An employee’s desire to remain a member of an organization due to feelings of emotional attachment.
- Staying because you WANT to.
- Sadness when leaving.
Classical approach (Scientific Management)
Focus was on productivity
Define organizational commitment and withdrawal behaviours
Organizational commitment - the desire on part of an employee to remain a member of the organization.
Withdrawal behaviours - a set of actions that employees perform to avoid the work situation - behaviours that may culminate in quitting the organization.
Commitment and withdrawal are negatively related to each other.
Perceived organizational support
The degree to which employees believe that the organization values their contributions and cares about their well-being.
Promotion satisfaction
Employees’ feelings about the company’s promotion policies and their execution, including whether promotions are frequent, fair, and based on ability.
- Moderate positive correlation to job satisfaction.
- 4th most important.
Human relations approach
Hawthorne studies marked the inception of the HR approach. Recognized that workers have psychological attributes that affect them at work. Conducted an experiment that tested different factors, such as lighting, to explore productivity.
Education equity
Comparing yourself to others who have attained the same education level.
Job satisfaction
A pleasurable emotional state resulting from the appraisal of one’s job or job experience.
Intrinsic motivation
Motivation felt when task performance serves as its own reward. Enjoyment, interestingness, accomplishment, and knowledge gain etc.
Physical withdrawal
Actions that provide a physical escape, whether short-term or long-term, from the work environment. Includes tardiness, long breaks, missing meetings, absenteeism, quitting.
Company equity
Comparing to others in the same company but in different jobs, with similar levels of responsibility.
Feedback
The degree to which carrying out the activities required by the job provides the work with clear information about how well they are performing. This core characteristic reflects feedback obtained directly from the job as opposed to feedback from co-workers or supervisors.
Goal setting theory
Views goals as the primary drivers of the intensity and persistence of effort. The theory argues that assigning employees specific and difficult goals (goals that stress an employee to perform at their maximum level while staying within the boundaries of their ability) will result in higher levels of performance than assigning no or easy goals.
Independent forms model
Argues that the various withdrawal behaviours are uncorrelated with one another, occur for different reasons, and fulfill different needs on part of employees.
Transactional theory of stress
A theory that explains how stressful demands are perceived and appraised, as well as how people respond to the perceptions of appraisals.
Value-percept theory
A theory that argues that job satisfaction depends on whether the employee perceives that their job supplies those things that they value. The theory is summarized by the equation below: Dissatisfaction = (Vwant- Vhave) x (Vimportance)
The scientific method
How we know what we know about OB. Theory -> hypothesis -> data -> verification
Hindrance stressors
Stressors that tend to be appraised as thwarting progress toward growth and achievement.
- Often trigger negative emotions such as anxiety and anger.
- Work hindrance stressors include role conflict, role ambiguity, role overload, daily hassles.
Physiological strains
Reactions from stressors that harm the human body.
Internal comparisons
Comparing oneself to someone in your same company.
Supervision satisfaction
Employees’ feelings about their boss including their competency, communication, and personality.
- Strong correlation to job satisfaction.
- 2nd most important.
Relationship between challenge stress and job performance and organizational commitment
Challenge stressors have a weak positive relationship with job performance and a moderate positives relationship with organizational commitment. (While challenge stressors can result in strains, which detract form performance and commitment, they also tend to trigger the positive emotions and problem-focused coping strategies characteristic of employees who are highly engaged in their jobs.
Variety
The degree to which the job requires a number of different skills and talents.
Hofstede’s dimensions of cultural values
- Individualism - Collectivism
- Power distance
- Uncertainty avoidance
- Masculinity - femininity
- Short-term vs. long-term orientation
Affective event theory
A theory that describe how workplace events can generate emotional reactions that impact work behaviours.
Extrinsic motivation
Desire to put forth work effort due to some contingency that depends on task performance. Promotions, bonuses, and praise, etc.
Autonomy
The degree to which the job provides freedom, independence, and discretion to the individual performing the work.
Valence
Reflects the anticipated value of the outcomes associated with performance. Valences can be positive or negative. Salary increases and bonuses are positive. Disciplinary actions, demotions, and terminations are negative.
Psychological withdrawal
Actions that provide a mental escape from the work environment. Includes daydreaming, socializing, looking busy, moonlighting, and cyber loafing.
Citizenship behaviour
Voluntary employee activities that may or may not be rewarded but that contribute to the organization by improving the overall quality of setting in which work takes place. High levels of citizenship behaviour = a good citizen.
Neuroticism
Nervous, moody, emotional, insecure, jealous, and unstable.
- 2nd most important big 5
- Beneficial to few jobs.
- Strongly related to locus of control.
- Tend to believe that events that occur around them are driven by luck, chance, or fate.
Openness to experience
Curious, imaginative, creative, complex, refined, and sophisticated.
- Benefits fluid, or dynamic jobs.
- Valuable in jobs that require high levels of creative performance.
- not necessarily related to job performance across all jobs.
Psychological contracts
Employees’ beliefs about what they owe the organization and what the organization owes them.
What is organizational behaviour?
A field of study devoted to understanding, explaining, and improving the attitudes and behaviours of individuals and groups in organizations.
3 types of task performance
- Routine - well known responses to demands that occur in a predictable way.
- Adaptive - responses to task demands that are unusual or unpredictable.
- Creative - the degree to which individuals develop ideas or physical outcomes that are both novel and useful.
What are the four primary responses to negative events at work?
- Exit - an active, destructive response by which an individual ends or restricts organizational membership (Ex. removing self from situation by being absent more).
- Voice - an active, constructive response in which individuals attempt to improve the situation.
- Loyalty - a passive, constructive responses that maintains public support for the situation, while the individual privately hopes for improvement (Ex. maintaining effort level despite unhappiness).
- Neglect - a passive, destructive response in which interest and effort in the job decline (Ex. mentally checking out).
