Midterm Flashcards
Organizational Behavior
is a field of study devoted to understanding, explaining, and ultimately improving the attitudes and behaviors of individuals and groups in organizations.
Three Levels of Analysis
Individual, Group, and Organization.
Performance
motivation x ability x environment
Motivation
Psychological processes that arouse and direct goal-directed behavior
Maslow’s Need Hierarchy Theory
- physiological
- safety
- love
- esteem
- self-actualization
Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory
- Hygiene Factors
2. Motivators
Hygiene Factors
Extrinsic and Related to Dissatisfaction
Company policies, salary, and work conditions
Motivators
Intrinsic and Related to Satisfaction
Growth, responsibility, and achievement
Contemporary Theories of Motivation
Equity Theory
Expectancy Theory
Goal-Setting Theory
Equity theory
Holds that motivation is a function of fairness in social exchanges
Negative inequity
Comparison in which another person receives greater outcomes for similar inputs
Positive inequity
Comparison in which another person receives lesser outcomes for similar inputs
Equity Sensitivity
People respond differently to same level of inequity due to an individual difference (Benevolents, Sensitives, Entitleds)
Distributive Justice
Fairness of outcome
Procedural Justice
Fairness of outcome process
Interactional Justice
Being treated with dignity and respect
Organizational Justice
Distributive Justice, Procedural Justice, and Interactional Justice
Expectancy Theory
Expectancy, Instrumentality, and Valence (All 3 are required for positive motivation. If one is missing then the individual will not be motivated!)
Expectancy
(Effort) Will my effort lead to high performance?
Instrumentality
(Performance) Will performance lead to outcomes?
Valence
(Rewards) Do I find the outcomes desirable? To what extent will they satisfy my personal goals?
Expectancy examples
Make sure employees have proper skills, abilities, and knowledge
Ensure that the environment facilitates performance
Encourage employees so they believe their effort makes a difference
Instrumentality examples
Reward employee performance
Inform people in advance about the rewards
Try to eliminate non-performance influence over rewards
Valence examples
Find rewards that are desirable to employees
Make sure that rewards are viewed as fair
Give employees choice over rewards
Goal
What an individual is trying to accomplish
Goal setting theory
is one of the most influential and practical methods of motivation. It has been rated as the most important (of 73 theories), supported in over 1,000 studies, and is used by thousands of organizations.
SMART Goals
S - Specific M - Measurable A - Actionable R - Realistic or Responsible Person T - Time-bound
Why are SMART goals motivating?
Goals direct attention
Goals regulate effort
Goals increase persistence
Goals foster the development and application of task strategies and action plans
Management by Objectives (MBO)
MBO is a systematic way to utilize goal-setting. Example:
Corporate goals are broken down into smaller, more specific goals at each level of organization.
Four common ingredients to MBO programs:
Goal specificity
Participative decision making
Explicit time period
Performance feedback
Job Design
Changing the content and/or process of a specific job to increase job satisfaction and performance.
Motivational Approaches Job Enlargement Job Enrichment Job Rotation The Job Characteristics Model
Alternatives to Job Specialization
Job rotation, job enrichment, and job enlargement.
Job Rotation
Moving employees from job to job at regular intervals
Job Enrichment
Allowing workers more control over how they perform tasks
Job Enlargement
Expanding the tasks performed by employees to add more variety
The Job Characteristics Model
Tried to determine how work can be structured so that employees are internally (or intrinsically) motivated.
KSAO
Knowledge, skill, ability, others
Knowledge
A body of information (typically of a factual or procedural nature) that required for successful completion of a task. “How you know what you know”
Various engineering fields and terms.
DOT regulations
Skill
An individual’s level of competency or proficiency in performing a specific task. Usually be expressed in numerical terms. “How well you do what you do”
Typing 50 words per minute without error.
Basic PC operations including email.
Ability
A more general, enduring trait or capability an individual possesses when he or she first performs a task. “how you do what you do”
Writing and edit business correspondence.
Interviewing clients for marketing information.
Others
physical or mental characteristics that do not fall into one of the other categories
personality characteristics, self-efficacy, self monitoring, locus of control, emotional intelligence
What is Personality?
The sum total of ways in which an individual reacts and interacts with others, the measurable traits a person exhibits
The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
Most widely used instrument in the world.
Participants are classified on four axes to determine one of 16 possible personality types, such as ENTJ.
The Big Five Model of Personality
Extroversion Agreeableness Conscientiousness Emotional Stability Openness to Experience
Proactive Personality
An action-oriented person who shows initiative and perseveres to change things
Personality and Job Performance
Conscientiousness has the strongest positive correlation with job performance and training performance
Individuals with low scores on conscientiousness tend to have more accidents both on and off the job
Extraversion is associated with success for managers and salespeople
Self-Efficacy
a person’s belief about his/her chances of successfully accomplishing a specific task
Self-monitoring
extent to which a person observes their own self-expressive behavior and adapts it to the situation
There are two types of self-monitors:
High self-monitors
Low self-monitors
Positive relationship between high self-monitoring and career success
Locus of Control: Self or Environment?
Individuals vary in terms of how much personal responsibility they take for their behavior and its consequences
Internal locus of control
People who believe they control the events and consequences that affect their lives
External locus of control
those who believe their performance is the product of circumstances beyond their immediate control
Emotional Intelligence
ability to manage oneself one’s relationships in mature and constructive ways
How to build Emotional Intelligence
Be aware of emotions
Regulate emotions
Person-Organization Fit
The degree to which a person’s values, personality, goals, and other characteristics match those of the organization.
Person-Job fit
The degree to which a person’s skill, knowledge, abilities, and other characteristics match the job demands.
Comparing fit to job characteristics in importance
Useful to see how fit compares to more traditional organizational inducements
Three main types of organizational characteristics
Perceived rewards: pay, benefits, promotions
Perceived image: image, supervisors, type of work
Perceived security: job security, location
You Can’t Please All the People All the Time!
The research clearly shows that people differ in what they want, and matching things up can improve satisfaction
The research also suggests that organizations will tend to attract people who are a lot like the people already there.
Research the Job and the Organization
Go to the business unit’s website-learn about the business unit’s mission, goals, structure, etc.
Study the position description
Talk to People-find out the inter-workings of the office and position
Determine the KSAOs for the Job
Know what the KSAOs are for the vacant position
Compare the KSAOs on the vacancy announcement with the position description
Evaluate Your Strengths…
Identify your major accomplishments
What is something that you did well
What is something that you enjoyed
What is something where you solved a problem
What is something about which you are proud
What skill sets are involved
Identify your KSAOs sets
Take a look at what you identified as accomplishments
List the KSAOs that went into making the accomplishments happen
Separate your accomplishments by KSAOs (Is it knowledge, a skill, an ability, or others?)
Relate your Strengths to the Job or the Organization
As you prepare your paperwork for a job, consider that you are selling a product…….YOU
The application is a chance to make a sale and must focus on what the customer seeks (the KSAOs)
Attitudes
Evaluative statements or judgments concerning objects, people, or events.
Three components of an attitude
The opinion or belief segment of an attitude
The emotional or feeling segment of an attitude
An intention to behave in a certain way toward someone or something
Cognitive Dissonance
Any incompatibility between two or more attitudes or between behavior and attitudes
Individuals seek to reduce this uncomfortable gap, or dissonance, to reach stability and consistency
changing the attitudes, modifying the behaviors, or through rationalization
How people reduce dissonance
Changing your attitude or behavior, or both
Belittling the importance of the inconsistent behavior
Finding consonant elements that outweigh the dissonant ones
Predicting Behavior from Attitudes
Important attitudes have a strong relationship to behavior.
The closer the match between attitude and behavior, the stronger the relationship:
Specific attitudes predict specific behavior
General attitudes predict general behavior
The more frequently expressed an attitude, the better predictor it is.
High social pressures reduce the relationship and may cause dissonance.
Attitudes based on personal experience are stronger predictors.
Globalization
Globalization is a modern term used to describe the changes in societies and the world economy that result from dramatically increased international trade and cultural exchange
Diversity
the host of individual differences that make people different from and similar to each other
Layers of Diversity
Deep Level Diversity, Surface Level Diversity
Deep level diversity
(less observable attributes)
Values
Attitudes
Beliefs
Surface level diversity
(observable attributes) Gender Race Age Physical Abilities
Faultline
is an attribute along which a group is split into subgroups.
Diversity can be both positive and negative
Positive effect: (1) attract and retain the best available human talent, (2) enhance marketing efforts, (3) promote creativity, Innovation, and (4) enhance organizational flexibility
Negative effect: (1) resist to change, (2) be less cohesive, (3) conflicts can also arise because of miscommunication, (4) decision making process can be slowed down
Similarity-Attraction phenomenon
the tendency to be more attracted to individuals who are similar to us.
Stereotypes
generalizations about a particular group of people
Culture
values, beliefs, and customs that exist in a society
The Hofstede Study
Identified and validated four independent dimensions of national culture differences: Power Distance Individualism-collectivism Masculinity-femininity Uncertainty Avoidance
Low Power Distance
A society that views an unequal distribution of power as relatively unacceptable
High Power Distance
A society that views an unequal distribution of power as relatively acceptable
Individualism
Cultures in which people define themselves as individuals and form looser ties with their groups
Collectivism
Cultures where people have stronger bonds to their groups and group membership forms their self identity
Masculinity
Cultures where individuals value achievement, competitiveness, as well as acquisition of money and other material objects.
Femininity
Cultures where individuals value maintaining good relationships, quality of life, and caring for the weak
Low Uncertainty Avoidance
Cultures where individuals are comfortable in unpredictable situations and have a high tolerance for ambiguity
High Uncertainty Avoidance
Cultures where individuals prefer predictable situations and have a low tolerance for ambiguity
Ethnocentrism
Believing that ones country, culture, language, and modes of behavior are superior to all others
Dealing with Ethnocentrism
international experience
education
greater cross-cultural awareness
a conscious effort to value cultural diversity
Cultural intelligence
ability to interpret ambiguous cross-cultural situations correctly
Taylorism
One best way
McGregor’s Theory X
pessimistic
negative,
typical of how managers traditionally perceived employees
McGregor’s Theory Y
believed managers could accomplish more through others by viewing them as self-energized, committed, responsible, and creative beings
TQM
(Total Quality Management) Continuous, customer-centered, employee-driven improvement
85-15 rule (Deming)
When things go wrong, 85% chance of the failure is due to the system (including management, machinery, and rules) while only 15% of the failure is the individual employee’s fault.
Contingency approach
Use management concepts and techniques in a situationally appropriate manner
(NOT “ONE BEST WAY”)
