Chapter 7 - Positive Organizational Behavior and Psychological Capital

Question 1

Positive Organizational Behavior (POB)

Answer 1

• the study and application of positive oriented human resource strengths and psychological capacities that can be measured, developed, and effectively managed for performance improvement in today’s workplace.
• Based on theory and research
• Valid measures
• “State-like” and thus open to development
• Managed for performance improvement

Question 2

Four Positive Psychological Resources

Answer 2

HERO:

• hope
• efficacy
• resiliency
• optimism

Question 3

Positive Psychology

Answer 3

• is to use scientific methodology to discover and promote the factors that allow individuals, groups, organizations, and communities to thrive
• It is concerned with optimal human functioning instead of pathological human functioning

Question 4

Three levels of Positive Psychology

Answer 4

1. Valued subjective experiences (Well-being, contentment, and satisfaction (in the past); hope and optimism (for the future); and flow and happiness (in the present).
2. Positive individual traits (The capacity for love and vocation, courage, interpersonal skill, aesthetic sensibility, perseverance, forgiveness, originality, future mindedness, spirituality, high talent, and wisdom
3. Civic virtues and the institutions that move individuals toward better citizenship (Responsibility, nurturance, altruism, civility, moderation, tolerance, and work ethic)

Question 5

H-R-W well-being

Answer 5

• Health (both physical and mental)
• Relationships (both intimate and social)
• Work (both performance and satisfaction)
• interactive, reciprocal determination between one’s health, relationships, and work
• Figure 7.1 page 174

Question 6

Sonja Lyubomirsky’s H-R-W well-being determination

Answer 6

• Half is attributed to a genetic, dispositional “hard-wiring”
• About 10 percent seems to be the result of life’s circumstances
• The remaining 40 percent of one’s happiness, positivity, or H-R-W well-being is is determined by intentional activity

Question 7

self-efficacy

Answer 7

• Confidence
• refers to an individual’s ability to execute courses of action required to deal with prospective situations
• state-like and open for development

Question 8

self-reflection

Answer 8

• people reflect back on their actions/experience with a specific event/task to then cognitively process how strongly they believe they can successfully accomplish this event/ task in the future
• that serves as the theoretical basis for self-efficacy

Question 9

Specific Self-Efficacy

Answer 9

• is state-like
• is highly variable depending on the specific task and is cognitively processed by the individual before any effort is expended

Question 10

General Efficacy

Answer 10

• trait-like
• is the opposite of specific self-efficacy
• is relatively stable over time and across situations
• is like a personality trait

Question 11

Self-efficacy vs. self-esteem

Answer 11

• self-esteem is a global construct of one’s evaluation and belief of overall worthiness, whereas self-efficacy is one’s belief about a task-and context-specific capability
• self-esteem is stable and trait-like, whereas self-efficacy is changing over time as new information and task experiences are gained and developed and is state-like
• self-esteem is aimed at any aspect of one’s current self, whereas self-efficacy is a current assessment of one’s future success at a task

Question 12

Self-efficacy vs. expectancy concepts

Answer 12

• Both involve perceptions of ability, skill, knowledge, experience with the specific task, complexity of the task
• effort-performance expectancy - psychomotor reactions such as emotions, stress, and physical fatigue
• with behavior-outcome expectancy is a judgment of the probable consequence such behavior will produce an outcome
• the individual’s self-efficacy evaluation will usually come before any behavior outcome expectancies are even considered

Question 13

Self-efficacy vs. attribution/locus of control

Answer 13

• Those who make internal attributions about their behavior and its consequences (success or failure) believe they are in control of their own fate (e.g., “It is my effort or ability that makes the difference”) and assume personal responsibility for the consequences of their behavior
• Externals, on the other hand, make attributions to the circumstances (“The task was too hard”) or to luck and do not take personal responsibility for the consequences of their behavior
• locus of control attributions are causal beliefs about action-outcome contingencies, whereas self-efficacy is an individual’s belief about his or her abilities and cognitive resources that can be marshaled together to successfully execute a specific task

Question 14

Self-Efficacy evaluation/perception

Answer 14

1. Choice behaviors - The decision to perform the specific task in this context
2. Motivational effort - The amount of effort that will be expended to accomplish the task
3. Perseverance - The level of persistence that will be forthcoming despite problems, disconfirming evidence, and adversity. those with high self-efficacy will bounce back, be resilient when meeting problems or even failure, whereas those with low self-efficacy tend to give up when obstacles appear
4. Facilitative thought patterns - efficacy judgments influence self-talks such as those with high self-efficacy might say to themselves
5. Vulnerability to stress - those with low self-efficacy tend to experience stress and burnout because they expect failure, whereas those with high self-efficacy enter into potential stressful situations with confidence and assurance and thus are able to resist
   stressful reactions

Question 15

Profile of a High Performer

Answer 15

• highly efficacious individual who really gets into the task
• gives whatever effort it takes to successfully accomplish the task
• perseveres when meeting obstacles, frustrations, or setbacks
• has positive self-thoughts and talks; and is resistant to stress and burnout
• expect to succeed and gain favorable, positive outcome incentives
• focus on the opportunities worth pursuing, and view obstacles as surmountable

Question 16

Sources of Efficacy (page 178-180)

Also Figure 7.1 page 181

Answer 16

1. Mastery experiences or performance attainments
2. Vicarious Experiences or Modeling
3. Social Persuasion
4. Physiological and Psychological Arousal

Question 17

Implications of Self-Efficacy for Effective Training
#1 Mastery experience and performance attainment

Answer 17

Trainees must learn they are the cause of their performance.

1. Plenty of practice so mastery (as defined by the training objectives) is reached
2. Break learning into series of obtainable endpoints to help self-confirmation of skills.
3. Provide feedback on progress (not shortfalls) and contributions

Question 18

Implications of Self-Efficacy for Effective Training
#2 Vicarious experience and modeling

Answer 18

Model(s) used should have similar demographic attributes, and the training being done should be similar to what the trainees will be doing back on the job.

1. Carefully select models used in the training to have similar characteristics as the trainees.
2. Set up training so that trainees perceive performance is due to the capability of the model and not other factors.
3. Models should take a task-diagnostic perspective (i.e., focus on task and if mistake is made, interpret as way to learn rather than personal inadequacy).

Question 19

Implications of Self-Efficacy for Effective Training
#3 Social persuasion

Answer 19

All comments have impact, so feedback must be phrased positively to build trainee confidence.

1. Set trainees up for success so feedback comments can be very positive.
2. Trainers must be careful and sensitive to keep positive things that are said and done in the presence of the trainee.

Question 20

Implications of Self-Efficacy for Effective Training
#4 Physical and psychological arousal

Answer 20

Make sure trainees experiencing physical or psychological symptoms interpret them as the nature of the training task and not some personal inadequacy (i.e., lack of ability).

1. Trainees must understand that the need to exert considerable physical (or psychological) effort does not mean a lack of personal capability.
2. Getting trainees physically and psychologically fit may help arouse motivation to learn and be successful.

Question 21

Magnitude of a Task

Answer 21

• measures the level of task difficulty that a person believes he or she is capable of executing, and strength indicates whether the magnitude is strong and likely to produce perseverance when difficulties are encountered

Question 22

Guided Mastery

Answer 22

which includes instructive modeling to acquire a skill or competency, guided skill perfection, and then transferring the training back to the job to ensure self-directed success.

Question 23

Cognitive Mastery Modeling

Answer 23

• learn thinking skills and how to apply them by observing the decision rules and reasoning strategies successful models use as they arrive at solutions to problems and make effective decisions

Question 24

Greatest impact of BMT was when:

Behavioral Modeling Training (BMT)

Answer 24

a. both negative and positive models were presented;
b. practice included trainee-generated scenarios;
c. trainers were instructed to set goals;
d. trainees’ supervisors were also trained; and
e. rewards and sanctions were instituted in the trainees’ work environment.

Question 25

Optimism / Optimists

Answer 25

• is a major construct in positive psychology and has long been recognized by both psychologists and people in general
• drawback of overly optimistic: optimistic managers may become distracted from making the necessary action plans to attain goals or contingency plans for clearly impending problems
• make external (not their fault), unstable (temporary setback), and specific (problem only in this situation) attributions

Question 26

Pessimism / Pessimists

Answer 26

is known to lead to passivity, failure, social estrangement, and, in its extreme, depression and mortality
- make internal (their own fault), stable (will last a long time), and global (will undermine everything they do) attributions

Question 27

Learned Optimism (Seligman)

Answer 27

• This says that anyone, including pessimists, can learn the skills to be an optimist

Question 28

Hope

Answer 28

• A positive motivational state that is based on an interactively derived sense of successful (a) agency (goal-directed energy), and (b) pathways (planning to meet goals).
• More simply, this meaning of hope consists of both the “willpower” (agency) and the “waypower” (pathways)
• Perhaps conceptually the term closest in meaning to hope is self-efficacy

Question 29

Resiliency (page 192)

Answer 29

• is defined as “a class of phenomena characterized by patterns of positive adaptation in the context of significant adversity or risk
• as the capacity to rebound or bounce back from adversity, conflict, failure or even positive events, progress and increased responsibility
• involves flexibility, adjustment, adaptability, and continuous responsiveness to change and uncertainty that can otherwise represent a source of psychological strain and challenge one’s well-being over the long term

Question 30

An individual’s positive psychological state of development that is characterized by:

Answer 30

HERO:

(1) having confidence (self-Efficacy) to take on and put in the necessary effort to succeed at challenging tasks;
(2) making a positive attribution (Optimism) about succeeding now and in the future;
(3) persevering toward goals and, when necessary, redirecting paths to goals (Hope) in order to succeed; and
(4) when beset by problems and adversity, sustaining and bouncing back and even beyond (Resiliency) to attain success

Question 31

Psychological Capital

Answer 31

Defined as “an individual’s positive psychological state of development”
- characterized by having high levels of HERO; the four elements of Hope, (Self-)Efficacy, Resilience, and Optimism

Question 32

Developmental dimensions - Hope

figure 7.4 page 195

Answer 32

• Goals and pathways design
• Implementing obstacle planning
• influenced by goals, pathways, and agency
• work-related goals that were personally valuable and reasonably challenging and that included a clear beginning and end point

Question 33

Developmental dimensions - Realistic optimism

figure 7.4 page 195

Answer 33

• Building efficacy /Confidence
• Developing positive expectancy
• Building efficacy in pathway generation and obstacle planning
• Building confidence in identifying and planning to overcome obstacles increased expectations of goal achievement

Question 34

Developmental dimensions - Efficacy/ Confidence

figure 7.4 page 195

Answer 34

• Experiencing success/Modeling others
• Persuasion and arousal
• Practice setting up step-wise techniques to accomplish goals (sub-goals, vicarious learning, emotional arousal, etc).

Question 35

Developmental dimensions - Resiliency

figure 7.4 page 195

Answer 35

• Building assets/Avoid risks
• Affecting the influence process
• build awareness of personal assets like talents, skills, and social networks.
• leverage resources to accomplish a given goal

Question 36

Subjective Well-Being (SWB)

aka happiness

Answer 36

1. Happiness is a process, not a place. “Happiness is an ongoing process that requires a way of experienced life and the world that includes positive attitudes, meaning, and spirituality. Being truly rich is as much about the attitudes within us as the circumstances surrounding us.”
2. There is actually an optimal level of happiness. Those “too happy” may perform less well at school and work, and even be less healthy (e.g., may ignore symptoms or required regiments).
3. Though not linear, happiness is clearly related to health and longevity, relationships, and effectiveness at work.

Question 37

Guidelines for developing and sustaining happiness

Answer 37

1. Practicing gratitude and positive thinking (expressing gratitude, cultivating optimism, and avoiding overthinking and social comparison);
2. Investing in social connections (practicing acts of kindness and nurturing social relationships);
3. Managing stress, hardship, and trauma (developing strategies for coping, learning to forgive);
4. Living in the present (increasing flow experiences, savoring life’s joys);
5. Committing to your goals;
6. Taking care of your body and soul (practicing religion and spirituality, meditation, physical exercise, and acting like a happy person).

Question 38

Emotional Labor

Answer 38

• to express false, not natural expression, positive emotions such as smiling, most seasoned customers can easily pick up the difference
• the appropriate display of negative emotions typically means masking those emotions
• the process of managing feelings and expressions to fulfill the emotional requirements of a job
• has dysfunctional consequences for the employees doing it (e.g., stress and burnout) but also detracts from effective customer service

Question 39

Intelligence

Answer 39

• added support for the nature (biological) argument of intelligence
• Binet’s IQ basically measured two relatively narrow dimensions: mathematical/logical and verbal/ linguistic
• Gardner recognized these two plus initially five others. In developing these seven multiple intelligences or MIs, - he found that intelligence was not entirely genetic and fixed at birth, but instead it could be nurtured and grown

Question 40

Three Criteria to be Considered an Intelligence

Answer 40

(1) measurable,
(2) valued by the person’s culture, and
(3) a strength that the person defaulted to when challenged to be creative or solve a problem.

Question 41

Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences

Figure 7.3 page 204

Answer 41

Original:
1. Logical/mathematical (Processes analytically, calculates, quantifies)
2. Verbal/linguistic (Thoughts through words, uses words to nurture)
3. Interpersonal (Understands others, processes through interaction, empathizes, humor)
4. Intrapersonal (Thinks in quiet, likes to be alone, goal oriented, independent, perseveres)
5. Visual/spatial (Uses mental models, thinks three dimensionally, pictures how to get places or solve problems)
6. Musical (Sensitivity to pitch, melody, rhythm, found in both performers and listeners)
7. Bodily/kinesthetic (Physical movement, involves whole body, processes by jumping or dancing)
New:
8. Naturalist (Needs to be with/survive in nature, strength in categorization in nature or urban world)
9. Existential (Not religion per se, knows why he or she is here, personal mission)
10. Emotional (Emotionally mature, recognizes own anger, reacts to emotions of self and other)

Question 42

Cognitive Abilities Related to Job Performance

Answer 42

1. Verbal comprehension (Comprehend what is read or heard, understand what words mean and the relationships to one another)
2. Numerical (Make fast and accurate arithmetic computations)
3. Spatial visualization (Perceive spatial patterns, imagine how an object would look if position in space were changed)
4. Perceptual speed (Quickly identify visual similarities and differences, carry out tasks needing visual perception)
5. Memory (Rote memory, retain and recall past incidents/experiences)
6. Inductive reasoning (Identify logical sequence from specific to general)

Question 43

Emotional Intelligence (EI)

Answer 43

• The capacity for recognizing our own feelings and those of others, for motivating ourselves, and for managing emotions well in ourselves and in our relationships
• emotional set points like temperament are inherited
• temperament is not destiny and is malleable

Question 44

5 Emotional intelligence dimensions

Answer 44

1. Self-awareness (Self-understanding; knowledge of true feelings at the moment)
2. Self-management (Handle one’s emotions to facilitate rather than hinder the task at hand; shake off negative emotions and get back on constructive track for problem solution.
3. Self-motivation (Stay the course toward desired goal; overcome negative emotional impulses and delay gratification to attain the desired outcome)
4. Empathy (Understand and be sensitive to the feelings of others; being able to sense what others feel and want)
5. Social skills (The ability to read social situations; smooth in interacting with others and forming networks; able to guide others’ emotions and the way they act)