Chapter 1 Vocab Flashcards
Manager
An individual who achieves goals through other people.
Organization
A consciously coordinated social unit, composed of two or more people, that functions on a relatively continuous basis to achieve a common goal or set of goals.
Planning
A process that includes defining goals, establishing strategy, and developing plans to coordinate activities.
Organizing
Determining what tasks are to be done, who is to do them, how the tasks are to be grouped, who reports to whom, and where decisions are to be made.
Leading
A function that includes motivating employees, directing others, selecting the most effective communication channels, and resolving conflicts.
Controlling
Monitoring activities to ensure they are being accomplished as planned and correcting any significant deviations.
Figurehead
Symbolic head; required to perform a number of routine duties of a legal or social nature.
Leader
Responsible for the motivation and direction of employees.
Liaison
Maintains a network of outside contacts who provide favors and information.
Monitor
Receives a wide variety of information; serves as nerve center of internal and external information of the organization.
Disseminator
Transmits information received from outsiders or from other employees to members of the organization.
Spokesperson
Transmits information to outsiders on organization’s plans, policies, actions, and results; serves as expert on organization’s industry.
Entrepreneur
Searches organization and its environment for opportunities and initiates projects to bring about change.
Disturbance Handler
Responsible for corrective action when organization faces important, unexpected disturbances.
Resource Allocator
Makes or approves significant organizational decisions.
Negotiator
Responsible for representing the organization at major negotiations.
Technical Skills
The ability to apply specialized knowledge or expertise.
Human Skills
The ability to work with, understand, and motivate other people, both individually and in groups.
Conceptual Skills
The mental ability to analyze and diagnose complex situations.
Organizational Behavior (OB)
A field of study that investigates the impact that individuals, groups, and structure have on behavior within organizations, for the purpose of applying such knowledge toward improving an organization’s effectiveness.
Systematic Study
Looking at relationships, attempting to attribute causes and effects, and drawing conclusions based on scientific evidence.
Evidence-Based Management (EBM)
The basing of managerial decisions on the best available scientific evidence.
Intuition
A gut feeling not necessarily supported by research.
Psychology
The science that seeks to measure, explain, and sometimes change the behavior of humans and other animals.
Social Psychology
An area of psychology that blends concepts from psychology and sociology and that focuses on the influence of people on one another.
Sociology
The study of people in relation to their social environment or culture.
Anthropology
The study of societies to learn about human beings and their activities.
Contingency Variables
Situational factors: variables that moderate the relationship between two or more variables.
Workforce Diversity
The concept that organizations are becoming more heterogeneous in terms of gender, age, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and inclusion of other diverse groups.
Positive Organizational Scholarship
An area of OB research that concerns how organizations develop human strength, foster vitality and resilience, and unlock potential.
Ethical Dilemmas and Ethical Choices
Situations in which individuals are required to define right and wrong conduct.
Model
An abstraction of reality. A simplified representation of some real-world phenomenon.
Input
Variables that lead to processes.
Processes
Actions that individuals, groups, and organizations engage in as a result of inputs and that lead to certain outcomes.
Outcomes
Key factors that are affected by some other variables.
Task Performance
The combination of effectiveness and efficiency at doing your core job tasks.
Citizenship Behavior
Discretionary behavior that contributes to the psychological and social environment of the workplace.
Withdrawal behavior
The set of actions employee take to separate themselves from the organization.
Group Cohesion
The extent to which members of a group support and validate one another while at work.
Group Functioning
The quantity and quality of a work group’s output.
Productivity
The combination of the effectiveness and efficiency of an organization.
Effectiveness
The degree to which an organization meets the needs of its clientele or customers.
Efficiency
The degree to which an organization can achieve its ends at a low cost.
Organizational Survival
The degree to which an organization is able to exist and grow over the long term.
What is the importance of interpersonal skills?
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What do managers do in terms of functions, roles, and skills?
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What is organizational behavior (OB)?
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Why is it important to complement intuition with systematic study?
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What are the major behavioral science disciplines that contribute to OB?
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Why are there few absolutes in OB?
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What are the challenges and opportunities for managers in using OB concepts?
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What are the three levels of analysis in this book’s OB model?
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