Midterm Flashcards
What is Organizational Behvaiour?
OB is the study of human behaviour in the workplace, analyzing the behaviour of individuals/teams/orgs
What disciplines influence the study of OB?
Social and behavioural sciences (psychology, sociology, anthropology), as well as economics and political science
What is job design?
The act of structuring a job to fulfill certain requirements, with the intent of creating a distinct and meaningful role within an org
What are the outcomes of a well designed job?
Less stress, overall job satisfaction, performance, level of absenteeism, innovation
How does the nature of management change according to level within the org?
Front line management: focus on technical skills, running day-to-day operations. Middle management: equal focus on technical skills, personal skills, high level conceptual goals, ability to translate high level directives to lower level employees. C-level management: priority is high level conceptual skills with a long-term horizon, keeping the org aligned with corporate goals and timelines
What are examples of org inputs?
Capital, tech, government, raw materials, economic conditions
What are the org processes turning inputs into outputs?
Utilizing individuals and teams, tech, org design, management to influence leadership, communication, politics, and decision making
Examples of org outputs?
Individual performance, group performance, organizational effectiveness > goods/services, shareholder equity
What is a theory?
A statement aiming to explain the manner in which certain concepts or variables are related
What makes a good theory?
Internal consistency, external consistency, scientific parsimony (simple and concise), generalizability, and verifiable
What are the four stages of the scientific method?
Observation, formulation (inductive reasoning - specific to broad), generation (deductive reasoning - broad to specific), verification using systematic, controlled experiments
What is research?
Research is the use of systematic, controlled observations to reach new conclusions or verify a hypothesis
What is data?
Observations and results gathered as a result of research
Examples of research design?
Naturalistic observation, survey research, field studies, field experiments, lab experiments
How would you evaluate research design?
Qualitative vs. quantitative data, level of control, level of external validity, cost, level of rigor
What are the three types of diversity encountered in the workplace?
Surface level diversity (visible characteristics), deep level diversity (non-observable, like values or beliefs), hidden diversity (sexual orientation, illness)
What are the different diversity theories?
Cognitive diversity hypothesis, similarity attraction paradigm, social cognitive theory, social identity theory, schema theory, justification suppression model
Explain cognitive diversity theory
Diversity and differences in TM characteristics lead to high performance, since the multiple perspectives will improve the problem-solving process