Chapter 1: Introduction to the field of Organizational behavior Flashcards
Organizational behavior (OB)
The study of what people think feel and do in and around an organization
Organizations
Groups of people that work interdependently toward some purpose
The key features of an organization:
They are collective entities
Members have a collective sense of purpose
Why is organizational behavior important for me?
organizational behavior and skills are critical toward everyones career
It helps adopt better personal theories to comprehend, predict & influence organizational events
Why is organizational behavior important for organizations?
To make organizations more effective
organizational effectiveness
when an organization has a good fit with the external environment,
effectively transforms inputs to outputs through human capital and
satisfies the needs of key stakeholders
open systems
the view that organizations are dependent on the external environment for input and has subsystems that transform them into output which affect the environment
2 Ways OB knowledge supports organizational effectiveness:
- It helps organizations maintain a good fit with the external environment
- OB theories identify ways for companies to develop and maintain optimal transformation processes
Human capital
Valued resources that employees bring to an organization. (knowledge, skill, abilities, creative thinking)
3 ways organizations become more effective in enhancing human capital:
- Employees perform better as they acquire more skills and knowledge
- companies with superior human capital are better at adapting to rapidly changing environments
- developing human capital means the company is investing in and rewarding the workforce
Stakeholders
entities that affect or are affected by the organizations objectives and actions
Corporate social responsibility (CSR)
organizational activities intended to benefit society and the environment beyond the firms immediate financial interests or legal obligations
evidence based management
making decisions and taking actions guided by research evidence
The 5 anchors of organizational behavior knowledge on which OB knowledge is developed and refined:
- Systematic research anchor
- Practical orientation anchor
- Multidisciplinary anchor
- Contingency anchor
- Multiple levels of analysis anchor
Systematic research anchor
study organizations using scientific research methods
Practical orientation anchor
Ensure that OB theories are useful in organizations
Multidisciplinary anchor
important 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 3 levels of analysis: individual, team and organization
How to create a more evidence based organization?
> Be skeptical of hype
Seek out views of several expert sources
Resist the temptation to engage in herd behavior
inclusive workplace
a workplace that values all identities and allows them to be fully themselves while contributing to the organization
surface-level diversity
The observable demographic or physiological differences in people
deep-level diversity
differences in psychological characteristics of employees
diversity and creativity
teams with high informational diversity tend to be more creative and make better decisions in complex situations
relationship between team diversity and performance
curvilinear relationship, some diversity but not too much leads to the best performance. Otherwise risk of conflict through problems in communication.
work-life integration
the degree that people are engaged in various work and non-work roles and have a low degree of role conflict in those life domains
How to maximize work-life integration?
- Integrate 2 or more roles
- Flexible work scheduling
- Make sure the work and non-work roles are compatible with each other and yourself
- Boundary-management
4 tactics to practice boundary management:
- schedule time blocks
- create physical role spaces
- apply technological boundaries
- communicate role boundary expectations
remote work
any arrangement where an individual performs organizational tasks while located away from the employers physical premise
advantages & disadvantages remote work
+ better work-life integration
+ financially beneficial (less traveling)
- risk of having weaker culture
MARS-model
The factors that directly influence an individuals voluntary behavior & performance
Motivation
Ability
Role perception
Situational factors
Motivation
the forces within a person that affect the:
- direction
- intensity
- persistence
of effort for voluntary behavior
Ability
- aptitudes (inborn talents)
- learned capabilities
- habits
required to successfully complete a task
Ways to match an individuals abilities to job requirements:
> Select participants with the required abilities
Train employees who lack certain learned capabilities
Redesign the job
Role perception
How clearly people understand what is expected of them in their organizational role.
- know duties &consequences for which they are accountable
- understand task scheduling priority & performance criterion priority
- understand preferred behaviors or procedures for accomplishing tasks
Situational factors
- work context constrains or facilitates behavior & performance
- work environment provides cues to guide & motivate people
task performance
an individuals voluntary goal-directed behaviors that contribute to organizational objectives
The 3 types of task performance:
- Proficient task performance
- Adaptive task performance
- Proactive task performance
Proficient task performance
How well employees perform work efficiently and accurately
Adaptive task performance
how well employees modify their thought and behavior to align with and support a new or changing work process or setting
Proactive task performance
how well employees take initiative to anticipate and introduce new work patterns that benefit the organization
Organizational citizenship behaviors (OCB’s)
various forms of cooperation and helpfulness to others the support the organizations social and psychological context
Counterproductive work behaviors (CWB’s)
voluntary behaviors that have the potential to directly or indirectly harm the organization or its stakeholders
external and internal fit
EX: Fit with the external environment
IN: Efficient transformation of inputs to outputs
Fit
Input, processes and output align with the needs and expectations of the external environment
Effectiveness of human capital depends on:
- acquiring knowledge
- sharing knowledge
- using knowledge
- storing knowledge
- (unlearning knowledge)
